News

Fracht Australia News - April 2017

1/4/2017

Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb.  That’s where the fruit is. 

H Jackson Browne

 

AIRFREIGHT NEWS

• QATAR AIRWAYS LAUNCHED THE WORLD LONGEST COMMERCIAL FLIGHT from Doha to Auckland. The scheduled time for the distance of 14,535 kilometers is 17 hours and 30 minutes on a B-777-200LR. The distance is only slightly longer than the previous record achieved by Emirates on the 14,326 kilometer route from Dubai to Auckland. Neither service can utilise the full belly hold cargo capacity of the B777 but Qatar can still uplift 116 tonnes per week on this route.
• As previously reported 1 JULY IS D-DAY FOR THE MANDATORY PIECE LEVEL SCREENING for airfreight exports to the USA. Dnata is the first terminal operator to announce a new fee of AUD 0.09 per kilo to cover the additional costs.  We expect the other terminal operators to implement similar new fees. Dnata will also increase their other fees on 3 April by an average of approximately 3.5%.
• After a temporary suspension in 2016 the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Department has RE-INSTATED FUEL SURCHARGES EFFECTIVE 1 APRIL.  The current fuel surcharge is USD 0.70 per kilo for long haul and USD 0.20 per kilo for short haul flights. This will be adjusted depending on future oil prices.
• THE LATEST IATA FIGURES REVEALED THAT INTERNATIONAL AIRFREIGHT HAD A SOLID START IN 2017. There was an 8% increase in January 2017 compared to 2016 and the Asia Pacific region improved by 7.5%.

 

SEAFREIGHT NEWS 

• ANL RESUMES DIRECT CALLS INTO TOWNSVILLE IN APRIL. This is great news for importers and exporters in Northern Queensland. ANL’s APX and APR vessels carry dry and reefer containers as well as breakbulk and project cargoes. Every 17 days there is an APX sailing calling Lae – Port Moresby – Townsville – Brisbane - Lae. The APR service provides a fast and efficient transshipment service from South East Asia to Townsville via Lae every 15 days. ANL offers seamless transshipment solutions to many other ports in Asia, New Zealand, India, Europe Middle East and the USA.
• CMA CGM WILL INTRODUCE A CONTAINER INSPECTION FEE of AUD 13.25 per container on all inbound containers into Australia effective 1 April.
• THE MERGER BETWEEN HAPAG LLOYD AND UASC won’t be completed by the end of March as originally planned. The “Business Combination Agreement” has been extended until 31 May although the actual closing date can occur earlier.  Irrespective of the actual closing date “The Alliance” will start its operation on 1 April including all vessels as planned.
• ONCE AGAIN SHIPPING LINES HAVE ANNOUNCED RATE INCREASES OF UP TO USD 400.00 PER TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) from most Asian origins effective 1 April. Due to capacity shortage out of Europe some carriers have also announced ”Peak Season Surcharges” from Europe. We expect that the actual increases will be much lower or postponed until further notice.

 

AUSTRALIAN PORTS 

• DP WORLD AUSTRALIA HAS ANNOUNCED AN INCREASE OF THEIR MELBOURNE INFRASTRUCTURE SURCHARGE BY ALMOST 1000% from 17 April. The fee will increase from AUD 3.45 per container to AUD 32.50. One of the main reasons for this increase appears to be “higher rent, land tax and council rates”. In Sydney the fee will increase from AUD 0 to AUD 21.14 per container. Many analysts expect other stevedores to mirror DPWA’s lead. Freight Forwarding Industry and Logistics Industry Representatives have participated in a round table discussion with the ACCC on 24 March in an attempt to determine if DP World has misused its market power, been unconscionable in its conduct or engaged in unfair contract terms. Investigations are ongoing.
• In our January / February Newsletter we reported that the first “empty” container ship arrived at the new Victoria International Container Terminal in Webb Dock, Melbourne in January. The first LADEN CONTAINER SHIP MS “E.R. LONG BEACH” finally sailed from VICT on Thursday, 2 March at 1pm.  The “Long Beach” docked in the early hours of Sunday and was expected to leave the following day but software and technical problems at the terminal caused extensive delays.

 

STRIKE IN SPANISH PORTS CANCELLED

The strikes in all Spanish ports which commenced on 22 February have finally ended on 17 March. It’ll take a while to clear all the back logs and congestions because shipping lines have avoided calling Spanish ports during the strike.