10


Issue 2 2012


Frankfurt night ban – decision in April


Luſthansa Cargo’s fears about a possible permanent ban on night-time flying at its home hub in Frankfurt, Germany, could be confirmed – or eased – in early April. The country’s Federal


Administrative Court is due to announce on 4 April its ruling regarding a present ban on all flights at that airport between 2300 and 0500 hours imposed by a Hesse state court at the end of October last year. The issue is of particular


significance to Luſthansa Cargo whose freighter operations accounted for the majority of the 17 night-time flights permitted prior to the ban. Separately, the German carrier


is also becoming increasingly concerned about possible retaliatory action by some overseas countries, notably Russia, China and the US, opposed to aviation being included in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). Speaking at Luſthansa


Cargo’s 2011 annual results press conference in Frankfurt on March


21, chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt reiterated previous claims that a permanent ban on all night flying at Frankfurt would cost the carrier around €40 million a year in earnings. However, he played down any


suggestion that the carrier might consider a large-scale switch of its freighter operations to another German airport like nearby Hahn. “Our Frankfurt base is indispensable. We have built up this location for more than 40 years – we can’t go away,” he stated. Commenting on the EU ETS Garnadt


issue, suggested the


international air transport sector was in danger of becoming a battleground for trade wars, with countries in other parts of the world indicating they could take counter measures against European airlines if their carriers were forced to comply with that system. To illustrate that point, he said,


as at March 21, Russia had still to grant over-flying rights for eleven of Luſthansa Cargo’s more than 30


Germany-Far East freighter flights a week listed in its summer schedule due to start March 25. While Russia had a tradition of granting such rights at the last minute, he continued, it was felt the delay this time round might relate to the ETS controversy. A Luſthansa Cargo spokesman


subsequently confirmed that the carrier could not operate the Far East services concerned as


currently scheduled without Russian over-flying rights. If those permissions were not granted, the carrier would have to look for alternative routings. Assessing Luſthansa Cargo’s


overall business prospects for 2012, Garnadt said the organisation remained “cautiously optimistic”, with demand expected to see an upturn in the second half of the year.


Lobby calls for airline emissions plan by year end


The Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) has called on the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to produce firm plans for airline emissions by the end of 2012. GACAG has been highly critical


of the EU’s controversial Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) and has campaigned for multilateral efforts to develop international CO2 emissions standards within ICAO. This, it says, would be in keeping with the recommendations of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change which designated ICAO as the body with authority to set international aviation’s greenhouse gas policy. Michael Steen, chairman of


GACAG, said: “We will support ICAO in this initiative and push to ensure the deadline for the end of this year is achieved. GACAG urges the European Commission to ‘come to


the table’ to work with ICAO towards this global goal. In a recent exchange of correspondence with the EU Climate Action Commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, she stated that the EU was very much in favour of a global approach to aviation emissions but that its work to achieve this with ICAO was just too slow. Ms Hedegaard also stated that the EU remained committed to fully support global action and we now expect the EU to participate with ICAO towards a sensible resolution. We hope this will also take into account the progress the aviation industry is making in terms of sustainability and the environment and its critical role in worldwide economic development.” The International Air Transport


Association (IATA) has meanwhile called on the EU to postponeETS.


Director general Tony Tyler said in a speech on 6 March that non- European states see the ETS as an attack on their sovereignty. Earlier, 29 countries signed a


declaration opposing EU attempts to introduce a compulsory mission Trading Scheme (ETS) and charges for emission quotas for all airlines operating in its airspace. The controversial ETS, which came into effect on 1 January, levies a charge on flights in EU airspace based on carbon emissions. It has been strongly criticised by carriers outside Europe and by the airfreight industry as a restriction on trade. At a two-day international


conference in Moscow on 22 February, a group of countries led by the US, Russia, China and India,signed the declaration, adding that more countries might follow suit.


However, many of the delegations


at the conference were professional associations and air operators rather than government officials, so the declaration has no legal standing. Another international conference


on the subject will take place in summer. Earlier China said it had banned


all its air carriers from taking part in ETS.


In response to the Moscow


declaration, the European Commission said opposition of countries participating in the meeting to the ETS was already known. A group of airlines, including


British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Air France, Lufthansa and Iberia, plus Airbus have also written to British prime minister David Cameron to warn about a potential trade war if Brussels pushes ahead with ETS.


Garnadt: Ban would cost carrier €40m a year


///NEWS


NEWS ROUNDUP SEAFREIGHT


Hamburg Süd and Aliança are to restructure their service between North Europe and East Coast South America from mid-April in response to changing market conditions. The new weekly service will be operated by seven 7,100teu vessels, purpose-built for the trade and with 1,600 reefer plugs. Port rotation will be: Rotterdam-Tilbury-Hamburg-Antwerp-Le Havre- Sepetiba-Santos-Paranagua-Buenos Aires-Montevideo-Rio Grande- Itapoa-Santos-Tangier-Rotterdam. Paranagua, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Pecem will be served through slot arrangements.


NYK Line said on 24 February that it was introducing an enhanced service between the Indian subcontinent and Europe. The weekly IOS service replaces the current Epic service from the end of March (northbound) and from late April (southbound). UK call for the new route is Tilbury instead of Southampton. Ports served also include Karachi, Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Jeddah and Jebel Ali.


Containerships is adding the Finnish port of Pori to its weekly service to Teesport and Sheerness from March. Sailings operate from Pori to Sodertalje, Klaipeda, Teesport, Sheerness and Ghent and then on to Riga, St. Petersburg and Helsinki. Connections are available to Rotterdam, Ireland and St. Petersburg by transhipment. Imports from Iberia, Ireland, Russia, Benelux and the UK can also be handled.


CMA CGM’s short-sea MacAndrews subsidiary has introduced a new weekly service from between Gothenburg and Tilbury. The service calls at the APM terminal in Gothenburg every Friday. The route will be operated by 300teu ships.


P&O Ferries’ second new €180 million ship, Spirit of France, set sail on her maiden voyage to Calais on 9 February . The new vessels, each capable of carrying 160 articulated lorries plus a further 195 cars, can ship twice the payload of previous generation Channel ferries for the same running costs, says the ferry operator.


P&O Ferries is to charter out its European Seaways freight ferry as an accommodation vessel for technicians working on Centrica Renewable Energy’s offshore wind farm in the North Sea. The 23,000 tonne ship will be chartered for three or four months, starting in April. She will be anchored 7km off Skegness allowing workers to live on board during breaks from their shiſts on the Lynn and Inner Dowsing Wind Farm Array. She will be manned by P&O Ferries’ deck, technical and catering crew providing hotel services to Centrica staff. A P&O Ferries spokeswoman said there were no plans to bring in an extra ship to cover for the European Seaway during the charter as there was plenty of extra capacity with the two superferries on Dover-Calais.


South American shipping line CSAV says it has successfully completed a US$1,200 million capital injection, a process begun in 2011. The line said it was now contemplating a 50% reduction in containership carrying capacity compared to the first months of 2011.


Peel Ports has appointed Douglas Coleman; one of the UK’s most experienced project directors, as programme director for the construction of its planned in-river container terminal at the Port of Liverpool, along with other key related projects on the Manchester Ship Canal including Port Bridgewater and Port Salford. Coleman said: “I am excited by the challenges that such a construction project presents, it is a technically complex project, but eminently achievable.”


Thousands of letters have been sent to homes in Dover urging residents to buy “shares” in a group that wants to take over the town’s historic port. The Dover People’s Port Trust (DPPT) has sent 55,000 letters to homes in the town urging residents to buy £10 ‘shares’ in their group. Buyers would be allowed to vote on its board but not receive a dividend. DPPT chairman Neil Wiggins said the response to the membership offer had been enthusiastic.


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