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FRACHT LOGISTICS NEWS
March 2011
"Logic takes you from A to B...... Imagination takes you everywhere"
Albert Einstein
TRACK & TRACE
Did you know that Fracht offers a very sophisticated track & trace system that can be accessed 24/7? If we also look after your warehousing and distribution you can even look up your stock levels. Please contact us if you would like to have more information or if you need a password.
FRACHT OFFICES OVERSEAS
• FRACHT FRANCE OPENS A NEW OFFICE IN LYON on 1 March 2011: FRACHT FRANCE SAS, Cargoport, Bat. France Handling, BP 526, F-69125 St. Exupery Aeroport / France, T +33 4 72 22 84 01, F + 33 4 72 22 84 09, E julien.boix@fracht.fr
• FRACHT CHINA IS ALSO IN A GROWTH PHASE AND WILL OPEN IN SHENZHEN on 15 March 2011: FRACHT LTD., 10th Floor (10QR), Building A, Fortune Plaza, Chegongmiao, No 7002 Shennan Road, Futian District, Shenzhen, P.R. China - 518040. The branch manager, Ms Lala Zhou has a vast experience in all areas of international logistics and forwarding including project transport.
• Fracht do Brasil Logistica Ltda is a joint venture between Fracht Basel and the IRGA group in of Brazil. IRGA has just been reconfirmed as the NUMBER ONE SOUTH AMERICAN COMPANY for their fleet of specialised transport equipment and is now ranked number 14 in the world.
AROUND THE WORLD
• UNREST IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA affect international logistics. The events in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain and Libya have led to temporary port closures and may result in higher fuel surcharges for airfreight and seafreight. Shipping lines were evaluating their options to divert ships via the Cape of Good Hope in the event of Suez Canal closures.
• SHANGHAI IS NOW THE WORLD'S BUSIEST PORT and relegated Singapore to number two. In 2010 Shanghai handled 29 million TEUs (twenty foot equivalent unit) and 650 millions tonnes of cargo. This compares to 28.4 million TEUs and 502.5 million tonnes handled in Singapore.
• SOUTH AFRICA SUFFERED FROM VERY SERIOUS STRIKE ACTION relating to transport, ports and allied union services for almost two weeks in February. Premises were blocked/picketed, roads closed, depots unable to operate etc. Unfortunately it turned out to be a very tough and nasty strike which involved intimidation, stone throwing, abductions, burning of fuel tankers and beating or shooting of drivers which sadly resulted in fatalities.
• STRIKES IN FRENCH PORTS in late January weren't as violent as in South Africa but still led to serious problems and disruptions for the shipping and logistics industry.
• CUSTOMS IN HAMBURG HAVE CHANGED THE CONTAINER STORAGE RULES. The 45 day storage period was reduced to 15 days. Containers which exceed this new limit can only be released after the Terminal receives a "Pendelfax". It's unthinkable to leave a container in an Australian port for 15 days because we only have three days free storage including weekends and public holidays!
AIRFREIGHT NEWS
• QANTAS PLANS TO INTRODUCE A NEW FOUR TIMES A WEEK B747-400 SERVICE BETWEEN SYDNEY AND DALLAS FORT WORTH on 16 May 2011 and the current Sydney - San Francisco service will be axed on 14 May 2011.
• QATAR AIRWAYS now offers four A320 services per week to BUCHAREST AND BUDAPEST.
• BASRA IN IRAQ IS EMIRATES' 110TH INTERNATIONAL DESTINATION. Since 2 February 2011 the Dubai based carrier offers four A330 services per week.
• SINGAPORE AIRLINES plans to launch three weekly services to SAO PAULO VIA BARCELONA ON 28 March 2011.
• The Department of Infrastructure and Transport has now confirmed that all 17 AN124 Antonov freighters of Ruslan International comply with Chapter 3 ICAO noise standards. Until recently they needed to supply proof that they operated "in the public interest" to obtain landing permits in Australia.
• The space situation from Europe and the USA into Australia is still very tight especially for "maindeck cargo" which requires full freighters. As a result importers face the somewhat unusual situation where premium rates must be paid to ensure prompt uplift of large shipments.
• As reported previously all air cargo departing from a US airport on a passenger aircraft must be screened similar to passenger baggage. The US TSA (Transportation Security Administration) has now indicated that 100% OF INBOUND CARGO INTO THE USA MUST BE SCREENED BY THE END OF 2011. This will result in additional costs for Australian exporters.
• Similar to seafreight the FUEL SURCHARGES are also increasing in airfreight: Qantas now charges USD 0.98/kg from the USA and for export from Australia it's AUD 0.33/kg to New Zealand and Asia and AUD 0.72/kg to the rest of the world. The Emirates surcharges are AUD 0.35/kg resp. AUD 0.70/kg.
SEAFREIGHT NEWS
• Hapag Lloyd and CMA CGM advise that MS CMA CGM TELOPEA V1003 SUFFERED AN ENGINE BREAKDOWN on 21 February 2011 which will result in a delay of approx one week. At the time of printing the new tentative arrival dates in Melbourne are 2 March 2011 and Sydney 4 March 2011.
• Due to the Queensland floods the following vessels OMITTED THE PORT OF BRISBANE: ACX Diamond V107S discharged in Auckland and Wana Bhum V964N discharged in Sydney.
• Once again FUEL SURCHARGES ARE ON THE RISE. Please note some of the latest announcements: Hamburg Sud's new surcharge effective 15 March 2011 ex North America is USD 745.00/TEU, WWL ex Europe effective 1 March 2011 28% and MSC ex China, Japan, Korea and Taiwan USD 475.00/TEU (this will increase again on 26 March 2011 to USD 525.00/TEU).
AQIS
• Import quarantine clearances and inspections were disrupted in Queensland during the floods but are back to normal now.
• AQIS permits, applications and quarantine measures have become stricter or are being reviewed due to an outbreak of "Newcastle Disease" in France. This affects products such as Foie Gras, processed meat, biological products such as ND-susceptible species (e.g. pharmaceuticals or reagents), pet food, second hand farm equipment etc.
• AQIS has become stricter with the acceptance of quarantine certificates from China. They will only accept copies with a CIQ symbol, watermark and bar code and reserve the right to request originals.
PORT BOTANY
The saga continues and we receive almost daily reports of delays, cancelled slots, endless truck ranks outside the port and frustrated drivers. The industry trials for PBLIS (Port Botany Logistics Improvement Strategy) are coming to an end and enforcement of regulations and mandatory standards as well as financial penalties should become reality in March. This includes registering and installing truck tags to start tracking trucks in May and towards the end of the year truck marshalling areas and introduction of early arrival penalties. Basically PBLIS will allow the truckies to fine stevedores for non-performance and the stevedores can fine truckies for late or early arrivals, no shows, cancellation of time slots etc, in other words a very convoluted and controversial system which at this stage seems to have made a bad situation worse. In order to avoid penalties the stevedores have reduced the number of time slots and introduced further stricter rules making it even harder for truckies to work efficiently. This includes for example swapping slots between import and export containers, in other words it is now impossible to drop an export container and then pick up an import container with the same truck. Stand by for further updates!
If you have any further queries in regard to the above articles, or if you would like to unsubscribe, please e-mail us at fracht@frachtsyd.com.au
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