Fracht Australia News - December 2018
1/12/2018
“You can’t take care of your customers if you don’t take care of yourself…..”
Catherine DeVrye
This is the last newsletter for 2018 and we’d like to take this opportunity to convey sincere thanks to all our clients, friends, partners, suppliers and offices around the world for your amazing support and loyalty during the year. All Fracht companies in Australia have performed well and this was only possible with the help of all of you and of course our great team. The whole Fracht team wishes you a wonderful Christmas and for the New Year lots of success, happiness and excellent health. We very much look forward to continue to provide outstanding customer care to you in 2019.
As in previous years we won’t be sending individual Christmas cards. The money we save – AUD1,450.00 will be donated to “Make A Wish Australia”. This wonderful charity makes the cherished wishes of children and teenagers battling life-threatening medical conditions come true. Make a Wish give seriously ill children hope for the future, strength to face the challenges of their illness and joy from their incredible wish-experience.
AROUND THE WORLD
AFRICA: Fracht’s expansion into the African Continent continues and we are delighted to report that Fracht will open new offices in Dakar / Senegal, Accra / Ghana and Port Louis / Mauritius in January 2019.
MEXICO: Following a controversial four day referendum, Mexican voters elected to abandon the USD 13.3 billion project to construct a new airport in Mexico City. The project was already approximately one third complete which means that the cancellation costs about USD 5 billion. Instead of a new airport the plan is to expand the existing Mexico City International airport which last year handled 44 million passengers, a number well beyond its capacity.
NORWAY: Earlier this year Wilhelmsen and Kongsberg joined forces to establish the world’s first autonomous shipping company named Massterly. Now Wilhelmsen Ship Management (WSM) signed two agreements to help lay the regulatory framework for autonomous shipping. The first agreement DNV GL and the Norwegian Maritime Authority focuses on safety management systems for autonomous and remote controlled ships while the second agreement with DNV GL and the University of South Eastern Norway aims to develop the competence required in a shore-control centre to manage and operate autonomous vessels.
SPAIN: Fracht Project Logistics opened a new office in Madrid on 5 November located at Avenida de Europa 19, 3A Office 312, Parque Empresarial La Moraleja, 28108 Madrid, Tel. +34 91793 22 40.
AIRFREIGHT NEWS
- THE AIRFREIGHT MARKET IS HEATING UP IN THE PRE-CHRISTMAS season and space is expected to be extremely tight on most routes. Please book as early as possible if you expect large airfreight shipments.
- CATHAY PACIFIC ADDED A SIXTH WEEKLY FREQUENCY BETWEEN ADELAIDE AND HONG KONG on 28 October. At the same time the carrier increased its daily services to Tokyo from six to seven. In March 2019 Cathay will add three weekly A330-300 services to its daily Frankfurt flights and from June the link to Madrid will increase from five to seven flights per week.
- THE LIST OF THE TOP 2017 CARGO AIRPORT WAS RELEASED and not one of them is in Europe. The top 10 airports are Hong Kong number one followed by Memphis, Pudong PVG, Incheon, Anchorage, Dubai, Louisville, Tokyo Narita, Taipei and Singapore.
- ACCORDING TO THE LATEST IATA FIGURES INTERNATIONAL AIRFREIGHT CONTINUED ITS MODERATE GROWTH IN SEPTEMBER. Year to date volumes for the first nine months of 2018 increased by 3.9% while the Asia Pacific region recorded 3.4% growth.
AUSTRALIAN PORTS
- MELBOURNE RETURNED TO THE NUMBER ONE1 SPOT in the 2017 / 2018 financial year. The port handled a total of 2.74 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent units) representing 34.2% of Australia’s total volume. The previous leader Sydney handled 2.73 million TEUs, Brisbane 1.3, Fremantle 0.8 and Adelaide 0.4 million. Overall the Australian ports enjoyed an 11.6% growth in container volumes.
- CLOSE TO 2,000 SLOTS WERE CANCELLED in DP World’s Port Botany terminal on 16 and 17 November due to industrial action.
- DUE TO THE AGM OF THE MARITIME UNION OF AUSTRALIA containers won’t be handled in the terminals in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle on 27 November for four to eight hours; in Adelaide on 28 November for four hours; and in Brisbane 29 November for four hours.
TPP – TRANSPACIFIC PARTNERSHIP
Australia has now officially adopted the TPP Free Trade Agreement which includes Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, Peru, Chile Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei. At this stage only Australia, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, Canada and Singapore have passed domestic legislation ratifying the agreement. The remaining countries are expected to follow soon. Australia of course already had existing FTAs with seven of the 10 countries but the TPP still brings some additional benefits, such as wide ranging duty free entry of goods into Australia from Canada and Mexico, increased access for Australian exporters to Canada and Mexico, improved access to the Japanese agriculture market, once ratified improved access to Peru and slightly better access to Malaysia and Vietnam.
