Category Archives: Shipping

Containership charter rates have stormed to new record highs with analysts warning that the scarce tonnage available could see prices remain at extraordinary levels for much of the year. Broking reports that busy Pasha Group had taken the 2,756 teu X-Press Mekong for 50 days from the end of February for a stunning $175,000 a day have been confirmed by liner data provider Linerlytica, the highest rate ever paid for a containership of this capacity. Details of the charter stipulate that the price escalates if it is redelivered late. The prompt delivery of the vessel is understood to have pushed prices higher, with very few vessels now available for swift charter. Pasha Group, and its Jones Act liner Pasha Hawaii, have been sending charter rates northwards repeatedly in the opening weeks of 2022. Pasha had teamed with wholesaler Costco to make some big plays in the charter market, taking seven charters for ships ranging in size from 2,100 to 3,500 teu with most taken on a three-year basis.

A.P. Moller – Maersk (Maersk) is strengthening its operations in Bangladesh, where it has served the country’s exporters connect to the global market for almost three decades. Bangladesh has been one of the most important sourcing markets for the garments and apparel industry worldwide. The garment manufacturers exporting to global markets have significantly contributed towards building the country’s economy. Despite the impressive growth of garments’ exports from Bangladesh, the number of warehouses in Chattogram have not increased since 2012 with the sole exception of ISATL that became operational in 2018. Optimizing utilization of available capacity assisted to an extent, however it did not scale enough to meet the trade’s requirements. The logistics ecosystem and the Chittagong Port get stretched, particularly during the peak seasons. In 2021, a fallout of this structural challenge was felt by all the stakeholders involved in import-export trade when the Container Freight Stations (CFS) got clogged with cargo resulting in delayed clearance, stuffing and consequently dispatch of containers to the port. Delay in offloading cargo also led to longer truck waiting time, and delay in despatch of containers to the port, consequently resulting in lack of overall productivity. These challenges have serious consequences on the overall economy of the country given the fact that the Chittagong Port handles in excess of 90% of the total containerized trade to and from Bangladesh. Recognizing these challenges, Maersk Bangladesh has partnered with ISATL to build a 200,000 sq. ft custom bonded warehouse. ISATL are pioneers in constructing and operating warehouses and CFS and operate four CFS within Chattogram and the River Terminal at Dhaka. Under the scope of this partnership, ISATL will construct a brand new custom bonded warehouse …

The CMA CGM Group,created history with the largest vessel to ever visit an Indian port. APL Raffles, a 17,000 TEU containership part of the CMA CGM Group’s fleet, made her first call at Adani – CMA Container Terminal in Mundra. APL RAFFLES is 398 meters long, 51 meters wide and boasts of 85,704 HP engine. The vessel arrived in Mundra from the Middle East Gulf for an ad hoc call. It will then proceed to Singapore before heading to China. Atit Mahajan, MD – CMA CGM India, said, “This is an important milestone for us, as India has been waiting to welcome large vessels and given the current boom in the global supply chain, the timing could not be better. This ad hoc call reaffirms our Group’s commitment to support and align with the growing market demand and needs of our customers. I would like to congratulate our operational teams for managing a vessel of this capacity with perfection and smoothness. I would also like to congratulate Adani Ports and our terminal partners Adani – CMA Container Terminal, for their efficient and capable infrastructure to complement this achievement.”

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) composite scheme to acquire Sarguja Rail Corridor Pvt Ltd(SRCPL) effective from its appointment date of April 1, 2021. APSEZ said that the company will now consolidate all its rail assets under a single business entity Adani Tracks Management Services Pvt Ltd. “This consolidation allows APSEZ, which is targeting 2,000 km of track length by 2025, to participate in Indian Railways PPP (public-private partnership) projects without having to compete with similar businesses in the Adani portfolio, a position that is in full alignment with the equity interest of minority shareholders,” it said. The statement said that once consolidated, SRCPL will add Rs 450 crore or five percent of APSEZ’s total Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization).

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has several green project initiatives. Union Minister, MoPSW, Sarbanand Sonwal, chaired a meeting with all major ports, CSL and IWAI to review the progress on various green initiatives implemented as per Maritime India Vision 2030 for the developments of green ports and green shipping in India. Highlighting JNPT’s green port initiatives, Sanjay Sethi, IAS, Chairman, JNPT, said, “JNPT has prepared an action plan covering all Port activities, including cargo handling, storing, evacuation and many other activities related to environmental protection. JNPT provides shore power supply to tugs and port crafts, the induction of these E-RTGCs, and many such initiatives. We have installed solar panels at JNPT inducted electric vehicles. JN Port has prepared an action plan covering all activities of the Port including cargo handling, storing, evacuation and many other activities related to environmental protection.” Under the Maritime India Vision 2030, JNPT intends to use 60% of renewable energy, Adoption of Multi Fuel (CNG/Electric / LNG), Shore Power, LNG Bunkering, Energy Efficiency Smart Lightning, Green Belt Cover, Water Conservation/Sewage Treatment, Upcoming solar plants of 2.5MWp. Jawaharlal Nehru port is committed to sustainable development, and the Port takes adequate measures to maintain ecological balance. The total land available with JNPT is around 3402 hectares out of this, 1147 hectares area (34%) of the Port is under green cover, including mangroves. The Port’s ecosystem consists of rich and diversified flora and fauna. To address the Global climate change problem at the port level, the Port has taken the initiative to acquire “Green Port Status”.

With the union government set to present the budget 2022-23 on Feb 1, 2022, the domestic rating agency ICRA shared its pre-budget expectations on ports, shipping, and logistics sector. The rating agency expects the government to increase budgetary support for flagship projects including Sagarmala and inland waterways, providing a boost to the execution pace and investments. Furthermore, enhancing the connectivity across India and speedy implementation of projects such as Bharatmala for the road logistics sector, dedicated freight corridor (DFC) for the railways, and Sagarmala for the waterways will be of prime focus to the center in the coming budget, ICRA believes. There has been traction in policy initiatives for the ports sector in the current fiscal with the operationalization of the Indian Major Ports Act, 2021 and notification of market-based tariffs under the Act, notification of the revised Model Concession Agreement for PPP projects, and passage of the Inland Vessel Act, 2021 in both houses of Parliament, ICRA said. While the slew of measures has been favorable for the sector and is expected to aid in attracting private sector investments, increased budgetary support from the center for such flagship projects will indefinitely boost the execution pace and investments, it stated.

Shipping lines repositioned a record 1.85 million containers in the country in 2021 as demand for exports surged and exporters continued to be hurt by an acute shortage of containers, according to lobbying body Container Shipping Lines Association (CSLA). Repositioning of containers is getting an empty container from a port of surplus to one where they are scarce. Shipping lines had to resort to this strategy as container shortage soared across the world as several container ships got stuck in ports amid the pandemic and various restrictions even as merchandise exports from India grew 105% year-on-year to $354 billion in 2021. “Several new services were introduced between India and various trades like the US, Europe, far East, West Africa and Latin America by carriers like MSC, Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM, HMM, ZIM, Feedertech and others,” said CSLA official. “These helped in increasing the weekly capacity from Indian origins to these destinations by about 35,000 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit, or a 20-foot container) a week,” it said. “Annualised, this works out to an increase in the vessel capacity by about 1.80 million TEUs.”

Deputy Head of Iran’s Ports and Maritime Organization (PMO) Jalil Eslami has said direct container shipping lines have been established between Iran’s southeastern port of Chabahar and two Western Indian ports of Nhava Sheva, and Kandla. According to Eslami, regular container service with a traffic schedule of 10 to 15 days is performed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) through these lines, the PMO portal reported. The official noted that PMO is going to offer the necessary tariff incentives and facilities on tolls and transportation costs to support the traders that use the lines. He pointed out that according to the schedule, the first container service through the mentioned route will enter Iran’s Shahid Beheshti port on February 16. Iran and India had previously launched shipping lines between Chabahar and the Indian ports of Mumbai, and Mundra. The first shipping route between the two countries was put into operation in 2017 between Iran’s Chabahar port and Mumbai.

A digital platform for the Gati Shakti national master plan of infrastructure projects will be ready by March 31, 2022. “All infrastructure projects will be mapped on the national masterplan [portal]. 75% of data from Central ministries on their infrastructure projects have already been uploaded. We are now training State governments to share their data. We are hopeful that the national masterplan [portal] will be ready by March-end,” said Amrit Lal Meena, Special Secretary, Department for Promotion of Investment and Internal Trade. The Gati Shakti national master plan (NMP) announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 13, 2021, is a centralized portal, that will be enabling “institutionalizing” planning, designing, and execution among 17 different Ministries in the Centre as well as States. Including projects worth ₹100 lakh crore, the program aims to cut down logistical costs and improve supply chains. “The national masterplan will show us geographical features such as forests, water bodies, mines, religious and archaeological sites and help us plan alignment of infrastructure projects so that we can circumvent these. Earlier, projects would be planned from within the confines of offices,” added Meena. The portal at present has already been populated by 370 “layers” of data critical for infrastructure planning, comprising information about the road, rail, port and inland waterways, aviation, natural gas pipeline, water supply pipelines, telecom infrastructure, forest wildlife, eco-sensitive zones, water resources, rivers, embankments, canals, dams, tourism sites, economic zones, industrial parks. It also comprises features like soil type, seismicity, etc. Once ready, ready, all detailed project reports of infrastructure projects will have to be prepared on the portal, which will be scrutinized and appraised by a Network Planning Group (NPG) at the Centre.

State-owned Container Corporation of India Ltd (Concor) reported a 24.46 per cent rise in consolidated net profit as compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago, taking the profits from Rs 225.66 crore to Rs 276.35 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2021. The multi-modal logistics company informing the regulatory filing to the BSE said, that the total income during the October-December quarter of the current fiscal rose to Rs 1,994.18 crore, from Rs 1,842.11 crore in the year-ago period. The said quarter endured total expenses of Rs 1,632 crore, as compared to Rs 1,545.79 crore earlier. Besides providing inland transport by rail for containers, Container Corporation of India is into management of ports, air cargo complexes and establishing cold chains.