Category Archives: Shipping

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Reacting to the trade data of April, 2021, Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO, said that the impressive growth reiterates our assessment that order booking position of our exporters is extremely good and with gradual improvement of situation in the country, will push exports growth further. He said that over 15% per cent growth on the base of April 2019 is a better indicator and reflects a positive double digit trend. Saraf particularly emphasised that the growth in labour-intensive sectors like Gems & Jewellery, Handicrafts and Carpets augur well for the job scenario, which is most relevant in the current context. He added that such a growth has been mainly on account of 29 out of 30 major product groups of exports showing either a very impressive high positive growth starting with four digit and almost all ending with a very high double digit growth continuously defying all the odds for the second time during the year 2021 as still the global economy is passing through these challenging times. FIEO President added that the exports of Gems and Jewellery, Jute mfg. including floor covering, Carpets, Handicrafts excl. Hand-made carpet, Leather and leather manufactures, RMG of All Textiles, Cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products etc., Man-made yarn/fabrics/made-ups etc., Ceramic products and glassware, Other cereals, Electronic Goods, Oil meals, Cashew, Mica, coal and other ores, minerals including process, Engineering goods, Tobacco, Iron ore, Petroleum products, Cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed item, Oil Seeds, Meat, dairy and poultry products, Tea, Marine products, Spices, Coffee, Organic and Inorganic Chemicals, Rice, Plastic and linoleum, Fruits and vegetables and Drugs and pharmaceuticals were the sectors, which contributed towards showing such a spectacular performance by the exports sector during the …

APM Terminals Pipavav has announced that the terminal has secured CI1 (China-India Express) service, operated by Cosco/OOCL. The weekly service to the Port Pipavav will carry freights of all kind for import and export to the Far East region that has a significant share in the world trade. The first vessel, MV Beijing with the capacity of 9,500 TEUs will start sailing from Shanghai in April end and will call the port by end of May. This service will connect the hinterlands of west & north India with Far Eastern countries and provide an important connectivity to the importers and exporters, thereby helping them expanding their presence in the far eastern countries. The service links Port Pipavav through port calls in Chinese ports of Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Nansha as well as port of Singapore, Port Klang of Malaysia and Nhavasheva in Mumbai, India.

Gateway Distriparks has announced its audited financial results for the quarter and Financial Year ended March 31, 2021. In March’21, rail container business recorded highest ever monthly throughput of 26,426 TEUs. Q4 consolidated EBITDA up 41 per cent YoY from Rs69.5 crore to Rs 98.1 crore and Q4 consolidated PAT up 299 per cent from 11.7 crore to 46.6 crore. The net debt reduced by Rs237 crore in FY21 to Rs 444 crore. The revival in the EXIM trade has been much faster than anticipated. In Q3FY21, the company witnessed a sharp recovery in its overall volumes for both our CFS and Rail Container business. The CFS business recorded peak throughput of 33,793 TEUs in month of March 2021 for the year whereas the Rail container business recorded highest ever monthly throughput of 26,426 TEUs in the month of March 2021, thus surpassing previous all-time high throughput of 25,676 TEUs recorded in December 2020. Commenting on the performance, Prem Kishan Dass Gupta, Chairman & Managing Director, comments, “The growth momentum we had gathered in Q3 has continued in Q4 as well. H1FY21 was impacted by COVID-19-linked disruptions, however as the year went on, we could see volumes bounce back month over month and reach a new all-time high. The 306-km long Rewari-Madar section of the WDFC (Western Dedicated Freight Corridor) was inaugurated in the first week of January 2021. The WDFC will bring in a lot of operating efficiency at our 4 owned ICDs in the North-West corridor leading to further improvement in service quality for our customers. The trials on the next section of Madar to Palanpur which will connect Mundra and Pipavav have already started and is expected …

With an aim to allow consignees get their containers railed out on same rake/same day from APM Terminals Pipavav port, the Port has launched Rail-Out by Bill of Lading service so that all containers under one Bill of Lading can be cleared together at destination with less hassle. This saves considerable cost and time for importers on consignments planned for inland/hinterland locations. The service is available to any shipping line, NVOCC, consignee or their forwarders or agents. For sea shipments, shipping lines issue a Bill of lading with specific number of containers according to details provided by shippers/exporters. APM Terminals Pipavav offers rail-out of import containers grouped by Bill of Lading (B/L). This supports the Government of India’s “Ease of Doing Business” initiative. At the discharge port, due to differences in discharge timing, most of the time containers under same B/L get stacked separately. This results in the rail-out of these containers on different rakes/different days (First-in First-out principal). This service does not provide an early/priority rail out. It’s an assurance/support that the nominated containers will rail out together on single rake. All containers would follow first in-first out principle. Charge • Consignees/forwarders/agents will be charged USD 12/TEU or USD 16/FFE for the service Order Service • Register with APM Terminals Pipavav as consignee/forwarder/agent. • Open Pre-Deposit Account (PDA) with APM terminals Pipavav using the PDA Application Form. • Consignee or their agent send completed B/L Raila-Out Request Form (.xls) to APM Terminals Pipavav (see sidebar) 72 hours before vessel arrival

Maersk in collaboration with GatewayRail has launched the weekly double-stacked train service to provide the scheduled landside movement of automotive parts and components. The automotive manufacturing sector works on ‘Just-In-Time’ model for the supply chains of its parts and components. Automotive manufacturers require highly reliable logistics services that can move their raw material and finished products on precise schedules to ensure uninterrupted production processes. For years, several of these manufacturers based in and around Gurugram, northern part of India, have been dependent on staggered and unscheduled rail movement for their cargo going in and out of the country. Delayed imports hamper production schedules while delayed exports pile up inventories for the manufacturers. In response to the needs of the automotive sector, Maersk India has launched the first ‘Automotive Express’ whose first run was virtually flagged off on April 18, 2021 by Denmark’s Ambassador to India, His Excellency Freddy Svane. “Manufacturing is an extremely important building block of our country’s economy. As a service provider to this critical segment, our goal is to streamline their supply chains and offer highest levels of reliability” commented Vikash Agarwal, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia. He added, “With the ‘Automotive Express’, we are not only simplifying our automotive customers’ supply chains by offering integrated logistics solution that bundles ocean and landside transportation, but are also driving cost and time efficiencies through precisely scheduled movement of their cargo.” “GatewayRail is excited to jointly launch the new ‘Automotive Express’ with Maersk that connects customers to their global import and export destinations through the MECL and FI3 services at APM Terminals Pipavav Port. GatewayRail has been a pioneer in innovative intermodal services such as the ‘Ship to Rail …

Wan Hai Lines has launched a new weekly service between South China – Vietnam and West India (China West India no.8, CI8), further expanding on its already extensive intra-Asia and West India network by. The service will be operated by WHL independently and is composed of four container vessels with a capacity of 2,100 TEU. The maiden voyage is scheduled to arrive in Hong Kong on April 30, 2021. The CI8 is the sole service in the market offering direct link between Vietnam and West India and shall provide clients with faster transit time and more service options. It will also strengthen Wan Hai Lines’ current service deployments to better serve customers’ needs. Port rotation of the service is as following: HONG KONG – NANSHA – CAI MEP – PORT KLANG NORTH PORT – NHAVA SHEVA – COLOMBO – PORT KLANG NORTH PORT – DA NANG – HAIPHONG – HONG KONG

Seeing a slight decrease of 0.9 per cent compared to the previous year, Dachser’s consolidated net revenue totaled EUR 5.61 billion. In contrast to the decline of 2.2 per cent in the road logistics business field, the air & sea logistics business field saw growth of 5.2 per cent. The business field benefited from having airfreight charter capacity of its own as well as from high freight rates for intercontinental transport. At the Group level, the number of shipments dropped by 2.5 per cent to 78.6 million, while tonnage fell by 2.9 per cent to 39.8 million metric tonnes. “We have delivered on our promise to be a rock of stability during the coronavirus crisis,” says, Burkhard Eling, CEO, Dachser. The compny kept its customers’ global supply chains running without interruption and came up with flexible solutions to capacity bottlenecks, particularly on intercontinental freight services. At the same time, the company provided the best possible protection for its employees’ health and supported its longstanding service partners in Europe. “Following a solid first quarter, the lockdowns in many European countries meant sometimes drastic declines in overland transport shipments,” says Eling. He adds, “There was a clear improvement by June, however, with volumes remaining more or less consistently above 2019 levels. Our business model has proved that it can withstand crises, at the same time boasting strong growth potential and adaptability.” Revenue at the air & sea logistics business field benefited from the shortages in air and sea freight capacity, and the corresponding rise in freight rates, throughout 2020. Buoyed by its activities in Asia, the business field upped its revenue by 5.2 per cent to a total of EUR 1.2 billion. …

March exports showed a whopping double digit growth of almost 60.50 percent clocking US$ 34.45 billion compared to March 2020. Reacting to March 2021 export figures, Sharad Kumar Saraf, President, FIEO, said that the monthly exports showed a whopping double digit growth of almost 60.50 percent clocking US$ 34.45 billion compared to March 2020, showing not only impressive signs of further revival for the sector but for the overall economy as well. This has been mainly on account of 28 out of 30 major product groups of exports showing either a very impressive high positive growth starting with triple digit and almost all ending with a very high double digit growth defying all the odds during these difficult times. FIEO President added that the exports of other cereals, oil meals, iron ore, jute mfg. including floor covering, carpet, electronic goods, gems and jewellery, engineering goods, cereal preparations and miscellaneous processed item, rice, spices, cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products etc., meat, dairy and poultry products, ceramic products and glassware, drugs and pharmaceuticals, organic and inorganic chemicals, plastic and linoleum, handicrafts excl. Hand-made carpet, Marine products, Man-made yarn/fabrics/made-ups etc., Mica, coal and other ores, minerals including process, Petroleum products, RMG of All Textiles, Coffee, Fruits and vegetables, Leather and leather manufactures, Tobacco, and Tea were the sectors, which contributed towards showing such a whopping performance by the exports sector during the month. Such a whopping growth in exports during the month also helped in taking the merchandise exports to over USD 290 billion for FY 2020-21 during such difficult and torrid times, which was well forecasted by FIEO said Saraf. FIEO Chief also reiterated that the support and help provided by the Government …

The Centre is looking to develop Bhavnagar in Gujarat as a container hub and has set up pilot projects for its manufacturing, informs Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister. The initiative aimed at attaining self-reliance in container production eyes Rs 1,000 crore investment from private players and looks to create one lakh jobs. The move assumes significance amid reports of global shortages of containers with Indian containerised trade taking a hit owing to the staggered supply and demand shocks across geographies as per logistic majors. “India requires about 3.5 lakh containers every year. There is no container production in India and we have to depend mainly on China which is a global producer. Now we want to develop Bhavnagar in Gujarat as a container hub and we have selected 10 places there for its production on a pilot basis,” Ports, Shipping and Waterways Minister Mansukh Mandaviya told PTI. The pilot project has been successful, he said. Mandaviya said the Ministry of shipping during the last six months has taken several initiatives to encourage container production at Bhavnagar with the help of re-rolling and furnace makers who are being encouraged to diversify in the space. We expect private players to invest about Rs 1,000 crore in this space. We also expect creation of one lakh local jobs. The intiative has been taken to realise the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’, he said. “We have formed a committee to look into the finer details like standardisation, certification etc. The committee comprises experts from Ministry of Shipping, IRS (Indian Register of Shipping), IITs etc,” Mandaviya said. Mandaviya said in days to come, India will start production which will be consumed by …