ISSUE 4 2010 ROUND-UP: SHIPPING Award in absentia


Marine engineer Kelly Klaasen was presented with the South African Maritime Safety Authority Seafarer of the Year Award on 9 October – or rather, her parents Kenneth and Rolene were because she was off the coast of Europe at the time. She is currently serving as fourth engineer on board the Safmarine Bayete and made Safmarine history in July this year when she was appointed as the company’s first female engineer.


CMA CGM is offering a new direct call in Vietnam on its FAL3 service between Asia and Northern Europe. The service, which is operated by ten 8500-9500teu ships will call westbound at the new deepwater port of Cai Mep, the largest ships to operate to the country. CMA CGM will also cover the secondary ports of Haiphong, Danang and Qui Nhon through dedicated feeders. After Cai Mep, the service operates via Port Kelang and Malta to north European ports including Southampton before returning via Beirut and Jeddah to Asia.


Vietnam’s Cai Lan International Container Terminal has signed loan agreements with a lending consortium to secure $100m worth of financing to immediately move forward on the construction of its new deep water container terminal. The new facility, in Quang Ninh Province, will serve Hanoi and the north. It will have 10m draft, and will be able to handle ships up to 3-4,000teu.


Zim Line is offering direct calls in Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam on its AME service between Asia and Europe. The service operates via Ashdod to Felixstowe and other ports in Northwest Europe.


Hamburg-based shipping line DAL has introduced a congestion surcharge of $100 per teu for Maputo and $150 for Beira. It said that berthing delays have become excessive and loading and discharging extremely slow. The surcharges will initially apply until the end of January 2011 but will be reviewed regularly as the situation develops.


Hamburg Süd and Aliança are extending their tests with low-sulphur fuels to include Asia. Together with other shipping companies, they are participating in the Fair Winds Charter initiative, which aims to sustainably improve air quality in Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta. Participants have voluntarily undertaken to use low-sulphur marine gas oil with a sulphur content of 0.5%, instead of traditional heavy fuel oil, at the berth in Hong Kong from throughout 2011 and 2012. At present – with the exception of Emission Control Areas (ECAs) – a maximum sulphur content of 4.5% is allowed worldwide, including ports in Asia. This limit is to be lowered to 0.5% globally in 2020.


APL has also volunteered to burn cleaner fuel in all 19 of its vessels calling at the ports of New York and New Jersey. The agreement is part of a Port Authority program designed to curb emissions in New York Harbour. Under the plan, APL vessels will use low-sulphur fuel in auxiliary generators while berthed and the Port Authority will reimburse 50% of the added cost APL incurs. APL has already joined the low-sulphur fuel program at the Port of Hong Kong and has participated in similar programs in Los Angeles, Oakland, Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia.


Four centuries and counting...


‘Titanic Port’, a new book celebrating 400 years of Belfast Harbour, by the Northern Ireland journalist and author, Alf McCreary, and commissioned by the Harbour Commissioners, details the intimate relationship between the city and its port. It describes the emergence of


the shipbuilding


industry, including the Titanic and her sister ships. It also examines Belfast Harbour’s vital role during two World Wars, how the harbour estate escaped the worst of the ‘Troubles’ and its recent re-emergence as a major economic driver for Northern Ireland’s economy.


NEWS


11


India & Sri Lanka deal extends TDG’s global footprint


TDG has signed a strategic agency agreement with Sri Lanka and India-based John Keells Holdings to cover freight forwarding services between Europe and India and Sri Lanka. The JK Group is Sri Lanka’s largest diversified conglomerate, with over 70 subsidiaries in seven sectors of the economy including what is claimed to be Sri Lanka’s largest private sector transportation business. Its wholly owned subsidiary John Keells Logistics (JKL) provides international and regional sea, air, multimodal and project cargo logistics in Sri Lanka, India and Maldives. TDG’s director of international services, David Barron, said: “We saw JKL as a like-minded company in terms of their strategy on growth with a strong corporate presence – and we see the trade lanes between India and Sri Lanka and our


European locations to be of huge importance to the Group and are delighted to have found a partner with similar ambitions for growth. We expect double digit growth on our returns from this venture and are dedicating the necessary resources from both sides to ensure it is a success.” JKL offers international


freight forwarding services to and from both Sri Lanka and India, but TDG is also looking at developing a domestic logistics presence in India. Agreements between third-


and fourth-party logistics companies and freight forwarders are nothing new, including the merger between the then Exel Logistics and forwarder MSAS, before the combined company with bought by Deutsche Post DHL. The latter’s own takeover campaign


of a few years ago also brought together several forwarding and logistics companies under single ownership. TDG has an open mind


on whether to proceed by acquisition or partnership, said David Barron. “We do work with freight forwarders in partnership but in key geographies we have also made acquisitions, for example in Spain and Eastern Europe. It’s not a question of one or the other.” Recent purchases include UK forwarders brisk Global Logistics and Bradship, along with Spanish- based logistics and forwarding company Doman. However, in China TDG has established a partnership with forwarder Fans Trans, Barron pointed out. TDG currently operates its own freight forwarding offices in the UK, Ireland, Benelux, Hungary and Spain. Further plans to enhance


Dave Barron


TDG’s presence will include Brazil and Africa where the company is looking to establish “firmer solid arrangements, up to and including full acquisition,” he added. “Having established a robust European platform for freight forwarding operations, we are now focusing our attention on giving TDG a significant presence in the core overseas markets in which we trade - the next step in positioning TDG as a global supply chain business.”


Unions accuse DHL of double standards


Global express carrier DHL has incurred the wrath of trade unionists, who accuse it of having double standards for its workers in the First and Developing worlds. A report by the International Transport Workers’ Federation and UNI Global Union says that DHL’s companies around the world have used a range of anti- union practices, including alleged unjust sackings, harassment and discrimination and even the use of lie detectors. In contrast, DHL, owned by


the privatised Deutsche Post, was anxious to cultivate good relations with the unions in its home country, Germany, said ITF global coordinator, Ingo Marowsky. The two unions are calling for “a global agreement for a global company” and for workers to be properly consulted and have access to information


on the company’s strategy, aims and activities. A DHL Workers’ network


has been formed to protect employee rights and ensure that the company lives up to its social responsibility. Ingo Marowsky, ITF Regional


and Industrial Coordinator, told FBJ: “Our problems with the global express industry do not involve, say, the murders or unjust imprisonment that we’ve fought in other sectors in Iran and Guatemala. Instead our problems tend to be where a company trumpets reasonable relationships with its home country union, but fails to fully respect workers’ rights abroad - what’s known as ‘union containment’.” He added that companies such


as DHL sign up to the UN Global Compact and reassure customers that their business is carried out


DHL: The union dossier


The document includes stories of alleged abuse in Bermuda, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, India, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, South Africa and the US. Examples include:


n In Italy, workers at subcontractors used by DHL, and other express companies such as UPS and TNT, have had to fight hard to achieve the same level of pay as workers directly employed by the express companies. Back pay owning to these people has often only been paid


after court battles.


n DHL allegedly threatened to close down the company’s Canadian operations if no agreement was reached with the trade union. An agreement has since been reached, but local union reps complain that management has since tried to undermine it.


n DHL is being urged to investigate apparent violations of human and labour rights – and of the company’s own corporate policy – in Guatemala. Other


workers were apparently forced to sign a letter denouncing an employee who tried to form a trade union.


n DHL management in the US who previously had shown little interest in communicating in Spanish with their Hispanic workforce, suddenly hired a translator to give out anti-union information, claims the report.


n In Costa Rica, new DHL employees have to accept the use of lie detectors, used where workers are suspected of collusion in robberies, according to the unions. They say that one worker was forced to take the test four times – but is still employed by DHL.


n DHL’s takeover by Deutsche Post was marked in India by a sudden clampdown on trade union activity, says the dossier. A union activist was dismissed and a complaint was brought to the police, alleging theft and illegal money-making. The police finally closed the complaint after


two years.


with genuine corporate social responsibility. “Global enterprises have to meet global standards, not sign up to the lowest local common denominator from the comfort of a first world headquarters.” A spokeswoman for Deutsche


Post DHL disagreed with the unions’ analysis. “We already have a constructive dialogue with UNI and ITF on a global level, which will continue. DP DHL fosters constructive debate, both between employees and executives and between management and employee representatives. In March 2009 Deutsche Post DHL presented its new Strategy 2015, part of which is the guiding principle of ‘respect and results’ which is designed to increase the level of employee involvement and commitment. Openness and responsibility are


central to this end.” She added that DP DHL observed the International Labour Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in accordance with national laws and customs wherever the company operated. In response, Ingo Marowsky


said: “We are fully committed to the dialogue with DHL at a global level, but that cannot excuse abuses at the local level. For all the importance given by the company to corporate social responsibility, the message being received by UNI and the ITF is that in some areas the truth falls far short of that ideal, and DHL are now on notice that they have to close that gap. Signing up to a global framework agreement would enhance dialogue and assist with remedial action.”


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