Southern exposure: Understanding the breadth and depth of intra-Mediterranean trades

DUTCH shipping consultancy Dynamar forecasts the 2015 intra-Mediterranean container volumes will increase 4.6 per cent year on year to 15.6 million TEU, and then rise 9.6 per cent to 17.1 million TEU by 2017.
Intra-Mediterranean (2014) Container Trades involve 170 services operated by 40 different shipping companies deploying 275 ships in the 400 to 3,000-TEU range.
Through nearly 100 ports in 24 countries, ships and the ports serve 700 million people in frequencies of between twice and many times per month, carrying an average of 275,000 laden TEU.     >More
 

Shippers and forwarders are sceptical of carrier alliances advantages

HALF of freight forwarders surveyed by Lloyd's List's Containerisation International feel that container shipping line alliances have not improved service quality.
A large number of respondents thought the alliances were all about carriers' profitability and customer service improvements were secondary to that.
Carriers claim alliances will not only reduce costs but will also improve service levels for shippers by offering more port pairs on the east-west networks, but shippers remain sceptical.
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Co-operation, not competition sets tone at Rotterdam's Cool Logistics Global 2014

IN a trade where dwell time can be fatal, last month's Cool Logistics Global 2014 convention in Rotterdam sought more co-operation than competition to deal with the problems it faces.
Opening the conference, the Port of Rotterdam's director of containers, breakbulk and logistics, Emile Hoogsteden, said that while competition between stakeholders including terminal operators and shipping lines remained an essential ingredient in international trade, greater collaboration and inter-connectivity would become increasingly necessary in years to come.
In his keynote address, Maersk reefer chief Thomas Eskesen took up the same theme.    >More
 

Gothenburg looks on the bright side of regulations and mega alliances

WHILE many in shipping see low-sulphur fuel mandates and the advent of mega alliances as challenging if not problematic, not so Sweden's major Port of Gothenburg.
That's because Gothenburg sees shipping alliances bringing needed direct calls with good import volumes just as it sees the new January 1 United Nations fuel rules in the English Channel, the Baltic and North Sea bringing a flood of exports.
The low-sulphur fuel mandate is expected to wipe out a profitable seagoing trade to Sweden's northern lumber yards and steel mills because it will be far too costly to have ships go north go empty - not with with fuel costing 50 to 60 per cent more that it does now.  
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