Category Archives: Shipping

The government is set to allow concession in royalty or revenue share payable by private firms handling transhipment and coastal containers at their facilities in Centre-owned major ports, in a policy boost to promote container transhipment and coastal shipping in the country. The relaxation in payment of royalty or revenue share by public-private-partnership (PPP) operators at major ports on transhipment and coastal containers will be made applicable to existing terminals and upcoming projects, an official briefed on the plan said. The move will benefit the international container transhipment terminal run by Dubai’s DP World at Vallarpadam in Cochin Port Trust, the only such exclusive facility built at a major port to handle Indian cargo containers that are routed through Colombo or Singapore. It was developed to cut India’s dependence on regional hubs and help save extra time and costs, but has failed to live up to expectations due to water depth constraints and higher rates on vessel related charges, compared to Colombo.

Union Coal and Mines Minister Pralhad Joshi has emphasized on full utilisation of the port facilities at Paradip Port Trust in Odisha to increase coal transportation through the sea route. During his visit to the port today, he asked the officials to explore possibilities of using Paradip port as a coal hub. The Union Minister Joshi alongwith the Minister of State for Coal and Mines Raosaheb Patil Danve also visited the Hingula area under Mahanadi Coalfields Limited and reviewed various activities and projects. Joshi also visited the site of Rail Receival System near Paradip port wherein coal is unloaded with the help of wagon-tipplers. The minister said that this system of unloading is efficient, helps in saving time and demurrage charges, while also reducing the spread of coal dust.

The first full reefer rake titled as “The Maersk Processed Food Express” was flagged off from ICD Viramgam to Pipavav Port. The reefer train operated by Gateway Rail Freight Ltd, carried agro-based commodities from Gujarat to be exported to South East Asia. This service will help in safe and quick passage of frozen food from Ahmedabad and nearby area, thereby shifting the transport of commodities from road to rail, an environment friendly mode. The flagging off ceremony was graced by Ashok Pandey & Bhumik Bhatt from Gateway Rail. Senior executives from Maersk & APM Terminals Pipavav were also present. Commenting on reefer rake movement, Jakob Friis Sorenson, MD, APM Terminals Pipavav said, “The reefer rake facility is going to be a boon for exporters from Gujarat as it will open up a whole new global market for their produce. We are excited to be a part of a logistics supply chain for ‘Made in India’ products from Gujarat to the world. This initiative by Maersk and Gateway Rail is commendable and we believe that with collaborative efforts of ICD, Liner and the Customer, this service will benefit the agro based trade.”

Singapore’s new mega-port is just months away from full operations, but it has opened its storage area early to help alleviate the supply chain bottlenecks plaguing container shipping. Congestion has caused ships to arrive late, resulting in logjams of containers in major ports around the globe. Ship arrivals at Singapore are now 7.5 days late, on average, after schedule reliability fell to an all-time low of 33.6% in August, although this has since improved to 40%. Senior minister of state for transport Chee Hong Tat said that following the Ever Given grounding, a ship which skipped a port call in the Persian Gulf came to Singapore, where it unloaded 2,700 containers originally bound for the Gulf. The containers were stored before being reloaded onto ships sailing to the intended destination. Chee said, “In doing so, [port operator] PSA enabled the shipping line to skip a port and catch up on its schedule, after a two-week diversion around the Cape of Good Hope.”

The Indian Institute of Freight Forwarders (IIFF) – education wing of Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations in India (FFFAI) has decided to launch its 2nd batch of IIFF-FIATA Online Diploma Course in Logistics/ Shipping and Freight Forwarding, tentatively from November 1, 2021. The 1st batch of the online diploma course received tremendous responses from the industry professionals as well as fresh aspirants. The IIFF-FIATA Diploma Course has been validated by the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Association (FIATA), which is recognized across the world. Commenting on the crucial role played by IIFF in skill development for the logistics industry practitioners. Shankar Shinde, Chairman FFFAI and IIFF stated that the Logistics industry is leading towards more professional mode and it is now perceived as choice of an industry to work for, rather than ‘entry by accident’ or ‘inherited business’. With huge opportunity for Global exposure and experience, Logistics is the best industry which provides such a large scope of personnel and business development. “Accordingly, we have to enhance our Logistics courses to meet the expectations of the next generation,” the FFFAI Chairman emphasised.

CargoTalk’s virtual conclave on Multi Modal Logistics was a big success. With a lot insightful information from our expert speakers, the discussion on the said topic were informative as to how multi modal logistics is revolutionising the supply chain by transporting the logistics faster and more efficiently. With the focus on Multi Modal in the new normal world, the summit also discussed the significant role played by it in the transportation of logistics globally. Also how technology is supporting the movement of logistics in a more efficient manner. The industries across have well adopted to the changing dynamics of different modes of transportation in the supply-chain interactions and of their internal operations. Esteemed speakers included Xerrxex Master, President, AMTOI, Chander Agarwal, Managing Director, TCI EXPRESS Ltd. and Yuvraj Sharma, Cluster Head Sales and Marketing, India, Sri Lanka and Maldives, Kuhene+Nagel.

The UAE-based port operator, DP World has opened a new empty container park of 46,539 m² at Southampton to extend storage capacity amid the peak pre-Christmas season. The new facility will be able to hold additional empty containers to strengthen resilience for customers and keep supply chains moving when dwell times at terminals across the United Kingdom (UK) have increased. Furthermore, the new empty park of US$4 million (£3 million) is part of DP World’s ongoing US$54.3 million (£40 million) investment this year at Britain’s second-largest container terminal. “We now have 25% more storage capacity at Southampton than before which will enable us to maintain productivity and service levels for the vital next few months and beyond,” noted UK Chief Executive of DP World, Ernst Schulze, who went on to add that volumes can now be switched quickly and easily between locations, giving customers more control over their supply chains and increasing security of supply for critical goods coming into the UK.

After 21 months of construction, the world’s first zero-carbon intelligent container terminal in Tianjin Port was officially put into operation. The terminal is a 200,000-ton container terminal with a designed annual throughput of 2.5 million TEUs. The terminal adopts an intelligent horizontal transportation system that connects its key facilities to realize real-time information interaction of all production factors. The artificial intelligence robots of transportation here are equipped with various sensors to be their “eyes and ears”. Therefore, compared with traditional container terminals, the intelligent terminal in Tianjin can save manpower, time and cost, while maintaining a world-leading efficiency. The terminal is operated all by wind and photovoltaic power, achieving zero-carbon emission in energy consumption and production.

Typhoon Kompasu has resulted in the worst container shipping traffic jam in months, stretching throughout Southeast Asia and may take weeks to unravel. Although port operations are largely back to normal in Shenzhen and Hong Kong after the tropical storm’s passing, the total container ship count off the two vital hubs had ballooned to 271 as of early Friday, the highest count recorded since Bloomberg News started tracking the data in April. At least 109 ships were meanwhile reported as anchored and waiting to enter the ports, up from 67 on Thursday. “The supply chain is very stretched, with no buffer, so any little event will cause another big problem,” James Teo, Bloomberg Intelligence, said. “There are too many choke points.” Teo expects port congestion likely to continue until at least Feb. 2022.

Union Minister for Ports, Shipping and Waterways Sarbanand Sonowal has announced forming of a Special Purpose vehicle (SPV) for development of a Multimodal Logistics Park (MMLP) at VOC Port in Chennai. The MMLP to be developed through Public Private Partnership with the SPV providing land and connectivity and the actual MMLP infrastructure to be developed by a private developer. He said, all the three stake holders viz, Chennai Port Authority, TIDCO and NHAI will be equity partners in the proposed SVP. The Minister informed that equity contribution/investment of the Chennai Port is the cost of the land amounting to Rs 167 crore, NHAI/NHIDCL contribution is Rs l30 crore and that of State govt. through TIDCO is Rs 50 crore. Speaking at the virtual MoU signing in, Sonowal said, V.O. Chidambaranar Port, the economic engine of South Tamilnadu, has proposed for setting up of Multimodal Logistics Park due to its advantages such as excellent Rail-road connectivity, proximity to Main Sea Route, all weather operational conditions, and geographic position to link Eastern coast with the Western coast. The Multimodal Logistics Park would facilitate infrastructure for enabling seamless multimodal freight transfer, and specialized storage solutions, such as cold storage, warehouses equipped with mechanized material handling and intermodal transfer terminals for containers, bulk and break-bulk cargo. Further, the MMLP would be offering value-added services such as Customs clearance, bonded storage yards, quarantine zones, testing facilities, warehousing management services, post-manufacturing activities such as kitting and final assembly, grading, sorting, labelling, packaging etc.