Freighting Update – News


Maersk and OOIL cut Asia-Europe services Falling demand sees world’s largest shipping lines making significant capacity withdrawals


IN a sign of further deterioration on the key Asia-Europe trades, two of the world’s largest shipping lines, Maersk Line and Orient Overseas


ter, a senior executive told the media at a shipping conference in Hong Kong. According to a report in Lloyd’s


(International), have


announced significant cuts in serv- ices. China’s OOIL cut its capacity on the trade by 20% in the third quar-


List, Chairman Tung Chee Chen said the cuts were made because of “lower demand” and the impact on trade from the eurozone debt crisis.


One loop from the Grand


Alliance Asia-Europe service has been cut. The alliance will now operate three loops with 10 con- tainerships on each. Grand Alliance members include OOIL box opera- tor OOCL, Hapag-Lloyd and NYK. Maersk Line will merge its Icon service, which links the Far East


and the Indian subcontinent to Northern Europe, with its Asia- Europe Daily Maersk network. The line will create a dedicated link


feeder between the


Bangladeshi port of Chittagong and Tanjung Pelepas in Malaysia to provide access to the Daily Maersk service.


Tunnel rail freight operators face new fee


FRANCE’S rail network manager, RFF, is planning to introduce a secu- rity fee on rail freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel next year, which could work out at €600 per train. The fee would cover safety provi-


sion for trains making an obligatory stop to change locomotives in a transit zone near the French entrance to the tunnel. The almost constant presence of


migrants near this zone, looking to gain passage to the UK, and the risk of terrorist attacks, has led to the


French authorities drawing up strict surveillance regulations. To date, state rail freight operator


Fret SNCF alone has shouldered the responsibility and the cost of pro- tecting the zone, working in collaboration with police and cus- toms. However, with the increasing


market share of private rail freight operators through the tunnel, SNCF has indicated to RFF that it is no longer appropriate that it carry out the role.


So, from 1 January, RFF will take


on responsibility for the zone, employing a security firm whose services will be paid for through the security fee scheme. “Fret SNCF has a 20% share of


freight train traffic through the tun- nel, but has been paying for the security provision of competitors’ trains too, so one can well under- stand its position,” an RFF spokesman told IFW (ifw-net.com). But he played down the impact of the fee on rail freight operators’


costs. “When put in the context of the


total cost of running a freight train over distances of 1,000km, it is not that significant,” he said. According to figures from RFF, rail


freight traffic carried on the French network fell by 4.3% in the first nine months of 2011, compared with the same period last year. Fret SNCF’s traffic alone was down 13.4%. Private operators’ share of the


French market stood at almost 24%.


F6


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