Category Archives: Shipping

Mentioning the commissioning of a dedicated freight corridor, India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra), reports that India’s logistics sector looks stable in financial year 2021-22 as a recovering economy builds demand. Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone was among ports that reported resilient volumes in FY21. Ind-Ra estimates an 8 per cent year-on-year improvement in volumes for Indian ports in FY22, compared to an estimated 4 per cent year-on-year decline in FY21. The 8 per cent year-on-year rise will be led by private ports, which in five years have displayed a median multiplier (vs real GDP growth rate) of 1.4x, thus outperforming growth from major ports. India’s ports volumes closely follow the country’s GDP growth, with container growth coming in 2x of overall cargo volumes. For inland container depot/container freight station operators, Ind-Ra forecasts a healthy pickup in volumes though competition remains intense and realisations remain soft. The reduced dwell time after the commissioning of Dedicated Freight Corridor and increased double stacking volume will support higher operating efficiencies, which is likely to support EBITDA margins in FY22-FY23. For warehouses, Goods and Services Tax led consolidation and rationalisation of occupancy rates could continue in FY22.

According to ports’ apex body the Indian Ports Association (IPA), India’s top-12 ports witnessed considerable decline in cargo traffic for the 11th straight month in February to 600.62 million tonnes (MT). Cargo traffic at 12 major ports that are under the control of the Centre dropped by 6.61 per cent to 600.62 million tonnes (MT) during April-February this fiscal, compared with 643.10 MT in the year-ago period, IPA said in its latest report. All ports, barring Paradip and Mormugao — which recorded 0.27 per cent and 30.93 per cent increase in cargo handling to 102.90 MT and 19.28 MT respectively, saw negative growth. Cargo handling at Kamrajar Port (Ennore) nosedived 23.29 per cent during April-February to 22.23 MT, while ports like Mumbai and VO Chidambaranar saw their cargo volumes dropping by over 12 per cent during the said period. Cochin and Chennai ports suffered a sharp decline of about 10 per cent. JNPT saw a decline of 8.06 per cent in cargo volumes, while Deendayal Port Trust and Kolkata ports logged an over 6 per cent drop in cargo volume. Cargo handling at New Mangalore and Visakhapatnam slipped 5.30 per cent and 4.87 per cent, respectively. India has 12 major ports under the control of the central government — Deendayal (erstwhile Kandla), Mumbai, JNPT, Mormugao, New Mangalore, Cochin, Chennai, Kamarajar (earlier Ennore), VO Chidambaranar, Visakhapatnam, Paradip and Kolkata (including Haldia). In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, sharp declines were witnessed in the handling of containers, coal and POL (petroleum, oil and lubricant), among other commodities. These ports handle about 61 per cent of the country’s total cargo traffic. They handled 705 MT of cargo last fiscal. Ports, Shipping and …

India has supplied the second shipment of equipment to Chabahar port in Iran. “Continuing with our commitment to develop Chabahar Port, second shipment of equipment reaches Shahid Behesti Terminal,” informs, Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Ports Shipping and Waterways, Government of India, in a tweet. In January, India had supplied a consignment of two mobile harbour cranes to the Chabahar port, having a total contract value of over US$ 25 million. Located in the Sistan-Balochistan province on the energy-rich Iran’s southern coast, the port is being developed by India, Iran and Afghanistan to boost trade ties. Last month, Ports, Waterways and Shipping (MoPWS) Additional Secretary Sanjay Bandopadhyaya had said two more cranes are standing for loading near the port near Venice, which will reach by March-end to the Chabahar port. He had said two more cranes will be supplied to the port by June-end. Bandopadhyaya said after mobile harbour cranes are delivered, there are plans to procure rail-mounted cranes for which bidding is going on. Till January 31, 2021, about 123 vessels had berthed at the terminal and approximately 13,752 TEUs and 18 lakh tonnes of bulk/ general cargo had been handled there. The bilateral contract between Iran and India was signed on May 23, 2016 with a total value of US$ 85 million ‎for equipping, mechanising and starting operations at the port under the first phase. In this regard, a special purpose vehicle — India Ports Global (IPGL), Mumbai — was incorporated under the shipping ministry.

For Indian trade, 2020 was a year dominated by unprecedented challenges, irregular manufacturing and buying patterns, disrupted trade environments and lack of predictability. With the COVID-19 pandemic spreading across the world in a staggered manner and in varying proportions, the impact on containerised trade was felt the most in Q2 / 2020 when exports contracted by 34%. As societies began to find ways to coexist with COVID-19, trade started recovering in the second half. Exports ramped up sharply in Q3, not only recovering from Q2 slump, but even increased by 14% year on year, however the economic impact on consumers led to substantially lower imports, which dropped by 28% as compared to the same period of 2019. The last quarter of the year showed growth in both imports and exports, thus making solid strides towards returning to normalcy. Demand for Indian exports across multiple categories continues to remain exceptionally strong, much of it driven by consumer demand in North America and Europe. Steve Felder, Managing Director, Maersk South Asia, said “Despite unprecedented challenging conditions, stakeholders across supply chains – from manufacturers to consumers, from Government bodies to logistics enablers – all stood up cautiously to fight the pandemic. Without the contribution from all the moving parts in the complex machinery of global trade, the path back to normalcy would not have been possible.”

As the government is working on a new multi-modal national logistics policy, the Container Freight Stations Association (CFSes Association), whose members have been finding their going tough since 2016, has said CFSes should be allowed handle more logistics services, especially domestic cargo, so that their idling space can be gainfully engaged. According to the association, the 160-odd CFSes across the ports have been operating at around 40 per cent capacity on one hand, and on wafer thin margins on the other, as most containers are directly delivered to consignees now. With the increased DPD (direct port delivery) and various Customs-initiated reforms like RMS (risk management systems), almost all the CFSes remain largely underutilised. They are currently functioning at around 40 per cent of their functional capacity, Umesh Grover, Secretary-General, Container Freight Station Association. He said earlier as much as 70 per cent of containarised imports were through CFSes, which after the DPD began in 2016, is down to a paltry 25 per cent now. Over 50 per cent of all imports are through DPD facility today which has massively brought down delays and cost for importers, he said, but was quick to add that there is also a problem of over capacity of CFSes, with 160 stations now. Each CFS has can handle 500 TEUs of cargo. Another reason for the losing business is the introduction of RMS by the Customs, which as taken away 60 per cent of the non-DPD business. Under the RMS regime, as much as 60 per cent of the shipments do not need Customs clearance. Then there is the issue of fees which have just halved from Rs 10,000 per day to under Rs 5,000 …

On the heels of its recent acquisition of Ocean Insights, project44 has announced the availability of its free port visibility reporting service, Port Intel™. Free for a limited time, Port Intel is an online service that provides subscribers with free reports that summarise port congestion, inform them when their containers are anchored near congested ports, and help them make critical inventory and management decisions. Port Intel is powered by Ocean Insights from project44. “The impact of oceanic bottlenecks on the global economy is staggering,” said Jett McCandless, Founder and CEO of project44, in adding, “Given the critical nature of the port blockages, we released Port Intel as a service to enable global shippers to identify where the delays are occurring and how they can mitigate delays and avoid future crises. Just days after closing our acquisition, it was amazing to see the p44 and Ocean Insights teams move quickly to integrate our solutions and deliver Port Intel.” As the global economy rebounds from COVID-19, virtually every business is impacted in some way by disruptions in international shipping, with port delays, lack of capacity, container shortages, and other imbalances all wreaking havoc on trade. With so much at stake, Port Intel is a timely solution for frustrated supply chain professionals. Port Intel helps them assess the status of their shipments and supply chain, allowing for proactive planning and risk mitigation. Users can access the report by visiting the Port Intel site and entering vessel identifiers, bill of lading identifiers or ocean container numbers. Using these details, Port Intel generates customized updates that include projected time out and port dwell times. The reports are curated by project44’s visibility experts to provide recommendations …

To facilitate assessment of containers requirement as well its fulfilment, FIEO has developed a first level marketplace wherein exporters can post their container demands online. The e-module will help in ground level assessment of containers required in the country while simultaneously enabling the exporting community to negotiate competitive quotes for their requirements. The web link has been made live and exporters across the country have started posting their container requirement for various origin-destination pairs. The containers requirement uploaded through the e-module are also made visible to shipping lines, freight forwarders or others so that they can express their interest to fulfil such demands. This will also help them to better assess the demand of containers in the country so as to meet it with repositioning of containers or bringing empties. The e-module will also address the issue of container shortage reported by exporters, affecting their shipments and pulling down country’s exports and claims made by shipping lines that they are fully equipped to provide containers between 1-3 days at all locations for all destinations except for few destinations in Africa as congestions and berthing of ships at these destinations is taking 8-10 days’ time.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zones (APSEZ) has received a Letter of Intent (LOI) from the Ministry of Ports and Shipping of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Ports Authority, acting on behalf of the Government of Sri Lanka, pursuant to approval from the Sri Lankan Cabinet of Ministers for the development and operations of West Container Terminal (WCT) in Colombo, Sri Lanka. APSEZ will partner with John Keells Holdings PLC, Sri Lanka’s largest diversified conglomerate, and with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) as a part of the consortium awarded this mandate. The WCT will be developed on a Build, Operate and Transfer basis for a period of 35 years as a public-private partnership. WCT will have a quay length of 1400 meters and alongside depth of 20 meters, thereby making it a prime transhipment cargo destination to handle Ultra Large Container Carriers. The project is expected to boost WCT’s container handling capacity and further consolidate Sri Lanka’s locational advantage as one of the world’s top strategic nodes along the busiest global transhipment route. The Colombo Port is already the most preferred regional hub for transhipment of Indian containers and mainline ship operators with 45 per cent of Colombo’s transhipment volumes either originating from or destined to an Adani port terminal in India. The network impact of this partnership is significant and expected to be mutually benefitted from the string of 7 container terminals across its 12 ports that Adani operates along the Indian coastline handling an annual volume of over 6 million TEUs. This partnership will multiply and accelerate the transhipment options that will become available to serve various shipping lines and other potential port customers across the …

project44 has announced that it has acquired Ocean Insights to expand its ocean solution by adding the broadest container tracking capabilities in the market, as well as one-of-a-kind sailing schedule and ocean analytics products; terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Combining Ocean Insights’ tracking and analytics with the project44 platform and ecosystem establishes project44 as the clear market leader with an unrivaled set of multi-modal solutions for end-to-end supply chain visibility. Surging global trade since the outset of the pandemic has resulted in massive disruptions in the global supply chain. Since March 2020, freight rates increased by as much as 174 per cent due to the increased global demand for electronics, PPE goods and stay-at-home consumer products. At the same time, COVID-19 and other restrictions have caused significant port congestions, and rollover percentages have never been higher. To meet these global challenges and build resilience, supply chain leaders are adopting global freight visibility and digitalisation. Headquartered in Germany and founded in 2012, Ocean Insights pioneered ocean freight visibility by combining carrier data, live vessel tracking and sailing schedule data in one data-rich platform. Tracking 350,000 containers daily, Ocean Insights provides track and trace functionality across the vast majority of shipping lines, 700 seaports, and more than 5,000 vessels as well as handling over five million sailing schedule changes per day. “Ocean freight is a linchpin for global supply chains. For organisations shipping internationally, the lack of ocean visibility can start a costly domino effect throughout the supply chain,” said Jett McCandless, Founder and CEO of project44. “Ocean Insights has dominated the container tracking space and we look forward to providing the industry not only the best ocean capabilities, but …

DP World and CMA CGM jointly received their maiden Block Train from Mundra, Gujarat to DP World PFT (ICD) Panipat, Haryana. This new service is the first block train by a shipping line between Mundra and Panipat. The fully loaded 90-TEU train was flagged off from Mundra port on February 27, 2021. The service was received in the presence of representatives from DP World and CMA CGM India. The dedicated connections between the Port of Mundra and the inland container depot of Panipat will provide dedicated and seamless connection from Mundra Port to PFT (ICD) Panipat, thereby, making customers’ cargo reach internal markets faster. With priority rail out option and fixed train schedule, customers will be able to minimise waiting time at the Port as well as plan their cargo movements effectively. Train will depart Mundra Port on Saturday/Sunday. Ranadhir Reddy, CEO, Rail & PFT, Subcontinent, DP World said, “At DP World, it is our constant endeavors to offer bespoke solutions to our customers to solve their supply chain challenges and support their strategic growth ambitions. Our pan India network provides seamless connectivity that helps customers connect their cargo to global markets as well as across India’s vast hinterland. Through our investments, we are committed to enhance India’s rail freight share and offer trade solutions using multimodal logistics.” Atit Mahajan, General Manager, CMA CGM India, declares, “We are pleased to be the first shipping line to offer a block train service between Mundra and Panipat in collaboration with DP World. This service is the 10th dedicated block train service being operated by the CMA CGM Group in India. This service will provide a dedicated and direct loop from port to …