PSA’s CITPL increases vessel productivity record for South and East India September 17 , 2019

CHENNAI: Chennai International Terminals Pvt Ltd (CITPL) has set a new vessel productivity record of 171 moves per hour for South and East India.

The terminal handled 3,023 moves in just under 19 hours on 12 September 2019, for the 4,252 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) vessel “Wan Hai 507”. CITPL’s achievement surpassed the earlier South and East India record of 168 moves per hour, which was also set by CITPL in August 2016.

Capt. T. MadhanMohan, General Manager of CITPL, said, “CITPL has again raised the bar for terminal productivity in South and East India. Achieving a vessel rate of 171 moves per hour translates directly into cost savings for shipping lines and port users.

We are immensely grateful to Wan Hai Lines for their support and close cooperation, as well as to our staff for their commitment and teamwork.

“We are also working closely alongside Chennai Port Trust to enhance the competitiveness of the Port. Recent reductions in vessel related charges, increases in free time for direct port deliveries (DPD) and direct port exports (DPE), streamlining of road access, cuts in short haul rail charges by Indian Railways and the development of an empty container depot inside the Port area are just some of the initiatives being taken by stakeholders towards this objective.”

Mr P Raveendran, Chairman, Chennai Port Trust, said, “We compliment the CITPL team on setting this new operational record, and in surpassing their previous milestone. CITPL’s progress is an integral part of Chennai Port’s offerings as part of our long-term commitment to the trade for sustainable operations.”

Also commenting on the achievement from Wan Hai Lines (India), “We salute PSA Chennai’s achievement! The levels of efficiency and reliability demonstrated week in week out by the terminal allow us, as a long term customer, to optimize our operational planning  and so realise the benefits to our network and for our customers. We look forward to the next milestone.”

India to host Dubai like mega shopping fests to boost exports September 17 , 2019

NEW DELHI: As part of the steps taken to boost exports, India will organise annual mega shopping festivals, similar to the ones held in Dubai, to facilitate exchange between global producers and consumers, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said recently. 

She said that these "mega shopping festivals" will be held at four destinations across the Country and their themes will vary.

Coastal Shipping grown by 14.3% in current fiscal year

AHMEDABAD: Dilip Kumar Gupta, Managing Director of Sagarmala Development Company Ltd of the Government of India, said that Coastal Shipping in 2018-19 has increased by 14.3% year-on-year basis.
He said that keeping in mind the projected traffic of 2,500 metric tonnes per annum (MTPA), a roadmap has been created to increase Indian Port capacity to more than 3,300MTPA. In 2018-19, India had handled 1,275MTPA.
Gupta was talking at IIT-Gandhinagar as part of Dr A N Khosla Lecture Series organized by IIT Roorkee Alumni Association, Ahmedabad.
Gupta in his talk said that port engineering has a huge potential for job creation with Sagarmala project of Rs 8 lakh crore. “It will not only reduce logistics cost for both Export-Import operations and domestic trade but will also create jobs and bridge the skills gap in ports and the maritime sector,” he said.
“Modal shift to waterways will reduce the cost of transportation,” Gupta said.

Two export schemes may shift out of Commerce Department to ease process

NEW DELHI: The Government is contemplating a revamp of the Department of Commerce and certain incentive schemes that fall under it, as it aims at administrative easing to boost exports and domestic manufacturing.
The Commerce and Industry Ministry and Finance Ministry are discussing the idea of bringing the new exports incentives scheme — Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) — as well as the existing Advance Authorisation Scheme, within the remit of the drawback committee under the Revenue Department, said people aware of the matter.
At present, the Advance Authorisation Scheme is with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), an arm of the Commerce and Industry Ministry. RoSCTL is a replacement of the DGFT’s Merchandise Exports from India Scheme (MEIS), which was challenged by the US last year for violating global trade rules. It will allow reimbursement of duties on export inputs and indirect taxes through freely transferable scrips.
“There is a feeling that making the Revenue Department solely responsible for these schemes will help in Ease of Doing Business and reduce transaction time for exporters,” said an official, who did not wish to be identified.
The restructuring plan comes in the wake of 0.37% decline in outward shipments in April-July to $107.41 billion, while imports contracted 3.63% to $166.8 billion. Separately, the Government has also discussed putting the External Affairs Ministry in charge of India’s trade negotiations, which at present is the core function of the Commerce Department.

CMA CGM Group delivers solid performance in Q2 2019 despite uncertain Global environment

MARSEILLE: The Board of Directors of the CMA CGM Group, a leading worldwide transport and logistics group, met recently under the Chairmanship of Mr Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, to review the financial statements for the second quarter of 2019.
Shipping activity
The Group’s shipping business remained strong in the second quarter, with significant improvement in volumes carried and in profitability, enabling the shipping activity to post a positive net result.
Growth in carried volumes and revenue
In the second quarter, volumes transported by CMA CGM increased by 6.3 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2018 and by 6.8 per cent compared to the first quarter of 2019.
This positive trend, which is above market, is driven by the strong growth of intra-regional lines (short sea) and the United States lines, which remain particularly dynamic, said a release.
The Group thus relies on the network of intra-regional companies’ expertise that are leaders in their sectors:
* CNC, a specialist in intra-Asia
* Mercosul, a leader in cabotage and door-to-door services in Brazil
* ANL, an expert for Australia and Oceania
* Containerships, specialist in intra-Europe
Second quarter revenue was up 4.6 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2018 and reached $ 6 billion for the Group’s shipping activities.
Operating performance: Positive outcomes from the cost reduction plan
The implementation of the cost reduction plan facilitated decrease in operational expenses by $ 51 per TEU in the second quarter compared to the first quarter of 2019.
This mainly comes from initiatives to rationalise certain trades, the efforts to always improve operational efficiency, lower logistics costs, and the reduction of the Group’s ships consumption.
Adjusted EBITDA came to $ 343.6 million and the EBIT margin amounted to 5.8 per cent.
The net result of the shipping operations reached $ 2.3 million.
Logistics activity: Implementation of CEVA Logistics’ turnaround plan well underway
Following the closing of CMA CGM’s friendly public tender offer for CEVA Logistics, a new corporate governance structure was put in place with the election of Mr Rodolphe Saadé as Chairman of the Board of Directors on April 29, 2019 and the appointment of Mr Nicolas Sartini as Chief Executive Officer effective June 1.
By consolidating the company’s management teams and support functions, the new operations centre in Marseille, which opened on June 25,
is strengthening the leadership and management of the Group’s logistics activities.
CEVA Logistics’ integration is proceeding according to the strategic plan.
CMA CGM Group’s activity
Growth in revenue: Second-quarter revenue stood at $7.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35 per cent.The activity of the Group’s maritime division has particularly benefited from the dynamisms of its intra-regional lines and has posted a growth in volumes above global market growth.
Solid operating performance: In the second quarter of 2019, the CMA CGM Group further enhanced its operating performance, backed by the optimised use of its modern fleet of 528 vessels
(as on June 30) and the responsiveness of its market-aligned organisation.
Adjusted EBITDA came to
$ 954 million for the period, of which
$ 464 million was from the impact of applying IFRS 16 and $ 147 million from the consolidation of CEVA Logistics. Excluding these two factors, adjusted EBITDA was up by a strong 60.1 per cent year-on-year, at $ 343.6 million versus
$ 214.6 million in second quarter 2018. This performance reflected both the sustained growth in revenue and the impact of the performance improvement and cost control plan under way since the beginning of the year.
Adjusted EBITDA margin
improved significantly year-on-year to 12.4 per cent, one of the best in the industry and an improvement from Q2 2018 and the first quarter of 2019.
The implementation of IFRS 16 and the recent acquisition of CEVA Logistics lead to a net result of $ -109 million for the second quarter.
Outlook
In a context of geopolitical uncertainty, the CMA CGM Group continues to focus its efforts on operational efficiency, cost control and the rationalisation of its industrial activities and brands. In addition, the positive momentum generated by the acquisition of CEVA Logistics will gradually enable the Group to benefit from a less volatile and more diversified environment than the maritime sector.
Thanks to all the measures put in place, the Group is confident for the second half of 2019, which should be better than the first one. The CMA CGM Group will continue to improve its financial performance and adapt its commercial offering in order to provide its customers end-to-end offers, the release said.

H K Joshi to take Additional Charge of SCI - C&MD : Shipping Ministry

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Shipping has informed that consequent upon the completion of tenure of Capt. Anoop Kumar Sharma as Chairman & Managing Director, SCI on 11.09.2019.
Smt. H.K. Joshi, Director (Finance) of SCI will hold an additional charge of the post of Chairman & Managing Director (C&MD) of SCI for a further period of three months w.e.f. 12.09.2019, or until further orders, whichever is the earlier, said a company filing with Bombay Stock Exchange.
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Shipping has informed that consequent upon the completion of tenure of Capt. Anoop Kumar Sharma as Chairman & Managing Director, SCI on 11.09.2019.
Smt. H.K. Joshi, Director (Finance) of SCI will hold an additional charge of the post of Chairman & Managing Director (C&MD) of SCI for a further period of three months w.e.f. 12.09.2019, or until further orders, whichever is the earlier, said a company filing with Bombay Stock Exchange.

OOCL once again wins Singapore Environmental Achievement Award

SINGAPORE/HONG KONG: OOCL is once again a proud winner of the 2019 Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (Regional) this year, an award that recognizes persistence and dedication to achieving environmental sustainability in all aspects of the business operation.  

Over the years, OOCL has been an honored award recipient at the Singapore Environmental Achievement Award (SEAA) ceremony organized by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC).  This would be OOCL’s third time winning this award in the same category when it was bestowed to OOCL by the event’s Guest of Honor, Mr. Masagos Zulkifli, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources of Singapore, on August 27, 2019.

 

Commenting on the award win, Mr. Richard Hew, Managing Director of OOCL (Singapore) Pte. Ltd. said: “It is a real honor to win this remarkable award again. In celebrating our exceptional accomplishments and commitment to environmental excellence, this award is certainly a huge encouragement for us to continue pushing forward with our sustainability agenda into the next level and to aim higher in our green objectives.  This is certainly another important milestone reflecting OOCL’s years of culminative efforts in building an outstanding sustainability profile in the industry.”

 

In addressing emerging global environmental challenges over the years, OOCL has been taking a proactive role in implementing many environmental initiatives and projects including green vessel investment, climate scenario analysis, and greenhouse gas management.  We also applied innovative and advanced technology in our business activities, such as shipment simulation and prediction for fuel saving as well as pilot programs exploring the use of blockchain technology to help simplify the shipment documentation processes for operational efficiency, said an OOCL release.