Shipping Search - Archive

New Technology Cuts Response time in Case of Accidents

SWEDEN – An autonomous vessel tasked with solely with the purpose of deploying containment booms in the event of an oil spill has been introduced at the Port of Gothenburg. In order to ensure a more rapid and safer response to oil spill clearance at the largest energy port in the Nordic region, the Port of Gothenburg has invested SEK 3.5 million in the GPS-controlled temporary floating barrier, which has been developed by disaster management and environmental protection firm SP Marine.

Another Antitrust Settlement in a Case Seemingly Without End

US – WORLDWIDE – Eva Airways Corporation (EVA) has entered in to a settlement agreement in the multidistrict class actions (Air Cargo Shipping Services Antitrust Litigation, 06-MD-1775 (JG) VVP) against air cargo carriers currently underway in New York. Subject to court approval, Eva Airways will pay $99 million to settle allegations that it colluded with several competitors to fix inflated surcharges on air freight shipping services to and from the US, effectively acting as a cartel.

Software System Designed to Optimise Loads

UK – IRELAND – Timed to coincide with this week’s Multimodal exhibition, eight prominent road haulage companies, together responsible for operating over 1,000 trailers out of 25 depots across Britain and the Republic of Ireland, have launched a new logistics company dedicated to supplying high cube equipment to shippers. Six member companies are high cube specialists, meaning they operate longer, taller trailers, including some with 30 pallet capacity, which reduce the cost of distributing high-volume, low-weight goods such as cereals, paper tissue or plastic containers.

A Greener Supply Chain Requires More Effort and Investment

UK – This week saw the start of another successful Multimodal exhibition at Birmingham’s NEC and one of the hot topics was, as ever, the slow transition of freight, currently borne by road haulage vehicles, onto the railway tracks. A seminar conducted at the 2015 event heard that freight trains are now carrying more intermodal traffic, mainly fast-moving consumer goods (FMGCs), around the UK than coal. However more work is needed if rail operators are to wean more customers off road transport and ‘green up’ the supply chain.

Forwarders Network Played a Significant Part in Company's Success

NIGERIA – With the result of the recent election seeming to have been welcomed generally, the future for the country looks bright. One group certainly celebrating is logistics specialist Creseada International which sees its 30th anniversary delivering freight and supply chain services to its customers. Founded in 1985 by Mike Ayinde, the company is based in Lagos with over 7,000 square metres of facilities near Murtala Muhammed International Airport (LOS), including seven warehouses, one of which is bonded, plus an office in Apapa dedicated to ocean freight.

Review of Services Whilst Insurers Consider Ramifications

WORLDWIDE – With sixteen of the world's biggest shipping company’s tied up in the four mega-alliances, the European Shippers’ Council (ESC) has announced that it is launching a global review of the container liner shipping market as a result of the growing concerns among manufacturers, retailers, and wholesalers of the long term threats of a concentrated box freight industry through these agreements. Representing this range of logistics interests, the ESC has remained cautious of the raft of new alliances and cooperation agreements and, together with the recent race to construct ever larger ships, the Council is worried that there will be fewer options for transporting products overseas.

Sell Off to Include Some Exotic - but Remote, Harbours

CANADA – The Canadian Ministry of Transport has announced plans to facilitate the transfer of 50 government owned port facilities to local interests. Since 1996, through its previous Port Divestiture Program, the Government of Canada has divested 499 ports, which has apparently resulted in savings to Canadian taxpayers of over C$470 million.

Q1 Profits Up for First Qatari Company

QATAR – The name Milaha will be unfamiliar to many readers but the group encapsulates many subsidiaries relevant to the world of freight transport. In fact the company was established in July 1957 as the first public shareholding company registered in Qatar and holds commercial registration no. 1. Milaha’s current activities include marine transportation in gas, petroleum products, containers and bulk; offshore support services; port management and operations; logistics services; shipyard; trading agencies; real estate investments and asset management.

Italian Company Selects Bigger and More Environmentally Friendly Vessels

ITALY – KOREA  – VIETNAM  – Product tanker specialist d’Amico International Shipping S.A. (DIS) has announced the purchase of two new ships via its Irish subsidiary which has entered into an agreement for the construction and sale of two new Long Range (LR1 – 75,000 DWT) modern product tankers with Hyundai MIPO Dockyard Co. Ltd., Korea in the amount of around $44 million per vessel. Product tankers generally carry bulk freight in the form of oil refinery produce.

Platooning System Links Vehicles in Tandem to Avoid Collisions and Save Fuel

US – Volvo has announced that one of its subsidiaries, Volvo Group Venture Capital, has invested in Peloton Technology, a developer of vehicle technologies that deliver safety and fuel savings to fleets in the trucking industry. Peloton’s truck platooning, or convoy, system is an integrated safety, efficiency and analytics platform that builds on advanced safety technologies such as collision mitigation and adaptive cruise control systems. The Peloton system electronically couples road haulage trucks through a combination of vehicle-to-vehicle communications, radar-based active braking systems and proprietary vehicle control algorithms. The result is enhanced collision avoidance capabilities and increased fuel efficiency for the front and rear trucks in a two-truck platoon.

Azerbaijan Capital Now Has Two Rotations Weekly

SWITZERLAND – LUXEMBOURG – CHINA – AZERBAIJAN – Swiss third party logistics group Panalpina has added calls to its scheduled charter flights which are operated by Silk Way West Airlines and fly between Luxembourg and Shanghai to stop off in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, four times per week. Up to now Panalpina has offered a midweek scheduled charter from Luxembourg to Shanghai via Baku and back, however, the company has now introduced a second rotation at the weekend, as well.

FLTA Initiative Uses Online Self Help Programme to Save Lives

UK – Fork lifts, no matter how well maintained they are, will always have the potential to cause injuries and even deaths, something which all users should be constantly aware of. Now Britain’s leading authority on their use is spearheading a nationwide drive to improve safety at every site that uses fork lift trucks, be it single truck or a fleet comprising many hundreds. The Fork Lift Truck Association’s (FLTA) ‘Safer Site Programme’ was set up last year as a free, online, step-by-step safety programme that anyone can implement.

Middle Eastern Ocean Freight Options to be Expanded

OMAN – Speaking at the GCC Supply Chain & Logistics Conference 2015 held in Muscat earlier this month, Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH) Group Managing Director Eric Ip outlined his company’s vision for the Oman International Container Terminal (OICT) which sits inside the northern Port of Sohar, adjacent to the Straits of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman, approximately 200 km from Muscat and 160 km from Dubai. OICT is a joint venture between HPH and the Government of the Sultanate of Oman, Steinweg of the Netherlands together with a number of other Omani investors and the facility is seemingly the subject of ambitious plans.

Against the Trend for Ever Larger Vessels Come Four New 3,500 + Box Ships

NETHERLANDS – WEST AFRICA – Rotterdam headquartered NileDutch, a container shipping line specialising in West African traffic has just named the latest addition to its fleet, the 3,510 TEU NileDutch Antwerpen, its third newbuild vessel in a series. The naming ceremony was attended by representatives of the embassies in Belgium of Angola, Congo, Gabon and the Netherlands, the port authorities, and customers and business partners of the box carrier. NileDutch is expanding its fleet with four custom-designed container vessels to offer an improved service to key markets in West Africa.

Paper Counterparts to be Made Redundant

UK – As the country approaches a General Election there has been one policy of the current government which has stayed fairly low profile, but which has had effects in many areas, one of which makes a small difference to those engaged in the road haulage industry.

New Livery Gives Huge Economic Advantages

RUSSIA – WORLDWIDE – In the past few years we have seen strenuous efforts by the ocean shipping community to reduce pollution, principally by cutting fuel use. Aircraft are still referred to generally by nautical terms, cabin pressure, galley, rudder even the hull, but whilst much of the savings made have been through slow steaming an aeroplane cannot generally make the same inroads into fuel use without falling from the sky. Now one freight carrier estimates it can save up to $100,000 per year, simply by repainting an aircraft.

Vacuum Technology Eliminates the Need for Mooring Lines

SOUTH AFRICA – Having received the last of twenty six mooring units during March the automated mooring system (AMS) at the Port of Ngqura on South Africa’s east coast is poised to herald in a safer and more efficient era for operations at one of the leading freight transhipment hubs in the region. The units, supplied by Cavotec, use remote controlled vacuum pads recessed in, or mounted on the quayside, to moor and release vessels in seconds, eliminating the use of mooring lines.

Regular Weekly Schedule with Targeted Timescale to Service Local Industry

POLAND – BELARUS – Minsk, the capital of Belarus, is a commercially important centre, being both the country’s largest city and the administrative centre of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and as such, is now being targeted by freight forwarding and logistics group Kuehne + Nagel which has opened a weekly, door to door groupage service from its Warsaw cargo hub.

All the Industry Appointments and Departures This Week

NETHERLANDS – Freight forwarder and third party logistics operator Ceva has confirmed that Chief Operating Officer and member of the Executive Board, Michael Schaecher is to leave the company after less than a year. During his short time with Ceva, Schaecher accepted more responsibility, incorporating the Ocean Freight business into his job role after the sector’s last COO, Dominik Tichelkamp left in November 2014 after a three year stint. No reason was given for the latest decision.

State Group Owns Specialist Cargo and Container Transport Subsidiaries

CHINA – Far East headquartered freight forwarding group, Kerry Logistics has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chinese state owned rail operator’s international trade focused business, which will see Kerry Logistics integrate its established presence in Southeast Asia with China Railway’s extensive domestic and growing international railway network, in order to take full advantage of the new opportunities from the country’s development strategy. The China Railway group includes at least three subsidiary companies dedicated to the carriage of intermodal freight: China Railway Special Cargo Service Co., China Railway Express and China Railway Container Transport Ltd.

Somalian Pirates Quiet But Other Countries Now Breed Their Own Hijackers

WORLDWIDE – After a steady drop in global piracy over the last few years, attacks rose 10% in the first quarter of 2015 against the same period of 2014, according to a report by the International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB PRC). A total of 54 incidents of piracy and armed robbery against ships around the world have been reported to the in the first three months of 2015, a mark-up from the 49 reports it received in Q1 2014. Most attacks are against tankers and other freight carriers as well as fishing vessels. A far more alarming figure the IMB PRC reported is that pirates have taken 140 people hostage in this short period, three times as many as during the same period the previous year and the highest number since 2012 when incidents off the coast of Somalia started to tail off.

GSF and BIMCO Publish Standard Box Freight Document

WORLDWIDE – The Global Shippers Forum (GSF), the NGO inaugurated in the UK four years ago but which represents international shipping organisations around the globe, has joined forces with the Baltic International Maritime Council Organisation (BIMCO), also an NGO which includes thousands of shipowners and operators worldwide in its membership, to launch the BIMCO/GSF SERVICECON container shipping contract. The contract details were announced at the 2015 Containerisation International Conference in Hamburg on April 22 and provide the world’s first standardised contract terms and conditions for use in container shipping markets worldwide.

Online Materials Handling Customers Can Directly Search for Services from Narrow Aisle Group

UK – It seems one website was simply insufficient for articulated fork lift truck manufacturer Flexi Narrow Aisle which has launched three separate online portals to individualise the different aspects of the company’s offerings, namely materials handling solutions, short term truck rental options and training services. Sometimes the range of products presented in one main website can offer a bewildering route to what the customer is searching for, now supply chain clients can target their needs directly, making the whole process easier.

45 Year Anniversary of Global Environmental Event

US – WORLDWIDE – When the extravagantly named Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin called for a national day of education about threats to the purity of the air, land and water in America having recognised a growing threat to public health, he probably never envisaged that 45 years later the movement he unwittingly started would be of ever greater international significance. With April 22 marking the anniversary of Earth Day the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is keen to point out the steps being taken in a bid to cut emissions, particularly from cars and road haulage trucks.

Queen's Award for Suffolk Firm as Haulier Collapses

UK – Good and bad news for companies in Suffolk this month with Felixstowe based Seafast Logistics collecting a highly prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the field of International Trade for the growth in overseas earnings the company has achieved recently, whilst near neighbours Deben Transport, a specialist container road haulage group, finally folded with the loss of around 250 jobs.

Partnership of Pair Set To Dominate the Industry

WORLDWIDE – Two of the giants of the salvage industry are to join forces next month after the US group Crowley Maritime Corporation and Danish headquartered Svitzer agreed to merge their respective subsidiaries, Titan Salvage and Svitzer Salvage, as one company to be called ‘Ardent’. The two companies have differing skills and areas of expertise with Svitzer renowned for its rapid response towage capabilities and as a loss mitigation partner for the marine industry, whilst Titan is well known for wreck removal operations such as the recent raising of the Costa Concordia.

Innovative Design and New Technologies Render a Feasible Alternative

DENMARK – FAROE ISLES – The marine engineering group Knud E Hansen A/S specialises in innovative design, attempting to combine cutting edge technologies into a vessel which will be practical in use in what can be a most testing environment. The company’s latest project, although not the largest, will introduce a freight and passenger ferry capable of making an entire voyage entirely on electric power. The new ferry will replace the 40 metre RoPax ferry which is currently servicing the islands of Nolsoy and Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands.

A Short Move but With Big Plans for Manchester Based Logistics Group

UK – Project freight forwarding specialist Tuscor Lloyds has spent over 20 years perfecting shipping methods across the globe, but this week saw the company navigate its own move to new headquarters in Manchester. Transferring from the old Trafford Park HQ to Cobra Court in Stretford may only be a couple of miles but the relocation comes after months of creative planning to shape a modern and unique environment for the expanding business which handles classic ‘bread and butter’ FCL and consolidated cargo shipments and logistics with its more exotic out of gauge traffic.

Multimodal Group Links Up With Tilbury

UK – SPAIN – The Port of Pasaia (Pasajes) is little known in the UK but is in fact the second most important such facility in the Basque country. As from this month there will be a brand new regular container service route between the Spanish port and the London Container Terminal (LCT) based within Tilbury docks. The new service will start on 23rd April, Saint George’s Day with a weekly rotation of Pasaia, Tilbury, Antwerp, Pasaia and the route will be operated by JSV Logistic and handle a variety of freight.

Stick That in Your Pipe

UK – Mole Solutions has been awarded a £98,496 grant by the UK government’s innovation agency, Innovate UK, for an urban freight transport solution aimed at reducing the level of road haulage operations within urban areas by using freight pipelines instead to carry goods in capsules, each capable of carrying two full sized pallets, in order to link edge of town consolidation centres with strategically placed inner town nodal points, travelling via maglev technology.

After a Change of Livery and Uniform Comes a New Service

UK – MALTA –Sheldon Clayton has opened a new door to door road haulage service between the UK and Malta as from this month. It has been a busy time for the West Bromwich based freight forwarding and logistics group which has just completed a rebranding of its vehicle fleet and now dressed its delivery and warehouse personnel in brand new set of uniforms even down to their work boots prior to expanding its service offerings.

Many Personnel Changes in the Global Shipping Community

WORLDWIDE – The weekly round-up of staff changes in the freight and logistics world starts with an announcement of several senior management moves around the world at container shipping line MOL. Executive Vice President of Transpacific trade management in MOL Liner Richard Hiller, has been appointed to the newly created role of Chief of Commercial at MOL Liner, as well as Deputy Managing Director at MOL Asia and General Manager of Sales and Customer Service to assist Managing Director, Mitsujiro Akasaka of MOL Asia. Based in Hong Kong, Hiller will report to Yutaka Hinooka, Chief Operation Officer of MOL Liner and the aforementioned Akasaka.

Latest Tranche Brings Number of RTGs to Twenty

FINLAND – SPAIN – With most companies repeat business, rather than new, is often the lifeblood of a successful firm and when dealing with major engineering pieces, with a limited world market and each order necessitating a huge budget, keeping existing customers happy is of paramount importance. With the news that crane builder Konecranes is to deliver its sixth tranche of rubber tyred gantry cranes (RTG’s) to TCV Stevedoring which operates in the Port of Valencia as a subsidiary of Grup Maritim TCV which handles in excess of three million shipping containers (TEU) annually, it seems all is well in their relationship.

New Scheme from Fuel Card Provider to Simplify European Road Charging

EUROPE – International Diesel Service (IDS), a Kuwait Petroleum subsidiary, has teamed up with Italian headquartered Plose, itself a part of 360 Payment Solutions, which produces equipment and solutions for the payment of tolls and taxes charged when using European roads, highways, tunnels and bridges, for an innovative scheme to assist road haulage outfits with the electronic payment of toll charges at any of IDS’s 600 filling stations which are strewn across the continent.

Ocean Cargo Environmental Footprint is Smaller but Elsewhere All is Not Well

WORLDWIDE – As one of the most respected names in the field of transport analysis, a sector where many strive, often unsuccessfully, to analyse and predict past and future trends, this month’s Logistics Executive Briefing for Importers and Exporters from Drewry Supply Chain Advisors on emissions from the global container fleet has deeply impressed the World Shipping Council (WSC), the liner shipping association which represents around 90% of the ocean freight carriers.

Renewable Energy Installation can Control a Variety of On Board Systems

JAPAN – WORLDWIDE – Maritime technology company, Eco Marine Power (EMP) has announced that it has received acceptance from classification society ClassNK for the installation of its Aquarius Marine Solar Power solution on classed vessels, which EMP says will bring to the shipping market a renewable energy solution that can be integrated with other systems on-board freight and passenger ships. Greg Atkinson, Chief Technology Officer of EMP explained, saying:

Wreck Owners Now Responsible for Clean Up by Law

WORLDWIDE – The Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks entered into force on 14 April 2015 having been adopted by an International Maritime Organization (IMO) conference held in Kenya in 2007. The Convention places strict liability on the owners of vessels, including freight and passenger carriers, for locating, marking and removing wrecks deemed to be a hazard and makes State certification of insurance, or other form of financial security for such liability, compulsory for ships of 300 gross tonnes and above. It also provides States Parties with a right of direct action against insurers.

US Speakers Show a Protectionist Attitude Envisioning War at Any Time

US – Nothing more clearly illustrates the conflicting views which Americans hold on the subject of the Jones Act, or more properly the Merchant Marine Act, the legislation drawn up in 1920 in the aftermath of the Great War to ensure the nation’s maritime security, than the latest statement from a four star general speaking at a recent discussion in Washington DC. Those against preserving the Act see it as an expensive hindrance to the domestic freight trade, stifling competition and elevating cargo rates to astronomical levels against similar container feeder, inland waterway and short sea operations elsewhere.

Tank Logistics Firm Snaps Up Established Cargo Consolidator

ITALY – Ceva Logistics, the freight forwarding and 3PL supply chain provider, has sold its interest in international groupage subsidiary Spedizioni Internazionali Trasporti Terrestri Aerei e Marittimi Srl (Sittam to a subsidiary of Gruppo PIR, La Petrolifera Italo Rumena SpA for an as yet undisclosed sum. Sittam is a long established consolidator which began life in 1960 as primarily a rail cargo carrier into neighbouring countries but expanded through the 1970’s to hold a prominent place with groupage trailer services servicing the whole of the EU as it then was.

Two Sets of Figures from US Groups Make Interesting Contrast

US – Two sets of first quarter figures from prominent US based freight carriers this week demonstrate different trends. CSX, which operates intermodal services, spreads traffic mostly across rail and road haulage sectors, utilising containers and bulk cargo through its contract logistics offerings. By contrast Genesee & Wyoming (G&W) is a short haul, railway operator with a traffic spread across North America, Australia and Europe.

Book Trade Has Provided Rich Pickings in New York for Essex Based Agency

US – UK – The Essex headquartered Woodland Group is firmly established in the American book shipping trade, and in fact claims to export more books from the US than any other freight forwarder having been established in the business for over twenty years. The provision of specialist logistics services to the print and publishing sector has proved a rich niche market for the company which now operates out of US offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles as well as New York where the group has just moved to larger premises.

Union and Shipping Group Negotiate Another Hundred Staff Off Controversial Contracts

UK – As it made very clear with a submission to the BIS Consultation on Zero-Hours Employment Contracts in March last year the RMT Union is unsurprisingly set against zero hours contracts for any employees, particularly those engaged in the rail and maritime offshore sectors where many of its 80,000 members are employed. Now, in cooperation with P&O Ferries the union’s Dover branch has secured 100 full time contracts for P&O on board service ratings working on the short sea RoRo freight and passenger route between Dover and Calais.

Aim is to Simplify and Unify Train Controls

EUROPE – Several European countries will benefit from the latest tranche of investments announced by the EU as part of the TEN-T Programme which will assist in the development of freight and passenger rail borne services. The installation of the common European Train Control System (ETCS) is anticipated to improve the interoperability, safety, reliability and capacity on European railways and Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark and the UK are all scheduled to benefit.

FTA Honours those Firms with Outstanding Roadworthiness Records

UK – Any company with a road haulage operator’s licence will know that the demands of keeping control of truck servicing and safety checks, tachometer and drivers licensing and CPC documentation is ever more complex as the years roll by. This week at the CV Show the Freight Transport Association (FTA) has recognised the excellent work of several of its members, highlighting their high standards of maintaining both vehicles and trailers; their exemplary maintenance systems; their methods of controlling driver related defects, and has presented them with FTA Roadworthiness Awards.

New York to Helsinki Opens Gateway to Russia

US – FINLAND – Ocean freight consolidator and NVOCC CaroTrans has announced a new LCL service between New York and Helsinki this week with the intention of increasing penetration into the North Western Russian market. The company says this routing eliminates transhipment costs and delays associated with freight moving via adjacent ports in Northern Europe. The service is offered in partnership with Swedish headquartered freight and logistics group Nordicon, long term partner of CaroTrans in Scandinavia.

Impatience Blamed for Latest Incident as TGV Near Miss Televised

FRANCE – UK – Following the recent death of royal designer Moira Gemmill in London, killed by a tipper truck whilst cycling to work, it seems across the Channel there are concerns in a nation for which riding a bike is tantamount to a religion. The French national railway SNCF, has made an official complaint with the police, against several cyclists that deliberately crossed a level crossing during the one day cycle road race, the Paris-Roubaix, after the safety barrier had closed and just seconds before a high-speed train hurtled across and whilst live television covered the incident.

Repeat Business for One Supplier Whilst Another Clocks Up 35 Years of Cooperation

UK – Materials handling news this week includes a major milestone for a well known Scottish plant hire group whilst, south of the border, a major pallet supplier has opted to stay with its current fork truck provider for another five years. Kettering headquartered Fox Pallets has been established for over 50 years and, in that time, has expanded operations from wooden pallet supply to encompass different fields, dealing in pallets of all types and materials as well venturing into waste management.

Changes to Island Services and Improved Reefer Options

US – CARIBBEAN – Container shipping line CMA CGM has upgraded two of its freight services between the US and the Caribbean region with changes to its Gulfbridge and Hispaniola offerings. The group says that whilst the Gulfbridge service joining the United States, Mexico, the Caribbean islands and South America North Coast is improved, the Hispaniola feeder service ensures that small Caribbean islands coverage is optimised.

Tender Process Sees Finnish/Japanese Cooperation Win Contract

TAIWAN – FINLAND – JAPAN – WORLDWIDE – As container ships grow ever larger, seemingly month by month, so the demands on the planning, monitoring and optimisation of the vessels operations become ever more complex. Now Evergreen Line, which for international marketing purposes combines five Evergreen companies under one banner, has commenced installation of ClassNK-NAPA GREEN software on its chartered container vessels to meet the demands of modern box carriers.

Approval for Indianapolis to Louisville Link

US – Short line railroad holding company Anacostia Rail Holdings (ARH) and intermodal freight group CSX have announced that the US Surface Transportation Board has approved a joint proposal by ARH's subsidiary, Louisville & Indiana Railroad (L&I), and CSX to upgrade a key freight corridor between Indianapolis, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky. L&I was created in 1994 specifically to operate services on the 106 mile corridor formerly owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad. The line now links services for CSX, Indiana Railroad, Norfolk Southern and the Paducah & Louisville railways.

Environmental Protection Agency Check Turns Up Poor Quality Machines

US – The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced a settlement with four Texas-based recreational vehicle importers and an affiliated Chinese vehicle manufacturer, for the illegal import and sale of around 4,076 uncertified off-road recreational vehicles sold under the brand name Hammerhead between 2007 and 2011. Rogue imports of vehicles lacking proper emissions controls are blamed for harmful health effects like respiratory illnesses from the reduction of oxygen delivery to tissues and organs, visual impairment, chest pain, coughing, throat irritation, and congestion, and can exacerbate bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma.

Norwegian Report Looks Into the Future

NORWAY – WORLDWIDE – As owners of the worlds sixth largest shipping fleet measured by market value, the aspirations and opinions of Norwegian ship operators is always worth attention. This week the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association has published its Outlook report for 2015 yet, despite that fact the country’s freight carrying tonnage has trebled in the past decade, the opinion for the next twelve months is less optimistic than last year regarding both turnover and profitability.

Worldwide Staff Changes Concerning the Shipping Industry

WORLDWIDE – The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has named the six nominee for the position of Secretary General, to succeed Koji Sekimizu who announced last year his decision to not stand for re-election. The candidates for the role are: Andreas Chrysostomou of Cyprus, Vitaly Klyuev of Russia, Ki-tack Lim of South Korea, Dr. Maximo Mejia Jr of the Philippines, Andreas Nordseth of Denmark, and Juvenal Shiundu of Kenya. Elections will be held at the 114th session of the IMO Council which meets from June 29 to July 3. The successful candidate will lead the IMO from 2016.

At Least Three Ships Detained by Authorities

UKRAINE – TURKEY – CRIMEA – There has been no further news about the Tuvalu flagged general cargo vessel, the Kanton, or her captain and crew since the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of Ukraine arrested the vessel and personnel at the end of March over allegations that she had previously entered a closed port in the much contested area, the Autonomous Region of Crimea, in July 2014.

Two Major Box Carriers End Calls at Portland

US – As cargo operations appear to return to normal on America's West Coast following the recent dock workers dispute, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) has come under some heavy criticism from port operator International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), after Hapag Lloyd announced that it has ended calls at ICTSI’s Portland, Oregon terminal in order to improve schedule integrity. The loss of Hapag Lloyd from the port's container/breakbulk freight facility adds to the mounting woes ICTSI faces as it tries to find new shipping companies to fill the void left by the other box freight lines after they cancelled sailings to Portland earlier this year.

Warning Given to EU Leaders to Prioritise Maritime Disaster Scenario

EUROPE – European and global operators of merchant ships have joined forces with seafarers’ unions to urge EU Member States to take immediate collective action to address the growing humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean Sea. Since 2014, thousands of people have been attempting the dangerous sea crossing to Europe, from Africa and the Middle East, in overcrowded boats not fit for purpose, with over 3,500 people having already lost their lives. Many are at the mercy of people smugglers.

'Pendulum of the Archipelago' Scheme to Form One Freight Corridor

INDONESIA – Finnish manufacturer Konecranes has recently received an order from PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III (Persero) in Surabaya for three Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes. The cranes will be delivered to the PT Terminal Petikemas Surabaya (TPS), with whom Konecranes already has a service contract, at the end of 2016. When the cranes are in operation, a total of 7 Konecranes STS cranes and 16 Konecranes RTG cranes will be in operation handling freight and containers at TPS.

Jamaica to Become Box Line's Main Caribbean Cargo Hub

WEST INDIES – The world’s third largest box carrier, French group CMA CGM has signed an agreement with the Port Authority of Jamaica granting the CMA CGM Group the concession of Kingston Container Terminal for 30 years. The terminal, consisting of a total 2,400 metres of wharf, an 80 hectare surface area and with up to 15.5 metres draught, has been open since 1975 and was formerly run by KCT Services Ltd.

FedEx Takes Over TNT Despite EU Ruling that Former UPS Bid was Non Competitive

EUROPE – US – FedEx has announced plans to expand its European presence by purchasing 100% of the shares in TNT Express for €4.4 billion. This is the second time that the Dutch based delivery company has been lined up for a possible takeover by a major US express freight and logistics firm after the European Union objected to a bid by UPS in 2013, citing anti-competition grounds, though FedEx has emphasised that its deal held a ‘high level of deal certainty’ adding that the two companies will address any antitrust concerns.

Another Fatal Accident Causes Union to Ask Minister to Address the Problem

UK – WEST AFRICA – WORLDWIDE – The hold of a cargo ship is not the place to be for anyone suffering claustrophobia but a warning comes this week from Nautilus, the trade union and professional organisation for maritime professionals at sea and ashore, regarding the dangers of working in the confines of a freighter where oxygen can be in very short supply. Following two recent deaths the union is also calling for improvements to secure a much better standard of risk assessments, moving away from a generic assessment to one that addresses particular hazards or design features associated with each individual enclosed space.

RHA Looks to Promote Itself and Lack of HGV Drivers

UK – The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has decided to raise its profile, both within the freight and logistics industry and with the general public, by sponsoring a car in the 2015 British Touring Car Championships. Part of the decision was made as the sector frets over the shortage of qualified HGV drivers and the seeming reluctance of youngsters to join an industry with a rapidly ageing population, the average age of a UK truck driver now being 53.

Vote to be Held on New Labour Terms as Shipping Levels Return to Normal

US – Despite some congestion this week as several container handling terminals saw closures in honour of the Memorial Day for the late labour activist Cesar Chavez, things along the West Coast following the lengthy dock workers dispute seem to have now returned to something approaching normality with freight moving more freely. Now comes news from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) that it is to recommend to its members formal acceptance of the ‘tentative agreement’ contract terms agreed on February 20 between the union and employers represented by the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA).

Brake Criticises Changes so Warmly Welcomed by Freight Sector

UK – The changes to Britain’s speed limits for HGV’s, which become law on 6 April, and which have been warmly welcomed by the road haulage community, have been sharply criticised by the road safety charity Brake. As announced by the government last year, speed limits in England and Wales for trucks over 7.5 tonnes will rise from 40mph to 50mph on single carriageways and from 50mph to 60mph on dual carriageways.

Two Separate Incidents This Week Alone

US – The usual busy week for the Coast Guard with both oil and bulk freight tankers running aground in US waters. Most worrying was an incident on Tuesday when the Italian flagged SN Federica, a 700 foot oil tanker laden with 17 million gallons of crude, ran aground in the Galveston Fairway, 35 miles off the Texan coast. The ships master reported to the Coast Guard that the ship had incurred damage to the forepeak of the vessel, causing an ingress of water. Fortunately the water was later determined to be ballast water and the ship was not leaking.

Change in Documentation for Niger will Affect Many Shippers

NIGER – Changes to import regulations mean that from 1 April most freight entering the land locked Republic will require a Certificate of Conformity for Customs clearance as the Agence Nationale de Vérification de Conformité aux Normes (AVCN) enforces its new Conformity Assessment Programme (CAP).

Main Box Lines All Select the Supersize Option

HONG KONG – SOUTH KOREA – FRANCE – WORLDWIDE – News just seems to be pouring in recently of the ever larger containership new orders, after CMA CGM announced that it is close to finalising a deal for three 20,600 TEU vessels earlier this week, Orient Overseas (International) (OOIL), the parent company of Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL), has announced a deal with South Korean shipbuilder, Samsung Heavy Industries for six 21,100 TEU vessels. The container carriers will cost around US$158.6 million each, totalling around US$951.6 million for all six, with the first ship expected to be delivered in November 2017.

Successful Trial Leads to Regular Track Option

UK – EUROPE – Glasgow based multimodal logistics provider John G Russell (Transport) is literally ‘in the van’ as regards the switch from road haulage and short sea to track borne freight having commenced its new cross-Channel links with France after a successful restricted capacity lasting some months. The company began operating trains between Barking and Dourges, near Lille, in early November, sending goods along HS1 and through the Channel Tunnel and is now operating a daily train Monday to Friday.