LSG Sky Chefs, the world’s largest provider of in-flight services, and Finnair have signed a Memorandum of Understanding on LSG Sky Chefs acquiring Finnair’s catering operations. The acquisition would comprise the entire share capital of Finnair Catering Ltd. and Finncatering Ltd. Finnair would continue to buy its flight catering services from Finnair Catering Ltd., which transfers under LSG Sky Chefs ownership. The acquisition is subject to the approval of Lufthansa Board and the competition authority of Finland and it is expected to be closed by the end of first half of 2012.
"LSG Sky Chefs is one of the leading players in the in-flight service industry. Its international product development, global operations and profound know-how of in-flight services are an excellent basis for producing high-quality in-flight service for Finnair customers. We have positive experiences with LSG Sky Chefs from other airports outside Finland and this is a natural continuation of our partnership", says Anssi Komulainen, Senior Vice President of Customer Service at Finnair.
“Together with other measures taken to improve efficiency in catering operations of our airline business, we expect this transaction to result in substantial permanent annual cost savings contributing to our overall savings targets.”
"LSG Sky Chefs is extremely pleased to be able to widen its operations to the strategically important Finnish market. Finnair’s catering operations are well run, the personnel is very professional and the production facilities are state-of-the art. Finnair is an important client for us and we are convinced that we can further develop the operations, thus producing additional value for Finnair and its passengers", states Jochen Müller, Executive Board Member Operations of LSG Sky Chefs.
In 2010, the catering business included in the Memorandum of Understanding had net sales of 80 million euro. Subject to the final agreement, approximately 650 employees of Finnair Catering Ltd and Finncatering Ltd will be employed by LSG Sky Chefs. The transaction does not include Finnair Travel Retail, which as of January 1, 2012 has been a part of Finnair’s other operations.
Developing its partnership network is a part of Finnair’s strategy and the planned structural changes of the company, which aim at cost savings and facilitating growth through quality improvements. Finnair had announced earlier that it was looking for a cooperation partner for its catering services.
LSG Sky Chefs is the world’s largest provider of in-flight services. These include catering, in-flight equipment and logistics, in-flight retail as well as the management of onboard service and related airport services. LSG Sky Chefs partners with more than 300 airlines worldwide and operates some 200 customer service centers in 50 countries, producing around 460 million airline meals a year. In 2010, the companies belonging to LSG Sky Chefs Group achieved consolidated revenues of € 2.2 billion. For further information also visit www.lsgskychefs.com
Source FINNAIR PLC
Achievement a Significant Positive Development for the Gulf Region
- Three-thousand Louisiana blue crab commercial fishermen represented by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board have earned the right to tell buyers and consumers across the country that the Louisiana blue crab fishery is Marine Stewardship Council certified as a sustainable and well-managed fishery.
The independent, third-party certification body, Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) assessed the Louisiana blue crab fishery against the MSC standard in a rigorous, open and transparent process that was scientifically peer reviewed and involved site visits to the fishery and outreach to stakeholder groups. During assessment, SCS identified six improvement actions the fishery must perform during the five year period of certification that address harvest strategy, acquisition of additional data, bycatch and ecosystem impact and progress will be assessed during the annual surveillance audits required by the MSC program.
What the fishery says
Randy Pausina, LDWF Assistant Secretary says, “We are pleased to have worked so closely with members of the crab fishery and the LSPMB on this significant step forward for our industry. I would like to express my appreciation to the biologists who work at LDWF now and those who have in the past, because without the excellent management techniques that our department has implemented over the years, this certification would not be possible.”
Ewell Smith, Executive Director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board says: “MSC certification is a major, positive development for thousands of Louisiana commercial blue crab fishermen, our processors and marketers and the entire Gulf Region. MSC certification brings a new source of pride and confidence in Louisiana Seafood and it will help us assure buyers and consumers across the United States that Louisiana Seafood is sustainable.”
What the MSC says
Kerry Coughlin, MSC Americas regional director, says: “Louisiana fishermen, families and communities have been working hard to rebuild their livelihoods after the oil spill and we are very proud that MSC certification will help in that process. By voluntarily entering the Louisiana blue crab fishery into assessment when it did, the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board showed its commitment to sustainability and preserving the livelihoods of commercial blue crab fishing.”
The fishery is managed by the state of Louisiana through its Wildlife and Fisheries Commission by the Department of Wildlife & Fisheries, Division of Marine Fisheries in active consultation with industry via the Louisiana Blue Crab Task Force.
Louisiana blue crab is sold in the local and national domestic market and exported.
Source MSC
2012-03-12
In spring 2012 Aarhus welcomes cruise visitors in new and spectacular surroundings. Port of Aarhus has moved the cruise quay closer to the centre of the city and has purchased an architect-designed tent for the reception area on the quay.
In future, the cruise vessels will go alongside a new quay only a few minutes’ walk from the centre of the city and close to the coming multimedia house, Mediaspace, and the wide open spaces at the mouth of the creek.
The new location will give the large number of cruise visitors who prefer to walk to the city a shorter and more comfortable walk. Previously the big vessels berthed in the northern part of the port from where it takes about 15 minutes along busy roads to walk to the centre of the city.
At the new reception area on the quay, covering 10,000 sq m, the visitors will be received under a beautiful and futuristic tent, originally designed to be a landmark for the Aarhus Festival. In future, the tent will be placed at the port area during the entire cruise season from April to October, and on every call the tent will create the framework for tourist information, booths offering handicrafts, folk dancing, music etc.
On the quay area 20 to 30 tour busses and a number of city bikes will be available, ready to transport the tourists to the many sights, shops and restaurants to be found in Aarhus and Eastern Jutland.
“Our former cruise facilities have served us well, but owing to the large number of building projects in the new port city area the location is no longer at its optimum. Now we have created a more dedicated cruise offer closer to the city where we will be able to take better care of the visitors and present a wide range of exciting events and sights in Aarhus and Eastern Jutland”, says Nicolai Kroyer, Chief Commercial Officer at Port of Aarhus.
Cruise Visitors Are Excited About Aarhus
Recent years’ building projects near the previous cruise facilities have, however, not spoiled the visitors’ experience of Aarhus. As many as 79 per cent of the cruise visitors are reported to say that their visit to Aarhus lives up to or even exceeds their expectations. In general, they feel very welcome in Aarhus and they are happy about the sights and shopping facilities available. This was the result of an investigation carried out by the British consultancy company G.P. Wild among 1,141 cruise passengers out of approx. 40,000 passengers who visited Aarhus in 2011.
Nicolai Kroyer expects that the new and improved cruise facilities will provide a more satisfactory experience to the cruise visitors and that Aarhus will be an even more attractive destination for cruises in Northern Europe.
20 cruise vessels have notified their call at the port of Aarhus in 2012, with an expected number of passengers of 45,000. Port of Aarhus aims at increasing the number of cruise passengers to 85,000 in 2015.
Source Port of Aarhus
RATINGS agency Standard & Poor's (S&P) has downgraded the world's third largest carrier CMA CGM's debt to B- from B+ due to worries about deteriorating liquidity.
The ratings were also put on Credit/Watch Negative. Standard & Poor also reduced its issue ratings on CMA CGM's debt to CCC from B-.
"We believe CMA CGM's liquidity position will be increasingly constrained in the coming quarters if it cannot bolster its liquidity sources through asset disposals or amendments to its debt maturity profile," the rating agency said.
"CMA CGM reported significantly lower operating profits in 2011 than we had anticipated, owing to depressed freight rates and elevated operating costs," it said.
CMA CGM posted a net loss of US$30 million last year compared to a profit of $1.6 billion in 2010. To strengthen its liquidity, the Marseilles-based carrier has discussed with its bankers for the rearrangement of its 2012 and 2013 debts, which is expected to be settled by the end of June.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
ASIA-EUROPE spot rates saw the biggest decline of all the major trades last week, slipping 1.7 per cent to US$1,388 per TEU, as rates remained essentially flat for the week.
On the Asia-Mediterranean trade rates were down 0.35 per cent, or $19, to $1,397 per TEU.
Rates from Asia to the United States also saw a marginal dip with east coast rates down just $2 per FEU to $2,914 and west coast rates were down $6 down to $1,753 per FEU.
All trades covered by the index the SCFI rose 0.6 per cent to 1,170.57 points.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DUBAI-based Emirates Shipping Line has announced it will impose a general rate increase (GRI) on Far East-Middle East trade by US$400 per TEU from April 1.
The carrier is registered in Dubai Maritime City of UAE and based in both Dubai and Hong Kong.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DANISH global container giant Maersk is to focus on its African services by improving coverage on its Middle East-Indian Ocean/East Africa services by replacing current services IOI and MESA.
It aims to begin the new Mawingu Express in early April by replacing existing service calls of IOI to Salalah, Port Victoria, Reunion, Port Louis, Toamasina, Salalah and MESA's Durban, Salalah, Jebel Ali, Jawarhalal Nehru Port (JNP), Durban.
Its new Mawingu Express will now offer weekly sailings to introducing Mumbai-JNP, Port Qasim, Salalah, Mombasa, Port Victoria and back to JNP instead.
Its new MISA service will create a loop creating its first direct call to Pakistan to connect the Middle East-Indian Ocean/South African services with an inaugural sailing by Maersk Izmir 3,460 TEU from Jebel Ali on April 7.
The service will deploy four vessels of average capacity 2,200 TEU to 2,500 TEU with the following port rotation: Durban, Port Elizabeth, Port Louis, Jebel Ali, Salalah, Reunion, Port Louis, Toamasina and back to Durban.
Maersk has already increased capacity on its African services following 2011 volume increase of 19 per cent in order to channel investments outside western Europe as it seeks to benefit from more "stable" container rates, said the carrier.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SEASPAN, the Marshall Islands-registered ship owner, with major bases in Hong Kong and Vancouver, has received its fifth of eight 13,100 TEU ship from Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and its first delivery in 2012.
The Cosco Excellence is on charter to Cosco Container Lines under a 12-year, fixed-rate time charter, thus expanding the Seaspan operating fleet to 66 vessels. The ship is also the 15th of 18 vessels to be chartered by Seaspan to Cosco.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
JAPAN's largest carrier, MOL, has announced it will start a joint Singapore-Yangon loop with Thailand-based Regional Container Lines (RCL) starting March 17 by RCL's vessel Ora Bhum.
Running twice a week, the SYX string is operated with three vessels with MOL deploying one vessel MOL Acclaim. The rotation is Singapore, Yangon and back to Singapore.
"Yangon, a major market in Myanmar, is positioned for future growth. The SYX route will draw on MOL's own network to offer wide variety of both inbound and outbound service to meet rising demand in this region," said the company statement.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
A US law banning the export of recycled material, typically scrap and electronic waste, is in violation of treaties governing American external trade, according to the Congress Research Service (CRS) which provides Congress with legal and technical advice.
The CRS report said the US cannot unilaterally impose restrictions on electronic exports without risking repercussions in the WTO system, in particular, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).
"This is an inconvenient truth for those who think an export ban curbs irresponsible recycling. It confirms what ISRI [Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries], Republican and Democratic trade experts and well as the USTR [US Trade Representative] have been saying," said ISRI president Robin Wiener.
The CRS said e-waste export restrictions, contained in the Responsible Recycling Act (RERA), are hard to reconcile with the WTO's general exceptions to protect human, animal or plant life.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
PANAMA Canal Authority (ACP) has received pre-qualification documentations from three parties, comprising two consortia and one company, bidding to build a 4.6 kilometre bridge on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal that would stand 75 metres above sea level.
The two consortia are Odebrecht and Hyundai Joint Venture (Brazil-Korea), and Acciona Infraestructuras and Tradeco (Spain-Mexico). The sole company bidding for the contract is Vinci Construction Grands Projets of France.
The bridge will be located three kilometres north of Gatun Locks and the new post-Panamax locks on the Atlantic side province of Colon. It will ease crossing the canal. The bridge design is inspired on similar infrastructure work in countries such as Spain, Korea, France, China and Japan. The double-plane, twin pylon, cable-stayed bridge will feature two lanes of traffic in each direction.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
ASIA-based freight services organisation, the U-Freight Group (UFL), has strengthened its operations in Hong Kong with the opening of a fourth dedicated, full-service warehouse after an extensive re-fit and modernisation, the company said.
The 3,600 square-metre facility is located in Tsing Yi, leased by UFL, offers around 1,350 pallet positions and is targeted at serving the fast fashion apparel and accessories sectors. The refit, which took two months, has already attracted one new fast fashion customer to UFL, says CEO Simon Wong.
"There is already an excitement within the Hong Kong garment industry about our newly refurbished Tsing Yi. This has translated into a new customer that was attracted by our first-rate facilities and state-of-the-art processes," he said.
The warehouse offers cross-docking, storage and daily delivery to stores within the Special Administrative Region (SAR). Goods arriving in Hong Kong from the US and China via UFL air and ocean freight consolidation services will be handled at the facility.
The facility is available around the clock and offers 12 loading docks. The back office functions are handled in modern offices, while the warehouse has security procedures set in accordance with TAPA standards.
The primary function of the warehouse is to provide cross-docking logistics services and temperature-controlled storage and distribution facilities. With enough racking for the storage of 1,350 pallets, the facility can maintain ambient temperatures between 22 and 24 degrees C and relative humidity between 45 and 70 per cent.
"The outsourcing of logistics functions to specialist companies continues apace. By establishing a fourth dedicated logistics warehouse in Hong Kong, U-Freight is in an enviable position to meet the needs of shippers engaged in transporting goods to and from this important region," he said.
"For customers involved in the fashion sector, this new facility provides a cost effective system for managing the flow of products from receipt of goods, through storage, picking, packing and dispatch," Mr Wong said.
The group's network now extends to multiple warehouses across Hong Kong, each with its own specialised target market, located at Yuen Long, Kwai Chung and Tokwawan.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
LUFTHANSA CARGO has posted net losses of US$17 million in 2011, down from its record profit of $1.5 billion in 2010, due to cost burdens from the valuation and the sale of its UK-based British Midland Airways (BMI).
Despite revenue increase of $37.9 billion to $35 billion its operating profit plunged 18 per cent to $1.1 billion. It met a net profit of $380 million during its first nine months and as yet has not announced its fourth quarter or full-year earnings due on March 15.
The drawn-out sale by British Airways' parent International Airlines Group (IAG) for Lufthansa's BMI, the second-largest airline at London's Heathrow Airport, was agreed in December 2011 at a sale price of $272 million on the back of 56 valuable landing slots.
The UK's Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has declined to review deal under competition rules which means the decision will be made by the European Commission.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
AIR FRANCE-KLM posted 5.1 per cent year-on-year decline in February cargo despite a slight decrease in capacity of 0.8 per cent, and a load factor was down four percentage points to 63.7 per cent.
The carrier group experienced deepest losses in revenue-ton-kilometre (RTK) in routes to Americas at 12.5 per cent and a load factor decline of eight per cent year on year, partially offset by a minimal capacity reduction of 1.8 per cent.
Africa/Middle East regions declined by 8.7 per cent year on year on a capacity reduction of four per cent. Europe also dropped by three per cent in RTK against slight capacity increase. Caribbean volume showed an uptick of 4.2 per cent while Indian Ocean traffic increased three per cent.
Passenger growth was led by the Americas with African/Middle East and European networks improving. Traffic was up slightly at 1.1 per cent for the Caribbean/Indian Ocean.
Europe's third largest cargo carrier is relying on a freight boost in its relaunch of a freight service to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport after exiting the service three years ago.
It hopes the twice-weekly 747F flights route to Atlanta from Paris-Charles de Gaulle will generate volumes when it starts on March 17. It is estimated to impact metro Atlanta and the southeast's economy by US$8 million to $12 million annually, said a company statement.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
LEADING cross-border express services provider, DHL, has launched two direct flights from its Hong Kong hub to Ho Chi Minh City and Chengdu.
The company said its new Hong Kong-Chengdu route will ensure evening pick-up and next-day delivery for shipments to Chengdu and other economic centres in south western China, such as Chongqing, Kunming and Guiyang.
This route is operated in cooperation with Yangtze River Express Ltd, a Chinese all-cargo airline, operating a Boeing 737-300 freighter flying five times per week. High value and formal export shipments, dependent upon customs clearance, are expected to benefit from a previously unavailable same-day uplift service.
An additional direct flight was launched earlier this year, which connects Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City. The introduction of five Boeing 727F flights per week, each with a payload of 22 tonnes, is operated by its joint venture partner airline, Air Hong Kong.
The new direct flight, which replaces the existing flight transiting in Bangkok, shortens the transit time between Vietnam, the US and Europe by two hours. As a result, customers will now have extra time to package their goods before sending them abroad with latest courier pick-up at 2200 hrs for next day delivery.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
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