Category Archives: Shipping

Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India flagged off the world’s first double-stack long-haul container train virtually, while inaugurating the Rewari-Madar leg of the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The dedicated freight corridor will aid India’s rapid progress and enhance growth in all areas since modern rail infrastructure offers a basis for employment in all sectors across states, said Modi.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has become the first carrier to provide in-house liquid cargo solutions, directly supplying and fitting flexibags for customers worldwide. According to an official company statement, “MSC experts fit carefully selected flexibags at its depots prior to cargo pick-up, which removes the requirement for haulage to third-party fitting locations, reducing road miles, saving time and money, and helping customers to meet their sustainability needs. MSC liquid cargo solutions are already available at depot facilities in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas,” The statement added that MSC works with dedicated suppliers of high-quality flexibags and with its customers to ensure each flexibag is tailored, selecting the right size and specifications according to the cargo’s needs. The statement added, “Flexibags allow customers to fill dry containers with up to 24,000 litres of non-hazardous liquid cargo—such as edible oils, wine, petroleum products, and chemicals—offering a safe and cost-effective alternative to other liquid bulk transportation methods, with less packaging than conventional ISO tanks.”

RightShip announced a new tie-up for its recently launched Maritime Emissions Portal (MEP) with port data-sharing platform, NxtPort International (NxtPort Int’l), a marketplace for port communities, that originated in the Port of Antwerp, and deploys to 3000+ public and private entities, says an official release. With the new arrangement, port communities around the world will be introduced to RightShip’s MEP. It’s the first in a suite of products designed to support ports and terminals to better understand and manage ship-based emissions within set zones around their local geography. Gurpreet Singh, CCO for RightShip, said in a statement, “Nxtport Int’l brings wonderful experience and understanding of the port business, curating products with high impact potential for ports and terminals. We are pleased to see them place their trust in MEP for emissions reduction, by highlighting this product to their customers. We’re confident that we’ll support many new customers to embark on a journey to zero harm in the maritime industry.” Alexander Dorhout Mees, CCO for NxtPort Int’l, said, “We hope that this partnership with RightShip will not only attract organisations who want to use the Maritime Emissions Portal in its current form, but also lead to new partners coming forward who might be able to offer data and collaborate with MEP.”

Maersk has completed the acquisition of global freight forwarding company, Senator International. According to a company statement, “Senator brings with it a strong organisation and a well-developed airfreight network comprising own controlled flights and long-term partnerships with best-in-class airlines, a well-established full container load (FCL) and less than container load (LCL) network and specialised services such packaging, warehousing and distribution across five continents.” The acquisition will enable Maersk to offer an even wider range of products and the ability to provide flexible and integrated logistics solutions to customers, allowing them to speed up or slow down cargo depending on their changing supply chain needs, the statement added. Vincent Clerc, CEO of Ocean & Logistics, A.P. Moller-Maersk said, “We are delighted to welcome the Senator team to our Maersk family. As a global provider of integrated logistics, we are improving our ability to provide end-to-end solutions to our customers. With Senator on board, we are ramping up our air freight capacity, network, and know-how significantly to cater even better for our customers.”

Port-led development in the country has taken place under Sagarmala project in a big way, said Sarbananda Sonowal, Union Minister for Port and Shipping, while addressing the media recently. Sonowal added that the project will be the growth engine for the ports, especially major ports in the country. The project was taken up for fast development in the country. The minister said the government has spent Rs 99,000 crore for the project and took up 215 projects under Sagarmala. He said the projects are likely to be completed by 2035. “All the major ports have been performing well and the cargo handling has reached to 105 million tonnes at present, Modernization had been taken up in all the major ports and using latest technology to provide best facilities for the port users,” Sonowal said.

According to a recent survey titled xChange Industry Pulse Survey released by the Container xChange, a marketplace and technology infrastructure provider for container logistics companies, 51 per cent of freight forwarders, traders and shippers expect chaos in the coming peak season in summer as compared to that in 2021. The survey found that this year’s summer peak season cargo surge will be worse, exceeding the disruptions caused in the peak season of 2021. Twenty-six per cent predicted this year’s peak season would be less chaotic than in 2021, while 22 per cent expected the level of chaos to be the same, stated the survey.

In line with the objective of Port-led industrialization, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Authority (JNPA) organized ‘JNPA SEZ Investor Conclave 2022’ in association with the CII in Mumbai on 27 May 2022, to propose ample opportunities to investors to invest in the India’s growth story and be a part of country’s growing port-led economy. This multi-product SEZ project is being developed on 277.38 hectares of freehold land by JN port, incorporating the Land Use Plan of the Port. This industrial hub is India’s first port-based multi-product operational SEZ. Sanjay Sethi, chairman, JNPA, said, “JNPA is set to strengthen its growth aspects in the port-led business with this SEZ project that offers varied facilities from single-window clearances to multi-modal connectivity and state of the art infrastructure, making it an ideal choice to establish businesses and boost export-oriented industries in India.”

To focus on the development of ship-to-shore infrastructure at Singapore’s only multi-purpose cargo port, Jurong Port, Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) infrastructure developer and operator of drone delivery services, Skyports, and Jurong Port have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). It is a vital step forward in the development of large-scale drone delivery operations in Singapore. The MoU will highlight Skyports’ global experience in developing take-off and landing infrastructure for cargo drone deliveries to probe how drone delivery technology may be incorporated into Singapore’s Jurong Port’s existing logistics and cargo ops.

Enabling an easy access to the key markets between Southern Africa and the Middle East via Maputo, DP World’s Unifeeder, part of DP World’s Marine Services, launched a new fortnightly direct service at the Mundra terminal. It will establish a direct connectivity from Mundra to Maputo and Jebel Ali. According to an official release, “This new service will help reduce the congestion and challenges faced by the supply chain sectors in Southern Africa by providing lower transit time, easy access and enhanced connectivity with major Middle East, and Indian Subcontinent ports via Jebel Ali thereby improving lead time and reducing cost.” The new fortnightly interconnected service commenced on 7 May 2022, with the maiden call of vessel ‘OCEANA’ at DP World Mundra.

To boost global maritime transport, Singtel launches iSHIP, an all-in-one platform providing critical satellite-enabled connectivity and digital services for the maritime industry. iSHIP’s integrated services for fleet management gives ship operators great visibility and flexibility of their resources and operations and enables better vessel safety and operational efficiency. Ooi Seng Keat, VP, Carrier Services, Over-the-Top & Satellite, Group Enterprise, Singtel said, “Seas are our mode of global trade and transport. But the COVID-19 has thrown global supply chains and shipping operations in a disarray, driving crews accustomed to traditional or manual processing methods to navigate digital resources and applications. iSHIP has been designed to redress these particular challenges and give a solution for shipping firms that are giving pace to digital adoption and have decarbonisation and crew welfare high on their agenda.”