Various port strikes may cause shipments delay

We would like to remind you that strikes have been ongoing at the following ports – Antwerp , Brazil , Nhava Sheva, Piraeus and Thessaloniki .Pls keep your clients informed that these strikes might cause delay in custom clearance and operations. To date, there has been no forecast as to when the strikes will end.

Vladivostok container volume increase by 47% in Jan/Feb 2008

Vladivostok Container Terminal in Russia handled 33,690 TEU in January-February 2008, an increase of 47 per cent year on year. Within this total, exports amounted to 14,634 TEU, up 58 per cent; container imports came to 11,449 TEU, up 38 per cent over the same period a year ago. In 2007 Vladivostok Container Terminal handled 199,651 TEU, an increase of 36 per cent over 2006.

Fears of Asia-Europe overcapacity – Orders for 13 ships cancelled!

Two major newbuilding orders for 13 ultra-large containerships have been cancelled amid fears of overcapacity on the East-West route that could contribute to the supply-demand imbalance and send the market into a 2009 tail-spin. These vessels were meant for potential charter to MSC and CSAV. 2009 looks to be the capacity tipping point. From then on, there will be around 100vessels of over 10,000Teus due for delivery, and unless there is a dramatic upturn in the US economy very shortly, all of them will be heading for the Asia-Europe route.

Analysts said that the Asia-Europe demand will persist at around 15 -18% for the next 3 years. In the interim, with Asia-US trade in the doldrums due to the US economic slowdown, at least 5 lines and respective alliances have suspended US West Coast and the East Coast services in the past months as well as cut back on capacity. Evergreen and Zim have already ended their Asia/US service.

Pakistan installs first container scanner at Karachi 's PICT

Pakistan ' s first container scanner has been installed at the Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) in Karachi . This is the first container terminal in the Asian nation to have a container scanner that complies with the FBR ' s directives.

The container scanner has x-ray accelerated technology with dual view scanning to enable the device to scan a container from the side and the top of the box to give a 3D image.The scanner provides non-intrusive examination, enabling customs officials to view the goods without opening the container, will help to minimize time taken to check the container ' s contents.PICT has also installed Radio Activity Monitors to detect any radioactive substance inside the container. The scanner is also designed to detect contraband and explosives.The introduction of the Pakistan Automated Customs Clearance System (PACCS) to facilitate the e-clearance of cargo in Pakistan will also boost cargo clearance efficiency.

Port of Tianjin 's area will be expanded to 100 square kilometres from the current 30 square kilometres by 2010. The port is building several new terminals which comprise 22 berths of more than 10,000 tonnes with an aggregate capacity of 138 million tonnes. After these projects are finished, the port's capacity will be raised to 290 million tonnes.

Maersk gears for Latin expansion

The AP Moller-Maersk Group has confirmed it will bid to build a container terminal at the Mexican Pacific coast port of Lazaro Cardenas .The Dutch company's terminal operating arm, APM Terminals, operates three container terminals in Latin America and the Caribbean, and Maersk's 6,500 teu vessels already call at Lazaro Cardenas, a key deepwater port in Mexico .The government port authority at Lazaro Cardenas has talked about issuing a second terminal concession for the past 12-18 months, as part of an overall review of Mexican port infrastructure Authorities have indicated that a tender would be coming out in late 2008.
Global terminal operator Hutchison Port Holdings opened a $200m terminal, with 700,000 teu per year capacity, in Lazaro Cardenas in late November 2007. It will expand to 1.1m teu by the end of this year.

The west coast of Mexico is growing very strongly. The size of the second container terminal planned for Lazaro Cardenas and its capacity would depend on the concession terms outlined in the tender, which have yet to be disclosed.