Dear Readers,
It is now Thursday the 2nd of June and we are almost half-way through the year of 2022. Hard to believe right? Wait until you get older — the time will pass even more quickly then.
Time wasted or time spent in jail is what apparently is needed for many of our criminals in parts of the western world today. It’s been years since I visited San Francisco, and although I know it as a beautiful city in many ways and the home of [the movie] “Dirty Harry”, it seems long since Callahan [main character in movie] was clearing the streets in this Californian icon of a city. I was shocked to see this YouTube clip aired recently about crime in San Francisco. It seems that we are not alone here in Sweden where we are ranked almost No. 1 in gun shootings and gun violence in Europe.
How should we deal with this scourge? It cannot only be a matter of inequality. For sure here in Sweden there is no noticeable poverty, and there are a ton of opportunities for education, improvements, and courses (plus benefits for studying) available to “confused youngsters or young adults” to encourage them not to choose a career with the local gang. Question is: Don’t the parents have some responsibility here?
Indeed, it is to some extent quite laughable as to how China has dealt with the Omicron variant, but at the very least, you don’t find cities in China where crime is rampant like it apparently is in San Francisco. The Chinese here in Sweden also cannot get their head around what happened to this otherwise fantastic country in Scandinavia where they happily emigrated to.
One noticeable difference between Denmark and Sweden, for example, is that a contract murder committed in Denmark gets you (in one particular case) 16 years in jail if you are below 18 years of age, whilst in Sweden, the same crime would have given you a maximum of 4 years of light incarceration. Bear in mind that in both cases, the governments are Social Democrats…!
How come there is this total naiveté in one country while there are clear consequences in others?
People vote with their feet, and they will move out if a neighbourhood becomes too volatile. This remains true anywhere. The first and most important thing for a country’s leadership is to keep its population safe and to have a strong and CAPABLE police force. Who cares about a sustainable economy or green vegetables and clean energy if your kid is shot down when going to or studying in school? Politicians: wake up and deal with it; talk less and reduce political correctness.
On the political front, when asking a Finnish friend of mine living in Hong Kong about the Corona situation in Hong Kong and China, he said and I quote:
“Hello, Yes, I think they will keep HK closed for [the] next few years before US – China – EU relationships are getting better. It’s not about the Covid any more. The war in Ukraine must stop before anything will move on. China is supporting Russia and China [and] wants to test the water [as to] how far [the] West is ready to support Ukraine. I think it’s all now related with [the] situation in Ukraine. US – China trade is going [to be the] same as [the] last 3 years.”
It leads one to think about Taiwan, doesn’t it?
Right – enough on politics and the situation on the crime front. We now turn to business in this week’s issue.
We start off by visiting a small country in the Arabian Gulf where many people from Saudi go for “happy weekends”, and that place in Bahrain. ISS Global Forwarding is a well-known brand in forwarding, and they tell us about their experience in Bahrain.
We then return to the place of my residence, the land of IKEA, ABBA and certainly beauty and islands called Sweden. SveCon Freight, a shipping agent, tells us more about what they can do in Sweden and the Baltics. Finally, we stay in the Baltics with a re-visit to Rostock, Germany where we remind you about a good interview we had with Stinnes Line and their reliable liner service across the pond to the US Gulf (among others).
We, of course, provide you with shipping news, trade intel and wise words, and we remind you once again to download the PCW app to your phone, so you can watch or listen to interviews at your convenience whilst on the go.
Wishing you all well and until next week I remain…
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
ISS Global Forwarding – Bahrain
Interview with
Ms. May Jammal
Country Manager
Bahrain is not so often in the news, and perhaps it is not a place so well known outside the Middle East. What can you tell our readers about the country: port facilities, number of inhabitants, etc.?
Bahrain is a small country compared to other middle eastern countries, but it’s filled with business opportunities since the country has major projects. Bahrain is being used as a gateway to the biggest market in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) due to our customs flexibility. (Shipments are cleared and delivered via road to Saudi.)
Bahrain has a FTA (free trade agreement) with the USA. This is why most of the big suppliers have invested in Bahrain and build their manufacturing plants here.
Bahrain has the biggest Aluminum exporter (ALBA).
Bahrain is hosting the yearly Formula1 car race (Bahrain Grand Prix, officially known as the Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix) which generates one of the highest revenues after O&G revenues.
SveCon Freight AB – Sweden
Interview with
Mr. Daniel Berglind
CEO
First of all Daniel, could you elaborate for our readers a bit about the history of SveCon. I suppose the abbreviation has something to do with Sweden and Container?
You are correct in your assumption. Svecon Freight AB was founded in May 1990 by my father along with 2 other companies, Conmel Group AB (Gothenburg) and Scandinavian Sealift AB (Örebro). The idea for starting Svecon Freight AB, was to introduce the container as a transportation alternative to breakbulk shipments along the northern part of Sweden. After a couple of successful years, we decided to be sole owner of Svecon Freight AB and purchased 100% of the shares in the year 2000. We continued our journey in freight forwarding and ships agency and invested in our own warehouses in the Port of Gavle to become a complete service provider.
In 2013, my father retired, and I took over the business. It was a very exciting period for me. In 2019, Mr Hjalmarsson at Thor Shipping approached me and asked if I were interested in selling my companies and reinvesting in Thor Shipping. After some consideration, I saw this as a good opportunity for expansion, and I decided to sell 100% of my companies to Thor Shipping & Transport AB and reinvest to become a part owner in that company. We are now just about to consolidate our 2 brands into 1 name: TSG AB, Thor Svecon Group AB, and we will have a very interesting future with our expansion in shipping.
Video Interview
Hugo Stinnes Schiffahrt – Rostock, Germany
Steffen Wiegratz – Line Manager SanMex Service and MPP Transatlantic at Hugo Stinnes Schiffahrt interviewed by Bo H. Drewsen – Editor in Chief of PCW.
Special Report: Hellas Maritime 2022
Editor’s Note:
Posidonia Expo is almost here and as usual it takes place in Greece. Here is an interesting report about Hellas/Greece from Seatrade Maritime that you might find interesting. Greeks are good in shipping especially making 2nd hand tonnage profitable but also from history, they do have a knack for shipping.
This Special Report, published by Seatrade Maritime and in association with Posidonia explores how Greece is living up to its responsibility as the world’s largest shipowning nation, playing its role in shaping regulation and steering the industry’s conversations.
Does Mafia Control The Port Authority Of New York, New Jersey?
Editor’s Note:
I hope that this is not true – now there is no secret in the fact that ports and trucking has been an area that was for sometime infested by criminals etc but it would be good if the year of 2022 would seen such things as something of the past. Article here from GCaptain.
by John Konrad (gCaptain) During the Second World War a massive amount of money and materials flowed through New York harbor providing victory for Europe but also profits for the Mafia. In 1948 journalist Malcolm Johnson published a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles exposing mafia control of the waterfront resulting in congressional hearings, Marlon Brando’s 1954 film On The Waterfront, and a unique agency – the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor – set up to fight the mafia. That organization still exists today but does it remain relevant?
Iran Seizes Two Greek Tankers After U.S. Confiscates Oil Cargo
Editor’s Note:
Greece is in the news again, which may affect shipping in the Gulf big-time. According to this news two tankers have been hi-jacked by Iran. Let us see what happens on this score…
Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf on Friday, shortly after Tehran warned it would take “punitive action” against Athens over the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast.
The Ocean Cleanup begins cleaning the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
Editor’s Note:
The human race has always been good in destroying the place where we all live. Therefore, with some delay, we applaud that someone is finally doing something about cleaning up the oceans. Here is a clip from Youtube which shows you how. But the rivers flowing into the ocean from many of the worlds countries are mainly to blame… its just a matter of willpower.
The nonprofit global cleaning crew called The Ocean Cleanup, led by founder and CEO Boyan Slat, announced recently that it had reached viability of its ocean plastic-collecting System 002 technology and plans to begin cleaning plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch immediately while beginning development of System 003.
ProJet to deliver two new wet end Tail Cutters to Andritz
ProJet will deliver two new wet end Tail Cutters to Andritz, Austria for the new Pulp Lines to be delivered to Suzano, Cerrado, Brazil. The order was included in ProJet’s second quarter 2022 orders received. The value of the order will not be disclosed
Sayona raises A$190m for NAL’s start in 2023
Lithium developer Sayona Mining on Friday announced a successful
A$190-million institutional placement to fund the 2023 restart of its
North American Lithium (NAL) operations in Québec.
Jinchen signs 500MW solar module line agreement with HSA Energy
Jinchen has announced the signing during Intersolar Europe of a cooperation agreement with Turkish module manufacturer HSA Energy, for delivery of a 500MW automated production line. The agreement represents the extension of an existing relationship dating back to 2021 and the cutover of another 500MW production line supplied by Jinchen, with HSA’s total production capacity now set to reach 1GW.
BlueFloat Unveils 1-GW floating Wind Project for Taiwan Debut
Spain-based offshore wind developer BlueFloat Energy announced on Tuesday that it has arrived in the Taiwanese market with plans to install a floating wind farm with over 1 GW of capacity.
Arriving Melbourne, Australia After a 3 week Trip Onboard mv CMA CGM Georgia from Singapore
Editor’s Note:
Footage by the undersigned – welcome to Melbourne, Australia. Chinese captain and officers, Sri Lankan crew, the trip was incredible, not least the food. I tried to work off the calories by playing ping pong with the chief officer after dinner, he was from Shandong province – I lost!
Editor’s Note:
Just a quick reminder that having a meeting during breakbulk on a houseboat “on deck” is entirely possible, pleasant and a great experience. Here with 2 executives Mr. Vijay Sarathy & Mr. Mahek Gala of JM Baxi India introducing their new heavy haul joint venture in India discussing membership in CLC Projects Network. So I already booked the houseboat for a week to cover 2023 breakbulk Rotterdam. Welcome onboard!
