MSC to hike rates US$50 per TEU on Europe-Asia route

GEVEVA's Mediterranean Shipping Company has announced it will impose a freight rate increase on cargo from Europe to the Far East and Middle East "due to more demand for export cargoes."

Cargo from northern Europe will face a rate rise of US$50 per TEU and $100 per FEU for dry containers and $250 per TEU and $500 per TEU for refrigerated boxes starting from March 1.

Ningbo-Zhoushan's box volume put port No 8 worldwide

THE ranking of world container port handling capacity of 2008 has been released to show that Ningbo-Zhoushan port has edged into the world top 10 with the capacity of 10.933 million TEU, jumping from the No 11 sport in 2007 to No 8 today, reports Logistics Week.

The port's world ranking rose to 11th place in 2007 from 67th in 2000 with an outstanding container volume growth of 36.7 per cent. In spite of facing the global economic slowdown in 2008, the port registered a 16 per cent increase in container movement to break the 10 million TEU mark.

According to World Container Port Capacity Ranking 2008, Guangzhou and Ningbo became global top 10 ports which also including Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Qingdao.

Clean Truck Fees collected at Ports of LA and Long Beach

THE Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have started collecting the US$35 per TEU clean truck fee from February 18 after technical and legal issues had been resolved.

Introduction of the ports' Clean Truck Programme has been delayed on numerous occasions in the past, but from now on the ports will collect the levy via an electronic gate access system that is also expected to strengthen security at shipping terminals, reports the American Shipper.

The Clean Truck Programme was originally intended to come into effect last October when the twin ports implemented the first stage of their programme to cut emissions from trucks moving containers around the port complex by replacing aging vehicles with a modern fleet.

Trucks built before 1989 are now banned from the ports and older trucks will progressively be phased out in the coming years until the entire fleet of 17,000 trucks operating within the port has 2007 or newer engines.

The container levy is intended to help subsidise truck replacements and a new licensing system for trucking firms that meet a long list of port qualifications.

The Clean Truck Fee is being collected directly from cargo owners instead of truckers by PortCheck Inc, a not-for-profit company established by the local terminals collaborating in a federally approved discussion agreement, the report added.

Vladivostok sees January cargo volume drop 35pc

THE Russian Port of Vladivostok handled 286,100 tons of sea freight in January 2009, a decline of 35 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier.

Within this total, exports amounted to 166,400 tons, imports 58,000 tons and cabotage 61,700 tons.

Container throughput came in at 14,559 TEU, including cabotage of 4,411 TEU. Within the total, imports amounted to 4,776 TEU and exports came to 5,372 TEU, said the Russian Transport Daily Report.

The port handled 9,228.5 tons of cargo on average daily. During the reporting period, the port's production facilities handled 166 vessels and 4,099 railcars.

GAC revamps Russia operations to tap offshore sector

THE GAC Group (GAC) has implemented a number of organisational changes to optimise its resources in Russia to better serve the country's fast growing offshore sector by providing the industry with it shipping, logistics and other marine related transportation services.

GAC Shipping & Logistics Ltd, with its head office in Moscow, has been established to consolidate the company's existing facilities in Novorossiysk (Gulf Agency Company Novorossiysk Ltd) and St Petersburg (GAC St Petersburg LLC). It also adds a third branch office at the new Port of Taman on the Black Sea where the company will specialise in providing shipping services at liquid and dry bulk terminals.

After three years with GAC Turkmenistan, Arkady Podkopaev returns to his native Russia to serve as General Manager of GAC Shipping & Logistics Ltd.

He said in a company statement: "By restructuring its business in Russia, GAC is able to focus on its core services and customers. It also makes us better positioned and equipped to explore new markets such as marine services for the fast growing offshore industry in Russian territorial waters."

The GAC Group's first office in the Russian Federation opened in Novorossiysk in 2001 to provide shipping services at Sheskharis and CPC-R oil terminals. As the business continued to expand, additional services such as freight forwarding and crewing were added. In 2005, GAC opened its second Russian office, at St. Petersburg, one of the country's largest ports.

GAC's presence in Turkmenistan since 2000 and the opening of two new branches in Kazakhstan in 2008 reflects Central Asia's significance as one of the world's principal oil and gas producing regions. Globally, the GAC Group has more than 300 offices, the release added.

e-GLN geared to raise sales of SME logistics providers

UPSTART e-global Logistics Network (eGLN) has been launched with the goal of boosting sales for SME logistics firms through a range of e-commerce solutions designed to reduce costs, increase revenues and improve sales effectiveness.

"In these tough times it is critical to find innovative ways to boost sales, reduce costs and leverage the partner community to add profits to the bottom line. More and more customers insist their supply chain partners provide scalable web based services. e-global Logistics Network is being launched to provide SME logistics companies the opportunity to immediately improve their competitiveness in this challenging market," said Steve Russell, President of eGLN.

"The downturn provides us with a fantastic opportunity. Smaller logistics companies are able to adapt more rapidly to changes in the marketplace. The Chinese have a saying that "small boats are easier to turn" and our strategy is to offer our e-commerce solutions to our SME members and partners to build at low cost a global network to provide technology enabled business processes to their customers," he added.

Mr Russell is the former President and CEO for the Asia Pacific region of Salesforce.com and Executive Vice President of Global Sales at EGL. He has 25 years' experience in international multi-modal transport, logistics, software and supply chain management industries. He has focused on sales and marketing, customer success, strategic account development, CRM, low-cost web and mobile applications and "go to market" strategies, an eGLN statement said.

AMI Express says heavyweight cargo up and 2009 looks good

AMI Express, the express division of the world's largest trade-only airfreight wholesaler, says its heavyweight shipments from the UK to the Americas have "dramatically increased," after overhauling rate structures last March. The company said that import shipments are also "dramatically up" on 2007.

Exports for South America grew 65 per cent in 2008, US-bound air cargo increased by 40 per cent, and Canada-bound freight was up 19 per cent. "The trend is continuing in 2009," a company release said.

"The heavyweight boom follows rate reductions of up to 42 per cent on GX rates for shipments over 10 kilos to Central and South America, with rate cuts of up to 30 per cent for the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. At the same time, rates for GS services to all US destinations were cut by 30 per cent for shipments over 71 kilos," it said.

AMI Express' customer profile has also shifted, with a greater proportion of business from freight forwarders rather than couriers.

"Our GS and GX products offer late closeouts in the UK, and nine deliveries in major US cities," said AMI general manager Patrick Walsh. "They are also delivered-to-door, which relieves freight forwarders of the need to find suitable partner agents at destination, and arrange domestic delivery."

The company is now cutting rates to China, India, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland and predicts "further substantial growth in 2009."

Meanwhile, AMI Express said it is continuing to build on its newer import express business, based around FedEx services. It said that last year saw a 40 per cent rise in traffic in this segment.

Said Mr Walsh: "The growth potential is in heavyweights and imports, and that's where we will place most emphasis this year."

Australia hits AF-KLM, Martinair, Cargolux with US$10 million fine

THREE European airlines have been fined a total of A$16 million (US$10.4 million) by an Australian court for involvement in an international price-fixing, air freight cartel that has led to a string of fines for major players operating across both sides of the Atlantic.

The Australian Federal Court fined Air France-KLM A$6 million after it admitted fixing fuel surcharges in the air cargo market, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said.

It said Martinair of the Netherlands and Luxembourg's Cargolux International were each fined A$5 million after making similar admissions, reports Agence France-Presse.

"This matter sends a clear message to those involved in cartel behaviour - the ACCC will not stop its endeavours to identify and bring to an end illegal price-fixing," said ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel.

The fines bring penalties to A$41 million after national carrier Qantas was fined A$20 million and British Airways A$5 million last December.

More fines may be on the way for others involved in the price-fixing cartel as the ACCC said investigations against other airlines were continuing.

Alitalia Cargo sold for less than US$19 million

CARGOITALIA is to buy Alitalia Cargo for EUR14.5 million (US$18.8 million) after its freighter services to China, Japan, India and the United States ceased when CAI investment group snubbed the cargo arm in its revamp of Alitalia in January.

According to Newark's Journal of Commerce Alitalia's bankruptcy commissioner, Augusto Fantozzi told the Italian all-cargo carrier that CargoItalia plans to complete the sale in four instalments over the coming weeks. It plans to hire 15 pilots within a month of deal closure, and take a further 15 pilots per MD-11 freighter to enter the fleet over a two year period.

The news comes hot on the heels of German's Lufthansa Cargo and Luxembourg-based CargoLux aggressive move into the Italy's freighter services with the German freighter service begun from Milan's Malpensa to NY, and intercontinental services due from Milan in April from CargoLux.

Russia air cargo sheds 36pc, passengers down 19pc in January

RUSSIAN airlines are reported to have suffered a decline of 36.1 per cent in the volume of air freight transported in January with 35,352 tonnes of cargo and mail being handled by the nation's carriers, down from 55,353 tonnes a year earlier, according to government-mandated, industry watchdog Transport Clearing House (TCH).

It said passenger numbers fell by 19.2 per cent in January compared with the same month a year earlier, after 2.5 million passengers travelled on Russian airlines in January, a year-on-year drop from 3.1 million.

The drop in passenger numbers is said to be almost twice as sharp as the Transport Ministry's January forecast of 10-11 per cent, reports Reuters.

The report added that the global economic meltdown has hit Russia's real economy hard, worsening unemployment, swelling wage arrears and creating a sharp devaluation of the Russian currency, forcing many to cut spending on basic necessities.

In December, Transport Minister Igor Levitin predicted a 10 per cent decline in passenger travel during 2009.

Evergreen to hike rates US$300 per TEU on Asia-Europe route

TAIWAN's biggest shipping line, Evergreen Marine Corp, has revealed that it will increase freight rates on its Asia-Europe routes steadily this year, starting April 1, reports the Taipei Times.

The company is now increasing rates US$300 per TEU from April 1 and plans further hikes in June and August, Evergreen chairman Arnold Wang told journalists in Taipei.

Freight rates on Asia-Europe routes, which are negotiated quarterly, are now down as much as $500 per TEU from the fourth quarter. Current rates are US$850 per TEU. Break-even rates even are reckoned at $1,100 per TEU.

Evergreen Marine is the operator of Asia's largest container shipping line, and the fourth largest globally.

Mr Wang said capacity on the Asia-Europe/Mediterranean trades had been reduced by 24 per cent from 420,000 TEU per week to 320,000 TEU per week and would continue to shrink.

Mr Wang said he expects improvements in load factors after capacity cuts and factories return to full work after Chinese New Year.

Tianjin's 2008 foreign trade value up 12.6pc in 2008

TIANJIN'S foreign trade value increased 12.6 per cent year on year in 2008 to US$80.5 billion, Xinhua reported.

Export value increased 10.7 per cent to $42.2 billion while import value rose 14.7 per cent, up to $38.3 billion, generating a trade surplus of $3.9 billion.

Under the influence of economic downturn, Tianjin's exports to the US fell 9.6 per cent last year, while those to the EU was on a slower growth of 3.1 per cent.

SeaCo beats bankruptcy, enters foray as operators fight for life

SEA Containers Ltd, a Bermuda-based shipping company, has transferred its maritime container interests to a new company in a bid to emerge from US bankruptcy proceedings.

The newly formed company, SeaCo Ltd, borrowed US$127 million from units of Belgium's Fortis Bank NV and Germany's DVB Bank AG to pay back loans taken for the Delaware court-ordered restructuring, the company said in a statement, reports Bloomberg.

Major shareholders of SeaCo will be former Sea Containers bondholders and two UK pension funds, the company said.

This comes after Sea Containers filed for bankruptcy in October 2006, with a plan to offload loss-making European ferry and rail operations in favour of its traditional business of providing shipping containers worldwide.

With General Electric Capital Corporation, SeaCo owns one half of maritime leasing company, GE SeaCo, as well as a container fleet.

"SeaCo has been formed at a challenging time for the maritime container industry as it responds to the downturn in global shipping," said SeaCo CEO Mark Wilson.

CSX delays intermodal rail terminal in Jacksonville area

CSX's plan to develop a new container transfer facility for rail freight at Dames Point, near Jacksonville, Florida, has been delayed six months to a year on the back of falling international demand for container shipments.

The terminal was originally slated to open in 2011 near Dames Point, near Jacksonville, and was to be designed to handle containers from the newly opened TraPac Container Terminal and Hanjin Shipping that required rail transit.

Once TraPac and Hanjin terminal traffic picks up, the new transfer facility is expected to handle two 280-container trains a day, said CSX Intermodal assistant vice president Adam Bridges in a Jacksonville Business Journal report.

It said that about 1.8 million TEU will pass through the rail box terminal annually once trade resumes its earlier pace.

Mr Bridges said the cost of the facility isn't known, nor is the exact location. The rail company and the Jacksonville Port Authority are looking to build the facility near the docks of the nearby TraPac and Hanjin terminals, much like CSX's transfer facility at the Port of Savannah.

Currently, Talleyrand Terminal is the only port authority-controlled terminal with direct rail access, said terminal director Doug Menefee. The on-site rail allows Hamburg Sud and Crowley to move cargo in and out of the terminal, the report said.

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