Hecksher Hecksher Introduction Our people Mission statement Facts History Shipping Tools Consignee’s checklist Conversion Equipment Shipment info Shippers checklist Contact Denmark Sweden Norway Finland Poland Latvia Services Sea Freight Air Freight Project Logistics Solutions Courier Road Transport Liner Agencies Insurance Flexi tanks Customs Services Waiver Container Sale/Rental Established in 1797, Hecksher is the oldest shipping company in Denmark. Hecksher’s topmost priority is to ensure that all cargo entrusted to our care arrive on time. Hecksher is a licensed IATA agent. Hecksher offers tailor-made sea freight solutions based on your specific requirements. Your shipment – Our commitment. Services to Shipping since 1797. Prev Next Service hecksher.com News 3-11-2016 Ocean Alliance global network revealed more... Alliance to deploy 350 containerships with 3.5m teu total carrying capacity. OCEAN Alliance members came together on Thursday to sign a document detailing its planned service coverage in the market. Entitled the Day One Product, the proposed network calls for the deployment of 350 containerships with approximately 3.5m teu total carrying capacity. “The signing of the Day One Product marks an important step forward to show just how committed we are in developing the most competitive products to market and the high level of synergy and confidence we share in the partnership,” said member carriers in a statement. The four members — CMA CGM, Cosco Container Lines, Evergreen Line, and Orient Overseas Container Line — will operate 40 services on the East-West routes with roughly 100 ports of call and close to 500 port pairs. CMA CGM will assign 119 vessels with a 35% capacity share. According to CMA CGM, the network will comprise: 20 loops, 145 weekly calls and 52 ports on the transpacific trade; six loops, 79 weekly calls and 31 ports on the Asia to Northern Europe trade; six loops, 79 weekly calls and 31 ports on the transatlantic trade; four loops, 67 weekly calls and 33 ports on the Asia to Mediterranean trade; four loops, 67 weekly calls and 33 ports on the Asia to Red Sea trade; and five loops, 55 weekly calls and 25 ports on the Asia to Middle East trade. The alliance noted that it had filed a Master Agreement to be approved by China’s ministry of transport, while the US Federal Maritime Commission and South Korea’s Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries have expressed approval of the alliance. After completing its EU self-assessment compliance review, the alliance feels the agreement and services adhere to EU regulatory requirements. It will continue to work with all the relevant authorities to ensure full compliance with laws and regulations, and to obtain the necessary regulatory approvals for the alliance to start operations by April 1, 2017. “Ocean Alliance is the largest operational agreement ever made between shipping companies. With more than 40 maritime services, we will be sharing our fleet with the largest Asian shipping companies,” said CMA CGM vice-chairman Rodolphe Saadé. “By offering more ports and more direct calls as well as better transit times, we will provide our customers with unmatched quality services. This new offering is a cornerstone of our strategy as it reinforces our competitiveness and strengthens our position as a key player in the shipping industry.” Source: Lloyd’s List 31-10-2016 NYK, MOL and K Line to merge container shipping businesses more... A joint venture will be established next year to integrate operations. JAPAN’S three major shipping companies– Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha, Mitsui OSK Lines and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha—have agreed on Monday to merge their container shipping business via establishing a joint venture. The integration will also include the trio’s overseas terminal operations, according to a press release by MOL. NYK, MOL and K Line will respectively hold 38%, 31% and 31% stakes in the ¥300bn ($2.9bn) joint venture, which will control a fleet of 1.4m teu, or about 7% of the world total capacity. The combined fleet will rank sixth among the global liner shipping operators. The JV is scheduled to be established on July 1, 2017, while the integrated operation is scheduled to start on April 1, 2018. MOL said the decision was made against a backdrop where the liner shipping market has been seriously plagued by a severe vessel glut, while more carriers are striving to tackle the situation through mergers and acquisitions. “Three companies have now decided to integrate their respective container shipping on an equal footing to ensure future stable, efficient and competitive business operations.” MOL said. “And by taking advantage of the scale merits of its vessel fleet totaling 1.4m teus, realise integration effect of approximately ¥110bn annually and seek swiftly financial performance stabilisation.” “The new joint venture company aims to provide higher quality and more competitive services in order to exceed our clients’ expectations,” it added. Source: Lloyd’s List More news 28-10-2016 CMP is building a new container terminal in Ydre Nordhavn in Copenhagen more... CMP is building a new container terminal in Ydre Nordhavn in Copenhagen. Copenhagen Malmö Port, CMP, is moving its container operation in Copenhagen to Ydre Nordhavn. The decision is based on the fact that urban development in the inner parts of Nordhavn is now making it relevant. Moving the container terminal to Ydre Nordhavn will entail filling up new areas and erecting new buildings and equipment in the area. The nautical conditions, such as depth of water and an easy approach, are really good in Ydre Nordhavn. This means that CMP will be able to receive even larger ships in the future. It is essential for the customers that they have as much flexibility as possible when designing their services and optimising their shipping fleets. A port should be located as close as possible to the end users of the freight transported, so that the sea is used as a transport route to as great an extent as possible. “Copenhagen constitutes the ideal combination of these fundamental requirements. We view establishing the container operation here as absolutely the best solution, in terms of both economic and nautical aspects”, says Johan Röstin, CEO, Copenhagen Malmö Port AB. The new terminal will be more automated. This will enable more containers to be handled per hour and better use to be made of the areas. “The level of service is absolutely crucial for how attractive a terminal is considered to be. This gives us the space to create a modern and efficient terminal with the best technological solutions. CMP will be able to deliver better and more in-depth integration, and overall it will ensure that CMP is the optimum partner for both hauliers and shipping companies”, Johan Röstin concludes. The new terminal is estimated to be operational in 2020. 23-09-2016 Hanjin secures bankruptcy protection in Germany more... Shipping line now awaiting a decision from Belgium. HANJIN Shipping vessels will be able to call at ports in Germany without fear of being arrested by creditors seeking payment after legal authorities approved a bankruptcy protection order for the shipping line. A Hanjin official told Lloyd’s List that the company received the approval overnight Asia time. The port of Hamburg was one of the three international ‘safe haven ports’ that the South Korean government initially said Hanjin’s vessels would be able to berth and discharge cargoes at. With this, Hanjin vessels, at least on paper, will be able to berth and discharge their cargoes at international ports in the US, UK, Japan, Singapore and Germany. The official added that the shipping line was now awaiting a decision from Belgian courts on whether its vessels will be legally protected from being seized in that country. The growing list of nations recognising Hanjin’s rehabilitation procedures in South Korea comes as a number of its vessels are stranded at sea off ports worldwide either for fear of arrest by creditors or as box handling companies refuse to provide unloading services on expectations of non-payment of fees. The official had noted that the latter point was an issue even for nations that had officially extended legal protection to Hanjin’s ships. Hanjin vessels started docking in Singapore on Thursday after waiting for around three weeks for talks to be settled since the city state was named as a safe port for the troubled South Korean company’s ships. The shipping line noted that due to legal and financial constraints under Korean court receivership, many of its service schedules have been affected. It added that for ships that had been stuck offshore and were unable to discharge cargoes at the intended ports, the shipping line had “exhausted all means to secure alternative options to complete final delivery to the final destination”. “To our sincere regret, we are unable to perform the intended delivery.” Some of the stranded ships have returned to the so-called ‘safe haven’ port of Busan in South Korea to discharge their cargoes, leading to some congestion there. A Busan port official told Lloyd’s List that to date, a total of 19 containerships were waiting off the coast to be scheduled to call at Hanjin’s container terminal there, with three of those vessels arriving on Friday. Nine Hanjin containerships have already completed the unloading of their cargoes, the official said, adding that port authorities have not encountered any issues with service providers refusing to handle the cargoes so far. Earlier in September, Busan port officials guaranteed that they would pay fees owed for lashing services provided to Hanjin vessels. The guarantee means Hanjin vessels can again be processed at Busan after lashing service providers refused to work on Hanjin containers for fear of non-payment after the company filed for receivership. The South Korean government has co-opted compatriot shipping line Hyundai Merchant Marine to dispatch 13 of its vessels to relieve stranded Hanjin ships in Europe and the US. In the latest measures, HMM will send 5,041 teu Kaethe P from Busan to Europe on Thursday next week, with port calls at Busan, Shanghai, Yantian, Singapore, Valencia, Southhampton, Rotterdam and Hamburg. “However, we will flexibly deploy an additional vessel to Europe depending on demand volume. We will pull our weight as a national carrier to [support] the shipping industry,” a HMM official told Lloyd’s List. The official added that the first vessel it deployed to relieve Hanjin ships in the US, the Hyundai Forward, reached the port of Los Angeles on Tuesday. The second containership to the US, Hyundai Platinum left Busan on Monday, while the remaining two vessels, Hyundai Busan and Hyundai Shanghai, are scheduled to depart Busan on September 25 and September 30, respectively. “The departure schedule can be flexibly changed by weather, port congestion or main shippers’ critical request,” the official said. Source: Lloyd’s List 7-09-2016 Hanjin Shipping files for chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the US more... SEEKING to prevent its vessels from being seized by creditors, South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping has filed for bankruptcy protection under chapter 15 at the US Bankruptcy Court in Newark. The company’s filing in Seoul has roiled ports in the US and beyond, as creditors seized ships and terminal operators refused to handle cargo. According to Hanjin, the refusal of ports to handle its cargo has stranded 45 ships at sea and more than half a million containers, reported the Wall Street Journal. The carrier is the biggest shipping line in Korea, operating 60 regular lines worldwide, with 140 container or bulk vessels, court papers said. It is ranked as the world’s ninth largest container shipping company, transporting 100 million tons of cargo per annum. In the event the bankruptcy filing is recognised by the US court, the chapter 15 filing will block creditors in the US from seizing the company’s assets or launching other legal actions while its foreign bankruptcy proceedings are under way. Under chapter 15, companies can protect their US assets from creditors while they seek to sell their holdings or to restructure in their home countries. Source: Schednet 31-08-2016 Shipper cargoes at risk from Hanjin vessel arrests more... Organisations advise shippers to seek legal advice. THE fallout from the collapse of Hanjin Shipping has yet to affect shippers, but shipper organisations are warning members to seek advice. Global Shippers Forum secretary-general Chris Welsh said members should contact their insurers and legal advisers to take appropriate steps to secure their cargoes. “There are potential problems where creditors may exercise a lien on vessels for unpaid bills,” Mr Welsh said. “Shippers would be best advised to take appropriate legal steps to take control of their goods. They will clearly need to advise customers and potentially make contingency arrangements to meet their contractual obligations to customers.” China Shippers’ Association vice-chairman Cai Jiaxiang said shippers and agents would stop using Hanjin’s ships for fear that their cargoes would be seized along with the ships. “Even though Hanjin’s creditors won’t have claims to the cargoes on board, it will cost a lot for shippers to transport their cargoes from where the ships are seized to their supposed destinations,” Mr Cai said. He added that shippers should pay more attention to contracts’ wording in the wake of the Hanjin fallout. “If shippers use Hanjin’s alliance partners’ services, and those partners put their cargoes on Hanjin ships via space sharing, shippers should be able to claim from those partners if the ships are arrested.” Hong Kong Shippers Council executive director Sunny Ho said there was no indication so far that Hong Kong was denying access to Hanjin ships. He said he understood that insurers had already cautioned clients last week about the risks of using Hanjin ships in the event of the company going into receivership, and that was likely to mitigate the impact. Lloyd’s List 31-08-2016 Hanjin ships remain at sea rather than berth more... Ports report that vessels are staying outside harbours after receivership move. HANJIN Shipping has apparently ordered its ships to stay out of ports in what would appear to be a move to prevent creditors from seizing them. While some port authorities or terminal operators have said they would still be prepared to work Hanjin ships despite the South Korean line’s move into receivership, evidence is mounting that vessels have been instructed to remain at sea. The Marine Exchange of Southern California, which overseas the movement of ships in and out of Los Angeles and Long Beach, said the 10,100 teu Hanjin Greece and 3,400 teu Hanjin Constantza were staying about 25 miles offshore, having been heading to the US. Both are thought to have been told not to enter port, according to local sources. The 7,400 teu Hanjin Boston is also just off the coast. Attention has now turned to the 4,250 teu Hanjin Montevideo, currently berthed in Long Beach and due to sail Thursday morning, and whether it will be allowed to leave. A similar situation to the Hanjin pair that are drifting off the southern California coast was reported in Valencia where terminal operator Noatum had said it was ready to handle the 10,100 teu Hanjin Bosal, only to hear that the ship had been told, presumably by Seoul, not to dock. Ports themselves are divided on how to respond to the crisis. Oakland said the terminal which handles Hanjin ships was still prepared to unload them, and load export containers if full payment is made in advance. But on the other side of the country, Virginia said it would refuse to handle inbound Hanjin cargo although it would accept empty containers. Lloyd’s List 31-08-2016 Hanjin to file for court receivership more... Hyundai Merchant Marine to takeover Hanjin’s core assets, says FSC. SOUTH Korea’s Hanjin Shipping announced that it will file for receivership in light of a decision by its creditors to not extend any more assistance to the shipping line. Hanjin’s creditors led by Korea Development Bank on Tuesday opted not to provide further aid to the cash-strapped group as the self-rescue plan submitted to KDB last Thursday fell short of expectations. Under the plan the Hanjin Group, including Korean Air Lines, may be able to raise about Won400m for Hanjin Shipping. Creditors had asked for at least Won600m, a source among the creditor banks’ representatives, who met on Friday afternoon to discuss the plan, told Lloyd’s List. South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement that Hanjin’s court receivership filing will have limited impact on financial markets as it had been raised as a possible course of action during the shipping line’s restructuring process. It noted that Hanjin shares only comprise 0.03% of shares in Korea’s stock market worth Won401bn of total market capitalisation. The shipping line’s share price has dropped 53.8% to Won1,635 from Won3,540 between January 2 to August 29 this year. “The impact on corporate bond market will be limited as credit ratings of Hanjin Shipping and Korean Airlines have already been factored into the event,” the FSC said. The regulatory authority noted that creditor banks have already made provisions against possible losses on loans, with an extra Won300bn in loan loss provisions estimated to be required by the banks in light of Hanjin filing for receivership. With outstanding issuance of Hanjin’s corporate bonds decreasing during the restructuring process to Won500bn at end-June 2016 from Won2.2trn at end-2013, the FSC said it would make efforts to reduce possible losses for retail investors which own about Won65bn of the company’s debt. Majority of Hanjin’s corporate debt is held by institutional investors such as the KDB. The FSC noted that to alleviate concerns over any fallout for the shipping industry, fellow shipping line Hyundai Merchant Marine will acquire Hanjin Shipping’s key assets such as its vessels, overseas sales network and core workforce to help Hanjin maintain its global competitiveness. South Korea’s government will also try its best to minimise the impact on the shipping and harbour services sectors through measures such as delaying the freight schedule. “In particular, we will encourage the KDB and Hanjin Shipping to arrange additional ships to ensure cargoes are shipped on schedule,” the FSC said. Looking ahead, the FSC as well as the other financial regulatory authorities plan to create a task force to scrutinise movements in the credit and interest rate markets and to keep an eye on liquidity levels of companies related to Hanjin Shipping. The task force will immediately deal with any potential financial risks. Authorities are also working with the policy banks to come up with ways to mitigate any losses faced by Hanjin’s subcontractors as well. “The government will respond preemptively to any potential risk factors that raise uncertainties. We ask all stakeholders to actively share related information and respond to the matter in a swift and systematic manner,” the FSC said. News of Hanjin’s impending receivership came as a shock to outside shipowners who thought they had a deal that domestic creditors would exhaust every possibility to keep Hanjin afloat. One leading shipowner dismayed by the latest turn of events called the move “totally unacceptable”. Danaos Corp played a key role in a group of four major independent tonnage providers that met with KDB on June 26 to try to align their stance towards the troubled company. At that stage the shipowners could have taken action that may well have brought Hanjin down but they opted to support the company in the belief that the Korean banks were committed to ensure its survival. “There was a soft undertaking by KDB that they would do their best together with the sponsor-shareholder to make up the necessary liquidity to enable the company to get through if the foreign owners would comply,” said Danaos chief operating officer Iraklis Prokopakis. Moreover, Seaspan Corporation’s chief executive Gerry Wang clarified to Lloyd’s List that the company was not prepared to reduce charter rates for ships on hire to Hanjin under any circumstances. “Seaspan will never agree to charter rate renegotiations,” Mr Wang. “They have to stay intact.” He reiterated that should Hanjin Shipping take unilateral action to cut charter rates, Seaspan would never have any business contact with the shipping line again. However, Seaspan is willing to help in other ways, said Mr Wang. That could involve, for example, investing in a revamped Hanjin Shipping should a new ownership structure take shape, or ordering ships on behalf of the South Korean line. But nothing could be decided until the outcome of the current crisis is known, he said. A statement issued by Hanjin Group over the weekend said that Hanjin Shipping has made significant progress in talks with charter owners over rate adjustments and discussions with foreign creditors to delay debt repayments. According to a Hanjin official, the statement mentioned that Seaspan had “agreed to adjust the charter rate in alternative ways”, while global financial companies had “expressed consent” regarding Hanjin’s proposal to postpone the repayment of loans, which the shipping line had taken out to finance vessels. Source: Lloyd’s List 26-08-2016 Hapag-Lloyd shareholders approve UASC merger terms more... Two carriers on track to create world’s fifth largest container line. THE merger between Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Co to form the world’s fifth largest container line has moved a step closer. Hapag-Lloyd shareholders approved all items on the agenda at Friday’s annual general meeting, including new authorised share capital. This is to be used for the merger of the two companies, with UASC to be incorporated into Hapag-Lloyd as a contribution in kind, the company said. Shareholders also approved the expansion of the supervisory board from the current 12 members to 16, which is to take place once the merger is concluded. The current majority shareholders of UASC, Qatar Holding and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will each have board representation. The merger is still subject to antitrust approvals. Relevant applications were submitted soon the two carriers signed the business combination agreement. “The pending merger with UASC is another strategic milestone for Hapag-Lloyd. We intend to bring the skills of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC together in such a way that the company is in a stronger position to face both current and future industry challenges,” said Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen. “Hapag-Lloyd is not only growing, it is also becoming more international and, above all, more competitive,” he told some 300 shareholders attending the AGM. “This merger gives us the large vessels we need in order to achieve low transport costs per container. With the investments already made by UASC in these ship classes, Hapag-Lloyd will not need to make any more investments in large vessels in the next few years.” He went on to say that the merger would consolidate Hapag-Lloyd’s position among the world’s five biggest container lines. “We expect the combination of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC to reap us further significant improvements in our profitability and we firmly believe that the merger will allow us to rise to the various industry challenges even better and more strongly than ever before,” he said. Source: Lloyd’s List 21-07-2016 Maersk Line introduces round-the-world service more... Newly expanded Panama Canal locks to help reduce times from Asia to US east coast. MAERSK Line is to introduce the first containerised round-the-world service in recent times in September, when it will utilise the newly enlarged Panama Canal to deploy 11 8,500 teu vessels. Maersk will transform its TP12 service in to a standalone, round-the-world service that it says will provide “significantly faster” transit times between East Asia and the US east coast. The TP12 service will transit the new Panama Canal locks and call the ports of Newark, Norfolk and Baltimore on the US east coast. On the return leg to Asia, the TP12 will go through the Suez Canal and call the ports of Salalah (Oman), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Singapore. “We are changing our TP12 service to provide a better product to shippers in Korea, northern and eastern China. At the same time, we will reduce our CO2 and exhaust gas emissions due to the shorter distance,” said Maersk head of east-west network Klaus Rud Sejling. Maersk is also adding Busan in South Korea to the westbound TP10 service and will connect its TP11 and TP8 services to form a pendulum service that expands the coverage of both services. There will be no changes to the capacity in Maersk’s Asia-US east coast network. Maersk will deploy 11 vessels of 8,500 teu in the new TP12 service and 17 vessels of 8,500 teu in the new TP11/TP8 pendulum service. Taiwan’s Evergreen used to offer round-the-world services but discontinued them in the early years of the last decade. Source: Lloyd’s List – 21 July 2016 14-07-2016 HMM confirms plans to join 2M alliance more... Agreement marks conclusion of debt restructuring programme. HYUNDAI Merchant Marine has confirmed plans to join the 2M alliance of Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co in yet another twist to this unprecedented shake-up of the global container shipping industry. The three lines revealed they were in talks earlier in the month as HMM was completing debt restructuring negotiations. In a statement on Thursday, HMM said it had signed a memorandum of understanding with 2M for providing a joint service to begin from April 2017, after finalising negotiations and approval rocedures in each country. The MOU signed between the three carriers is a binding agreement in regard to HMM’s entry to the 2M vessel-sharing agreement. By accessing the 2M network, HMM will be able to strengthen its service offering and achieve improved cost competitiveness, the line said. The 2M carriers will benefit from a reinforced service competency in Asia and improved network cover in the transpacific trades. HMM said the announcement marked the successful completion of all conditions set out in the voluntary agreement with creditors from March 2016, and in accordance with the completion of such preconditions, the planned debt-for-equity swap by creditors will be executed as planned. “Upon completion of said debt-for-equity swap, the financial structure of HMM will be significantly improved and puts HMM in sound position to meet future challenges,” the statement said. A HMM spokesperson added that the line would work on “increasing operational competency in the second half of this year to continue improving profitability of our company”. MSC said in a statement that the addition of HMM to the 2M vessel sharing agreement “will allow us to offer improved services on our transpacific trade”. The expansion of 2M to three lines has fuelled speculation that Maersk could be interested in buying HMM, once it has had a chance to work with the carrier. Source: Lloyd’s List 29-06-2016 Hapag-Lloyd and UASC agree merger terms more... Update: UASC and Hapag-Lloyd shareholders still to vote on the deal that would create world’s fifth-biggest box line. HAPAG-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Co have agreed merger terms in a move that will form the world’s fifth largest container line. News that the deal was going ahead emerged just hours after CMA CGM had confirmed it controlled more than 90% of NOL shares and was close to finalising the $2.4bn takeover of the Singapore line. In fleet capacity terms, European lines now hold four of the top five positions in the global league table. CMA CGM will close the gap between Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co when it acquires NOL, giving it a combined fleet of 2.4m teu. That compares with Maersk Line’s fleet of almost 3.2m teu, according to Alphaliner, and MSC’s 2.8m teu. Hapag-Lloyd will overtake the former number one carrier Evergreen to move into fifth place with a fleet of 1.5m teu, just behind Cosco whose size was increased when the two Chinese lines merged earlier this year, The two lines issued a brief statement on Tuesday saying that agreement had been reached on the terms and conditions of a Business Combination Agreement providing for the contribution of all shares in UASC to Hapag-Lloyd. “Today, the Supervisory Board of Hapag-Lloyd has approved the transaction subject to the anchor shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC agreeing to assume the commitments levied upon them in the BCA,” said Hapag-Lloyd. However, the conclusion of binding agreements is still subject to the consent of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC shareholders. UASC will hold an extraordinary general meeting to grant such consent which will be held in Dubai on June 29. UASC is owned by a number of Arab states, with Qatar having a majority holding. Hapag-Lloyd shareholders are expected to vote on the deal before the end of August after the BCA has been signed. That is likely to be in the next two or three weeks. But the deal will still need regulatory approval before it can be finalised. In the meantime, thresholds will be set that will trigger compensation from either side should there be a material change of circumstances by one of the parties. Hapag-Lloyd will remain the brand of the line that has gone from being 100% German-owned to one that willl soon have Arab as well as Chilean shareholders. CSAV currently owns just over 31% of Hapag-Lloyd while the City of Hamburg has a 20% stake, as does German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuhne. Tui owns 12% and other shareholders who invested in last year’s IPO have around 15% of the equity. While CMA CGM’s takeover of NOL was, to some extent, expected after the Singapore line was put up for sale by Singapore sovereign fund Temasek, news that Hapag-Lloyd and UASC were in talks came as a shock. The pair announced in April that UASC could become a Hapag-Lloyd shareholder. They said than that the parties were basing their discussions on a relative valuation of the two businesses at 72% for Hapag-Lloyd and 28% for UASC. Hapag-Lloyd has expanded considerably through mergers and acquisitions. In 2005, it bought CP Ships and then more recently combined with the container shipping arm of CSAV. Having under-performed in recent years, it produced stronger financial results last year, helped by the CSAV contribution, and also completed an initial public offering. The deal with UASC gives Hapag-Lloyd access to 18,000 teu-class ships. UASC was one of the first lines to order this size of ship but as a relative newcomer, it lacks the customer base to fill them without partnerships with other lines. It had been a member of Ocean Three alongside CMA CGM and China Shipping, but that alliance is being disbanded. UASC also has a global agreement with Hamburg Süd, Germany’s second-biggest carrier behind Hapag-Lloyd. The next unknown in a rapidly-changing scene is who will be members of The Alliance, which will replace the G6 alliance of which Hapag-Lloyd is a member. The new group is expected to consist of Hapag-Lloyd, the three Japanese lines, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping. Until a few days ago, HMM had also been expected to join. Now, though, HMM is in talks about joining the 2M alliance of Maersk and MSC. Source: Lloyd’s List 14-06-2016 SOLAS container mass verification requirements more... What are the new rules? On 1 July 2016, new requirements to verify the gross mass of a packed container enter into force under the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS). Why have the requirements for verification of the gross mass of the container been introduced? Knowing the accurate gross mass of a packed container is critical to ensure correct stowage and stacking and avoid collapse of container stacks or loss overboard. This is an important safety measure, which is aimed at saving lives and preventing injury and the destruction of property. Is declaration of gross mass a new requirement? There has always been a requirement in SOLAS to declare the gross mass of cargo and containers. The new requirement adds an extra level requiring verification of the mass. This is to ensure that the mass declared is a true reflection of the gross mass of the packed container, in order to avoid injury, cargo damage, loss of containers, and so on. How can the gross mass be verified? The SOLAS regulation allows for two methods to verify the gross mass of packed containers: Method 1. Weighing the packed container using calibrated and certified equipment; or Method 2: Weighing all packages and cargo items, including the mass of pallets, dunnage and other securing material to be packed in the container and adding the tare mass of the container to the sum of the single masses, using a certified method approved by the competent authority of the State in which packing of the container was completed. Method 2 will not be practical for shippers of bulk commodities like iron ore, grain, etc., Who provides the verified gross mass? The shipper is responsible for providing the verified gross mass by stating it in the shipping document and submitting it to the master or his representative and to the terminal representative sufficiently in advance for use in the preparation of the ship stowage plan. Who is the shipper? The shipper is defined as a legal entity or person named on the bill of lading or sea waybill or equivalent multimodal transport document (e.g. “through” bill of lading) as shipper and/or who (or in whose name or on whose behalf) a contract of carriage has been concluded with a shipping company. The shipper may be a manufacturer, ship agent, freight forwarder, etc. What will happen if the verified gross mass is not provided? The verified gross mass is a condition for loading a packed container onto a ship. A packed container, for which the verified gross mass has not been obtained sufficiently in advance to be used in the ship stowage plan, will be denied loading onto a ship to which the SOLAS regulations apply Who decides on the “certified method” of weighing? This is the responsibility of the competent authority of the State in which packing of the container was completed. Who will enforce the regulations? Like other SOLAS provisions, the enforcement of the SOLAS requirements regarding the verified gross mass of packed containers falls within the competence and is the responsibility of the SOLAS Contracting Governments. Contracting Governments acting as port States should verify compliance with these SOLAS requirements. Any incidence of non-compliance with the SOLAS requirements is enforceable according to national legislation. Who pays if the gross mass of a container is not verified? A packed container, for which the verified gross mass has not been obtained sufficiently in advance to be used in the ship stowage plan, will be denied loading onto a ship to which the SOLAS regulations apply. Any costs associated with the non-loading, storage, demurrage or eventual return of the container to the tendering shipper of the container should be subject to contractual arrangements between the commercial parties. What if a container arrives for onward transportation without a verified gross mass? While the shipper is responsible for obtaining and documenting the verified gross mass of a packed container, section 13 of the Guidelines regarding the verified gross mass of a container carrying cargo (MSC.1/Circ.1475) contains contingencies for containers received without a verified gross mass. In order to allow the continued efficient onward movement of such containers, the master or his representative and the terminal representative may obtain the verified gross mass of the packed container on behalf of the shipper. This may be done by weighing the packed container in the terminal or elsewhere, but whether and how to do this should be agreed between the commercial parties, including the apportionment of the costs involved. What will happen with regards to containers loaded prior to 1 July 2016 for transhipment? The Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) at its 96th session in May 2016 agreed that while there should be no delay in the implementation of the SOLAS requirements, it would be beneficial if Administrations and port State control authorities could take a “practical and pragmatic approach” when enforcing them, for a period of three months immediately following 1 July 2016. This would help ensure that containers that are loaded before 1 July 2016, but transhipped on or after 1 July 2016, reach their final port of discharge without a verified gross mass and it would provide flexibility, for three months immediately after 1 July 2016, to all the stakeholders in containerized transport to refine, if necessary, procedures (e.g. updated software) for documenting, communicating and sharing electronic verified gross mass data. The MSC agreed MSC.1/Circ.1548 Advice to Administrations, port State control authorities, companies, port terminals and masters regarding the SOLAS requirements for verified gross mass of packed containers. Where can I find out more? Contact your national maritime Administration for specific advice and guidance: contact points. Please visit the IMO webpage: Verification of the gross mass of a packed container http://www.imo.org/ Source: Lloyds List 30-05-2016 Maersk and MSC to cut number of direct port calls in 2M Asia-North Europe network more... Move will eliminate duplication of port pairs in order to keep transit times competitive. MAERSK Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co are looking to reduce the number of direct port calls in their 2M network between Asia and north Europe to maintain competitive transit times. This will be done via the removal of overlapping port pairs in the network which will raise schedule reliability from slower network speeds as well as create the benefit mentioned above. “We are utilising our scale to deliver a better product. With the largest network and the deployment of an increasingly uniform fleet of ultra large container vessels, we maintain our extensive direct coverage while focusing each service towards best in class transit times to specific markets on the trade,“ said Maersk Line Chief Commercial Officer Vincent Clerc. Fellow shipping company in the 2M alliance Mediterranean Shipping Co, which jointly operates the services with Maersk Line, delved into some of the details such as the Albatros service now including a direct route from North China to Hamburg which will be achieved through the addition of one more 19,000 teu vessel for a total of 12. Links to Scandinavia and the Baltics will also be optimised. The Silk service will also see one more 19,000 teu ship added in for a total of 12. Meanwhile, the Lion service will see a one-ship reduction to a 16-vessel total (each 13,000 teu), the Swan service will see a one-vessel reduction to make 11 ships total (16,000-19,000 teu each), while the Shogun service will see no change to its vessel count of 11 (13,000-19,000 teu range). Some port changes on routes include France’s Le Havre which will be served via the Lion service instead of the Albatros service, MSC told Lloyd’s List. Additionally, England’s Felixstowe will get direct services from Shanghai, Ningbo and Qingdao through changes in the Swan service. MSC’s Antwerp hub will also be added to four of the five loops namely Albatros, Shogun, Lion and Swan. “We’re committed to developing the best product in the market, both in terms of reliability, port coverage and transit time performance,” said MSC senior vice president Caroline Becquart. “The market has undergone considerable change recently, meaning that now more than ever, customers are seeking a stable and reliable partner. We are confident that MSC is best placed to provide this”. Maersk Line and MSC expect the network changes to be fully implemented in the third quarter of the year. Source: Lloyd’s List 17-05-2016 Coscon and CSCL to further integrate container shipping operations more... Integration of transpacific and Asia-Europe routes will start from July 18 and July 25 respectively. China Cosco Container Lines (Coscon) and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) will commence further integration of their shipping operations, having completed the fusion of their Southeast Asia services this week. The aim is to switch services under the CSCL brand into Coscon’s in order to optimise operations and improve customer experience. “After the switch, COSCON will issue a unified format of bill of lading, and will also provide a unified and optimised service for the booking, container pick-up/returning, invoicing et cetera,” Coscon said in a notice. System integration on Africa, South America East Coast services will start from June 15, followed by domestic services from June 27, transpacific services from July 18 and Europe services from July 25. The switch of services on Middle East, South America West Coast Australia, Japan and South Korea, and the rest trades will begin from August 1.Integration plans for foreign trades will kick off from Far East outbound voyages, therefore “the first switch of voyages for most regions will be the return [leg] of specified voyages,” Coscon said. The company said it has set up a detailed table of switch voyages, and its agents around the world will also provide customer guidelines to ensure that integration is carried out smoothly. China Cosco Holding, the Shanghai-and Hong Kong-listed parent of Coscon, acquired all of CSCL’s containership fleet and network earlier this year, as part of the merger plan between Cosco Group and China Shipping Group Source: Lloyd’s list 13-05-2016 Hapag-Lloyd and Asian lines form six-member alliance more... Update: HMM set to join THE Alliance when its business is “normalised”SIX container lines left out of two global alliances have set up a third group as the industry finally settles most of the outstanding uncertainties about who will team up with whom.NYK, Hanjin Shipping, Hapag-Lloyd, K Line, MOL and Yang Ming are forming a new vessel sharing agreement covering the east–west trade lanes. It has been named THE Alliance. Although Hanjin Shipping is included, there is no mention of the other South Korean line, Hyundai Merchant Marine. The new partnership will build one of the leading networks in the container shipping industry combining approximately 3.5m teu which reaches 18% share of the global container fleet capacity, the six lines said. “All six partners operate advanced and competitive fleets with more than 650 ships in total. This will become the basis of a dedicated fleet deployed into the groups’ future service portfolio. Clients will be able to enjoy an outstanding product characterised by fast transit times, high-frequency sailings and expansive port coverage,” they added in a joint statement. Discussions between Hapag-Lloyd and UASC are progressing according to plan, although an agreement on business combination has not yet been reached. It is anticipated that UASC will become part of THE Alliance, which will increase the overall alliance capacity to more than 4m teu. “This agreement is a milestone and will enable the six partners of THE Alliance to offer sailing frequencies and direct coverage in the market,” member carriers said. “The unique product will feature enhanced port coverage in Asia, North America, Europe including the Mediterranean as well as Middle East. The network of THE Alliance will ensure frequent sailings, high reliability and very attractive transit times for all shippers in the east-west trade lanes.” The statement from the six lines had been expected, and there had been hints that not all the so-called orphans would be included in this third force. THE Alliance brings together all three Japanese lines for the first time time. At the moment, both NYK and MOL are in the G6, which will close down next year once the new arrangements are in place. K Line belongs to the CKYHE group which is also being broken up.”The formation of The Alliance is hardly a surprise, as an alliance based on smaller number of carriers would face serious challenges in matching 2M and Ocean Alliance,” said SeaIntel partner Alan Murphy. “An alliance with six members is certainly seen before, and the The Alliance will resemble the G6 alliance in structure, as it will consist of two sets of three carriers coming from two existing alliances, in this case G6 and CKYHE, where G6 was formed of members from the Grand and New World alliances.” Moreover, he added that while further consolidation across the six to eight potential members of The Alliance would strengthen the alliance against the other alliances. “We may be seeing the contours of a long-term stable market structure, as the two new alliances both have agreements lasting at least five year, and 2M is bound together by a 10-year agreement, while the three now former alliances had much shorter commitments.” This extraordinary merry-go-round started last year when CMA CGM won the bidding for NOL, a deal that should be finalised in the next few months. The French line said at the time that NOL’s liner arm APL would eventually joint it in Ocean Three. But then the decision was taken to dismantle Ocean Three, with CMA CGM and fellow member China Shipping breaking away to form the Ocean Alliance with Evergreen and OOCL. China Shipping had already merged with Cosco. The next twist in the tale came when the third member of Ocean Three, UASC, revealed it was in merger talks with Hapag-Lloyd. The shake-up left a number of lines effectively on the shelf, and it is those that have now come together, with the exception of HMM, currently a member of the G6 alliance. “I would say it was inevitable after Ocean Alliance that most remaining major carriers would come together,” said Drewy Maritime Equity Research director Raul Kapoor. “Does this address any industry profitability or supply demand balance? Unlikely. The musical chairs seem complete for the time being. HMM is currently discussing its entry into THE Alliance in early June, when it is scheduled to complete its business normalisation, the Korean line said in a statement. “HMM understands that today’s announcement of the establishment of THE Alliance is tentative by its nature, and its member companies are yet to be finalised,” it said. HMM’s entrance into THE Alliance is only being postponed as there have been several media reports since the beginning of this year about the possibility that HMM might be under court receivership. The current members of THE Alliance is going to determine HMM’s participation once HMM’s business is normalised.” HMM said it would complete its ongoing charter negotiations and debt adjustment via a scheduled bondholders’ meeting. HMM will also execute debt-equity swap for creditors to promptly normalise its business, the shipping line said in its statement. “It is interesting to note that HMM have not been included in the first official announcement of the alliance, as some rumours over the past weeks were expecting them to be included, but it seems they may join the alliance if they manage to sort out their current debt challenges,” Mr Murphy said. “Being left out would certainly not help with the challenges that HMM is facing, and could create additional concern amongst their potential customers. UASC is not technically “out” of the alliance, as they may be included once the Hapag-Lloyd and UASC merger discussions have reached a conclusion. “So in the end, we may end up with an alliance consisting of all eight carriers “left behind” from the Ocean Alliance shake-up, and it does seem from the outside that an alliance with that many members may find tactical decisions to be a challenge.” Source: Lloyd’s List 22-04-2016 Hapag-Lloyd and UASC in merger talks more... Box line consolidation accelerates as Qatar-controlled carrier aims to take shareholding in Hapag-Lloyd. HAPAG-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Co are in talks to merge, the two lines announced a day after another major shake-up in the container shipping industry. The German line, which has been at the forefront of consolidation activity, said in a stock exchange notice on Thursday that UASC could become one of its shareholders. “Hapag-Lloyd and United Arab Shipping Company are currently discussing forms of co-operation, including a potential combination of their mutual container shipping operations,” they said. “In case of a business combination, the parties are basing their discussions on a relative valuation of the two businesses at 72% (HL) and 28% (UASC), subject to a mutually satisfactory completion of the negotiations and the mutual due diligence exercise. “To date, the discussions conducted between the two carriers have not resulted in any binding agreement and no assurance can be given that these discussions will lead to a definitive agreement.” Both lines had been caught up in other sweeping changes taking place throughout the industry that left the G6 alliance, to which Hapag-Lloyd belongs, weakened. At the same time, Ocean Three member UASC has been left out of the larger Ocean Alliance unveiled on Wednesday by CMA CGM, Cosco, Evergreen and OOCL. Hapag-Lloyd has expanded considerably through mergers and acquisitions. In 2005, it bought CP Ships and then more recently combined with the container shipping arm of CSAV. Having underperformed in recent years, it produced stronger financial results last year, helped by the CSAV contribution, and also completed an initial public offering. The deal gives Hapag-Lloyd access to 18,000 teu-class ships. UASC was one of the first lines to order this size of ship but as a relative newcomer, it lacks the customer base to fill them without partnerships with other lines. Hapag-Lloyd, on the other hand, is part of the shipping establishment, with strong customer accounts, but the line has held back from ordering ships of 18,000 teu or more for a variety of reasons. Nevertheless, chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen has said the Hamburg line would need a few of these large vessels eventually. Commenting on the news, SeaIntel’s Alan Murphy said from a network and vessel perspective, “it makes perfect sense”. The perceived weakness with Hapag-Lloyd was its lack of large vessels, which UASC has. For UASC, the deal provides access to deepsea routes and customers that it needs in order to fully utilise its fleet of large ships, said Mr Murphy. “UASC has always said it wanted to expand and this will do it,” he added. Source: Lloyds List 20-04-2016 CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line to establish “OCEAN Alliance” more... CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line today signed a Memorandum of Understanding to form a new Alliance enabling each of them to offer competitive products and comprehensive service networks covering the Asia-Europe, Asia-Mediterranean, Asia-Red Sea, Asia-Middle East, Trans-Pacific, Asia-North America East Coast, and Trans-Atlantic trades. This is a milestone agreement among four of the world’s leading container shipping lines. Each line will offer best-in-class services to customers with fast transit times, competitive sailing frequencies, and the most extensive port coverage in the market. “This new partnership will allow each of its members to bring significantly improved services to its respective customers,” member carriers said in a statement. “Shippers will have an attractive selection of frequent departures and direct calls to meet their supply chain needs, including access to a vast network with the largest number of sailings and port rotations connecting markets in Asia, Europe and the United States.” “The Alliance will also bring service reliability and the most efficient integration of the latest vessels in a fleet of over 350 containerships. Initially the deployment will cover more than 40 services globally mostly connected with Asia, including about 20 services each in the U.S. and Europe related trades.” Subject to regulatory approvals of competent authorities, the new Alliance plans to begin operations in April 2017. The initial period of the Alliance shall be five years. “The Ocean Alliance is a very ambitious operational agreement. CMA CGM, and its new partners, will offer more than 40 maritime loops, providing its customers with an enhanced network of services and fast transit times.” Further details about the new Alliance and the transition plans from the four member lines in their current alliances will be communicated to stakeholders and the market in due course. Source: CMA CGM 8-04-2016 Automation arrives in Long Beach with first ship call at new terminal more... THE arrival of the 7,700 teu OOCL Long Beach at Pier E in Long Beach on Thursday marked the start of vessel operations at the Californian port’s highly-automated Middle Harbor facility. Long Beach Container Terminal, owned by Orient Overseas Container Line’s parent company, will utilise some of the world’s most advanced cargo-handling processes. Robotics are rare in US container ports although the TraPac terminal in nearby Los Angeles has introduced automation. OOCL and Long Beach Container Terminal signed a 40-year $4.6bn lease with the Port of Long Beach in 2012. Long Beach port is investing $1.2bn to develop the 300-acre site while OOCL and LBCT are spending approximately $500m on cargo handling equipment. The new terminal will eventually be able to handle more than 3m teu a year. It combines two older berths, Pier F and Pier E, into one terminal that will triple capacity from the current 1m teu. LBCT has occupied Pier F since 1986 and is now the tenant for the enlarged facility. The whole project is due to be completed by 2019. Phase one of the development will add about 10% more container capacity to the port and enable LBCT to handle 18,000 teu-class vessels. Another Long Beach terminal, Pier J, recently received the 18,000 teu CMA CGM Benjamin Franklin. No official opening is planned at this stage, with the terminal wanting to thoroughly check equipment and processes first, Containerisation International understands. Source: Lloyd’s List 17-03-2016 NileDutch Buys Safmarine MVP, Expands Presence in West Africa more... Rotterdam-based container line NileDutch has acquired the Europe to West Africa services and operations from Safmarine MPV, a multi-purpose vessel business owned by Maersk Line. NileDutch will continue Safmarine’s Europe to West Africa services when the company’s vessels start sailing on the route in April. The service will focus on Europe – West Africa trade, as direct calls from numerous ports are expected to accommodate the full range of cargoes, including containers, breakbulk, neo-bulk, project modules and oil and gas-related cargoes. “The extension of our service offering delivered by this transaction will enable NileDutch to enhance its operational competiveness in global shipping. With so many infrastructure projects underway in especially West Africa, this multipurpose offering gives NileDutch a real edge and will allow us to seize more business opportunities in the fields of energy equipment, infrastructure, mining and agriculture,” said NileDutch COO Jan Willem de Braal. This acquisition marks the complete divestment of Safmarine MPV after the company sold its owned vessels in 2015. The divestment was announced in the Maersk Group 2015 Annual Report, according to Jorg Knuttel, Managing Director of Safmarine MPV. Source: World Maritime News 26-02-2016 NileDutch Upgrades the Europe-West Africa Trade more... Starting in March, NileDutch, the container carrier specialized in connections to and from West Africa, will upgrade its services from Europe to West Africa by operating two loops. Port rotation – WEWA The existing West Europe – West Africa Service, known as WEWA, will be upgraded to weekly sailings and will start on March 9, with the following port rotation: Antwerp – Le Havre – Leixoes by rail to Lisbon – Lisbon – Algeciras – Tanger – Pointe Noire – Luanda – Lobito – Namibe – Abidjan – Tanger – Antwerp. Port rotation – EUWA A new service to Dakar and Abidjan will provide extra loading ports. This new Europe West Africa service (EUWA) will start on March 6 with the following port rotation: Dunkerque – Tilbury – Antwerp – Dunkerque – Le Havre – Montoir – Tanger – Algeciras – Dakar – Abidjan – Dakar – Algeciras – Dunkerque. NileDutch’s West African network Pointe Noire (Congo) will serve as NileDutch’s hub for shipments to and from Douala, Libreville, Bata, Malabo, Boma, Matadi, Cabinda and Soyo. 20-01-2016 Abu Dhabi Ports posts record cargo volumes for 2015 more... ABU Dhabi Ports said its 2015 cargo volumes had surpassed the previous record set in 2014 amid strong volumes in its container cargo, general and bulk cargo and ro-ro segments as well as more investments in the Khalifa Industrial Zone. The group’s Khalifa Port Container Terminal saw container volumes for 2015 rise 32% to about 1.5m teu from around 1.1m teu in 2014, while ro-ro traffic increased 27% to 134,272 vehicles versus 106,071 vehicles in 2014. Ro-ro traffic had benefited from enhanced yard and terminal facilities and services after operations were shifted entirely to Khalifa Port from Zayed Port last year to cope with growing demand. General and bulk cargo volumes rose 20% to 15.3m freight tonnes from 12.8m freight tonnes in 2014 amid increasing import and export activities due to industrial and infrastructure development projects in the emirate. Cruise tourism too, saw growth with a 16% rise to 170,360 passengers visiting the emirate versus 146,997 passengers in 2014. Zayed Port’s new Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal is expected to boost cruise passenger growth even further this year, the group said. The group noted that 21 standard musataha agreements were inked at Khalifa Industrial Zone last year with national and international investors as well as three plot-extension SMAs with existing investors, representing over 1.3m sq m of land leased in 2015. A musataha agreement is a type of land lease contract with a 50-year lease period which may be renewed for an additional 50 years. Abu Dhabi Ports has also signed pacts with the Industrial Development Bureau of Abu Dhabi’s Department of Economic Development, and SACE Group–Italian Export Credit Agency, to attract more investments into the emirate’s trade and industrial hub. “Abu Dhabi Ports’ business focus is to deliver value to customers by supporting their thriving businesses through its integrated services and offerings. We are proud to be in a position to support the economic growth being witnessed in the emirate and intend to continuously invest in enabling the nation’s maritime trade and industrial development,” said Abu Dhabi Ports chief executive Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi. The group recently opened the upgraded Al Mirfa port in the emirate’s Western Region and was in the process of redeveloping Mugharrag port, Delma port and Sir Bani Yas in an effort to diversify economic activities. The three ports’ upgrades are expected to be completed by 2017. Source: Lloyd’s List 5-01-2016 Gulftainer’s Khorfakkan port breaks world box productivity record more... GULFTAINER’s Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT) reckons it has the world productivity record having performed 4,073 container moves in a single 12-hour shift, reports Dubai’s Arabian Supply Chain. This achievement has debunked the belief that the 6,000 moves in a 24-hour period target for shipping lines since the advent of the mega ship is not possible. The full operation consisted of an 8,288 container (13,005 TEU) exchange, inclusive of 10-high deck stowage, on the port call of the 18,000-TEU CMA-CGM Georg Forster. KCT terminal staff completed the operation in 36.4 hours, resulting in gross moves per hour (GMPH) of 227.7 and berth moves per hour (BMPH) of 223.4, allowing the vessel to sail for Shenzhen-Yantian ahead of schedule with a 15,765 TEU on board. “KCT is renowned for its high productivity levels, and has demonstrated its ability to handle mega vessels,” said Daniel Wright, Gulftainer’s terminal manager at KCT. “This further establishes its credentials as mega-ship ready, and underlines the skills of the staff at the terminal who are ready to complete such a large call in record time.” Said CMA CGM vice president Nicolas Sartini: “We are always impressed how KCT is able to constantly improve its productivity. This further validates our choice to select Khorfakkan as our main hub for cargo moving to the Middle East from Europe and Asia.” Earlier this year, KCT set a new record for the handling of the largest single unloading and loading of a single vessel call at its Khorfakkan Container Terminal (KCT), at 19,561 TEU, and it recently received the Shipping Port of the Year honour at the 2015 Supply Chain & Transport Awards (SCATA). Due to its unique location, seaward of the Strait of Hormuz on the Gulf of Oman, the terminal is one of the most important transshipment hubs for the Arabian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent and the East African markets. Source: HKSG 10-12-2015 Cosco and China Shipping merger plan receives Beijing approval more... THE long-awaited merger plan between Cosco and China Shipping, China’s two largest shipping conglomerates, has finally received the go-ahead from China’s State Council. A preliminary scheme will likely be disclosed by the listed units of the pair on Friday. The new entity, named China Cosco Shipping Group, will be based in Shanghai, local media Caixin reported, quoting a source close to Cosco. Lloyd’s List earlier reported the two giants are likely to receive Beijing’s approval for their draft merger plan at the end of this year, according to a person familiar with the matter. The person also said the two state-owned conglomerates might start merging their different segments, including bulker, tanker, boxship and ports all at the same time. The fusion of the pair en bloc would create a behemoth with total assets around Yuan542bn ($84.2bn) and revenue of Yuan245bn, according to the companies’ 2013 data. In container shipping, the new group CCSG will become the world’s fourth largest operator, with a market share of 7.8%, according to statistics from Industrial Securities. In the bulker sector, the consolidation would create the largest bulk carrier fleet in the world of 319 ships, or a combined capacity of 30.8m dwt, leading the Japanese Big Three: NYK, K-Line and MOL. CCSG is also expected to replace Teekay Corp’s lead in tanker fleet size. It will have 108 vessels carrying wet cargoes with a capacity of 14.6m dwt. It has been more than four months since the listed units of Cosco and CSG, including China Cosco Holdings and China Shipping Development, collectively entered into trading halt of their shares. The move followed shortly after news that the pair had jointly set up a working group to iron out a draft merger plan. Leading the team is CSG chairman Xu Lirong, who previously served in Cosco for 36 years, ultimately as deputy president of Cosco before switching his employer in 2011. Source: Lloyd’s List 1-12-2015 Cosco-China Shipping merger stands to trigger global industry consolidation more... CHINA’s shipping giants, Cosco and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL), plan to create the fourth-largest container line in a merger that could trigger worldwide industry consolidation, reports the Wall Street Journal. Beijing’s wants to consolidate state-owned giants in many industries to better compete with global rivals. Discussions in China have dragged on as the companies look for a way to combine without eliminating jobs, which would make winning government approval difficult. “The thumbs up from Beijing could come by the end of the year or in January, and a formal announcement of the merger will follow,” said one informed source. “It’s been a complicated matter, with the priority to avoid layoffs.” The two container shipping companies have lost US$911 million over five years, according to London-based Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd. Cosco operates 175 box ships and CSCL has 156, making them the world’s sixth- and seventh-biggest, handling eight per cent of global volumes, putting it behind Denmark’s Maersk and Switzerland’s Mediterranean Shipping Co and France’s CMA CGM. Mergers now appear to be in the offing. CMA CGM and Maersk are in talks with Singapore’s Neptune Orient Lines and its box carrier APL – with CMA CGM favoured to buy the company, said the Journal report. “I think we are standing in front of a new wave of consolidation for the first time in 10 years because the market is very weak,” Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou said in an interview. China is also pressing China Merchants Energy Shipping Co and Sinotrans & CSC Holdings Co to merge some units, though talks are still at an early stage. A combination of China Merchants and Sinotrans would double their revenue, creating a significant logistics-service competitor in China. The merged entity would also become the world’s biggest tanker company, according to Citi Research. Some analysts say consolidation among China’s shipping lines won’t make them more efficient or profitable, as a larger state-controlled company would have even less incentive to change. “This is not a plain-vanilla merger of two companies, but of two large companies, where the large get larger with preferential access to cargoes and a quasi-sovereign blessing,” said Basil Karatzas, whose New York-based Karatzas Marine Advisors & Co. works with some of the world’s biggest shipping companies. Source: HKSG 24-11-2015 CMA CGM holds exclusive acquisition talks with Neptune Orient Lines more... SINGAPORE’s Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) has confirmed that it is in exclusive talks with CMA CGM over the possible sale of the company to the French shipping line. NOL, whose ships operate under the APL brand, said on Saturday that it has, with its single biggest shareholder, Lentor Investments, a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore’s Temasek state-run investment fund, “entered into an exclusivity agreement with CMA CGM with respect to a potential acquisition of NOL by way of pre-conditional voluntary general offer”. The statement said that CMA CGM has been given until December 7 to complete a due diligence review and negotiate the definitive agreements for the offer. “There is no assurance that such negotiation will result in any definitive agreement or transaction or that any offer for NOL will be made,” the statement added. If the deals go through, it would be one of the biggest acquisitions in the shipping container industry in years. Thee deal would bring the French line close in size to Mediterranean Shipping Company, the market number two. NOL announced on November 7 that it was in talks with both CMA CGM and Denmark’s shipping giant, AP Moller-Maersk over a potential sale. Maersk declined to comment on why it had pulled out of contention to take NOL over, the Financial Times reported. CMA CGM – which is private and controlled by the Marseilles-based founding Saade family – said that if the discussions led to an agreement the combination would contribute to the consolidation of container shipping at a time when scale was more critical than ever. “It would further reinforce CMA CGM as a global force in container shipping, leveraging the strong geographic and operational complementarily of both groups,” the company said. According to Alphaliner, the Paris-based container shipping information service, APL controls 2.7 per cent of the world container shipping fleet, while CMA CGM operates 8.8 per cent. The combined company would be far closer than at present to MSC’s 13.4 per cent of the world fleet. A merger would also help CMA CGM’s Ocean 3 alliance – which includes China Shipping and United Arab Shipping, the market numbers seven and 15 – to compete more effectively. The 2M alliance of Maersk and MSC is the most powerful industry alliance, the FT report added. NOL – which took over the US’s APL in 1997 – is stronger than CMA CGM in routes between Asia and North America. The shipping line reported a US$95.6 million net loss for the third quarter, on revenue down 28 per cent to $1.21 billion. Source: HKSG 19-11-2015 UASC says formation of mega carrier will not affect its China Shipping vessel sharing more... The impending merger of China Shipping Container Lines and Cosco is expected to trigger another alliance reshuffle, but United Arab Shipping Co president and chief executive Jorn Hinge says it will have no bearing on its big ship partnership with CSCL.While he fully admits that it will undoubtedly have an impact on the Ocean Three consortium in some shape or form, Mr Hinge said that the pair’s string of 18,000 teu-19,000 teu ships will be rolled out as planned on the Asia-Europe trade, while the carriers’ joint operations on other routes will continue.“China Shipping and UASC will continue to share a number of assets on many trades, which of course complicates matters if we are not part of the same alliance but it is not impossible,” he said.The long-term agreement, as part of the lines’ Ocean Three obligations, is for a total of 11 ships in this class range with CSCL supplying five vessels and UASC the other six. Mr Hinge said that the remainder of these behemoths from either carrier are due to be delivered by the end of 2016, regardless of the merger. UASC currently has three vessels in service with another due to hit the water before the end of 2015, while its final two are expected to follow in January and February of next year respectively.Given UASC’s strong and long lasting relationship with CSCL, cemented by their vessel sharing agreement, Mr Hinge believes that the Dubai-based carrier will continue to co-operate with the Chinese mega carrier if indeed the partnership does come to fruition, a scenario he fully expects.In terms of the future of Ocean Three, however, he is as in the dark as the rest of us as everyone is waiting to see how the Cosco/CSCL deal pans out.Mr Hinge points to how the merger will impact not just Ocean Three but also the CKYHE alliance with Cosco being a partner, while the potential takeover of APL by Maersk Line or CMA CGM will affect the G6 Alliance.“I think it is very likely that there will be a reshuffling of the alliances as we saw before,” he said. Before talk of the Cosco and CSCL merger emerged earlier this year, there were murmurings of Hamburg Süd potentially joining the Ocean Three party.If there is to be an alliance shake-up then Mr Hinge says that UASC is still very much open to teaming up with the German carrier.“There is always talk and it may even happen one day, who knows, but for now we don’t even know what will happen next year and who is going to join whom. “We have a fantastic relationship with Hamburg Süd and we certainly want this to continue in the years to come.“We have a very strong co-operation now whereby Hamburg-Sud takes slots on the east-west trades and we take space on the north-south and can we expand that co-operation.“In this world never say never. We get on very well so why not?” Source: Lloyd’s List 16-09-2015 Cosco and China Shipping Group merger a step closer more... Cosco Group and China Shipping Group have completed a draft merger plan, and are awaiting Beijing’s approval, raising hopes that the two state conglomerates might soon unveil their consolidation scheme. The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, which oversees the country’s state-owned enterprises, is currently reviewing the draft, based on the guidelines for state-owned enterprise reform that Beijing released on Sunday, a person close to SASAC told local media 21th Century Business Herald. The guidelines call for broad reforms, including allowing SASAC to establish its own investment arms, in parts similar to Singapore’s Temasek system. The news comes after the announcements from the major listed units of Cosco and CSG that their stocks may begin trading again within a month. Shanghai- and Hong Kong-listed China Cosco Holdings, which has suspended trading since August 10, said its parent is planning a material event that involves “asset reorganisation”, according to exchange filings. “An application has been made by the company to further suspend trading in the shares of the company from Wednesday, September 16, 2015. It is expected that the remaining time of the suspension of trading will not exceed one month,” stated one exchange filing. Meanwhile, other listed units including Cosco Shipping, China Shipping Development and China Shipping Container Lines have all made similar announcements. The collective trading halts were initially announced early last month after local media disclosed that Cosco and CSG had set up a joint group to advance the long-anticipated merger between the two industry giants. The group is expected to come up with a preliminary consolidation plan between October to November, while full integration will likely start in 2017. Observers have speculated that Beijing will create a higher-level holding company to oversee the merger. Others think that the government might designate one senior executive to take the helm of both companies during the period leading up to an eventual merger. Source: Lloyd’s List 7-09-2015 Maersk to phase out one Asia-Europe service more... Lower-than-expected demand on the Asia to Europe trade will see Maersk phase out one of its core services later this month. Lars Jensen, chief executive officer for the Asia Pacific region at Maersk Line, told Lloyd’s Loading List.com that volume growth on the critical trade artery from Asia to Europe had been “less than expected” so far in 2015. “We’re in peak season now, but we’ve seen in Q2 that demand into Europe has slowed and our expectations for global growth for 2015 are a bit down,” he said. “Our latest figures for July show trade to Europe was down compared to 2014. “Our loadings have increased during the peak season over the last few months, but it has been a bit lower than anticipated.” From the middle of next month this will see the cessation of the AE9 loop, which will be replaced by a seasonal service as part of Maersk’s East West Network optimisation process, which was announced in mid-August. Jensen said the new schedule would enable better capacity utilisation in peak and low seasons. “We have been making some adjustments to our East-West network since its launch in January,” he said. “We’ll take out the AE9 service and bring in the seasonal string depending on demand. We have other overlap loops covering the AE9 ports. “This is not like a blank sailing where you lose a port call. The seasonal string gives us flexibility to add capacity or remove it when bookings are slow. So after the peak season in mid-September we’ll stop AE9 for the slack season, but when demand is up again, maybe for Chinese New Year, we’ll reintroduce it.” Jensen said the Trans-Pacific market was performing far better than Asia-Europe. “We see differences between Europe and the US,” he added. “China and South East Asia into North America is seeing a seasonal upswing now. There is no doubt that the Pacific trade is growing faster than Europe.” Jensen declined to comment on capacity reductions by rival lines. “We see the announcement of capacity reductions in newspapers, but I can only speak about AE9,” he said. “But rates will continue to be under pressure as we said in our Q2 results. We don’t see a massive increase in rates. When rates are slow lines need to act. But Asia-Europe has been like this for the last two years.” He also admitted that violent fluctuation of rates on key trades was a major resource drain both for lines and customers. “There is no doubt that it takes resources to manage fluctuations in prices, whether that’s adjustments up or down,” he explained. “If we can take that out it would be great. But it’s a supply and demand situation and, at the moment, it’s just one of the costs of doing business. It would be great if it was more stable to avoid administration costs, but we have to competitive in the market and if this means extra work, then it means extra work.” He also said shipper demands for improved service quality were not always supported by a willingness to pay extra. “We tried this with Daily Maersk, but we had to back off because it turned out very quickly that while customers wanted reliability and stability, they weren’t willing to pay for it,” said Jensen. “Maybe Daily Maersk was a bit ahead of its time. Customers didn’t want to pay for it. So we took it off the shelf.” Source: Lloyd’s Loadinglist 1-09-2015 Swire Shipping upgrades Asia-Pacific services more... SINGAPORE-based Swire Shipping has increased the number of trips made by its liner services to and from ports in Southeast Asia and Australasia. The company’s Trans-Tasman route, which serves New Zealand and Australia, will provide a 15-day frequency, while there will be 12 additional trips to Brisbane direct from New Zealand. The liner shipping firm will also host six direct sailings each month between Brisbane and Lae, Papua New Guinea, up from four previously. Additionally, Swire Shipping will bring back a regular service linking Brisbane to key ports in the region including that of the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore. “These enhancements to our services allow us to provide our customers with greater frequency, significantly improved transit times and enhance our network coverage across the region,” said Jeremy Sutton, Swire Shipping general manager for Liner Trades. In July the company launched an express service between north Asia, Papua New Guinea and Australia named the North Asia Express. Source: Lloyd’s List 17-08-2015 Cosco and CSCL merger ‘makes financial sense’ more... The mooted merger between Cosco and CSCL makes financial sense but will have huge implications for competition in the container shipping industry, according to Drewry Maritime Research. The two state-owned Chinese shipping giants, the world’s sixth and seventh largest container shipping firms according to Alphaliner, saw shares in their listed units suspended last week as reports that they were in talks with government officials over a possible merger multiplied. A combined Cosco-CSCL entity would be the world’s fourth largest container shipping company and generate huge financial efficiencies – the two carriers have racked up $911 million in operating losses (EBIT) from container operations over the last five years. “The rationale for a merger is entirely sound from a financial viewpoint and calls into question why China has persisted with the two-carrier strategy for so long,” said Drewry. “It makes little sense to have two national carriers competing fiercely against one nother and against non-Chinese carriers in the same markets.” If a merger did happen, Drewry also expects it would have a domino effect on the existing alliance structure of the container shipping industry and could see other Asian countries follow China’s lead, with Japanese and Taiwanese carriers the most likely to seek consolidation of their national carriers, strategies that could undermine competition in the sector. “There is a hint of double-standards about this story as it was Chinese competition regulators that blocked the proposed P3 alliance between the world’s three largest carriers Maersk Line, MSC and CMA CGM in 2014,” added Drewry. “It seems now that China is happy for the number of major carriers to shrink by one. “Operational alliances, which arguably maintain competition and help reduce costs, are the subject of misdirected criticism by some regulators and some shipper groups. A more serious competition risk – the reduction in the number of carrier competitors – seems to be encouraged by governments.” Source: Lloyd’s Loading List 13-08-2015 Tianjin port activities disrupted by huge explosions more... Significant disruption of onshore operations and port shipping traffic is likely in the wake of massive explosions near Tianjin port last night, which left at least 44 people dead and hundreds injured. Lloyd’s List reports that oil tankers and ships carrying hazardous products have been barred from calling at the port, with shipments of other bulk cargo also disrupted. The Tianjin Maritime Safety Administration (TMSA) confirmed that port operations were halted for six hours early today, as workers stayed away from dock areas on worries over hazardous pollutants and dust after the explosion, Lloyd’s List reports, but traffic resumed after 07.00 local time, except for tankers and vessels carrying hazardous goods. It said the Beigangchi area, which handles containers, crude and general cargo and others, had allowed ships to leave but not to enter, according to the TMSA. The blasts reportedly occurred at around 23.30 last night in a warehouse that was storing “dangerous goods”, according to government-owned Xinhua news agency. The owner of the warehouse was identified as Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics, whose website says it is a government-approved company specialising in dangerous goods, Lloyd’s List reports. Two explosions, the second larger than the first and separated by 30 seconds, sent shock waves that were reportedly felt several kilometres away. As well as a city with 15 million people, Tianjin is home to the world’s tenth-largest container port, with throughput of 14.1m teu in 2014, up 8% from the year before, Lloyd’s List said. In a statement this morning to Lloyd’s Loading List.com, the main subsidiary of the port’s main government-owned operator Tianjin Port Group, Hong Kong-listed Tianjing Port Development, said: “At around 11.20 pm on 12 August 2015, an explosion occurred at a warehouse for dangerous materials owned by Rui Hai Company, located in the area of Tianjin Port International Logistics Centre in the Binhai New Area of Tianjin. “The municipal committee and the municipal government of Tianjin have been coordinating the rescue and dealing with the aftermath on-site. After due enquiry, it is confirmed that Rui Hai Company is not a subsidiary or an associated company of the Group, and currently the port operations of the Group are normal. “The Group is in the process of assessing the loss on the Group caused by the Accident. Based on the preliminary assessment, the Group anticipated that the Accident will not cause any material loss to the Group.” The port area has a number of logistics and manufacturing facilities. Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has operations in the auto terminal in Tianjin and a vehicle-processing centre, Lloyd’s List reports. WWL spokesperson said WWL staff had been unharmed, and its joint-venture terminal and vehicle-processing centre had only suffered some smaller material damage to buildings. Reuters reported that vast areas of the port were devastated, with “crumpled shipping containers thrown around like match sticks”, hundreds of new cars torched and port buildings left as burnt-out shells, according to witnesses. It said the cause of the blasts was unknown, but noted that industrial accidents are not uncommon in China following three decades of breakneck economic growth. China’s President Xi Jinping said in a statement carried by official Chinese media that those responsible should be “severely handled”. Chinese media outlet CCTV said at least one person at a “relevant company” had been detained, Reuters reported. Reuters said city officials had met recently with companies to discuss tightening safety standards on the handling of dangerous chemicals. The Tianjin Administration of Work Safety posted a notice about the meeting with companies at the port on its website a week ago. Reuters said that despite the devastation, the port was operating normally, a port official said. Tianjin port is the gateway to northern China’s industrial belt. According to an assessment by government environmental inspectors published in 2014, the Tianjin Dongjiang Port Ruihai International Logistics facility where the explosions came from was designed to store several dangerous and toxic chemicals including butanone, an explosive industrial solvent, sodium cyanide and compressed natural gas. Source: Lloyd’s Loading List 11-08-2015 China Orders Cosco-China Shipping Merger more... Beijing has ordered two of China’s leading container lines – China COSCO and China Shipping group – to merge in a bid to recover from a slump in the industry, according to the South China Morning Post. The proposed merger is expected to be a rather complicated process due a tangle of stock listings and distinct earnings records. However, rumours have already sparked a share price jump from between 10% and 24%. One source for companies said: “Unlike the merger between China CNR and CSR, which took a bottom-up approach to pen a deal and were combined via an asset swap at the listed companies’ level, the shipping companies will have to study a top-down avenue, consolidating the parent companies first.” A second source was reported as saying: “Unlike train making, China’s shipping companies operate in a global market. A government-ordered merger will definitely raise alarms to competition authorities worldwide.” China Cosco has recently been involved with the order of ten 19,000 TEU ships at a total cost of US$1.4 billion in a bid to dominate the world’s busiest trade lanes. China Cosco and CSCL rank as the world’s sixth and seventh largest respectively by fleet size but are said to belong to different operational Blocks. Source: Porttechnology 30-06-2015 Hamburg port logistics group gears up to handle bigger ships more... Hamburg port logistics group, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), has announced orders for a total of five new container gantry cranes capable of handling 20,000-teu capacity vessels. Three cranes will be installed at HHLA’s Burchardkai terminal, and two at its Tollerort terminal. “The number of ultra large vessels calling at our Hamburg terminals is continuing to increase. The new cranes provide us with additional capacity and flexibility, allowing us to continue handling vessels with the high level of productivity that our customers are used to,” explained Dr. Stefan Behn, a member of HHLA’s Executive Board. “The purchase of the cranes is part of our long-term programme to adapt to ship sizes and to increase productivity. At the same time, we ensure with numerous measures a more efficient coordination of traffic – both at the quayside and at the hinterland,” he added. HHLA’s first quarter figures show that its seaborne container volumes fell by 6.2 % on the same period last year to just over 1.7 million teu, and was attributed to “a decrease in the volatile feeder traffic and a lower degree of capacity utilisation of the liner services.” Feeder traffic with Russia alone declined by approximately 40%, due to geopolitical and economic factors. The decline in seaborne containers contrasted with HHLA’s intermodal traffic whose rail and road transport subsidiaries lifted their volumes by 9.3% to 333,000 teu. “Our intermodal companies have performed particularly well and are playing an increasingly important role within the group. This once again shows that our strategy of vertical alignment along the transport chain is successful,” said HHLA’s Executive Board chairman, Klaus-Dieter Peters. “Over the course of the year, we expect to see volumes recover in the (sea) container segment, and a slight slowdown in the volume dynamics for the intermodal segment,” he added. Source: Lloyd’s List 17-06-2015 Hecksher Copenhagen is moving to new premises more... 1-06-2015 Maersk closing in on 20,000 teu boxship order more... Danish line expected to conclude details with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering this month. Maersk is expected to formally announce an order for a series of 20,000 teu ships any time now, ending months of speculation about plans to add to its Triple-E fleet with vessels of similar capacity. Order book data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence lists six 20,000 teu ships, with their IMO numbers, to be built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, for delivery in 2017. The client is named as AP Moller-Maersk, with the ships to fly the Danish flag. Maersk has not yet commented on the reports or confirmed it is the line behind the order, but has made no secret of its intention to invest in more ultra large containerships. As rumours surfaced a few weeks ago, DSME issued a statement saying it was in talks with a European owner for a deal possibly involving at least 10 large boxships. That followed reports in a number of media outlets saying Maersk had picked DSME for a series of 20,000 teu vessels. DSME, which has built the 18,270 teu Triple-E ships for Maersk, stressed at the time that details were not yet finalised. The design is expected to be somewhat different from the twin-propulsion Triple-E vessels, with a single engine instead. The container stack below deck may also be one higher than on the Triple-E ships. The new vessels are not expected to have an LNG fuel option, unlike the UASC vessels. Maersk Line chief executive Søren Skou would not be drawn on the possible order when he spoke to Lloyd’s List last month, other than to repeat that the line would not be able to keep up with market growth unless it ordered new capacity ready for delivery by 2017. Earlier in the year, however, he acknowledged that Maersk’s next generation of ultra large ships could have greater carrying capacity than the Triple-Es because of different design configurations, while retaining much the same hull size. Maersk resumed new building activity a few weeks ago after a gap of four years with an order for seven 3,600 teu ships from Cosco’s Zhoushan Shipyard in China that will be operated by its shortsea arm, Seago. The Danish line has earmarked $3bn a year to be spent between 2015 and 2019 on ships, equipment and retrofits, and has said it would be placing orders in the first half of this year. Renewed reports that the next stage of this investment programme was imminent emerged just days after 2M partnerMediterranean Shipping Co was linked to a round of 20,000 teu ship orders. Maersk had shortlisted three yards for its order, and then narrowed that to two, thought to be DSME and Hyundai Heavy Industries, before picking the former, with which it has established a close relationship. Source: Lloyd’s list 22-05-2015 Evergreen, CSCL join Cosco in intra-Asia loop as vessel operators more... Evergreen Line and China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) will join Cosco as vessel operators in an intra-Asia loop that links China, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The deal was struck with high hopes that intra-Asia cargo volumes will continue to grow driven by measures taken by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to encourage free trade. Evergreen said in a statement the China-Surabaya Express Service (CSX) will now be operated with four ships in the 2,000 to 2,700 TEU ranges, two of which will be provided by Cosco, while Evergreen and CSCL will provide one ship each, reported American Shipper. Evergreen’s first sailing on the CSX was scheduled to set sail from Qingdao on May 20. The port rotation is Qingdao, Shanghai, Xiamen, Shenzhen-Shekou, Pasir Gudang, Singapore, Surabaya, Singapore and back to Qingdao. After the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA) was established in 2010, bilateral trade volumes have continued to rise. According to the statistics published by China’s General Administration of Customs, its import and export trade with ASEAN grew by 8.3 per cent to US$480.4 billion in 2014. In addition, the ASEAN community has actively negotiated with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand to establish the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). “It is believed that this significant development will further encourage free trade and have the effect of driving cargo growth within the intra-Asia trade,” the Taiwan-based shipping line said. Source: HKSG 8-04-2015 Mega ships get fatter but not much longer, limiting cranes alongside more... The mega problem with mega ships is that there are no purpose-built mega ports to handle cargo in a manner befitting of tomorrow’s state-of-the-art 20,000-TEU containership, says Drewry Maritime Research. Drewry analysts point out a crucial technological shortcoming for even the biggest ports – that ships may be getting fatter, but not much longer. An 18,000-TEU box ship is only 25 per cent longer than a 7,400-TEU vessel yet has 150 per cent more capacity. For example, the 19,200-TEU MSC Oscar is less than twice the length of a first generation 1,400-TEU ship, but its capacity is 14 times greater, reports Newark’s Journal of Commerce. That means that the number of cranes alongside cannot grow proportionally with the increasing ship sizes, and the broader and deeper the cranes must reach to draw boxes cuts into their moves per hour. Putting it another way, a 19,000-TEU vessel is 50 per cent bigger than a 13,000-TEU ship, but the berth moves per day are only 20 per cent higher. “Bigger ships are spending proportionately more of a round voyage in port than their predecessors. Overall berth productivity does increase with ship size,” said Drewry. “Cost and availability of labour restricts the number of additional cranes that can be deployed on each ship,” Drewry noted in its latest weekly Container Insight. To meet the industry target of 6,000 moves in 24 hours demanded in 2011 by Maersk Line’s then-CEO Eivind Kolding, a 19,000-TEU ship would require eight cranes, each working at 35 moves per hour, instead of 25, generating a berth productivity of 280 moves per hour. Drewry said an industry consensus held that 3,000 to 3,500 moves in 24 hours is a realistic top-end performance for a large terminal handling large vessels. Yet once Maersk sought 6,000 moves a day on a 19,000-TEU ship that would require eight cranes, each working at 35 moves per hour, instead of 25. Maersk Line CEO Soren Skou saw the limit of 40 moves per hour. According to the JOC, the UAE’s Khor Fakkan has the world’s highest berth productivity, achieving 179 berth moves per hour on average in 2013, that’s 4,300 moves in 24 hours. Source: HKSG 13-03-2015 Hong Kong moves a step closer to low-sulphur legislation more... Hong Kong gazetted its maritime emission regulation today, in the hope that it will come into effect this July. The long-awaited rules, originally announced to come out this January, require all oceangoing vessels calling at the city’s ports to use cleaner bunker fuel with less than 0.5% sulphur content. The Hong Kong government is to table the regulation at the Legislative Council next week, and will put it into force on July 1 if the legislature gives a final nod. According to the regulation, oceangoing vessels must switch to the compliant fuel while at berth in Hong Kong, except during the first hour after arrival and the last hour before departure. Moreover, it also requires shipmasters and owners to record the date and time of the fuel switching and keep the relevant data for three years. However “if an OGV uses technology that can achieve the same or less emission of sulphur dioxide when compared with using low-sulphur marine fuel, the OGV may be exempted from switching to compliant fuel,” said a spokesman for the Environmental Protection Department. Violating the compulsory fuel switch could see shipmasters and owners face a HK$200,000($25,800) fine and six-month prison term, while failing to record or keep the required particulars will lead to a maximum fine of HK$50,000 and imprisonment for three months. As the world’s fourth busiest container port, Hong Kong handled 22.3m teu last year. Marine vessels have become the city’s top emitter of pollution, as detailed in the China Maritime 2014 —Charge is in the Air — Hong Kong’s Plan to Clean-Up Maritime Emissions. The government report shows that oceangoing vessels are responsible for about two-fifths of Hong Kong’s total SO2 emissions. The new mandate, if imposed, will help reduce the total emissions of SO2 and respirable suspended particulates by 12% and 6%, respectively. It will also make Hong Kong the first city in Asia to deliver such type of legislation, sending an encouraging sign to its mainland peers, such as Shenzhen and Shanghai, who may need to follow suit in the foreseeable future. Source: Lloyd’s list 17-02-2015 CKYHE to reorganise Asia-north Europe network early April more... The CKYHE Alliance of Cosco, “K” Line, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Evergreen, is reorganising its service network for the Asia-north Europe and Asia-Mediterranean trades. CKYHE will provide six Asia-north Europe services (NE2/NE3/NE5-CEM/NE6/NE7/NE8-CES) and three Asia-Med services (MD1/MD2/ADR) with port coverage throughout Asia, north Europe, east Med, west Med and the Adriatic from April. Asia-north Europe services will rotate ten 14,000-TEU vessels on the NE2 loop through Guangzhou-Nansha, Kaohsiung, Shenzhen-Yantian, Singapore, Piraeus, Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Hamburg, Antwerp, Piraeus, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Guangzhou-Nansha. The Asia-north Europe NE3 will rotate eleven 13,000-TEU vessels through Xingang, Dalian, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Singapore, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Shanghai and back to Xingang. The NE5 (aka CEM by Evergreen) will rotate ten 14,000-TEU vessels through Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen-Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Tanjung Pelepas, Kaohsiung and back to Shanghai. The NE6 will rotate eleven 13,000-TEU vessels through Qingdao, Kwangyang, Busan, Shanghai, Shenzhen-Yantian, Singapore, Algeciras, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Algeciras, Singapore, Shenzhen-Yantian and back to Qingdao. The NE7 will rotate ten 14,000-TEU vessels through Ningbo, Shanghai, Xiamen, Singapore, Piraeus, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Felixstowe, Antwerp, Piraeus and back to Ningbo. The NE8 (aka CES by Evergreen) will rotate ten 8,500-TEU vessels through Taipei, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shenzhen-Shekou, Colombo, Felixstowe, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Colombo and back to Taipei. CKYHE’s Asia-Med loops starts with the MD1 Pendulum service, rotating sixteen 10,000-TEU vessels through Busan, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen-Yantian, Hong Kong, Guangzhou-Nansha, Singapore, Piraeus, La Spezia, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Piraeus, Singapore, Vung Tau, Hong Kong, Shanghai and back to Busan. The MD2 will rotate ten 8,500-TEU vessels through Xiamen, Ningbo, Shanghai, Kaohsiung, Shenzhen-Yantian, Singapore, Port Said, Ashdod, Genoa, Barcelona, Marseille-FOS, Port Said, Singapore, Hong Kong and back to Xiamen. And finally, the ADR, which rotates ten 8-500-TEU vessels through Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Taipei, Shenzhen (Shekou and Yantian), Tanjung Pelepas, Ashdod, Alexandra, Piraeus, Koper, Trieste, Piraeus, Jeddah, Colombo, Tanjung Pelepas, Shenzhen-Shekou, Kaohsiung and back to Qingdao. Source: HKSG 4-02-2015 LA-Long Beach congestion crisis sets records, 22 ships waiting to berth more... A new record was set in the LA-Long Beach congestion crisis when 22 ships were queued up waiting for berth in the outer San Pedro Bay harbour. Of the ships at anchor, 16 were containerships, totalling 100,000 TEU. The biggest was the 10,000-TEU CSCL Summer, while other vessels in anchorages included the 9,400 TEU CMA CGM Rigoletto, 8,500 TEU Hanjin Long Beach and 8,500 TEU Xin Fei Zhou. The Marine Exchange, which acts as something of a harbour master for the San Pedro Bay area, was induced to open temporary anchorages because of the growing number of vessels arriving. More ships are due to arrive. Worsening delays come as word is awaited of settlement of contract negotiations between the dockers union and the waterfront employers, which have dragged on since May. The dockers union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, have been engaging in go-slows, while management, grouped in the Pacific Maritime Association, resist giving more control to the union. A federal mediator has been appointed but his impact, if any, is not apparent. Soruce: HKSG 3-02-2015 Wall Street Journal reports Maersk planning orders of 20,000-TEU ships more... Maersk, the world’s No 1 container shipping line, is in talks with Asian shipbuilders for up to ten 20,000-TEUers, reports the Wall Street Journal. Though Maersk would not comment, CEO Soren Skou said in November that the Danish carrier was looking to place new orders of large ships during the first half of 2015, reported Newark’s Journal of Commerce. Maersk has continually ordered larger, more fuel-efficient vessels as part of its drive to meet the expected four to five per cent growth in trade demand while slashing slot costs through economies of scale to counter declining rates. The company has already ordered twenty 18,000-TEUers. Fifteen have been delivered, and the other five are under construction in South Korea. At the time of the first order, Maersk had an option to order 20 more. Said IHS Maritime analyst Robert Wilmington: “Maersk has a huge fleet, and these probably would be replacements for older, less efficient ships.” Source HKSG – 03 Feb 2015 2-02-2015 NileDutch names latest 3,510-TEU newbuilding for West Africa-Asia loop more... A naming ceremony has been held for the second of four 3,510-TEU NileDutch newbuildings, the NileDutch Dordrecht, at PSA Singapore Terminals. The ceremony was attended by representatives of the Dutch embassy in Singapore, port authorities and the carrier’s customers. NileDutch Africa Line is expanding its fleet with four custom-designed container vessels to offer an improved service to key markets in West Africa from the Far East. These vessels will be registered in the Netherlands and fly the Dutch flag. The dimensions and deck equipment of the four new ships are tailored to serve ports in West Africa better. The other two vessels will be delivered later this year. Source : Shipping Gazette 30-01-2015 Imabari Shipbuilding confirms 20,000 teu boxship order more... Imabari Shipbuilding has secured an order for 11 20,000 teu containerships from sister firm Shoei Kisen and plans to invest ¥40bn ($340m) in a new dry dock to supplement their construction. Japan’s largest shipbuilder confirmed the deal one day after Shoei Kisen finalised a Marubeni-brokered deal to time-charter the mega ships to Evergreen Line upon their delivery in 2018-2019, after months of speculation about this newbuilding project. “With the co-operation of Marubeni, [Imabari] has secured a newbuilding order for 11 units of 20,000 teu ultra large container carriers, the largest-type container carriers in the world,” the shipbuilder said in a statement. Involved parties did not disclose the newbuilding price, while various sources and reports suggested each vessel could be fetched at somewhere between $150m and $170m. Nikkei Asian Review estimated the contract value at ¥210bn, or approximately $162m per vessel. While Evergreen described those ships as 18,000 teu vessels, their nominal capacity was suggested by class society DNV GL to reach almost 20,500 teu with some design adjustments. The Imabari ships will have a length of 400 m and a breadth of 59 m, almost identical to Maersk Line’s 18,270 teu Triple-E vessels’ 399 m length and 59 m breadth. By comparison, the 19,224 teu MSC Oscar, currently the largest containership in service, has a length of 395.5 m and a breadth of 59 m. The 19,100 teu CSCL Globe, owned by China Shipping Container Lines, is of 399.7 m length and 58.7 m breadth. Those dimensions were of a standard 18,000 teu design in the past, but shipbuilders have been expanding their capacity by adding extra tiers to container stacks in the hold and on the deck. Those tweaks are to meet demand from box carriers’ relentless drive to cut unit cost, as based on DNV GL calculations, there are noticeable slot cost advantages between 18,000 teu and 21,000 teu vessels. While only South Korea’s Big Three — Hyundai Heavy Industries, Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Samsung Heavy Industries — have won this kind of mega ship order before, industry watchers have long reckoned that Imabari would emerge as a strong competitor in this field. Aside from the Evergreen-linked deal, some industry sources suggested that the shipbuilder is still in the hunt for Mitsui OSK Lines’ tender for up to six 20,000 teu vessels. Imabari, which has so far only constructed containerships up to 14,000 teu, also announced its plan to expand yard capacity at home to meet requirements for building mega ships. This move has come amid falling domestic expenses against dollar-denominated income, which results from a weakening yen, bucking the industry trend of Japanese shipbuilders moving production overseas, as seen earlier this century. The shipbuilder has bought 100,000 sq m of reclaimed land near its Marugame headquarters, where it will invest ¥40bn to construct a newbuilding dry dock 600 m long and 80 m breadth. The project, Imabari’s first expansion in dry dock since the Saijo yard in 2000, will have a block factory and three Goliath cranes with a hoisting capacity of 1,200 tonnes each. Having received regulatory approval, Imabari has appointed the consortium of Rinkai Construction, Obayashi and Toyo Construction to build the new dock for completion in October 2016. “We intend to strengthen our international competitiveness by building up production formation, so as to flexibly respond to world customers’ various needs, including very large-size vessels,” the shipbuilder said. Source: Lloyd’s list 9-01-2015 Maersk’s 14th Triple-E newbuilding to join a 2M Asia-Europe loop more... THE newly delivered 18,340-TEU Munkebo Maersk is to join the Far East-Europe AE-5/Albatros loop offered by Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) within the context of the 2M Alliance, implemented this month. The newbuilding is the 14th of 20 Triple E-class vessels ordered from the Daewoo shipyard (DSME) in Korea in 2011, reports Alphaliner. The Danish shipping line’s latest newbuilding will be deployed on the first sailing this week of the AE-5/Albatros loop, which will be operated with 10 ships of 14,000-19,000 TEU, five of which will be provided by Maersk and five by MSC. The Munkebo Maersk follows the Mogens Maersk, delivered in November. The remaining six Triple-E units are to be delivered in the next nine months. Source: Shipping Gazette 5-01-2015 18,980-TEU CSCL Pacific Ocean delivered from Hyundai to join Ocean Three more... CHINA Shipping Container Line (CSCL) has received the 18,980-TEU CSCL Pacific Ocean, second of five same size vessels ordered in May 2013 from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for US$136.59 million each. The ships, initially ordered with an intake stated as 18,400 TEU, are 400 metres long and 58.6 metres abeam, allowing 23 rows of containers on deck. Each ship has an electronically-controlled slow speed engine designed by MAN-B&W (model S90ME-C9.2 in 12 cylinder version), offering a nominal power of 69,720 kW, de-rated to 56,800 kW to optimise bunker consumption and to reduce emissions under slow steaming operation. The CSCL Pacific Ocean follows the CSCL Globe, delivered in November, and she is to join this vessel on the Asia-North Europe service offered in partnership by CMA CGM, CSCL and UASC within the Ocean Three (O3) agreement (named respectively FAL 8/AEX 1/AEC1 by each carrier). This service is one of the four Asia-North Europe loops to be implemented under the O3 agreement from mid-January. Apart from the O3 carriers, this loop will also be used by Cosco, Yang Ming, Hanjin and Evergreen under separate slot agreements. The service turns in 11 weeks with 11 ships of 10,000-19,000 TEU, including the five new ULCS from CSCL. It should be fully run with 18,000-19,000 TEU ships by 2016, after the completion of the six 18,800 TEU UASC newbuildings of the A18-class, which will start to be delivered in March or April. In the meantime, UASC will assign 14,900-TEU units of its new A15-class (formerly advertised as 14,000-TEU ships and marketed as A14-class) to the loop. China Shipping’s five new container ships, CSCL Globe, CSCL Pacific Ocean, CSCL Atlantic Ocean, CSCL Indian Ocean and CSCL Arctic Ocean, will be operated under the Hong Kong flag by CSC (HK) Ltd, the Hong Kong branch of the company. All five ships are due to be delivered by March. Source: Shipping Gazette 12-12-2014 Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV unveil new services more... Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV have revealed their first new service offerings since confirming their merger to become the world’s fourth-largest box carrier. The lines will deploy a fleet just shy of 200 vessels with capacity of some 1m teu, the carriers said in a service brochure. Combining more than 100 routes operated by Hapag-Lloyd with 40 CSAV services, the pair say they will be able to connect all the world’s key ports with more direct port calls and direct routes. Earlier this month, Hapag-Lloyd chief executive Rolf Habben Jansen told Containerisation International that Hapag-Lloyd’s strength in Asia and the North Atlantic, combined with CSAV’s strong position in Latin America, will make the merged entity the leading line in the latter region. Indeed, the pair’s Latin American coverage is impressive with as many as 10 weekly services from Asia to the region, including direct connections to and from Southeast Asian countries via Singapore. It also has complete port coverage on Mexico’s Pacific coast, South America’s west coast and across Central America. Its Asian-Latin America offering comprises five weekly services to South America’s east coast, two to Mexico and Central America, three to the west coast of South America and Mexico, and one joint service to the Caribbean. The two carriers’ will also offer an extensive intra-America network with 15 services. Hapag-Lloyd plans to extend its reach using the region’s largest transhipment hubs to connect its main routes with secondary trades, using its own and third-party feeder vessels. The German carrier also noted that there will be comprehensive coverage of the Latin American and North American refrigerated cargo markets. Meanwhile, Latin America will be connected with the European continent by nine enhanced loops, including express services to Central America and Brazil from Europe’s northern range, and services from the Mediterranean. The new brochure also provides details of services a further eight regions, 11 in total, including Europe-Asia, boasting a total of seven services, the transpacific, with 25 weekly loops, and African service options. Source: Lloyd’s list 8-12-2014 Denmark’s fleet grows 13% more... Denmark has increased the fleet of vessels flying its flag by 13% over the year, according to new statistics from the country’s shipowners’ association. The latest data shows that as of November 1, 2014, the Denmark-flagged fleet comprised 647 vessels with a combined 15.9m deadweight tonnes and 13.8m gross tonnage. The figure covers all vessels, regardless of size. The Danish flag has 482 vessels of 499 gt, and above, registered. According to the Danish Shipowners’ Association, this makes Denmark the 14th-largest flag state in the world, up two places from the beginning of the year. The increase in tonnage under the Danish flag comes, however, as Danish owners shed other tonnage from their books. The weak market has seen the Danish-operated fleet, which includes chartered-in tonnage, drop by 12m dwt, leaving a total fleet of 70.8m dwt. Danish-owned vessels registered outside Denmark dropped by 3.3m dwt. A Danish-owned vessel is considered to be any owned vessel of a Denmark-registered Company. Asia orders Despite the poor markets, the statistics show that Danish owners have 99 vessels, of 3.1m gt and 3.8m dwt, on order. The orderbook value is about $10bn and most orders have been placed with South Korean and Chinese yards. The shipping statistics that DSA now publishes regularly include data on employment. The latest report shows that Danish companies employ more than 4,300 Danish officers and over 2,600 Danish ratings, out of a total of more than 23,000 people working at sea. Danish shipowners are noted for their involvement in and support for the Danish shipping cluster known as Blue Denmark. The cluster is believed to support 63,400 direct jobs and 44,500 indirectly, or 2.4% of Denmark’s total employment market. Source: Lloyd’s list 4-12-2014 Hapag-CSAV merger complete, Cosco edged out as 4th biggest box carrier more... Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd and Chile’s CSAV have completed their merger, edging out Cosco to become the world’s fourth largest container liner shipping line. The main processes of integrating CSAV’s container business into Hapag-Lloyd are expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2015, said the Hapag-Lloyd release. CSAV will become Hapag-Lloyd’s biggest shareholder with 34 per cent after the cash capital increase of EUR370 million (US$458 million). Once done, ownership will be HGV (23.2 per cent), Kuhne Maritime (20.8 per cent), TUI (13.9 per cent), Signal Iduna (3.3 per cent), HSH Nordbank (1.8 per cent), MM Warburg (1.8 per cent) and Hanse Merkur (1.1 per cent). “The contracts for the merger of the two companies were signed back in April in Hamburg. With approval from all the relevant authorities all condition precedents were fulfilled,” said a statement from Hapag-Lloyd, the trade name of the newly merged entity. “The merger of Hapag-Lloyd AG with the container business activities of the Chilean shipping company founded in Valparaíso, in 1872, is expected to result in many synergies,” said the statement. “Annual savings of at least US$300 million are anticipated simply as a result of network optimisations, improvements to productivity and reductions in costs. “The merged company will have 200 vessels with a total capacity of one million TEU, moving 7.5 million TEU a year. With revenue of $12 billion, the combined entity joins the elite group of international shipping companies,” said the company statement. Said Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen: “With Hapag-Lloyd’s strength in Asian traffic and on the North Atlantic, combined with CSAV’s strong position in Latin America, we will become the leading shipping company in this region.” Mr Jansen said the new company is now able to offer a more attractive network. “Our ability to compete will also be enhanced by closing the gap with the top three of our industry,” he said. “There will be no major changes to the way we work until the transition to the Hapag-Lloyd systems towards the end of the first quarter 2015,” said Mr Jansen. Said CSAV chief executive Oscar Hasbun: “We are proud that our two companies will become one of the most prominent in the global industry. We fit together perfectly thanks to our complementary network and our customer structure.” Source: HKSG 28-11-2014 CMP Investing in Malmö-Copenhagen Shuttle Service more... CMP said it was investing in a new type of daily shuttle service between Malmö and Copenhagen to be launched in March 2015, thus boosting the frequency of the container transports via Malmö. According to Johan Röstin, CEO of CMP, a shortcut is now being created across Öresund that would facilitate transportation of containers. “The environmental impact will also be reduced. Freight is conveyed from lorry to local shipping when we use Öresund waterway for regional shipments. It will reduce emissions, noise and congestion on the roads in Skåne,” he said. ”The container shuttle will be a flexible and competitive alternative for customers. They can switch between our terminals and utilise the alternatives which are best at any given time, for example, regarding empty containers and freight prices. Added to this is the fact that the costs for road transport can also be reduced”, Röstin added. CMP is putting four barges into operation. Two or three will transport containers every day. Each one can carry 100 TEUs. The fourth barge will concentrate on dry bulk as a recyclable material and biofuel. The shuttle service is a collaboration between CMP and byWatertruck AB, with by Watertruck responsible for the operation. Tug boats will move the barges over the Sound. The crossing will take two hours. “We want to be involved in reducing the environmental impact. Öresund is one of busiest stretches of water in the world, but it is nothing compared with the roads in the region. Moving freight off the roads improves accessibility, which benefits growth in this dynamic region”, says Thomas Lindblad, CEO of by Watertruck AB. Source: Press Release from CMP 27-11-2014 Hamburg volume up 6.4pc in first 9 months to record high of 7.4 million TEU more... The Port of Hamburg has set new records in the first nine months of 2014 in almost all segments of cargo, which posted an overall increase of 5.7 per cent year on year for a total throughput of 110 million tonnes. Hamburg posted a 6.4 per cent year-on-year increase in container throughput to a record 7.4 million TEU in the first nine months, according to port authority figures. This growth compared with the 1.9 per cent average increase in total throughput for the entire northern range of European ports, a rate of growth that enlarged Hamburg’s market share of container traffic from 26.1 to 26.7 per cent. With 12.8 per cent container volume growth from China, Hamburg’s biggest box trading partner, statistics revealed that the port handled 2.3 million TEU from China in the first nine months. Meanwhile, Hamburg achieved a 15.4 per cent advance to 176,000 TEU with India. Malaysia trade grew 10.2 per cent to 203,000 TEU and Africa was up 28.2 per cent. In the first nine months, 1.8 million TEU were moved by feeders in the Baltic trade, representing a 2.8 per cent increase. Feederships carried 300,000 TEU, up 29.2 per cent to Polish ports. “The unwavering strong growth of feeder services between Hamburg and Polish ports clearly indicates that along with Hamburg’s well developed rail and road transport services, seaborne container transport is gaining importance,” said Ingo Egloff, an executive member of Port of Hamburg Marketing. During the first nine months, container traffic between Hamburg and Russian ports reached 504,000 TEU, that is 5.7 per cent below the comparable figure in 2013. “After China, Russia still occupies second place among the Port of Hamburg’s container partners,” said Mr Egloff. Between January and September, 374 ships of more than 10,000 TEU docked at Hamburg, 23.8 per cent more than in the same period the year before. This fact for calls for dredging and widening of the navigation channel on the Lower and Outer Elbe, Mr Egloff said. Source: HKSG – 27 Nov 2014 19-11-2014 Maersk Line returns to Southampton more... Maersk Line is set to make a return to the south coast UK port of Southampton after a four-year absence as the effects of the global alliance shake-up continue to shape shipping line services. From 2015, the Danish carrier will return to DP World Southampton with its AE9 service which operates on the Asia Europe trade, with Mediterranean calls along the way. It also features a call in Felixstowe. The addition of Southampton represents an extra call in the UK and has not resulted in other UK ports losing services. Maersk Line stopped calling at Southampton in 2010 when it moved its AE7 loop to Felixstowe. At the time the service used some of the biggest ships on the water, including the Emma Maersk. The Danish carrier reasoned that the move would allow it to concentrate UK calls on Felixstowe while it would still be able to cover Southampton through a service partnership with CMA CGM. The French carrier used the south coast port as its UK hub. Well-placed sources say the decision to add Southampton back into its Asia-Europe schedule comes as the result of the formation of the 2M alliance with Mediterranean Shipping Co. As part of the vessel-sharing agreement, Maersk Line and MSC are ending their other vessel sharing agreements with carriers on those trade lanes, meaning its partnership with CMA CGM – and ability to offer Southampton calls – will come to an end. Sources say that customers requested that Maersk Line maintain a call at Southampton and therefore it decided to add the port back into its schedule. Four of the six Asia-north Europe services that Maersk Line will be able to offer next year have calls in the UK, with Felixstowe featuring on all four services and Southampton on one. At the moment, the Danish carrier is able to offer five Asia-north Europe services, with Felixstowe featuring on four of those services. Source: Lloyd’s list 11-11-2014 UASC to invest in reefer fleet more... United Arab Shipping Co will continue its expansion in the reefer trades with an investment in new reefer units. UASC head of reefer management Gareth Madsen said the fast-expanding shipping line would invest in thousands of reefer containers in 2015 although he would not divulge exact numbers. The investment follows its tie-up with Hamburg Süd on its South American services, which feature a high percentage of reefer cargo and therefore will require an investment in reefer containers. It is also in the midst of a fleet expansion, which comprises 17 ships; eleven 14,500 teu vessels and six 18,800 teu vessels. Mr Madsen said that UASC’s current reefer fleet was one of the youngest in the industry with an average age of three years. He added that they were designed to automatically regulate the internal atmosphere of the container. Speaking the day after the tie-up with the German carrier was revealed, UASC chief executive and president Jørn Hinge said that the German carrier’s services between Asia and South America and Europe and South America would be used for cargo from elsewhere in the Dubai carrier’s network via transhipment at a common hub. He said that UASC had been looking to get back into South American trades for a while. It previously operated a joint service to South America with Coscon, Hanjin and CCNI but the service was cancelled because of the difficulties faced on the trade. Since then, UASC had been buying space from other carriers but had been exploring opportunities for a longer-term solution. UASC will begin vessel sharing with Hamburg Süd in mid-2015. Source: Lloyd’s list 6-11-2014 New containership orders breach million TEU mark more... Orders for containerships have passed the one million TEU mark this year, with 145 units contracted during the first 10 months, says Alphaliner. Based on nominal container intake, the cellular containership orderbook currently stands at 3.5 million TEU, representing 19.3 per cent of the existing fleet, which totals 18.2 million TEU. The present orderbook-to-fleet ratio, at below the 20 per cent mark, stands at one of the lowest levels since 2000, compared with peaks of 60 per cent in 2005 and 2008. The ratio could however rise again by a few points, if the G6 carriers were to conclude orders for a series of 18,000-TEU ships believed to be in the pipeline. On the other end of the spectrum, renewed interest for containerships of 1,000-2,000 TEU could trigger further orders in this size range with 49 units contracted so far this year. Most of the orders in this segment are focussed on the intra-Asia trades, mainly the 1,000-1,100 TEU size for North Asia routes and the 1,600-1,700 TEU size for Southeast Asia trade lanes. Ordered at attractive prices, many of these fuel-efficient ships designed for operation in intra-Asia niche trades will displace old charter tonnage. A few ships of 1,400-2,400 TEU designed for the Baltic trades were also ordered. The overcrowded mid-sized vessel segment is being shunned, and orders for ships in the 3,000-7,500 TEU size range have been scarce in the past two years, with few exceptions. US private equity owner Oaktree ordered 10 wide beam container vessels of 5,370 TEU at Hanjin’s Subic Bay yard, with half of the ships delivered so far. Germany’s Niederelbe Schiffahrt (NSB) this year contracted four 5,000-TEU ships at Sainty Shipyard, and Simatech in 2013 committed to two 4,350-TEU ships from Taizhou Catic. With 100 neo-panamax wide beam ships of 8,500-10,000 TEU scheduled for delivery in the next two years, the mid-sized segment also faces significant pressure from above, as these new ships will mainly replace 4,000-7,000 TEU vessels, which could then have limited prospects for re-employment. In terms of orders, the 8,500-10,000 TEU handy neo-panamax, which refers to ships with a 19-row beam and an overall length of 299 to 335 metres, was the most popular segment last year. A total of 78 such units were signed for in 2013, with a further 15 orders added in the first two months of 2014. By unit count, the segment accounted for 23 per cent of all new containership orders since 2000. But reduced demand on Latin America and Black Sea routes, trades for which these ships are optimised, has put pressure on this sector too. Subsequently, there have not been any further orders for ships of this size since March. In contrast, the ultra large containership (ULCS) sector continues to attract interest, with orders for three 18,000-TEU-class ships announced last week for an undisclosed European owner. Additional deals for ships of this size are expected to be concluded in the next few months as several carriers are currently considering ULCS newbuilding programmes. Source: HKSG 21-10-2014 Lloyd’s Register says 24,000 TEU ships will soon be ply trade lanes more... London classification society Lloyd’s Register says 24,000 TEUer will soon be plying the world’s oceans, reports Copenhagen-based ShippingWatch. “Twelve years ago researchers were looking at Malaccamaxes, 18,000 TEU vessels named after the Malacca Strait,” said Lloyd’s Register container segment manager David Tozer. “People thought that this was absolutely crazy. But things have developed since to the extent that we’ll soon see ships of 24,000 TEU. The volumes are there, so it’s going to happen,” said Mr Tozer. Today, the biggest are China Shipping’s (CSCL) new 19,100 TEUers, which will take the crown from Maersk’s 18,000 TEU Triple-E series. “Our customers need to understand what the future is going to look like, and they need to take control and become part of it,” he said, reported Vancouver’s Ship&Bunker. Mr Tozer said that with companies such as Maersk Line, CSCL, Evergreen and CMA CGM having already invested in 17,000 to 19,000-TEU ships, 24,000 TEU was only a matter of time as the commercial pressure to put more cargo on ships rises. Source: HKSG 10-10-2014 Maersk-MSC 2M alliance wins US approval, plans to start in January more... MAERSK Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), the world’s biggest container carriers, have won approval from US Federal Maritime Commission to start their vessel sharing agreement, Reuters reports. While announcing the approval, the one of five dissenting commissioners, Richard Lidinsky, said the FMC should establish a vigorous monitoring system, as recommended by the China Shippers Association. Said Maersk: “The US was the only remaining jurisdiction where the parties had to obtain formal approval. Thus, the parties can now implement the agreement as planned.” The 2M alliance involves the two carriers forging their 185 containerships on main east-west routes into a conveyor belt-like asystem, but each selling slots at their own prices through competing sales departments. Maersk Line said the arrangement would save it US$350 million a year while protesting shipper European and Chinese shipper associations say it would give the two undue market influence to reduce port calls and raise prices. 2M follows the rejection in June of the P3, a larger venture that would have included France’s CMA CGM as well as Denmark’s Maersk and the Swiss Italian shipping giant, MSC. While passing muster with the American FMC, P3 was banned by China’s Ministry of Commerce for having too great a share of the market. Maersk and MSC still need to win over regulators in Europe and China for the pact. 2M would have the largest market share of all main shipping alliances on key trade routes, with 35 per cent of the Asia-Europe route, 31 per cent of transatlantic trade and 22 per cent of transpacific, according to FMC figures. The Asian Shippers’ Council, which represents 20 national and regional exporter groups, said maritime authorities like the FMC and China’s Ministry of Commerce should toughen regulations on shipping alliances. 2M has a 32 per cent market share on Asia-Europe trade routes, which some say should spark immediate regulatory review, but Maersk argues that lower transatlantic and transpacific market shares should be counted, which would bringing its market share down to an acceptable 30 per cent. Source: SeaNews 9-10-2014 FMC approves 2M alliance more... The planned vessel-sharing agreement between Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co has cleared a major hurdle with the Federal Maritime Commission giving the go-ahead after a 45-day review. Lloyd’s List understands that four of the five commissioners voted in favour of the alliance, known as 2M. That will enable 2M to become a lawful entity in the US trades this coming weekend, giving the duo plenty of time to begin joint services early next year, as intended when details of the initiative were unveiled a few weeks ago. At one stage, it looked as if 2M could run into regulatory problems in the US, with two FMC commissioners expressing reservations and at least one other thought to be wavering. But after FMC staff recommended approval, there was only one dissenter, Richard Lidinsky, who also objected to the earlier P3 alliance which was subsequently disbanded after China’s veto. Mr Lidinsky said Wednesday that the 2M agreement left many questions unresolved. These, he felt, could have been answered if the 45-day review had been extended, as is allowed under US law. With FMC commissioners split on 2M, Maersk and MSC sent two top executives to Washington last month for face to face meetings in order to try and prevent any delays to the approval process. Ultimately, that emissary may have helped win the approval. FMC Commissioner William P Doyle noted the personal meetings in his statement explaining why he voted to approve. “While the two largest carriers will be collaborating operationally, these carriers will continue to compete with each other on pricing and cost,” Mr Doyle wrote in a statement. “That is, shippers will continue to negotiate with each carrier individually. With regard to transportation service, each Party will increase its ability to provide service offerings and overall capacity.” Source: Lloyd’s list 7-10-2014 Maersk joins MSC in implementing low-sulphur surcharges more... Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, joins the second biggest. MSC, in announcing a low-sulphur fuel surcharges in response to EU demands that cleaner, more costly fuel be used northern European and North American coastal waters from January 1. The surcharge will come into effect on January 1 and varies from trade lane to trade lane, depending how many miles cargo remains in the control zone when fuel reckoned to be 50-60 per cent more expensive must be used, reports Lloyd’s List. The low-sulphur surcharge is being introduced as ships transiting emission-control areas of the coast of the US and Canada and in the English Channel, North Sea and Baltic Sea are required to use fuel with a sulphur content of 0.1 per cent compared with the current limit of one per cent. On the Asia to north Europe services, a surcharge of US$30 per FEU will be implemented. On services from the US to north Europe the Danish shipping line will charge $130 per FEU. Cargo with an origin or destination in the Baltic zone, defined as Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, will be charged an additional $100 per FEU. The highest charge comes on services from Canada’s largest eastern Port of Montreal, 1,000 miles of control zone to open sea and then another 4,000 control zone miles to Baltic from Land’s End to the Port of St Petersburg, where it will implement a surcharge of $160 per FEU. On transatlantic services, vessels will transit both the North American and north European emission-control areas. “The surcharge level will be trade-specific and apply equally to headhaul/backhaul and dry/reefer cargo,” Maersk was quoted as saying. “The surcharge level will vary, based on the additional costs for low-sulphur fuels for the particular trade.” Maersk joins the MSC, which recently introduced low-sulphur fuel surcharges, $15 per TEU on services from Asia to northwest Europe. On services from the Baltic to US, in which the vessels enter emission control areas in both Europe and North America, the charge will be $130 per TEU. Services between Montreal and the Baltic will be charged $165 per TEU. Source: HKSG 30-09-2014 Epic Collision Between Laden Containerships in the Suez more... Something went terribly wrong today aboard Hapag-Lloyd’s containership Colombo Express when it lost control and slammed into the Maersk Tanjong today. Both vessels were heading south through the Suez Canal. From the following AIS replay of the incident, it appears the Colombo Express was attempting to overtake the Maersk Tanjong and when a left rudder was applied to come back to a parallel course, the rudder went hard left. As rudders on ships like this are powered by large, finely tuned hydraulic systems, it is possible that the this system failed and was the cause of the incident. In fact, while in the Navy, my ship had this very same issue occur, however we were not near any other ships and were able to take manual control of the steering gears and return to port without issue. Hapag-Lloyd notes in a statement there were no injuries or pollution as a result of the incident. Maersk Line spokesperson Michael Storgaard notes in phone call that three containers were lost over the side from the Maersk Tanjong, one has been recovered. No further details on the damage were available however. The collision was expected to delay Suez traffic in both directions. The collision occurred at 0715 local time at kilometer 15 and the Colombo Express suffered a 20-meter dent to its port bow. source: www.gcaptain.com 25-09-2014 United Arab Shipping and Hamburg Süd form alliance more... Slot exchanges will allow each carrier to expand their scope of service. United Arab Shipping Company and Hamburg Süd announced Wednesday they have signed a global cooperation agreement. “This cooperation with Hamburg Süd enables access to the South America trades and illustrates our ambitious approach to enhance geographic coverage,” said Jørn Hinge, president and chief executive officer of UASC. The announcement comes just weeks after United Arab Shipping announced it was also entering into another major alliance — the so-called Ocean Three vessel-sharing agreement with CMA CGM and China Shipping, which focuses on the major East-West trades of the Far East to North Europe and the Med and the Far East to North America. Source : Amercian Shipper 11-09-2014 EU rules on merger of Hapag-Lloyd, CSAV container businesses more... Merger, once fully approved, will create the world’s fourth largest container shipping company. Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV said Thursday that their plan to merger their container businesses has been approved under European Union merger regulations. Both carriers signed a binding business combination agreement in April. The European Commission’s approval of the merger is the result of a consultation process which both companies are carrying out with regulatory authorities worldwide. Source : American Shipper 8-09-2014 CMA CGM signs three agreements on the biggest worldwide maritime trades with China Shipping Container Lines (CSCL) and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) more... The CMA CGM Group, the world’s third largest container shipping company, is pleased to announce the signature of three major agreements with CSCL and UASC. Under the name of OCEAN THREE, the agreements concern the following maritime trades: Asia-Europe, Asia-Mediterranean, Transpacific and Asia-United States East Coast. The agreements (a combination of Vessel Sharing Agreements, Slot Exchange Agreements and Slot Charter Agreements) will complete the CMA CGM offering on the biggest global maritime markets: On the Asia-Europe trade: 4 weekly services, which complete the 2 existing services, thereby offering 6 departures per week On the Asia-Mediterranean trade: 4 weekly services, 2 to the Mediterranean, 1 to the Adriatic and 1 to the Black Sea the only one on this market On the Transpacific: 4 weekly services to California and 1 service to the Pacific Northwest (United States and Canada) On the Asia-US East Coast trade: 1 service via the Suez Canal and 1 service dedicated to the Gulf of Mexico. The agreements on the Transatlantic trade are being finalized and will soon be announced. This new offering will combine both speed and reliability. Rotations will be optimized with calls in all the biggest Asian, European and North American ports, using transshipment hubs common to the three partners. The number of weekly calls proposed and the transit times will be among the best on the market, thereby responding to the expectations of our clients. Source: CMA CGM 21-08-2014 Ningbo truck strike flares up again, becomes violent more... Shanghai: The truckers’ strike in Ningbo has flared again, and this time the action has descended into violence. Up to 7,000 truck drivers, made up from smaller, independent trucking firms, have been campaigning for higher pay. They went on strike for one day on Monday before authorities came in promising to hike pay. With strikes and protests frowned upon by Beijing most local reports of the protest were then wiped from Chinese media the next day. According to two freight forwarding sources in Ningbo contacted by SinoShip News today the truckers started a new round of protests today with far more people joining in. “The situation is a bit out of control now and they started to smash other trucks who continued to work,” one freight forwarder told SinoShip News. When the police intervened they were also attacked. A number of people have been arrested and there are plenty of police cars that have been smashed up too. The truckers are claiming they will continue to protest through the weekend. A number of ships have already seen their schedules delayed from the action. There are also reports reaching SinoShip News that warehouses in and around the port are reaching their full capacity. Source: SinoShip News 20-08-2014 Ningbo port gets back to work as truckers strike dissipates more... Shanghai: The strike brought by truck drivers at the port city of Ningbo which brought considerable disruption to local supply chains is over. The majority of the striking truckers, demanding better pay, came from smaller, independent trucking firms. The majority of the large trucking firms did not go on strike, local freight forwarders told SinoShip News. Nevertheless, SinoShip News understands that a number of ships were delayed in their departure in the past couple of days. In total around 200 truck drivers went on strike on Monday. Lin Xiaofeng, an official at Ningbo Container Transport Association, explained to the truck owners that Ningbo Transportation Association has already made a new trucking rate, which increased the current rate by 12%, and planned to announce it on August 22. Source: SinoShip News 19-08-2014 Truck fleet strike at Ningbo port more... Shanghai: More than 100 container truck owners started a strike and protest at Ningbo Beilun port yesterday morning. The owners have requested to increase trucking freight rates and claimed that the rate hasn’t been increased for eight years. “Ningbo Port gave a guidance rate for trucking service eight years ago, it hasn’t been increased since then, however, the diesel price has almost doubled during the eight years,” said Tian Zhongyong, a truck owner at the protest. Lin Xiaofeng, an official at Ningbo Container Transport Association, explained to the truck owners that Ningbo Transportation Association has already made a new trucking rate, which increased the current rate by 12%, and planned to announce it on August 22, unfortunately the owners started the protest without knowing the news. The protest was finished in the afternoon. An official from Ningbo port said about 200 trucks were involved in the strike yesterday, but it had only a minor affect on the container transport in the port. Source: SinoShip News 5-08-2014 Strong Asia-north Europe load factors expected for next 12 months more... Load factors on the Asia-north Europe trade look set to be strong over the next 12 months as volumes continue to increase ahead of capacity additions. The latest figures from Container Trades Statistics show that during the first five months of the year, volumes have increased by 8.4% year on year to just over 4m teu. Meanwhile, second-quarter capacity was up by 5.8% compared with a year ago. Since the end of the first quarter, carriers have increased capacity by around 4.6% as shipping lines have filled gaps in services and brought in new larger tonnage as they prepare for the peak season. These changes include the CKYHE Alliance adjusting its schedules to include Evergreen, resulting in larger ships of 13,800 teu joining the CEM/NE5 loop. The G6 Alliance continued to increase the size of ships on its Loop 7 service. Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co filled gaps in services and the Danish carrier also added larger ships to its AE2 loop. Carries are also continuing to carefully manage capacity on the Asia-Mediterranean route. For example, compared with the second quarter of last year, capacity has actually been reduced by 2.4%. Meanwhile, since the end of the first quarter, shipping lines have added just 2.1% of capacity to the market. This low increase in capacity is down to the fact that the CKYHE Alliance rationalised its MD1 and MAP service into a single pendulum operation utilising 10,000 teu ships. The new service also has additional calls in the Mediterranean. In terms of overall growth, unless extra services are launched — which seems unlikely — total capacity in 2014 will only be slightly higher than the 2013 level. While capacity is being carefully managed, volumes are surging, and Containerisation International estimates a 7% growth level for the full-year 2014. The strong volume growth and low-level capacity additions mean that utilisation levels are expected to reach 90% in the third quarter of the year. Source: Lloyds Loading List News 29-07-2014 NileDutch Introduces 4 New Vessels To Improve Shipping Service more... Rotterdam-based NileDutch Shipping Line has been providing liner services between West African ports and destinations including Europe, South Africa, South America and Asia for over 30 years. In order to continue their success in the industry, the company recently held a naming ceremony in Shanghai for the first of four 3,510 TEU newly built vessels. The Netherlands-based company’s established West African network and connections have prompted the commissioning of the custom designed container carriers to upgrade its import-export freight services to and from the region. The naming ceremony for this first mega-vessel, the MV NileDutch Breda, was held on May 28th 2014 at the Shanghai Shipyard on Chongming Island in the Chinese major city. Anneke van Aalst, wife of NileDutch president Wim van Aalst, was the ship’s godmother and the ceremony was attended by representatives of the shipyard, the Dutch consulate in Shanghai, port authorities and NileDutch business partners and customers. The new container vessels are equipped with 20,000 KW engines to optimize operational and functional efficiency, in addition to ensuring a low environmental impact. It was also announced that each vessel will be 224 metres long with a 12.5 metre draft to best serve the busy West African region and Far East rotation. In addition, the company has five Chinese offices, and can carry 1,530 TEU in the holds plus 1,980 on the hatch covers. All four vessels will be registered in the Netherlands and sail under the Dutch flag. The company website of NileDutch states that the Netherlands-based shipping company has grown to be in the top 25 largest container shipping companies in the world. In addition, it states that NileDutch focus on the links between West Africa and the rest of the world, supporting companies as they discover the opportunities the African continent offers. Africa has been an area of interest for many shipping companies around the world and is seen by many as an emerging market. Source : Pacific Tycoon, Hong Kong. 21-07-2014 Maersk Line announces cooperation on the East-West trades with MSC more... Maersk Line has announced a 10 year Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades. The VSA will be referred to as 2M. It replaces all existing VSAs and slot purchase agreements that Maersk Line has in these trades. The VSA will include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings. The overall purpose of the cooperation is to share infrastructure (network). Maersk Line and MSC will be able to provide their customers with more stable and frequent services, cover more ports with direct services. The VSA will improve the efficiency of the Maersk Line and MSC networks through better utilisation of vessel capacity and economies of scale. “I am very pleased with our agreement with MSC. We share the same ambition to have as efficient and effective operations as possible. We will continue to provide our customers with competitive and reliable container shipping in the East-West trades at attractive prices. To do so we have to be innovative and take out cost, while keeping a product that is best in class for our customers in terms of coverage, frequency and reliability. Our agreement with MSC is a step towards achieving all of these objectives in the East-West trades,” says Søren Skou, Maersk Line CEO. Maersk Group CEO Nils S. Andersen welcomes the agreement with MSC. “Over the last years, Maersk Line has established itself as a leader in the industry through its customer focus and by improving its competitive cost position. With this agreement Maersk Line will be able to further enhance its customer offering while also reducing costs and CO2 emissions. I am confident that Maersk Line’s leadership, also after this positive step, will continue to find new ways to strengthen its competitive advantage and customer experience” says Nils S. Andersen. About Maersk Line and MSC Vessel Sharing Agreement on the East-West trades Maersk Line and MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company S.A. (MSC) have signed a long-term vessel sharing agreement (VSA) on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades. The 2M VSA differs from the earlier proposed P3 alliance in two important ways: first of all, the combined market share is much smaller. Secondly the cooperation is a pure VSA. There will be no jointly owned independent entity with executional powers. • The VSA will improve the network efficiency and allow for lower slot costs through improved utilisation of vessel capacity and economies of scale. • The VSA will provide more sailings and direct port pairs than the parties offer today individually. • The VSA includes 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU on 21 strings in the Asia – Europe, Transatlantic (Europe – US East Coast) and Transpacific (Asia – US East & West Coast) trades. • The 21 strings are split as follows: Asia/North Europe: 6, Asia/Mediterranean: 4, Asia/US West Coast: 4, Asia/US East Coast: 2, North Europe/USA: 3, Mediterranean/USA: 2. • Maersk Line will contribute with approximately 110 vessels with a nominal capacity of app. 1.2 million TEU (55% of the total capacity). • MSC will contribute with approximately 75 vessels with a nominal capacity of app. 0.9 million TEU (45% of the total capacity). • Vessels deployed in the VSA will continue to be owned (or chartered) and operated by the two individual lines. • The VSA does not include joint marine operations. Each party will thus execute their own operations including stowage, voyage planning and port operations. • The VSA does not include any commercial tasks or responsibilities. Each party will continue to have fully independent sales, pricing, marketing, and customer service functions. • A joint coordination committee will monitor the network on a daily basis. • The duration of the VSA is 10 years. • The VSA is expected to start early 2015. The starting date is conditioned by filing of information to and in some cases approvals by relevant authorities. source: Maerks Line 1-07-2014 Emirates SkyCargo Strengthens Scandinavian Trade Lanes more... DUBAI, U.A.E., 1st July 2014: Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates, is set to further strengthen trade lanes between Scandinavia and its worldwide network with the start of operations to Oslo, Norway, from the 2nd of September this year. Oslo, the Norwegian capital and centre of the country’s shipping industry, will become Emirates SkyCargo’s third gateway in Scandinavia after daily passenger and cargo services were introduced to Copenhagen, Denmark, in August 2011 and Stockholm, Sweden, in September 2013. The start of a daily service to Oslo, with an Emirates Boeing 777-300 ER, will provide a total of 322 tonnes of belly hold cargo capacity per week and create new trade and business opportunities between Europe’s largest oil producer and markets around Emirates SkyCargo’s worldwide network. Emirates SkyCargo first started cargo operations to serve Scandinavia with freighter flights to Gothenburg in Sweden in 2003, when Emirates had no passenger flights to the region. With Oslo joining the network and the steady growth in operations since the start of the Copenhagen and Stockholm flights, Emirates SkyCargo now offers an extensive cargo service to and from Scandinavia. From flying Norwegian Salmon to cities as far flung as Singapore and Japan, electronics and pharmaceuticals to the Middle East, Africa and other markets, Scandinavian products and commodities are being moved across Emirates SkyCargo’s extensive global network. In addition to the belly-hold cargo operations, Emirates SkyCargo also currently operates six weekly freighter flights to Copenhagen, which will increase to eight when the two Gothenburg freighter flights are consolidated and shifted to Copenhagen from today. “While Gothenburg is still an important destination, we can achieve greater efficiency by operating all the freighter flights alongside one of our key online passenger points. With eight freighter flights a week to Copenhagen, coupled with the belly-hold capacity of an all Boeing 777 operation into Oslo, Stockholm and Copenhagen, we will offer more than 2500 tonnes of cargo capacity, enabling new trade opportunities for importers and exporters across the region and across our worldwide network,” said Robert Siegel, Emirates Vice President Commercial Operations Cargo, Europe and the Americas. A variety of commodities and goods are imported and exported into and from the region. Exports from Sweden include telecommunications equipment, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electronics and tools, while imports are mainly dairy products, electronics, fruit and vegetables, textiles, plants and flowers. Denmark’s exports include ship spares, oil and gas equipment, pumps, windmill parts and pharmaceuticals, with key imports being oil and gas equipment, electronics, textiles, fruit and vegetables. Popular commodities exported from Norway includes Salmon, oil and gas equipment, ships spares, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and electronics, and key imports include oil and gas equipment, ship spares, pharmaceuticals, machinery and dairy products. Emirates SkyCargo, which operates from its hub in Dubai, provides cargo services to more than 140 destinations around the world. It also operates a fleet of 13 freighters, 11 Boeing 777 Fs and two Boeing 747-400 ERFs, which operate from its new cargo terminal at Dubai World Central’s Al Maktoum International Airport. Source : Emirates SkyCargo 01/07-2014 18-06-2014 The P3 Network will not be implemented more... Today, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) announced that they have not approved the P3 Network (P3). P3 was a long-term operational vessel sharing agreement proposed by MSC, CMA CGM, and Maersk Line. “P3 would have provided Maersk Line with a more efficient network and our customers with a better product. We are committed to continuing to be cost competitive and offer reliable services,” says Vincent Clerc, Chief Trade and Marketing Officer, Maersk Line. The P3 partners take note of and respect MOFCOM’s decision. Subsequently, the partners have agreed to stop the preparatory work on the P3 Network and the P3 Network as initially planned will not come into existence. Source : Maersk Line 5-05-2014 Emirates moves freighters to Dubai World Central more... Following months of construction, planning and testing, Emirates SkyCargo’s freighter fleet has officially started operating from its new cargo terminal at Dubai World Central’s (DWC) Al Maktoum International Airport. Construction of phase one of the cargo terminal and supporting facilities began in July last year, and with its completion operations are now in full swing, with 250 staff on site. The new terminal is equipped with start-of-the-art technology and will be able to handle 700,000 tonnes of cargo annually, supported by 500 staff, when phase two comes into operation, scheduled for September this year. The terminal has the potential for further expansion to reach 1 million tonnes. Transhipment cargo needing to be transferred between the airline’s freighter and passenger fleet will be transported via dedicated trucking services between DWC and Dubai International Airport, where the airline’s passenger fleet and bellyhold cargo activities will continue to be based. Nabil Sultan, Emirates divisional senior vice-president for Cargo, commented: “The start of operations at DWC today is a major milestone for Emirates SkyCargo. Our various teams, along with many of our partners and stakeholders, have been working very hard over the past few months to complete phase one of the project.” He said the company had held numerous trials to test the readiness of every aspect of the facility and the movement of cargo between the DWC and Dubai International, “to ensure a smooth transition and enable us to meet our customers’ expectations”. He continued: “We are very pleased that we have met our timelines and the move has gone according to plan. This new facility gives us the additional space and capacity required to manage the growth of our cargo business and have a dedicated, modern and efficient hub for our freighter operations, which contribute 35% of Emirates SkyCargo’s total revenue.” Emirates SkyCargo currently has a fleet of 12 freighters: 10 B777Fs and two Boeing 747-400ERFs, which operate to more than 50 destinations around the world. 23-04-2014 Dubai International Airport Disruptions more... Dear Valued Business Partner, Please be informed that Dubai International Airport operations will be disrupted for a period of 80 days commencing on May 1st, 2014 due to extensive runway reconstruction work. Once this work is completed it will enhance the capability and operating efficiency of Dubai International Airport going forward. During this short term period, select flights will operate from the newly opened Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central (DWC). It is important to note that all stakeholders who operate out of Dubai International Airport will be affected by the work being undertaken and that schedules have been altered to accommodate the necessary work required. We do not foresee any major delays or operational issues. We are working on minimizing the impact that the reduced schedule and slot changes will have on our customers. Contingencies have been put in place to ensure business and operational flow during the construction period. The processes for export and import will remain the same, whether cargo is travelling by passenger or by freighter services, transiting between the two airports or connecting with other Interline partners. Acceptance and delivery of all types of cargo will continue to take place at respective arrival and departure terminals. We regret this inconvenience to our customers and we are constantly seeking ways to overcome this so our current service levels are not affected during the closure period. We will keep you informed of any new developments in this regard and would like to reiterate that we are confident that processes are in place to ensure smooth operational flow and minimizing of any delays. 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