Kazakhstan signed an agreement with Turkmenistan on the opening of a new international railway crossing, Minister of Transport and Communications of Kazakhstan Askar Zhumagaliev wrote in his my microblog on Twitter.
"We have signed an agreement with Turkmenistan on the opening of a new international railway border crossing point called "Bolashak - Serhetyaka"," the Minister shared.
He said that the checkpoint will be situated on the Kazakh-Turkmen border.
Central Asian News Service, en.ca-news.org
The Public-Private Smart Move High Level Group held its kick-off meeting and started its work with the ambition to submit recommendations and a Smart Move Action Plan on doubling the number of bus and coach users in the EU in the next 10 years, and contribute to the EU Growth Agenda 2020.
Brussels - The International Road Transport Union (IRU), in cooperation with the European Commission, launched the Public-Private Smart Move High Level Group (HLG) yesterday, with the objective to elaborate, concrete policy and business recommendations on how to double the number of users of passenger transport by bus, coach and taxis in the EU within the next 10 years by attracting users out of private cars, as advocated by the Smart Move campaign<http://www.busandcoach.travel/>.
The Smart Move HLG is composed of representatives from EU institutions, including the European Commission, Members of the European Parliament, and private businesses, representative associations and other sectoral stakeholders from civil society.
The Smart Move High Level Group will focus its work on three main issues: intercity long distance regular lines, group tourism by coach, and urban transport and commuting, including scheduled bus services and taxis. Each issue will be analysed from its legal, fiscal, social and customer aspects, with a focus on safety and sustainability, and in particular users needs.
Yves Mannaerts, IRU Vice President and Member of the HLG, said: "We are extremely satisfied that this industry proposal is now supported by the European Commission, leading MEPs, and partners from civil society. Our objective is to propose to European citizens, politicians and businesses an ambitious and pragmatic road map on how to make collective passenger transport by road the preferred choice of European citizens, and to reach the Smart Move objective to double the number of bus and coach users in the next 10 years. This will be a concrete contribution to the follow up of the EU Transport White Paper and the implementation of the EU 2020 Growth Agenda priorities, at the lowest costs to society."
The HLG is expected to produce:
a) Policy and business recommendations on doubling the number of users of collective passenger transport by bus, coach and taxis;
b) An Action Plan with recommended deadlines for the period 2013/2015-2030;
c) An Internet-based, publicly available and renewable compilation of policy and business best practices.
A dedicated Internet page will be opened on the Smart Move website<http://www.busandcoach.travel> to allow all interested European citizens and stakeholders to follow the work of the Smart Move High Level Group and provide additional input to the debate.
Source IRU Communications
Geneva - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced global traffic results for April showing that total passenger demand rose 6.1% while freight demand was 4.2% down on April 2011.
Despite continuing economic weakness in some parts of the world, demand for air travel continues to grow. The 6.1% overall growth recorded for April is above the 20-year trend. Strong demand for air travel with limited capacity expansion pushed load factors to 79.3% which is a record high for an April load factor.
The 4.2% contraction in air freight markets compared to April 2011 is somewhat misleading. Air freight markets slumped sharply in the first half of 2011 and bottomed out towards the end of the year. Various distortions and month-to-month volatility have marked the industry performance since the beginning of 2012. However, April cargo levels stood at about 2% higher than in November 2011. About 80% of this improvement has been captured by Middle Eastern airlines. Air freight for the Asia-Pacific, European and North American carriers has continued to show weakness.
“It’s a volatile and risky world. Airlines are being cautious managing through the uncertainty. Overall passenger demand was up 6.1% in April and capacity increases were held back to 3.8%. There are signs that cargo has bottomed out. Amid the many distortions that have marked the first four months of the year, it is possible to identify the start of a growth trend in cargo for some parts of the world. But economic uncertainty in Europe makes it very difficult to be optimistic in the near to medium-term,” said Tony Tyler, IATA’s Director General and CEO.
Apr 2012 vs. Apr 2011 RPK Growth ASK Growth PLF FTK Growth AFTK Growth
International 7.4% 4.3% 79.1 -4.5% 0.2%
Domestic 3.9% 2.8% 79.7 -2.7% -2.0%
Total Market 6.1% 3.8% 79.3 -4.2% -0.3%
YTD 2012 vs. YTD 2011 RPK Growth ASK Growth PLF FTK Growth AFTK Growth
International 8.1% 5.2% 77.1 -2.5% 1.8%
Domestic 5.5% 4.4% 78.1 -0.9% -1.4%
Total Market 7.1% 4.9% 77.5 -2.3% 1.1%
International Passenger Markets
International air travel rose 7.4% in April compared to the year-ago period, outstripping a capacity expansion of 4.3%. April load factors stood at 79.1%, up 2.3 percentage points from April 2011.
European airlines recorded passenger demand growth of 5.9%. This is below the 7.4% global average and is significantly lower than the 8.7% growth recorded in March. Demand was, however, stronger than the 3.4% capacity expansion which pushed load factors to 80.7%. While this is a relatively strong performance compared to previous-year levels, since the beginning of the year, there has been a declining trend. April, for example, saw traffic contract by 0.3% compared to March—despite the Easter holiday period being in mid-April.
Asia-Pacific carriers also experienced strong growth of 9.3% against a capacity expansion of 4.6%. Load factors stood at 78.1%. The strong performance is exaggerated by the comparison to April 2011 when Asia-Pacific markets were particularly weak in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Removing the impact of the event, the region’s growth is estimated to be about 6%.
North American airlines saw passenger demand expand by 1.6% in April compared to the previous year. This is the weakest demand growth among all regions and represents a weakening from the 5.3% year-on-year growth recorded in March. However, the trend in North American travel is still positive since the end of 2011, as US economic conditions and particularly consumer confidence has improved. North American carriers were also the only region to cut capacity (by an almost equal 1.5%). This allowed the region’s carriers to post the strongest load factors at 80.8%.
Middle East airlines’ traffic growth has started to pick up pace again, recording a 16.0% gain in passenger demand for April, after having softened in the second half of 2011. Although this is a fall from the 20.9% growth recorded in March, the March result was distorted by the impacts of the Arab Spring in 2011. Furthermore, demand did grow faster than the 12.7% capacity expansion in April and load factors remained high at 78.3%.
Latin American carriers experienced a 9.0% expansion in international demand in April compared to the same month in 2011. Despite some potential for economic slowdown, growth has been solid enough in the region’s economies to sustain strong demand for passenger travel. This outpaced the capacity expansion of 5.3% and bucked expectations of a slowdown in the region due to weakening economic conditions. Load factors stood at 78.6%.
African airlines reported a 7.0% increase in demand. It was the only region where capacity expansion (8.5%) outpaced demand growth. Load factors were the weakest at 65.9%.
Domestic Passenger Markets
Domestic markets grew at about half the rate of international markets, just 3.9%. Load factors of 79.7% were slightly higher than on international routes (79.1%).
Japan experienced the strongest traffic growth, up 27.8% year-on-year. This, however, reflects the devastating impact on year-ago traffic of the natural disasters of March 2011. While the market has significantly recovered, domestic traffic levels remain 8% below pre-earthquake and tsunami levels. Load factors of 57% are the lowest among major domestic markets.
China’s domestic demand reflected the slowdown seen more broadly across the Chinese economy. The 6.3% growth recorded in April was the lowest recorded since early 2011 and well behind the 10.1% growth reported in March. The result reflects the slowdown seen in the economy more widely. Load factors of 82.2%, nonetheless, were high.
US domestic markets grew by 1.0% in April while capacity contracted by 0.7%. Load factors were the highest at 83.6%.
Passenger demand in Brazil grew by just 2.0%, below the 4.5% capacity expansion. Load factors stood at 70.2%.
India traffic rose by 8.6% year-over-year, ahead of the 1.7% capacity expansion. Load factors stood at 75.3%.
Air Freight (Domestic and International)
Air freight markets, while weak, are now showing some signs of expansion after bottoming out toward the end of 2011.
Asia-Pacific carriers saw a 7.3% decline in demand in April, well ahead of capacity cuts of 4.1%. This reflects weakening exports from China. European airlines saw a 4.9% fall in cargo traffic compared to the year before, despite having cut capacity by 0.2%. North American carriers showed a 6.4% drop in demand with a 2.9% cut in capacity. Latin American carriers recorded a 3.6% fall in demand even though capacity expanded by 8.8% compared to April 2011.
Middle Eastern carriers were the bright spot in cargo with a 14.5% increase in demand. But this was behind a 15.1% increase in capacity. African carriers showed a 6.1% increase in demand, behind a 9.0% increase in capacity.
The Bottom Line
“The growth in passenger markets is encouraging. But it comes against an environment of continuing high oil prices and growing economic uncertainty. So translating the stronger demand into profits will be difficult,” said Tyler.
With the exception of Africa, all markets saw capacity expansion at levels below the expansion in demand. “In the face of economic uncertainty, many airline managements will be going back to first principles—careful capacity management, cost control and conserving cash. This will be the order of the day until some clarity comes to the global economic outlook. Of course the uncertainty impacts the whole value chain. We are all in this together. Airlines will be particularly looking to their industry partners to share the imperative on cost control,” said Tyler.
IATA will update its industry financial outlook on 11 June 2012 at the Association’s Annual General Meeting to be held in Beijing, China from 10-12 June 2012.
Source IATA
Port Said, Egypt - The Suez Canal Container Terminal (SCCT) received and worked the first eastbound call of the new ABX (Asia - Black Sea Express) Service operated by the G6 Consortium, comprised of APL, Hapag-Lloyd AG, Hyundai Merchant Marine, Mitsui O.S.K Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Orient Overseas Container Line.
The MOL Performance arrived ahead of schedule, having called at Odessa, Constanza, Istanbul and Ashdod. She will continue her sailing back out to the Far East, calling at Singapore, Ningbo, Shanghai, Shekou and Hong Kong.
With 18 Cranes, 2,400 metres of quay and a year round draft capability of 15 metres, SCCT is the largest Terminal in the East Med, handling over 3 million TEU’s in 2011; an increase of over 13% compared to 2010. The capacity of the terminal has been designed to handle over 5 million TEU’s and is expected to reach this figure by 2015.
Source APM Terminals
2012-05-30
Christening of the “Caroline Oetker” and the “Ida Oetker” in Shanghai
Hamburg, 30 May 2012. On Saturday, 19 May 2012, A.O. Schiffahrt celebrated the christening of the Kamsarmax bulk carrier “Caroline Oetker” at the yard of Taizhou Catic Shipbuilding, near Shanghai. The sister vessel “Ida Oetker” is due to be christened at the same location in a few weeks, on 26 June. Both newbuildings have a capacity of 82,000 tdw, are 229 metres long and 32 metres wide.
Sponsor of the “Caroline Oetker” was Daniela Oetker, wife of Alexander Oetker, owner of A.O. Schiffahrt and son of Dr hc August Oetker, Chairman of the Advisory Board of Dr. August Oetker KG.
With the christening of the two vessels, A.O. Schiffahrt is uniquely combining present and past, since, on the one hand, the two bulk carriers are fitted with cutting-edge technology and, on the other, they recall important milestones of German shipping and historical figures from the Oetker company. Thus the “Caroline Oetker is the second ship to bear this name. The first “Caroline Oetker”, a turbine tanker, was delivered to Hamburg Süd by Deutsche Werft AG in Hamburg on 26 February 1957 and was the largest vessel in the German merchant fleet at the time. Both ships take their name from Caroline Oetker, the wife of company founder Dr August Oetker. With her commitment she made an important contribution to founding, preserving and expanding the global corporation Dr. August Oetker KG. The second ship, the “Ida Oetker”, is named after the wife of Richard Kaselowsky, who guided the fortunes of the Dr. Oetker company from the 1920s to the 1940s.
Immediately after the christening the two vessels will be placed under long-term charter with Rudolf A. Oetker (RAO), which has been an integral part of the Hamburg Süd Group’s tramp operations for 60 years.
Technical data of the “Caroline Oetker” and the “Ida Oetker”
Length 229 m
Length between perpendiculars 225.50 m
Width 32.26 m
Draught max. 12.20 m
Capacity 82,000 tdw
Main engine Wärtsila 5RT-Flex 58T
Speed 14.1 kn
Main engine output 14,820 hp
Year of construction 2012
Source Verwaltungsgesellschaft A.O. Schiffahrt GmbH
2012-05-30
BP has lifted Force Majeure in respect of its Libyan Exploration and Production Sharing Agreement (EPSA) with the National Oil Corporation (NOC) effective 15th May 2012. Force Majeure has been in place since 21st February 2011. Discussions between NOC and BP have agreed how the impact of Force Majeure will be mitigated in BP’s existing contract terms. The agreement was signed on 29th May by Dr. Nuri Berruien, Chairman of the NOC, and Felipe Posada, Regional President for BP in North Africa, during a visit to Tripoli with Dr. Michael Daly, BP’s Executive Vice President for Exploration.
Dr Michael Daly said: "The lifting of Force Majeure is a significant milestone in BP’s plans to return to the exploration of onshore and offshore blocks in our existing EPSA contract. We look forward to working with the NOC and our partners in the Libyan Investment Authority to safely implement our drilling programme."
Nuri Berruien, Chairman of the NOC said: "We thank BP for its commitment to Libya by lifting the force majeure. The NOC will work with BP to deliver the objectives of the EPSA and extends all help and support to BP in order to implement the agreed work program as per existing EPSA terms."
BP
2012-05-30
The Law "On sea ports" to be discussed at the port of Odessa Law firm "ANK" jointly with the port Odessa will conduct a Roundtable on "The Law on Seaports: what will change in the port industry?". The round table will be attended by heads and senior staff of the port of Odessa, line agents and stevedoring companies. Roundtable will be held on Wednesday, June 6, at 15-00 in the conference room of the port.
Odessa Commercial Sea Port
2012-05-30
Shanghai-based liner service joins CMA CGM’s Pacific Express Service as slot charter to Mobile, Miami and Jacksonville.
Mobile, Alabama‐ China Shipping Container Line Company, the world’s 8th-largest container shipping company by capacity, will begin cargo service to the US Gulf Coast and Florida through a slot charter arrangement on the weekly Pacific Express 3 string operated by CMA-CGM, which will include calls at APM Terminals Mobile, APM Terminals Jacksonville and Miami’s South Florida Container Terminal (SFCT), in which APM Terminals is a joint venture partner with Terminal Link.
“We are very pleased to welcome China Shipping as a new customer of APM Terminals in Mobile, Jacksonville and Miami, and look forward to further strengthening our relationship with this important global carrier” said APM Terminals Americas region, Chief Commercial Officer Jonathan Goldner.
Shanghai-based China Shipping Container Line Company currently operates 149 vessels, with a combined total capacity of approximately 560,000 TEUs, ranking 8th globally by this measure. This new China Shipping service which has been named the AAE2 will be made available through a slot charter agreement with French-based CMA-CGM. Ports of call on the AAE2 include Xiamen, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Busan, in the Far East, and Manzanillo, Panama, in addition to the US ports of Houston, Mobile, Miami and Jacksonville. Vessels range in size from 3,398 TEU to 5,096 TEU capacity.
APM Terminals Mobile, which opened in 2008, and features a 45 foot depth and cranes with an 18-container row reach, saw container volume grow by 45% in 2011, while throughput at SFCT, in which APM Terminals holds a 49% share, expanded by 13.5%.
APM Terminals
MAERSK Line will end its Tasman Star Express service and instead buy slots from MSC-ANL's Trans Tasman Service, reports Alphaliner.
The MSC-ANL loop links Australia's Sydney and Melbourne to New Zealands' Nelson, Auckland, Tauranga, Lyttelton and Wellington, using three 2,600 to 2,800-TEUers. Maersk's current Tasman Star Express had three 1,100-TEUers and called at Sydney, Melbourne, Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, Nelson, Tauranga, Sydney.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SINOTRANS Container Line and Yang Ming will launch the China, Japan, Philippines service (CJP), connecting Tokyo, Yokohama, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Shenzhen-Shekou, Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai and back to Tokyo.
The three-week loop will be serviced by three 1,000-TEU ships, two from from Sinotrans (the Sinotrans Hong Kong and the Isara Bhum) and one by Yang Ming (the Stadt Berlin).
The first sailing took place May 27 from Shanghai with the Stadt Berlin, reported Alphaliner. Yang Ming is also taking slots on the Sinotrans Shanghai-Japan Kanto Service (SJ1), linking Shanghai to Tokyo and Yokohama.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DHL Global Forwarding has added a weekly sailing from Shanghai to Dubai, bringing the number of its direct less-than-container-load (LCL) services connecting China and the United Arab Emirates to three.
This additional service also extends to some other major cities in the Middle East such as Doha and Kuwait. China-based exporters have the choice of two sailings, with transit times to the Middle East of either 17 or 19 days. With this shipping service, the company said in a statement that it is reducing CO2 emissions by 5.56 per cent compared to its previous non-direct service routed via Hong Kong.
The extra service is in response to growing demand on this trade lane and is in keeping with the company's plans to expand its LCL network in China. "Our new services from Shanghai to Dubai are a direct response to a rise in cooperation in recent years between China and these new emerging economies in the Middle East," said Asia Pacific CEO Dr. Kelvin Leung.
The company's network currently comprises 1,100 weekly point pairs from 49 Asia Pacific terminals sailing to 23 destination terminals in the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey.
China CEO Steve Huang added: "Besides Shanghai and nearby cities such as Hangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou and Nanjing, Chinese exporters can also enjoy the LCL service through our terminals located in Xuzhou, Hefei, Lianyungang, Changsha and even Chengdu in western China. In addition to cities from UAE including Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Fujairah and Sharjah, the destinations also involve major cities from the Middle East including Bahrain, Jeddah, PS Qaboos and Riyadh."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
CHINA has filed a complaint with the WTO over US tariffs on 22 Chinese products including solar panels and steel pipes.
"China firmly opposes the abuse of trade remedy measures and trade protectionism," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Said US Trade Representative spokeswoman Nkenge Harmon: "China has determined without benefit of the facts that whatever the United States does will fall short of what China would like to see."
The US says the products, which account for US$7.3 billion of China's exports, are unfairly priced and "dumped" on the US market, reported Reuters. The complaint also covers wind towers, although the US is not set to decide on such tariffs.
The US Trade Representative's office said China is bringing the case prematurely to the WTO as the Commerce Department is working to address China's issues after a previous ruling by the organisation.
China won a similar case before the WTO in 2011 that included woven sacks, tyres and steel pipes. China filed the most recent complaint on the same day the WTO issued a confidential ruling on a case in which the US challenged the monopoly of UnionPay over Chinese electronic payments on behalf of US companies like Visa and MasterCard.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
MALAYSIA's MTT Shipping has made new links between Pasir Gudang and East Malaysia by taking slots from Singapore-based PIL's feeder units, Advance Container Line (ACL) and Malaysia Shipping Corp (MES).
The ACL/MES service offers connections to Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Labuan, Kota Kinabalu and Muara, said the Alphaliner report. The Pasir Gudang connections complements MTT's existing connections to these East Malaysian and Brunei ports from Tanjung Pelepas and Port Kelang.
MTT assumed most of Johan Shipping's former routes between West and East Malaysia after the Johan 2011 bankruptcy.
MTT has also taken in charge the newly-acquired 20-year-old 1,012- TEU MTT Kuching (from Rickmers). It is MTT's second vessel acquisition, following the purchase of the 1,022-TEU MTT Penang built in 1985) last December.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
LONDON GATEWAY, the DP World container terminal under construction in the lower Thames Estuary, is bent on becoming a hub of its own and not spoke for Le Havre, Rotterdam, Antwerp or Hamburg.
"We are going back to our roots," said London Gateway CEO Simon Moore. "We are getting the biggest ships in the world as close as we can to the biggest point of consumption and giving cargo owners the opportunity to store and warehouse their goods right next to the ships."
Only its British rival Felixstowe, owned by Hong Kong-based Hutchison, can take in the megaships now flooding the market, he said, according to London's Daily Telegraph. Despite the expansion of Felixstowe, he said there is an increasing shortage of capacity in Britain to handle megaships.
"Today there are less than 100 [megaships] of them in service. By the end of next year, there will be more than 200. As shipping lines look to improve their economies of scale, ships are getting bigger and bigger. The UK is an island nation, it has to have port capacity for the 21st century," he said.
That makes London Gateway, with its 3.5 million TEU annual capacity at full build-out, an obvious choice for direct calls, he said. "We have 15 million people living within 80 kilometres and a big cost in the transportation chain is the cost of moving the goods from the port to the end user. If you can keep that link as short as possible, if the difference is driving 20 miles or 100, you are saving money," said Mr Moore.
Being a hub and not a spoke is important. "It's not that different from the idea of hub airports. If you talk to businessmen in London, one reason they are here is because they can jump on a plane and go direct to Dubai or New York or Hong Kong. What if you couldn't? If you had to go via Schiphol, Paris, Frankfurt. It can be done. But is it going to make the UK more attractive for business or less? It's another link in the chain and that's a disadvantage.
"It's the same with ports. 90pc of our trade comes by sea. And we are big enough to have these big ships come in directly. That shortens transit times for importers and exporters. It's about ensuring we keep this island nation directly connected to the M1 of world trade. Otherwise we are an A road or a B road off someone else's highway," said Mr Moore.
Asked whether London Gateway has anchor clients, Mr Moore said: "We do, but we're not saying anything yet. People who are coming have concerns over how they may be treated in between time if we make their names public now," he said.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE Port of Rotterdam Authority is investing EUR15 million (US$18.5 million) in a project to renovate, redesign and expand the existing 'Heavy Lift Centre' for the storage and handling of heavy and bulky freight from the energy and offshore industry sector, project cargo.
The work on the centre for heavy cargo that is located within the eastern section of the RDM site in the Waalhaven has already started with the demolition of some dilapidated sheds. The work is expected to continue until the third quarter of 2014.
The port authority is working with the Broekman Group on the project. It said in a statement that Broekman hopes the redeveloped centre will meet the growing demand from the energy sector for storage and handling of heavy objects in well-equipped sheds with modern overhead cranes.
Covered assembly space will also soon be available which will give added value to the activities. The space for outside storage will be enlarged for the sizeable objects and the centre will also have a more efficient layout, new heavy foundations and paving.
The redesigned 'Heavy Lift Centre' will comprise four modernised high halls with a total of around 16,000 square metres of space and overhead cranes with a lifting capacity of 75 to 700 tonnes; an outside space of around 26,000 metres square; a 300-metre quay with a draught of 10.5 metres at which cargo items of up to 1,800 tonnes can be handled; and sheds of 4,000 metres square directly on the quay.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
.jpg)
The magazine SEA has been published since 1935
International business magazine JŪRA MOPE SEA has been published since 1999
The first magazine in Eurasia in the four languages: English, Chinese, Russian and Lithuanian
|
|