Asia | US news digest. 3 July
A mere luck or calculated negotiations? Why do some pay astronomical rates while others manage to get a better deal?
Although it may seem that there is no limit for shippers to pay for container onboard sailings, practice shows that for some it is still possible to agree on a decent price and adjust the contracts. Based on this dynamic, there will be a competitive advantage where some importers will gain market share at the expense of others, using the fact that customers chose them for relatively lower rates as means to build customer loyalty. However, there is the other side of it — a doubling of D&D charges has resulted in complaints across the US, Europe and Asia. Shippers claim that indeed, they have been charged thousands of dollars, without really knowing why. Experts see solutions in IoT devices.
The challenging context urges the companies to unite. Carrier alliances have been told they should enter talks with the operators of Port of New York & New Jersey to ease the return of empty containers. The call encourages each of the alliances to participate on the Council on Port Performance to address the tremendous strain on the supply chain and come up with possible solutions. Meanwhile, US west coast ports are looking to cultivate partnerships with inland facilities, which they hope will relieve their congested docks. The port of Long Beach has signed a four-year partnership agreement with the Utah Inland Port Authority that involves joint efforts to improve cargo flows between them. In general, ports in the United States including JAXPORT and New York-New Jersey continue to see eye-watering growth of container throughput. The trend of increasing amount of cargo transported globally by sea has driven a swathe of ports and carriers to commit to significant investment in expansion. The Port of New Orleans has issued a Request for Proposals for the development of the Louisiana International Terminal, a new facility capable of handling 2 million TEU annually. Right on time with Hutchison Port Holdings Trust and Shenzhen Yantian Port Group reviving a decade-old plan to build a new deepwater container port in the Shenzhen-Yantian area, which is targeted to have an annual capacity of 3 million TEU.
In turn, others believe that the more diverse, the more agile is a new way of addressing the crisis. CMA CGM has improved its inland logistics by acquiring Continental Rail, one of the leading rail operators in Spain. With this purchase, the company clearly does not hide the intentions to become a multimodal operator following the examples of Maersk and COSCO.
With the ongoing air cargo capacity crunch, the companies are bracing up for the approaching peak season. In particular, Cathay Pacific is converting more of its passenger aircraft into preighters. The company is ready to offer around 30% of its normal capacity by Q4, which still leaves a shortfall in vital belly space against anticipated demand.
The Port of Baltimore will start a new Asian container service through Southeast Asia/Vietnam and China with the launch of a new Maersk line. The service will include a string of up to 13 ships with carrying capacities of 4,500+ TEU. It will begin in July with the first ships arriving in Baltimore in late August.
A 737 freighter, operated by Hawaiian interisland air cargo carrier Transair, has crashed off Honolulu. Both pilots survived after it went down into the sea shortly after take-off, on a flight to Maui.
