Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News 2008/11/18 (English)
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Guangzhou makes it to the top 10 of world container ports THE Port of Guangzhou's container throughput has broken through the 10 million TEU mark, making it the third biggest container port in mainland China, behind Shanghai and Shenzhen, and in the top 10 container ports of the world, reports The People's Daily. The Guangzhou Port started its container service in 1978, and it was one of the first ports to operate a container transport business in China. At present, the Guangzhou Port has 19 container berths, including 10 more berths opening at the new nearby Nansha Terminal. About 100 services call at Guangzhou going to ports all over the world.
CMA, Hapag, Hamburg S join in EU-west coast South America service THREE major carriers, CMA CGM, Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Sud will start their new ES2 service on January 12 from northern Europe to Central America and the west coast of South America using eight ships in the 1,700-2,000 TEU range. This contrasts with CSAV's similar Eurosal 2 service, which deploys eight ships in the 2,226-2,524 TEU range, and in which the three ES2 carriers have chartered slots. But the two services have the same port coverage. The port rotation for ES2 will be: Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Le Havre, Port of Spain, La Guaira, Puerto Cabello, Willemstad, Cartagen, Manzanillo (Panama), Guayaquil, Callao, Paita, Guayaquil, Manzanillo, Cartagena, Caucedo and back to Rotterdam. CMA CGM said it will provide two of the vessels on the new service, but no details were given on which carriers would provide the other six, reports American Shipper. "This new agreement allows CMA CGM to directly operate vessels between north Europe and the west coast of South America via Panama," said Sabrina Youbi, the carrier's line manager in charge.
HK October down 2.9pc to 2.001 million TEU, Singapore up 4.9pc FIGURES from the Hong Kong Marine Department show the port handled 2.001 million TEU in October, a fall of 2.9 per cent over the 2.060 million in October last year, yet still representing a year-on-year growth in the first 10 months of 1.16 per cent to 19.7 million TEU. Singapore's Maritime and Port Authority reported a 4.9 per cent increase in container movement in October, having handled 2.52 million TEU compared to 2.40 million TEU in October last year while year-on-year growth in the first nine months was up 10.4 per cent to 22.9 million TEU.
Containership charter rate decline continues, no bottom in sight CHARTER rates have fallen to the point that owners can hardly meet operating costs, and will soon fall behind debt payments, and those now taking delivery of subpanamax ships will likely not even break even, according to Frankfurt-based DVB Bank, a leading ship financier,. A 3,500-TEU gearless Panamax vessel typically has been earning US$10,000 to $16,000 a day since September, down nearly $14,000 a day from 2007 earnings, according to London shipbroker Clarkson. Today, a 2,750-TEU gearless subpanamax ship is only making $14,000 a day, down from $19,500 in September and an average of $26,292 in 2007, said Clarkson in a Journal of Commerce report. Rates for smaller ships falls as excess capacity accumulates. The Hamburg Shipowners' Association ConTex index reports that a 1,700-TEU ship today earns $8,666 a day for a 12-month charter against $11,343 a month ago, and that a.1,100-TEU vessel earning nearly $12,800 a day in May can be chartered today for $6,958 a day. The ConTex index, which tracks rates for a 2,500-TEU ship on a 24-month charter, has fallen to 481 today from a 974 level on May 1. Charter durations have been cut in half since January, the lowest since the slump of 2002, considered to be further evidence that the market has not yet bottomed. Chartered ships account for nearly 45 per cent of the capacity of Maersk Line, the largest ocean carrier, rising to 48 per cent at second-ranked Mediterranean Shipping Company and over 69 per cent at CMA CGM, according to AXS-Alphaliner.
Shandong Rizhao logistics park construction commences NORTHEAST China's Shandong Rizhao logistics park has held a building ceremony in Rizhao Economic Development Zone, reports Logistics Week. The park's construction signals that Rizhao port has moved a step forward to being an international shipping hub. The park functions as a logistics ancillary complex to Rizhao port. Its initial phase covers 17.6 hectares with a designed warehouse area of 10 hectares, which meets the building requirement of B-size bonded logistics centre.
Chengdu's largest road distribution yard in trials SOUTHWEST city Chengdu's largest and most important road distribution yard of Xindu Logistics Centre has been put into trial operation, reports Logistics Week. The distribution yard covering 76.7 hectares can accommodate 6,000 trucks and 6,500 lodging beds for drivers, coupled with a car repair area and daily-living service area. It has registered 2,000 transaction operators for freight information and handled 180 less-than-carload transport routes. The yard will be put into full service next year. By 2010, it will reach a 21 million-tonne cargo handling volume, at the same time its transport network supported by highways will cover the central and west China, a radius ranging 500 to 800 kilometres.
Clean truck tax put off again, this time because of FMC court challenge LOS ANGELES and Long Beach ports have again delayed the collection of a $35-per-TEU clean-truck tax first planned for October 1 and then for Monday, November 17 and now postponed again because of an expected Federal Maritime Commission court challenge over the programme's effect on trucking competition, announced PortCheck, the non-profit company created to make collections. The FMC has announced plans to legally challenge the clean-truck scheme because the Port of Los Angeles demands that trucking companies using the port, only hire drivers as employees and not owner-operators. This supports union demands from the Teamsters that will make it easier to legally unionise drivers, most of whom are independent contractors, reports Newark's Journal of Commerce. This is the second delay in the implementation of the tax, which was supposed to start October 1, but was postponed because the computer hardware and software were not yet in place. All is well on that front now, and cargo interests can establish an account with PortCheck so collections can be made electronically. More than 18,000 companies have so far registered with PortCheck.
TASCO increases record 3Q profits 18pc to US$1.40 million MALAYSIAN logistics firm Trans-Asia Shipping Corporation Berhad (TASCO) has reported an 18 per cent increase in third quarter net profit for the period ending September 30, after earnings rose year on year to MYR5.05 million (US$1.40 million) from MYR4.27 million. The company's third quarter revenue grew by 26.5 per cent year on year to MYR104.95 million, compared to MYR82.96 million for the third quarter of 2007, on the back of strong revenues in July and September. With the increase in revenue, the group's profit from operations rose 14 per cent to MYR6.47 million from MYR5.66 million a year earlier, a company statement said. Managing director Lee Check Poh attributed profit and revenue improvement to volume growth and new customers secured by the forwarding, international airfreight and trucking divisions. Mr Lee said the company performed well despite a more challenging operating environment in the third quarter and is expected to perform satisfactorily for the rest of the financial year. "We are happy to note that the third quarter result is the highest quarterly results achieved in the company's 34-year history," he said. After the strong performance in the third quarter, TASCO's management expressed confidence that the company will attain its MYR14.8 million net profit forecast for the current financial year ending December 31. In the first nine months of the year, TASCO's net profit rose 19 per cent to MYR11.11 million from MYR9.35 million a year earlier. Revenue rose by 12.7 per cent to MYR272.20 million from MYR241.48 million. TASCO aims to attract foreign investors to expand its international business by taking advantage of the opportunities that are likely to arise through the progressive liberalisation of the logistics industry, a move announced recently by the government in Malaysia. TASCO is an integrated total logistics solutions provider that offers international sea and airfreight forwarding, customs clearance, trucking, warehousing, container haulage, automobile logistics and buyer consolidation. TASCO is affiliated to both Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) and Japanese airfreight forwarder Yusen Air & Sea Service Co Ltd. TASCO has 31 logistics centres and warehouses throughout Malaysia that are both owned and leased. Its customers include multinational companies and local manufacturers.
'K' Line 'plugs in' to shoreside electricity at Long Beach A NEW "green" era in shipping at the US Port of Long Beach has been launched with the arrival of the "K" Line-operated containership, the Long Beach Bridge. As such the ship has become the first to plug in to the onshore power supply to improve air quality in the port area by shutting down the ship's diesel engines while at berth and switching to a cleaner source of electrical power. It also marks the completion of a US$8 million project to install electrical power outlets for ships docking at Pier G that was undertaken by the International Transportation Service, Inc (ITS) terminal. The use of shoreside power, also known as "cold-ironing," allows ships to shut down auxiliary engines while the ship is docked. Without shoreside electricity, vessels would use their own diesel auxiliaries to power refrigerated containers, pumps, lighting, air conditioning and computers while at dock, a "K" Line statement said. "Shoreside power is an environmental initiative under our Green Port Policy," said harbour commission president James Hankla. "Because many ships burn unclean bunker fuel, shutting down their engines achieves major air quality improvements immediately." The company release said that "Ships account for about half of port-related air pollution, much of it from the vessels' auxiliary engines. Shutting down a single ship's diesel engines at berth for a day achieves the same air quality improvements as taking 33,000 cars off Southern California roads."
World Bank's IFC adds 20-year US$300 million loan for Panama expansion THE World Bank's International Finance Corporation has approved a 20-year US$300 million loan to the Panama Canal Authority to fund part of the $5.25-billion expansion project. This money is needed to dredge canal approaches, add new locks to handle bigger ships and widen channels that will nearly triple capacity and double the size of ships using the facility when the upgrades are completed in 2013. "IFC's participation in the Panama Canal expansion project, at a time of a global financial crisis, reflects our confidence in one of the most important infrastructure projects in Latin America and the Caribbean," said International Finance Corporation CEO Lars Thunell. "The expansion will be essential to support Panama's international competitiveness and sustained economic and social growth in the country," he said.
Indonesia THC is revoked after go-slow work protest INDONESIA's transport ministry has revoked a new cheaper set of Terminal Handling Charges (THC) and returned to the old higher fees, reports to The Jakarta Post. The ministry set new THC fees on November 1 at US$95 per TEU and $145 per FEU, lower than the previous charges of $117 and $177, respectively. After shipping companies protested, the Ministry of Transportation temporarily revoked Thursday a new set of Terminal Handling Charge (THC) fees and returned to the old ones. But the ministry retained the Container Handling Charge (CHC) - the fee the shipping companies have to pay to port administrators which is part of the THC - unchanged at $83 per TEU and $124.50 per FEU. Shipping companies objected because of loss of income and reports that some had refused to work at Tanjung Priok port, through which 60 per cent of the country's exports and imports move. Herry Asmari, chief of the container division in the Indonesian National Shipowners Association (INSA), said the revocation was made after a meeting early in the day among representatives of INSA, traders and government officials. Mr Asmari said that the ships are now allowed to use the old charges and issues related to a more permanent fee adjustment will be discussed later. Agus Barlianto, Jakarta International Container Terminal (JICT) spokesman whose company handles a part of Tanjung Priok port, said shipping companies had begun resuming operations after the revocation.
CN calls for timely US ruling on its EJ&E buyout CANADIAN National Railway Company (CN) is urging the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) to rule on whether to approve its proposed acquisition of the principal lines of the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway Company (EJ&E) by January 1. The plea comes after the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied CN's petition, submitted September 18, for an order compelling an immediate STB decision on the merits of the transaction. CN signed an agreement with US Steel, the indirect owner of the EJ&E, in September 2007 for CN to acquire most of the EJ&E for US$300 million, subject to STB regulatory approval. "While CN is disappointed with the court's decision, we remain committed to the EJ&E acquisition and we see no reason why the STB cannot rule on the transaction quickly to permit it to close by year-end," said CN president and CEO E Hunter Harrison. "It is now up the STB to do the right thing, to preserve an important transaction with broad transportation and other public benefits for the Chicago region and the nation," he said. "If such an approach isn't possible, the STB should revisit and adopt our previously offered 'conditioned approval' approach, in which the board could issue a decision on the transportation merits of CN's application at this time, while allowing the agency's environmental review to continue to completion. That approach would allow the transaction to close by year-end 2008, with CN respecting any STB order to maintain an 'environmental status quo' under which it would not shift any CN trains to the EJ&E until the STB completed its environmental review."
European Shippers' Council seeks new way to devise fuel surcharges THE European Shippers' Council (ESC) wants the shipping industry to devise an enduring formula to calculate fuel surcharges by taking advantage of the recent fall in oil prices to demonstrate downward movement. "Shippers are not always able to pass on fuel costs to their customers because they too are under immense pressure to hold back against soaring costs within their supply chains," said ESC press release.. "The road freight sector and customers were not the only ones to experience the pain of soaring fuel prices: in the airfreight and sea freight markets, shippers bore a major slug of the cost increases through the imposition of fuel surcharges by shipping lines and airlines alike," said ESC secretary general Nicolette van der Jagt. The ESC was pleased with September's Air France-KLM new system of fuel surcharges. The airline has reset the base price of oil to a lower level and moved much of the fuel price below this rate into the overall freight rate. The result is that surcharges are less and customers are able to negotiate a freight rate which includes more of the fuel cost element within it, said the ESC release. Said Ms Van der Jagt: "Shippers aware of this change have largely welcomed the move: they believe that far more of the fuel price is negotiable by lumping it together with other operating costs of the airline within the main freight rate." ESC represents 100,000 companies across Europe.
Dragonair launches service to Manila DRAGONAIR will commence its inaugural flight on December 15 and operate its five-times weekly flight with a A320 aircraft to Manila, with a schedule designed to give convenient departure times in line with office hours for business, and an early afternoon arrival in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong-Manila line will fly Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays. The flight KA913 will depart from Hong Kong at 2000 hrs, to arrive in Manila at 2200 hrs. The Manila-Hong Kong line will fly Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and takes off at 1050 hrs from Manila, arrives at 1255 hrs at Hong Kong. "We are excited to announce our entry into the Philippines market to offer a wider choice of options for travellers. Traffic flow and demand between Manila and Hong Kong continues to grow and the new service will be a significant boon in terms of business and trading activities between Hong Kong and the Philippines," said Dragonair CEO Kenny Tang. "Despite the current financial crisis, we are confident in the long-term prospect of the travel industry. We believe that the Manila service will perform well and will play an important role in our business in the years to come." Manila is the ninth new destination Dragonair has added to its network since becoming part of the Cathay Pacific Group in September 2006. Dragonair has been recognised for its product and service quality, and was voted "Best Regional Airline in South East Asia" in the annual World Airline Survey run by Skytrax in 2007/08.
India's Jet Airways to cancel Shanghai to San Francisco service INDIAN Jet Airways will stop operating its service from Bombay to San Francisco via Shanghai on January, 13, reports Logistics Week. The service has only operated for four months and it has been cancelled because of a shortfall in revenue blamed on the global economic downturn.
HK ground handler Hactl signs up Star Airlines-Macedonia HONG KONG Air Cargo Terminals Limited (HACTL) has announced that Star Airlines-Macedonia, a cargo carrier based in country's capital Skopje, has appointed Hactl as its ground handler in Hong Kong. Star Airlines-Macedonia launched its inaugural flight to Hong Kong on November 9, commencing a weekly charter service between Istanbul, Almaty, Hong Kong, Sharjah and Lagos. Hactl is pleased to support the carrier by providing one-stop-shop ground handling including physical cargo, ramp and documentation handling. Said Hactl customer service chief Lilian Chan: "We are delighted to welcome Star Airlines-Macedonia as our new customer. By choosing our service, we are sure that Star Airlines-Macedonia will enjoy the most professional, efficient, reliable and secured cargo handling services." Said Star Airlines CEO Kani Kurtulus: "We are happy to partner with Hactl, a world-class cargo terminal operator that will add value to our business. I truly look forward to a long-term and successful business relationship with Hactl. "
China Airlines, Mandarin Airlines Taoyuan-Nanjing charters China Airlines, in a joint venture with Mandarin Airlines, has launched a weekend charter service from Taoyuan to Nanjing, reports Logistics Week. The weekly service deploying Airbus A330-300 flies Saturdays. Flight CI-7995 departs from Taoyuan International Airport at 0930 hrs, arriving Nanjing at 1230 hrs, and flight CI-7996 returns at 0145 hrs, landing at Taoyuan at 0445 hrs.
China Eastern launches first service to Seoul China Eastern Airlines has launched its first international service from Nanchang to Seoul, reports Logistics Week. The twice-weekly service flies Thursdays and Sundays, departing from Nanchang at 1755 hrs, arriving Seoul at 2020 hrs, returning at 2120 hrs for a Nanchang arrival at 2355 hrs. Machinists' strike and engineer shortage delays Boeing deliveries DELIVERIES for Boeing's new 747-8 aircraft are running up to nine months late, because of a recent machinists strike and a shortage of engineers, reports Dow Jones. The first 747-8 Freighter delivery date to launch customer Cargolux SA has moved from late 2009 to early 2010. Lufthansa Airlines (LHA.XE), the sole customer for the passenger version, will not receive its first plane until the second quarter of 2011, rather than late 2010. Financial penalties for late delivery are expected. At the same time customers may be relieved at the delays or even seek to cancel orders as air cargo demand plunges in the current financial crisis. The company which has secured 105 orders for the 747-8, mostly for the freighter version, also faces mounting delays to its 787 aircraft - now 15 months behind schedule because of a shortage of engineering resources, exacerbated by the recent machinists strike. Boeing said the company had worked to avoid delays, but had to push deliveries back to finish production and complete flight tests.
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