DANISH shipping giant, Maersk Line, is looking to develop its "Daily Maersk" Asia-Europe service into other trades after it achieved a 99 per cent on-time reliability in February, according to London's Containerisation International.
"We would like to take this concept to other places as well. Our ambition in 2012 is to achieve a rate of 95 per cent of on time delivery on the major east-west trade lanes and also in some Oceania and Latin America markets," Maersk chief commercial officer Lucas Vos told delegates at Containerisation International's 14th Global Liner Shipping Conference in London earlier this week.
"In some markets we won't be able to do this, such as in Africa and Russia due to infrastructure problems, but even in these areas we want to have a substantially higher on-time rate then competitors," he said.
Mr Vos said "Daily Maersk" in Europe had helped increase the carrier's market share from 21 per cent to 25 per cent. As the same time, he stressed that the company was "adamant" that it would keep this market share but had no intention of increasing it.
He also spoke of cutting administrative costs by 70 per cent. "Invoicing is a complete nightmare," he said adding that this was because of all the different charges such as surcharges. "We need simple rate structures - let's rely on companies like INTTRA."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE ports of Singapore and Shanghai are again neck and neck for the world's top container port title with the latest first quarter figures putting them each at 7.5 million TEU.
Singapore had the title until 2010 when its container throughput was eclipsed by Shanghai's. But in March alone, Singapore's box volumes reached 2.6 million TEU, compared with 2.5 million TEU in the corresponding month last year.
Shanghai container volume in the first quarter was slower year on year, according to the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG), which did not divulge comparative growth figures.
Chinese shipping industry officials have warned of slowing box throughput at Shanghai port this year, forecasting that turnover in the world's largest container port will be hurt by sluggish trade because of the European debt crisis and weak overseas demand.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SINGAPORE's PSA International has split from its joint venture partner, India's ABG Ports, delaying the start of Mumbai's fourth container terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) for reasons unexplained by the parties involved.
The Port of Singapore Authority (PSA) International and India's ABG Ports were awarded the INR67 billion (US$1.2 billion) project last August. PSA says it is prepared to build alone if the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust approves, which is expected to be decided after consultations with the Indian Shipping Ministry, reports the Hindu daily.
An official told the Hindu that there is no legal obstacle in PSA being the sole operator. The contract was awarded to the pair because of PSA's financial strength.
Earlier this year, the signing ceremony for the contract was cancelled at the eleventh hour following PSA's refusal to pay a INR500 million stamp duty to the state government, with the Singaporean company insisting that JNPT pay instead. This dispute has since been referred to adjudication.
At full-build out, the terminal, India's biggest, would more than double JN Port's capacity, adding 4.8 million TEU. All-India port container volume hit 9.7 million TEU in 2011, a figure that is expected to reach 14 million TEU within two years.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
MANILA's International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) may spend up to US$150 million to acquire Karachi's Pakistan International Container Terminal Ltd (PICT), reports the Philippines Business Mirror.
ICTSI disclosed that it had signed an agreement to acquire 35 per cent of PICT without disclosing the price. The Karachi-listed port operator set a market value of $178 million, according to recent filings with the Karachi Stock Exchange.
"The cost of acquiring 51 per cent is between $120 million and $150 million," ICTSI chairman and president Enrique Razon told reporters on the sidelines of the company's annual stockholders' meeting. "Their terminal is reaching capacity so our plan is to expand it. The market is growing very fast there."
PICT has an annual capacity of 750,000 TEU, having handled 669,806 TEU in fiscal year 2011, representing an 11 per cent growth over 2010. ICTSI extended its holdings to 23 terminals in 17 countries at the end of 2011.
ICTSI is increasing its capital spending budget more than two times this year to $550 million, with $345 million of that amount to be spent on greenfield projects in Argentina, Mexico and Columbia, said the report.
Mr Razon said he is also looking to Africa, the Middle East and Latin America as potential expansion sites. ICTSI last year reported a 33 per cent increase in its net profit to $130.5 million, up from $98.3 million in 2010, including non-recurring gains from an asset sale.
Revenues from port operations for the year increased 26 per cent to $664.8 million from the $527.1 million in 2010, the company said earlier.
Based on ICTSI share value, the company's market value is US$3.09 billion, said the report.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
JAPAN's Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) has commenced a six-week safety campaign that runs until the end of May and targets all types of vessels it operates within its fleet, including containerships, dry bulkers, tankers, LNG carriers and car carriers.
During the safety programme president Muto, company executives, and other personnel will visit vessels to exchange information and opinions with on-board employees.
The safety campaign is intended to achieve the goal of "Four Zeroes". The objects are to "never allow (1) serious marine accidents, (2) oil pollution, (3) fatal accidents, or (4) serious cargo damage", a company statement said.
These goals are set out in the transportation company's midterm management plan "GEAR UP! MOL," which began in April 2010.
Proposals and ideas gained through discussions with seafarers will be shared throughout the group, in a bid to further enhance a safe operational structure.
Particular focus will be paid to recent cases of collisions and grounding accidents, work-related injuries, and engine trouble disabling a vessel.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
CHONGQING is to start building five port projects this year, including Foeryan terminal phase 2, Wanzhou Xintian port area logistics park phase 1, Fuling port area Longtoushan terminal phase 1, Shizhu port area Jiangjiacao terminal phase 1, Yongchuan port area Zhutuo operation area phase 1
Foeryan terminal phase 2, Wanzhou Xintian port area logistics park phase 1 and Fuling port area Longtoushan terminal phase 1 will start construction within this year, according to Xinhua's report.
Wanzhou Xintian port area is one of a container and bulk transit hub on the upper Yangtze River and offers rail-river or road-river intermodal service. The first phase of the port area includes building five multi-use berths, bringing a 475,000 TEU or 6.6 million tonnes' capacity to the port.
The Foeryan terminal phase 2 project includes two 3,000-tonne bulk berths with a capacity of 1.74 million tonnes. Fuling port area' Longtoushan terminal phase 1 project includes five 5,000-tonne bulk berths with a capacity of six million tonnes.
Shizhu port area phase 1 terminal, which has a capacity of three million tonnes, and the Yongchuan port area Zhutuo operation area phase 1, which has a capacity of 1.8 million tonnes, will finish the feasibility report and apply for approval this year.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DREWRY Maritime Research and CargoSmart Limited have entered into a cooperation agreement that will introduce a wider range of container key performance indicators (KPIs) to help importers and exporters benchmark their carriers' service levels.
Drewry will incorporate the additional KPIs into a new quarterly report, the details of which will be announced later this month, the company said.
"The new container KPIs will add value as they will measure performance at the box-level, which is more important for shippers than at the ship-level," said Drewry director Philip Damas.
Drewry has chosen CargoSmart for its comprehensive, high quality data, which is necessary for KPIs to be effective for decision making.
"Measuring KPIs is critical for shippers to optimise their business operations," said Kim Le, director of CargoSmart North America. "Drewry's and CargoSmart's complementary data and analysis provide a unique perspective and in-depth analysis for shippers to make informed decisions about their carriers, ports, and routes."
The new KPIs will monitor not only the performance of the physical port-to-port shipping operation, but also the performance of commercial processes, as well as regional inland transport performance and port dwell times.
"Drewry's reporting over recent years has indicated that only 60 per cent to 70 per cent of containership sailings arrived on time, with carriers only recently deciding to provide a guaranteed standard of service with compensations for delays," Mr Damas commented.
"In a service industry, we believe that it is important that buyers know what standards of service and performance they can expect from the carrier industry - whether good or bad - and what it means in terms of value-for-money and the cost of failed performance," he added.
The company explained that many large importers and exporters already measure various performance metrics for the carriers they use. But, the new industry KPIs provided by Drewry and supported by CargoSmart will provide a comparative, standard assessment of the performance of the carrier industry as a whole and of carriers unknown to shippers, which is not otherwise available even to large shippers.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
INDUSTRY consolidation and schedule reliability were big talking points at the Containerisation International's 14th Annual Global Liner Shipping Conference in London this week.
"There is more and more consolidation within the industry, both in capacity and at the relationship level. Ships get bigger and bigger, and no one can operate these monsters alone," said CMA CGM vice president (North America) Jean-Philippe Thenoz.
"Now the big question is volume: there are worries about where it will come from and where it will go," he said, adding that there was a need for global order to face rising overcapacity.
Said Ceva Logistics operations chief Bruno Sidler: "These major drivers won't go away: globalisation and consolidation. There will always be businesses being gobbled up by others."
Said Elkem traffic manager Marc Lembrecht: "If you look at what has been happening in the last couple of months, GDP has been going down. Carriers a few years ago took a bet and assumed growth would keep going."
Another issue was schedule reliability. While it has improved, it needs to be built into contracts between carriers and shippers to ensure long-term integrity, said Simon Heaney, research manager and London's Drewry Shipping Consultants.
"Historically, it was poor, in the range of 50 per cent, but more recently signs have been good. In Q4 last year the average was 69 per cent, and it's been in the low to mid 70s for the first two months of this year," he said.
Said Lars Jensen, CEO of Seaintel Maritime Analysis: "You need to put in a buffer time [in the contract] that is acceptable to both carrier and shipper."
Said Mr Lembrechts: "This is an important issue. The estimated time of arrival is built into customers' production plans; if this is not met, then they can really get into trouble."
Mr Jensen said reliability times needed to be measured by trade lane and not globally, and that it was the reliability of the delivery time of the container that needed to be measured, not the ship.
"Reliability has improved on the backhaul trades, such as Los Angeles to Shanghai, but the shippers on this trade lane, such as the waste paper shippers, don't care; it's the reefer shippers carrying cargo the other way for to whom this is important," he said.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DP WORLD's London Gateway project has been awarded the coveted Global Deal of the Year for 2011 at the Infrastructure Journal Awards, the company announced.
The award recognises the delivery of outstanding infrastructure projects and is in recognition of the deep-sea container port's successful project financing, which was fully secured in December last year.
Said DP World European chief Sarmad Qureshi: "This sends a clear message to our customers that this is a globally significant development which has secured world class financial backing. Securing this deal has allowed construction to forge ahead and I am delighted that we were able to close on what has been recognised as the best infrastructure project deal in all sectors.
"We are confident that London Gateway will be able to deliver substantial supply chain cost savings to global shippers. Thanks to our closer location to key UK markets we will also be able to help customers move their goods in a greener, more efficient way, reducing carbon dioxide and other transport emissions," said Mr Qureshi.
The successful London Gateway team was accompanied by representatives from Allen & Overy, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Societe Generale, who played roles in advising and financing the project.
Said RBS infrastructure chief Kevin Maddick: "Working with our partners on the team, we were all impressed by the vision of the project and this award vindicates our confidence in financing its development."
Said Pallen & Overy partner Conrad Andersen: "This award is testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in making the project a success and ensuring the financing was put in place quickly and efficiently was an important part of that."
Said Societe Generale infrastructure chief Charles Greenfield: "Securing top quality funding has been a challenge in recent times. I am pleased DP World London Gateway was able to demonstrate a strong mix of vision and benefits to end users, which went a long way to help secure the financing."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
TOLL Global Logistics, part of the Toll Group of Australia, has been awarded three Johnson & Johnson (J&J) third party logistics (3PL) service excellence awards for best warehouse management, best customer service, and best group contribution across its regional distribution centres in China.
The company's regional distribution centres in China were recognised by J&J's customers (including Watson's) as the best supplier, consistently offering a first-class delivery service with zero complaints. Toll's Shanghai distribution centre made enormous contributions by switching 3PL projects in the eastern region, working with J&J in developing improved transport services.
"Managing supply chain for fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) can be a complex practice today. We are happy to have Toll's know-how and its positive efforts and dedication in understanding our business requirements in China, which has helped optimise our J&J warehousing and transportation processes and enhanced delivery service for our customers at our end," said Felix Zhang, Johnson & Johnson's Consumer China Supply Chain director.
Said Toll Global Logistics CEO Wayne Hunt: "Toll is proud to be recognised by such awards from its customer J&J, a 125 years old global brand, and we will continue to work with J&J to support its commitment to its customers in China."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
RUSSIA's National Container Company (NCC) has announced new appointments to its First Container Terminal's (FCT) management team in a bid to enhance sales.
Galina Galtsova, a graduate of Samara State University and previously the terminal's deputy commercial director, has been appointed commercial director. In his new job, he will be responsible for facility's commercial function, organisation and the supervision of contractual work, relations with government agencies and transport companies.
Sergey Ivanov, who graduated from St Petersburg University of Finance and Economics, was previously head of the terminal' s marketing department. He has now been appointed FCT's sales and marketing director and will be responsible for the facility' s current and strategic sales planning, marketing policies, relations with terminal's clients and business partners.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
AUSTRALIA's biggest logistics and transportation provider, Toll Group, has appointed 30-year industry veteran Damain Bishop to the new role of group director business development.
Mr Bishop, who joined the company in 2002 and has worked in various sales roles including national sales manager, Toll Fast and general manager, group business development Australia, will work closely with the group's managing director, Brian Kruger, the divisional directors and functional heads to develop long term strategic partnerships with significant global, regional and domestic customers whose logistics requirements span more than one division and/or business unit.
Mr Kruger said the new group director will be responsible for driving industry sector solution selling as well as creating and capturing opportunities for long term global growth and performance. He will also be responsible for leading major, complex tenders in Australia and New Zealand.
"Damain will be responsible for coordinating the account management for the top 50 Toll Group customers, working in conjunction with the divisional directors and in partnership with Paul Coutts, group products, marketing and sales director, TGF and Dominic Rego, director business development, TGL."
Mr Kruger added that Mr Bishop will play a critical role in Toll's ongoing goal to drive organic growth and build the One Toll imperative to offer customers a complete logistics solution and leverage our synergies.
"I look forward to leading a renewed focus on developing our sales and business development capabilities to drive cross-business growth in our key markets. My new role strengthens our commitment to developing a One Toll approach to business development, leveraging our expertise across the Group," Mr Bishop said.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
LOGISTICS provider Agility has received the Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2008), Environmental Management System (ISO 14001:2004) and Occupational Health & Safety (OHSAS 18001:2007) certifications for its Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Danang and Bac Ninh locations in Vietnam.
The certifications were presented to Agility by SGS in recognition of its quality management standards and efforts to implement, maintain and improve its environmental management system in accordance with global best practices. SGS is one of the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification companies.
"It is a priority for us to implement the Quality, Environmental Health and Safety (QEHS) Management Systems throughout our offices as they reflect our commitment to exemplary corporate citizenship and sustainability," said Hans Hickler, CEO Asia Pacific, in a company statement.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
LOGISTICS and supply chain management company, Barloworld Logistics Far East, has won top awards at the 31st worldwide conference of FETA Freight Systems International (FFSI) held last month at Sun City, South Africa.
Barloworld Logistics Far East received the award in the categories of best in sales, best in account settlement, best in operations and services and the company was also chosen as the winner in the overall ranking.
Deon Heyns, managing director and head of the Far East operations for Barloworld Logistics, who attended, expressed gratitude to his colleagues in Hong Kong and China.
"We set ourselves the objective of being the best agent at last year's conference. We will strive to be the best and better our services on an on-going basis. These awards mean a lot to the team back in Hong Kong and China," said Mr Heyns.
Barloworld Logistics specialises in "smart" supply chain solutions. It also offers traditional logistics services, which include transport, warehousing and forwarding from offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
FFSI is a global network of joint venture branch offices and independent freight forwarding companies rendering the full spectrum of transport services including multimodal logistics and other specialised cargo handling related activities.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THREE cargo charter brokers - Pacific Airlift of Singapore, The Charter Store of the USA, and recently-formed NEO Air Charter of Germany - have launched the Global Charter Alliance (GCA) as the world's first consortium of independent air charter brokers.
Membership expansion will be carefully planned in order to maintain high standards, said Pacific Airlift director Andrew Sim, adding that "quality is GCA's first priority, and expansion comes second".
The aim of GCA is to exploit operational efficiencies, share contacts, market intelligence and other information, leverage collective buying power and benefit from economies of scale, said a company statement.
The benefits of GCA include its regional coverage and scale and its success working together previously, say joint managing partner of recently launched Frankfurt-based NEO Stefan Kohlmann.
Charter Store co-founder Harry Steiner agrees that GCA advantages lay in the team of experienced individuals known to one another in working partnerships which are now combined to make a larger team: "Success in charter broking is all about people, their knowledge and their contacts."
Its hopes to work with freight forwarders rather than directly compete offering an alternative model to larger brokers with an emphasis on customer focus, fair deals and competitive pricing. "We take a different view: freight agents play a vital role in the supply chain, which we absolutely respect," said Mr Steiner.
GCA membership provides coverage of US, Asia Pacific and Europe, supplemented by service partners in other parts of the world that enables it to conduct charters to or from any location.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
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