Dear Readers,
Friends it is August 2nd and I am baaack… It has been a very interesting and long summer for me and I managed to do quite a bit of travelling.
I visited China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Denmark and right now I am in Malta. View photo here.
China was as interesting as usual and with it’s usual purpose in all they do. One of the meetings I had there was with Sinotrans, the state owned freight forwarder that is deeply involved in many overseas projects due to Chinese EPC activities worldwide.
Just yesterday I learned that the World’s third largest mosque (located in Algeria) was built by the Chinese. I also heard that they are now looking into constructing a gigantic seaport hub in Cherchell, also in Algeria.
Chinese investment always comes with a catch, but one has to admire the tenacity and proactive attitude shown by China in projecting their “soft-power” abroad.
I recently spent three weeks in Kota Kinabalu, East Malaysia.
I had reason to be thankful for the invention of the iPad and the mobile phone for allowing me to read the newspaper in peace…speaking of the news, I learnt that Trump met Kim in Singapore and I was considering how the media would have written about it had it been Obama meeting Kim. Who knows, probably Obama would have been nominated for the nobel peace prize again.
I also visited Hong Kong on the way back to Sweden. I enjoyed my favourite city in the world and I can recommend the dim sum restaurant Tsui Hang Village
When I returned to Sweden I found myself in the grip of a heatwave. After a few days I flew to Malta where the heatwave was expected because the island nation is located 30 minutes south of Sicily and just north of Libya.
Interestingly, today the vessel CMA CGM Andromeda arrived in port exactly one year’s time after I disembarked from the same vessel in Busan.
To my amazement, the vessel had the same captain. If you are interested in travelling by cargo ship visit https://www.cross-ocean.com/ocean-voyages/
Today I spoke with a logistics company based in Bremen, Germany with a lot of Middle East cargo and then a technology company that can help us understand what the blockchain has in store for us in the future.
Until next week, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
Transport Overseas Shipping GmbH
Interview with
Mr. Tim Oltmann
Founder and Managing Director
I understand that you have a close relationship with Saudi Arabia and Bahri? Can you tell us more about this?
Acting as an independent Ro-Ro & break bulk broker, a very important and promising market for us was the Middle East. In 2014, we started to build up a close partnership with Bahri and its agent in Italy on the current trades. In 2015, we received a phone call from Bahri management asking whether we can also offer local port agency service in Germany, which we of course confirmed and that is how everything started. Soon we became the general agent for Bahri in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Poland.
Zinnovate – Stockholm, Sweden
Interview with
Håkan Nilsson
CEO
What is blockchain and how mature is it in your view?
Simply put, blockchain is ”upgrading” the internet from being just a means to deliver information to also delivering value. This is without having a middleman as a bank or governmental authority. Bitcoin is perhaps the most well known example of blockchain technology in play but there is so much more. Effectively, any case involving a transfer of value, be it in the form of digital money or a document attributed with value, lends itself perfectly to blockchain. Blockchain is simply a decentralized digital ledger where authenticity and security are guaranteed through the blockchain.
Salvors Prepare to Lighter Fuel from Grounded Ro/Ro
Editor’s Note:
It was reported that the c/o of the roro vessel which ran aground with 14 knots were steaming closer to the Swedish coastline to find mobile signal coverage, let us hope that is not the case…
The Swedish Coast Guard reports that the grounded ro/ro Makassar Highway has suffered “extensive damage” to her hull, complicating the ongoing response and salvage efforts. The vessel went aground Monday on a rocky shoal off Vastervik, Sweden, resulting in damage to her bow and port side, with water entering two of her tanks. Pär-Åke Eriksson, the coast guard station manager at Vastervik, told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the vessel was making 14 knots prior to the grounding.
ZIM, Maersk Line and MSC Enter Strategic Operational Cooperation on the Asia-US East Coast Trade
The cooperation with the 2M Alliance creates a major upgrade of ZIM’s Pacific services, with improved port coverage and transit time ZIM Integrated Shipping Services and the members of the 2M Alliance, Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), today announced a new strategic cooperation on the Asia – US East Coast trade.
Offshore Heavy Transport to Enter Wind Market with Innovative Heavy Lift Installation Vessel
Norway-based Offshore Heavy Transport is set to enter the offshore renewables market with a state-of-the-art heavy lift transport and installation vessel that combines semi-submersible capability with high-capacity crane operations.
BIMCO Expels ShipNEXT from Membership
BIMCO has terminated its agreement with ShipNEXT that allowed the use of BIMCO contracts on its trading platform and expelled the company from its membership after it repeatedly and falsely claimed that BIMCO supported its trading platform.
Automotive
China’s Dicastal to Build 2 Aluminum Car Wheel Plants in Morocco
The Chinese giant will invest €350 million to build the plants. The company will build the first factory in Kenitra’s Atlantic Free zone. The second factory will be built in Tangier’s tech city. Read more…
Chemicals
Nuberg Wins $53m Saudi Turnkey Chemicals Project
Nuberg EPC, a global EPC and lump sum turnkey (LSTK) company for speciality chemicals, has been awarded a $53 million turnkey project contract by Middle East Chemicals Company (Midchem), a leader in commodity chemicals in Saudi Arabia. Read more…
Plants & Processing
Novopan Invests in a New MDP plant in Ecuador
Novopan del Ecuador, the leading producer of medium density particleboard (MDP) in Ecuador, will increase its production capacity in Quito with a new plant from Dieffenbacher, as the company says in the press release received by Lesprom Network. Read more…
CMA CGM INDIA performed a Historic Operation by Loading a Helicopter as Part of its EPIC 2 Service
| CMA CGM India is pleased to announce that on 1st July 2018, it loaded for the first time a Helicopter on board one of the vessels operating the EPIC 2 service for final destination London Gateway. The helicopter was loaded at BMCT (PSA) – Nhava Sheva. The Shipment weighs 4 MT with dimensions of 13.6 m X 3.05 m X 3.7 m http://www.cma-cgm.com/ |
Landing in Malta Passing over the Container Terminal at Marsaxxlokk, a Known CMA CGM Hub in the Mediterranean
