14


Issue 2 2012


Eurotunnel still interested in Seafrance ships


Eurotunnel has reiterated its interest in buying three ships that belonged to the defunct Seafrance operation, said chairman and CEO Jacques Gounon. In a press conference to announce the Channel Tunnel operator’s annual results, he said that the three ships - the Berlioz, the Rodin and the freighter Nord Pas de Calais - were currently in the hands of a broker which had set an April deadline to sell the vessels. If it purchased the ships,


Eurotunnel would rent them to an operating company set up by former Seafrance employees. This “Chinese wall” would, he said, help keep Eurotunnel within competition laws. A revitalised Seafrance would cater


to niche markets, with Eurotunnel continuing to provide a premium service, he said. The freighter vessel would in particular carry larger mega- trailers that could not be fitted on board Eurotunnel’s freight shuttles. Meanwhile, Eurotunnel was


planning to return a mothballed car shuttle to service and was also looking


Ships could take traffic that shuttles cannot


///NEWS NEWS ROUNDUP FORWARDING & LOGISTICS


Freight forwarder Maru International has moved it’s South-East operations to a new terminal at at the Skyline 120 development in Great Notley, Braintree, Essex. It will also move its offices will there at the end of June. The new depot is purpose built on a 20,000 sq ft site with undercover warehousing with high security. There are three undercover dock level loading bays with specialist fork trucks with pallet handling capabilities. Long and short term storage agreements available. Along with a full range of multimodal forowarding options, other services available include handling and consolidation as well as order fulfilment, along with UK distribution for parcels, pallets or dedicated truck loads including full ADR (hazardous) services.


to boost the speed of the shuttle fleet from 140kmph (87mph) to 160kmph (100mph), mainly to keep pace with the Eurostar express passenger trains and so boost capacity through the tunnel. The freight shuttles may also be accelerated, although their 2,400-tonne weight would make this speed more difficult to achieve. Eurotunnel was also working to


remove the ‘pagoda’ structures on its freight shuttle cars to simplify loading and unloading. To do this, it


would have to find a way of isolating the overhead power supplies in the loading area and Gournon said he hoped soon that he would be able to convince the intergovernmental commission that controls tunnel operations that this could be achieved. This in turn would allow freight shuttle frequencies to be increased. Meanwhile, Eurotunnel was


looking with interest at plans for the Autoroute Ferrovaire


Atlantique plan for longer distance ‘rolling motorway’ type shuttles (see FBJ 06 2011, page 1) and the Carex plan for high speed parcels trains, although he stressed that these were both long- term projects. Eurotunnel


meanwhile


announced a doubling of its proposed dividend to 8 euro cents. Trading profit increased by 40% to €247 million and net profit was €11 million.


Second ship for new Dover-Calais service


DFDS Seaways and LD Lines are to introduce a second ferry on their Dover to Calais route on 27 April. The Barfleur, chartered from Brittany Ferries, will complement the Norman Sprit used to launch the


service in February and


frequency will be doubled to ten daily departures from each port. The vessel will be renamed prior to entering service, and will offer a freight capacity of 1,530 lane metres, plus space for cars.


She will fly the French flag and be


operated by a French crew. Together, with DFDS’s existing


Dover-Dunkerque route, there will be 22 daily departures from the English port and 11 each from each of the French terminals. The ship already on the route is


the Norman Spirit, owned by LD Lines but which lately had been operated by DFDS on its Dover- Dunkerque route to relieve pressure following the cessation of the


MPs call for rethink on sulphur rules


The House of Commons Transport Select Committee has added its voice to industry calls for a rethink on planned EU ship emission limits. MPs have called on the UK government to negotiate to ensure the EU Directive goes no further than the revised MARPOL agreed in 2008, in a report examining the draſt EU directive. Launching ‘Sulphur emissions


by ships’, committee chair Louise Ellman, said : “We endorse the


Government’s support for the more stringent


regulation of sulphur


emissions.” However, she added, “We believe that it’s not appropriate for the Commission to go further than these globally-agreed limits by imposing tighter regulations on shipping operators at this time.” But the Committee did not


agree with the Minister’s assertion that the Government will not negotiate with the Commission on its proposals.


SeaFrance service in November. The 20-year old vessel was originally built as the Prins Filip for state-owned Belgian operator RMT. The two partners say they


would hire 300 ship and shore staff and that many former SeaFrance employees were already being recruited. They also thanked the French


Government, Chamber of Commerce, the local authorities and the port for their support in


getting the service off the ground at short notice. In a statement, the two


partners added: “We look very much forward to being able to welcome freight customers to our new Calais- Dover service, and, in cooperation with our new employees as well as our staff in Dover and Dunkerque, we look forward to providing an attractive and efficient customers service and a sustainable workplace.”


New direct Tilbury- Bilbao service


Transfennica included a weekly direct call to Tilbury from Bilbao as part of its Iberia schedule from 24 February. The Friday evening sailings from Bilbao call at Tilbury on Sundays at 14.00 and then Zeebrugge. The short-sea line says it offers


a very fast transit time from Spain to the London area at the end-of -week peak for exports to the UK for delivery in the UK by Sunday evening or Monday


morning. The route also allows hauliers to bypass weekend truck restrictions in France. The service can carry driver unaccompanied


accompanied,


trailers and containers, as well as out of gauge, heavy and hazardous cargo. In January Transfennica replaced two smaller chartered vessels with two owned ConRo vessels with a capacity of 195 trailers, 12 drivers and 640 TEU.


Fresh produce and horticultural freight specialist Culina Fresh has opened depots at Spalding and Heathrow and has also taken half the space on the recently introduced rail freight service between Spain and Dagenham. The new Heathrow site co-ordinates worldwide door-to-door temperature controlled sea and air transportation and European road transportation and also interfaces with other Culina Group companies. The Spalding facility in Lincolnshire offers a temperature controlled consolidation service in the centre of one of the UK’s main growing areas.


Estate agent Edward Symmons said on 17 February that Yusen Logistics had occupied 26,500sq ft at Leeds Containerbase’s D Shed and that French-owned car component manufacturer Treves (UK) had taken a ten year lease at the Containerbase’s 28,500sq ft C Shed. The Roadways Container Logistics-owned complex is now fully let, it added. Nick McTague of Edward Symmons’ Leeds office explains: “The regional industrial market is challenging at the moment, so we have responded by offering prospective tenants flexible leases at all-inclusive rents.” Other benefits of the Containerbase include 24 hour manned security and on-site vehicle maintenance, in addition to its location on the motorway network. He added: “We now plan to focus our attentions on the scheme’s vacant office space, which we are able to offer on similar all-inclusive, flexible terms.”


The British International Freight Association (BIFA) complained that the Chancellor had not addressed the industry’s major concerns in his budget on 21 March. Director general Peter Quantrill, said: “It is disappointing that the fuel duty increase planned for August 2012 has not been scrapped. Such a move would have sent out a very positive message from Government to businesses in our sector which operate on the tightest of margins and put us in a better position to both facilitate international trade and compete on a level playing field with foreign competition.” But he welcomed the news that vehicle excise duty will be frozen on heavy goods vehicles and with Government plans to double UK exports to £1 trillion this decade and moves to confront the lack of airport capacity in the south-east.


BIFA has added a dedicated area to its website offering good practice guidelines for its members. The BIFA Good Practice Toolbox - http://www.bifa.org/content/ Information-Pra.aspx – contains ten PDF training guides on some of the basics of freight forwarding, logistics and international trade. They include advice and guidance on the use of BIFA Standard Trading Conditions; freight insurance; agreements with overseas freight agents; logistics agreements; documentary Letters of Credit; release of cargo documents; the use of cash on delivery and shipper’s disbursements; dealing with personal effects; sub-contracting, as well as Incoterms.


The Björk Eklund Group has been renamed Greencarrier AB. The majority of Group companies not currently branded Greencarrier will also change their names to reflect their membership of the Greencarrier Group.


Norbert Dentressangle said its Freight Forwarding activities reached breakeven this year, two years after it was launched. New acquisitions TDG and APC Beijing International both made a positive contribution to profitability, it added. Overall, net profit was up by 11% at €63.3 million, the French owned logistics group added.


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  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44