Soaring costs put the squeeze on feeder operators, while profit-fat liners look on
The future of some feeder services in North Europe is under threat from the pincer movement of sky-high charter hire rates and escalating port delays.
Feeder operators are paying at least double the daily hire rate of a year ago for the same ships and, at the same time, losing their traditional modus operandi, which is based on flexibility, by being obliged to commit to charters of two years or more with owners.
Source: The Loadstar
Air freight volumes in 2021 ‘follow 2019 trends’
Air freight volumes in May and June this year appear to be broadly following the overall volume trends of 2019, prior to the pandemic, although there are some significant regional variations, analysis by WorldACD reveals.
Although overall volumes for the first five months of 2021 are 20% above their levels in the same months in the highly disrupted 2020, worldwide volumes so far in 2021 are behaving “very much like in 2019”, WorldACD noted – with year to date (YtD) figures for the first five months of 2021 only 1% below the level of 2019.
Source: Lloyd´s Loading List
European ports join forces to cut ship emissions at berth
The ports of Rotterdam, Antwerp, Hamburg, Bremen and Haropa (including Le Havre) have agreed to work together aiming to reduce emissions from berthed vessels.
The five seaports in North-West Europe signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 21 June to make a joint commitment to providing shore-based power facilities for container ships from 14,000TEU upwards by 2028.
Source: Container News
Hutchison Ports Yantian to resume normal operations
Yantian International Container Terminal (YICT) has resumed normal terminal operations following a month of disruptions caused by a COVID-19 outbreak in Southern China.
Hutchison Ports Yantian announced that the outbreak had been put effectively under control in the port area, allowing the operation capacity of the terminals to have steadily recovered.
Source: Container Management
CMA CGM suspends Le Havre calls amid congestion
CMA CGM said it plans to stop calling at the French port of Le Havre for three months, citing congestion.
The French container line said the move was to maintain the quality of its Eurosal service, which connects northern Europe with the west coast of South America and the Caribbean.
CMA CGM told customers that heavy congestion and lack of productivity had affected the route’s reliability.
Source: Lloyd´s Loading List
HMM confirms a dozen 13,000TEU vessels order
HMM has signed newbuilding contracts with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) and Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) for twelve 13,000TEU container ships.
The total cost of the new container vessels is US$1.57 billion, according to the company's announcement.
Source: Container News
Plans for 'new world-class cargo facility' at New York-JFK Airport
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has signed a long-term ground lease agreement with Aeroterm - a leading provider of facility-related services to airports throughout North America - for the development of a state-of-the-art, US$145 million, 350,000-sq.ft cargo facility on more than 26 acres at New York's JFK International Airport.
“The first new cargo facilities built at JFK in two decades, the Aeroterm project represents a significant step forward in the JFK Vision Plan outlined by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The project is part of a comprehensive Port Authority strategy to bring 21st-century standards to cargo operations at all of its commercial airports,” the Authority said in a statement.
Source: Lloyd´s Loading List
Steepest decline in cargo volumes since 2009 at Dutch seaports
Throughput at seaports in the Netherlands experienced the steepest decline in 2020 since the 2009 financial crisis. While the impact of the coronavirus pandemic was apparent on shipping, the Dutch national statistical agency Statistics Netherlands (CBS) released a report seeking to quantify the impact on the seaports and trade including the Port of Rotterdam’s which is Europe’s busiest container port.
In 2020, the total volume of incoming and outgoing cargo shipments to and from Dutch seaports declined by more than eight percent to nearly 558 million tons. According to the statics, incoming shipments of dry and wet bulk were the hardest hit in 2020 with substantial declines in volumes. Container throughput, on the other hand, rose slightly in 2020.
Source: The Maritime Executive
Port security spending soars as shipping booms
With the shipping industry is responsible for about 90% of global trade by volume, governments are prioritizing the safe and secure transportation of goods to ensure economic stability and growth, stresses a large California-based information and growth consulting enterprise.
A Frost & Sullivan analysis on the global maritime port security market finds the sector is being driven by increased threats to port operations, terminal expansions and new ports, soaring traffic, and the acceleration of digitization.
Source: Maritime Magazine
