The 32nd East Coast Truckers Convoy makes some noise as they parade along Great Yarmouth seafront. The charity is for kids with disabilities to have a trip in a lorry in a convoy from Norwich County Hall to Pleasurewood Hills theme park in Lowestoft before heading through Great Yarmouth where thousands of people wave as they go past.
To help the charity reach the 33rd convoy lots of fundraising will take place so as I would like to do my bit, the views monies from this video will go to the charity to keep the convoy going. Daeno C
New alliances, structural change and positive economic trends have transformed the container shipping market over the past year, driving growth and pushing business performance figures from deep red into black. However, despite long-term rates that are, in some cases, up 120 percent year on year, the future remains uncertain due to a looming shadow on the horizon, according to market intelligence company Xeneta.
2016 saw the collapse of Hanjin and the top 20 market players posting combined net losses of $5 billion, but 2017 is shaping up to be a bumper year, says Xeneta CEO Patrik Berglund.
“Maersk’s recent 2017 second quarter financial report provides an interesting snapshot of the industry,” he says. “Higher freight rates propelled revenues upwards by 8.4 percent to almost $10 billion for the quarter. Meanwhile, reports suggest that Hapag-Lloyd will triple its earnings this year.
Rates have jumped since their historical lows last year. For the Chinese main port to Northern Europe route last May, the three-month rolling average for long-term rates for a 40-foot container stood at $655. This May it was $1,438, and now it is $1,618. “Meanwhile we see U.S. containerized ports are busier than ever, handling a projected 1.75 million TEU this month (Global Port Tracker) alone, the most on record. This comes despite the uncertainty caused by President Trump’s ‘America First’ doctrine and his withdrawal from initiatives like the Trans-Pacific Partnership. U.S. container imports actually seem to be growing.”
Strong consumer demand, the restructuring of industry alliances – 90 percent of all container ship traffic is now accounted for by three major alliances (THE Alliance, OCEAN and 2M) – and Hanjin’s demise all help push up utilization and rates, Berglund says, but there remains uncertainty. The industry may be unwittingly planning to sabotage its own success.
“We remain optimistic with regards to the remainder of 2017, but the longer term becomes more complex,” he argues, pointing to the increase in mega-ship capacity.
“A staggering 78 new mega-ships are due to come online for the Asia-Europe trades over the next two years, pushing capacity up by over 23 percent,” Berglund says. “Mega-ships make obvious sense in terms of economy of scale and optimizing transport costs, but when you have this much of a capacity injection it requires a huge demand increase… and, well, where will that come from?
“Mega-ships of 18,000 TEUs need to command utilization rates of at least 91 percent to achieve cost savings. Even in the high volume Asia-Europe trades that is difficult and may necessitate lower than average rates for some volume, which, inevitably, will hit overall rate development.
“Each of the key alliance partners is playing catch up with one another, trying to reap the mega-ship benefits. In doing so they’re going to flood the market with new capacity and risk reversing current positive trends. This is a potential mega-problem in waiting.”
Berglund says that all stakeholders in the container shipping supply chain need to pay close attention to the market to stay ahead of developments and get the best rates for their assets, services and cargoes.
“This sector, just like the global political scene, can be highly unpredictable ” Berglund says, “and the only way to counter that is by accessing the very best inside intelligence.”
The opinions expressed herein are the author's and not necessarily those of The Maritime Executive.
As the UK prepares to leave the European Union there is a renewed focus on its trading relationships with the world. 95% of the UK’s international trade is moved by sea and shipping has never been more important to economic prosperity. In this film we show how the industry is preparing for Brexit, how it is influencing the political landscape and how it is leading the world in investment, skills and technology – in short, this is how we are delivering for Britain.
Japanese shipping company Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) intends to test an autonomous containership in the Pacific Ocean in 2019.
The ship would sail from Japan to North America with a crew on standby, Hideyuki Ando, a senior general manager at Monohakobi Technology Institute, part of NYK, told Bloomberg.
The boxship, the size of which has not been specified yet, would be remotely controlled.
NYK joins a myriad of companies that have been venturing into autonomous technology for ships.
As disclosed in an interview with World Maritime News, Rolls-Royceenvisages a remotely operated vessel in local waters as the first stage and in operation by 2020.
By 2030, remotely operated ships are expected to become a common sight on the ocean.
According to a report published by insurance company Allianz in 2012, between 75 and 96 percent of marine accidents are a result of human error, equivalent to USD 1.6 billion. This is often as a result of fatigue.
Remotely controlled and autonomous ships are expected to reduce the risk of injury and even death amongst ship’s crews and the potential loss or damage of valuable assets.
Over 80 Million Pounds in Fines Outstanding UK – A report by Highways England has revealed that since the tolls booths were removed at the Dartford Crossing east of London and replaced with an automatic system based on number plate recognition in 2014, over one million non-UK drivers have managed to avoid paying the Dart Charge.
The news has come as little surprise to the Road Haulage Association (RHA), who represent the interests of the UK road freight industry and who’s member pay £6 per crossing for a heavy goods vehicle. Speaking to BBC Kent, RHA policy director Duncan Buchanan said:
“This issue was identified from the moment the Freeflow system was introduced, and it is still a problem. Foreign drivers should pay: it’s as simple as that. It is very concerning that there are still hauliers making the crossing for free.”
Highways England says that it pursues outstanding charges and that fines totalling more than £81 million have been passed on to a European debt recovery agency since the Dart Charge began in 2014. Highways England also say that foreign drivers not paying their charge make up less than 1% of total crossings.
However, this has been met with short shrift by the RHA who argue that the dodged fines make up an enormous loss. Buchanan added:
“We need enforcement to ensure that the appropriate Dart Charge is collected from all crossing users and the RHA considers it to be totally unfair that there are still many who are making the crossing free of charge. It is a great concern that we just don’t know just how many crossing users are dodging the charge.”
Between November 30, 2014 (when the Dart Charge become operational) and March 31, 2015, a total of 48,585 unpaid crossings were sent to the European debt recovery agents. From April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016, 565,712 unpaid crossings were identified. Between April 1, 2016 and March 31, 2017, Highways England identified 430,711 unpaid crossings. For the first quarter of 2017 (from April to June) 115,643 unpaid crossing have been identified.
The figure of £81 million in fines represents penalties collected at the base levy rate of £70 for an unpaid crossing to be paid within 28 days. With all of the charges in the report exceeding the 28 day mark, the rate should increase to £108 plus the original crossing charge. If calculated at that rate, the actual figure of outstanding fines now increases to over £135 million.
The Moscow Maersk a 2nd generation Triple E, sails to Felixstowe during her European debut. As all of these big ships start their voyages in the Far East, Moscow Maersk was a brand new ship straight from shipbuilders in South Korea and began her maiden voyage in Russia to recieve bunkers before heading for Xingang, China.
Finally handed over to Maersk Line, the Moscow Maersk is the third ship to be built in the class out of 11. With a capacity of 20568TEU she is ranked as the 2nd largest container ship by capacity but gross tonnage she overtakes the OOCL Hong Kong by 4,000 odd tonnes. Calling at verious Far Eastern port such as Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo in china, Busan in South Korea, Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia before transiting the Suez canal with a maximum draft of 15.9 metres. Once in Europe she called at Tangier-Med in Morocco to unload some of her cargo for the sourounding area. 1.9 metres lighter she made her way up the Atlantic and through the Bay of Biscay into the English Channel into the North Sea to the Port of Felixstowe. After Felixstowe she will call at Antwerp, Rotterdam and Algeciras before pasing through the Suez Canal to Singapore.
The Moscow Maersk was meant to board a pilot at the Sunk Pilot Station at 09:00UTC but delays with Moscow's pilot was going to be delayed as he would be on the outbound ship Maersk Shams that was behind with cargo operations. At 0900UTC the Maersk Shams was ready for departure. Off the berth and steaming down the harbour out towards the Sunk where a Harwich Haven pilot launch would land the pilot off the Shams and take him to his next job which was the Moscow Maersk.
Once onboard the pilot goes through the plan with the captian then radios Harwich VTS to confirm that they were inbound with a maximum draft of 14 metres from last port of Tangier- Med for Felixstowe Berth 9 and believed they were portside to. He also requests 2 tugs for berthing, the first at 7&8 and the second outside the harbour and push on the starboard quarter.
Making their way inbound via the deep water channel, Svitzer Stanford radios VTS to say they leaving the tug pontoon to be the first tug for the Moscow Maersk. Shortly after the Svitzer Sky leaves the pontoon aswell.
Stanford all fast, they stretch their line ready to work. Sky makes their approach to lay alongside on the starboard quarter. Closer to the harbour the pilot required both tug to help the Moscow Maersk around the 90deg Beach End turn into the harbour. Stanford goes out on the portside at full line load while the Sky pushes up on the starboard quarter at a 45deg angle to help steer her into the harbour.
Once inside the harbour the pilot gets both tugs to ease up and stanford when they were ready to go straight back 25% to slow her down for the starboard off the berth. heading down the harbour the speed needed to be reduced even more so the pilot got the stanford to increase to 75% as he came astern on the main engines.
Speed reduced to a crawl the pilot gets the Sky to push up on the quarter at 50% with the Stanford to move out on the port quarter and begin to pull the stern around with an easy weight then increase upto full as the swing progresses. Sky increases to full power aswell.
The pilot radios the berthing master on the berth to find out where the bridge position is situated. After finding where position was he says that the final tie up would be 6 and 2 each end with springs first then offshore lines. Crew onboard throw a heaving line to the mooring gang so athe springs could be made faast on the bollards. Slowly edging into position the Stanford moves around onto the starboard quarter in a check position with a slack line to wait for orders. While the Sky pushes up so the Moscow Maersk can be made fast alongside Berth 9. ETD Wednesday 30th August 2017 at 10am Local time or 09:00UTC
Deano C
The new look MSC Geneva sails to Felixstowe on a sunny, Yes sunny Bank holiday 28th August 2017
MSC Geneva resumes normal service after her major transformation in China. MSC Geneva arrives to the Port of Felixstowe on a lovely sunny, Yes I said SUNNY Bank Holiday Monday.
To keep up with the changing container market, the MSC Geneva was dry docked at the Huarun Dadong Dockyard in China and cut in half. She is the first container ship ever to be cut bow to stern to be widened her by 7 metres and her length by 16 metres to hold an extra 1300 odd TEU.
The vessel which was on her berth, Maersk Shams was behind on cargo operations and their ETD was changed to 10am so the pilot boarding time for MSC Geneva was delayed to 9:45am. Maersk Shams EDT offically confirmed at 10am, the pilot for Geneva headed out to the Sunk Pilot station to board for the inbound passage into Felixstowe.
The pilot boards the MSC Geneva and radios Harwich VTS to ask whats the current situation was with the Maersk Shams. VTS replies that the Shams was off the berth and proceeding. The pilot replies in that case he would begin to proceed inwards for Trinity 5 and would like one Svitzer tug for berthing to meet just outside the harbour.
The Svitzer Sky heads out of the harbour to make fast aft of the Geneva. Once inside the harbour and on a Northerly heading the pilot requires the Sky to pull straight back 20% then to increase to 40% to slow her down as they head down the harbour. Passing Berths 8&9 the Geneva steers to port onto a Westerly heading before getting the Sky to move out onto the starboard quarter to take the stern around. Almost swung the pilot gets the Sky to come in for a push to help her alongside the berth.
I hate when that happens. Glad nobody was badly injured. I am not trying to assign fault for this on anyone. It is a machine, and is subject to failure. I consider it a freak accident.
Current container terminal practice is to manually remove twistlocks from containers – a time consuming activity. This process may one day be automated to benefit both container terminals and liners, a study has shown.
The study was undertaken by Dr Mi-Rong (Kimberly ) Wu, Project Manager at leading Dutch port simulation consultancy TBA.
Automatic twistlock handling stations are mainly machines which operate electrohydraulically and are capable of automatic removal and mounting of twistlocks on containers, Wu explains.
Efforts to develop fully automatic twistlock handling operations are based not only on safety concerns, but on the interest to increase the productivity of container terminals and by extension, shipping lines.
The twistlock handling process at most of the container terminals at present is a manual process which takes around 15-20 seconds per container on average.
However, not every container on a containership is equipped with twistlocks; the percentage of containers with twistlocks depends on vessel type, the layout of the bay, the types of port called at and the TEU factor.
Around 75% of the containers require twistlocks, on the basis of bay plans for five random vessels that Dr Wu examined.
TBA carried out simulation experiments to quantify the impact of an automatic twistlock system in a container terminal, in the case that 100% of contianer required twistlocks.
"In this study the assumption was made that all the vessels that are less than 2 hours too late for their window will be considered on time. The punctuality depends highly on the total round trip time. With 9 vessels a high gain of 8% extra of the vessels that are on time can be achieved with the use of an automatic twistlock handling system; with more vessels deployed the gain is marginally. Because of the increased quay crane productivity and the reduced berthing time with the automatic twistlock handling system, the berth productivity for the vessels increases as well. The gain is the largest for the SC terminals because of a higher increase in QC productivity. The increased vessel berth productivity also results in a shorter vessel time in port, which allows for steaming slower at sea and thus saving bunkering costs. "
The paper concludes that when this process is automated, there is not only time saved but also the risk for the dock workers is reduced, and more efficient operations are achieved.
Police were called to Flathouse Quay on Friday night Credit: Google Images
A man has died in an 'industrial accident' at Portsmouth International Port.
Police were called to Flathouse Quay on Saturday evening where the 34 year old man was pronounced dead.
The man is believed to have been an employee of MMD Shipping Services, and there are reports that he was crushed between two containers.
Police and the Health and Safety Executive are investigating.
A letter detailing the incident, which police have said was ‘industrial’, was handed out to all MMD Shipping Services staff as they started their shifts this morning.
Meanwhile Hampshire Police said today that a 35-year-old man from Sussex had been arrested today on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and theft in connection with this investigation.
An official investigation has been launched into the death of a man at Portsmouth International Port last night.
Police were called to the port at 6.51pm yesterday evening after the body of a 34-year-old man was found crushed between two shipping containers.
The deceased – an employee for MMD Shipping Services – was found on Flathouse Quay at the firm’s Prospect Road site at the port.
The Health and Safety Executive issued a statement saying, “HSE are investigating the death of a 34-year-old man following an incident at Flathouse Quay, Portsmouth.
“HSE Inspectors attended the site last night and a joint investigation with Hampshire police into the circumstances surrounding the man’s death is under way.”KILLED AT WORK
Dockworker, 34, dies after being ‘crushed between two shipping containers’ at Portsmouth Port
The man, who worked for MMD Shipping Services, was pronounced dead at the Flathouse Quay site on Friday
A Portsmouth dockworker was reportedly crushed between two shipping containers on Friday night
Hampshire Police say they have arrested a 35-year-old man as part of their investigation into the worker's death.
A police statement said: "Our officers, together with the Health and Safety Executive, are conducting a joint investigation into the circumstances surrounding the man's death."
It added: "A 35-year-old man from Sussex has been arrested on Sunday, August 27, on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and theft in connection with this investigation."
MMD company director Mike Sellers said: "Our thoughts are with the family and loved ones affected by this tragic incident.
"This is also a distressing time for staff and we are providing support for everyone involved.
"We are also working with the police and Health and Safety Executive to support their inquiries and any further investigations."
