Sunday 5 February 2017

DAILY SHIPPING NEWS - MONDAY FEBRUARY 06, 2017

Air Freight News :

Amazon plans Kentucky air hub.
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Amazon plans to build a "centralised air hub" at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport (CVG) to support its growing fleet of Prime Air freighters.  When the hub site opens in nearby Hebron, the giant e-tailer expects to create more than 2,000 new jobs, with an investment put at an unconfirmed $1.5bn by local sources.
Dave Clark, Amazon senior vice president of worldwide operations, said: “As we considered places for the long-term home for our air hub operations, Hebron quickly rose to the top of the list with a large, skilled workforce, centralised location with great connectivity to our nearby fulfillment locations, and an excellent quality of living for employees.
“We feel strongly that with these qualities as a place to do business, our investments will support Amazon and customers well into the future. We couldn't be more excited to add 2,000-plus Amazon employees to join the more than 10,000 who work with us today across our robust operations in Kentucky.”
Last year, Amazon entered into agreements with US aircraft lessors ATSG and Atlas Air to lease 40 dedicated cargo planes to support Prime members with "fast, free shipping".

Pony Express makes first approved Dublin drone delivery.
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A drone has made Ireland’s first Irish Aviation Authority (IAA)-approved parcel delivery, ferrying emergency supplies 200 metres to a boat at sea.
The Dublin flight, lasting two minutes from take-off to parcel drop, was performed by Pony Express Couriers, using a DJI Inspire 1 drone laden with a parcel weighing 250 grams.
The parcel contained medical supplies: an emergency thermal blanket, an Epi-pen, bandages, plasters, thermometer, first aid leaflet, gloves, wipes and burn dressings.  It also contained food and a drink in the form of a high-energy bar and water. The supplies were attached to the underside of the drone in a waterproof container.
Pony Express is not planning to offer drone parcel delivery services in Dublin or Ireland “any time soon”, but is keen to be “at the leading edge of all new developments” in its market sector.
Audrey Browne, operations manager of Pony Express, said: “The delivery of low value, urgent items such as takeaway food, especially to remote rural areas is highly likely”.

Pilots strike hits ATSG revenues.
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A fall in revenues due to a pilots' strike has seen US-based freighter lessor Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) advise that its adjusted ebitda* from continuing operations for the fourth quarter and full year 2016 will be around $7m lower than in its prior guidance.
Said ATSG: “This reduction in guidance is due to the revenue loss resulting from a brief work stoppage in mid-November 2016 by pilots of its subsidiary ABX Air.
ATSG, which last year signed a major Boeing 767 freighter deal with stakeholder Amazon, now expects 2016 adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter to be approximately $56m and at $211m for the full year 2016.

CHAMP implements load planning software with Kalitta.
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CHAMP Cargosystems has implemented its Weight & Balance application, used to manage load planning, with US-based cargo carrier Kalitta Air.
The all-cargo airline, with a fleet of sixteen Boeing 747 freighters, has obtained FAA approval for the usage of Luxembourg-based CHAMP’s software with its aircraft.
Kalitta Air is delighted with its decision with CHAMP’s Weight & Balance, and is confident it will be a key benefit for the months and years to come,” said Conrad Kalitta, chief executive of Kalitta Air, adding: “Integrating this software is proof that using the most up-to-date IT solutions will reduce fuel consumption, and improve accuracy with a highly effective automated process.”

Sea Freight News :
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Multi-modal transport hub policy likely soon

DNA
The government may come out with a new policy on multi-modal transport hubs following the Union Budget made an announcement on it, say experts. On the merger of railway Budget with the Union Budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley had said presenting the Budget on February 1 that "this decision brings the Railways to the centerstage of the government's fiscal policy and would facilitate multi-modal transport planning between railways, highways and inland waterways." The Budget said a specific programme for the development of multi-modal logistics parks, together with multi-modal transport facilities, will be drawn up and implemented. "The idea of having multi-modal logistics park or hub is not new at all. But a new colour has been given to it. There has been a policy for Inland container depot (ICD) and Container Freight Station (CFS), but there isn't any policy for multi-modal logistics hub,"

Iran, India trade charges on delay of Chabahar port

Economic Times
The Budget may have allotted Rs 150 crore for the development of Chabahar port in Iran, but it may not be enough to bring the long delayed project back to life as Tehran has not yet submitted a proposal for release of the fund despite several reminders, some officials say. Indian government had set aside $235 million, or about Rs 150 crore, line of credit for the project since 2015 but is unable to release the first tranche of $150 million, they said. "The funds cannot be released without paperwork and this has not yet reached the Indian government. Even reminders from EXIM Bank to Iran have not helped," a person familiar with the matter told ET. "There are apparently no reasons behind Iran's delay in submitting the proposal for the release of loan," the person alleged.

Gadkari plans to set up 27 auto industrial clusters to attract biz

Daiji World
The Ministry of Shipping has prepared a plan to set up 27 industrial clusters at ports in different parts of the country aimed at attracting global automobile parts manufacturers. A total of Rs 8 lakh crore will be invested for these industrial corridors in the next five to eight years, and the government expects that it will generate 40 lakh direct and another 60 lakh indirect jobs, Union Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said here. The government will spend another Rs 5 lakh crore to provide the road and railway connectivity to these clusters, the minister said. Old vehicles can be transported to automobile manufacturing hubs set up in ports and they can be recycled into finished products. “Besides, these hubs can also import old vehicles from other countries for scrapping and manufacturing new products.

Cochin Shipyard enters talks to buy ABG, Shapoorji backs out

Live Mint
State-run Cochin Shipyard Ltd has started preliminary discussions to buy a controlling stake in debt-ridden ABG Shipyard Ltd, two people close to the development said. Shapoorji Pallonji and Co. Ltd, another contender, has decided to back out of the discussions, according to one of the two people. Both persons declined to be identified. As on 30 September, lenders held a 50.46% stake in the company, according to ABG Shipyard’s latest shareholding data available on BSE. A controlling stake in ABG may be valued at Rs400-500 crore, the second of the two people said. In the March quarter of 2016, the company had posted a loss of Rs1,710 crore and had an outstanding debt of Rs16,000 crore. ABG Shipyard’s debt piled up because of a fall in freight rates and an industry slump.

15-year old commercial vehicles may soon be off the road

DNA
Government is keen on implementing vehicle policy that aims at scrapping 15-year old commercial vehicles in the first phase, and it will send the proposal to GST Council after Cabinet nod, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said. Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP) policy has proposed to push 28 million decade old vehicles off the roads. "We (Ministry) will try to bring the policy as early as possible. We will make a presentation before the Cabinet Secretary on February 9 and then before the PMO. After the Cabinet nod, a presentation will be made before GST Council," Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Gadkari said.

Ignored in Budget, exporters hope for sops in foreign trade policy review

Business Line
Exporters, who were largely ignored in the Budget, can hope for some incentives and thrust in the mid-term foreign trade policy (FTP) review in September with the Commerce Ministry ready to begin consultations. “The Commerce Ministry will kick-off consultations with various export bodies and councils from February 9 to examine their list of demand and re-assess growth potential,” a government official told Business Line. Another chance: While the Economic Survey for 2016-17 circulated on the eve of the Union Budget made a case for more support for exporters, especially from labour-intensive sectors such as apparels, leather and footwear, the Budget had no specific sops. The FTP review would also address issues that might creep up for exporters after the Goods & Services Tax is implemented.

Goods trains travel lighter due to slow economy

Maritime Gateway
The slowdown in the core economy has hit the Railways hard with the national transporter lowering its freight loading target for the present fiscal (2016-17) by two million tonne (mt), as per the revised estimates. Lower loading has also led the Railways to temper its freight earnings in 2016-17, which are expected to drop to
₹1.089 lakh crore from ₹1.092 lakh crore in 2015-16. In last year’s Budget, the Railways had set a target to load an extra 50 million tonnes of cargo this year, against the previous fiscal. This projection had to be sharply revised downwards, following a drop in loading and average distance of transporting coal and other commodities in the first half. The demand for coal, which accounts for 50 per cent of total freight, had dipped following lower demand for power by industry.

Tilbury’s £1bn drive to build a global trading port on Thames

Financial Times
The quest to build a global Britain begins at Tilbury, close to the mouth of the Thames, where a £1bn expansion is under way to make space for container ships from around the world.Tilbury is the UK’s third-largest container terminal, serving London and the south, but now wants to increase the size of its site from 850 to 1,100 acres and build a deep-sea jetty to welcome more ships from Europe but also make space for larger ships from Africa, India and the Far East. “There will be benefits as well as drawbacks to Brexit,” said Charles Hammond, of Forth Ports, the owner of Tilbury. “We’re prepared and that’s why we’re expanding.” About 60 per cent of the port’s traffic is currently with Europe but Tilbury is also where Jaguar Land Rover ships cars to South America.

Hamad Port now a firm fixture for MSC Shipping

Arabian Supplychain
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has announced it will be providing a direct call at Hamad Port in Doha, Qatar in 2017. The port’s addition to the Switzerland-based firm’s New Falcon service will allow container volumes to travel west from the Far East and South East Asia, to Qatar. MSC said that customers will also benefit from a competitive transit time and better service coverage over all the major ports and inlands from Far East/Southeast Asia. The service is being operated by MSC Elma, a 299m 9,411-TUE capacity container ship. “The new facility will also serve volumes out of South and East India, via Colombo,” said MSC in a statement. “It will help to meet the growing demand of Qatar’s export market, by offering direct connections via Mundra Port to worldwide destinations.”

CMA CGM Reorganises Its Asia - West Africa Services

Maritime Professional
In line with the West Africa market trend, CMA CGM Group adapts its service offering while continuing to improve its service reliability and cost efficiency. Starting 1st week of March 2017, CMA CGM Group has decided to streamline its product offering from 5 to 4 direct weekly services on the Asia > West Africa market with an optimised port coverage: Withdrawal of WAX 2 service. The service was operated with 10 vessels of 4,500-5,400 TEU Reshuffle of the 3 services WAX, WAX 3 and AFEX with greater synergy effectiveness in the West Africa port rotation ASAF service, the lead product dedicated to South Range West Africa remains unchanged. WAX | Operated by CMA CGM with 12 vessels of 4,350 TEU, will discontinue South Africa and Nigeria calls.

Maersk Saudi Arabia received the Honoring certificate of Merit

Port News
Maersk Saudi Arabia received the Honoring certificate of Merit from the Customs authority in the 26th of January 2017 in the capital of Riyadh, the company said in its press release. Maersk Line is recognized with their high level of synergy and their full support to the Saudi Customs Authority in all their ventures to develop the logistics infrastructure of the country. Saudi Arabia is going through tremendous changes to elevate their logistics performance and to move to higher ranks on the global LPI (Logistics performance index). Maersk Line proved to be an asset not just to shippers and importers, but a also to the Customs authorities and logistics industry in the country. The authorities honored Maersk Line with a certificate of merit at an event to recognize the achievement of Maersk Professionals.


Reports: Hanjin Shipping Liquidation Set for Feb 17

World Maritime News
The rehabilitation process for the former South Korean shipping giant Hanjin Shipping is set to end on February 17, Yonhap News Agency cited the Seoul Central District Court. The decision was made on Thursday by the South Korean court, some half a year after the cash-strapped carrier was put under court receivership as it succumbed to the prolonged depression in the shipping market. The company filed for court receivership in late August 2016 as its creditors, led by the state-run Korea Development Bank (KDB), said they would not provide additional financial support to Hanjin starting from September 4. In an effort to collect enough cash to pay back its creditors, the company opted to sell a number of its assets, including its entire Asia to US route network and operations on the routes, a number of containerships, as well as its overseas businesses.

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