2012-05-08
IRU awards Abdelilah Hifdi, Secretary General, AMTRI and President, FT CGEM, the IRU Order of Merit for his contribution to the development of the Moroccan road transport industry.
The International Road Transport Union (IRU) has awarded the distinguished IRU Order of Merit to Mr Abdelilah Hifdi, Secretary General, AMTRI and President, FT CGEM, for dedicating his career to the development of the road transport industry at national and international level in Morocco. Thanks to his continuous support for the work of the IRU, Morocco is one of the only African countries using the TIR System with all of the IRU risk management tools such as the IRU TIR-EPD and Real-Time SafeTIR (RTS).
In 1996, he worked hand in hand with the IRU Secretariat General and the road transport associations in the Maghreb to set up the first committee representing the interests of the Western Mediterranean region, MEDOC. It is through this cooperation that the IRU was able, with his full support, to successfully organise the 26th IRU World Congress in Marrakesh in 1998.
Mr Hifdi collaborated most recently with the port authorities of the new port of Tangiers-Med and the highest Moroccan authorities to successfully bring together 22 Ministers and road transport associations of North-West Africa to conclude a Resolution asking the IRU to set up a Regional Committee for Africa and to obtain approval of the IRU Rules of Procedure, budget and working programme from all participants. In addition, the office for the IRU Permanent Delegation to Africa has also been able to operate efficiently thanks to Mr Hifdi’s contribution.
His dedication has always been instrumental in the successful work of the IRU to promote and further facilitate trade and international road transport in the region so that future generations can benefit from the IRU motto, “Working together for a better future”.
IRU
THE recovery of Baltic Dry Index (BDI) back to 1,000 points has brought back the confidence of a depressed global shipping industry, prompting it to impose another round of rate increases, reports Xinhua.
But this is considered as difficult option by experts in the industry, says Xinhua. In early February, the BDI slid to historic lows of 647 points, but has since recovered steadily and has come back to 1,000 points in late April. This is because of a rise in demand stimulated by the surge of grain export from South America, which has caused shortage of capacity on Atlantic lines.
After two rounds of rate increases in March and April, some carriers plans to launch another round in May. Cosco plans to levy a surcharge of US$400 per TEU on oversize cargo from Far East to South Africa since May 1. OOCL announced a rate increase of $200 for cargo from northern Europe to Asia.
The Shanghai Shipping Exchange reports that the market is taking an wait-and-see attitude towards the rate increases in May, as the previous two rounds in March and April have raised the rates on European lines to a high level.
According to Clarkson Shipping Intelligence, there will be about 20 new ships coming into service in May, suppressing the further increases in rates. In addition, it has yet to be determined whether shippers will accept a new round of rate hikes.
But concerns of further increases in May has resulted in a recent peak in the Chinese container shipping market with a rush of cargo to the docks before they are imposed with some roads connecting ports experiencing unseasonal congestion.
Continuous rate increases has pushed the rate of shipments from Shanghai to Europe from $500 to $1,700 per TEU, higher than the balance point of $1,300. This means the carriers' revenue will possibly be substantially improved, says Xinhua.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
HONG KONG-listed SITC International Holdings, one of China's largest non-government controlled shipping and logistics companies, has posted a 46 per cent first quarter net profit decline year on year to US$13.5 million, drawn on revenues of $288 million, up 19 per cent.
Rising costs were blamed for the profit slump while the robust revenue increase was attributed to the growth of the intra-Asia business.
SITC's first quarter cargo throughput increased 17 per cent to 406,857 TEU year on year with its forwarding arm accounting for 336,684 TEU of the total.
But costs increased related to SICT's expansion of its land-based logistics business with higher high bunker and vessel charter costs also contributing to the decline in profits.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE Singapore-managed 75,678-dwt BW Rhine, loaded with petrol, has been taken by pirates while at anchor off Lome, Togo, reports the London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB).
IMB director Potengal Mukundan told Agence France Presse that warships from neighbouring countries have been alerted and are searching for the ship, which has 24 crew members and was reported missing last week.
The status of the tanker was not known, said Nick Fell, Singapore-based lawyer for BW Maritime, reports Bloomberg. The last contact the company had with the ship's crew was on April 30, he said.
The vessel carried refined fuel oil when hijacked. BW Maritime said that the company had been working with local navies to locate the ship and had sailed to West Africa from Ventspils, Latvia.
Meanwhile, Capt Mukundan, who was in Kuala Lumpur for a series of meetings with industry and government players, said in similar cases the pirates would transfer the petrol to other ships and for re-sale.
"Here we have criminal gangs whose main purpose is to steal multi-million cargo, which is gasoline, as it has a ready market. It is very easy to dispose of it. There has been an underground trade in the Gulf of Guinea for decades," he told AFP.
Capt Mukundan said in 2012, there had been 19 attacks off the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa, with two vessels hijacked. Some 42 crew have been taken hostage, two crewmembers killed and two kidnapped by pirates.
He warned the safety of seafarers continue to be threatened by pirates and urged vessel masters and owners to alert IMB of any incidents and of suspicious vessels.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SINGAPORE's manufacturing fell 3.4 per cent in March from a year earlier, according to data published by the Economic Development Board (EDB).
But compared with the previous month, manufacturing output grew 2.7 per cent in March after adjusting for seasonal variations. Excluding biomedical manufacturing, output increased 2.9 per cent during the same period. Manufacturing output for the first three months of 2012 fell one per cent compared to the same period a year ago.
On a year on year basis, output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster fell 3.3 per cent in March. The medical technology segment expanded 14.2 per cent, while the pharmaceuticals segment contracted 6.3 per cent, mainly due to a different production mix of active pharmaceutical ingredients. On a year to date basis, output of the biomedical manufacturing cluster was 18.4 per cent higher compared to the same period a year ago.
The transport engineering cluster's output expanded 20.8 per cent year on year in March 2012. The aerospace segment grew 23.2 per cent on the back of strong demand for maintenance and repair jobs from commercial airlines. The marine and offshore engineering segment's output grew 22.1 per cent with increased activities in rig building, ship conversion as well as higher production of oil field equipment. Output of the transport engineering cluster increased 19.7 per cent in the first three months of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
Output of the general manufacturing cluster in March grew 4.1 per cent year on year, while the precision engineering cluster contracted marginally by 0.3 per cent during the same period. The chemicals cluster fell 4.7 per cent compared to March 2011, and the electronics cluster was 15.9 per cent lower in March 2012 compared to a year ago.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DURING the first three months of this year, southwestern China's Chongqing city recorded a bonded logistics trade cargo value of US$1.49 billion, an upsurge of 313.9 per cent compared to the same period in 2011, Xinhua reports.
Imported cargo accounted for a major part of the above total, totalling $1.46 billion in value.
Since commencement of operation in August 2010, Chongqing Bonded Port Area has handled 330,000 TEU of containerised foreign trade cargo, valued at $12.13 billion, contributing CNY7.16 billion (US$1.13 billion) to the tariff.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
MANZHOULI, China's biggest overland checkpoint bordering Russia, moved 6.67 million tonnes of import and export cargo in the first quarter, up 16.6 per cent year on year, reports Xinhua.
The import cargo grew 14 per cent to 4.19 million tonnes, while exports increased 17.4 per cent to 613,000 tonnes, and the re-exports went up 34.1 per cent to 1.87 million tonnes.
Import cargo was mainly mineral powder, chemical fertiliser, coal and lumber, while the export cargo focused on fruit and vegetable, light industrial products, minerals and building materials.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
MALAYSIA's Port Klang Authority (PKA) chairman Teh Kim Poo has resolved problems involving truckers and off-dock container depot operators after a three-day strike, reports the New Straits Times.
Truckers were protesting delays and the doubling of gate charges. Drivers claim earnings are being reduced because three and four hour waits limit them to one or two depot trips a day.
Said the PKA's Mr Teh Kim Poo: "After two days of negotiations, we are pleased to announce that a memorandum of understanding has been reached between the Association of Malaysian Hauliers (AMH) and the Container Depot Operators, which will resolve the grouses faced by the drivers.
"The terms and conditions of the MoU include the depot operators agree to give credit terms to hauliers and the details of the agreement will be dealt with individual hauliers and that they shall take all steps with AMH to achieve the target of maximum one hour to service each driver," he said.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
UK-BASED Ceva Logistics, 91.3 per cent owned by Apollo Global Management LLC, has filed with US Securities and Exchange Commission to raise US$400 million through an initial public offering of common stock, Reuters reports.
CEVA, the world's second biggest non-asset based supply chain management company, told regulators in a prospectus that it would list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CEVL."
The filing did not reveal how many shares the company or stockholders planned to sell or their expected price, said the report.
Reuters also noted that IPOs in the logistics industry were picking up after a long absence. Linc Logistics, which first filed for an IPO in June 2010, renewed its IPO bid earlier this month.
Apollo bought the logistics division of Netherlands-based TNT, the predecessor of Dutch global express company, TNT Express, in 2006 for $1.9 billion and renamed it Ceva. In 2007, Ceva bought Houston-based freight management group EGL Inc for $2 billion.
Ceva generated a net loss of $358 million drawn on revenue of $9.6 million. Ceva has been posting net losses due to debts, which came to $3.08 billion after a refinancing earlier this year.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SUPPLY chain solutions provider SBS Worldwide team has appointed John Klausing as regional vice president of operations, US Midwest, as part of the company's senior management team to support the further development of the region's continued growth in key markets.
He will also support the further development of the company's ability to analyse, design, implement and operate end-to-end supply chain solutions that give customers an advantage over rivals.
Mr Klausing will work from the SBS Worldwide's Chicago office and will report directly to Christian Marz, director of US operations.
Said US managing director Lars Kloch: "I welcome John to the SBS Worldwide team. He will play a key role in implementing our global business development plan and ensuring that we meet growth targets in our Midwest region.
"John has proven leadership abilities with a track record of developing and executing local and regional business plans as well as developing, monitoring and improving operational procedures that deliver customer satisfaction."
As part of his appointment, SBS Worldwide's US Midwest vice president of operations Andrew Poll, will become regional vice president business development. In his new role, he is tasked with identifying new business opportunities and expanding the level of service provided to existing customers.
The appointments are part of the restructuring of the company's American business to drive enhanced flexibility and bespoke services at a regional level.
The new structure is designed to ensure that SBS Worldwide is able to enhance the personal sales and operational service it is known for at a regional level, while also utilising the group's ability to offer the latest in supply chain software tailored to specific industry verticals.
To support the new structure, regional vice presidents for business development and also for operations are being appointed at a regional level.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SEPHORA, the leading French retail beauty chain and member of the luxury products group LVMH, has extended its logistics partnership with Kuehne + Nagel for a further three years.
The company said that Kuehne + Nagel in Italy has been the company's national distribution centre in Italy since 2005. With the newly signed agreement, Kuehne + Nagel will expand its services to supply the customer's outlets in various European countries including Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Poland and Turkey as well as in the Middle East and in Asia.
In total, more than 300 stores, 112 of them in Italy, will be served according to the new agreement. As a result, Kuehne + Nagel expects to handle up to 40 million pieces of fragrances, make-ups, skin care and other beauty care products per year for the customer.
The Sephora logistics operations will be provided from a new 12,900-square metre facility, compliant with the latest security and "green" standards and equipped with large photovoltaic solar power installations.
Located in the Logistics Park of Santa Cristina e Bissone in the Lombardy region - some 50 kilometres southeast of Milan - the new facility ideally complements the existing 90,000-square metre area Kuehne + Nagel already operates in the park.
Maurizio Stroppa, supply chain manager of Sephora, explained: "The new centre is a key element for our present and future growth in Eastern Europe, Far East and South East Asia."
Ruggero Poli, managing director of Kuehne + Nagel Italy said: "We are delighted that the customer has extended the contract and thus demonstrated its confidence in Kuehne + Nagel expertise, capabilities and staff. Even more so as it concerns the internationalisation of the logistics operation."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE Board of Los Angeles-headquartered OTS Logistics (OTS), the global provider of services to the logistics industry, and London-based private equity group, ManCapital LLP, have announced that COO Biju Kewalram is to succeed the current CEO Charlie Brennan, who has announced his intention to retire from the group.
The company also announced that Haydn O'Brien, currently head of East Asia, will become co-CEOs of the group. Mr Kewalram will continue to be based in Carson, Los Angeles, and Mr O'Brien will continue to be based in Hong Kong.
Loutfy Mansour, CEO of ManCapital, which acquired OTS in January 2012, said: "Since joining the group in 1998, Charlie has played a leading role in developing OTS into a world-class logistics business. We would like to record our appreciation for his significant contribution to the business over the years and wish him well for the future.
"We are very excited about the appointments of Biju Kewalram and Haydn O'Brien. We believe that with their complementary experience they are ideally suited to succeed Charlie as co-CEOs and ensure that OTS continues to provide the high levels of service expected."
Mr Mansour also said that he was "delighted that 2012 has seen a strong start to the year with growing volumes and an improving rate trend and we are confident that under the team's direction OTS will continue to go from strength to strength."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
CALIFORNIA's Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) plans to launch a private space freighter May 19 from Cape Canaveral to carry payloads to the International Space Station.
Plans to launch Dragon rocket in February, then at the end of April, were delayed by modifications to software. The freighter will carry 521-kilogrammes of food, other consumables and non-critical equipment.
"This is a test flight, and we may not succeed in getting all the way to the space station. I think we've got a pretty good shot, but it's important to acknowledge that a lot can go wrong," said SpaceX CEO and chief designer Elon Musk.
Mr Musk told Agence France-Presse that the repeatedly delayed launch was "exciting" but "extremely difficult" yet expressed confidence in his team.
"It's just taking longer than expected to analyse the data," Mr Musk said. "We need to make sure that the software is going to make the right commands and not endanger the space station."
This time, the gumdrop-shaped Dragon capsule will carry cargo for the space lab and will also aim to return a 660-kilogramme load to Earth.
Seven companies now share US$10 million in federal seed money through the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Flight Opportunities Programme. Most advanced, other than SpaceX, are XCOR Aerospace and Virgin Galactic chosen by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) last August to receive two years of financing to develop cargo delivery to the edge of space, on reusable vehicles.
SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp of Dulles, Virginia, has been contracted by NASA to haul 20 tonnes of cargo to the Space Station through 2016. SpaceX will make 12 flights with its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft, while Orbital's Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft will undertake eight flights, reports Atlanta area Air Cargo World.
SpaceX completed its first flight in December 2010 and convinced NASA that it could combine its second and third that would include the Dragon berthing with the ISS.
The US government has decided that "routine" transport to low-Earth orbit - tasks such as supplying ISS and launching satellites - should be contracted out. This meant the costly space shuttle programme could be retired, and NASA could move on to exploration, perhaps mining, Mars and asteroids.
"This is currently a very under-served market with long lead times and no guarantee of payload recovery on conventional rockets," XCOR chief operations officer Andrew Nelson told Air Cargo World. "NASA is jump-starting a revolution in the commercial space industry."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
RUSSIA's Volga-Dnepr Group has flown 100 tonnes of food supplies to NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) personnel in Afghanistan using one of AirBridgeCargo Airlines' Boeing 747 freighters.
The flight from Riga to Bagram was the first flight by ABC to be operated within this project and was performed on behalf of American Supreme Food Supply via National Air Cargo, said the airlines press release.
The perishables cargo arrived in Riga from the United States in refrigerated sea containers and onboard scheduled airline flights, said the report.
UN-mandated NATO-led forces in Afghanistan include troops from the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, Georgia, Denmark, Belgium, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, Bulgaria, South Korea, Slovakia, Albania, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Singapore and El Salvdor, said the release.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
US COMPANIES, notably Boeing, are becoming the recipients of large orders from China because of an increasing Chinese reluctance to buy Europe's Airbus products because of the EU insistence on an aviation carbon tax, reports Forbes magazine.
"China is among 27 countries that have said they will consider retaliatory steps following the European Union's extension of its carbon market to aviation. The EU decided in 2008 that aviation should become part of its cap-and-trade carbon programme, said the report.
China Eastern Airlines recently announced that it is buying 20 Boeing 777 jets worth nearly US$6 billion, while selling five Airbus A340s to the US plane maker. China Eastern said it's selling the Airbus A340-600 aircraft worth $708 million to Boeing because they have high operating costs and "relatively weak route competitiveness."
The new Boeing jets will be delivered in stages from 2014 to 2018. The announcement represents a big win for Boeing, but a "huge loss of face for Airbus", said the Forbes report.
Boeing has announced that revenues rose 30 per cent in the first quarter and that it is raising production rates to meet increased demand.
In March, Airbus parent EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said Airbus is being subjected to "retaliation measures" by Beijing and warned that the European commercial plane maker will lose business if the EU fails to heed protests from airlines against the carbon tax.
"The Chinese government is putting on hold approval" for 35 wide-bodied Airbus aircraft ordered by Chinese airlines," Mr Gallois said. "We are worried that this conflict is becoming a commercial war and that there is a risk that Airbus will be taken hostage."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
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