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Week #07 | 14 February 2019
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Week seven has arrived and today is Thursday the 14th of February, 2019.
February 14th, of course, is Valentine’s Day, a holiday (of sorts, though everyone will be at work) that represents love and being together with those you care for. After a busy week, I am looking forward to returning to see my children, the youngest of whom has a birthday today. So, I’d better organise the gift while I’m in Dubai airport and since it’s also a shopping heaven, finding a great gift will be the least of my problems.
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Many people claim that Valentine’s Day is a soulless ‘holiday’ designed to sell flowers, greetings cards and chocolates. Those same people often say that they don’t need a day to celebrate love, because every day should be that day. In reality, however, this is not the case. Many things can get in the way of remembering something so simple, and often people can get caught up in busy life choices, work schedules, travel etc. and forget the simple things, like just telling the people you love that you love them. I’m certainly aware of this, as I’m sure you are too. |
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So, I think Valentine’s Day is a good thing; a day that we can use to take a few moments and tell those closest to us how much they really mean to us, before we shoot off to our next meeting or whatever else we have to do. Small things like showing that we care can make all the difference to a relationship. There’s certainly nothing to lose and everything to gain from taking a few moments and making those special people feel the love. If everyone who reads this takes the time to call their significant other and tell them something special, I think there will be a lot more happy people.
Getting back to business, this past week I have been in Dubai for the Break Bulk Middle East exhibition and from the moment I stepped off the plane I was in meetings. Before the event started, I met with both contacts I have known for decades as well as others I was meeting for the first time. In the back of my mind, I always have a plan to introduce contacts to each other, especially those who don’t typically cross paths. I find that people are surprised to learn how much potential business they can work on together. It’s a surprise to almost everyone and reminds us not to arrive at a meeting with pre-conceived notions of what the other party has to offer or what they are all about.
Several ship owners invited me to large offsite parties, as is often the way these types of events go. It’s always good to get a feel for the sentiment of the project shipping and forwarding market by speaking to many different people from the bottom to the top, from ship owners to service providers to brokers and agents, not to leave out my favourite sources of information, taxi drivers.
Now, to this week’s PCW and I think you’ll find some useful information included within! For this week’s interviews, first, we travel to the gigantic country of Russia and speak to a long time logistics expert who explains the best ways to transport cargo across such a huge land mass. Next, we jet off to the west coast of the USA to look back over our discussion with an expert in import/export who has a wealth of useful knowledge to share. As usual, we also provide you with trade intelligence, before we round off our newsletter with both Video and Picture of the Week and Wise Words. Have a great rest of the week.
Until next time, I remain,
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Could you provide us with some examples of cargoes that Mortrans has handled recently?
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Business can be divided as imports, exports and local/domestic transportation.
If we speak about exports, they’re mostly to markets like India, Latin America and the Middle East. Our latest shipment is the dispatch of energy equipment. We packed the cargo, lashed on a FR container and sent it to our customer in India.
As far as imports, they’re mostly the importing of equipment for different building and/or renovation projects in Russia. One of our recent projects was the import of equipment and spare parts for building of a subway in Moscow. The cargo arrived to the Moscow region from China by railway. We arranged receipt of the cargo, handling it from the railway, through import customs clearance (with special attention paid to paperwork beforehand, as previously mentioned) and delivered it to the construction site within the Moscow city limits. That was big project, about half a year of transportation and about half a year of preparation. In total, it was about eighty truck voyages.
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Kasra, when was American Export Lines established and what is the company’s main business focus?
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The company was founded in 1974 and the main focus is ocean imports/exports and warehousing. We handle air freight, but it accounts for 5-10% of our overall business. While the company started out in FCL exports and it still accounts for a large part of our business, we have focused more on developing our warehousing and distribution business including transloading as well as out of gauge (OOG) projects. We noticed in the last 5 years that our OOG shipments were increasing, so we decided to focus on continuing the growth in project shipments and develop friendly and long-lasting relationships with overseas agents so they can trust us with their business and vice versa.
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Montecito Group Orders Debris Nets, Plans to Start Construction Soon |
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Six debris-control nets have been ordered, and construction to install the anchors in Montecito creeks could start next week, according to Pat McElroy, head of The Partnership for Resilient Communities nonprofit behind the project.
The Partnership recently placed the order for the custom nets with the Switzerland-based GeoBrugg…
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Papelera Nacional orders a new FFG 1228 NT, the fourth BOBST machine in the company |
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In 2010, the company made the decision to also start producing corrugated board to make boxes for the banana, flower, shrimp and tuna export industries, as well as many others. Nowadays this segment accounts for 120,000 metric tons of corrugated board produced with the help of the three BOBST machines the company has. Excellent market prospects have led Papelera Nacional to confirm the order for a new BOBST FFG 1228 NT, which should be installed in April 2019. The new acquisition means the company aims to achieve figures of 145,000 metric tons by 2020.
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Usiminas selects Danieli Corus for new 180-tonne converter |
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Usinas Siderúrgicas de Minas Gerais S.A. (Usiminas) has awarded to Danieli Corus the contract to replace converter #4 at Ipatinga integrated steelworks (BOF plant #2), in Brazil.
This will be the seventh converter revamp project for Danieli and the first contract for such a project since the integration of Danieli Linz Technology into Danieli Corus. The converter vessel will be built by Usiminas Mecânica, subsidiary of Usiminas, with Danieli Corus providing design, supply of materials and supervision. The contract was signed on the occasion of the 56th anniversary of the Ipatinga plant. |
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Breakbulk Middle East 2019 Official Recap |
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Editors note:
Breakbulk expo in an amazing country, UAE at the crossroads of global trade. Although prices have gone up significantly in the UAE overall it is still an awesome melting pot to visit.
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Editors note:
India and project cargo is growing big time. Here yet another example.
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Neptune Container Line & Logistics Pvt. Ltd. successfully handled Over Dimension Cargo (ODC) at Vizag Port. Read more…
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