A Mixed Bag of News Items from the Logistics Sector This Week

GIBRALTAR – The second ever biennial Maritime Week Gibraltar highlighting the efficiency and security of the Port will be held from 8 - 12th November. Maritime Week Gibraltar 2021 is an informative, multi-format interactive event, designed to showcase the many shipping, port and maritime services offered in Gibraltar to a wider international audience.

Events include a full day bunker training course, a half day ship and yacht registry course and a VIP bunkering round table, a Flagship Conference and practical visits to various maritime sites of interest to see in person the hardware on display or in use and/or a lecture or seminar to delve deeper into each subject, plus a reception on board the luxurious 5* superyacht hotel Sunborn Gibraltar and an official visit to at least one Royal Navy vessel. Register HERE.

US – EUROPE – NYSHEX, whose ocean carrier members include CMA CGM, Maersk, ONE, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM and COSCO, and is dedicated to building a shipper and freight forwarder carrier trust with enforceable two way contracts, is due to enter the European market and has appointed Jeremy Haycock, who has worked previously for such as Maersk and Damco, as NYSHEX Managing Director in Europe. He commented:

“This is an ideal time to enter the European market to expand the value of NYSHEX 2-way commitment ocean contracts managed and tracked by a neutral party with fair and common standard rules.”

UK – Last week’s assurance from the government that Masters and crews of merchant ships will not be criminalised for rescuing distressed persons at sea and bringing them ashore in the UK was warmly welcomed by the maritime community. Including the UK Chamber of Shipping and union Nautilus International.

The announcement came after the proposed Nationality and Borders Bill raised concerns regarding obligations under international maritime law to protect lives at sea. The government letter stated the Bill does not seek to punish humanitarian actions and that the Government recognises and welcomes the desire of individuals and community groups to help. Its target is the ruthless criminal gangs who put lives at risk by smuggling people across the Channel.

UK – Logistics UK has announced that its Van Operational Briefings 2021 will now be free to attend, to ensure as many operators as possible have access to the crucial information they need to ensure their vans are operated in a safe, efficient and compliant manner. With a month to go, the briefings will provide the latest information on compliance and operating standards, and will share vital insights into driver welfare, alternative fuels, navigating changed road space and operators’ obligations regarding vehicle safety defects and recalls.

Taking place at venues in Manchester on 14 September 2021, and Beaconsfield on 16 September 2021, the briefings are sponsored by Logistics UK’s Van Gold Partners: the AA, Bott Ltd, Brigade Electronics, Hertz, Lex Autolease. With spaces for the event being booked fast, secure your place by booking HERE.

UK – DPD UK is to acquire CitySprint, subject to approval by the Competition and Markets Authority. CitySprint has over thirty service facilities in the UK and claims to be able to reach 88% of the mainland within an hour. For its part DPD UK is in the stable of the DPD group which claims to be Europe's largest parcel delivery network.

SWEDEN – Start up drone outfit Aerit has received operational authorisation from Transportstyrelsen, the country’s national transportation agency, to pilot last-mile drone delivery in Sweden. This is made possible by the Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) process provided by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) that came into effect in January, 2021.

An LUC, or light UAS operator certificate, enables drone operators to self-authorise operations across the European Union without applying for further operational authorisation and Aerit’s Nimbi model is capable of autonomous pick-up and delivery requiring no additional infrastructure for senders or receivers. The drone however only has a maximum payload of 4 kilogrammes.

SWEDEN – A 9.6% jump in volumes so far this year at the Port of Kapellskär, Ports of Stockholm's biggest freight port was described as ‘incredibly pleasing’ by Nicklas Ebersson, Marketing Manager Cargo, at Ports of Stockholm. Finnlink, Ports of Stockholm's largest freight customer, also represents the largest proportional rise in freight volumes. However, Tallink Silja, DFDS and Viking Line freight volumes have also increased.

The totals transported mean that leap occurred in the first seven months of the year with around two million tonnes of freight shifted. The Port of Kapellskär currently handles 50% of Ports of Stockholm's ferry freight to and from Finland and Estonia. In combined length measurement, 3.5 million metres of goods are transported via the port each year.

NORWAY – WORLDWIDE - Kongsberg Maritime, which delivers systems for positioning, surveying, navigation, and automation to merchant vessels and offshore installations, has entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the Nippon Foundation-GEBCO Seabed 2030 Project in support of the global initiative to produce the complete map of the ocean floor.

Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project with the aim of entering all bathymetric data into the freely available GEBCO Ocean Map. GEBCO is a joint project of the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) and the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC)

ARGENTINA – BRAZIL – ASIA – TecPlata, the port terminal in the greater Buenos Aires developed by International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) in 2008 is collaborating with the Port of Santa Fe to commence a new feeder service to connect with Brazil and Asia.

An agreement to establish the service that would make a minimum of two calls per month using 500-TEU barges operated by Newport Management has been signed. Export cargo from the Container and General Cargo Terminal at the Port of Santa Fe will be transported by barge to TecPlata from where it will connect to an existing regional shipping network to Brazil. Cargo destined for Asia will then be transhipped from the Port of Santos in São Paulo through the service operated by Evergreen.

ABU DHABI – Etihad Rail has signed a partnership agreement with Al Ghurair Iron & Steel (AGIS), the UAE’s largest producer of galvanised and cold rolled flat steel, to use the UAE National Rail Network to transport the steel producer’s product across the nation.

Etihad Rail says it will be providing efficient and sustainable services by transporting steel products from AGIS’s manufacturing facilities through the rail freight terminal in the Industrial City of Abu Dhabi (ICAD) to Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi and Jebel Ali in Dubai for exports.

Photo: The Sunborn Gibraltar