Dear Readers,
It is Thursday and it is the week before the breakbulk expo in the Americas. My colleague Mr. Cody Abram will be reachable and will be replacing me as something came up that I needed to attend to here in Europe. The expo is a great place for meeting up and no matter how many emails, wechats or skype messages we send to each other, face to face meetings and taking the time and paying the expense for traveling will in almost all cases be worth it – lots of people hide behind the emails and it’s only when you get a feel of the person by looking into their eyes and feeling the handshake that things about most of us good or bad…..become evident.
I was in Montenegro last week and enroute back to Stockholm stopped off in Malta. Traveling from a non EU country to an EU country via the airport of Rome is always bound to create headaches – how many times havent I been through FCO in Rome only to find that of 15 passport control booths only 2 were actually manned. It has to be a management problem – people were standing in line, some were pushing their way to the front whilst the quicker line for EU passports was mixed with non EU passports. Well hardly a great impression of EU territory arrival. As mentioned above travel can be bothersome and I guess we all know it.
Now for the business at hand we will today have an interview with a Turkish project freight forwarder with interests in the Black Sea and Central Asian area and I also share with you the direct contacts with a loss prevention specialist that you may like to get to know better as many project cargoes indeed can be “hard to estimate” and some solid rules of thumb could be good to remember when you are pushed by your client….come on they might say – everyone else accepts this risk….why not you?
And we round off with our usual sector news etc and we wish you a good read and a good week ahead for all including those of you at breakbulk expo in Houston.
Note that you may email to cody.abram@projectcargo-weekly.com should you wish to meet him during his weeklong stay in his native US
Wishing you a pleasant read and, until next week,
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
Catoni Group – Shipping Agency – Logistics & International Trading
Interview with
Mr. George Kile
Business Development
You have a strategic location in Turkey but you are also active in countries around the Black Sea, tell us more.
Starting with Perestroika the management decided to expand the organisation to Black Sea Countries. The expansion started in the mid-1990s. A few years ago Catoni also established an office in Erbil/Iraq and became an important service provider in the region, covering the countries like Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Iraq.
Project Cargo Risk Management & Loss Control
Editor’s Note:
I have been in touch with Capt John Carroll based in the UK and I did agree with him that many projects are risky in particular in these times when some clients wish to place any and all burden on the shoulders of someone else. He seemed to offer an interesting product and thus feel free to contact him direct for more information.
Forwarders are the Real Integrators of Logistics in the Supply Chain
Sea freight forwarders are in a strong position to survive industry disruption from digitisation, but they must make better use of supply chain data or risk losing out to shipping lines and IT-driven logistics startups. In a defiant speech at the FIATA World Congress in Kuala Lumpur today, FIATA sea working group chairman Jens Roemer laid out a positive vision for the sector’s future.
“Many times the demise of traditional forwarders has been predicted, only to have been proved wrong.”
Port of Koper, Slovenia, Marked its 60th Anniversary
“We are aware that the port are not just docks and cranes. A good service is based on the partnership and understanding from the port community, especially the state authorities, which are integrated into our work “, stressed the President of the Luka Koper Management Board, Dragomir Matić.
Mining & Minerals
Aspire Mining Secures Licence for Nuurstei Project in Mongolia
“The company will issue ten million shares to Xanadu Mines in order to meet its commitment under the sale and purchase agreement.” “This vindicates our original decision in June 2014 to look to add a new coking coal project, which is not rail dependent and the decision in July 2017 to exercise our option to move to a 90% interest. The company is now working very hard on commercialising this high-quality coking coal project as soon as possible.” Read more…
Plants & Processing
SNC-Lavalin Awarded Fertilizer Project in Russia
SNC-Lavalin will also provide assistance during the procurement, construction, commissioning and start up phases of the project. The services will be led and primarily executed out of the company’s offices in Brussels. Read more…
Pulp & Paper
Pasaban Manufactures Two New Paper Sheeters for the Naini Group Paper Mill
Mr. Pawan Agarwal, Managing Director of the Naini Group and Chairman of the Indian Pulp and Paper Technical Association (IPPTA) has once again chosen Pasaban sheeters to meet his objective of providing a quality finish to the paper produced in the company’s two plants; Naini Tissues and Naini Papers. Read more…
Aerospace
Japan-based Tohmei Industries Chooses Mississauga, Ontario, for North American Hub
In Japan, Tohmei’s main customers include Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Subaru, the Ministry of Defense, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. One of their main products is the composite centre wing for the Boeing 787. Read more…
Ports & Harbours
CSXIT Orders Konecranes Machines
CSX Intermodal Terminals (CSXIT) has taken delivery of eight new Konecranes machines, which add to their existing fleet of 16 machines from the lifting equipment company, and is set to see three new Konecranes machines delivered in December. Read more…
Power Generation & Distribution
Larsen and Toubro in Oman has Selected Siemens to Supply Four Shunt Reactors to the Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC)
The reactors will be installed at 400kV substations in Izki and Ibri to improve grid stability across the transmission lines between these cities. As part of the agreement, the four 400kV, 100MVAr Oil Filled Shunt Reactors that will be delivered to site, will include the manufacturing, design, engineering, testing and training services. Manufactured at Siemens transformer factory in Weiz, Austria, the reactors are scheduled for delivery in 2018. Read more…
ABB Azipod Propulsion for Viking Cruise Ferry
Viking Grace, the world’s first LNG-fuelled large passenger ship, owned by Viking Line, who chose ABB to supply the complete electrical power plant and propulsion system together with energy management system — EMMA, which is a part of ABB’s advisory suite. Read more…
South China Sea from CMA CGM Christophe Colomb
