Leased Boeing 747-8 freighters join ABC fleet:

ABC – Air Bridge Cargo Airlines has taken delivery of two leased Boeing 747-8 Freighters as part of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed at the Paris Air Show in June. News of the delivery comes as a surprise as it was not known that the two companies had developed the announcement beyond the MoU stage. However, a Boeing spokesperson explained that the deal was still at an MoU stage and included the leases.

"[The agreement] is still an MoU, which calls for more 747-8 freighters, and we are working together with [ABC parent] Volga-Dnepr on how to best support their business plans and fleet requirements," the Boeing spokesperson said. In total, the MoU signed in June includes 20 B747-8Fs and is aimed at transforming ABC from a niche player into a global giant.

The two aircraft delivered today will be deployed on the expanding network under winter schedule 2015/2016, between Asia and the US.

Hong Kong airport sees cargo growth in October

Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) saw cargo growth for the second consecutive month in October, increasing by 2% over like period 2014 to 392,000 tonnes. Hong Kong, the world’s number one cargo airport by volumes in 2014 at 4.4m tonnes, had recorded a decrease in freight throughputs in six of the first ten months of this year.

The increase in cargo during October was mainly driven by imports, which were up 4% from a year ago, said HKIA, adding: “Exports and transhipments grew 1% and 2%, respectively, compared to the same month last year.”  Among the key trading regions, traffic to/from Europe, Australasia and North America “increased most significantly”.

Waterways to be Developed on 111 Rivers: Minister New Indian Express Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday said that his ministry was targeting to increase the pace of road construction to 100 km per day from the present 18 km per day. He was speaking at the inauguration of the 8th edition of Excon, the biggest construction equipment exposition in Asia, here on Wednesday. Road construction has been moving at a snail’s pace of 2 km per day when he assumed office, he added. Gadkari said there is ample supply of oil slag, which now goes as waste. In countries like Australia, oil slag is used to lay roads. The ministry is ready to accept the codes relating to roads and other infrastructure to bring it to the standards of developed countries, he said. On the huge capital expenditure needed for the ambitious projects, he admitted there is a dearth of funds. “We can go to the market to raise funds through bonds. There are also investors abroad ready to invest in Indian infrastructure bonds,” he added.

River Route Planned for Amaravati New Indian Express Taking cue from Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s penchant for inland water transport, the state government is eager to experiment moving building material and heavy machinery to Amaravati by Krishna River route from downstream of Pulichintala Project when the actual construction work begins. Even as the work is on relating to making an assessment of how much land is required and where for developing national waterways -IV project connecting Kakinada and Puducherry with an investment of Rs.2,800 crore (AP portion), the government is simultaneously working on moving heavy machinery and building material to Amaravati through the river-route. According to official sources, the project report is more or less ready and would be submitted to the Inland Water Ways Authority for further action. The officials are planning the river route as the existing road network is quite inadequate if any attempt to move the machinery by road is made.

India's largest port calls for SEZ proposals JOC Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust has issued a tender calling for proposals from domestic and international firms to set up industrial units at its much-awaited special economic zone, as India’s biggest container handler looks for new avenues to grow its cargo volumes amid slowing global trade. The tender announcement comes after JNPT won a Rs. 468 crore ($72 million) grant from the federal government for the construction of basic infrastructure facilities at the SEZ site and the SEZ is critical to its plans to expand capacity to 10 million 20-foot-equivalent units over the next five years. “The project aims to ensure enhanced end-to-end port related facilities for export-based industries, including manufacturing, free-trade warehousing, value-added services like sorting, assembling, packaging and finally shipment,” the port authority said in its “express of interest” document.

Kazakhstan eyeing terminal at Mundhra to give fillip to bilateral trade The Statesman Kazakhstan is keen to build a terminal at Mundhra port on India’s western coast that would provide direct connectivity with Iran’s Bandar Abbas port and thereby help Indian goods get direct access to Central Asia and beyond via the Iran-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan railway line, the country’s ambassador has said. Kazakhstan’s national railway company, Kazakhstan Temir Zholy (KTZ), inked an MoU with SEZ Adani Ports for building a terminal at Mundhra in Gujarat during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Astana in July. "The due diligence report for the Mundhra terminal is being done, and after that they will take a decision on completing the contract,” Kazakhstan Ambassador Bulat Sarsenbayev told. “The Mundhra project is very important. When completed it will change the whole logistics–of moving goods from India to Kazakhstan and through Kazakhstan to Central Asia, to Russia, China and Europe," Sarsenbayev said.

ISS expands launch fleet to meet growing demand Hellenic Shipping News Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), the maritime and logistics service provider, has expanded its launch fleet with two more fast crew-boats, bringing its total fleet size to 18 vessels. The two newbuild 42-metre vessels have been added in response to a growing demand in the Oil and Gas sector for faster crew/supply boats to increase operational efficiencies and will assist in the safe and fast transfer of offshore personnel, cargo and liquid payloads. Custom-built to ISS’ specifications by the Grand Weld shipyard in Dubai, the FNSA 3 and FNSA 4 both have a 75-seater passenger capacity and can operate virtually anywhere in the world, according to charter demand. Each boat has been fitted with the latest navigation equipment, comprehensive satellite communication systems, engine performance and weather monitoring systems. Other features include comprehensive D-fendering, h2s monitoring systems, aircraft-type seating and a fresh water generator.

Hyundai looking for new partner to bid for building LNG ships for GAIL Economic Times Korean shipbuilder Hyundai Heavy Industries is scouting for a new local partner to replace L&T so that it can bid for building liquefied natural gas ships for domestic GAIL India, a key Make-in-India push in the oil sector. Hyundai has reached out to both private and state-run shipyards, people familiar with the matter said, without confirming whether any tie-up has been firmed up. If Hyundai is unable to form a consortium with a local shipyard soon, the orders for all nine or more ships might be just split between the two likely contenders, Samsung and Daewoo. This can potentially raise the delivery risk for GAIL, which is already running late in acquiring ships. Hyundai couldn't be immediately reached for comment. L&T's shipbuilding arm has broken ties with Hyundai for building LNG ships primarily due to a strategic shift towards the defence sector where prospects have brightened with the government's increased resolve to raise local production,

What’s holding up India’s farm exports? Business Line India’s export of agriculture and processed food products — which accounts for 12-14 per cent of the country’s total merchandise exports — had been enjoying strong growth for the last five fiscals. However, it declined by 9.8 per cent to $38.6 billion in FY 2015 from $42.8 billion in FY 2014, with export to the US declining to $ 2 billion. Is India being denied market access in the name of health and safety regulations? The latest example is mandatory inspection and audit of imported agricultural products. Are prohibitive import duties and high subsidies — a key feature of first world’s farm policy — constraining India’s farm exports? What are the other factors behind the poor performance of farm exports? Over the last few quarters, export price of basmati rice has declined from $1,295/tonne to as low as $1,050/tonne, leading to low realisation from its exports.

Export target set to be missed again Business Standards Sluggish global demand and falling commodity prices are set to derail India's export target of $325 billion in 2015-16 and lead to a second year of contraction in exports. Ravi Kapoor, joint secretary, department of commerce, had on Wednesday said India would miss the target and might end below $300 billion by the end of 2015-16. This admission underscores the challenges the Narendra Modi government faces in boosting export growth amid sluggish global demand and falling commodity prices. In fact, even matching last year's exports of $310 billion seems difficult. In large part, the decline is driven by falling commodity prices, oil in particular. What is worrying is that the declines are being observed across major export segments. Even after excluding petroleum and crude oil products, exports of non-petroleum products have declined roughly nine per cent from April to September, first six months of the current financial year, against the year-ago period.

Current container market dynamics challenging big ship ecomomics: Maersk Line Seatrade Maritime The pioneer of the ultra-large container vessel, Maersk Line, says the idea that a bigger ship always means a lower cost is being challenged by current market dynamics. Speaking at a media briefing on Wednesday Soren Toft, global coo of Maersk Line, said: Previously the bigger the ship the lower the cost, but what we are seeing right now is a phenomenon of very depressed time charter rates and very low bunker cost. So part of the equation of going from a 6,000 teu vessel to a 10,000 teu vessel in a trade is being challenged because of these dynamics.” Maersk Line has consistently been at the forefront of new large ship sizes, and was the first company to move into the 18,000 – 20,000 teu vessels, with the 18,000 teu Triple-E vessels, which have been idled on occasions recently where the line has blanked some of its sailings.

CMA CMG upgrades NEMO service adding call at La Reunion Island Sea News In a move to boost La Reunion Island as a hub between Europe, South East Asia, Africa and Australia in the Indian Ocean, French shipping line CMA CGM has added a new call at Pointe des Galets on its New Europe Mascarene Oceania (NEMO) service. This follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding in August last year by French shipping line to establish the island as the group's maritime hub in the Indian Ocean. The NEMO service offers a direct connection between Northern Europe, Southern Europe, India, Singapore, and Australia and starting from December 11, three new calls will be added: Pointe des Galets port in la Reunion Island, Fos in France, and Salerno in Italy. The new rotation will be: Tilbury, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Le Havre, Fos, Genova, Damietta, Pointe des Galets, Fremantle, Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Singapore, Port Kelang, Chennai, Colombo, Cochin, Damietta, Malta, and Salerno.

Evergreen buys 10 more 2,800 teu container vessels Seatrade Maritime Taiwan’s container carrier Evergreen Marine has penned a deal to buy 10 more new 2,800 teu container vessels for up to $390m, after earlier newbuilding acquisitions just a few months ago. Taipei-listed Evergreen announced that the newbuildings will be constructed at Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding and Taiwan’s CSBC Corp, with each yard building five units. Details of the delivery schedule were not disclosed. The latest order follows an earlier deal in September where Evergreen also booked ten 2,800 teu container vessels at Imabari. In August, Evergreen had already ordered ten similar 2,800 teu container vessels at CSBC. And in July, Evergreen booked five 2,800 teu boxships at Imabari and another five similar ships at CSBC.

Maersk to raise Asia-Europe rates US$1,000/TEU from December 1 Sea News The world's biggest container shipping company, Maersk Line, will levy a US$1,000 per TEU Asia-Europe rate increase from December 1, the company announced. If it sticks, the hike would be a 339 per cent increase from current rates. But container rates tend to rise in large increments before slipping back in the face of overcapacity in the market.

CMA CGM buy of NOL would be container shipping's largest consolidation: Alphaliner Sea trade Maritime The potential acquisition of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) by CMA CGM would the largest ever consolidation in the container sector in terms capacity according to analyst Alphaliner. NOL’s liner arm APL has 540,000 teu of slot capacity, this compares to the previous largest deal, which was when Maersk Line bought P&O Nedlloyd in 2005 that had slot capacity of 460,000 teu at the time. Adding APL to its own fleet would give CMA CGM a fleet of 2.33m teu, an 11.5% market share, Alphaliner said in its weekly newsletter. While CMA CGM and NOL have signed an exclusivity agreement with a view to striking a deal by 7 December Alphaliner still sees reaching agreement on a valuation for the Singapore-based line as potentially difficult. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com