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The Cargo Letter
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Section A: Trade, Financial & Inland News
| Section B: FF World Air News |
Section C: FF World Ocean News | Section D: FF in Cyberspace |
Section E: The Forwarder Broker World
- Pirate Attacks Up ......... as a total of 165 actual
& attempted attacks & incidents of armed
robbery were recorded throughout the world by the
Int'l Maritime Bureau, up a little from last year's figure of 161. Indonesia
continues to be the main hotspot for such incidents, with 44 recorded.
There were 13 attacks in Malaysian waters, nearly double last year's
figure, prompting defense minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to promise greater
protection for the country's territorial waters. So-called "safe
lanes" for ships entering Sabah waters, particularly
around Sandakan, Semporna & Tawau were likely to
be enforced soon, he said. Alarmingly, the number of
instances where pirates are armed with guns has more than doubled, accounting
for 21% of all incidents -- with Indonesia & Malaysia particularly
prone. This is partly due to terrorist involvement in some
attacks. In one such attack, a yacht in the Gulf of
Aden was fired on by pirates. The skipper's wife
broadcast a mayday message --"Pirate attack, please help. We have
2 children on board. We are attacked by armed pirates." A container
ship half a mile away, which had communicated with the
yacht only a few minutes before, ignored the call.
Eventually, the yacht's skipper fired back with his own
gun & the pirates gave up.
- FMC Said Loosing Patience ........... as after
several years of unsuccessful attempts between the
U.S. & Chinese governments to change China's
policy toward non-Chinese ocean carriers, the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission
has indicated that it's starting to lose patience. The agency held a
closed-door meeting in Washington Aug. 16 to review progress that China has
made to end preferential treatment toward its state
controlled ocean carriers, COSCO, China Shipping
Container Lines -- and Sinotrans (China National
Foreign Trade Transport Corp.) which controls forwarding, ship agency,
vessel management & multimodal operations in China. Non-Chinese carriers
have complained to the FMC about China's continued restrictions on vessel
calls, inland operations, establishment of branch offices, and shipping
between China & Taiwan. These carriers say restrictions give Chinese
carriers the upper-hand commercially. Although the FMC
stopped short of retaliating against China, it
indicates that increasing support within the commission
to impose sanctions is building.
- Sri Lanka Deals With War Risk Rates .......... as a
war risk surcharge on shipping could be the last straw
for the country's battered economy. Sri Lanka
announced Aug. 8 that Lloyds of London had declared the entire country
a war zone, raising insurance premiums for ships by up to
US$150,000 per call. The surcharge, prompted by a
devastating Tamil Tiger suicide attack (over US$1B in
damage) on the country's only Int'l airport last month, threatens
to kill exports & drive up import costs, whittling away foreign reserves
and exacerbating inflation & unemployment. The new premium has already
raised freight charges from the country's main Colombo port by US$50-US$100
per TEU -- but many lines are planning an increase of US$500 per TEU.
For shipments to the U.S. members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement
will impose a surcharge of US$350 per 20 ft. container & US$700 per
box for all other container sizes. The increases will likely
hurt the economy far worse than any rebel attack.
Thus, in a counter move Sri Lanka slashed refueling
charges at Columbo in a bid to woo back ships which are already bypassing
the country to avoid the war-risk insurance surcharge -- fuel will be
at sold at Singapore rates which are 30-50%. More, new negotiations by a
government led team in London have made the insurance premium
for a ship calling at the port drop back to around
0.075% of the value of the ship from 0.7% to 1%
charged 10 days ago. Premiums as high as US$500,000 were demanded by
insurers for ships calling at Colombo after the attack. Officials said the
government had offered a guarantee worth around US$50M &
agreed to have regular security checks at Colombo
port.
-
UK Container Slap Down .......... as shipping lines
believe that UK ports offer a lower quality of service
than those in Europe & the Far East, according to
a new report by the UK's Dept. for Transport, Local Government & the
Regions. According to "Recent Developments & Prospects at UK
Container Ports" the country's ports
"generally perform well in Int'l comparisons of aggregate
measures of productivity, but shipping lines find that quality of service
indicators show UK ports to be poorer than European or Far East ports."
The report does not pass judgment on whether there is an acceptable trade-off
between productivity & quality of service.
- Maersk Logistics To Buy DSL .......... as it has
signed a Letter of Intent to acquire certain
activities & certain assets of the major global logistics
company Distribution Services Limited (DSL). Terms were not disclosed.
DSL would retain its name & logo for ocean intermediary activities.
All assets not acquired in the deal would become the property of the
shareholders under non-compete restrictions. DSL is a supply chain management
company specializing in consolidation & transport of freight throughout
the distribution process.
- Cho Yang Shipping Co. Struggles Back .......... as
the bankrupt carrier has reopened 2 of its intra-Asia
services that had been shut down temporarily. These
services have slot charter agreements with Dongnama Line. The
Bangkok Ho Chi Minh service (BHX) calls at ports of Pusan, Kwangyang,
Hong Kong, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Laem Chabang and back
via Hong Kong & Pusan with the vessel the
Australian Express. The Malaysia-Korea service's (MKS)
port rotation is Ulsan, Pusan, Kwangyang, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Klang,
Singapore, Pasir Gudang, Hong Kong & Ulsan on the vessel Young Liberty.
These routes are the 1st of Cho Yang's intra-Asia services to resume.
Another 4 routes-the RTA, JIX, IPS & UHX - will be reopened in stages.
- Night Freight? ............ as the West Coast
Waterfront Coalition has created a task force to
identify steps necessary to initiate a pilot program that
would shift some freight operations to extended gate hours. The coalition's
task force, which comprises 15 members representing shippers, carriers,
terminal operators, labor & ports, met this month in Long Beach.
"One of the difficulties in moving forward with
nighttime gates is lack of communication between
truckers, shippers & steamship companies," said the coalition.
"There are other costs of moving to nighttime operations, which must
be borne by everyone. However, the costs to business of doing nothing
about port & road congestion are becoming unacceptably
high in terms of lost productivity, a short-haul
driver shortage, and the prospect for legislative mandates
that will not work for anyone." Among the action steps outlined by
the task force are a study of incremental costs to terminal
& trucking companies of shifting a portion of
freight pickups & drop-offs to nighttime hours, as
well as identifying & lobbying top exporters and importers to shift
warehouse operations to nighttime hours. The task force is
scheduled to meet again in Long Beach for a working
session on August 29-30.
- Uncle Sam Speeds Up .......... as the U.S. Military
Traffic Management Command & a group of ocean
carriers are working together to reduce transit times
& improve service to Defense Dept. ocean shipments. The Surface Distribution
Committee provides a forum through which MTMC & carrier officials
can find ways to improve ocean cargo handling. At the committee's recent
meeting at the Logistics Management Institute in McLean, VA it was announced
military's supply chain time between the U.S. Europe has been reduced
from an average of 59 days to 46 days.
- TACA Takes New Position ........ as the Trans
Atlantic Conference Agreement will implement a
westbound equipment repositioning charge of US$100 per
container, effective Oct. 1, due to a "chronic & severe trade
imbalance." Projections of westbound
container volumes shows no sign of the imbalance leveling
out, and the surcharge is needed to cover "considerable incremental
costs to the carriers in repositioning of containers to
Europe where they are needed," TACA said in a
statement. The charge does not apply to temperature controlled
or open-top container or flat racks. TACA member lines are Atlantic
Container Line, Hapag-Lloyd, Mediterranean Shipping Co., Maersk Sealand,
NYK, OOCL, & P&O Nedlloyd. But, EVO, the assn. of shippers in the
Netherlands, said its members will not pay the US$100 per
repositioning levy. The TACA move, followed by
non-conference lines like Evergreen, has lead to an
angry reaction by EVO, the organization with rather large influence in the
European shippers scene. Its members include large companies
like Heineken & Philips Electronic.
- Going Up ......... as CMA CGM Lines & the Trans
Atlantic Conference Agreement members will increase
its eastbound transatlantic rates by US$120 per
20-foot container & US$150 per 40-footer, effective Sept. 1. TACA member
lines are Atlantic Container Line, Hapag-Lloyd, Mediterranean
Shipping Co., Maersk Sealand, NYK, OOCL, & P&O
Nedlloyd.
- Troy Container Line's CFS Explosion .......... as it
has doubled its container freight station network to
provide improved service to LCL shipments. The new
stations are located in Cincinnati, Columbus, Des Moines, Detroit,
Ft. Wayne, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, & St.
Louis. They join the Red Bank, N.J.-based neutral NVOCC's
receiving stations already in Baltimore, Boston,
Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Norfolk, & Philadelphia.
The NVO also recently added 6 more agency offices in India, increasing
the number of LCL freight receiving stations on the Subcontinent to
21.
- Gathering At Tampa ......... as part of the
continuing development of CP Ships in the U.S. --
Contship Containerlines, currently in Virginia Beach, VA,
& ANZDL, which currently operates out of Santa Ana, CA, will both
relocate their management & support services to Tampa,
Florida. Tampa already serves as a management &
support services base for two other CP Ships brands, Lykes
Lines & TMM Lines. The offices in Santa Ana & Virginia Beach, which
were the North American headquarters for ANZDL & Contship
Containerlines when they were acquired by CP Ships in
1999 & 1997 respectively, will close following the
move.
- Hitching A Ride............. as the Capesize bulk
carrier M/V Anangel Destiny, Brazil for China with
170,000 ton iron ore, called at Saldanha Bay, Cape
Town on Aug. 2 to hand police 155 kg of cocaine that crew had discovered
during routine July 23 changing of the sea suction filters.
Packages discovered attached from under the hull --
probably by scuba-divers. Ship left Saldanha Bay on
Aug. 2 for China to unload its cargo at a Chinese steel plant.
- Pirates Claim Another .......... as 1 person was
killed & 8 were injured when a boat laden with
fireworks exploded off the coast of S. France on Aug.
18. The boat was taking part in a historical reenactment of a pirate attack
near the S. Mediterranean town of Hyeres.
- Pirates Repelled At Port of L.A. ............. as
the Port of Los Angeles website is back on the
Internet, but the lawsuit over its alleged cyberjacking
will continue. The port’s website disappeared several weeks ago when
the port canceled the contract it had with Positive Support Review - the
company that helped set up &
maintain the website. PSR claimed it owned the rights
to the domain name "portla.com." If the port wanted to continue
using that name, it would have
to buy the right, PSR President said. Now that the port
has filed suit, PSR is said to have apparently reconsidered. This said.....
we could'nt find the site again today. www.portla.com/
Try
alternate >>> www.portoflosangeles.net/
- Volumes........ In the 1st half of 2001, throughput
at Kwai Chung (Hong Kong) fell 1% year-on-year to 5.4
million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs), according
to the Hong Kong Port & Maritime Board (PMB) -- throughput fell
7.4% in May & 4.2% in June. >>> Port of Hamburg handled 2.26
million TEUs in the 1st 6 months of the year, an
increase of 11.8% over the same period last year.
>>> Port of Miami said its 1st-half container volume improved
13.5% to 722,403 TEUs. >>> Port of Long Beach said container
traffic in 1st seven months of 2001, container traffic
at the port was about 2.5 million TEUs, down 3.1% from
year-earlier period. >>> Port of Los Angeles (does
not include Long Beach) for year to date, container volume totaled 2.83
million TEUs, up 4.5% over the same period last year.
>>> Savannah reported a 5.3% increase in
total cargo tonnage for fiscal year, ended June 30 -- container
tonnage increased by 10.4% to 7.7 million tons, while throughput topped
1 million TEUs, a 20% increase over the previous fiscal year.
Visit
our new Vessel Casualties & Pirate Activity Database ......... where daily
updates of these ship news are posted. Stay up to date!
https://cargolaw.com/presentations_casualties.html
We're sorry, but there were so many sinkings, explosions, pirate attacks,
fires, cargo mishaps, artillery battles on the water & other disasters at
sea
that we do not have room to print even the highlights this month. Here is an
example of our postings this month:
- Canadian Air Transat -- Airbus 330 -- Flight 236,
with 291 passengers &13 crew, Toronto for Lisbon,
powered by 2 Rolls-Royce engines told control tower 20
minutes before landing on Aug. 23 that it would have to put
down in sea since losing fuel. Passengers realized about hour before landing
that plane in trouble. Lost both engines at 35,000 feet -- then plane
was a glider. Flight crew bravely provided comforting
messages on aircraft audio system -- but through
tears. Chaos then properly managed. Heroic crew diverted
& invented a landing at 5:46 a.m. at Lajes airport on Azores' Terceira
Island -- as a giant glider-- a 1st pass "dead stick" landing
saving all 291 souls aboard. Nine people treated for
minor injuries. Some of airliner's tires ruptured
during landing & undercarriage damaged. The pilot of
Flight 236 -- a hero by any measure -- as much we pay these guys -- it's
not quite enough. This group of passenger survived by a
thread. (Fri. Aug. 23 2001)
Bookmark
the site and visit every day! Thousands of visitors can't be wrong!
https://cargolaw.com/presentations_casualties.html
NOTE: The historic dangers of carriage by sea continue to be quite real.
Shippers
must be encouraged to purchase high quality marine cargo insurance from
their freight forwarder or customs broker. It's dangerous out there.
Please click below for other sections:
Section A
Section B
Section D
Section E
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Written from wire stories, the Associated Press,
Reuters, Hong Kong Shipping News Lloyds & other world sources.