DAILY SHIPPING NEWS - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2016

Air Freight News :

Antonov to transfer An-124 sales to UK team after Ruslan JV ceases.

·         An-124 at Marseille

Antonov Airlines' team in the UK will takeover the sales and marketing of its An-124 aircraft after its joint venture with Volga-Dnepr that was set up to tout the aircraft comes to an end on December 31.

In the wake of confirmation from both Ukraine’s Antonov Company and Russia’s Volga-Dnepr Group that their Antonov An-124-100-operating joint venture (JV) company Ruslan International will cease operations, Antonov is moving swiftly to develop its own business.  In response to the end of the JV, the Antonov Airlines team in the UK will “take the lead in the global sales and operations of this unique cargo aircraft”.

Dreamlifts Ltd (trading as Antonov Airlines) is, it added, “managed by an international group of well-known experts from the outsize and heavyweight cargo industry".

"With decades of experience between them, Antonov Company expects a seamless transition for its customers in the global supply chain and a continuation of its flexible and highly personal service,” it said.

Antonov currently operates a fleet of seven An-124s, including the An-124-100M-150 – which boasts a payload of 150 tonnes. 

It also flies the world’s biggest freighter, the An-225 Mriya, which has a maximum cargo capacity of no less than 250 tonnes, and the world’s largest turboprop, the An-22 Antei.

Oleksandr Kotsiuba, Antonov Company president, commented: “Antonov Airlines’ activities are supported by Antonov Company’s in-house design and development capabilities providing unrivalled expertise for the most challenging logistic projects.

“As the maintenance authority and life extension authority, we will continue to offer these proven and reliable airframes to the market for many years to come.”

While the Ruslan JV is being wound up at the end of this year, Volga-Dnepr Group’s business collaboration with Antonov will continue for the technical aspects of airworthiness and flight safety support of its An-124-100 fleet.

This confirmation of continued technical collaboration followed a warning from Antonov in September that it may seek a ban on Volga-Dnepr flying An-124 aircraft if the Russian freight carrier moved support functions for the aircraft to another company.  The two companies created the Ruslan partnership in 2006.

Lufthansa Cargo to divide regions as part of management cull.

·         Lufthansa Cargo has revealed more details on how it will divide up its regions in order to offload a layer of management in line with its cost cutting programme.

The German airfreight giant will now operate with eight regions instead of the previous four to allow it to remove a management level.

The previous four business areas –Europe, Africa, America and Asia Pacific – will become West Europe, North and East Europe, Middle East and Africa, US and Canada, Latin America and Caribbean, North and North East Asia and Southeast Asia.

The move is part of the airline’s Cargo Evolution strategy; the airline group has announced plans to reduce staff numbers by 800 worldwide, including a 35% reduction in management numbers, and has laid up two of its MD-11 freighters.

As well as cost reduction measures, the cargo airline has launched a new basic cargo offering, added a service aimed at private individuals, will invest in other products, has expanded its partnerships to increase the reach of its network and began selling capacity on sister airline Eurowings, and acquired the full shareholding of urgent logistics firm time:matters.

In the third quarter, Lufthansa’s logistics division slipped to its sixth quarterly operating loss in a row as market overcapacity and weak demand continued to blight financial performance

IATA to launch e-AWB tool for forwarders.

·         IATA will launch a new low cost online tool that is designed to allow small and medium sized freight forwarders to send and receive electronic shipment data, such as electronic air waybills (e-AWB).

The platform allows users to create, send and manage air waybills, house bill and electronic consignment security declarations.

It also allows forwarders to receive status updates from airlines electronically and track shipment status and receive shipment alerts. Documents can also be printed from the system.

“eAWBLink provides a window to over 120 carriers through our industry partners. Overall the e-AWBLink is a tool that will simplify day-to-day business,” IATA said in a promotional video.

Partners included in the development of the tool are Mphasis, Descartes and Hewlett Packard Enterprises.  The launch of the new tool comes as the air cargo industry continues to struggle with the adoption of electronic technology.

Smaller forwarders and Customs agents in far flung areas of the world are often accused of holding up the development of electronic processes because they lack the systems that are deal with these.

The latest figures from IATA show that e-AWB adoption has continued to improve this year, although at a slower pace than had been hoped for.

At the start of the year e-AWBs accounted for 37.2% of the total number of air waybills that were processed.  By September this figure had edged up to 42%, but IATA’s target of 52% penetration by the end of the year now looks unlikely.

Sea Freight News :

Kochi port in South India tries out moving containers in barges Sea News TRIALS have begun of a new barge service that will transport containers from the Kochi International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), also known as the Vallarpadam Terminal, to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) at Kottayam Port and Container Terminal (KPACT). Six empty containers were transported by the barge during the first trial run, and thereafter fully loaded containers will be used. The barge can carry a maximum of ten containers via the Thanneermukkom bund. The trial runs are intended to ensure the smooth passage of the barge through the waterway, along which some areas near the port have already been identified for dredging. Once the waterway is fit to accommodate the barge, the port will need be to equipped with a 50-tonne capacity gantry crane to load and unload the barge. Currently, the KPACT has authorised customs clearance and serves as an import and export hub in Kottayam. The import/export clearance facility at the ICD has been there since 2012.

Rites moots rail corridor to boost coastal coal shipping Business Standard Rites Ltd, the consultancy arm of Indian Railways, has proposed a heavy haul rail corridor connecting Salegaon (Maharashtra) with the Paradip port. The cost of the project is estimated at Rs 3,298 crore and it is being taken up mainly to boost coastal shipping of coal. Officials of Rites recently made a presentation on the proposed corridor to the Ministry of Coal. The project is proposed to be developed in two phases. In the first phase, the corridor will be built from Salegaon to Kandarpur near Cuttack — this is expected to be completed by 2021. This would help ease the congestion around Kandarpur. Subsequently, the corridor is planned to be extended to Paradip port. The commissioning of this phase is set to be co-terminus with an outer harbour planned by the major port under Government of India's Sagarmala initiative.

Cabinet Approves New Merchant Shipping Bill Outlook India The Cabinet today approved a new Merchant Shipping Bill by repealing the 58-year old law, a move that will promote ease of doing business, transparency and effective delivery of services. "The Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2016 for introducing it in Parliament," an official statement said. The Merchant Shipping Bill, 2016, is a revamped version of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958. It provides for repealing of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, as well as the Coasting Vessels Act, 1838, it added. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1958, had become a bulky piece of legislation over the years as a result of various amendments carried out in the Act from time to time. It was amended 17 times between 1966 and 2014, resulting in an increase in the number of sections to over 560.

DMIDC logistic data bank service extended at JNPT Business Line Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) today said it has commenced its logistic data bank service at fourth terminal of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port and also plans to expand the facility to other ports in the country. “DMICDC’s LDB service for tracking of container movement, which began operations at three terminals at the JNPT, has extended it to a fourth terminal, with discussions now under way to expand the pioneering service to other ports in the country,” DMIDC said in a statement issued here. LDB, a system for near real-time tracking of EXIM containers using RFID technology as they move across the western corridor of the country, was introduced in June at the JNPCT, NSICT and GTI terminals of the port where it has collectively tagged and de-tagged over 1.2 million containers so far.

India far behind in port related development than China India is far behind in all the key performance indicators related to port-led development than China, says a report recently published by the Ministry of Shipping. The report comes at a time when China in a bid to beat India in capturing wider space in the global economy has established linkage with Pakistan’s Gwadar port even as India prepares itself to access the Chabahar port in Iran. Underlining India’s inability to optimize on it’s richly endowed maritime advantages in the last half a century, the report says that China leads India by a factor of seven times to 16 times on the measured parameters. The report says that between ports and power production stations, India requires linkages that would optimize the cost of fuel transportation, a lack of which has caused high energy production cost.

DCI eyes foreign shores Times of India Having carried out large number of dredging operations at various ports along the Indian coastline, Vizag-based Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) is now looking at expanding its presence to the foreign shores. As part of its plans to tap into dredging projects abroad, DCI recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a Bahrain-based company with an eye on securing contracts in the Middle East. The development comes after a gap of nearly four years as DCI had last worked on a dredging project in Sri Lanka in 2012. According to DCI officials, the Vizag-based public sector undertaking has signed a business cooperation memorandum with Riyada Group of Companies of Bahrain with a view to expand further opportunities and expand operations in Gulf Cooperation Council Countries and Middle East.

37 national waterway projects in next 3 years; Nagaland gets one Eastern Mirror Nagaland will have a ‘National Waterway’ in the coming years now that the central government has embarked upon developing major waterways in the country. So far the centre has announced 37 of said projects out of which Nagaland also has found a place. The national waterway for Nagaland stretches to around 42 KM. Which waterway it was, was not specified in the information given by Minister of State for Shipping Pon. Radhakrishnan in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on November 17. A decision to undertake development of National Waterways declared under the National Waterways Act of 2016 is based on Techno Economic Feasibility Study and Detailed Project Report, commissioned on each of them, by the Inland Waterways Authority of India, the minister stated. The Act has been enforced with effect from the 12th of April 2016.

CRWC boosts rail side warehousing Bureaucracy Giving a boost to railside warehousing operations in India, the Central Railside Warehouse Company Ltd, a subsidiary of the Central Warehousing Corporation, is planning to set up 10 warehouses at railheads to store commodities besides upgrading its existing 19 warehousing complexes in India for Rs 200 crore. KU Thankachen, Managing Director of the CRWC, talks about its expansion plans. The railside warehousing operations of the Central Railside Warehouse Company Ltd started in 2003, with an understanding between a Miniratna PSU, Central Warehousing Corporation, and the Indian Railways. Initially the railside warehousing services were used as a transit warehouse, especially for bulk commodities which only required storage for a limited period. However, in 2007, the CRWC was made a separate subsidiary of the Central Warehousing Corporation.

Gwadar Port benefits to China limited Global Times The benefits of Pakistani Gwadar Port to the Chinese economy may be limited, as the port's capacity cannot satisfy China's oil import demand and a proposed pipeline from Gwadar to western China would be both economically and geographically infeasible and would raise crude transport costs by as much as 16 times, experts said. However, the port is a bonanza for Pakistan, experts said, noting that it will bring a string of opportunities for the country, including revitalizing its lackluster economy and attracting more foreign capital. Following the first trade cargo ships that departed from Gwadar on November 13, the National Business Daily (NBD) suggested China would benefit a lot from the port because of its strategic location. The port "is located on the Arabian Sea and occupies a strategic location," Bloomberg reported, giving China access to the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East.

Mergers: Commission approves container liner shipping merger between Hapag-Lloyd and UASC, subject to conditions New Europe The clearance is conditional on the withdrawal of UASC from a consortium on the trade routes between Northern Europe and North America, where the merged entity would have faced insufficient competitive constraint. Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, in charge of competition policy, said: “European companies rely on container liner shipping services for their transatlantic shipments. It’s very important that the markets remain open.The commitments offered by Hapag-Lloyd ensure that the takeover will not lead to price increases on the routes between Northern Europe and North America.” The transaction leads to the combination of two competitors in the container liner shipping business and will create the fifth largest container liner shipping company worldwide. Like several other carriers, UASC and Hapag-Lloyd offer their services on trade routes mainly through cooperation agreements with other shipping companies, known as “consortia” or “alliances”.

Why is Korea Line buying Hanjin Shipping's Asia - US container business? Seatrade Maritime The move by Korea Line to buy bankrupt Hanjin Shipping’s Asia – US container line business, that sees the company taking the plunge into the container trade at a very difficult time, is a head scratching one. Korea Line is paying $31.4m for the business, which includes the routes, customer information and operations in seven countries, including US, China and Vietnam, as well as some 574 employees from Hanjin. It does not, however, include five 6,500 containerships from Hanjin or its stake in a Long Beach container terminal in the US, which Korea Line has an option to buy. Korea Line apparently outbid Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) for the business, which was put up for sale by the Seoul bankruptcy court last month. While Hanjin clearly needs as much money it can get to pay off its debts, HMM, despite its own travails, would have been a more logical choice in terms of guaranteeing the future of Hanjin’s Asia – US business as it is a space it is already operating in.

Maersk confirms HMM not joining 2M Alliance but looking at other options Sea News Following everal months of discussions, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) have decided against admitting Korean line Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) into their 2M container shipping alliance, opting instead to explore various lower-level partnership options. Confirming the decision with Lloyd's Loading List, Maersk Line said: "The parties have discussed the possibility of HMM joining 2M as an operating partner and now decided to look at other cooperation possibilities. "The parties are therefore discussing the possibility of HMM partnering with the 2M network through a slot exchange and purchase agreement. The partnership discussions are ongoing and include the possibility of Maersk Line taking over charters and operations of vessels currently chartered to HMM with the aim of deploying them in the 2M network.

DAILY SHIPPING NEWS - WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 23, 2016

Air Freight News :

Lufthansa – German Carrier cancels 876 flights due to Pilot’s strike.

Lufthansa said it was cancelling more than a third of its flights on Wednesday 23-11-2016 due to a 24 hours strike by its pilots, the latest disruption to its operations to be caused by a pay dispute. This cancellation will affect roughly 100,000 passengers.

The strike, the 14th to hit the airline in its dispute with the Vereinigung Cockpit Union, will run from midnight and affect both long haul and short haul flights departing from German airports. Already the carrier is in red and this will worsen the financial performance more.

CHEP scoops SIA Cargo deal.

·         Singapore Airlines Cargo (SIA) has awarded a five-year global maintenance and repair agreement to CHEP Aerospace Solutions for its fleet of ULDs.

The deal will see CHEP will provide maintenance and repair services in Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Melbourne, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Dallas, with additional stations likely to be included in the global repair network.

In addition to the core ULD maintenance and repair services, CHEP will provide storage, control, inventory reporting and delivery of pallet nets, corner ropes, straps and other consumables at some of the appointed stations. CHEP's proprietary repair management software ACTIS will provide SIA with real-time insight into all elements of the repair process. The deal comes shortly after the ULD firm announced it was being taken over by investment firm EQT infrastructure.

Swiss WorldCargo to allow shipment tracking devices.

·         Swiss WorldCargo will now allow customers to use certain tracking devices in their shipments and has added a new team to help with queries related to any deviations registered by the devices.

The cargo division of Swiss said it had decided to allow the use of tracking devices because "timely information and transparency is a key requirement in supply chain logistics, since, despite careful planning, cargo irregularities can occur, such as temperature deviation, misrouting or pilferage".

In line with the development, Swiss WorldCargo is providing a 24/7 dedicated intervention team able to react to any deviation worldwide based on ATD data.

Alain Guerin, head of product, services and technology management, said: “This service is unique to Swiss WorldCargo customers as it offers the transparency of real-time information and an intervention team which can influence transportation quality in real-time.

UPS adds Californian flights ahead of the peak season.

·         UPS will add flights out of San Bernardino International Airport (SBD) in California to cover the peak season rush in demand.  From December, the US express operator will operate four flights per week from between the airport and UPS' Louisville hub using a Boeing 757 aircraft.

President of UPS’ South California District Tom Cuce said: “This is our busiest time of year, and with the huge spike in holiday shipments, we need additional capacity to deliver for our customers. The flights from SBD will fly directly to Worldport, our main air hub in Louisville, connecting the Inland Empire to UPS’s worldwide network.”

UPS expects to deliver more than 700m packages globally between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, a 14% increase over 2015.  The airport boasts a new air cargo facility located adjacent to 60 acres of aircraft ramp, and access to three major interstate highways.

National lends a hand for Haiti.

·         National Airlines has been providing support for Haiti as that country rebuilds following the devastation caused by Hurricane Matthew.   The airline has transported large power generators as well as critical water purification equipment into the most difficult to reach places in Haiti.  "Nearly 1.4m people in Haiti remain in need of humanitarian assistance and 40% of those are children, according to the United Nations," said Chris Alf, National chairman and chief executive.

"We are proud to be a part of these efforts to bring much needed equipment to Haitians during a critical time."

Mark Burgess, president of National, added: "Very few privately held airlines are properly equipped to move such large quantities of heavy equipment with unusual, emergency-driven lead times.  National is uniquely positioned to facilitate such last-minute transport."

Sea Freight News :

Shapoorji Pallonji to acquire majority stake in Gopalpur port IB Times Shapoorji Pallonji Group, a diversified business conglomerate with interests in construction, real estate, textiles, engineering goods, home appliances and shipping among others, is likely to acquire majority stake in Gopalpur port in Odisha. Gopalpur port is the second private port in this eastern state after Dhamra, which is run by Adani group. In 2006, the port project was won by a consortium of Orissa Stevedores Ltd (OSL), metal trading firm Sara International. This all-weather port which is being run on a build, own, operate and transfer (BOOT) model, had earlier seen exit of Noble group in 2010. According to sources in the know of the deal said Shapoorji Pallonji Group is likely to buy majority stake from Sara International with OSL holding on to its 49 percent stake. An official of Gopalpur port told that discussions were going on for some time and the deal would take another two months to be sealed.

Reliance Ports received Rs 1,767 cr irregular I-T sops: CAG Millennium Post CAG has pulled up the Income Tax department for giving benefit of Rs 1,767 crore to the port and terminal arm of Reliance Industries by allowing deductions meant for public facilities to the company’s captive jetties. CAG said the income tax assessing officer (AO) allowed deduction of Rs 5,245.38 crore to Reliance Ports and Terminals Ltd towards construction of four captive jetties at Port Sikka in Gujarat without examining the eligibility criteria for allowance of the deduction. In a performance audit of tax holiday for development of infrastructure sector, which was tabled in Parliament today, CAG said: “The irregular allowance of deduction by the AO has resulted in under assessment of income of Rs 5,245.38 crore involving tax effect of Rs 1,766.74 crore”.

Container shipping headed right direction, but distortions in store Seatrade Maritime The glass is either half full but perhaps with a fizzy drink or half empty and leaking fast for the container shipping industry, depending on who you ask. The prognosis for recovery in the liner shipping industry fell very much along professional lines at the Asian Logistics and Maritime Conference in Hong Kong as a panel of industry practitioners debated the issue of what's on the horizon for liner shipping. For Alphaliner executive consultant Tan Hua Joo, demand growth in the developed markets of Europe and North America hold the key to recovery while in a counterpoint, McKinsey partner Steve Saxon suggested that recovery is much more likely to come from the emerging market countries with their higher proportion of consumer-oriented demand.

Mumbai Port Trust launches New York-style plan to unlock waterfront assets Business Standard Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT) has launched a slew of projects to unlock the potential of waterfront properties, along the lines of World Trade Centre properties in New York City and Singapore Marina. It aims to transform the premier port into an attractive commercial and entertainment destination, at a total investment of over Rs 1,000 crore. The master plan envisages utilisation of a part of port land for other than port and port-related activities. It seeks and to unlock the untapped commercial value of its land assets with the development of a marina, sea-front walkways, promenades, water sports, plazas, floating restaurants, public transport, entertainment hubs, heritage tourism places, convention centre and a marine museum. MbPT chairman Sanjay Bhatia told, "The entire master plan is an integrated exercise that links the waterfront facilities with the overall east coast development of Mumbai's last open lung space.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port steps up cargo process automation JOC Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which loads the majority of the containerized freight passing through India’s major, or public, ports, is continuing to invest in automation to standardize cargo procedures as part of its “ease of doing business” program to shore up productivity. The top port last week issued a customer advisory calling on all cargo interests to do away with individual systems for issuing of delivery orders and instead migrate to a common electronic application, named e-DO, to facilitate trade. “In order to streamline the container delivery process, as part of the Ministry of Shipping directives, the Indian Ports Association, or IPA, was advised to develop a web-based application, so as to eliminate the manual interfaces,” JNPT said. “All customs house agents are requested to ensure that the e-DO generated by the web-based application be used for all the three terminals and common procedures be adopted for the convenience to the trade.”

Why Colachel port brings tears to fishers Times of India Even as we celebrate the World Fisheries Day, fishermen of Colachel in Tamil Nadu's Kanyakumari district live in fear of losing their livelihood once the proposed Colachel International Container Transmit Terminal takes off. With the Wedge Bank - the third largest fishing ground of the world - being situated in the west coast of Kanyakumari district, fishing remains the only source of livelihood for nearly 1 lakh fishermen in the area. It also provides jobs to more than 50,000 people in the harbour and the fish market. The fishermen of Kanyakumari district are well known for fishing in the deep sea for multiple days. They go fishing from 500 to 1000 nautical miles into the sea and stay in the deep sea from 15 to 50 days. Their catch includes varieties like shark and tuna. Although such expeditions are often risky to the lives of fishermen, the catch helps them eke out a decent livelihood.

New Mangalore stevedores oppose port proposal on multipurpose berth Business Line The Association of New Mangalore Port Stevedores has opposed the proposal of the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) to hand over the multi-purpose deep-draft berth no. 8 as container terminal to a private party on PPP (public private partnership) mode. M Shekar Pujari, president of the association, told Business Line that the port has not held consultations with the stakeholders such as local stevedores and C&F (clearing and forwarding) agents on the proposal. More than 5,000 stevedores and C&F agents will be affected, if the proposal is implemented, he said. He said the proposal is misleading as it is called a container terminal, though it is nothing but taking over a multi-purpose deep-draft berth. The average growth in container cargo was around 16 per cent in the last six years.

Watch for demonetisation's effect on exports. It isn't good Money Control Things have changed fast. Indian equity markets are reeling under the effect of demonetisation and question marks swirl around its impact on the economy. Meanwhile, the Dow and S&P are within touching distance of all-time highs and the Nasdaq has hit a peak. The Baltic Freight Index, an indicator of movement of global freight rates, has hit a new 15 month high signifying a pickup in trade across the globe. In India, export-oriented industries, in particular, are battling a slowdown on account of supply disruptions thanks to demonetisation. A Reuters report says that exports of 1 million bales of cotton from India are delayed after government's move to ban high value currency notes prompted farmers, who prefer cash payments, to postpone their sales. The problem of cash arises for export-oriented units mainly on account of payment to labour, especially daily labour and temporary workers.

EEPC report calls for more trade pacts with Latin America Business Line To meet the challenges of an uncertain global market, India needs to explore more preferential trade agreements (PTA) and economic engagements with Latin American countries (LAC) which hold potential due to the big size of the market and comparatively favourable regulatory conditions, an industry report has proposed. “Trade negotiations are on the anvil by several LAC economies to promote trade with major economies and emerging markets of the world including India to reduce trade barriers and attract investment. This is an appropriate time when Indian small, medium and micro enterprises can rise up and significantly contribute towards enhancing bilateral trade with LAC,” according to a report titled ‘Doing Business in Latin America and the Caribbean’ brought out by the Engineering Exports Promotion Council.

Raw cashew exports rise even as kernel shipments dip Business Line Exports of Raw Cashew Nuts (RCN) have risen sharply in October even as cashew kernel exports for the April-October period continued to plunge. In October, 2,288 tonnes of RCN were shipped out and with this the total shipments in the period soared to 2,309 tonnes valued at ₹32.96 crore from 1,666 tonnes valued at 15.74 crore. Shipping of RCN took place when “we are one of the largest processors in the world and our dependence on imported RCN has so far been perpetual with over 50 per cent of our requirement being met by imports every year,” said Sundaram Prabha, Chairman, Cashew Export Promotion Council of India (CEPCI). Cashew exports continued to show a declining trend every month with total shipments in the April-October period dropping 24 per cent in volume and 12 per cent in value, he said.

CMA CGM settles loan to acquire NOL but posts Q3 loss of US$268m Sea News CMA CGM has posted a third-quarter loss of $268 million, reversing a profit of $51 million a year earlier due mainly to lower volume and rates, IHS Media reported. Excluding expenses related to the company's September acquisition of NOL, parent of APL, the container line's loss was $202 million, the third quarterly loss in a row. CMA CGM called the performance "unsatisfactory" but said the company was "resilient" and had managed to maintain "operating discipline" by "keeping a tight rein on costs" and being selective about the freight carried. The carrier also said it had fully repaid ahead of schedule a loan taken out to acquire NOL, with payments totaling $880 million from the proceeds of two sale and lease-back transactions involving 11 vessels that were completed on last Wednesday. The payment, along with two others made earlier, means the full loan of $1.7 billion taken out to acquire NOL has been repaid, the company said.

HMM, 2M to Look at Other Cooperation Possibilities World Maritime News After some five months of talks with South Korea’s shipping firm Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) on the possibility of HMM to join the world’s largest alliance 2M, the parties have now decided “to look at other cooperation possibilities.” Since July 2016, the alliance, comprising shipping giants Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), has been in discussions with the Korean container carrier on HMM joining the 2M vessel sharing agreement (2M VSA). The parties “discussed the possibility of HMM joining 2M as an operating partner,” according to a spokesperson from Maersk Line, however, the talks have now shifted to the possibility of HMM partnering with the 2M network through a slot exchange and purchase agreement. Hyundai Merchant Marine was looking to join the 2M alliance after their membership in the G6 alliance expires in 2017.

SHIPPING NEWS UPDATED 17TH NOVEMBER 2016

Air Freight News :

Ancra receives FAA Certification for CRJ200 SF cargo loading systems.

·         Ancra International has received Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) certification in the US for the cargo loading system for the CRJ200 SF passenger to freighter (P2F) conversion by Aeronautical Engineers Inc’s (AEI).

The system is capable of carrying eight 61.5" x 88" ULDs OR eight 62" x 88" ULDs; Ancra also offers a kit to facilitate the rapid reconfiguring of the loading system between the two cargo transport options.

Ancra currently provides all of the cargo loading systems for AEI’s P2F aircraft conversions including the Boeing 737-300SF, 737-400SF, MD-80SF, CRJ200 SF and the 737-800 conversion currently in development.

Hactl ground handling certification first in Hong Kong.

·         

Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals Limited (Hactl) has become the first handler in Hong Kong to be certified under the IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM), signifying its full compliance with the new standardised procedures.

Through IGOM, IATA is driving the adoption of a single industry ground operations manual, to replace the vast array of separate manuals and standards currently in use throughout airlines, ground handlers and airports around the world.

IGOM’s goal is to establish global standardisation of policies and procedures, a uniform minimum level of safety and a standard set of policies and procedures for use in IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO).

Applying IGOM standards is expected to drive costs down by reducing the complexity associated with multiple airline ground operations manuals, standardise training requirements and reduce the incidence of aircraft damage by applying common and robust procedures.

Leaping at Oslo: ABC the latest to launch services targeting salmon demand.

·         

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) is the second airline within the last few weeks to launch a freighter services from Oslo that aims to capitalise on the seafood market.

The scheduled all-cargo airline will offer two services a week between the Norwegian city and Moscow Sheremetyevo utilising a Boeing 747 freighter, which can carry more than 100 tonnes per week. The service will also cater for the country’s oil and gas industry.

“Global demand for Norwegian seafood, and especially salmon, continues to make a significant and growing contribution to the country’s economy,” the airline said.

Norway now exports 220,000 tonnes of seafood a year, 600 tonnes a day, using air cargo services to Asia and North America.

Judge rules that ATSG dispute with pilots should go to arbitration.

·         A judge has ruled that the dispute between US freighter lessor Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) and its pilots should be resolved through a grievance and arbitration process.

Judge Timothy Black of the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio said that the dispute is a minor dispute under the US Railway Labor Act and should be resolved through the current labour agreement between the two parties.

ATSG initiated court action in the US against two unions who want the company’s subsidiary cargo airlines, ABX Air (ABX) and Air Transport International (ATI), to be defined as a single system. The complaint was filed by ABX.

The pilots are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Airline Division and the Airline Professionals Association of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Local 1224 (collectively, the IBT).

The two unions contend that ATSG has operated the two carriers “as a single transportation system while maintaining a facade of two separate carriers”.

Sea Freight News :

The shipping sector is gradually embracing renewable energy: Shipping secretary Infra Circle ndia’s shipping ministry initiated a slew of measures for the maritime sector in the past two years to increase the country’s port cargo traffic to 2.5 billion tonne (BT) from 1 BT at present. Shipping secretary Rajive Kumar, who took charge on 1 December 2014 and belongs to the 1981-batch of the Indian Administrative Service from the Uttar Pradesh cadre, in an emailed interview outlines the contours of the National Democratic Alliance government’s ambitious Sagarmala programme, inland waterways scheme and the push for green energy. It’s been a constant endeavour of the ministry of shipping to promote use of renewable energy. Earlier, most lighthouses under the Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships (DGLL) were operating on conventional sources of energy which consumed fossil fuels and emitted high amount of carbon dioxide increasing greenhouse effect and causing air pollution.

Centre aims at import substitution for all major minerals Business Standard In line with the coal ministry's move to increase domestic coal production aiming for import substitution, the union mining ministry is also aiming for the same and results have started reflecting on the iron ore production and sales trend this fiscal year. Compared to the production of 66.85 million tonne (mt) of iron ore in the first half of the last fiscal year, India surpassed the previous year's production by 18.15 mt or 25.85 per cent in the April-September period this year. "So far, we have clocked a production of 84 mt and aim to substitute import of all critical metals which are found in India", Balvinder Kumar, secretary at the union ministry of mines said here. As per Kumar, compared to the 7.09 mt import of iron ore in the last fiscal year, India imported only 1.59 mt of the ore in the April-August period. The aim of import substitution is in sync with the steel production in the country rising by 8.5 per cent during the April-September period at 7.8 per cent.

KCCI opposes proposal from NMPT to develop berth 8 as container terminal on PPP mode Times of India Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has raised objection to a move by New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) for development of container terminal at berth number 8. The chamber has shot off separate letters outlining its detailed objections to the same to the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), union minister of road and transport, highway (MoRTH) and shipping Nitin Gadkari, and DK Member of Parliament Nalin Kumar Kateel. Jeevan Saldanha, president, KCCI told reporters that berth identified for the project is the old berth 14 (new berth 8), which is a premium berth of the port with a draft of 14 metre and length of 260 metres. Handing this berth to a PPP operator for handling containers is sheer waste of national resource, he said adding container vessels calling on NMP have draft of 10.5 metres. The 3.5 metres of available depth of water goes waste as vessel of higher deadweight can utilize the same, he contended adding that this berth has highest berth occupancy compared to all other dry bulk cargo berths at NMPT.

Adani Ports Adds Three RMGCs in Mundra Marine Link dani Ports & Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India’s largest port developer, has recently made an addition of three new Rail Mounted Gantry Cranes (RMGC), for their container rail terminal in Mundra. The RMGCs, expected to be operational by this month end, was offloaded on October 7, as part of enhancing the handling capabilities of Inland Container Depot (ICD) bound containers in Mundra port. “Mundra is the only port in India having 21st century infrastructure. Adding these new RMG cranes will be a game changer for rail container operations, as this goes in line with the Chairman’s vision of supply driven infrastructure & automation for faster evacuation of containers and quick turnaround of container trains. The new added cranes also falls in line with APSEZ’s Green Port drive as they run on electricity and will reduce the carbon footprint of the rail handling facility” said Mr. Ennarasu Karunesan, CEO APSEZ – Mundra & Tuna Ports.

GST offers opportunity to ‘go digital’ Live Mint The countdown to the roll-out of the goods and services tax, or GST, has begun. The government, enterprises, regulators and consumers are gearing up to handle the tax implications of “one-country one-market structure”. A lot has already been written about how enterprises can prepare for GST. However, in my opinion, GST is not just a financial reform, but a broader business reform. It has the potential to relook at how enterprises conduct their business in India. With GST, enterprises have an opportunity to revamp systems, go beyond the physical constraints of supply chain, and focus on what matters the most for any business—customer experience! It doesn’t just stop there. With delinking of the physical footprint from direct tax implications, enterprises can use this opportunity to move beyond physical structures, ‘go digital’ and provide digital experiences.

Container terminal grabs export market The Hindu A year after its formal inception, the Kakinada Container Terminal Private Limited (KCTPL) has started making strides by sending commodities weighing about 26,000 tonnes a month to the African countries, West Asia and the United States via Colombo. As of now rice is the major commodity being exported from the terminal, while seafood and cashew are in the pipeline. From loading containers to one vessel in January this year, the facility is now stacking the loads to three ships a month. A joint venture of the Kakinada Seaports Limited (KSPL) and the Bothra Shipping Services Private Limited, the company waited for a couple of months to commence the operations after its formal launch. Since then, the exports graph has been surging with more and more small-time rice exporters from the region booking the containers. In the last 11 months, containers have been loaded to 26 ships, including the coastal (domestic) and international ones.

GST be made export friendly: EEPC India Web India In their pre-Budget memorandum to the Union Finance Ministry, exporters in India have urged the credit refunds under the impending Goods and Services Tax (GST) be made efficient to the extent that automatic system of tax credits be brought into operation. Besides, multiple Advance Ruling (AR) centres at the Central and state levels be set up to bring about certainty for exporters. "What credit can accrue, what cannot accrue, what is exporter's liability and what is due to him can be brought about by the AR, thus helping the export sector," according to former chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council (EEPC) India P K Shah.He said the engineering sector also demand that all products made of steel should be compensated by higher drawback rates since the protection given to large steel manufacturers against imports has resulted into higher cost of production for exporters, particularly for the small and medium enterprises.

Throughput at Port of Hamburg Up Slightly Maritime Professional At 104.9 million tons, total seaborne cargo throughput for the first three quarters of 2016, covering general and bulk cargo segments, was up 0.3 percent on the previous year. “Seaborne cargo throughput in the Port of Hamburg has stabilized and for the first three quarters of 2016 again increased. Seen separately, the third quarter with a 2.7 percent upturn to 34.7 million tons underlines the upwards trend. Both general and bulk cargo volumes developed positively for Germany’s largest universal port,” said Axel Mattern, Joint CEO of Marketing. The trend for seaport-hinterland rail transport was also maintained. “By comparison with other leading European ports, in the first three quarters of 2016 Hamburg further expanded freight volumes transported by rail. Transporting 35.5 million tons of freight and 1.8 million TEU, representing gains of 3.1 percent and 1.9 percent, rail once again achieved a substantial advance,” reported Ingo Egloff, Joint CEO of Port of Marketing.

K Line faces criminal cartel charges by Australian authority Seatrade Maritime The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has pressed criminal charges against Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha (K Line) in relation to alleged cartel conduct over the shipping of cars, trucks and buses to Australia. The alleged period of cartel operations by K Line was between July 2009 and September 2012, according to ACCC. The matter was before Australia’s Downing Centre Local Court for a first mention on 15 November 2016. “This is the second matter in which criminal charges have been laid against a corporation under the criminal cartel provisions of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010,” ACCC said. Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK), another Japanese shipowner, pleaded guilty to similar charges brought by ACCC in July this year. NYK faces a maximum fine of which ever is greater of AUD10m ($7.6m), three times the benefit obtained, or if this cannot be determined 10% of its annual turnover in Australia.

Korea Line to buy Hanjin Shipping assets in surprise court decision Sea News In a surprise decision, a South Korean court has awarded shipping operator Korea Line Corp. to acquire the assets of bankrupt Hanjin Shipping after outbidding Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. (HMM) by offering better terms, including retaining workers. The midsize bulk-shipping operator has been granted the first right to purchase the assets of Hanjin's Asia-US route, as well as its stake in a California terminal. The judge at the Seoul Central District Court, which is handling Hanjin's insolvency proceedings, said it chose Korea Line over Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., which had been expected to win. Hyundai Merchant was backed by senior government officials and its main creditors, which said they would promote the company as the country's largest ocean going carrier, The Wall Street Journal reported. "Korea Line proposed better terms, including higher prices," the judge said. "It also offered to take over more Hanjin employees."

Ship carrying no cargo entitled to loading capacity reduction of fairway dues Hellenic Shipping News According to Section 11 of the Fairway Dues Act, the amount of fairway dues will be reduced if a ship is not fully loaded according to the particular loading capacity utilisation rate, which is calculated by comparing the combined total of cargo imported into and exported out of Finland. According to the legislature, reducing fairway dues as a result of reduced loading capacity is based on established practice and is therefore necessary to include in the act. However, the established practice is not explained anywhere and Section 11 has therefore been subject to considerable interpretation. For example, there was some dispute over whether transit cargo (ie, cargo on a ship from outside Finland which is not unloaded in Finland) should be ignored or taken into consideration only once when calculating the loading capacity utilisation rate. This was clarified in 2014 when Section 11 stipulated that transit cargo is added to both imported and exported cargo.

Lloyd’s Register launches new decommissioning service Hellenic Shipping News In-depth technical knowledge, cost estimation and determining decommissioning risk liabilities make it easier for companies to plan and execute with confidence against a challenging low oil-price market. “Operators are faced with a huge challenge and conflict between maximising economic recovery, a low oil price and decommissioning on the horizon,” says Alasdair Buchanan, Energy Director at Lloyd’s Register. “We understand decommissioning requires an investment with little to no return for operators, accompanied by an element of ambiguity globally about the requirements set by regulators and uncertainty on long term liability. The onus is on operators to execute decommissioning in the most cost effective manner, especially in jurisdictions such as the UKCS where tax relief is available on decommissioning activities.”

Dry Bulk Shipping – The overweight on Dry Bulk is paying off handsomely in Dry Bulk Market Sea News We have earlier advocated that “ the normalisation process will lead to great opportunities even with incremental gains in the underlying markets as discount to Net Asset Values narrow. With the market bottoming out, we place our bets on the dry bulk names with high operating leverage and considerable exposure to the spot market. We expect the uptrend in freight rates to mirror in asset prices, which in turn, will have an amplified effect on stock prices. For existing players and asset markets, valuations have very little downside in our view. Bankruptcy risk which was being priced across stocks has significantly eased as key players raised equity and continue to restructure debt and balance sheets. We expect freight markets to recover gradually in the remaining months of the year as Chinese stimulus flows through the industrial economy, providing opportunities to add exposure to dry bulk on correction as we believe the worst is behind us.”

Shippers raise concerns over consolidation in global container shipping Seatrade Maritime The European Shippers’ Council (ESG) and the Global Shippers’ Forum (GSF) have joined forces to raise concerns over the impacts of new container shipping ‘alliances’ and their increasing use of 18,000 teu mega-ships. Shippers are fearing that the contraction or consolidation of the shipping market into a very small number of tightly knit alliances, and the use of much larger ships, will reduce their choice of carrier and the quality of the services delivered. The shippers argued that carriers operating within such arrangements cannot compete amongst themselves with regard to the agreed capacity, sailing frequency, transit times, ports of call and service level. The ESG has joined GSF to promote the findings of a new research and analysis, titled ‘The Implications of Mega-Ships and Alliances for Competition and Total Supply Chain Efficiency: An Economic Perspective’, commissioned by GSF.