Category Archives: International

Abu Dhabi has set its sights on Belgium, as a leading global pharmaceutical hub, to establish a global distribution corridor to serve the world in vaccine delivery and future life science needs. The collaboration builds on the capabilities of Abu Dhabi’s healthcare sector as a leading life sciences hub and the efforts of the HOPE Consortium in providing vaccine solutions for the world. This initiative entailed a delegation visit from Belgium to Abu Dhabi, hosted by the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DoH). The visit saw the signing of two declarations of collaboration between Belgium and Abu Dhabi, Witnessed by H.E. Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Hamed, Chairman of DoH and H.E. Peter CLAES, Ambassador of Belgium in the UAE. The first agreement was between the HOPE Consortium, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC), Brussels Airport Company and Pharma.Aero. The collaboration aims to establish a fully compliant origin-to-destination pharma air corridor between Abu Dhabi and Brussels Airports. The dedicated pharma trade lane will unite key compliant and sector certified supply chain stakeholders, including forwarders and ground handling agents.

A global survey published by Container xChange shows that majority of the container logistics industry (75%) is rethinking its logistics strategy in the next year. The survey results indicate that the industry is expecting gloomy times for the container logistics industry. The top challenges for the industry remained finding spot on the vessel and surcharges by carriers. One-way leasing emerged as the most sought-after alternative as compared to getting equipment from the carriers. Container xChange, world’s leading container trading and leasing tech company released the results of the xChange Industry Speak Survey 2021-22. The survey was released to 800 container logistics players globally including shipping lines, container traders, freight forwarding companies, NVOCCs, shippers and procurement companies. The objective of the survey was to study the industry sentiment, key learnings from the year 2021 and outlook for the year 2022 from the players.

Vessels seeking supplies or crew changes in southern Africa have been making contingency plans to call elsewhere as the new strain of the virus, first detected in Botswana and thought to be far more contagious than earlier variants, has spooked many. “We are expecting longer quarantine period, tighter testing regime and restrictions for vessels coming from South Africa and neighbouring countries,” warned Carl Schou, president and CEO of Wilhelmsen Ship Management, with a host of managers already reporting crew change cancellations in South Africa. Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping, said, “his fears that unless coordinated action is taken by world leaders there could be a return to the peak of the crew change crisis in 2020 where more than 400,000 seafarers were impacted by harsh travel restrictions.”

DP World announced a new weekly Straits India Service (SIS) at its Port Terminals in Nhava Sheva and Mundra. The new service is operated by the global feeder operator Feedertech part of Unifeeder Group, DP World Marine Services. The new weekly service will establish direct connectivity to the Far East with the shortest transit time from DP World terminals in Nhava Sheva and Mundra. This will further boost trade between India and the Far East by providing customers with opportunities to grow their business and offer seamless connections to Malaysia and Singapore as an alternative to transhipping at Colombo Port thereby, improving lead time and reducing cost. The service port rotation is Singapore – Port Kelang – Nhava Sheva – Mundra – Singapore. Ravinder Singh Johal, Regional Head – Commercial Liner Sales (Ports), Subcontinent, DP World, said “We welcome the new service at our terminals in Nhava Sheva and Mundra. It is our constant endeavour to enhance direct connections from our terminals and provide regional connectivity to our customers. This is yet another step in DP World’s endeavour to build an end-to-end logistics capability and integrated services for our end customers and help them grow their business. We will continue to create opportunities in the fast-growing coastal short-sea trade on the Indian Subcontinent.”Hui Khoon, CEO, Feedertech Pte.Ltd, said “We are delighted to announce the launch of our new SIS service which will enrich our network and our footprint in India. We look forward to the continued support from all our valued customers to the successful launch of this service.”

Cathay Pacific Cargo is launching Click & Ship, its new digital booking platform, progressively across its network starting this month. Click & Ship promises booking transparency and speed, day and night. Customers in South Asia, including India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka can view prices and capacity, and book cargo with instant confirmation in just three steps through the intuitive booking interface. Digitalisation and automation are central to Cathay Pacific Cargo’s vision to become the world’s most customer-centric air cargo service brand. Click & Ship is the latest digital innovation along this journey. “Our customers globally have been telling us that they want a quicker and more efficient way to book shipments at any time,” said Rajesh Menon, Regional Head of Cargo, South Asia, Middle East and Africa. “We listened. We are rolling out Click & Ship progressively across our network including South Asia. We aim to make real-time flight schedules, space availability, allotments, and updated rate information available on www.cathaypacificcargo.com andwww.ezycargo.com for all Cathay Pacific Cargo customers over the next year.”

Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has opened its revolutionary new Integrated Hactl Control Centre (iHCC), creating a single command centre that is manned 24/7/365. The iHCC centralises operations control, systems control and maintenance control for the first time, with duty managers able to monitor the entire SuperTerminal 1 facility – from traffic management at its truck parks through the many different functional areas of the terminal, to cargo dispatch activities at the airside area. The iHCC provides comprehensive real time data, and workload forecasts for the coming eight hours, enabling instant adjustments to be made to staffing and resources to cope with any unexpected workload peaks. The iHCC also serves as a fully-integrated emergency centre, facilitating the involvement of the crisis management team, and coordinating actions across all departments, to ensure effective decision-making and proactive responses to crises. The Centre’s concept is similar to the emergency centres now found in many airlines and major airports around the world.

The third quarter results recently announced by the largest publicly traded carriers served to highlight the strength of the market. A.P. Moller-Maersk as the parent of the largest publicly-traded container line reported an amazing 355 percent increase in profits to more than $5.9 billion for the quarter. Similarly, Hapag-Lloyd reported a nearly 10 times increase in profits to more than $6.7 billion for the first nine months of the year. CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said it was “extraordinary strong results,” joining with the CEOs of the other major shipping companies to forecast that market conditions would remain similar for the remainder of 2021 and into 2022. Reviewing the results reported by the carriers, Alphaliner is forecasting for the full year the 10 largest container carriers remain on track for an EBIT operating profit of between $115 and $120 billion. According to Alphainer it the forecast is “more than six times the amount recorded in 2020 and is a figure that is likely to transform the structure of the industry.”

Navia Pty Ltd has extended its Australian network with the purchase of Perth-based Keys Freight and Logistics. Navia now has locations in four Australian cities and an expanding global footprint with offices in strategic locations around the world. Keys Freight and Logistics core business is logistics, arranging the transportation and clearance of commercial cargo – including e-commerce. It provides Customs clearance, warehousing and inter-state transport. Navia, formed in 2003, is a full-service freight and logistics company. Navia is strongly focused on tech-based solutions for customers; its NaviaHub platform is renowned as a complete supply chain solution that includes apps and dashboards which provide customers with online bookings, tracking and supply-chain metrics. Navia has domestic bases in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and overseas operations in Auckland, Chicago, Penang and Budapest. Keys founder Cos Breglia will continue to lead the team in Perth, and joins the leadership team at Navia. Breglia said, “Keys Freight identified that both technology and scale are necessary to support its future growth. Navia meanwhile has a world-beating technology suite, as well as the scale of a larger entity.”

American Airlines announced a new sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) off-take agreement with Aemetis to bring the airline’s total SAF commitment to more than 120 million gallons, a signal of the integral role SAF will play in American’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions and achieve its ambitious sustainability goals. The airline’s agreement with Aemetis is the result of work with the oneworld alliance, the first global airline alliance to commit to net-zero emissions by 2050 and to publish a pathway for doing so. oneworld is now the first global airline alliance to announce a SAF purchase. “The American Airlines team is committed to reducing emissions from our operations, and sustainable aviation fuel is the cornerstone of our strategy in this decade,” said Doug Parker, chairman and CEO of American. “We’re proud to join with our oneworld partners in supporting the growth of SAF through this agreement with Aemetis, and we’re eager to continue collaborating with like-minded partners to meet aviation’s climate challenge.”

Hapag-Lloyd has agreed upon a three-month charter commencing in January of the 4,253 teu Synergy Oakland for an eye-watering $130,000 a day from Greek non-operating owner Euroseas. The carrier’s in-house charter desk will no doubt have baulked at a charter rate some $50,000 a day above the current bull market, but was clearly unable to fix an alternative to cover a vital commitment. It will now pay the owner some $11.5m for the duration of the time charter. Putting the Hapag-Lloyd fixture into context of today’s market, Euroseas paid just $10m for the Synergy Oakland in November 2019, as part of an en-bloc purchase and, four years ago, owners of similar panamax ships would have been happy to achieve $8,000 a day for a three-month charter.