Liner Shipping Services News

Cargo shipping companies will be exempt from antitrust rules against anti-competitive agreements for a further four years until 2024 because this leads to lower prices and better consumer services, EU antitrust regulators said on Tuesday.First adopted in 2009 and extended for five years in 2014, the consortia block exemption regulation will be prolonged for four more years to April 2024, the European Commission said in a statement.It allows liner shipping operators with a combined market share below 30% to cooperate to provide joint liner shipping services…

Neptune Pacific Line, the provider of ocean freight services between Australia, New Zealand and Fiji, said that it has acquired Pacific Direct Line(PDL) from its Singapore based parent holding company, Pacific International Lines (PIL).The acquisition makes Neptune the new owners of all of PDL’s regional and Fiji based companies. The combined business will seamlessly link transport, warehousing, depots and customs clearance services and fully integrate customers’ supply chains across 18 South Pacific markets, it said in a press note."This purchase supports our long-term vision of creating the strongest and best regional network of shipping and logistics services in the Pacific Islands…

The Competition Commission of Singapore (CCS) has given the nod to a proposed joint venture between three Japanese shipping lines. Japan’s big three shipping groups, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line), Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) and Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK),  announced last year an integration of their container shipping business with the establishment of a joint venture by 1 July 2017 and the commencement of joint servce from 1 April 2018. Under the JV, the Parties will merge their container liner shipping business, and their container terminal services businesses outside Japan. The only overlapping service of the Parties that would affect Singapore is the provision of container liner shipping services.

The Port of Kiel is on course for growth after upping handling in both the cargo and passenger sectors by nearly 2 percent in the first half of 2016. The port’s various quay and terminal facilities handled 3.1 million tons of incoming and outgoing cargo – an increase of 1.8 percent over the same period of last year - while in the passenger sector 886,000 people disembarked or boarded a ferry or a cruise ship in the port – a rise of 1.9 percent. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co KG) said…

The Hong Kong Shipping Register has  crossed of 100 million gross tonnage, informed the Secretary for Transport and Housing, Professor Anthony Cheung Bing-leung. To Hong Kong, it’s more than a vote of confidence, Anthony said. Hong Kong’s maritime tradition is almost two centuries old. Hong Kong served as a port of registry under the UK Ship Register since the 1840s until the establishment of the autonomous Hong Kong Shipping Register in 1990 under the administration of the Marine Department. For those who are interested, our first shipping register is now on display at the other side of the hall. Upon its inception in 1990, the Hong Kong Shipping Register had a mere 765 ships with a total gross tonnage of six million.

The number of heavy cargo and project loads being handled in Kiel using the port’s efficient port cranes or RoRo ramps is on the rise. The latest example has been what is currently the most up-to-date telescopic mobile crane to be built by the firm of Liebherr. It was shipped directly to Klaipeda in Lithuania on April 1st on a ferry ship belonging to DFDS Seaways. The Type LTM 1750-9.1 mobile crane is used in power plants and refineries as well as in bridge building and in the installation of wind power plants.

In an effort to better serve customers and business partners, Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Guatemala-based liner and logistics teams have moved into a new office space in the heart of Guatemala City, the country’s bustling metropolis and most populous city in Central America. Modeled after Crowley’s Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters, the office’s open layout maximizes the workspace while promoting a collaborative environment and synergy between the two business units, which were previously housed in separate buildings.

The China Navigation Company (CNCo), the deep sea shipping arm of the multinational Swire Group, has signed a conditional sale and purchase agreement to acquire Pacifica Shipping (Pacifica) from the Skeggs Group of companies in New Zealand. CNCo has been a long term participant in the New Zealand’s maritime and transport industry. The first Swire vessel called to New Zealand 130 years ago. Today Swire explains that it has extensive interests in agencies, stevedoring, logistics and multipurpose liner shipping services. Swire Shipping, CNCo’s liner shipping arm, currently operates five independent multi-purpose liner services from New Zealand to Asia, Australia, North America and the Pacific Islands.

To better serve the needs of local shippers, Crowley Maritime Corp.’s Panama liner and logistics teams have relocated to a new, shared location in the heart of the country’s capital, just minutes from Panama City’s major highways, airport and seaport. The facility offers triple the warehouse and distribution space and makes Crowley the first bonded facility in the heart of the capital city, and the only company with the ability to serve both bonded and nationalized cargo in the same warehouse.

Crowley Maritime Corp. & subsidiary TITAN Salvage look back on their comprehensive work in response to Hurricane 'Sandy'. The storm devastated the U.S. Northeastern coast in late October 2012, and the companies were fully involved in support of relief organizations working in the areas hardest hit by 'Sandy'. The combined response efforts provided by Crowley and TITAN were extensive. Shortly after the storm, the S.S. Wright, a Crowley-managed, Maritime Administration (MARAD) Ready Reserve Force ship…

Port handles more than six million tons for the first time. Kiel, January 17 2012: The Port of Kiel turned round more than six million tons of cargo last year for the first time ever. It posted a turnover figure of 6,293.374 tons exactly at the turn of the year - an increase of 8.5 % over the previous year. The Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) Dr Dirk Claus said “thanks to the shipping companies and the port working hand in hand, we have together achieved a top-notch result, won additional shares in the market and gone into 2012 well-placed for the future”.

The European Commission approved, pursuant to the Merger Regulation, a proposed transaction by which the British port operator P&O and the Dutch liner shipping company Royal Nedlloyd reorganize their common activities in the container liner shipping business. In 1996 Royal Nedlloyd NV and Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) transferred all their respective activities in containerized liner shipping services to a newly created joint venture called P&O Nedlloyd (PONL). The businesses transferred included all their container ships, their respective ocean freight-forwarding business, the container packing operation as well as the road haulage business and rail shuttle business.

The European Commission extended for five years a block exemption allowing shipping companies to form consortia covering the transport of cargo. The Commission said the block exemption automatically covered liner shipping consortia that have a market share of below 30 percent. The decision confirmed the Commission's favorable attitude towards liner shipping consortia, which "usually allow shipping lines to rationalize their activities and achieve economies of scale, thus improving the productivity and quality of liner shipping services," Commission officials said.

The European Commission (EC) adopted a White Paper proposing that the liner trade partial exemption from competition rules be repealed. Such repeal, if approved by the European Parliament, would end the ability of liner conferences operating through European ports to agree on common or uniform freight rates as part of the provision of regular scheduled maritime transport services. (HK Law)

The China Navigation Co Ltd (CNCo) has announced plans to consolidate the majority of its liner shipping services under a new entity, Swire Shipping Ltd, a new company recently incorporated in the United Kingdom. The service framework and existing network of management offices will not be affected by this change. Indotrans, Indotrans Pacific and New Guinea Pacific Line will be retired. gradually phased out during the course of 2007. structures, and will continue to trade under their current names. Indotrans and The Bank Line, and the introduction of several new trades. Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea with the South Pacific Islands.

Chairman Steven R. Blust announced today that the Federal Maritime Commission is initiating a series of informational seminars to be conducted by the Commission’s Area Representatives and other Commission personnel at various locations around the country. The seminars will provide information to the industry and the shipping public with respect to the Commission’s functions and services as well as instruction regarding the regulatory obligations of providers and users of ocean liner shipping services in the U.S. foreign trades which are administered by the Commission. The seminars will be conducted at a different location on approximately a monthly basis. The first is to take place on Tuesday, February 25, 2003 in Miami, Fla., and the second will be in New Orleans, La., on March 19.