Dear Readers,
It is Thursday the 20th of May, 2021 and PCW is back in your inbox.
Last week saw me do something bold. I booked my first trip abroad by flight since I arrived back from Dubai on March 5 of 2020. I am doing this now for two reasons. First, I got my first of 2 Pfizer shots, and second, I bought a condo in Dubai as the market is now down and having money in the bank is almost a crime these days (as they more often than not make you pay for it). As we all know, banks only take risks when it involves millions in one go, but “normal people” they hardly care for, and we are mainly in their way. Like one project freight forwarder remarked to me recently, this ship owner (name known to me) should try to call their own customer service. I can suggest a couple of banks at least here in Sweden should do the same…..
So, I am leaving mid-July for Malta, Dubai, Doha and back to Stockholm. If all goes well, I will be able to slowly start to conduct business in a more normal way without endless zooming ? .
Having said that, Zoom does come across as a great platform that solves a meeting pickle in a rush, and it is no doubt here to stay. Speaking of Zoom, I actually had a great interview with a couple of friends of mine in Houston, Texas. They run an asset-based heavy haul trucking company. Formerly known as Hansa Meyer, their trucking company now got reinvented as Atlas Heavy Transport. This means that a competent and neutral entity has opened its doors to the vast OOG trucking market in the US and Canada, and I invite you to watch or listen to this most interesting interview.
Generally, I don’t start by referring to interviews in the editorial, but when competent people “go for it” and reinvent themselves with a new, fresh and modernized identity whilst keeping their existing skill set, that is something to applaud. It just goes to show that there is something to be said for the old SAS quote “Who dares – Wins!” I started a couple of companies myself. The first one was back when I was 24 years old. I took a loan from the bank (of all places), and it turned out ok. So yes, shaking the tree, breaking new ground, and daring to go against the establishment —not least the politically correct ones—is a “must do and can do” thing on the agenda.
Whilst waiting for the first flight out of here, so to speak, I did drive to the north of Sweden and visited the Port of Holmsund where a BBC Chartering vessel was in town. I stayed overnight at the Port of Kopmanholmen where a Briese Chartering vessel similarly was in town.
Having 2 boys aged 7 and 12 made the trip long but enjoyable (1400 km in 3 days). Boys, although being active in school, do need to see something else besides books and get out into real life. I did enforce strict internet time limits for their gadgets during the trip, and we also did simple things like walking in the forest and throwing stones in the water. Here are a couple pictures from the environment we visited (this week’s featured video and photo are also from the trip).
On the political front, the US foreign minister visited my native country of Denmark enroute to Iceland and Greenland and the Chinese managed to land on the planet of Mars. So it does seem that competition is heating up between the 2 giants in the ring. Judging from their rhetoric and easily offended attitude, we may be in for a rough ride—at least in the beginning, but let’s hope that once they realise that they do need each other, they will find a way.
PCW will say though that China does need to learn to abide by international rules if they sign up for them. This applies not least for fishing where their trawlers are raping the oceans worldwide without any kind of self imposed restrictions. As for the US, my view is that if they could consume less, they would be less dependent on other people’s supply chain, and they would be less vulnerable. In Europe, we generally bark a lot but have little to show for it and are dealing with a home-grown inability to ever decide on anything—unless its common debts for its citizens and salaries for the bloated bureaucracy.
Shipping-wise, today we have a nice “package” in store for you. We first visit the US, and if you are in the mood to buy or sell, you will find an interesting interview with Logisyn Advisors in Chicago who by all means really know their business in logistics when it comes to mergers, acquisitions and so on.
We then revisit an interview we had with a most competent heavylift ship-owner known as UHL or United Heavylift, headquartered in Hamburg, and we speak to their CEO.
Finally, we remind you of a podcast interview we had with big blue in Denmark (and worldwide), i.e., Maersk Line and their head of OOG and special cargo. They are, to make a long story short, everywhere!
We provide you with trade intel, shipping news and featured pictures and video and not least wise words.Don’t forget to download the PCW mobile app (free of charge).
Until next week, we remain,
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
Video Interview
Logisyn Advisors
Ron Lentz, Managing Partner at Logisyn Advisors was interviewed by Bo H. Drewsen, Editor in Chief at Project Cargo Weekly. http://www.logisyn.com/
Video Interview
United Heavy Lift
Lars Bonnesen, CEO of United Heavy Lift speaks with Bo H. Drewsen of Project Cargo Weekly. https://www.unitedheavylift.de/
Audio Interview
Maersk Special Cargo Department
Kristian Lund Knudsen – Global Head of Special Cargo Solutions at Maersk and Esben Flinker Noergaard – Trade Manager Special Cargo at Maersk Interviewed by Bo H. Drewsen, Editor of Project Cargo Weekly. https://www.maersk.com/
Swire Shipping to Introduce New Direct Service Connecting Singapore and North West Australia
Editor’s Note:
Swire Shipping continues its expansion of covering “outports”, and here is the latest from them concerning Darwin and Port Hedland which are not always easy to reach from, shall we say, main ports.
Swire Shipping will operate a new North West Australia direct service (NWD) from June 2021, offering customers a direct connection between Singapore and North West Australia. The new service is made up of two loops: the first loop will serve Singapore, Darwin, Port Hedland and operate with a transit time of 12 days from Singapore to Port Hedland; the second loop will operate from Singapore to Dampier, with a transit time of nine days.
Shippers Compete for Space as Container Freight Rates Continue Rise
Editor’s Note:
And the upward thrust of freight rates continues without an end in apparent sight. So shippers/cargo owners and forwarders take note that “shopping around” days are, at least for now, on a serious hold—if not choke hold!
Shippers from Asia to Europe saw a further spike in container spot rates this week, particularly for Mediterranean ports.
And ocean carriers are said to be preparing big increases in short-term rates as cargo-rolling becomes the norm.
On the transpacific, carriers are ‘sold out’ for the rest of May and into June, with this week’s spot rate increases from Asia to the US west and east coasts described by one shipper as “academic”.
Wind-Assisted Containership Receives Class Approval in Principle
Editor’s Note:
The answer is apparently blowing in the wind for everything nowadays from energy to ships assisted propulsion and why not. Latest here on this score from our friends at GCaptain.
A new concept design for a wind-assisted containership has been awarded an Approval in Principle by classification society Bureau Veritas.
The design, named “Trade Winds 2500”, envisions a LNG-powered ship equipped with six wingsails to achieve a CO2 emission reductions of as much 35% based on a typical transatlantic route of 4,000 nautical miles compared to a conventionally-powered ship.
About the Suez Canal
Editor’s Note:
Since the Ever Given became Ever Grounded (even though not in the same place), I have studied the Suez Canal Authority’s website and started to learn a bit more about the canal and its history. Here is a link for you if you are interested to know more. The next step could be that after Ever Given became Ever Grounded, she will then be renamed to Ever Income (for the SCA).
The Suez Canal (in Arabic: Qanat as-Suways), is an artificial sea-level waterway running north to south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. The canal separates the African continent from Asia, and it provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world’s most heavily used shipping lanes. The Suez Canal is one of the most important waterways in the world.
Samsung Engineering Signs Deal to Build Petrochemical Plant in Jubail Industrial City II
According to a bourse filing, the contract was awarded by Advanced Global Investment Company, a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s Advanced Petrochemical Company. As per the details of the deal, Samsung Engineering will build a propane dehydrogenation plant and utilities and offsites at Jubail Industrial City II on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast, the filing said.
Set to be completed in 2024, the plant will produce 843,000 tonnes of propylene per annum with all required off-sites and utilities carried out by utilizing Catofin technology from the US group Lummus Technology, the filing concluded.
Kubota Construction Signs Sewage Deal in Cambodian Capital
Kubota Construction Co. has received a 2.34 billion yen ($21.7 million) order from the Phnom Penh metropolitan government to build the first sewage plant in the Cambodian capital.
The Osaka-based Kubota Construction, a wholly owned subsidiary of major farm machinery maker Kubota Corp., announced Wednesday it will carry out the sewage project with Metawater Co., a designer and builder of sewage systems in Tokyo.
Bedeschi Secures Lafarge Cement Polska Cement Plant Crushing and Storage Equipment Supply Contract
Italy-based Bedeschi has won a contract with China-based Nanjing Kisen International Engineering, part of China National Building Materials, to carry out equipment supply for the modernization of crushing and storage facilities at a Lafarge Polska cement plant in Poland.
The supplier says that it will provide a crushing system featuring two RI 450/15000 double rollers and two Pal SP 130/18 portal reclaimers for raw materials storage.
Volvo CE EC210D Excavators Empower Indonesian Quarry
A rental and general contractor company in Surabaya, East Java, already relies on some of the leading machines from Volvo Construction Equipment, as it excavates limestone to meet Indonesia’s infrastructure demands. But four new additions are said to be taking the company’s work to the next level.
Briese Chartering Vessel Mv Louis Discharging Wind Turbines at Port of Köpmanholmen, Sweden
Editor’s Note:
Visited the port of Köpmanholmen in Sweden last week. The place is beautiful and has some great islands just outside that are easily reachable. What better place to watch project cargo shipping in action? This time with the Briese Chartering vessel mv Louis on charter to DHL and their renewable energy customers.
Editor’s Note:
mv Pacific Harmony of BBC Chartering was in the port of Holmsund, Sweden last week with some 68 pcs of tower sections for the booming renewable industry in Sweden. An impressive project by DSV and their customer Vestas who seem to be keeping many a breakbulk ship owner very busy currently. Some pictures here.
