Tuesday 17 January 2017

DAILY SHIPPING NEWS - WEDNESDAY JANUARY 18, 2017

Air Freight News :

Hong Kong ends 2016 with a cargo volume flourish and a 3.2% full year increase.

·         Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) looks set to retain top spot among global airfreight hubs as its 2016 throughput increased by 3.2% year on year to 4.52m tonnes.
The Asian super hub, which saw a double-digit cargo surge in December, is the latest to report a rise in volumes for 2016, although statistics for North American and the major Chinese hubs are still to be logged.
In 2015, Memphis International in the US was in second place to Hong Kong with nearly 4.3m tonnes, versus 4.38m tonnes for the Asian hub.
Latest figures for Memphis, home hub for FedEx, up to October, saw a 0.1% rise in tonnages, which suggests that it will remain below the Hong Kong final figure.
In Europe, Frankfurt saw volumes up 1.8% to 2.15m tonnes, following by a 2.5% rise at Amsterdam Schiphol to 1.66m tonnes and Heathrow was up 3% to 1.54m tonnes. By comparison, Taiwan’s Taipei airport saw volumes down by 6.1% to 1.9m tonnes.

ACT Airlines issues further statement following Kyrgyzstan freighter tragedy.

·         Following the tragic crash, ACT Airlines, which operates as myCargo, has issued a statement naming the crew members that lost their lives and giving more details of about the incident that saw a freighter crash into a village close to Manas Airport, resulting in 37 people losing their lives.
The TC-MCL registered, Boeing 747-400 typed aircraft owned by them, was on route from Hong Kong to Bishkek when it crashed over Kyrgyz airspace approaching Bishkek-Manas Airport on January 16, 2017 at 1:20 GMT time (4:20 am Turkish time).
There is no clear and confirmed information about the reasons for the incident yet. ACT Airlines has commissioned two captain pilots at Manas Airport to investigate the accident together with authorities. Furthermore, their technical staff is on their way to the site.  Also the investigation has started by both, Kyrgyz and Turkish Ministries of Transport and Communication and the General Directorate of Civil Aviation.

ACT are in constant contact with the Ministry of Transport and general directorate of Civil Aviation, Turkish Embassy in Bishkek-Kyrgyzstan, Airport Authority and Kyrgyzstan Civil Aviation Authority. Clear and confirmed information about the accident will be shared with the public when available.

The flight with the cargo from Hong Kong to Bishkek-Istanbul was airborne as planned, after all the checks were carried out, and was on her way approaching Bishkek Airport without encountering any setback or problems during the flight.

The crew rested for 69 hours in Hong Kong before the related flight and checked out for the flight to complete the six-hour flight from Hong Kong to Bishkek.  The airplane was lifted with a planned total of 85,618 kg "general cargo" load safely. There are no faults recorded in the technical log book of the aircraft. We deeply regret for the incident and our heart felt condolences.

Frankfurt records cargo demand improvement in 2016.
·         Europe’s busiest cargo airport, Frankfurt, saw airfreight demand increase by 1.8% in 2016 despite the effect of strikes and weather conditions.
Airport operator Fraport said demand during the year reached 2.15m metric tons despite the number of aircraft movements decreasing by 1.1% to 462,885 takeoffs and landings during the year as a result of Lufthansa strikes in November and adverse weather.
In December, cargo demand was “particularly strong” as it improved by 7.6% to 188,635 metric tons.
Fraport said this improvement was driven by the recovery in world trade and a rise in demand for exports in the Euro zone stimulated by the weak euro, as well as the ongoing dynamic growth of the German economy.
Europe’s fourth largest cargo airport, Heathrow, handled 1.54m tonnes of cargo in 2016, a 3% increase on prior year

Details emerge about SF Express' plans for new Chinese cargo hub.

·         Asia-based express giant SF Express has revealed more details about plans to set up a huge new air cargo airport in central China.
The fast-growing company plans to build the airport in Ezhou City in the Hubei province of central China, according to Asia Times.
The airport will be able to handle 2.6m tonnes of airfreight and 1.5m passengers by 2025.
The airport will be built by a joint venture (JV) made up of SF Express unit SF Airport Investment and China VAST Industrial Urban Development Company, which have initially contributed Y40m and Y60m in the vehicle.
The JV will be responsible for the design, construction and operation of the airport.
According to reports, SF Airport Investment invested around Y470bn in VAST last year.
Asia Times said the companies hope the airport will eventually become the fourth busiest in the world and add that an area responsible for 80% of China’s GDP will be located within two hours flying time
Sea Freight News :
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New Inland Waterways Law On Way: Ambitious Water Transport Network A Step Closer

Swarajyam
In a boost to inland waterways, the government has decided to overhaul the 100-year old Inland Vessel Act. It has been sent to the law ministry for approval and is expected to be introduced in parliament in the summer session. Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) chairman Amitabh Verma confirmed that a new law was in the making and stated that details are yet to be finalised. Water transport for long has been a pet project of Union Minister for Shipping and Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari. The Inland Waterways Bill was introduced by him in 2016 and was subsequently passed in parliament, declaring 111 rivers are Inland Waterways. The Inland Vessel Act pertains to matters regarding inland water limits, safety of vessels, employment, pollution control and insurance. The proposed law will take into account matters relating to extension of inland water limits, work-sharing between the states and the centre, as well as penalties in the events of accidents.

Service tax set to be hiked in February 1 Budget

Asian Age
Finance minister Arun Jaitley may choose to hike service tax in the forthcoming Union Budget by one per cent, a move that may boost the government’s revenue collection but will hit the middle class hard while it is still trying to recover from the shock of demonetisation. Service tax of 15 per cent is now imposed on all services except a small negative list. Any increase will push up the prices of mobile services, train and flight tickets, eating out, insurance premiums, cost of under-construction flats and DTH, among many others. Service tax includes the Swachh Bharat and Krishi Kalyan cesses. The idea, sources said, is to bring service tax, now at 15 per cent, closer to the GST rate of 18 per cent. This, they claim, will help in the transition from one tax regime to another. “The proposal is on the table and is being discussed. All pro and cons of changing the tax rate months before the implementation of GST are now being considered,” a source said.

India's Waterways Promise Better Connectivity

Break-Bulk
Existing infrastructure for transportation of over-dimensional and out-of-gauge cargo in India is inadequate, so the country’s government has embarked on an ambitious plan to boost the use of waterways for project cargo movement. The Indian government’s plans to set up three multimodal transport ports at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia on the River Ganges has gained momentum with works on two of these projects expected to start soon. These hubs – part of the National Waterway-1, or NW-1, plan – will reduce pressure on the rail and road network within the country, and promise to expedite project cargo moves through waterways in the future. This plan addresses the fundamental need to increase the number of inland waterways in India to counter poor road connectivity into the hinterland, given the topographical and geographical challenges in India.

ABG Shipyard in talks with potential buyers

India Today
Amid reports that Reliance Defence, Shapoorji Pallonji Group and the UKs Liberty House Group have shown interest in buying ABG Shipyard, the debt-ridden company today said it is in discussions with various firms which may be prospective investor. "The company is in discussion with various parties which may be prospective investor. The discussions with them are at a very preliminary stage, only non-disclosure agreement has been entered with few of them," ABG Shipyard informed the BSE. ABG Shipyard was replying in response to the clarifications sought from the bourses on a news item which said that "ABG Shipyard gets three suitors, lenders want it out of debt recast. Reliance Defence, Shapoorji Pallonji Group and the UKs Liberty House have shown preliminary interest". "The company has not received any expression of interest/concrete proposal from their side," ABG Shipyard further informed the bourses.

Standard Chartered concludes three shipping deals worth $1.6bn

Seatrade Maritime
Standard Chartered has announced the completion of three shipping finance deals in excess of $1.6bn concluded in the third quarter of 2016 for clients in Asia and the Middle East. The three separate deals were done in December, November and October last year for BW Gas JuJu LNG Limited, National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia (Bahri), and subsidiaries of Reliance Group, respectively. In December last year, Standard Chartered closed a $684.5m, up to 12-year non-recourse shipping finance facility for BW Gas JuJu LNG, a joint venture partnership between BW Group and Marubeni. The deal saw the bank led a syndicate of nine international banks to refinance existing credit facilities for eight LNG tankers on long term charters to Nigeria LNG.


Haryana launches scheme to develop ind infra to boost export

Business Standard
Haryana government has formulated a new scheme known as Assistance to States for Developing Export Infrastructure and Allied Activities (ASIDE) for the development of industrial infrastructure to boost export from the state. Stating this here today, a spokesman of Industries and Commerce Department said that a notification to this effect has been issued. He said that the objective of the scheme is to create and upgrade the infrastructure for development and growth of exports from the state. The activities would be funded from the scheme provided such activities have an overwhelming export content and their linkage with exports is fully established, he said. "Other such purposes include setting-up of exhibition-cum-convention centre, inland container depot and container freight stations.

With Indian Railways’ traffic receipts set to be flat, Budget 2017 may retain capex plan to ensure expansion

Financial Express
With traffic receipts falling way short of target in a stuttering economy, Indian Railways will need to aggressively curb its working expenses to produce even the meagre surplus budgeted for FY17. While the transporter’s gross traffic receipts (GTR) grew 5% against a targeted 16% last year, the GTR growth this year could be flat — if not slightly negative — against a modest 10% growth projected. So, to maintain even the estimated grim operating ratio of 92% — which itself was worse than the 90% achieved last year with rigorous cost reduction — the transporter will have to starve the crucial depreciation fund, which is meant for replenishing infrastructure. Alternatively, a decent amount could be earmarked for the depreciation fund and the railways could admit that it is running a deficit.

Must create better experience for customers: Amit Kumar

Business Line
Historically, the Railways has launched most of its initiatives outside of the Budget and we do not see the next one to be a major departure in that respect. However, one would like to see a reversal of some predominant motifs governing the Railways. For one, freight rates and CTO haulage charges need to be rationalised with reduction in cross-subsidy for passenger traffic. Secondly, organisational discordance must be taken up on top priority with departmentalism reaching levels, never seen before. Every initiative and every idea is rendered infructuous with each department working at cross–purposes. Thirdly, administration of field units needs to be reviewed through a totally different prism. They have become the speed breakers of all initiatives of the Ministry.

Kerala needs to develop export basket on 3Es

Business Standard
Kerala needs to streamline efforts for developing an export basket containing electronic, electrical, and engineering products for which world demand is growing, according to a study. The study also found that most of the exports from Kerala were from primary and low technology sectors and representation of high value items was minimum. Vegetable products, animals and fish together form about 50 per cent of the exports from the state. The Study report 'Export Competitiveness of Kerala' by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, (KSIDC) and the Federation of Indian Export Organisations(FIEO), was prepared in the context of the state losing its dominance in some of the major agricultural sector exports.It also lists out various new opportunities available to Kerala for MSME focused industrial growth.


CMA CGM upgrades its SEAS1 and SEAS2 services

Port News
CMA CGM, a leading worldwide shipping group, has upgraded SEAS1 and SEAS2 services, the company said in its press release. The group will thus provide two departures per week between Asia and the East Coast of South America, one of the best offers on the market. They will offer optimum port coverage across Asia (Northern, Central and Southern Chinan and South Korea and South East Asia) and South America (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay). From South America, CMA CGM will provide very competitive transit times, especially for the export of refrigerated goods from Brazil and Argentina, to Hong Kong, China and South Korea. South America is a strategic area for CMA CGM, which offers 23 services connection the continent to the rest of the world. The group is strengthening its services in the area to match its clients’ needs.

Time for the bunker industry to come clean

Hellenic Shipping News
In Denmark a former bunker trading CEO is being sent to prison for defrauding his customers, and no one in the industry seems particularly surprised. Last month a court in Denmark named Monjasa as the previously anonymous company fined 10 million Danish kroner ($1.43 million) earlier this year for overcharging a buyer, and former CEO Jan Jacobsen as the executive facing a prison sentence. The case relates to 24 deliveries of fuel oil to a Malaysian customer in 2014, in which the buyer received less product than it had paid for, and Monjasa is still appealing the sentence. But none of this is news to the bunker industry. This is a sector in which buyers are routinely overcharged by sellers. Industry estimates put the losses to overcharging at as much as $1.5 billion/year. If you can generally refuel a truck or a plane without being overcharged, why can’t that be the case for shipowners as well?
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