EU | UK news digest. 23 June
Who will drive the market in the long-run?
Important metamorphoses are taking place in the freight industry with DVS Panalpina proposing the takeover of Agility GIL. There is now a clear tendency of the rigorous consolidation in the light of such giants as Maersk, DP World, PSA, COSCO and other “traditional” providers coming back into the spotlight. This is just the beginning. While the ocean carriers hit another record in the schedule failures with additional delays of arrival that amount to 20 or more days in some cases, and seem to be hoping to ride a wave of the high rates with the newly commissioned vessels that will come in the upcoming years (perhaps, saving up for the blank sailings?), the new arguments in favor of developing alternative routes emerge. MSC sets new charges to Antwerp and Valencia from India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka that will come into effect from July 1. The prices vary from $3250 to$ 3150 for 20 DV and $4800 and $5000 for 40 HR.
Meanwhile, Maerks sets its first block train intermodal service between Europe and China, using Malaszewicze, Poland, as an EU exit point. The Netherlands is vigorously advocating for the launch of the NL Express: a dedicated train between the Netherlands and China with all players onboard. It will allow them to consolidate against the crisis. Meanwhile, the city of Graz in Austria has received its first train from Suzho. RailWatch has secured a new shareholder in the face of Agartha Fund LP from Abu Dhabi. This investment of 3.5 mil. euros opens up the export of its Wayside Monitoring System to countries such as Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and China. So who is going to be a winner in the long-run?
Not only the alternative routes are being considered, but the ways of transporting containers as well. Elon Musk's Boring Company has developed a 6.4 m wide tunnel concept capable of transporting two lanes of containers.
Experts on sustainability have come to the conclusion that only the joint efforts will bring the world closer to a zero-carbon future. As an example, at the Port of Duqm in Oman, Antwerp has partnered to create a green hydrogen plant as part of an end-to-end pipeline for zero carbon fuels. It is clear that only a collaborative approach will work, otherwise, the green agenda will remain the utopian reality.
Post-Brexit regulations and severe pressure on supply have been keeping the Port of Liverpool in a tight grip for a couple of weeks, however, it is hoping to make a significant breakthrough towards recovery. UK container ports have been struggling at some level with congestion and disruption since the second half of last year, initially at Felixstowe but with some of the issues then spreading to other container ports – including Southampton and London Gateway. Brexit has hit other local industries too — regular rail freight services between Dublin Port and the intermodal terminal at Ballina in the north-west of Ireland have been suspended.
Britain is still struggling with driver shortages. The idea of using the military has been in the talks for a while. The Federation of Wholesale Distributors urged the government to consider putting army trucks on standby to ensure food distribution. However, the question of staff training remains the stumbling rock.
The falling volume is the phenomenon that has spread all over Europe. The ports in Bremen and Bremerhaven have achieved a total of 4.771 million TEU during the Covid-19 hit 2020, which represents a decrease compared with 2019 figures, with the year-on-year downward trend since 2016 to continue.
Europe becomes the target of the U.S. based Lineage Logistics. It has announced its intention to buy the cold storage division of Claus Sørensen Group and expand in Nordic region. Previously the company made some other notable acquisitions. Other companies are also on the rise. COSCO boosts connectivity between its Spanish rail terminals with a new rail freight line between the port of Valencia and the Zaragoza rail terminal. The whole project required investments exceeding 100 million euros by the port authority of Valencia. A new railway between Tilburg in the Netherlands and Kaunas in Lithuania is set to open in July offering a new node for the Silk Road. Additionally, DB Cargo reactivated a 300-metre long siding in the town of Tübingen, Germany. A specific transport route from Egypt to Kazakhstan via the Middle Corridor has been used for the first time. The service included a sea leg between the two ports and then switched to rail using the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route. Hupac keeps adding connections from Rotterdam and Duisburg to Vienna. The service runs with five roundtrips per week starting from 21 June.
