THE Port of Taicang, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, posted a year-on-year increase of 15.6 per cent in the mainland-Taiwan direct shipping cargo volume to 11,000 TEU.
Tonnage of these cargo grew 12.5 per cent to 157,000 tonnes. The number of direct shipping vessels increased 20 per cent to 55, according to Xinhua.
In December 2008, Taicang became one of the first ports operating mainland-Taiwan direct shipping services. This year, the port's direct service to Taiwan will be upgraded to one sailing a day.
Taicang is situated at the south bank of the Yangtze River estuary in Suzhou city up upstream from Shanghai. Suzhou is the one of the most heavily invested cities in mainland by Taiwan investors with over 9,500 Taiwanese invested companies.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SEA ports in southeast China's Fujian province handled 4.64 million tonnes of transshipments from other provinces during the first quarter of this year. This was an upswing of 127.3 per cent compared to the same period in 2011, Xinhua reports.
Cargo transshipped via sea-rail intermodal service from port of Xiamen to other provinces climbed 10.9 per cent to 4,322 TEU. International cargo transshipped via Xiamen increased 26.3 per cent to 69,000 TEU.
During the first three months, Fujian's seaports handled 88.44 million tonnes, up 9.4 per cent. Foreign trade cargo grew 15.3 per cent to 36.99 million tonnes. Container throughput increased 9.1 per cent to 2.25 million TEU.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE "dry port" facilities of Tianjin port, established by the port in hinterland regions and offers intermodal service to vie for cargo, handled 41,400 TEU in the first quarter of, 11.4 per cent more year on year, Xinhua reports.
So far, Tianjin has established "dry ports" in 21 cities in neighbouring provinces and distant regions, including Hebei province's Shijiazhuang and Inner Mongolia's Baotou. Tianjin has also set up three regional marketing centres in Yinchua, Xian and Baotou to manage these facilities.
This year, Tianjin will have four "dry ports" in Baoding, Handan, Yinchuan and Zhangjiakou city operational to speed up the building of another three in Bayannagur, Chifeng and Xingtai.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
US CUSTOMS and Border Protection has opened two of its latest import centres, one with an automotive and aerospace focus in Detroit and the other with petroleum, natural gas and mineral focus in Houston.
Following a year-long pilot scheme, opening two "Centres of Excellence and Expertise (CEE)", one in Los Angeles, specialising in electronics and another in New York, focussing on pharmaceuticals, customs finds it can increase volumes handled so now plans six more centres by 2015.
In a written statement CBP acting commissioner David Aguilar said CEEs will facilitate trade compliance by using specialist teams for specific industries, reported American Shipper. "These centres bring all of CBP's trade expertise to bear on a single industry in one strategic location," he said.
By centralising the import process for imported shippers, those of the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism or Importer Self-Assessment programmes, the CBP hopes to avoid unnecessary delays. It can then check compliance on overall accounts for certified traders as opposed to every shipment and focus on real risk for safety, intellectual property or trade violations.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
A UN-backed labour groups have complained that Deutsche Post DHL avoids unionisation where it can and has been fined for health and safety regulations in the United States.
A document entitled Corporate Irresponsibility, Deutsche Post DHL's Global Labour Practices Exposed, the group said the company avoided unionisation outside Europe and employed too many temporary or agency workers.
The UNI Global Union and the ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation) said workers are fearful of retaliation if they try to organise unions. In many countries, including Malaysia, Indonesia and India, subcontracted workers have been paid substantially less than regular workers while doing exactly the same work.
The company has also been fined for health and safety violations, notably earlier this year in the US where DP-DHL subsidiary Excel has been fined almost US$300,000, without mentioning the specific offence.
The Wikipedia entry said it was a fine from the US "Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which fined Excel almost $300,000, for wilfully failing to record and report on-the-job injuries for four years.
Such violations, says the union group contradict DP-DHL's own corporate responsibility policies and its commitment to the principles of the United Nations Global Compact, which it signed in 2006.
The report provides a whole raft of evidence holding the company to account and demanding it meet its aspirations as a responsible enterprise in every country where it operates, not just in its home base, Germany. The 175 million member International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is supporting the campaign.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
ETIHAD Rail, the master developer and operator of the UAE's national railway network, has announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with DP World for the development of an intermodal rail terminal in Jebel Ali Port.
Representing an important step towards the development of the rail network, the agreement was signed by chairman of Etihad Rail Nasser Al Sowaidi and chairman of DP World Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem.
The intermodal rail terminal at Jebel Ali will enable the more efficient transfer of containerised freight arriving at the port, and is expected to bring substantial benefits to logistics companies and the UAE economy.
A joint statement said that DP World has already earmarked a strategic potential plot for the intermodal rail terminal, which is to be located adjacent to Jebel Ali Maritime Terminal 1 and close to Terminal 2.
DP World will oversee the building and operation of the loading and unloading facilities at the rail terminal, while Etihad Rail will build and own the railway infrastructure and manage the rail services to and from the terminal.
"The rail terminal and the Etihad Rail network as a whole will add to the efficiency we offer customers at our flagship Jebel Ali port," said Sultan Bin Sulayem.
"With state-of-the-art facilities at Jebel Ali, able to serve the largest vessels in the world, supported by the latest e-trade technology, and the Dubai Logistics Corridor linked to the Dubai World Central airport, Jebel Ali will be fully multi-modal, connecting sea-road-rail-air," he said.
"This will add enormously to the efficiency of the supply chain and reinforce Dubai's status as both a regional hub and a gateway for cargo for the UAE and the wider Middle East, the subcontinent and East Africa," he said.
The shift from truck to rail transportation will reduce truck traffic at the port terminal and on the roads surrounding Jebel Ali, while also being more cost effective for businesses over long-haul moves. One train can carry 260 TEU, which by road transportation would require at least 130 trucks.
By 2030 it is expected that the Jebel Ali intermodal rail terminal will have a capacity to handle the transfer of five million TEU per annum.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE Panama Maritime Authority has approved plans to build a new US$600 million container terminal at Colon on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal that will be able to handle two million TEU per annum.
A report by London's Port Technology International said the 92-acre terminal on the site of a former US naval base will be developed by a consortium of Asian developers under the name of Panama Colon Container Port LLC (PCCP). Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has been appointed the project advisor, according to media reports.
The design calls for four berths to be built at the Colon terminal, with two to handle super post-Panamax vessels, one for the handling of post-Panamax vessels, and a 522-foot berth for the accommodation of multipurpose and breakbulk vessels.
The terminal will be equipped with eight super post-Panamax cranes and two Panamax cranes to handle ships up to 18,000 TEU; and a 36,000-TEU capacity container yard, with additional space for 800 reefer slots. It is slated for completion in the third quarter of 2014.
The consortium is also reported to be in the final stages of discussions with "one of the world's largest terminal operators" over the day-to-day operation of the terminal.
"This will be the first terminal in Panama designed from the ground up for the post-Panamax era," the head of JLL's global port infrastructure group, John Carver, was quoted as saying. "This will be a big needle mover for Panama, one entirely built by private developers."
He added, "We just did the bidding for the dredging and land reclamation two weeks ago, and we're expecting to start construction in July."
The developers are also reported to be considering whether to build a new logistics centre, including warehouses and cold storage, next to the new terminal site.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
IAG Cargo, the cargo arm of the International Airlines Group (IAG), the holding company of British Airways and Iberia, have recorded a EUR1 million (US$1.29 million) year-on-year revenue growth to EUR291 million in the first quarter, up 0.3 per cent as volumes dropped 2.2 per cent.
Total first quarter revenues from both cargo and passenger services for the whole group were up 7.8 per cent to EUR3.9 billion.
Despite the revenue growth in IAG Cargo, the group suffered an operating loss of EUR249 million in the first quarter compared to the EUR102 million loss one year ago. And loss before tax for the quarter widened to EUR263 million against a loss of EUR47 million in the same period last year.
IAG chief executive Willie Walsh attributed the operating loss to a "EUR281 million, 24.9 per cent rise in fuel costs, the reduced impact of hedging and emissions charges. The Iberia pilot strike cost EUR25 million in this quarter.
"The financial performance of our business continues to be undermined by government actions. In addition to the UK government increasing the world's highest aviation tax - Air Passenger Duty - by double the inflation rate, the Spanish government plans to increase departure taxes from Spain by up to 10 euros per passenger."
IAG completed the purchase of bmi in late April, which now enables British Airways to manage a wider Heathrow slot portfolio, such as launching a new route to Seoul later this year, said Mr Walsh.
"Airports across the UK and beyond have contacted us about starting services and, subject to reaching satisfactory agreement with them, we plan to also launch flights from Heathrow to Leeds-Bradford, Rotterdam and Zagreb and increase frequencies to existing key destinations," he said.
"Consultation continues with bmi [Regional] mainline staff and their trade unions about plans to integrate the business into British Airways.
IAG officials recently agreed to sell bmi Regional, which operates 18 Embraer jets throughout the UK and northern Europe, to Sector Aviation Holdings for GBP8 million (US$12.8 million), according to a report by Atlanta-area Air Cargo World.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
ZURICH-based Swissport, the global groundhandler, will acquire Flightcare Spain and Flightcare Belgium from FCC Versia pending regulatory approval, thus expanding to become a full-service provider at Brussels Airport and expanding into Spain.
The acquisitions of the Flightcare businesses in Spain and Belgium, which combined handled over 24 million passengers and 287,000 tonnes of cargo in 2011, and employing around 3,000 staff, are "great additions to Swissport's network", said a company statement.
"Spain is a very attractive market, where Swissport has been providing ground handling services since 2000, and the addition of Flightcare's operations in Barcelona, Malaga, Fuerteventura, Valencia, Alicante, Jerez and Almeria will broaden Swissport's ground handling network," said the statement.
Said Swissport CEO Per Utnegaard: "Both these markets offer great potential to Swissport. These are essentially bolt-on acquisitions in two existing core markets for Swissport that perfectly complement Swissport's existing activities in Spain and Belgium and will enable us to grow the business most effectively. We look forward to working with staff, airport operators, and our customers to ensure a seamless transfer of the businesses, and to continue expanding our product portfolio in Spain and Belgium by applying Swissport's highly recognised standards and processes."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SWISS global logistics provider Panalpina is the first warehousing company to operate a cold chain unit at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport under a Good Distribution Practice (GDP) certificate issued by the Dutch Ministry of Health, the company has announced.
GDP ensures that medicinal products are distributed to pharmacists and others without alteration of their properties. Medicinal products need to be stored apart from other goods and under the conditions specified by the manufacturer in order to avoid deterioration, said a company statement.
Panalpina continues to obtain GDP (Good Distribution Practice) certifications at various locations around the world.
Pharmaceutical companies face increasing challenges with official and country-specific rules for storing and transporting temperature-sensitive products, said the Panalpina statement.
The company is operating the only facility for cross-docking and interim storage with airside access at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport with an official GDP certification.
"This is a strong signal to our customers that they can rely on our services. As a GDP certified provider we adhere to the highest quality standards and make it very easy for all of our customers to prove that they have mitigated their risk," said Panalpina global healthcare chief Thomas Berger.
Panalpina's facility at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport has temperature-controlled cells for two to eight and 15 to 25 degrees Celsius. It also offers re-icing services, as well as packaging services for pharmaceutical customers.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DURING the first three months, northern China's Shijiazhuang airport posted a robust year-on-year growth of 21.8 per cent in its cargo throughput to 7,710.5 tonnes, Xinhua reports.
Civil Aviation Administration of China's statistics shows that during the first quarter, China's air cargo throughput fell 7.4 per cent to 1.2 million tonnes. In contrast, Shijiazhuang is thriving with capacity shortage. The airport's outbound domestic cargo increased 10.84 per cent to 2,692 tonnes.
The report said, the airport's satisfactory performance is a result of its efforts in promoting its services in local express and logistics companies and in cooperating with airports in other cities on transshipments. For example, transshipping shipments bound for Guangzhou and Shenzhen via Ningbo and Xiamen airport, those bound for Lhasa via Chengdu. This is said to have been an effective solution to the airport's lack of direct services.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
2012-05-11
Multiple transceivers enable wide range of fixed and mobile applications
Simrad, a division of Kongsberg Maritime AS and the world’s leading manufacturer of hydro acoustic products for commercial fishing vessels and scientific research has expanded its market leading scientific echo sounder portfolio with the introduction of the new multi-transceiver Simrad EK15. With the ability to connect up to 15 fixed or mobile transceivers by cable or over a wireless network, the new Simrad EK15 is suitable for a wide range of applications from fish stock assessment and fish protection to river surveys, environmental monitoring and offshore oil & gas operations.
The Simrad EK15 is based on a small and ruggedised single beam transceiver and a dedicated transducer. The operational frequency is 200 kHz, which ensures very high resolution and accuracy, with easy built in, in situ calibration. By using multiple transceivers in parallel with either simultaneous or sequential pinging it is possible to monitor large areas with only a single echo sounder system.
The system can be put to use in a wide variety of environments: lakes, fjords, harbours, shallow marine, rivers, and in aquaculture fish cages for continuous monitoring of fish behaviour, vertical distribution of fish, fish escape, food waste and environment. For more than two years, Simrad EK15 prototypes have been put to test by Norwegian industrial aquaculture companies for monitoring purposes. The results have been very successful. The Simrad EK15 has also been tested and proven suitable for a number of other critical applications:
Hydropower dams – Fish protection at hydropower dams is critical and an array of EK15 transceivers can create an acoustic fence to monitor fish approaching water inlets.
River surveys – Multiple Simrad EK15 transducers can be used to monitor fish migration and due to the compact size of the system, transport for applications in remote areas is easy.
Traditional lake surveys – The wide opening angle of the EK15 transducer offers a large sampling volume, which enables increased coverage in shallow water environments.
Habitat mapping – The Simrad EK15 can monitor the distribution of vegetation and determine the height of marine growth. In combination with sampling, a vegetation biomass index can be established.
Subsea platforms – The Simrad EK15 due to its small size and low power consumption is well suited for installation into gliders, AUVs, ROVs and ocean observatories.
The system can be connected to a standard commercial computer/laptop and supports the Windows® 7 operating system. Multiple transceivers are connected via a commercial Ethernet switch with just a single Ethernet cable per transceiver required because each transceiver is provided with a dedicated power supply for AC operation, alternatively 12 V battery supply. The Simrad EK15 can also be set up for wireless communication between the computer and the transceivers, which is a good solution for both portable and fixed installation systems as the amount of cabling is greatly reduced. The EK15 uses the standard Simrad RAW data storage format supported by 3rd party software analysis tools.
The Simrad EK15 is available now from Simrad dealers worldwide. For further information on this and other Simrad scientific and catch focused echo sounders, visit www.simrad.com
Source Saltwater
APM Terminals suggests multifaceted approach to optimizing operations at the Port Finance International Black Sea Conference; Poti as a Case Study.
Istanbul, Turkey‐ APM Terminals’ European Director of Port Investments and Projects Michiel Ybema proposed a systematic approach to analyzing and enhancing container port productivity on the Sea of Marmara at the 4th Annual Port Financial International Black Sea Conference held in Istanbul recently. The Sea of Marmara lies between the Aegean and Black Seas astride an increasingly important sea lane serving Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
“Handling mixed cargoes, the balance of transshipment and gateway cargoes, and equipment intensity are the primary drivers of differences in productivity” observed Mr. Ybema.
The number of Shore-to-Ship and Mobile Harbor Cranes installed per meter of quay and the average number actually used to work a vessel are the key factors determining equipment intensity. Layout, equipment and operations at the four largest Marmara facilities of Marport, Kumport, Yilport and Evyap were compared respectively with roughly corresponding terminal situations at APM Terminals Global Terminal Network facilities at the Vridi Container Terminal at the Port of Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Aqaba Container Terminal, Jordan; Khalifa bin Salman Port, Bahrain and Terminal 4 at the Port of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Other significant factors that affect productivity levels at individual Marmara facilities are lengthy average container dwell times due to cargo clearance and payment processes, and the lack of adequate transportation infrastructure, both in terms of physical assets and rail and highway accessibility.
“We believe there would be great benefit from electronic cargo clearance in advance of arrival rather than after the vessel has been fully discharged, for example” said Mr. Ybema.
APM Terminals Poti, on the Republic of Georgia’s Black Sea coast, was cited as a case in point, where the layout of the port is being restructured, and the berths are being deepened. These improvements, along with the addition of new terminal equipment will boost the capacity of the present day port by an estimated 50%.
“A lot of terminals we see have grown organically over the years and have structural inefficiencies ‘designed in’” explained Mr. Ybema, noting “This is typically because they mix different cargoes over single berths or simply because they were designed for different cargoes or vessel sizes.
A presentation by Ms Maka Khvedelidze of Georgia's Tax and Customs Administration showed that the Republic of Georgia has made impressive progress on simplifying and speeding up the cargo clearance process. The IMF has projected Georgia’s GDP to expand by 6% in 2012, following a 7% growth in 2011.
APM Terminals will invest over $100 million USD between 2012 and 2014 at APM Terminals Poti, including the construction of new container and bulk cargo terminals. APM Terminals Poti handled 178,000 TEUs in 2011.
In February, APM Terminals announced the signing of a preliminary agreement for the development and operation of Petkim Port, located in Aliağa, near the City of Izmir on Turkey’s Aegean Coast.
Source APM Terminals
2012-05-11
Largest improvement within the Dax 30
MAN has secured third place within the Dax 30 in the reputation study conducted this year by the Reputation Institute. MAN scored consistently well in 2012 in all the areas examined, moving up eleven places and yielding a total of 77.60 points. Generally speaking, only five companies improved this year. On average, scores fell by 2.5 points to 68 points.
The reputation study "Dax30 Companies in German RepTrak" has been carried out by the New York-based Reputation Institute for the past 15 years and measures the reputation of German and international companies. Over 2,300 companies were judged by 117,000 people worldwide, with 2,500 consumers in Germany being surveyed about the Dax 30 companies. The representatively selected participants were asked to judge the respective companies on areas such as products, innovation, workplace, and performance. 80 points out of a possible 100 were required for the reputation to be classed as "excellent".
The Reputation Institute was founded in 1997 and operates in over 30 countries. In Germany, it is headquartered in Berlin. The Institute advises leading companies worldwide on systematic reputation management. Parts of the study are available to download from the Reputation Institute (www.reputationinstitute.com).
Source MAN SE
HONG KONG's Cathay Pacific Airways has warned that it expects "disappointing" first half results due to weak demand and high fuel prices.
"Looking ahead, economic uncertainties have continued into the first half of this year - while these uncertainties continue, we expect pressure on economy class yields and our cargo business in particular to remain weak," the airline said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.
"Fuel prices have risen further. As a result, 2012 is looking even more challenging than 2011 and we are therefore cautious about prospects for this year."
It expected capacity growth to fall to two per cent from the original seven per cent, as frequencies of some long-haul routes to North America and Europe are reduced to cut fuel cost.
And it expected the growth in the cargo business to drop from seven to four per cent. "The cargo business, despite a temporary improvement in March, has shown no sign of a sustained recovery," it said in the statement.
Said Cathay CEO John Slosar: "This is not just a Cathay Pacific problem, it is clearly an industry-wide issue, and continued high fuel prices in particular are hitting airlines hard across the globe. We have no option but to take concerted action to adapt to this volatile operating environment."
In addition to reducing capacity to cut costs, the airline has announced some other cost-cutting measures, including the earlier retirement of older aircraft, deployment of more fuel-efficient planes, a freeze of ground staff hiring and a restart of the voluntary unpaid leave for cabin crew.
But orders for 93 fuel-efficient aircraft would proceed as planned. Worth a total of HK$190 billion (US$24.5 billion), the delivery of the first batch is expected to start from 2019.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
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