Category Archives: International

Starting the end of next month, empty containers stationed at the Los Angeles Port docks will attract a fee from the ocean carriers. The port of Los Angeles is United States’ largest port for container traffic and ocean carriers that fail to clear the empty containers off the port will have to bear a fine come 30th January. The port will charge USD 100 per day to the carriers for each empty container which has been stationed at the dock for more than 9 days. Each day the fine will increase by USD 100 until the container exits the dock. The fee, though, is subject to approval by the Los Angeles Harbour Commission’s board meeting scheduled for 13th January. A similar warning was issued on October 25th by the neighboring Long Beach Port too. “While we have seen significant success reducing import containers on our docks the past two months, too many empty containers are currently sitting on marine terminals. Just like the import dwell fee, the objective with this empty container program is not to collect fees but to free up valuable space on our docks, clearing the way for more ships and improving fluidity.” said Gene Seroka, Executive Director, Port of Los Angeles

Qatar Airways Cargo has long been committed to ensuring that all animals entrusted to the airline for transportation, receive the best care both on the ground and in the air. Now, following six months of intense process and product audits, Qatar Airways Cargo is proud to announce that its strict adherence to the highest standards and relevant regulations has been accredited CEIV Live Animals certification by IATA. “We are the fourth airline worldwide to become CEIV Live Animals certified, and the first in the Middle East. This certification is testament to the dedication and detail that we put into transporting the many different live animals that are placed in our custody. Whether they are horses, household pets, livestock, or exotic animals transported on our scheduled and charter flights or wild animals being flown under our WeQare Rewild the Planet initiative, we go beyond the required regulatory standards, to ensure that the animals are given the utmost care and comfort for the entire duration of the journey.” Miguel Rodriguez Moreno, Senior Manager Cargo Climate Control Products, explains. “The CEIV Live Animals certification depicts that our handling, infrastructure, quality management, and training framework are in line with industry standards. It highlights our compliance with the IATA Live Animal Regulations alongside the Transportation of Wildlife and Animal Welfare (TWAW) Group Policy, and it shows that we have a robust supplier management system in place, allowing our principles to be implemented globally. Further, it illustrates our commitment to continuously improving industry standards when it comes to the transportation of live animals, and we thank the IATA auditors for their constructive contribution in this regard.”

With the World Customs Organization announcing the 7th edition of HSN – “HS-2022” with effect from 1st January 2022, the Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations in India (FFFAI) organised a Webinar to discuss and understand the changes in the earlier version of the HS Code and coping up with the same by Customs Brokers/Freight Forwarding fraternity. The Webinar was addressed by Shankar Shinde, Chairman, FFFAI and Krishna Barad, Partner – Customs & International Trade, Indirect Taxes – BDO India as Guest Speaker. Also spoke on the occasion were Dushyant Mulani, Chairman-Elect, FFFAI; Vice Chairmen, FFFAI, S. Nataraja, Kartik Pancholi and Sudip Dey; Vinod Sharma, Hony. Secretary, FFFAI; S. Ramakrishna, Past Chairman and Advisor, FFFAI and other Members of the Federation. Apart from all Office Bearers, approximately 800 FFFAI members attended the webinar from across the country. In his welcome speech Shinde highlighted the importance and critical aspects of the WCO HS Nomenclature, recognised internationally. “HSN is the basic tool of international trade and we are legally bound to classify goods correctly. We need to very carefully understand the 7th edition of the HSN, many of them are linked with GST. It is our pleasure to organise this important webinar with an expert speaker, Krishna Barad, to highlight and analyse the new HSN. FFFAI endeavours to enhance domain knowledge pertaining to CB/FF and end to end logistics business and this webinar is one of such ongoing initiatives,” said Shinde.

The Hong Kong Government will tighten the quarantine measures for air cargo crew as part of its efforts to minimise the spread of Covid-19. Air cargo crew members will be required to undergo compulsory quarantine at a quarantine hotel for three days upon arrival in Hong Kong. This move is in view of the rising trend of imported Covid-19 cases with the Omicron variant. On December 28, Centre for Health Protection Controller Dr Edwin Tsui told a press briefing that the number of Covid-19 infections involving Omicron accounted for 35% of the imported cases two weeks ago and that figure rose to 95% from December 26-28. Given that Omicron is highly transmissable, Dr Tsui warned that the risk of a community outbreak is very high. He said, “We have to balance between the risk of an infectious disease outbreak and the cargo operation. At present, we try our best to work with the airlines and also the Transport & Housing Bureau. And, we implement this measure of the three-day quarantine at a hotel, trying to intercept the cases once (airlines’ cargo crew) arrive (in) Hong Kong in the first three days”.

India stood at the overall trade deficit of USD 64.4 billion for the October-December quarter – a substantially higher mark as compared to USD 44.1 billion in July-September quarter. But all is not gloomy as EXIM activity hit an all time high in December with an impressive elevation from November. Merchandise exports increased by 38.1% (Y-O-Y) and 12% (over November) and the merchandise exports increased by 37% (Y-O-Y) and 24.1% (over November). These statistics – though keeping the trade deficit at elevated – decreased the gap between exports and imports to USD 21.91 billion in December. “We believe this sets the stage for the current account deficit to widen to 3.4% of GDP in October-December quarter.” said Nomura For a full financial year, Nomura estimates the trade deficits to hover around 1.6% of GDP, which is a good news since a current account deficit within 2% of GDP is generally seen as sustainable. If experts are to be believed, the aforesaid numbers of EXIM activity have been a result of high commodity prices and a strong demand, which in turn, kept the trade activity up-heaved. But they also warn against the high deficit percentage and the risks of sticky deficits, which should not be taken lightly.

Continental Carriers Pvt Ltd Chennai Ocean Team handled Break Bulk Project and shipped cargo of 195 Pkgs/366 Tons/908 CBM, Pol Chennai Pod Chittagong, on 25th December’ 2021. CCPL team obtained special permissions on X’mas holiday to complete the clearance activities. Continental Carriers (P) Limited is committed to finding innovative solutions and partnering with customer’s enabling them to find faster and better solutions to meet their requirements

Shipping accounts for two to three per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions so manufacturers and retailers are no longer just considering what appears in national targets. Even though individual governments are not on the hook for these supply chain emissions, some of Australia’s largest companies are getting ready. BHP is the world’s largest charterer of ships, which means marine emissions are a problem for future profits and reputation. Rio Tinto is in the same boat as iron ore makes up a third of Australian exports. They have lined up a small number of LNG-fuelled bulk carriers as an immediate solution to lower emissions. Some say green ammonia made with hydrogen, using a water electrolysis process powered by solar and wind energy, could become the marine fuel of choice one day. Nuclear power could also be a clean but more expensive and currently illegal source of electricity for producing hydrogen and ammonia through electrolysis. Australia will still be shipping almost $100 billion a year in coal and gas by 2050, according to federal government modelling.

Colombo International Container Terminals (CICT) ended 2021 on a high note by achieving the milestone of 3 million teus within a year for the first time. The company’s throughput for the full year was expected to reach approximately 3.1 million teus by December 31 representing a healthy increase of around 11 percent over 2020. Notably, CICT achieved its first one million teus milestone in just eight months, from January to August 2015 and ended that year with 1.56 million teus. The company handled two million teus in a single year for the first time in 2016. It recorded incremental increases in annual throughput thereafter, handling 2.38 million teus in 2017, 2.67 million teus in 2018, 2.9 million teus in 2019 and 2.89 million teus in 2020. The Company, which manages the Colombo South Terminal, commenced construction of the terminal in December 2011 and began port operations in 2013. The volume handled by the terminal has grown five-fold since then. “We are delighted to have played the role expected of us with flying colours in our first decade as an integral part of the Port of Colombo,” CICT CEO Jack Huang said. “We have been a significant contributor to the port’s throughput by attracting vessels which would otherwise have bypassed Colombo because of the absence of a deep-water terminal. CICT is also proud to have led the way in promoting eco-friendly operations and innovations in service.”

Swiss shipping and logistics giant MSC has made an offer of €5.7bn (US$6.4bn) to acquire 100% of Bolloré Africa Logistics comprising all of the Bolloré Group’s transport and logistics activities in Africa where it is the market leader. The French company has granted MSC exclusivity until March 31, 2022, to submit a put option further to an additional due diligence phase and contractual negotiations. The Bolloré Group’s decision to exercise this put option and the signature of the relevant agreements may only take place after the competent employee representative bodies have been informed and consulted and certain internal reorganisation operations have been carried out within the Bolloré Group. Completion of the sale would require the approval of regulatory and competition authorities, as well as of certain counterparties of Bolloré Africa Logistics. Bolloré Africa Logistics is present in 42 ports and operates in 16 container terminal concessions including in the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, Togo and Guinea-Conakry.

US Federal Government funding will help Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) roll out its $1.2bn cargo expansion programme. PHL’s cargo expansion programme, which was announced in June, will see the airport increase its air cargo facility footprint by 136 acres and almost triple its cargo building square footage from 600,000 to 1.4m. Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (PA-05) said, “PHL’s vision for the use of these funds through a robust cargo expansion means new opportunities for individuals across our region.” The cargo development programme will not only help PHL obtain a bigger portion of air cargo that comes into the Greater Philadelphia area, it could also have an annual economic impact of $870 million for the region and create as many as 6,000 permanent jobs and approximately 5,000 construction jobs annually over the course of the project.