North South Trade News

Ship operator United European Car Carriers (UECC) has bunkered sustainable biofuel for the first time in collaboration with GoodFuels and vessel owner NYK.GoodFuels delivered the B30 blend, 470 tonnes of VLSFO and sustainable biofuel, to time-chartered Emerald Leader in the port of Vlissingen in May. NYK, joint owner of UECC, is working closely with UECC to monitor the biofuel's performance.The use of sustainable biofuel on the Emerald Leader, which operates on UECC's North South Trade connecting the Eastern Mediterranean with Northern Europe…

Key stakeholders behind the efforts to launch innovative container-on-vessel (COV) service to the Midwest on Firday announced that Hawtex Development Corporation is signing on as the lead developer for a new COV port facility in Jefferson County, Mo. to be developed in collaboration with Fred Weber/Riverview Commerce Park LLC and integrating a 300+ acre adjacent parcel owned by The Doe Run Company. The new port will be a critical link on the new, all-water, north-south trade lane connecting the Midwest and the St. Louis region to the lower Mississippi River and on to worldwide destinations.

Singapore shipping company Pacific International Lines (PIL) has announced that it is quitting the Transpacific market as part of an optimization strategy. The shipping line has been participating in a half-dozen trans-Pacific services, mostly in slot-charter arrangements.PIL’s last Transpacific sailing will be in March 2020.The company said it has taken the decision as part of a wider strategic review of its business. Henceforth, PIL will focus on further strengthening its position in the North-South Trade such as Africa, Middle East / Red Sea, India Sub-Continent, Latin America and Oceania.PIL is one of the world’s top 10 container ship operators and is the largest shipowner in Southeast Asia.

The Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) in China approved Danish shipping giant Maersk Line’s proposed acquisition of Hamburg Süd, reported Reuters. Maersk Line, the world’s biggest container shipping company, will pay 3.7 billion euros ($4.3 billion) to buy German rival Hamburg Sud. However, China has put in place restrictions on Hamburg Süd and Maersk Line’s use of vessel-sharing agreements (VSA). The ministry, in a statement, said the company could not enter a new ship sharing alliance on Far East-South America routes in the five years after the deal. The company will withdraw some ships from certain routes such as the Far East-western coast of South America, it added.

While container trade growth has slowed in recent years, box trade has still expanded significantly since the turn of the milliennium, according to Clarkson Research Services Limited. In 2016, box trade is projected to total 181m TEU, almost three times volumes in 2000, having grown by an average 6.4% p.er annum. However, with an increased focus on Asia, this growth has not been evenly spread across the trade lanes. This century has seen significant growth in global container trade driven by increased volumes across a range of trade lanes (see graph), though some have seen faster growth than others. Back in 2000, mainlane container trade totalled 25.3m TEU, accounting for the largest proportion of global box trade of the featured groupings.

The most often quoted reason for consolidation is the reduction in unit costs which can be obtained by an operator with a larger volume of business. The ways in which these reductions can be achieved in practice are discussed in a new white paper, Consolidation in the liner industry, published by Drewry. Consolidation may put a shipping line in a better position to chart its future, with larger volumes and a greater control of its own destiny. • COSCO and CSCL’s merger advances them to fourth place (previously sixth and seventh respectively) though around 4% points behind CMA-CGM. Other carrier combinations could achieve comparable scale and there has been plenty of speculation around the case for shipping lines of the same nationality to merge.

Containership reliability was broadly unchanged in November as the average on-time performance across all trades slipped by just 0.8 percentage points against October to 77.2%, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. Six of the 10 trades covered recorded month-on-month on-time improvements in November, but worse performances in each of the three East-West trades and in the Asia-South America route – the only North-South trade to decline – dragged down the overall reliability performance. The average deviation from the sailing schedule was 0.8 days. Eight of the 19 “Top 20” carriers measured scored an average on-time performance of 80% or higher in November.

Containership reliability was broadly unchanged in November as the average on-time performance across all trades slipped by just 0.8 percentage points against October to 77.2 percent, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors. Six of the 10 trades covered recorded month-on-month on-time improvements in November, but worse performances in each of the three East-West trades and in the Asia-South America route – the only North-South trade to decline – dragged down the overall reliability performance.

The SC Ports Authority today received the first ship call of a new consolidated East Coast South America service that brings additional post-Panamax vessels to Charleston. The newly-formed "New Tango" weekly service includes Hamburg Süd/Aliança, Hapag-Lloyd/CSAV, as well as two carriers new to this trade in the Port of Charleston, NYK and Yang Ming. The deployment of larger ships in the service provides the opportunity for Charleston to grow container volumes in this trade. "This service will increase the frequency of post-Panamax vessels calls Charleston…

Direct, weekly Houston to Rio de Janeiro LCL service delivers reliable supply chain link. CaroTrans, a global NVOCC (non vessel operating common carrier) and ocean freight consolidator, has announced a new direct, weekly LCL (less than container load) and FCL (full container load) export service from Houston to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first sailing from Houston is August 20 with arrival in Rio de Janeiro September 14, a 25 day transit. This new offering compliments the existing direct Houston to Santos export service and marks the continued expansion of CaroTrans and Crafts comprehensive North – South, end-to-end service network. Craft, a longstanding, dedicated partner of CaroTrans the last 12+ years, is a global leader in NVOCC services in South America.

We had the privilege to pick the brain of Dr. Shashi Kumar (right) a Master Mariner, Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow and Professor Emeritus of International Business and Logistics, for his take on a wide range of maritime matters near and far. A market boom starting in 2014? The long-term  effects of  Sequestration? A ‘cap’ on the size of ships? He covers it all. This maritime economy has been bad for a number of years. Put in perspective the downturn now vs. traditional downturns. That’s a very good question.

Following the powerful recovery of the world economy in 2010 and a weaker 2011, global growth continued in the past financial year, albeit at a slower pace. Against this backdrop, container shipments increased once again, but at a weaker rate than vessel capacity. As a result, freight rates remained under pressure, especially on the Asia-Europe trade lanes, despite a significant but temporary recovery. Given still high fuel costs, the earnings level of almost all shipping companies remains unsatisfactory. The Hamburg Süd Group was unable to escape this development. At some 3.3 million TEU (1 TEU = 20-foot container), it transported around 4% more containers than in the previous year, roughly in line with market growth. Driven by a U.S.

Following the powerful recovery of the world economy in 2010, the reporting year saw global growth continuing with slightly lower dynamics. Shipping reaped the benefit in the shape of rising volumes. However, the downward pressure on revenue as a result of increasing overcapacity and a significant rise in costs, especially of fuel, posed problems for ship operators. The year 2011 was marked by the debt crisis in Europe, the weakness of the U.S. economy, various natural disasters in the Pacific region, and political upheavals in North Africa.

MOL (Mitsui O.S.K. Line) announced a general rate increase (GRI) on its Europe – Southern Africa trade. “We are committed to maintaining high service levels even during these difficult economic times,” said Colin de Souza, MOL General Manager, North South Trade. Mr. de Souza explains that MOL has already undertaken as many measures as possible to become more efficient and cost-effective within its own organisation. MOL has informed customers that a GRI of $200 per TEU will apply from the beginning of October on both north and southbound legs. MOL’s weekly SRX Europe North Continent – Southern Africa service calls Rotterdam, Tilbury, Bremerhaven, Las Palmas, Cape Town, Pt.

Hamburg Südamerikanische Dampfschifffahrts-Gesellschaft KG (Hamburg Süd), and GF Group s.p.a. announced that a Sale and Purchase Agreement has been entered into by Hamburg Süd, GF Group, Costa Container Lines S.p.A. (CCL), and Calmedia Agenzia Marittima s.r.l., on the take over of the CCL liner services by Hamburg Süd in the following trades: Western Mediterranean / East Coast South America; East Coast South America / Caribbean and Mexico; Western Mediterranean / North Coast of South America and Caribbean; Italy / Turkey and Greece; Italy / Algeria; Italy / Syria, Lebanon and Egypt. With a carryings volume of approx. 360,000 TEU CCL generated a turnover of some $646m in the year 2006.

Despite claims that most containerships operate on fixed-day weekly schedules, over 40% of vessels operated in liner services arrive one or more days late, according to a ground-breaking global survey from Drewry Container Shipper Insight. Drewry Shipping Consultants carried out what it believes is the liner shipping industry’s largest schedule reliability survey, based on the tracking of 3,300 vessel arrivals on 23 different east/west and north/south trade routes. The continuous survey is an attempt to help shippers plan their supply chains with realistic expectations of delivery times and assist them in the selection of liner carriers.