DAILY SHIPPING NEWS - FRIDAY DECEMBER 16, 2016

New Custom Exchange Rates w.e.f. 16-12-2016.

Please note the new custom exchange rates applicable with effect from today i.e. 16-12-2016 as advised by Ministry of Finance.

SCHEDULE-I                            

Sl.No.	Foreign Currency	Rate of exchange of one unit of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees
(1)	(2)	(3)
		(a)		(b)
		(For Imported Goods)	(For Export Goods)
1.	Australian Dollar	51.35	49.40
2.	Bahrain Dinar	186.25	173.85
3.	Canadian Dollar	51.85	50.25
4.	Danish Kroner	9.75	9.40
5.	EURO	72.45	70.00
6.	Hong Kong Dollar	8.85	8.60
7.	Kuwait Dinar	229.70	215.00
8.	New Zealand Dollar	49.10	47.20
9.	Norwegian Kroner	8.05	7.75
10.	Pound Sterling	86.50	83.75
11.	Singapore Dollar	47.95	46.45
12.	South African Rand	5.00	4.70
13.	Saudi Arabian Riyal	18.70	17.50
14.	Swedish Kroner	7.45	7.20
15.	Swiss Franc	67.50	65.20
16.	UAE Dirham	19.10	17.90
17.	US Dollar	68.65	67.00
18.	Chinese Yuan	9.95	9.60

                                                                                                                              

SCHEDULE-II

Sl.No.	Foreign Currency	Rate of exchange of 100 units of foreign currency equivalent to Indian rupees
(1)	(2)	(3)
		(a)		(b)
		(For Imported Goods)	(For Export Goods)
1.	Japanese Yen	58.75	56.85
2.	Kenya Shilling	68.70	64.25

Air Freight News :

Local councils launch legal challenge to Heathrow's third runway plan.

·         

Heathrow Airport's plans for a third runway face a challenge in the courts after a coalition of local councils served legal papers on the UK government for "unlawfully supporting the expansion" of the UK's number one passenger and cargo hub.

Hillingdon, Richmond, Wandsworth and Windsor and Maidenhead councils, together with environmental lobby Greenpeace and a resident of Hillingdon made their legal submission to the High Court in London.

The coalition is seeking a judicial review of the Conservative government’s decision to support the expansion of the airport – something that the previous Conservative Prime Minister, David Cameron, promised would never happen.

Harrison Grant Solicitors, acting for the coalition, filed the formal request for a judicial review. If successful, it is hoped the case will be heard in the High Court early next year.

Call for logistics to play a key role in new Sydney airport.

·         

An Australian logistics group has called on the country’s government to ensure freight is a central component in the development of a second Sydney airport.

Earlier today, the Australian government signed-off plans to develop Western Sydney Airport, which will open in the mid-2020s and will feature a single 3,700 m runway. Over time a second runway could also be added.

The Australian Logistics Council (ALC) welcomed the news but said freight should play a central role in its development.

IAG Cargo hopes new Paris-New York service will appeal to forwarders.

·         IAG Cargo is hoping that its new service between Paris and New York will appeal to French freight forwarders looking for a more "local hub".

The service flies four times a week between Paris Orly and Newark New Jersey airports using a B767-200 aircraft.

While a passenger flight has been flying the route for awhile, the option to sell cargo on the service is a new addition.

IAG anticipates that fashion and textiles, perishables and spare machinery parts will make up a significant proportion of the commodity mix.

Freighter’s  Wall Chart – 2017.

Kindly open the attachment to have a look at the fleet of aircrafts owned by Freighter operators worldwide. As usual Fedex is the world’s largest air craft owner with various types of flying machines in their kitty.  

Sea Freight News :

Will the government gain from the shift to authorities’ style of port management from trustee set-up? India TradeWays The transformation of 11 of the 12 ports owned by the union government into authorities from the current trustee set-up, a plan that was cleared by the cabinet on Wednesday, is a structural improvement that helps faster decision-making and allows these ports to perform with greater efficiency by virtue of having full autonomy, but is still not the ideal or best way to alter their management model. If the shipping ministry had its way, it would have converted these 11 port trusts into corporate entities just like Kamarajar Port Ltd, the only union government port that is run as a company. The strident port workers’ union played spoilsport on corporatization of ports, forcing the ministry to opt for the authorities’ route to overhaul their institutional structure. The unions’ even succeeded in wresting a commitment from the ministry to have a seat on the port authorities boards.

Shipping Industry Business Standard In order to support the Indian shipping industry, the Government of India has exempted Customs and Excise Duty leviable on bunker fuels used in Indian flag vessels for transportation of mix of EXIM, domestic and empty containers between two or more ports in India. Government has brought in a uniform abatement of service tax for transportation of goods by rail, road and sea vessels. Indian shipping industry has been provided cargo support through Right of First Refusal (RoFR). Government has taken policy decision to allow shipping enterprises based in India to acquire ships abroad and also flag them in the country of their convenience. As a step towards promoting Ease of Doing Business" methodology for computation of period of stay of seafarers in India has been redefined. Further, acquisition of all types of ships has been brought under the Open General Licence.
India Overhauls Governance of Largest Ports Maritime Executive On Wednesday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet approved an overhaul of the nation's 50-year-old Major Port Trusts Act, simplifying the oversight of 12 large ports and giving their port authorities greater autonomy. The new Major Port Authorities Bill "will empower the major ports to perform with greater efficiency on account of full autonomy in decision making and by modernising the institutional structure of major ports," the cabinet said in a statement. India's largest port authorities will now have the ability to lease land for up to 40 years for port uses and up to 20 years for non-port uses, without central government approval. In addition, they will be able to borrow money, hire consultants, sign contracts and hire new administrators, all on their own. Under existing law, there were nearly two dozen actions like these that required national-level approvals.
India's exports record USD 20 billion, imports up by 10 per cent New Indian Express Expanding for the third straight month, exports in India rose 2.29 per cent to USD 20 billion in November on account of healthy growth in shipments of petroleum products and engineering goods. Exports of engineering products rose by 14.10 per cent, petroleum by 5.73 cent and chemicals by 8.3 per cent compared to the same month last year, according to official data released today. Imports too increased by 10.44 per cent to USD 33 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 13 billion in November. The country's merchandise exports during April-November period of the current fiscal too recorded a growth of 0.10 per cent to USD 174.92 billion. Imports, however, contracted by 8.44 per cent to USD 241.1 billion, leaving a trade deficit of USD 66.17 billion.

Rickmers inks ship management contract with Samudera Indonesia Seatrade Maritime Rickmers Ship Management has won a new client in the shape of Samudera Indonesia for a pair of bulk carriers. The contract for the two bulk carriers from the Indonesian shipowner is for technical management including crewing. The contract with Samudera Indonesia along with a recent a 16 vessel contract from Westfal-Larsen sees the Rickmers Group move into the management of bulkers. “Our shipmanagement approach is based on a particularly high level of transparency ensured by extensive technical, financial and operational reporting, and supported by our focus on energy efficiency and performance monitoring,” said Ignace Van Meenen, ceo of Rickmers Group. “This approach provides our customers with immediate benefits and has been independently confirmed by our positive rating by RightShip of 4.7 out of 5 possible points.”

HMM aims to boost profitability and eyes 5pc global market share by 2021 Sea News South Korea's Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) is aiming for a five per cent share of the global container shipping market by 2021, the line has revealed after finally concluding a strategic collaboration with members of the 2M alliance. An HMM official said the shipping line is looking to boost its profitability levels and hopefully attain full membership in the 2M alliance after the three-year agreement, which covers a combination of slot exchanges and slot purchases among the trio, and Maersk and MSC taking over some charters and operations of vessels currently chartered to HMM, according to Lloyd's Loading List. HMM aims to focus on the Asia to US trade route, while acquiring more terminals, the official said, so as to hit a 5 per cent operating margin and garner a 5 per cent share of the global shipping market by 2021. But it will not engage in overly active fleet expansion.

Korea Line plans two Asia-USWC services in April Sea News Korean Line Corp., a new container shipping line, is set to commence two transpacific services in April 2017 that will link Chinese and Korean ports to the US west coast, according to Alphaliner. The move comes after the carrier successfully bid US$31.4 million for the Asia-US business of bankrupt Hanjin Shipping, reported Seatrade Maritime News. Deploying five 4,200 TEU vessels, the first loop will call: Ningbo, Shanghai, Long Beach, Busan, Kwangyang, and returning to Ningbo. The port rotation of the second service that will be operated with six 6,500 TEU box ships is: Xiamen, Shekou, Yantian, Busan, Long Beach, Busan, and returning to Xiamen. However, both services are subjected to further amendment. "Apart from the transpacific strings, Korea Line is also expected to launch several intra-Asia services next year will focus on the Korea to West India and Southeast Asia markets," Alphaliner was cited as saying.

More Bunker Companies Undergo Consolidation Efforts as the Industry Prepares for a Tough 2017 Ship&Bunker World Fuel Services Corporation (WFS) is the latest player reported to be undergoing consolidation efforts across its global bunker operations as the industry prepares for what it expects to be a tough 2017. While WFS has told Ship & Bunker it currently has no comment on the developments, a number of sources familiar with the matter have told Ship & Bunker that several members of staff from its offices in Singapore, London, and Rotterdam have parted ways with the bunker company. Local market sources in Australia, meanwhile, have told Ship & Bunker that WFS' office in Perth has closed completely, with inquiries for Australia and New Zealand now being handled by their Singapore office. Other players have been more vocal about the need to restructure their operations, perhaps the most notable of which is Bomin, who says the bunker industry has entered a "new era."

Chabahar’s Imperatives To Emerge As Flagship Of Iran-India Strategic Partnership – Analysis Eurasia Review The Chabahar Port in Eastern Iran and Gwadar in Western Pakistan, both on the North Arabian Sea littoral have emerged as the latest chess-pieces in the maritime Great Power Game unfolding between India and China in the Indian Ocean. Gwadar at the terminal end of the much-vaunted China -Pakistan Economic Corridor provides China with a much-needed strategic outpost in the Indian Ocean facilitating China to overcome its ‘Malacca Dilemma’ in terms of its energy security needs and as a naval base for China’s intended sizeable naval presence in the Indian Ocean. Gwadar’s economic utility is China-centric with limited collateral economic gains for Pakistan through which passes the major portion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. The strategic significance for China of Gwadar far outweighs the economic significance simply because the hinterland of Gwadar does not generate much economic activity, even potentially.

G E Shipping Adds Second-hand Supramax World Maritime News Mumbai-based Great Eastern Shipping (G E Shipping) has taken delivery of Jag Radha, a secondhand Supramax dry bulk carrier bought in October 2016. The 58,100 dwt Jag Radha, previously known as Star Manx, was purchased from the Isle of Man-based shipping company LT Ugland Shipping, VesselsValue’s data shows. The dry bulk carrier, which was built by China’s Tsuneishi Zhoushan, was bought for USD 10.7 million, according to VesselsValue. The 32,354 gross ton vessel features a length of 190 meters and a width of 32.3 meters. Including Jag Radha, the company’s current fleet stands at 38 vessels, comprising 24 tankers and 14 dry bulk carriers, with an average age of 8.9 years and an aggregate tonnage of 2.94 million dwt. Additionally, G E Shipping has one newbuilding Kamsarmax on order and expects the delivery of two secondhand Aframaxes.