Category Archives: Shipping

APM Terminals Pipavav (Gujarat Pipavav Port Ltd) announced the financial results for the quarter ended September 30, 2021. The company reported a net profit of INR 453 million for Q2FY22 as against INR 520 million in Q2FY21. Revenue from operations for the quarter under consideration stood at INR 1,947 million as against INR 1,827 million in Q2FY21. EBIDTA for the quarter was at INR 1,090 million as against INR 1,029 million during the same quarter last year. EBIDTA margin stood at 56% in Q2FY22 as against 56% in Q2FY21. The container cargo business for the quarter stood at 157,048 TEUs, bulk business was at 1.39 MT and liquid business was 0.19 MT. 7,814 cars were handled under RoRo category for the quarter under review. During the quarter, APM Terminals Pipavav became the first Port to be connected to the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) with the completion of high-rise overhead electrification of the port rail yard. By switching to electrical loco, the Port will also be able to offer environment-friendly, long-haul, high-volume freight rail transport that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Port also loaded 100th LPG rake in less than a year of installation. The port is one of the few ports in India which can accommodate a full train.

Sarbananda Sonowal, the Union Minister of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India and Minister of AYUSH, Government of India, visited Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), one of India’s premier container handling ports. During his visit, he got a comprehensive understanding of the port’s operations, infrastructural and technological advancements, reviewed the progress made by the port through its Public-Private Partnership initiatives, and engaged with JNPT’s key stakeholders. While addressing the press conference, Sarbananda Sonowal outlined how PPP-led synergies can transform and accelerate the country’s progress. With the majority of global trade carried by sea, ports are critical gateway infrastructure which connect an entire region and its inland transportation network (i.e. road, rails, inland waterways) to the international market. Therefore, public-private partnership at JNPT, will help developing strong, well-functioning maritime transport infrastructure is a key element of economic growth for the country. This initiative will become a means to manage port operations more effectively, as well as to develop new port infrastructure, traditionally both exclusively government functions.

Private inland container depots (ICDs) in Chattogram announced the new rates of five service charges with retrospective effect from 4 November. “The cost of vehicles and equipment management of the private off-docks have increased following the price hike of diesel and kerosene. Therefore, the additional charges have been imposed to cover the additional fuel costs,” said BICDA President Nurul Qayyum Khan. Bangladesh Freight Forwarder Association (BAFA) and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) have termed the move “illogical” as it will exponentially increase import-export costs. As per the new tariffs, the transport charge for a 20-foot container (between the port and depot) has been increased to Tk1,415 from Tk1,150.

Evergreen is adding to its fleet and equipment capacity with an order for two 24,000 teu ships from China’s Jiangnan shipyard and 55,500 containers from three manufacturers. The new buildings will cost $140m-$160m each and delivery is expected 2024-2025. The new containers will cost Evergreen $338.5m – 27,500nfrom Dong Fang International Container (Hong Kong), 15,000 from Guangdong Fuwa Equipment and 13,000 from CXIC Group. They comprise 20ft and 40ft units and will be delivered in mid-2022. Among liner operators, Evergreen now has the most newbuilding orders, with 78 vessels under construction. Alphaliner estimates that Evergreen’s orderbook-to-fleet ratio is around 45%. In September, Evergreen ordered 24 ships from another Chinese shipyard, CSSC Huangpu Wenchong Shipbuilding, 20 15,000 teu ships from Samsung Heavy Industries in March and two 24,000 teu ships from Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding in June, as well as four 24,000 teu ships from Jiangnan Shipyard that are due for completion next year. Evergreen president Eric Hsieh said: “We never saw such high freight rates and the present situation is quite positive for liner operators’ future business prospects.”

ECU Worldwide, global multi-modal logistics major launched an intensive industry study on ‘The state of API adoption within the freight forwarding market’. The study helps discern the impact of APIs on freight forwarders and understand the forwarders’ perspective on API adoption. This report is informed on a global survey of over 120 commercial freight forwarding companies. Here are some key takeaways from the report: * Technology limitations and data streamlining are major headwinds to API adoption – The logistics industry has been slow on the uptake with technology, which holds true with data capturing and building inter-stakeholder connectivity. * Lack of awareness is a significant deterrent to data standardization – The discussions on data quality go hand-in-hand with data standardization, as disparate data that do not conform to a particular set of standards will be essentially unusable. * Human-intensive operations likely the earliest workflows to be API integrated – Respondents pursuing data integrations do so by standardizing workflows within their organization in line with other industry stakeholders—both upstream and downstream. * Improved visibility and operational efficiency are low-hanging fruits of API adoption – Visibility and efficiency have been recurring themes within the survey, reflecting the positive correlation forwarders see with API integration. Tim Tudor, CEO ECU Worldwide, said, “Digitization and innovation will play a strong role in building visibility and creating integrated end-to-end solutions for cargo owners. ECU Worldwide wants to encourage the creation of a technology enabled eco-system and supply-chain focused tools to reduce the costs of logistics and make India’s exports more competitive. Stronger technology adoption in the logistics sector will also improve transparency, reliability and predictability in the supply chains across the globe.”

Container spot rates are falling – and are unlikely to see any noticeable edge up for the remainder of what has been a record-breaking 2021. Liner shipping is on course to smash profits in excess of $150bn this year, more than five times their previous best cumulative effort as rates soared to highs never seen before. However, as the peak season has passed and carriers focus on getting more clients fixed to long term contracts, the spot market has entered free-fall. Last week saw the biggest week-on-week drop of Drewry’s World Composite Index since November 30, 2017, a global spot rate indicator, which plunged 4.9% in the first week of the month. “We think spot rates will probably continue to slide through the rest of the year, but that they will remain at high levels, feeding into strong contract rates next year,” said Drewry’s Simon Heaney.

The Hambantota International Port (HIP) recently facilitated the shipment of locally manufactured trailers, marking the beginning of its services to the local industry as a gateway port. “The master plan of the Hambantota International Port clearly spells out supporting the development of Sri Lankan industries servicing overseas markets. This shipment for Dutch Lanka Trailers emphasizes HIP’s position as Sri Lanka’s gateway port and flags a new era for local manufacturers in terms of cost effective methods to reach their respective markets,” says Lance Zuo- General Manager Commercial and Marketing. Tissa Wickramasinghe, COO of Hambantota International Port Group (HIPG) says, “The Hambantota International Port is well equipped to handle such cargo and has an advanced Turburg tractor which makes it more convenient for the shipper. Higher freight rate charges on container vessels and congestion faced by other ports in handling containerized cargo, makes HIP the better choice for such shipments. Shipping this kind of cargo via RORO vessel is becoming more of a trend because of its cost effectiveness for the shipper and we are looking to explore this new opportunity further.”

The transnational project “South Baltic Transport Loops” (SBTL), supported by the European Union and initially developed by Hamburg Port Consulting (HPC) recently held its closing conference in Copenhagen. Aimed at assisting in the development of smaller and medium-sized ports in the region, a number of significant new sea connections have resulted. The main focus of the partners in the project, the ports of Elblag, Karlshamn, Mukran and Roenne, and the Klaipeda Shipping Research Centre is developing and implementing new regular services and ship connections for container, bulk and general cargo transport, and ferry services. Attention is also being placed on improving the intermodal hinterland connections of the ports. Representatives of the project partners presented their results at the closing conference in Copenhagen on 28 September. HPC developed the project in 2016, applied for funding and has been coordinating it since 2018. Dr Olaf Zeike, Senior Consultant at HPC and the project manager in charge, takes positive stock: “With the activities promoted by the SBTL project, the course has been set for sustainable development of the partner ports in the southern Baltic Sea region. Despite Corona-related delays, we can be proud of the team effort that has been achieved across the countries involved in the project.” The list of innovations and improvements is impressive

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.