Friday, June 21, 2019

Freight and Logistics Round-Up Starts with US Road Haulage Trade News

What Has Been Happening This Week at Home and Abroad
Shipping News Feature

US – This week's run-down of some of the general global freight and logistics stories starts with the news that American Trucking Associations (ATA) President and CEO Chris Spear has urged Congress to ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement after its recent acceptance by the Mexican government saying free and fair trade was critical to the road haulage sector.

Mr Spear said in an industry which sees over $772 billion worth of goods cross the borders with Mexico and Canada every year means that the trade between the three countries alone supports nearly 90,000 Americans in trucking-related jobs and generates $12.62 billion in revenue.

CANADA – Thordon Bearings, producers of water lubricated marine systems, says having evaluated news clippings for the past few years it found over 100 references to pollution concerning propeller shaft seal failure and oil leakage into the sea which occurred when traditionally lubricated systems were in place. The company makes the case that the alarming frequency of serious incidents, particularly prevalent when propellers become entangled with ropes or fishing nets, makes the case for its products.

Based on its calculations, Thordon Bearings says that every vessel which operates an oil-lubricated propeller shaft system configured with an aft seal, could be leaking on average 6 litres per day, a statistic backed up by research carried out by New York-based Environmental Research Consulting, which found 240 million litres of operational oil is leaked annually from ships.

WORLDWIDE – AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC), Russian air cargo only carrier, and SkyCell, a Swiss manufacturer of temperature-sensitive goods packaging products, have signed an agreement to lease all types of SkyCell containers in response to the growing volumes of pharmaceutical products sent via air freight, the total tonnage of which almost doubled in the first quarter of 2019 and reached 3,500 tonnes.

The SkyCell range of passive containers is capable of maintaining an internal temperature range from +2°C to +8°C and from +15°C to +25°C and at ambient temperatures from –35°C to +65°C and meets the requirements of manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and other members of the supply chain.

SINGAPORE – Asendia Singapore has opened a high-tech Fulfilment Centre, at Singapore Changi Airport based in the city state’s Free Trade Zone (FTZ). The company says the new facility offers customers the ability to manage their cross-border e-commerce fulfilment operations from Singapore, regardless of where their parent company is based, particularly useful for US and EU based e-commerce operators.

Asendia now has fulfilment solutions straddling three continents, Asia, Europe and North America and the Singapore Fulfilment Centre will offer services including; order processing, global distribution, storage and stock management and benefitting from Singapore Harbour’s free-trade status.

CANARY ISLANDS – In the next few days two of Stena Line’s able seamen, Martina Thowsen and Alexander Gustafsson, will commence their journey in the Las Palmas ship yard where the hospital ship Africa Mercy is scheduled for maintenance before continuing the journey down to the coast of Senegal. Exactly what their specific tasks will be depends on the ship’s needs at that time, there are more than 200 different roles required to run the Africa Mercy and besides medical care other professions are needed as well, such as carpenters, mechanics, security officers and chefs to mention just a few.

On board there will be around 50 different nationalities sharing their knowledge and experiences. The volunteer programme is part of Stena Line’s sustainability strategy, which bridges all three dimensions of sustainability; economical, ecological and social. The programme was launched in 2017 and employees from all eight of the shipping company’s regions are encouraged to apply. In accordance with Mercy Ship´s values, all volunteers work for free. However, Stena Line guarantees leave of absence and provides overhead expenses and all necessary vaccinations.

IRELAND – Ireland has won this year’s European Transport Safety Council Road Safety Performance Index (PIN) award. The annual award is presented to a European country that has demonstrated continued progress on road safety combined with a strategic approach to tackling the problem across government.

Ireland was the second safest European Union Member State in 2018 (behind the UK – EU statistics vary), in terms of road mortality (road deaths per million inhabitants) and has moved up five places in the ranking of EU countries since 2010 when it held 7th place. In terms of numbers killed, Ireland has cut annual deaths by more than 30% since 2010. By comparison, deaths increased in other relatively safe countries over the same period including Sweden and the Netherlands.

UK – IRELAND – Reefer trailer specialist Gray & Adams will reveal its new M&S double deck trailer on stand E30 at this year’s Temperature Controlled Storage and Distribution (TCS&D) show in Peterborough. Specially designed by Gray & Adams to serve M&S stores in the Republic of Ireland it was first developed and manufactured in 2015 to meet the Republic of Ireland’s overall running height of 4650mm.

In order to minimise the loss of volume caused by the reduction in height, Gray & Adams has cleverly converted the neck of the trailer to take additional M&S dollies. The design has been so successful that it is to be rolled out across their fleet, where height restrictions had previously precluded the use of double deck trailers for M&S. The trailer will also be shown in the latest eye-catching 'Not just…' M&S campaign livery. This batch of trailers was ordered alongside an urban double deck trailer.

UK – GERMANY – London headquartered international marine and engineering consulting firm LOC has opened a new office in Hamburg to develop the Renewables and Shipping offering of the Group within the region. This will be the Group’s sixth office in Europe and its twenty sixth office globally.

Strategically located within Germany’s maritime and offshore hub, LOC’s new Hamburg office will enable the Group to have a local presence in Germany. The team are well placed to bid for and win competitive and non-competitive tendered work, as well as being able to leverage the services provided by Innosea and Longitude to the German renewables market.

UK – CCS-UK is hosting a series of seminars to showcase its solution for streamlining collections and deliveries of airfreight at Heathrow’s cargo terminal. Advance Information System (AIS) is a bolt-on module for CCS-UK that has been in full operational use for over a year among a cross-section of airfreight agents and hauliers, and a major cargo handler. AIS enables freight agents to pre-alert handling agents of loads being delivered and picked up, down to House AWB level, as well as submit Electronic Consignment Security Declarations (e-CSD).

This advance information, including vehicle, driver, cargo being delivered, handling agent and ETA, can be submitted either through a web portal or messages sent direct from the forwarder’s own system. The information is then accessible to all relevant parties in the supply chain. The first events are on Tuesday July 16 at Heathrow’s Stanwell Hall Hotel, at 10:30 and 14:30, with a full demo and a Q&A session followed by refreshments. Places can be booked by contacting Guy Thompson at guy.thompson@tiscali.co.uk

Photo: Stena Line's able, able 'seamen', Alexander Gustafsson and Martina Thowsen, are joining Mercy Ships' hospital ship Africa Mercy as volunteers.