Shipping Search - Archive

Sad News Amongst the Good

UK – The first voyage for Her Royal Highness, The Princess Royal newly appointed as Admiral of the Sea Cadet Corps last week after cadets from twelve units around the country piped her arrival on board TS Royalist, the youth charities flagship before she promptly set a course for the Solent.

Some Tit Bits from Around the Industry

UK – Package specialist ParcelHero says new government figures showing 15,005 transport and logistics companies failed in the first quarter of 2022 demonstrate the damage caused by Covid. The number is a 75% jump against the previous year. The company puts the situation down to the change in status post lockdown as less online trading results.

Shipping Organisations Seeking Route Out for Crews

UKRAINE – BLACK SEA – Despite some improvement the situation, for almost 500 seafarers remaining sheltered awaiting evacuation on board 109 ships at Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, still looks bleak.

Covid and Ukraine Blamed for the Seemingly Endless Prevarication

UK – Prevarication seems to be the UK government's middle name when it comes to post Brexit matters with another delay announced as regards border controls, due to begin on 1 July 2022 and now put back until 2023 at least.

Model Averts Problems of Government Tardiness

UK – With many accusing the government of dragging its feet over the complete electrification of the nations's rail system, one cargo carrying group has taken pro-active measures to maintain the push for environmental improvement with a suitably current solution.

Domestic Ferry Group Vessels Had Litany of Problems

UK – The latest report from the Marine Accident Investigations Board (MAIB) demonstrates very clearly that life at sea can be extremely dangerous, even on routes which may appear the mildest and safest, when mechanical issues persist and threaten the lives of those aboard.

Boot Camps provide Access to Better Conditions

UK – With the continuing pressures on the supply chain due to the shortage of capable HGV drivers Logistics UK is urging those in the trade who have left the workplace to consider re-joining the profession, with hundreds of spaces now available on government-funded refresher training courses, called Skills Bootcamps.

Training Available to Ensure Compliance as CDS Approaches

UK – Agency Sector Management (ASM) the not for profit, Middlesex based, customs software specialist has been working closely with the British International Freight Association (BIFA) on suitable training modules for freight forwarding agencies as the UK customs procedures are prepared for radical change.

Government Has Consistently Let Down the Entire Industry by Way of Poor Management

UK – One can often almost hear the sighs of frustration throughout those offices charged with imposing the latest conditions of carriage demanded by the authorities in relation to post Brexit trade. However one wonders if in organisations such as the British International Freight Association (BIFA), management might, horror of horror, be seen to display a Gallic shrug when these matter arise.

Transport Charity Offers a Unique Chance to Ride the Airship

UK – WORLDWIDE – Thanks to the generosity of Goodyear, the logistics world's favourite charity, Transaid, is offering the chance of a free ride for two in the tyre and rubber company's legendary airship which is returning to the skies over central London in May.

Changes to Links in the Supply Chain

UK – The Marine Society has announced the launch of their latest bursary scheme, the Marine Society Green Skills Bursary, aimed at seafarers who are looking to obtain qualifications that will equip them to work in the offshore and renewable sector. The Marine Society believes that supporting skills transition training in this priority sector is vital as a growing number of seafarers are retraining to work in roles to support offshore wind farms.

Who is Going Where in the World of Freight

UK – The British International Freight Association (BIFA) has strengthened its Policy and Compliance team with the appointment of Igor Popovics as policy and compliance advisor with responsibility for Customs and frontier-related issues. Prior to joining BIFA, Igor was export documents and customs declaration officer at the London Chamber of Commerce, and whilst primarily fulfilling a Customs role, he gained valuable knowledge of Rules of Origin and Carnets.

How Can Constraints to Wages be Disbursed Across Other Maritime Sectors?

UK – With several weeks having passed since Dubai owned P&O Ferries sacked some 800 staff to enable the employment of cheaper substitute crews one wonders if Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Transport, has finally witnessed the penny dropping with regard to such matters.

Ship Undamaged and Cargo to be Reloaded After a Month Delay

US – The latest bit of ill luck which the Evergreen Marine Corporation has suffered at least engendered fewer headlines than the last, as the Taiwanese shipping group's container vessel, the 12,000 TEU Ever Forward was finally floated off the bank which she stranded on over a month previously.

Government Stumps Up Twenty Million for Food and Showers

UK – Any heavy goods vehicle (HGV) driver trapped in his or her cab today would have choked on their bacon sandwich hearing a government spokesman say on BBC radio that they were 'better off than car drivers' parked on the side of a motorway, sometimes for 20 hours or more.

Ship Owners Wait for China to Ratify Agreement

ASIA – WORLDWIDE – Despite the opprobrium heaped upon it, the dirty secret of the world's merchant fleet continues it seems, with the latest news showing there are still many unscrupulous dealers in the market prepared to flaunt the rules of ethical ship breaking.

FMC Has Supply Chain Data in its Sights

US – What in normal times might have been considered a useful, if somewhat innocuous public, online discussion due to take place tomorrow 12 April may have a little more bite given the topic and the participants.

Broadcaster to Help Warehouse Industry to Celebrate Post Covid

UK – As the world hopefully gets back to some sort of normality post Covid, there will be no greater sigh of relief than from the 'men with sheds', and if ever there were an outdated description that one must rank highly in these days of gender equality, robotics and autonomous warehouse equipment and systems.

Who is Off and Where To

UK – Logistics staffing and training outfit Bis Henderson has strengthened its management team with the appointment of Barrie Javens to the position of Business Development Director for the Group. Barrie brings a wealth of operational and strategic supply chain knowledge to the business, having held senior positions at Deloitte MCS, leading their logistics and supply chain practice, and Unipart Group, where he was Managing Director of the Heath and Pharmaceutical Consulting business.

Bits of News from Around the Globe

UK – FRANCE – SPAIN – Brittany Ferries had reintroduced its full programme of ferry crossings even before the P&O situation found itself in the headlines. Crossings between Portsmouth and Cherbourg and others are set to take advantage of the public dislike of the Dubai owned competitor as delays and confusion plagued the Channel ports last weekend, particularly Dover.

Marine Engineers Say Maintenance Schedules Must be Maintained

WORLDWIDE – Whilst the staff of the various authorities around the globe have doubtless had fun seeing 'How the Other Half Live' as they seize the yachts and luxury goods belonging to the now out of favour Russian oligarchs, a valid point has been raised by a marine servicing company based in the UK.

IATA Figures for February Released

WORLDWIDE – In its latest bulletin analysing trends in the air cargo market the International Air Transport Association (IATA) has made, for it at least, some fairly radical changes to its reporting methods.

Residential Camps Provide Mischief and Magic

UK – Like so many in the supply chain business XPO Logistics does its bit for charity on a regular basis so it was no surprise when the company announced it is to continue its support of Over The Wall as the UK children's charity prepares to welcome children and their families to its residential camps, after two years of online camps in the pandemic.

Jobs, Property and Brexit All Looked at by Experts

UK – The recent Belfast UKWA Warehousing Showcase, held just weeks after the main United Kingdom Warehousing Association conference in Chester, built on the conclusions that had been arrived at there, but with added factors peculiar to the offshore environment.

Supply Chain Visibility Extension for Chicago Firm

GERMANY – US – Chicago headquartered project44, a supply chain visibility platform has acquired industry rival Potsdam based Synfioo which concentrates on visibility and ETA platform data for rail freight in Europe. Through this deal, project44 says it has also extended its barge visibility for inland waterway segments across the continent.

Only Cargo Interests Not Road Haulage Operators Allowed to Pay the New Charges

US – Many in the haulage community will praise the way the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles have gone about introducing the next stage of the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan which sees charges introduced for loaded import and export containers as from 1 April.

Norwegian Groups Testing Ferry Services

NORWAY – DNV, Kongsberg Maritime, Kongsberg Seatex, Bastø Fosen and NTNU chose the Nor-Shipping Trade fair this week to launch their new SAFE Maritime Autonomous Technology (SAFEMATE) project. The RCN funded project will work on improving and assessing the safety and efficiency of autonomous navigation systems and deploy a pilot on an operational ferry, the Bast ø VI.

Container Vessels to be Worst Off as Public Consultation Proceeds

PANAMA – The proposal to change the charging structure for vessels passing through the Canal is bound to be met with a mixture of emotions, the most common however are likely to be annoyance and disappointment given that such exercises rarely result in cost reductions for the consumer.

MSC Continues to Expand Cargo Related Services

SWITZERLAND – FRANCE – AFRICA – the negotiations which began in December between the Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and the Bolloré Group have resulted in an agreement for MSC to acquire the French outfit's African logistics interests.

Who is Headed Where

UK – The United Kingdom Warehousing Association (UKWA) has appointed Jerry Oughton as its Head of Training. The move comes after the UKWA recognised the importance of cementing skills in the logistics sector at its recent annual conference where the focus was on 'Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today'.

Some Stray Pages from the Logistics Catalogue

UAE – Etihad Rail, the developer and operator of the UAE's National Rail network, and Dubai Industrial City, one of the region's largest manufacturing and logistics hubs and a part of the TECOM Group, has announced development of a new freight terminal spread across 5.5 million square feet.

Bipartisan Act Initially Passed

US – Whilst the transport industry and the politicians in Britain mull over the consequences of the P&O debacle it seems the administrators in America are more capable of action when something is viewed as unbalanced.