News

Fracht Australia Logistics News - January / February 2025

4/2/2025

AROUND THE WORLD 

• FRACHT ITALY OPENS NEW OFFICE – We are thrilled to announce that Fracht Italy have opened a new office in Porto Marghera, Italy, and are pleased to introduce Mr Pietro Mayer as the new Branch Manager. This new location will offer a comprehensive range of services starting on 17 February 20205, which include Warehousing, Packing and Heavy Lift Handling. The address is: Via Banchina dell' Azoto, 15, 30175 Venezia VE, Italy.
• FRACHT PORTUGAL HAS MOVED to a new office in Lisbon. This relocation marks another step in Fracht Portugal’s growth, and is further strengthening their presence in the region. New address is: Rua Maria da Gloria da Silva Monteiro, 2, 1^st Floor, Alverca do Ribatejo, Lisbon, T +351 925 026 070
• ROTTERDAM – SINGAPORE CORRIDOR PILOTS BIO-METHANE BUNKERING. Partners of the Rotterdam-Singapore Green and Digital Shipping Corridor (GDSC) have successfully piloted bunkering of mass-balanced liquefied bio-methane (LBM) at the Port of Rotterdam. A total of 100 tonnes of mass-balanced LBM was supplied by Shell to liquefied natural gas (LNG) powered containership CMA CGM TIVOLI. The LBM, produced from waste-based feedstock, used in the pilot provides a lower-emission alternative to conventional marine fuels.
• US PORT STRIKE CALLED OFF as ILA and USMX reach ‘tentative agreement’. Shippers were able to breathe a sigh of relief as the east and Gulf coast port strike slated to commence mid-January was called off. The two sides have agreed to continue under the current contract until the union can meet with its wage scale committee to schedule a ratification vote, and the USMX members can review and agree the terms of the new contract.
• HOUTHIS TO CEASE ATTACKS ON NON-ISRAELI SHIPPING IN RED SEA. Houthi communiques have confirmed that the group will cease attacks on most vessels in the Red Sea, continuing to target ships owned by Israeli companies or flying the Israeli flag. The development defies what many expected from a group which, according to some estimates, has managed to extort more than USD 2bn in pay-offs from shipping lines since it began the attacks. The development sets the stage for Red Sea transits to resume, leaving the shipping industry to figure out how to manage the resulting, according to Drewry estimates, tonnage oversupply of 25%. 

SEAFREIGHT NEWS 

• HOEGH AUTOLINERS continues to lock-in long-term business at good freight rates despite wider indications of a late-year slump in volumes in PCTC (Pure Car and Truck Carrier) trades. The company announced in early December that it had signed a 5-year contract with “a major international car producer” for transport of significant volumes of cars in two core trade lanes. Shipments under the contract commenced 1 January 2025. Following the signing of this contract, Höegh Autoliners have over the last two years signed contracts with average annualised volumes of 10.8 million cubic metres with an average duration of 4.3 years.
• ORIENT OVERSEAS CONTAINER LINE (OOCL) has reported a bumper fourth quarter in calendar year 2024 and a very strong full year, in preliminary results released late last week. For the fourth quarter ended 31 December 2024, total revenues increased by 55.0% to USD 2,513.8 million, as compared to the same period in 2023. Total liftings increased by 6.1% and the loadable capacity increased by 4.2%. The overall load factor was 1.5% higher than the same period in 2023. Overall average revenue per TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) increased by 46.2% compared to the fourth quarter of 2023.
• TRANSPACIFIC SPOT RATES declined for the first time in a month in mid-January, as the threat of a US East and Gulf port strike vanished and the opportunity for pre-Chinese New Year (CNY) front-loading ended. “Can carriers correct this? November and December were extraordinary for Far East to North Europe and Med as the spot market rose,” said Xeneta head analyst Peter Sand. “We enter a weaker period of the year, a decline is happening – although still substantially above the end-October rates – but even a swift raft of blank sailings cannot turn the tide.”
• HOEGH’S FOURTH AURORA NEWBUILD, Höegh Sunlight, was named in “a grand ceremony” at the Taicang Haitong Auto Terminal. It commenced its LNG-powered maiden voyage to Europe, fully loaded with Chinese cargo, shortly after celebratory fireworks. Höegh Sunlight follows the December-delivered Höegh Australis and earlier Höegh Aurora and Höegh Borealis.
• SERVICE RETURN TO USING SUEZ CANAL ‘JUST A ONE-OFF’. Despite positive ceasefire developments, stakeholders should not expect container lines to immediately return to using the Suez Canal, due to a “highly unpredictable year”. While it was reported that CMA CGM could be eyeing a return to the Red Sea route for its Europe Pakistan India Consortium (EPIC) service, the French carrier said “CMA CGM Columbia will sail through the Suez Canal to the port of Jeddah as part of a single ad hoc call.  Vessels on the EPIC service will not systematically sail through the Suez Canal.  CMA CGM is closely monitoring the developments in the region and hopes for a return to stability and safety for all.”  Shipping Analyst Drewry advised that most carriers would “wait to see how things develop and will need to be utterly convinced that the threat of attack has been eliminated before they consider a return to Suez transits” a timeline, it said, that would take “months rather than weeks”.  

AIRFREIGHT NEWS 

• EU APPROVES SALE OF ASIANA’S CARGO BUSINESS TO AIR INCHEON. On 13 February 2024, the European Commission approved the proposed acquisition of Asiana by Korean Air Lines, but as part of this, Korean had to commit to divesting Asiana’s cargo business in order to address concerns that the acquisition would result in reduced competition between Europe and South Korea. In August, Korean signed a “basic business sale agreement” with Air Incheon for Asiana’s cargo business, worth approximately USD 342m. The Commission said in a website news briefing on 28 November that it had approved the sale of Asiana’s cargo business Air Incheon under the EU Merger Regulation.
• AIR CARGO VOLUMES ARE PREDICTED TO RISE 5.8% year on year to reach 72.5m tonnes in 2025, supported by e-commerce and Red Sea-related demand. While demand is expected to continue to grow, the average yield is predicted to adjust downwards by 0.7%, but still remain well above pre-pandemic levels. With demand increasing and yields only slightly declining, cargo revenues are expected to reach USD157bn (15.6% of total airline revenues) in 2025, said IATA (International Air Transport Association).
• STRONG Q4 AND BOOMING E-COMMERCE will likely turn into a “record peak season’ for air cargo, according to IATA economist Ghislaine Lang, but the growth will be hard to sustain next year. And in line with the “much better than initially expected demand”, IATA has doubled its annual CTK (cargo tonne km) growth forecast for 2024, to a “remarkable” 11.8%, delivering an “all-time high in air cargo demand”. However, Ms Lang noted that the year-on-year growth rates had been off the back of “an overall weak 2023 market”.  
• IATA LAUNCHES AIR CARGO DEVICE ASSESSMENT PROGRAMME with the aim of validating air cargo tracking devices, data loggers and sensor-equipped devices for compliance with industry safety standards. The device assessment programme aims to support more effective delivery of time and temperature sensitive shipments, reduce waste and preserve the integrity of shipments, as well as to validate compliance with IATA’s Recommended Practice 1693, which provides critical safety guidance for electromagnetic compatibility and battery safety.
• E-COMMERCE DRIVES CHINA’S 2024 AIR CARGO VOLUMES TO RECORD HIGH. The swiftly growing ecommerce market has led to China’s air cargo volumes reaching an all-time high of 20.06m tonnes in 2024 – up nearly 20% on the 16.8m tonnes carried in 2023. The capacity increase out of China was 25%, as key airports enjoyed double-digit growth. According to the Civil Aviation Resource Net of China, Shanghai Pudong was the busiest for air cargo and mail, handling 3.77m tonnes last year, up 10%. 

OCEANIA PORTS 

• PROTECTED INDUSTRIAL ACTION AGAINST QUBE PORTS. The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) initiated protected industrial action against Qube Ports due to stalled negotiations over a new employment contract. The action disrupted cargo movement across Australian ports until it was withdrawn on 15 January, following months of negotiations and significant supply chain disruptions and delays. It caused Shipping Australia (SA) to call for the Government to intervene in the ongoing series of industrial actions, arguing it will begin to cripple the Australian economy.
• BLOW FOR PORT HEDLAND. Pilbara Ports have had to close and clear all berths at Port Hedland as well the Ports of Dampier, Ashburton, Varanus Island and Cape Preston on 19 January 2025, due to the likelihood of an approaching tropical low degenerating into a full cyclone. Pilbara Ports reopened for business on 20 January as tropical cyclone Sean, which built to a category three with winds near the centre of 130 kilometres per hour with wind gusts up to 185 kilometres per hour, headed west southwest.
• LANDSIDE CHARGES RISING. Economic consultancy NineSquared has measured substantial growth in landside port charges in the course of 2024, and foresees more of the same without policy of regulatory response recommended by the ACCC.  “From our recent update of our Landside Port Charges Index, we found that landside port charges across Australia’s capital cities have continued to grow, with container terminal access charges increasing by a national average of 21% over the previous year,” NineSquared said. “Stevedore ancillary and penalty charges increased by 26% and 37% respectively while empty container park access charges increased by 17% across Australia.” 

CUSTOMER SERVICE 

If you would like further information about any of the above items, please contact one of our friendly Fracht Team members at fracht@frachtsyd.com.au