Box ships deployed on US and Europe trade lanes continue to increase in size

LONDON: The average containership size on the Asia-North Europe trade is expected to reach 17,000 TEU by September 2020, while the size of vessels deployed on the transpacific trades is also continuing to swell as ocean liners take delivery of more mega ships.

'This year saw the departure of the last 4,200- to 5,500-TEU ships from the Asia-Europe routes, following ZIM's decision to withdraw the Asia-Mediterranean ZMP service in March and HMM suspending its Asia-North Europe AEX service in August,' said Alphaliner in its latest weekly report.

'Widely used on the Asia-Europe trades 15 years ago, tonnage of this size class has now been completely displaced by ships that are - most recently - up to four times larger than their predecessors in the mid-2000s.'

In July, MSC deployed the first 23,700-TEU 'megamax-24' vessel on the Asia-Europe trade and a further five units were delivered in the last three months, reported New York's FreightWaves.

'Twenty-four such ships from various carriers will join the world fleet before the end of 2020,' said Alphaliner. 'All these ships are earmarked for the Asia-North Europe trade.'

MSC deployed the first 19,000-TEU megamax units on the Asia-Mediterranean route in March, raising the average vessel size on that trade lane to 12,600 TEU.

'The Asia-North America routes also saw average vessel sizes increase, but this year the pace has been slower, compared to the Asia-Europe trades, as carriers took a more cautious approach in the face of slower demand growth in the US,' said Alphaliner.

The analyst also reported that the number of inactive containerships has risen as carriers plough ahead with their scrubber retrofit programmes to meet the International Maritime Organization's new low sulphur rule deadline of January 2020.

'The inactive containership fleet has risen sharply over the last two weeks to reach 180 units for 753,819 TEU as of September 30, or 3.3 per cent of the total fleet,' said Alphaliner.

The inactive fleet is expected to expand further this month due to the impact of blanked sailings and the continuing stream of ships entering docks for scrubber retrofits. 'Carriers have announced further void sailings in November in response to weak cargo demand, which could see the inactive fleet remaining above 800,000 TEU for most of the fourth quarter,' said the analyst.

India to be topmost export destination for Peru

LIMA: Peru, which has recently come out a new export master plan, said that it would increase its exports to India. Metals like copper, gold, and zinc are among the items that Peru prominently exports to India.

India will be one of the top priority destinations for Peru, a statement said.

“We have implemented a strong plan to intensify our efforts to encourage exports to new markets. The relationship between Peru and India continues to go strong. This Country will become a key market in Asia for Peruvian Companies and Trade," said Luis Torres, the Executive President of the official Peruvian Exports and Tourism Board (PROMPERU).

Asia to US box traffic dips for the first time in three months

LONDON: Outbound containers exported to the U.S. from 10 major countries and regions in Asia in September (based on shipments that mother vessels are loaded with at ports of origin) decreased 0.5% to 1,441,130 TEUs, incurring the first year-on-year decline in three months, according to American research company Descartes Datamyne. In the first nine months (January-September), in contrast, they increased a minute 0.6% from a year earlier to 12,336,367 TEUs.

Looking at September exports by origin, those from China waned 4.3% to 881,529 TEUs, suffering a year-on-year contraction for eight months in a row, but managed to hold the largest share of the pie, Descartes Datamyne said, referring Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) and bill-of-lading (B/L) data provided by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB). Ranked second were containers from South Korea, which plunged 11.8% to 137,130 TEUs, registering the first year-on-year decrease in 19 months. Finishing in third place, those from Vietnam ballooned 38.2% to 100,456 TEUs, growing from a year earlier for 10 months in a row. Exports from Taiwan came in fourth place, improving 11.6% to 76,492 TEUs and enjoying a year-on-year rise for the seventh consecutive month.

Containers from Japan, which finished in eighth place, fell 6.5% to 34,464 TEUs, marking a year-on-year decrease for 10 straight months. Including those transshipped, they totaled 47,178 TEUs, up 3.8%, making the first year-on-year increase in two months.

Assam set to have India’s first International Multi-Modal Hub October 18 , 2019

GUWAHATI: Assam Industry Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that the State is all set to have India''s first International Multi-Modal Hub recently.

He also said that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed to fund the project at an estimated cost of around Rs 600 crore.

"The Government of Assam is planning to develop Jogighopa, a small township near Brahmaputra river, as a logistics hub or Transshipment point for cargo moving from Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland to Bangladesh," he said, while talking to reporters.

In addition, the Munshiganj River Terminal in Bangladesh will be used as a Customs station to handle third-party export and import cargo via Kolkata Port.

"To bring about a significant reduction in logistics cost and faster delivery of Bangladesh export cargo, the Indian side have raised the point regarding permitting a third Country export-import trade under the Coastal Shipping agreement and protocol on inland water transit and trade (PIWTT) by allowing trans-shipment through ports on the East Coast of India," he said.

"The Bangladesh Government agreed to hold stakeholder consultations and revert on the matter," he added.

"Increasing connectivity through air, water, rail, road offer mutually beneficial opportunity for enhancing economic cooperation between Bangladesh and the Northeastern States of India and beyond," Patowary said.

"Standard operating procedures for the use of Chattagram and Mongla Ports for movement of goods to and from India, particularly to and from the Northeast of India has recently been concluded and it is expected that it

FIEO delegation to visit Kenya, Ethiopia in November to boost exports opportunities

CHENNAI: A high level 37 member FIEO business delegation led by 

Mr. Israr Ahmed, Regional Chairman, FIEO Southern Region will be visiting Nairobi and Addis Ababa from 17 to

22 November, 2019 to explore business opportunities in Agriculture, Machineries and Food Processing sector.

The program is organised with the support of International Trade Centre (ITC) Geneva.  Apart from scheduled Business to Business meetings, the delegation will visit major Special Economic Zones, Plug and play facilities, etc available in both the countries.

The delegation also will be participating in the World Export Development Forum (WEDF) being organised at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by ITC Geneva organised a the part of Africa Industrialisation week, hosted by the African Union Commission and Department of Trade and Industry, Ethiopia FIEO is taking the delegation in the background of building on the momentum of the newly ratified African Continental Free Trade Area. 

The business delegation also aims to provide cutting-edge machinery for food processing, storage and packaging solutions for a variety of agricultural products to Africa.

Mr. Israr Ahmed, Regional Chairman, FIEO Southern Region said, “At a time when trade tensions and escalating, protectionism are undermining the rules based multilateral system, by initiating this delegation, FIEO intend to help in diversification of trade to unexplored African countries.”

Mr. Israr Ahmed stated: “Trade between Africa and India has increased more than eight-fold from US$7.2 billion in 2001 to US$62.5 billion in 2018, making India Africa’s fourth-largest national trading partner, accounting for more than 6.4 percent of total African trade in 2018, up from 

2.7 percent in 2001. The business-to-business matchmaking platform in Kenya and Ethiopia will offer Indian delegates the opportunity to forge new business deals in agribusiness and also help MSME in strengthening their abilities in complying with standards, technical regulations, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) measures, etc.”

NYK completes World’s first autonomous ship trial voyage from China to Japan

TOKYO: Japan’s NYK has completed a trial on the world’s first autonomous ship, a 70,826-tonne pure car truck carriers (PCTC) Iris Leader, sailing from China to Japan.

Using the Sherpa System for Real ship (SSR) navigation system, the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ship (MASS) trial was performed from 14-17 September from China’s Xinsha to Japan’s Nagoya, and then from Nagoya to Yokohama from 19-20 September.

During the trial, the SSR’s performance in actual sea conditions was monitored as it collected information on environmental conditions around the ship from existing navigational devices, calculated collision risk, automatically determined optimal routes and speeds that were safe and economical, and then automatically navigated the ship.

“Using data and experience gained through this trial but not obtainable through onshore simulators, NYK was able to ensure the feasibility of the SSR and its benefit for safe and optimal operations. This trial was a big step toward realizing NYK’s goal of manned autonomous ships,” NYK stated.

“NYK will analyse the data and continue to develop the SSR into a more advanced navigation-support system by making adjustments to the difference between the optimal course derived by the program and that determined by professional human judgment,” it added.

The SSR can become a basic technology for remote and unmanned navigation. The SSR verified by this trial will be applied to future coastal ships, which currently faces serious crew shortages, NYK highlighted.

“NYK’s aim of manned autonomous ships that will make use of advanced technologies and remote support from office to support ship operation and enhance safety,” NYK said.

This trial follows the autonomous ship trial guidelines that the IMO has outlined in June 2019, and it is conducted with approval from the Panama flag state.

Centre to bring law to fix minimum distance between Ports

NEW DELHI: The Government will soon bring a law, which will empower the Centre to fix minimum distance between two ports or to alter the limits of any port in the Country.

In recent years, competing ports have come up close to each other and it has become a major cause of concern, particularly for the Government-owned ports. Ensuring minimum distance will help Major Ports under Government compete with the private ones in the region.

“The New Indian Ports Bill will also specify the minimum quality standards or facilities that every new port has to ensure. The other features will include simplifying the regulatory and administrative mechanism for the ports, fixing of port charges and tariff,” said a Government official.

The issue was discussed in detail with the representatives from States who agreed to set up a panel which will finalise the draft Bill for Government’s consideration.

The proposed law will be applicable to all the 13 Major Ports (owned by Central Government) and other Non-Major Ports (under State Government or with private players) across the Country.

The proposal to set up the panel to look into all aspects is significant considering that some of the Maritime States had earlier opposed a similar Bill in 2011 when the Centre had moved a proposal to amend the Indian Port Act, 1908. They had alleged that the Centre was trying to usurp the powers of State Governments.

Officials also said that the Shipping Ministry will introduce the Major Port Authorities Bill during the winter session of parliament, which will give more freedom to the Major Port Chairmen to take decisions considering the prevailing business condition and to improve efficiency.