Category Archives: Shipping

Union Minister of Commerce & Industry Piyush Goyal urged the heads of Export Promotion Councils (EPCs) to identify and name exporters whose products fail to meet international standards and are often rejected due to inferior quality. The Minister said the EPCs have not identified specific exporters hurting the reputation of ‘Made in India’ products in the world markets despite repeated reminders. “Quality will define the future of our exports,” he quipped. Goyal also asked EPC heads to take steps to increase exports to $450-$500 billion next year. Ahead of the finalisation of the new Foreign Trade Policy, Goyal, in a mid-term review meeting with EPCs, said India’s exports of $197 billion in the first half of FY2021-22, was on the “right track”. “Our exporters have made all of us Indians proud today,” said Goyal, setting the bar higher “if we can aim to scale $450-$500 billion exports next year,” according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

The global shipping crisis that is causing deepening shortages and shutdowns in Britain’s shops and factories will last for as long as nine months, as giant vessels carrying Christmas goods start to queue in the English Channel to unload in Europe’s congested ports. A body representing British ports said that it expects the congestion affecting deliveries to millions of retailers and businesses to persist potentially until next summer as the shipping industry struggles with challenges from container shortages to a lack of lorry drivers to move cargo once it reaches quaysides. One major shipping line told that the delays, which are forcing vessels to anchor in clusters in the English Channel and North Sea, will have a knock-on effect for supplies of consumer goods and manufacturing components in the coming weeks and months – with a risk that up to 20 per cent of goods ordered for peak Christmas demand will not reach retailers in time.

V.O. Chidambaranar Port, offers a maximum draft of 14.20 Mts. to accommodate bulk carriers upto 95,000 DWT and Container vessels upto LOA of 300 metres. The Port’s two container terminals, with the capacity to handle 1.17 Million TEUs of Containers are well supported by 17 Container Freight Stations & one ICD. The terminals facilitate daily connectivity to Colombo and reaching further to the Far East, through its weekly mainline services. It is the fastest growing Port in Tamil Nadu, is growing hand in hand, along with the growth of Indian economy. This has resulted in a significant rise in the volume of freight moved by road. In VOC Port, 76 % of cargo is transited by road, 20% by conveyor, and 2% by pipeline and rail. More than 3000 trucks ply through the Port road connectivity everyday to transit the EXIM cargo, that are seamlessly connected to Tirunelveli and beyond in the South, and Madurai to cater to the northern hinterland, through NH138 and NH38. The 595 Km. long East Coast Road also connects Chennai. The Port is well connected to the Indian Railway network through the Meelavittan – Madurai broad-gauge line. This enables faster and effective cargo transfer to Dindigul, Karur, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Chennai regions.

FedEx Express will invests more than SAR 1.5 billion in Saudi Arabia over the next 10 years to meet the country’s growing international shipping demands. This investment will reaffirm the company’s commitment to the country’s non-oil economic growth, in line with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 goals, and the ‘National Industrial Development and Logistics Program’ which seeks to increase non-oil exports to more than SAR 1 trillion (approximately US $266 billion). Under Saudi Vision 2030, the country is committed to increasing its total air cargo capacity. With many years of experience, specialized services, and advanced technology solutions, FedEx is said to support the trade requirements of the healthcare, e-commerce, technology, energy, aerospace, automotive, and petrochemical sectors. FedEx Express has been facilitating trade in Saudi Arabia since 1994, offering international solutions and connectivity through local service providers, most recently through SAB Express.

Global supply chain continues to face disruptions as China, has been facing challenges ranging from power crunch to slowdown in its manufacturing sector. The worst ever power outage crisis in China forces most manufacturing units to operate only two or three days a week. The country has been facing acute power shortage since summer and several of its provinces have witnessed sudden blackouts recently. The sudden power shortage crises in the country are attributed to a rise in demand, weather conditions and measures to cut the use of fossil fuels. Besides this Evergrande, a prominent real estate firm in China, has recently experienced debt crunch, and consequently lead to disturbance in global financial markets. These developments will have consequences on the world economy given the heavy import dependency on China.

ICRA ratings expects the overall volumes at Indian ports to continue witnessing improvement and the same in FY2022 is likely to surpass FY2020 (pre-Covid) volumes. The optimism is based on the performance of the sector in 5m FY2022 wherein all segments except fertilisers have witnessed healthy Y-o-Y growth. The overall cargo volumes are largely stable in 5M FY2022 in comparison to similar period in FY2020 and are driven by healthy growth in containers, iron ore and other miscellaneous segments. The positive growth can also be attributed to the base effect since the same period during last fiscal (FY2021) was most severely impacted by the pandemic-related lockdown. The exceptions to volume growth (apart from fertilisers) are POL and coal volumes which have remained subdued. POL and thermal coal segments had remained subdued in FY2021 too due to demand contraction and while there has been a Y-o-Y improvement in 5m FY2022, the volumes remain lower compared to FY2020 levels.

Global logistics company DP World operated International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICTT) at Vallarpadam Cochin unveiled a solar power plant with production capacity of 1122 MW (megawatts)/per annum. The plant was inaugurated by P. Rajeeve, Honourable Minister for Industries, Law and Coir, Government of Kerala, and Hibi Eden, Member of Parliament (Ernakulam), Kerala. The plant is set up across 3.4 acres of land with an investment of over INR 3.7 crore. It has a peak production capacity of 830 kilowatt-hours. The solar plant will help reduce 905 tonnes/per annum of CO2 emissions which is equivalent to CO2 absorbed by approximately 41,580 trees in a year. The plant will produce over 12% of the terminal’s total annual power consumption. DP World is committed to sustainable practices across all its facilities and is undertaking several measures to achieve Carbon footprint reduction targets in a time-bound manner. This solar plant is part of the many planned milestones towards DP World achieving Carbon Neutrality across all facilities in India by 2030.

WISTA is the first to conduct a survey focusing on impact of covid both positive and negative on women in the maritime sector, taking the lead building upon the research done indicating the impact of the global pandemic on women. WISTA International has launched a maritime specific survey, concentrating on women in the maritime industry, in collaboration with Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo in Brazil who will be sponsoring WISTA with 240 hours of research work. The online survey focuses on the impact COVID-19 has had on both the professional and personal lives of around 3800 women in the maritime industry who are members of WISTA’s global network. The survey is part of WISTA’s diversity committee’s ongoing programme and the research will help to define the current position of women and the opportunities for them in the maritime sector.

GETEX – GREECE EGYPT TURKEY EXPRESS is starting from October 5th, 2021 ex Thessaloniki port. This sustainable and best-in-class option is aiming at fostering connection from North and Central Greece, Eastern Europe to Egypt and South Turkey and direct and fast connection between South Turkey and Greece with a gateway to Eastern European countries. Fleet: 1 vessel x 850 TEUS nominal capacity, Rotation: THESSALONIKI / DAMIETTA / ALEXANDRIA EL DEKHEILA / MERSIN / THESSALONIKI. Frequency: 10-day 1st calls: ETA Thessaloniki on Tue. 05/10/2021 | ETA Damietta/Port Said on Fri. 08/10/2021 | ETA Mersin/Iskenderun on Mon. 12/10/2021 Ocean TRANSIT TIME references: Thessaloniki to Damietta in 2 days | Thessaloniki to Mersin in 5 days | Mersin to Thessaloniki in 3 days

At a time when containers for international trade in goods are scarce following the COVID-19 pandemic, over 1,500 empty cargo containers are currently stuck at the dry port in Birgunj. Due to this, the only dry port in the country that is used for international trade is facing a ‘container congestion’. Some containers have remained unused at the dry port for over a year and a half. The dry port which has the capacity to handle as many as 1,500 containers at a time has now become a warehouse for empty containers and loaded containers. According to Pristine Valley Dry port, the company operating the dry port in Birgunj, the reason behind the congestion of empty containers is not due to carelessness but due to the containers which arrived during the lockdowns. They say that the problem increased after the Container Corporation India did not show any interest in taking back the old containers.