News

Fracht Australia News - March 2018

27/2/2018

 

“It’s nice to be important but it is more important to be nice….”

Anonymous 

AROUND THE WORLD 

• FRANCE: Fracht France has opened a brand new warehouse and distribution facility near Paris’ CDG Airport. The new 5,500 m² warehouse will provide comprehensive logistics services under the expert management of Mr Thierry Bourgot – thierry.bourgot@fracht.fr-Tel +33 1 3029 1111. A BIG welcome to Thierry and his team into the Fracht group.
• FINLAND: We are delighted to welcome one of Finland’s most eminent and experienced project specialists to Fracht Helsinki’s project team: Seppo Heikkinen Tel +358 400 781 255,seppo.heikkinen@fi.fracht.com
• SWEDEN: Due to the long running labour dispute between the Swedish Dockworkers’ Union and APM Terminals Gothenburg, Sweden’s most important gateway of Gothenburg suffered a 19% decline in container movements in 2017. This unprecedented downturn is starting to have a structural impact on Sweden’s container supply chains. Stockholm port reports an 11% growth last year. Hutchinson signed an agreement with the Port of Stockholm to construct a new container terminal in Nynashamn approx 60 km south of Stockholm. The terminal will have a 450,000 TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) capacity when it opens in 2020. The east coast port of Gavle announced a SKR700 million investment to build a second quay which will increase the port’s capacity to 600,000 TEU in the fourth quarter of 2019.
• INDIA: Following the recent tax revisions in India all export related charges except freight will be subject to 18% GST. These costs are also applicable when an overseas party is invoiced.
• USA:  A nationwide truck shortage is forcing up prices and creates problems also for importers and exporters. New federal regulations restricting the number of hours worked by US truck drivers inhibits their ability to maximise equipment utilisation and reduces the number of loads per day. Coupled with increasing volumes, an aging workforce and increased fuel prices this created a perfect storm.
• USA: The TSA (Transport Security Administration) has issued emergency orders for five new countries effective 22 January 2018. The countries including all their airlines and airports which are affected by the enhanced scrutiny are Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE. The order comes in the aftermath of the failed terrorist plot to blow up an Australian flight last year which involved military explosives sent by air cargo from Turkey.

AIRFREIGHT NEWS 

• EMIRATES SKYCARGO LAUNCHED ITS SECOND FREIGHTER SERVICE TO HOLLAND. The new twice weekly B777F flights will land in Maastricht, approx 200 km northwest of Amsterdam. At the end of March Emirates plans to increase the freighter frequency to Maastricht to 7 weekly flights. In 2017 Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport reduced the available slots for freighters.
• QANTAS OPERATED THE WORLD’S FIRST BIOFUEL FLIGHT between Los Angeles and Melbourne on 29 January. The historic  QF96 15 hour B787-9 flight across the Pacific was operated with 24,000 kilos of blended biofuel saving approx 18,000 kilos in carbon emissions.
• AFTER 16 MONTHS SINGAPORE AIRLINES DISCONTINUES ITS “CAPITAL EXPRESS ROUTE” from Singapore via Canberra to Wellington and back. From the end of April the B777-200 will operate 4 weekly flights from Wellington to Singapore via Melbourne instead of Canberra.
• MASKARGO HAS ANNOUNCED FOUR NEW FREIGHTER DESTINATIONS for its A330F fleet to: Bangkok, Jakarta, Macau and Tokyo-Narita.
• THE CURFEW FREE AVALON AIRPORT NEAR MELBOURNE WILL BE UPGRADED TO AN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT towards the end of the year. Air Asia plans to fly twice daily between Avalon and Kuala Lumpur which will provide approx 14,000 kilos additional airfreight capacity per day.
• CHINESE NEW YEAR HOLIDAYS HAVE LED TO THE CANCELLATION OF NUMEROUS FULL FREIGHTER SERVICES between 12 and 28 February resulting in backlogs and delays on most international routes. 

SEAFREIGHT NEWS 

• IN JANUARY WE WROTE ABOUT THE DELAYS OF SHIPS ARRIVING IN AUSTRALIAN PORTS. Unfortunately the delays, port omissions and rescheduling continued throughout February causing considerable inconvenience, extra work and frustration for importers, exporters and logistics providers in Australia.
• LAST YEAR WE REPORTED THAT THE THREE MAJOR JAPANESE CONTAINER LINES (K LINE, MOL & NYK) WILL MERGE into Ocean Network Express (ONE). The merger is almost complete and from 1 April ONE will operate a combined fleet of more than 200 container vessels connecting more than 200 ports in Asia, Latin America, Oceania and Africa. Many operational details still need to be fine-tuned.
• FOLLOWING THE MERGER BETWEEN HAPAG LLOYD AND UASC in May 2017 Hapag Lloyd now boasts one of the youngest fleets. Three older vessels were recycled in September and another seven 4,101 TEU-ships will be recycled in an “environmentally friendly manner” in Turkey and China.   
• DUE TO PERSISTENT CONGESTION IN INDIAN OCEAN PORTS MSC WILL REMOVE INDIAN OCEAN PORT CALLS FROM its Australia Express service. The revised 13 week rotation from early March will be London – Antwerp – Le Havre – La Spezia – Naples – Gioia Tauro – Sydney – Melbourne – Adelaide – Fremantle – Singapore - Colombo - Salalah – Djibouti – King Abdullah - Gioia Tauro - Valencia – London. This change will improve transit times from Europe and restore schedule integrity.
• USD 7 BILLION IS ESTIMATED PROFIT WHICH CONTAINER LINES achieved in 2017 and a similar result is expected for 2018. The active fleet has now reached almost 21 million TEU which is 10.8% higher than a year ago. The number of containership lay ups has fallen to a new low of 82 equating to 301,116 TEU or just 1.6% of the global fleet. 

AUSTRALIAN PORTS 

• VICT (VICTORIA INTERNATIONAL CONTAINER TERMINAL) HAS TAKEN LEGAL ACTION against the Maritime Union and CFMEU in connection with the Webb Dock picket line late last year which inconvenienced numerous importers and exporters. VICT lawyers argue that the MUA should be punished for its “contempt in breaching the order of the Honourable Justice McDonald made on Tuesday 12 December 2017.”  There may be an opportunity for shippers and consignees to recover losses associated with the picket lines (eg container detention, product spoilage, voided trades etc) in joining a “class action” to form part of VICT’s claim. Further information about the class action can be obtained from tbrooks-garrett@ftalliance.com.au
• PATRICK TERMINALS HAVE FOLLOWED THE LEAD OF DP WORLD AND will implement a further significant increases of wharf infrastructure charges from 12 March in all Australian ports. Meanwhile on 16 February Freight and Trade Alliance (FTA) and the Australian Peak Shippers Association (APSA) met with the Chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to address the changing competition landscape in the international trade and landside logistics sectors. One of the topics was these Infrastructure charges. There will be regular meetings between FTA/APSA and ACCC in future. Fracht is a member of FTA.
• EMPTY CONTAINER DEHIRE COSTS MAY INCREASE BY UP TO AUD200.00 PER CONTAINER in Melbourne because shipping lines are forcing truckers to return empty containers to the wharf instead of container parks. Other Australian ports will probably face the same problem in the not too distant future. Returning empty containers to the wharf requires expensive time slot bookings reducing the ability of truckers to combine exports with imports, will be subject to sideloader surcharges, delays and will reduce the overall utilisation of the fleet. 

AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS AND QUARANTINE 

• THE EMERGENCY MEASURES IN CONNECTION WITH THE DETECTION OF THE Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (BMSB) from Italy has led to a huge backlog of containers in Australian fumigation facilities resulting in 1-3 weeks delays and considerable extra costs. To make matters worse The Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has listed the treatment certificates of three of the major Italian fumigators (Ligur Control, Genova Disinfestazioni S.R.L. and Societa Italiana Sterilizzazioni) as unacceptable!
• AUSTRALIAN COMPANIES WHICH HAVE ACHIEVED “TRUSTED TRADER STATUS” WILL BENEFIT from “Mutual Recognition Arrangements” (MRA). In 2017 Australia signed an MRA with Hong Kong Customs and Excise which will come into force in March. On 20 February the Australian Border Force signed a “work plan” with US Customs and Border Protection to help progress for a new MRA with the USA.
• PENALTY UNITS PAYABLE TO AUSTRALIAN CUSTOMS HAVE INCREASED from AUD180.00 to 210.00 per unit. This means that the standard fine for declaration mistakes or interfering with goods subject to Customs control increased from AUD8,100.00 to AUD9,450.00!