A Few Little Shipping and Logistics Stories You May Not Yet Be Aware Of

UK – Lloyd's Register (LR) has reached an agreement to acquire Navico Group's C-MAP commercial marine business, which supplies commercial marine cartography and digital publications, shore-side and shipside voyage optimisation, cloud-based fleet management and fleet analytics software.

The acquisition will be integrated with the i4 Insight platform and builds on LR's vision of solving problems with integrated digital solutions with the aim of conquering the challenge of isolated and disconnected maritime systems. It follows recent partnership agreements between i4 Insight and other maritime players including Greensteam and Laros.

C-MAP’s commercial products and services have been part of the Navico Group, the world’s largest manufacturer of marine electronics, since 2016. The acquisition includes C-MAP’s charts and publications, route planning and fleet management, weather services, professional services, and marine hydrographic services.

UK – The UK P&I Club has launched ‘Global Crew Change Advice’, a comprehensive manual that outlines current challenges and issues regarding crew changes in ports throughout the world. An A-Z compendium of global ports, from Albania to Yemen, it is thought no other Club has such an exhaustive document.

The UK Club worked with over 200 of its correspondents’ global network to produce the easy to navigate 130 page document, which is structured to answer four basic questions covering the specifics of switching crews in each country. For enquiries regarding the Global Crew Change Advice manual, please contact Neil Beckwith, UK P&I Club Correspondents Manager at neil.beckwith@thomasmiller.com

BELGIUM – The new LNG bunker barge constructed by Kooiman Marine for natural gas group Fluxys and bunkering outfit Titan LNG will enter service at the Port of Antwerp and wider region from February 2021. Titan said this week it was confident it would make available liquefied biogas (from organic waste) or liquefied synthetic methane (from green hydrogen and captured CO₂) to LNG-powered vessels soon after the barge starts operations.

SWEDEN – The Port of Gothenburg is fighting the current deficit of empty containers for export cargo (at a time when the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) states the country’s export trade is booming) by launching an ‘Empty Container Initiative’ campaign.

With over half of Sweden’s box traffic passing through the port the container balance there is almost 50-50 between import and export. The pandemic has upset the fast turnaround balance and the new scheme, supported by a host of companies, aims to support container storage during the holiday seasons, from now to January. The possibilities vary depending on the prerequisites of the partner involved, but could include services like storage, inspections, and handling of empty containers.

AUSTRIA – CHINA – Gebrüder Weiss and the Chinese logistics company Global Freight System (GFS) have set up the joint venture ‘Gebrüder Weiss Express China’, specialising in parcel transports between China and Europe. Gebrüder Weiss holds 65% of the shares in the Shanghai-based joint venture.

Gebrüder Weiss operates branches and offices at 19 major transport hubs in the Greater China region, and also runs its own offices in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Georgia and Armenia. Gebrüder Weiss services on and along the Silk Road include air and sea freight, railway and multimodal transports and the booming ecommerce market has led to this latest move.

IRAQ – International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI) has announced that Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT) recorded a total of 1,768 moves on the Yang Ming Mutuality in 17.5 hours, achieving a berth productivity of 101 moves per hour, a record-breaking turnaround. Increased activity at the terminal in all sectors of its operations, container, multi-purpose, RoRo and heavy lift stems from its recently completed $250 million investment programme.

Parent company ICTSI put up the money which has seen multiple new berth developments at BGT East, offering a design depth of 14 meters alongside, served by five modern ship to shore cranes and enabling the handling of vessels of up to 14,000 TEU capacity, whilst the 600 metre berth at BGT East is supported on the landside by a fleet of 10 six high stacking rubber-tyred gantry cranes.

SOUTH AFRICA – DSV Panalpina will acquire Globeflight Worldwide Express, a South African based courier company. The acquisition includes all Globeflight’s operations in South Africa and Swaziland and boosts DSV Panalpina’s presence in the small express parcel courier sector. The transaction is expected to close in about three months subject to regulatory approvals. Until then Globeflight and DSV will conduct their businesses as usual and independently.

All three of DSV’s divisions: Air & Sea, Road and Solutions, will be moving into the flagship DSV Park, Gauteng near O.R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa in the New Year. Globeflight has more than 8,000 clients and delivers a wide range of items from educational supplies to IT and medical equipment. A fleet of 420 vehicles runs every day of the year, shipping nearly 330,000 deliveries in any given month.

AUSTRALIA – It seems likely that tug operations by Svitzer are having to be rescheduled due to protected industrial action by members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) at the ports of Geelong, Westernport and Melbourne. There will be bans on casual employees working in Geelong and Westernport for a rolling 24-hour period commencing at 12.01am from Friday 4 December, through to 12.01 am Thursday 10 December 2020.

Furthermore there are to be bans on breaks being taken away from the ordinary Svitzer tug berth. This ban will take place in Geelong, Westernport and Melbourne from 12.01 am Friday 4 December through to 11.59 pm Sunday 3 January 2021. Svitzer says it expects to be able continue to provide towage services during the period in question.

Photo: Basra Gateway Terminal (BGT).