News

Fracht Australia News - October 2022

30/9/2022

AROUND THE WORLD 

• CHINA - The Golden Week national holiday begins on 1 October until 7 October. All non-essential businesses will be closed. Terminals will be open but deliveries will be affected. 4 October is a holiday in Hong Kong and 10 October in Taiwan.
• EUROPE - Ports in the Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium remain severely congested due to multiple factors including industrial action, lack of truck drivers and other bottleneck challenges.
• SUEZ CANAL - The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) has announced a 15% fee increase which will apply to all vessels, except cruise ships and bulk carriers which will see a 10% increase. In connection with the hike of these transit tolls the SCA pointed to rising energy costs and global inflationary pressures.
• UK - Dock workers at the port of Liverpool commenced a two week strike on 26 September and Felixstowe dockers started an eight day strike on 27 September. Both strike actions are results of pay disputes. This will add further pressure on the very considerable supply chain challenges in the UK and Europe.
• USA - A US railroad strike was narrowly averted as unions and companies reached a tentative deal on 15 September after 20 hours of intense talks brokered by the Biden administration. A rail shutdown could freeze almost 30% of US cargo shipments and cost the US economy up to USD 2 billion per day. US ports continued to be severely impacted by congestion especially in Savannah and New York. A lack of chassis, equipment and labour shortages are expected to cause significant problems until 2024. 

SEAFREIGHT NEWS 

• CHINA-BASED INTRA-ASIA CARRIER – ASEAN SEAS LINE – (ASL) HAS LAUNCHED A NEW China – Australia service ACX.  The twice-monthly service rotation is Qingdao – Shanghai – Shekou – Brisbane – Sydney – Melbourne – Qingdao.
• HAPAG-LLOYD STARTED INSTALLATION OF TRACKING DEVICES on all of its dry container fleet. The carrier launched the process at its home base in Hamburg. Up to 200 depots worldwide will eventually equip 1.6 million dry containers with real-time trackers. The vast majority of Hapag’s containers will be trackable by the end of 2023.
• TOTALENERGIES MARINE FUELS HAS SUCCESSFULLY BUNKERED A CMA CGM VESSEL WITH BIOFUEL. The “CMA CGM Montoir” was refueled in Singapore with biofuel comprised of very low sulphur fuel blended with 24% second-generation waste-based used cooking oil methyl ester. This latest operation follows successful biofuel trials by TotalEnergies Marine Fuels performed in Singapore with COSCO, Mitsui OSK Line and NYC Line.
• SOME SHIPPING LINES HAVE RESORTED TO BLANK SAILING PROGRAMMES to prop up rates as a result of the failure of a peak season to materialise in the build-up to Golden Week. 

AIRFREIGHT NEWS 

• THE LATEST AIR CARGO MARKET ANALYSIS BY IATA REVEALS that worldwide volumes in July contracted by 9.7% compared to June 2022. The Asia Pacific region fell by 9% YoY in July. Year to date per 30 July total international volumes declined by -5.1% compared to 2021 but increased by 1.5% compared to pre-Covid 2019. The Asia Pacific region dropped by -2.3% compared to 2021 and 0% compared to 2019. The Asia Pacific is the region with the highest Cargo Load Factor (CLF) in the world followed by Europe.
• THE DNATA TERMINALS IN SYDNEY, MELBOURNE, BRISBANE ANDADELAIDE EXPERIENCED SEVERE DELAYS in the first two weeks of September, in particular in Melbourne it took up to nine days to check in urgent airfreight!! While the situation improved temporarily the situation deteriorated again due to the long weekends in late September and early October.  Truckers are experiencing long waiting times to collect cargo from the terminals. 

AUSTRALIAN PORTS 

• THE PORT OF MELBOURNE REPORTED ANOTHER SOLID GROWTH IN AUGUST.  Total container throughput reached 284,487 TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit), an increase of 9.5% on the same month last year. Year to date volumes per August were up 6.5%. Overseas imports increased by 11.2% in August while full overseas container exports grew 8.2% compared to August 2021.
• GOOD NEWS – EMPTY CONTAINER STORAGE CAPACITY AT SYDNEY’S PORT BOTANY will increase by more than 16,500 TEU. A new facility with 6,000 TEU capacity is now under construction by independent transport and logistics provider Medlog. This facility will reduce the cost of handling containers, as trucks will be able to drop off empty containers and collect new arrivals without having to leave the precinct. This will reduce congestion and truck queues. DP World has recently demolished two warehouses on the site adjoining their container terminal to deliver new empty container storage capacity. Also ACFS Port Botany will increase its capacity and improve traffic flows by removing two warehouses.  A further positive development is that planning approval has been granted by the NSW Government for increased container stacking heights across Port Botany.
• THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’S PRODUCTIVITY COMMISSION DRAFT REPORT highlights that underperformance of Australia’s container ports costs the economy an estimated AUD 605 million per year. Commissioner Stephen King said that “underperformance on Australia’s ports directly costs business and consumers. Any sustained disruptions to imports or exports magnify these costs across the economy because of the critical role of ports to trade and commerce. Simply achieving world average ship turnaround times would deliver significant benefits.” Commissioner Julie Abramson said workplace arrangements at container terminals are holding back productivity. “Changes to the Fair Work Act and operation of the Fair Work Commission are recommended to tackle protracted enterprise bargaining in container ports and the disruptive industrial action that comes with it.” 

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