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NEWS

BA freighters escape shut down

During volcano the crisis, British Airways said its bellyhold cargo operations had been shut down by the volcano. But its three freighters, which were outside affected airspace when it was closed, had continued to operate to a makeshift hub in France. A BAWC spokesperson said:

“This has meant we have been able to maintain 25% of our network capacity, by flying from Asia, the US and Africa to Lyon in France. Our European trucking network is then assisting in transporting the cargo to its final destinations, minimising disruption to customers.”

Emirates Skycargo also said it was operating additional freighter services into unaffected European airports and transporting cargo by road where possible. Deutsche Post-DHL spokesman

Joerg Wiedemann said that so far, the carrier had managed to keep shipments moving in Europe and that there had been no major backlogs of freight. “We have switched some traffic to road or rail (unlike the UK, the German railways still carry light parcels on inter-city passenger trains) and our network managers replanned the network virtually every night.” Long haul freighter

services had been diverted away from the main European hub at Leipzig to others in southern Europe.” Shipments were however taking longer to reach many destinations, particularly on longer hauls were air services would normally be used. He added that the company’s

strategy was to disperse planes at its disposal to those hubs that remained operational to avoid having all planes trapped in a single location should the ash cloud close in. “What we’re now trying to do is build up capacity at different locations so we can get going as quickly as possible

when the restrictions are lifted.” Panalpina warned that there could be rate increases on many routes, particularly westbound from the Far East, due to the cargo backlogs building up at many origins. It said: “As soon as flight operations are back to normal, additional capacity at higher cost will be required to clear backlog. Consequently airlines are implementing a rate increase with immediate effect and until further notice.” It said: “The present situation leaves no alternative but to pass on this rate increase.”

The European Commission and member states aviation authorities management of the episode was strongly criticised. International Air Transport Association (IATA) director general Giovanni Bisignani in particular faulted the decision to close air space on the basis of theoretical models rather than on factual evidence and without consulting the airlines. Competition Commissioner

Joaquim Almunia and Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas said that they would consider requests for state aid for airlines hit by the disruption.

ISSUE 1 2010

Dhow owners

action

Welcome bonus for stricken SeaFrance

Extra ferry business generated by the shut-down of European air services was providing welcome extra revenue for SeaFrance although it did not fundamentally alter the company’s situation, said managing director, Robin Wilkins. The French railways ferry subsidiary had announced that it was seeking bankruptcy protection, after a five-day strike that put the operator out of action over the Easter peak.

In the meantime, he said,

“We are developing another plan which we will implement under ‘Chapter 11’ style conditions. We’re working hard to implement it in about two weeks’ time.” A spokeswoman for P&O

Ferries said that the operator had pressed two of its freight- only ferries into service to carry increased numbers of foot passengers between Dover and

Pirates scare off low cost box shipping line

New ‘low cost’ carrier The Containership Company said it had no definite plans to introduce a service to Europe due to the continuing spate of pirate attacks off Somalia. Chief executive Officer Jakob Tolstrup-Møller said: “We are indeed looking at introducing a service, but we’re watching what is happening as the pirates are making it a challenge.” He said the need for The Containership Company to be as fuel-efficient as possible posed a number of difficulties. Steaming via the Cape would add considerable extra mileage, while the recommended avoiding action, to steam as fast as possible through the pirate-infested region, would also add considerable costs. “You are told to go full-blast at 20-plus knots, but there’s a cost to that,” he said.

Mr Wilkins said that SeaFrance

had been seeing increased passenger numbers, although not as many as would have been expected during the busiest days of the Easter holiday peak. “I don’t think it will fundamentally change things, but it does make our plans easier to achieve and it is nice to have extra business.” Speaking on 19 April, Mr

Wilkins said that passenger numbers were up, including large numbers of foot passengers that SeaFrance does not usually carry, but that freight was still able to obtain space and access the port.

Calais. The European Envoy had been temporarily diverted from the new Dover-Zeebrugge route introduced only in early April and was running Dover-Calais trips alongside the European Envoy. Both ships had been recertified to carry 3-400 foot passengers. Eurotunnel said that, as

well as increasing capacity for coaches, it was offering a 35% rebate on the standard fare for small vans. This would allow the loading of more vehicles during this peak period and help maintain courier services and urgent deliveries, said the tunnel operator.

Truckers’ security pledge

The International Road Transport Union, the World Road Transport organisation, the Transported Asset Protection Association and the Eurowatch police response organisation have signed a memorandum of understanding to reducing losses in the international supply chain. The IRU’s head of goods transport, Peter Krausz, pledged to develop “a culture of reporting incidents such as attacks or thefts on the road and in parking areas” and to set up a wide, reliable database.

If and when a European service went ahead, it would almost certainly operate from the same Chinese port, Taicang, that is being used for the operator’s Transatlantic service, which was due to operate its first sailing on 17 April. A European port has not been decided yet, said Mr Tolstrup-Møller, despite speculation that the Ceres terminal in Amsterdam had been in talks with the line. He added that launch of the transatlantic route between Taicang in China and Los Angeles was going ahead as planned. Three sets of container equipment had been delivered and was being positioned at customers’ premises in China. It has also chartered all five vessels needed to operate the Transpacific service.

Dhow owners in the United Arab Emirates are boycotting trade with Somalia in a bid to free their ships according to local press reports. Gulf News said that the operators of the small wooden vessels, which can land on beaches and in small creeks have great economic leverage in Somalia and their actions had already led to a rise in the price of goods in Somalia. In early April, the boycott had led to of six captured dhows being released. The report quoted a spokesman for the Bahrain- based Combined Maritime Forces who said that about ten dhows were hijacked between March 23 and April 6 and that the number of attacks had been increasing. But until recently, the pirates had tended to leave the dhows alone as they were seen as vital to the Somali economy.

Jordan signs

air deal

But until recently, the pirates had tended to leave the dhows alone as they were seen as vital to the Somali economy.

Narrow escape for K Line

Pirates continue to afflict shipping operations off the Somali coast. K Line container vessel “Hamburg Bridge” had a narrow escape about 250 miles east of the Gulf of Aden on 5 April. The ship, which has an official top rated speed of 24.5 knots sustained minor damage to the hull, but quickly accelerated and took evasive manoeuvres. The pirates gave up chasing the ship after about 45 minutes. No one was injured in the attack, and continued on to Port Said through the Suez Canal. A spokesperson for French-owned operator CMA CGM, whose passenger liner Le Ponant was taken

hostage by pirates in 2008, confirmed that there had been an increase in pirate activity off Somalia, adding: “While our containerships are less vulnerable than slower vessels with less freeboard, CMA CGM and Delmas vessels are still at risk.” All vessels transiting the Gulf of Aden and Somali Basin are

registered

with the Atalanta force and captains remain in close contact with the coalition forces when transiting the most dangerous areas.

Where appropriate, vessels

increase their speed while additional razor wire fences are put in place and high pressure water jets made ready. CMA CGM has also established a permanent onshore security centre. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36