In this Issue: ITN Logistics | Globetrans S.A. | TransContainer >>>
Dear Readers,
It is Thursday the 15th of November and we have arrived in your inbox once again.
Christmas will be here in about six weeks, but we can already see Christmas decorations in the shops and soon we’ll likely be hearing ‘Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells’ as well.
Estimates here in Sweden state that about eight billion dollars will be spent during the Christmas festivities, with shoppers buying presents and generating turnover for the malls and online stores. In fact, an incredible amount of money will be spent and that is only here in Sweden. The adults in my family, which according to my wife is a group that does not include me, have decided that we will only buy presents for the children and, to skip the slavery of cooking and cleaning every day.
We’ve instead booked the whole family on a Santa Claus Cruise trip from Stockholm to Kemi, departing on December 22nd and returning on the 26th. In Kemi, Finland, in the far north of the Bay of Bothnia, there is a bus connection to Rovaniemi where Santa Claus is living. I believe it will be a solid experience for the children and also certainly for us.
Check out this video https://youtu.be/O2a-e9Uls7g about the cruise, which departs Stockholm every Christmas.
It is likely to be minus 15-20℃ up there and it will certainly ensure the proper Christmas spirit – and who knows – we may also taste a few Xmas spirit(s) en route.
I have, by the way, as I did with my older children when they were younger, asked my two, five and ten year-olds to pack all the toys that they never use (probably a few CBM) and then we will donate them to anyone who needs them. It hopefully teaches the children respect for what they do have in this world.
Project Cargo Weekly will take a break for Christmas and the last issue of 2018 will be on Thursday December 13th. The first issue of 2019 will be January, 10th 2019.
Now, back to business this week. First off, we visit the country of the maple leaf. The land of vast size but a relatively small population. Yes, you guessed it, it’s Canada and there we find a reliable project forwarder who is also able to provide service to inland North America.
We then visit West Africa and the rather lesser known country of Guinea, a country that has been in the business news recently for its enormous mineral resources and the subsequent crowd of multinational companies eager to get there first, whatever the cost. We speak to a local freight forwarder in the port city and capital of Conakry. After that, on our return flight we stopover in Frankfurt and meet up with an intermodal operator with very strong Russian ties and ownership, who tells us a little about what they can do to/from Europe, Russia, CIS and China using the railway system.
We of course, provide you with shipping and sector news and, although sales work is difficult at the best of times and certainly before Christmas when everyone is so very stressed out, you may find interesting leads for you to pursue. We provide you with our wise words, picture and video as usual.
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
ITN Logistics – Canada
Interview with Mr. Paul Lobas
Director
Tell us about the company ITN. When was it originally established, who owns it and where do you have your offices located in Canada?
ITN was established in 1997, starting with the opening of our Toronto office, which is now our headquarters. From our humble beginnings with six people, we have grown to over two hundred personnel with additional offices in Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver. The owners are Monica Kennedy, Paul Lobas and Bill & Brian Gottlieb.
Globetrans S.A. – Conakry, Guinea
Interview with Mr. Alexandre Camara
Managing Director
Your country is rich in resources. Does this mean that you regularly have a lot of project related shipments to / from Guinea?
Yes, I can confirm this. Unfortunately, historically Guinea has had a very low level of domestic production! But also, because it’s in the middle of a development/expansion, there is a real craze about Guinea that attracts many investors. To date, Guinea imports almost everything (by land, sea and air) from food and equipment to industrial consumables, construction, medical materials, etc.
TransContainer – Germany
Interview with Mr. Daniel Jaguljnjak
Commercial Director
Who are TransContainer Daniel? Can you tell our readers a little about your organisation?
TransContainer is 50% owned by the Russian railways (RZD) and is a Russian intermodal container operator that manages the largest fleet of owned containers (69.595 units) and 25.251 flatcars in Russia over the entire 1520 standard railway network in Eurasia.
Furthermore, TransContainer has its own terminal assets in Russia (42), in Kazakhstan (19) and in Slovakia (1). Around four thousand people are working worldwide in TransContainer and we have offices in CIS, China and Europe.
Shipping News
The Impact of Mega-Ships
Editors note: A brandnew investigation by ITF into the mega containerships and the mega containership alliances can be an interesting read for you. It is the editors hope that competition will continue and monopoly will be avoided by all means the report will shed some light on this I believe
Maersk introduces instant confirmation for container bookings
Editors note: Maersk Line along with other major carriers has launched yet another smart tool for users. Check it out and see if it lives up to expectations
In what it says is an industry first Maersk will provide confirmation of a container booking in seconds compared to waiting times of up to two hours in the past.
Rhenus Project Logistics and Logistics Plus Join Forces
Logistics Plus Inc. (America) and Rhenus Project Logistics (Germany) announced today that they have joined forces for the modernization of two lignite-fired coal power plants in Turkey. The project scope is approximately 40,000 cbm and includes 5 stators, each 200 metric-tons; 5 rotors, each 55 metric-tons; and hundreds of full truck loads, flatbeds, containers and lowbeds from all around the world shipping to Turkey.
Höegh Autoliners – New Express Service
Höegh Autoliners Oceania Service Connects USA- Mexico – New Zealand – Australia Twice a Month
Load ports:
Baltimore, MD, USA Jacksonville, FL, USA Freeport, TX, USA Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico
Discharge ports:
Auckland, New Zealand Brisbane, Australia
Port Kembla, Australia Melbourne, Australia Adelaide, Australia Fremantle, Australia
Transhipment via Auckland:
Lyttelton, New Zealand Wellington, New Zealand Nelson, New Zealand
Sector News
UK to give Angola $920m for projects
The United Kingdom has pledged $920,000 million to support projects in Angola, a British official confirmed. The British Trade Envoy, Baroness Lindsay Northover, who arrived in Luanda Wednesday for a three-day visit, said her country would help in the construction and maintenance of electrical substations in Luanda and Cuanza Sul provinces.
Prometeon to invest €100m in Turkish plant
Prometeon Tyre Group, the former Pirelli industrial tires unit, is investing 580 million Turkish liras (€110.7 million) in its Izmit, Turkey production plant over the next two years to increase production capacity and upgrade technology.
Yageo to construct plant in Kaohsiung, invest NT$10bn
Passive components maker Yageo Corp (國巨) yesterday said it plans to invest NT$10 billion (US$325.71 million) over the next three years to build a plant for high-end multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCC) and other passive components used in vehicles, filling a supply gap to be left by its Japanese peers.
Helicopters lift Leonardo nine-month order intake
Deliveries at Leonardo Helicopters rose during the first nine months of 2018 as “strong commercial momentum” in the segment helped the division’s year-on-year performance.
Featured Video
Editors note: Dalian is a great port ciy in the Northeast of China. I first visited there in 1987 and it has developed a lot since as has most of China. The container port is very modern and caters for mega ships of all kinds nowadays. It is also a gateway for cargo to North Korea which could be interesting in the future. See this video from the port.
Featured Photo
Editors note: Reefer containers can be cold – see the temperature! It contains frozen tuna for Japan.
Quote and Proverb of the Week
“Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble.“
–George Washington
“You can withdraw your leg but never your committed word“
– Ancient Burmese Proverb