Qatar Charters Two MSC Cruises Ships for FIFA World Cup 2022

Qatar has entered into an agreement with MSC Cruises for the charter of two cruise ships during the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
Berthed at Doha Port, the cruise liners will offer a combined capacity of 4,000 cabins and act as floating hotels during the tournament.

Chartering cruise liners for fans has long been part of Qatar’s accommodation strategy, with the country keen to offer sustainable solutions for the month-long tournament, which will kick-off on November 21, 2022.

Under the terms of the agreement, the State of Qatar will charter MSC Cruises’ newbuild MSC Europa and the 2008-built MSC Poesia.

Scheduled for delivery in 2022, MSC Europa is currently under construction in Saint-Nazaire, France. As the first liquefied natural gas-powered ship in MSC Cruises’ fleet, she will run on this fuel while at berth in Doha.

“The Ministry of Transport and Communications has completed the development of Doha Port to accommodate multiple large passenger ships and enable 

the port’s capacity to receive the largest cruise ships in the world, serving fans and visitors who come to Qatar during the 2022 World Cup,” Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transports and Communications, commented.

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe inaugurates CEVA Logistics’ new headquarters in Marseille November 18 , 2019

MARSEILLE: CEVA Logistics new global headquarters in Marseille was officially opened by the Prime Minister of France, Edouard Philippe and the President of the French Region “Sud”, Renaud Muselier accompanied by CEVA’s CEO, Nicolas Sartini, and Rodolphe Saadé, Chairman and CEO, CMA CGM Group.

 

Following a guided tour of the offices where they met with some of the 170 executives based in the company headquarters, they were shown how digital projects developed by the teams in Marseille will help transform the way CEVA operates.

 

Amongst the many digital transformation projects developed in Marseille, the Prime Minister was shown a digital platform that will display the carbon footprint of customer supply chains by mode of transportation. The platform, developed in partnership with startups housed in ZEBOX, the incubator created by Rodolphe Saadé, will leverage the efficiency of delivery options in the best interests of customers and the environment. The collaboration with Wing, a young French company, offering new urban logistics solutions for e-Merchants, was also discussed.

 

In his speech, the Prime Minister highlighted the role of the logistics sector, “Our Country does not sufficiently understand the importance of the supply chain, the importance of well-organized flows. I think we must defend this sector which represents a lot of jobs, strategic and economic issues, especially for a city and a port like Marseille. Intelligence in logistics is at the heart of tomorrow’s economic development.”

 

The Region “Sud” confirmed its full support of CEVA Logistics by announcing 1.5 million Euros for digital development of innovative projects aimed at transforming the customer experience.

 

 

With its new location in France, CEVA Logistics will bring additional capacities to the country’s economic development. Locally-based companies will additionally benefit from CEVA’s knowhow and presence across 800 locations worldwide During the event, Nicolas Sartini CEVA’s CEO said: “It’s an honor to welcome the Prime Minister and have him officially open our new global headquarters. These offices are at the heart of everything we are doing and the teams based here play a pivotal role in CEVA’s future. We are delighted to have been able to showcase some of the new technology projects being developed that will fundamentally change how we operate.”

 

MSME share in exports should rise to 60%: Nitin Gadkari

NEW DELHI: Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Country must understand the needs of the foreign market and design their products accordingly to be able to increase the sector’s share in India's exports to around 60%, Union Minister of MSMEs Nitin Gadkari said. Currently, MSME’s contribute around 49% to the Country’s exports.

 

“We have a target that at least 60% of our export from MSME," Gadkari said at the inauguration of the 39th Indian International Trade Fair here.

 

Gadkari said that entrepreneurs must identify resources in each State of the Country and exploit their potential in accordance with the preference of foreign markets. “We need interaction with different countries to understand what they want, on the basis of that we need to accelerate our manufacturing activity,” Gadkari said.

 

For MSMEs to be able to sell in the international market, it is essential that the cost of production—largely linked with costs of power, logistics and capital— comes down, Gadkari said.

 

Gadkari said that the Government is constantly working to facilitate this reduction in cost of production in the Country.

Multilateral institutions like the World Bank and ADB have agreed to extend line of credit to the sector, Gadkari said.

A.P. Moller - Maersk improves Operational profitability November 18 , 2019

COPENHAGEN: A.P. Moller – Maersk’s third quarter is characterised by improved profitability across the business. Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) improved 14% to USD 1.7bn in the quarter, reflecting an increase in EBITDA margin to 16.5%. Revenue decreased slightly by 0.9% to USD 10.1bn. Operating cash flow increased by 25% to USD 1.7bn with a cash conversion ratio of 105% and free cash flow before capitalized lease payments was USD 1.5bn.

 

“While the Global Container demand, as expected, was lower in Q3 due to weaker growth in the global economy, A.P. Moller - Maersk continued to improve the operating results. We delivered strong free cash flow and a return on invested capital of 6.4% as a result of strong operational performance in Ocean, higher margins in Terminals and solid earnings progress in Logistics & Services,” says Søren Skou, 

CEO of A.P. Moller - Maersk, and continues:“The strong performance for the quarter combined with our expectations for the rest of the year, led to the recent upgrade of our earnings expectations for 2019. We will continue our focus on profitability and free cash flow in Q4 and into 2020.”

 

EBITDA in Ocean improved 13% to USD 1.3bn and EBITDA margin increased to 17.4%, reflecting the focus on profitability through capacity management and operational performance which mitigated lower freight rates and modest volume growth in Q3 of 2.1%. Revenue was USD 7.3 which is on par with Q3 last year.

 

Terminals & Towage reported an increase in EBITDA to USD 313m and an increase in revenue of 5.8% to USD 986m in the third quarter. In gateway terminals, the increase in EBITDA of 33% to USD 261m and a margin of 31.7%, was driven by a volume growth of 9.2%, which contributed to higher utilization, combined with stronger cost efficiency.

 

Logistics & Services progressed with gross profit up 13% to USD 336m following increased activities in intermodal and warehousing & distribution, however partly offset by lower revenue in air and sea freight forwarding. The improved gross profit lead to an increase in EBITDA of 34% to USD 94m and an EBITDA margin of 5.8% and an EBIT conversion ratio of 17.5%.

Net interest-bearing debt decreased further to USD 12.1bn at the end of Q3 (USD 12.9bn at end Q2 2019) after buying back shares of USD 363m as part of the share buy-back programme announced in May 2019.

 

Solid progress despite market uncertainties As part of the strategic target to become more balanced in earnings between the Ocean and non-Ocean partly through cross-selling of end-to-end and digital services, Maersk continues to develop products and services for customers, resulting in high customer satisfaction.

 

“I am pleased with the progress on the transformation of  A.P. Moller - Maersk. We are making progress across multiple fronts including our digital transformation and growth in our land-based logistics products and terminals business,” says Skou. Looking at the measurements of the development in the transformation this quarter, Maersk reports a cash return on invested capital improvement (CROIC) of 13.4% in Q3 from 9.0% in the same period last year.

 

Furthermore, non-Ocean revenue increased 3.7% in Q3 2019, driven by strong growth in the gateway terminals and growth within the strategic integrated parts of Logistics & Services such as intermodal and warehousing. The improved profitability led to an increase in return on invested capital (ROIC) to 6.4% from negative 0.2% in the same quarter last year.

 

We still need to improve on profitability and return, and we continue to take measures across the business to fund the next stages of the transformation and maintain cost leadership. Guidance for 2019 As announced on 21 October 2019, A.P. Moller - Maersk now expects EBITDA for 2019 in the range of USD 5.4 – 5.8bn, from the previously communicated USD 5bn range.

 

The organic volume growth in Ocean is now expected to be slightly below the estimated average market growth, which is now expected to be in the range of 1-2% for 2019 compared to previously an expected market growth of 1-3%. Guidance is maintained on gross capital expenditures (CAPEX) of around USD 2.2bn and a high cash conversion (cash flow from operations compared with EBITDA).

CAPEX for 2020-2021 accumulated for the two years is expected to be USD 3-4bn.

 

The guidance continues to be subject to uncertainties due to the weaker macroeconomic conditions and other external factors impacting container freight rates, bunker prices and foreign exchange rates, said a company release. 

 
 

 

Kolkata Port Trust on track to surpass FY19 cargo throughput: Chairman November 19 , 2019

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) is on track to better last year's cargo handling volume during the 2019-20 fiscal, Chairman Vinit Kumar said recently.

 

The Port Authority has so far handled 45 million tonne of cargo, a rise of 4-4.5 per cent over the corresponding period last fiscal, he said.

"We are hopeful of surpassing last year's cargo handling volume at the Kolkata port and Haldia dock this fiscal. So far, KoPT has handled 45 million tonne of cargo," he said at the CII Logistics Colloquium here.

 

In the 2018-19 financial year, KoPT handled 63 million tonne of cargo and 8.3 lakh containers, he said, adding, "We are working towards making KoPT a million-container port".

 

Since the Kolkata Port is a riverine port, he said there is a big challenge for evacuation of cargo for which an extended port gate is 

proposed at Balagarh.

 

"The detailed project report (DPR) is getting finalised following which tenders will be invited," Kumar said.

For the Haldia dock, the volume of evacuation by rail is being increased three times from two rakes to six rakes.

He said since the Kolkata Port is situated on the National Waterways 2 (NW-II), trial shipments from the city to Varanasi and to the North East has already started.

Vizag, Ranong Ports to embark on Joint Ventures November 19 , 2019

VISAKHAPATNAM: A Joint Working Group will be formed by the ports of Visakhapatnam and Ranong in Thailand to explore business opportunities of mutual benefit.

Separate memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed between the Port Authority of Thailand (PAT) and the Ports of Visakhapatnam, Kolkata and Chennai to increase export and import trade through cargo handling. The Indian ports will also be allowed the use of Ranong, which is located on the Western side of Thailand and is closer to India as compared to Thailand’s leading ports Bangkok and Laem Chabang.

Visakhapatnam Port Chairman K. Rama Mohan Rao recently said that the MoUs were inked at the just concluded Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sector Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) here to strengthen bilateral ties between India and Thailand.

Ranong is a port on the Kraburi river peninsula near Myanmar. It is near the Indian Ocean coast and the Port Authority of Thailand has decided to develop it as a world-class port.

 

India wants to develop its ports as a strategic gateway to South East Asia. Nepal is using Kolkata and Visakhapatnam Ports as gateways for its export-import trade. Untapped areas During the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Thailand, the broad contours of bilateral trade and the need to improve cooperation between various ports was discussed with Thailand Prime Minister General (Retd) Prayut Chan-o-cha.

 

Elaborating on the MoU signed with Port of Ranong, VPT Deputy Chairman P.L. Haranadh said that they were planning to explore Coastal Shipping in a big way besides tapping the huge trade potential in the Bay of Bengal countries and land-locked countries like Nepal.

Govt. working on policy to push MSME exports: Nitin Gadkari November 19 , 2019

NAGPUR: The Government is working on two policies to increase micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) exports and bring down imports by encouraging local production, Union MSME and Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said recently.

While addressing a gathering during the Small Micro Enterprise (SME) conference at Nagpur, Mr. Gadkari said the MSME sector contributes 29% to the country’s growth and 48% of exports are done through MSMEs. Similarly, around 10 to 11 crore jobs have been created in MSMEs.

 

“The Government is working on two policies. Firstly, in terms of how to support and increase exports in industries which are into the export business,” the Minister said.

 

The leather industry has a total turnover of Rs. 1,40,000 crore, of which Rs. 80,000 crore to Rs. 90,000 crore is domestic and Rs. 45,000 to Rs. 50,000 crore is from export.

 

He further said the Government is also working on a policy to increase indigenous production of products that are being imported.

“Products that are being imported should be manufactured in the Country itself. We are in talks with the Commerce Ministry on these two policies and it is in the final stages,” Mr. Gadkari said.

 

Mr. Gadkari emphasised on three important factors — reducing capital cost, power cost and logistic cost — to become competitive in the international market, which have also been discussed while making the new policy, he said.