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It is now already February 2019 and the first newsletter of the month is here. I am preparing to get back in gear to travel again, after a long and relaxed time (more-or-less) at home in Stockholm. I shall be taking the direct flight on Emirates from Stockholm to Dubai on Friday, where I will attend the Break Bulk Expo. I have set up a number of meetings in the UAE The way I normally try to plan is to select a nice hotel that is cosy for meetings, a relaxed atmosphere and has or is near to good venues for food.
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Doing things in this way means I can entice those that I’ll meet to join me there. It also enables me to have between four and six meetings a day, without wasting too much time in traffic or traffic jams. If people are willing to come to you then, of course, you cannot be stingy. So, generally I do invite them for coffees, lunch and dinners etc. depending on the time of meeting.
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What has become more and more evident, even as the Internet permeates our every day life, is that meeting face to face, shaking hands and looking people in the eye is the most important factor in creating trust. I also make it a rule to engage with both staff in restaurants and, above all, taxi drivers, because who knows real life better than them? Taxi drivers and bartenders, wherever you go. Bartenders, in particular, seem to attract drunken confessions as the occasional evening drags into the early hours. Perhaps they help professionals by just lending an ear to the unhappy, lonely or sad traveller.
Travelling can be lonely too and my respect goes out to the vast majority of people who are on tough schedules, often in the back of the plane due to cost constraints, and who must be alert immediately after landing, irrespective of time differences. Perhaps business leaders should pay heed sometimes to their sales staff that do a hard job in the field, actually meeting customers upfront. Business leaders should see what happens outside their own bubble in the CEO’s office, just as politicians, once in a while, should visit the countryside of the country/state to which they are pledged to represent. We have seen more that enough examples recently of both business leaders and political leaders being out of touch with reality!
For now, I’m looking forward to enjoying the Emirates airline’s service, albeit in the back. Also, after suffering the minus fourteen degrees weather in Stockholm, warming up in Dubai for a few days sounds like a good plan to me!
Businesswise, this week we start off in The Big Apple, a megacity and cultural crossroads called New York. I, in fact, got married there once at the Danish Seaman’s Church in Brooklyn and subsequently had dinner at the River Cafe. Awesome. We speak to a local New York-based project and logistics provider who tells an interesting story. We then proceed to a country famous for food, wine and spectacular scenery in South Africa. A freight forwarder there with European roots tells us their story.
We provide you with a variety of shipping news this week, including a few well meant important stories and pieces of information of which to take note. Also, besides the usual sector news, Video and Picture of the Week, we end our newsletter with Wise Words as usual.
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On a final note, I shall be present at the Break Bulk Middle East Expo in Dubai on February 11th and 12th and I can be personally found from 13:00-14:00 at the Hoegh Autoliners booth 1003, in case you wish to meet or propose an interview for PCW. I would be pleased to meet up for a coffee or a glass of wine, while talking about life.
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Until next week, from Dubai, UAE, I remain,
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Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
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Interview with Mr. Brian C. Wills
President/CEO
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Can you tell us about your main activity in shipping and logistics?
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The company’s roots started back as an old gritty downtown customs broker that was the core of the firm. When I purchased Sobel, I saw an immediate need to start the forwarding side along with exports. I quickly obtained both our FMC and NVOCC licenses, which changed the whole company. This was a pivotal move that completely changed the nucleus of the firm and started our immediate growth. We now offer air or ocean, fully insured, door-to-door turnkey logistics solutions for all our customers.
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Interview with Mr. Giuseppe Arnoldi
Chairman
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Giuseppe, when did you establish your company? I believe from your name that you are originally from Italy? When did you get to South Africa?
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I left Italy and arrived in South Africa in 1989, where I was employed by a large freight forwarding company, who wanted to open a branch office in Cape Town. To my joy, my request for a transfer to this beautiful city was accepted.
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GLA was established on January 1st 2010 out of the will to create an intimate working environment where our staff can flourish and our clients can experience a personalized and hands-on service.
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Editors note: We all know that our inbox is full and we feel that when the inbox is empty then we have done a great job that day. But have we? A contact of PCW has developed a product that seemingly can organise your emails better. Worth taking a look !
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The market for breakbulk shipping is overwhelmed with commercial RFQ’s. Ten thousands of RFQ emails are sent around the world, and only a very small percentage is relevant. For one of our clients Sea Works we developed a new tool to analyze and classify incoming mails, using new powerful machine learning techniques.
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PIL and IBM Trial Delivery Using Blockchain Platform
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Editors note: PIL is a successful and privately owned Singaporean shipping group traditionally with close links to China. In 1986 I had the honor to meet the founder Mr. Y.C. Chang in Singapore as they were taking over some Ove Skou vessels from Denmark. I met him together with Mr. Cheng Li Sun back then COSCO rep in Singapore.
Lots happened since such as the internet revolution as here clearly described…
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Pacific International Lines (PIL) has used an electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) built on the IBM Blockchain Platform in a successful real-time pilot tracking shipment of mandarin oranges from China to Singapore for the Lunar New Year celebrations.
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Captain Adel Ahmed Elgubbi – An Experienced Contact in Libya
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Editors note: Libya is a place where it is difficult to find someone you can trust, certainly in shipping. Captain Adel is a reliable contact of mine that I met years ago when visiting Libya with real shipping experience. If you need a contact in Libya do get in touch with him. His contact details here.
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Delivery Of 14,000-Teu Containership “One Grus”
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Editors note: Another "pink lady" newbuilding is launched by OCEAN NETWORK EXPRESS. Will certainly be seen on the high seas even when its dark out there…
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Kure in Hiroshima, Japan – Ocean Network Express Pte. Ltd. (ONE) is pleased to announce that ONE GRUS, with a carrying capacity of 14,000 TEU, has been successfully delivered at Kure Shipyard of Japan Marine United Corporation. The sublet owner is Nippon Yusen Kaisha.
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China Cosco in Piraeus – the good and the bad news
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Editors note: Greek port of Piraeus in the news here from Seatrade Magazine about apparent misdeeds taking place using Piraeus for import and export. As business grows so does the risk of fraud too. EU's anti-corruption body OLAF was never efficient in particular not when dealing with fraud in the EU's own ranks in Brussels but perhaps they are finally growing up to the task.
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In what is becoming so common in Greece these days, good news is often clouded by bad news. China’s Cosco-run port of Piraeus had no sooner announced its goal of handling 5m teu annually is on the horizon after a record-breaking performance in 2018 at the port's three container piers, than it was dealing with allegations of fraud against its clients.
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The IMB NVOCC Register – Reducing bills of lading risks
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Editors note: Latest news from TT CLUB and please pay attention to the bill of lading risks involved when using NVOCC's. It pays off to be more safe than sorry so it is recommended reading for you.
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While there may be valid trading reasons that give rise to bill of lading difficulties, there is an unhealthy under-belly of criminal activity.
TT Talk canvassed some trading issues relating to bills of lading in the December 2018 edition. Reference within those articles was made to the English law position articulated in Motis Exports case1, explaining the risk exposure to bill of lading issuers and stakeholders relying on the documentation. This article applies to the industry vulnerability to fraudulent activity.
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Fish Waste Processing Plant
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In Guatemala, Rianxeira company expects to have in operation in August, its new plant for transforming fish waste into flour.
The company, which is currently exporting tuna loins and concentrates, reported that the investment in the new production line of the plant in Escuintla, amounts to $2 million and that the raw material to be used will be fish heads, skeletons, bones, bone parts and viscera.
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Fives secures US container glassmaker order
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Fives has secured an order with a US container glassmaker for a complete forehearth system.
The glassmaker is based on the east coast and is a producer of soda lime glass for the container market.
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Chad signs MoU for 120MW solar project
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Representatives from both the Republic of Chad and UAE-based renewable energy developer Amea Power have signed off on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a 120MW PV project.
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Morocco to construct a solar waste facility
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Morocco is set to construct a solar sludge drying facility for a new wastewater treatment plant in Laayoune, in southern part of the country.
British water and wastewater solutions company, Biwater’s Regional Director for Africa Giles Jackson, confirmed the reports and said that the National Office for Electricity and Potable Water (ONEE) awarded Biwater a US $7.5m contract to design and build the facility.
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Hanseatic Break Bulk moved 72 wind turbine tower sections from Lianyungang, China to Holmsund, Sweden.
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Hanseatic Break Bulk is proud to be part of the first arctic port call of MS QIAN KUN. The almost 200m long 30.000ts Dwat Multipurpose ship operated by theChinese-Polish Joint Stock Shipping Company (Chipolbrok) arrived on 26.01.2019 after only 35 days @ sea in the swedish port of Holmsund. Holmsund is part of the Västerbotten region in the north of Sweden. At this time of the year, one can expect steady ice conditions in the Bothnian Bay and temperatures of below -20° celsius are common even during daylight.
Thanks to proper preplanning the discharge operations went smooth. More than 26.500 frt consisting of 72 single, non-stackable windmill tower sections were discharged in less than 3 working days despite the harsh weather conditions. The 115MW project is running under the names of „Aliden“ and „Brattmyrliden”. The sites are located some 100km west of Umea. The nacelles will be equipped with 65,5m long Blades that have been modified with an anti-icing system that allow the two windfarms to generate approximately 420GWh of energy under the arctic conditions year long. According to the EPC commercial operations are expected in Q4 2019 at "Aliden" and Q4 2020 at "Brattmyrliden".
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Boiler from China to Bangladesh by Tschudi Logistics
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The cargo consisted of 15 boilers + accessories weighing a total of 836 tons.
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Editors note:
Size matters and size mattered also 100 years ago or so. Here is a comparison between passengers ships back then and now. Gives a good idea about development – I suppose ice bergs are still of the same size though.
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