March 19, 2019 - Increased speeds and falling costs could see the China-EU land bridge handle more freight, some 2m TEU a year, while IMO 2020 has the opposite effect on sea freight. Head of Russian Railways Oleg Belozyorov told delegates at the International Railway Congress in Vienna that new projects would boost transit times and create a better service for shippers.
Source: The Loadstar
March 18, 2019 - Analysts predict that the impact of IMO 2020 will mean slower ships and more transshipment. This would be a further blow to shippers who also face additional costs to compensate carriers for using cleaner fuel from 1 January. Shippers may dislike surcharges, but they universally hate transshipment, as it introduces another level of risk to the supply chain.
Source: The Loadstar
March 19, 2019 - Renewable generation provided a new record of 742 million megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity in 2018, nearly double the 382 million MWh produced in 2008. Renewables provided 17.6% of electricity generation in the United States in 2018. Nearly 90% of the increase in U.S. renewable electricity between 2008 and 2018 came from wind and solar generation.
Source: American Journal of Transportation
March 19, 2019 - The International Maritime Organization (IMO) sulfur cap is fast approaching. As of January 1, 2020, the sulfur content of fuel used on most commercial ships may not exceed 0.5%, a substantial reduction from the current limit of 3.5% in place since 2012.
Source: The Maritime Executive
March 19, 2019 - Counterfeits account for a relatively small percentage of global trade volumes, but the fact that they are traded at all and that the percentage is growing "very significantly," according to OECD, rings alarm bells for global supply chains.
Source: Supply Chain Dive
March 19, 2019 - Russia's Ministry of Natural Resources has prepared a plan for mineral exports from the Arctic which includes 118 projects aimed at the processing of Arctic mineral resources and shipping them along the Northern Sea Route. Implementation of the projects would cost around 10.5 trillion rubles ($163 billion) up to 2030.
Source: The Maritime Executive
March 19, 2019 - Norway’s $ 1 trillion sovereign wealth fund – the world’s largest – has taken a partial step to dump oil stocks, approving the sale of smaller exploration companies while sparing some of the world’s biggest producers like BP, Exxon Mobil, and Royal Dutch Shell. The strategy shift, based on advice from the country’s central Norges Bank, will affect 1.2 percent of its equity holdings, worth about 66 billion Norwegian kroner, or $7.5 billion.
Source: The Maritime Executive
