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MALTA Supported by

ISSUE 1 2010

Happy times are here again for liner agents

Being a liner agent in a place as small as Malta can often be a matter of faith. Only a limited number of lines can serve such a small market and sometimes it’s a matter of waiting for your ship to come in – literally. John Ripard and Sons have

been the Maltese agents for Norasia for the past quarter century, but the line has not called direct in the island for many years. With no direct services, pickings have been slim from this particular aspect of the business and the company has had to develop other areas, including the Medex Spain- Tunisia-Malta service, along

with general forwarding and groupage services. But Norasia is back with a

bang, or rather its new parent CSAV which bought the line in 2001. CSAV’s Libra subsidiary had already been partnering in a consortium with CMA CGM on a service from the East Coast of South America to the Med, which brought the carrier back to Malta in a small way, but now the parent company has announced a weekly service from Asia to the Med using 5,000teu vessels and with Malta Freeport as its main hub. The new Mare Nostrum service calls at Qingdao, Shanghai,

Ningbo, Xiamen and Hong Kong in China, then Chiwan and Port Kelang before heading direct to Malta. It then continues by way of Genoa, Marseilles, Barcelona and Valencia, back to Malta before heading for Jeddah and Port Kelang and China. At 16 days, it will offer one of the fastest transits from the Far East to an EU country. John Ripard (managing

director of the company that bears his name) says that Malta will be the transhipment point for Italy, the Adriatic and North Africa. He says: “I think there’s room for competition in this market, both for CMA CGM and

Hanjin. None of the lines come to Malta for the local market, but we do have very good shipping services considering the size of the local market. And while it’s not a big market, it’s important for consumers and exporters that they have a choice.” He says that it was fortunate

that John Ripard & Son did not lose its skills base during the dog days but kept together its core team of liner shipping agents. “At the time, I was criticised

for keeping on a lot of people but I’m very pleased I did. Now we’ve got a lot of activity, it will mean a seamless transition, without the need to recruit a

lot of specialised skills.” The general downturn in shipping has in fact made it hard to attract people into the industry and, paradoxically, there is now a skills shortage. However, the industry in Malta could be heading for an upswing, especially as the recent labour troubles in Piraeus and, now, the general social and economic turmoil in Greece have made that country a less attractive location for hub activity, John Ripard believes. During the lean years for liner

agency, John Ripard developed a strong groupage network. UK, Italy and Spain are major

markets. During the old Norasia era, the company offered an extensive

deconsolidation

and reconsolidation groupage service from the Far East to the Med but that stopped when Norasia pulled out its direct calls. “We would look at reviving it but in those days a lot of the Mediterranean countries didn’t have direct services.” However, there might be demand for logistics and warehousing services for Libya. While it probably is only a matter of time before the country gains its own direct services, there is still a lot of work to do in developing its port and other infrastructure.

Sky the limit for young firm

One of Malta’s youngest freight firms, in both senses, is Ocean and Sky Logistics. Set up just six years ago by Alex Polidano and Kurt Camilleri, and recently installed in newly refurbished officers in Marsa, the company recently gained the Cosco agency and will shortly open purpose- built warehousing in Marsa. Ocean and Sky is also agent for heavylift specialist Spliethoff – it moves a lot of boats and other outsize cargo – and also has a sister company in Libya, Manaratal Medina. Average age of personnel is just 29. The new 1,650 sq m multi-

storey warehouse should be racked and have a state of the art warehouse management system by the time this appears and will fulfil a need on an island that is short of good-quality, modern storage space. Alex Polidano, the company’s

managing director, says that gaining the Cosco agency in

October was the result of the company’s proactive approach. Some agents are content to let business roll in and take their commission on whatever is offered, he says, but the Chinese operator wanted a more aggressive approach. As part of the CKYH container consortium, Cosco puts its own vessels into Malta and, as well as the box ships, there is also potential bulk business from the giant Chinese ship operator. Ocean and Sky has also

handled some unusual business. It provided the logistics support for Libya’s 40th anniversary of its revolution in 2009. All the gear was hubbed on Malta and moved across to Libya on a fleet of chartered vessels, trailers and planes. The whole operation went without a hitch and all the equipment was safely returned, says Alex Polidano. “Obviously, in Libya you need a lot of contacts and you need to

be well-established” and local knowledge and a presence there is essential.” Hubbing via Malta is also

a good concept for more routine shipments, give the restricted nature of Libya’s ports and the resulting delays, he adds. “Feeding via Malta is more efficient and effective and reduces the hassle to a minimum.”

Carmelo Caruana ready for logistics growth

Carmelo Caruana, now installed in its parent company, the Hili Group’s new offices near Luqa has ambitious expansion plans. It aims to be one of the first companies on Malta to offer truly modern logistics facilities, taking advantage of the island’s strategic position in the Mediterranean and EU status. Plans are still under development, but the company hopes to be in a position to unveil major new projects towards the end of 2011. Malta is a fiercely competitive freight market, says liner general manager Gerald Vella, with perhaps 50 or more companies vying for a limited amount of trade. Carmelo Caruana is the agent for CMA CGM, the main user of the Freeport, which offers a comprehensive range of services from all parts of the world.

Some sanity is returning to the liner shipping

market, says Mr Vella, after rates from the Far East dipped to crazily low levels last year. Some other carriers were offering prices from the Far East at well below their direct operating costs, he believes.

Business as usual at Rabelink

Rabelink International boss Ronnie Naudi has finally retired, but the business is carrying on under Julian Naudi. The company has also moved out of its landmark blue office building in Marsa and now shares premises with ship charterer MMS in the nearby Millennium centre. Otherwise, it is business as usual, says Julian Naudi. Rabelink

is still offering its range of groupage and full load container services from the Far East, Europe and America, along with trailers from Europe. Rabelink favours Hanjin. for the Far East service, as they tend to offer the keenest rates, although prices from some Far East destinations have increased by quite a bit, especially Japan. “We also tend to go direct to shipping lines, as that tends to give the best rates,” he adds. 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