Dear Readers,
It is Thursday again and we are back with a new season of Project Cargo Weekly. I hope you all entered into the new year in orderly fashion and I think I speak for all of us when I express the hope about 2021 becoming corona free. Nothing has affected us all high or low, rich or poor more than corona which virtually has hampered free movement worldwide not to mention countless deaths and mayhem in its wake.
On the personal front I also experienced tragedy in my nearest family when on the 19th of December I received a call from my father telling me that my brother, 7 years my junior, was found dead in his house in Copenhagen. Understanding grief is kind of more “manageable” when it is on others’ behalf but when it strikes yourself you understand that you didn’t know about sorrow and pain for real.
For my parents, of course, it has been a horrible time as one should not outlive one’s children and dealing with his rather large estate — and in particular vulture-like creatures hovering over the estate to grab a bite — has been quite an ordeal. He left behind 4 children and it was my task in the initial stage to support the eldest daughter to deal with matters. So, yes it has been a dark December 2020 indeed, and a tragic ending to a year that in some ways is best forgotten. I was reminded that I should have done more with and for my brother when there was still time and in that there is a terrible and unforgettable lesson. Here is the last picture taken of me and my brother (left) in 2020:
Starting up slowly in 2021 with the first issue of the year, I can note that on the shipping front, the going is apparently better than ever, with skyrocketing rates for container freight enabling the shipowners to hopefully pay back their loans taken for their expansions in recent years. Without knowing exact figures, I have heard container rates of up to 8x what they normally would be for a simple Shanghai to European main port shipment. Lack of containers is another problem, and it has even made it interesting to use breakbulk tonnage to take traditional containerised cargo in order to get it shipped.
With vaccines now slowly rolling out across the world, we should expect a kind of new normal soon to settle — I hope. Life will, however, not be the same, and many travel agents will no doubt go under as there will be a change in travel/visit patterns for all types of travelers, including business people who in many cases now will replace physical contact with Zoom. So let us see where we end up — hopefully better than 2020 in this year 2021.
In today’s newsletter we have 3 video interviews in store for you. We start off by talking to Mitsui OSK Kinkai in Singapore who tells us about their breakbulk services to/from Asia and India/Middle East, etc. We then speak to ACE54, a project management company with Africa knowhow for real, and we finally return to Sweden where the Port of Karlshamn tells us a story about what they can offer with their location in the southeast of the country at the Baltic Sea.
So make yourself the proverbial cup of coffee, sit back, and enjoy the laissez faire way of the PCW interviews — hope you enjoy them. We, of course, provide you with trade intel and wise words, and next week we will start also including the usual round-up of shipping news.
See you in a week,
I remain,
Yours,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
Mitsui O.S.K. Kinkai Interviewed by PCW
Interview with
Kristian Korsvik
Singapore representative
ACE 54 Africa Project Management Interviewed by PCW
Philippe Somers, CEO of ACE 54 Project Management is interviewed by Bo H. Drewsen, Editor of Project Cargo Weekly. http://ace54.com/
Port of Karlshamn Interviewed by Project Cargo Weekly
Interview with
Ulf Sandevarn – Marketing Manager at Port of Karlshamn
Martin Pedersen – Supercargo at Port of Karlshamn
Pär Carlsson – Marketing / Sales at Port of Karlshamn
Sacheta Metals Limited Receives Order for the Supply of Aluminium Utensils
Sacheta Metals Limited, one of the leading producers of aluminium utensils in India, has received sales order of approximately INR 15 Million (3*40″ containers approx.). The company has secured order from Republic of Mozambique for the supply of aluminium utensils. “This sales order is repeatable at every 3 months hopefully,” the company said on Tuesday, 05 January 2021.
Codelco to Spend $1.38Bn on Overhaul of Salvador Mine in Chile
Chile’s copper miner Codelco has received approval from its board to spend $1.383bn for the overhaul of its Salvador mine, a combined open pit and underground copper mine. As per the plan, the state-owned miner will initiate the construction of the Rajo Inca project to convert Salvador to an open-cast mine from an underground one. The move is expected to extend the productive life of the aging operation and boost its production to 95,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) as of the H1-2023.
Turkey’s Enka, Siemens to Build 2 Power Plants in Libya
The statement said that ENKA, in consortium with Siemens, is about to start the construction of the fast-track projects for a 650-megawatt simple cycle power plant to be built in the western port city of Misrata and a 671-MW simple cycle power plant for the Libyan capital, Tripoli.
EnWave Sells Second Radiant Energy Vacuum Machine to Responsible Foods Ehf D.B.A. (Naera Snacks)
EnWave Corporation announced on Jan. 5 that it has signed an Equipment Purchase Agreement with Responsible Foods Ehf d.b.a. “Naera Snacks” to deliver a second 10kW Radiant Energy Vacuum dehydration machine. This REV™ machine will double Naera Snacks’ manufacturing capacity to produce dried snacks using Icelandic ingredients. EnWave expects to commission the second 10kW REV™ machine at Naera Snacks’ facility in Iceland before April 2021.
Star Ferry ride between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon Peninsula
Editor’s Note:
I spent many happy days and nights with my late brother in Hong Kong. I sent him there on his first overseas posting in 1992 and for both of us it was a place in the world that we thoroughly enjoyed. One of the simple pleasures we enjoyed was the Star ferry ride between Hong Kong Island to Kowloon Peninsula.
Editor’s Note:
Leaving Denmark for Sweden after the tragic ending of 2020 I did experience a seldom sunny day in December with the castle of Kronborg to the right seen here from the ferry between Helsingor and Helsingborg.
