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Issue 3 2014 Freight Business Journal


///CARIBBEAN


Essex Freight has a two-pronged strategy for the Caribbean – Essex Freight Holland runs LCL and FCL services to the Netherlands Antilles, the Dutch-speaking islands of the West Indies, namely Aruba, Curacao and Surinam; the UK arm, BSC Essex in London and Sheffield concentrates on West Caribbean destinations like St Lucia or Trinidad. But the two offices use each others’ services, as and when freight presents itself – though traffic from the UK to the Dutch- speaking islands is quite small. Essex Freight Holland director,


Ernst Overbosch explains: “The Dutch-speaking islands are still very much orientated towards the Netherlands, as the English- speaking ones are to the UK.” For such small places, the


shipping options to the Dutch West Indies are surprisingly frequent. Seatrade operates a regular weekly service from Rotterdam, with a transit time of only 12 days westbound, although the return voyage is slower as it operates via Central America. The service’s main eastbound traffic is in fact fruit imports from Central America to Europe, which to some extent dictates the schedules. Other options are Hamburg Sud


or CMA CGM via their hub ports at Cartagena. This takes around 23 days, says Overbosch, but it is a cheaper option for less urgent cargo. There is talk of Nirint Shipping


– which already offers some Caribbean destinations from Europe to the Caribbean, chiefly Cuba - also starting services to the Netherlands Antilles using its combi bulk-container vessels. The line’s main trade is the nickel industry but it does have the capacity to handle containers. And there are also suggestions that CMA CGM and Hamburg Sud might start to offer direct services to some islands, rather than transhipping


All things to the islands Mangoes are going well, says Geest Line


via Cartagena. All these services are a boon


to the islands, which have to import virtually everything that is eaten, worn, used or driven, plus any spare parts. Although it happens less oſten in these days of reliable container shipping, shop shelves frequently carried notices like: ‘No butter until ship arrival next week’. In these days of 24-hour supermarkets in Europe and instant availability of almost everything, it’s hard for westerners to comprehend that things are not so readily available on these small and oſten remote communities. All the goods we take for granted, from clotted cream to the London papers, have to be freighted in and if anything goes wrong with the shipping operation, they are just not available until the next vessel arrives. Traffic into the Dutch West Indies


is overwhelmingly westbound. The islands produce virtually no exports and almost the only cargo is returned equipment. But into the islands, “you name it, we ship it,” says Overbosch. The islands are still very European-orientated, apart from St Maarten, which imports more from the US. Many goods consumed in the islands are in fact made in China, but they are oſten still sourced via Europe, says Overbosch. There are no direct shipping services from China, and generally Chinese manufacturers are not interested in producing the two or three pallets that are all a small island market requires, so a lot of the business is still conducted through wholesalers and middlemen in Europe. Essex Freight does however have agents in China to handle any business offered. Retailers and personal importers


make up a large chunk of the business to the Dutch West Indies, but there are also the electricity generators, refineries and the


water companies. Major building contracts such as new hospitals can also generate freight. But it’s the tens of thousands of


tourists that really drive traffic to the islands. “They all have to eat and most food is imported apart from fish and chicken – and even for those we export chickenfeed,” Overbosch points out. The islands are rocky and grow very little. Shipping to the islands has its


problems. If port cranes on one island break down, ship captains in a hurry to get to another port to pick up a large and perishable return cargo will not want to risk a delay. They may either dump the boxes for that destination at an alternative port, leaving them to be on-forwarded by whatever means is available or they may be loaded onto a following service a week or so later whenever the strike is over. Overbosch adds that there are


rules against ships using their own gear in Curacao, even if the harbour cranes are out of action. There are also occasional strikes


and it’s pretty inadvisable to ship anything if it arrives in the middle of an island carnival when most work virtually shuts down (not that any sensible island importer would do so). It pays to use a specialist to the


islands, says Overbosch. “There are only so many good agents on the islands, and getting it cleared and handled can be difficult if you don’t understand the system.” There are a lot of very specific


customs rules and contravening them can result in the goods being seized – for personal imports as well as commercial goods. Woe betide the importer if there are any goods that are not on the packing list. Essex Freight has its own office


on Curacao, which helps with problem-solving and overseeing agents’ activities and it’s something that might be considered for other islands in future, says Overbosch.


IAG gets creative in the Caribbean


The Caribbean is a market with plenty of passengers but not always a lot of air freight to fill the oſten substantial bellyhold capacity generated by frequent holiday flights. Joint British Airways-Iberia carrier IAG has therefore had to resort to a little creative thinking to ensure that capacity is filled, says vice president commercial LATAM, Rodrigo Casal. “Because of all the scheduled


capacity we have in and out of the Caribbean, we have found ways


to bring in demand. For example, there is high demand for flowers from Colombia to Europe and the UK, so we feeder traffic from Bogota to Barbados on an interline carrier, where it connects into a British Airways flight to Gatwick.” Cooling facilities have been set up at Barbados airport . In similar vein, Antigua produces


very little air-freightable traffic so its capacity is used to bolster space in and out of San Juan in Puerto Rico, particularly for pharmaceuticals,


and again using interline partners. Both these programmes are


now being stepped up and, during the appropriate growing seasons, chartered full freighters are sometime used to bring traffic into Barbados from more distant growing areas like Argentina or Chile .


Government exhortations to eat more fruit should also improve the health of the Caribbean shipping operators. Not only is the Great British Public consuming more of


it,


but people are demanding new and different kinds of fruit, including much that is sourced from the Caribbean. Mangoes, which used to be


looked upon as something of an ethnic speciality, are much in demand with the wider public, prompting Geest Line to add a seasonal call in Puerto Rico last year. It’s been quite a success, says the East Caribbean specialist’s managing director, Peter Dixon. Geest Line was able to provide a direct service into the UK, whereas in the past mangoes had to be shipped to the Continent and trucked back, which sometimes led to delays. The mango trade tends to


move around the world as the fruit has a short growing season in any one location, but the quality of the Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic product is also especially high. The name Geest Line (not to


be confused with Geest North Sea Line, which is an entirely different entity) is though synonymous with bananas and increasing numbers are being carried from the Dominican Republic, as well as from more established sources such as the Windward Islands which include Martinique, Dominica, St Lucia and St Vincent. Geest also serves Bridgetown, St Kitts and Antigua in the Leeward Islands. “But we’re always looking


for new opportunities, within the limits of what can be achieved in a four-ship, 28- day service rotation,” says Dixon. One possibility that is being considered is a call at Guadeloupe, which the ships currently sail right past. Geest Line already serves the French- speaking island of Martinique, shipping supermarket goods via the European export call at Le Havre, and much of the potential customer base is the same on Guadeloupe, Dixon explains. The ships, which are chartered from Seatrade, are all


built in the late 1990s and have controlled atmosphere reefer holds and around 300teu of container capacity in the holds and on deck – along with space for around 4,500 pallets. They’re ideal for


the trade and have proved to be very reliable, barring weather. Voyage times


from the


Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico to the UK are only around nine of


the


days. Because perishable


nature of the inbound cargoes, ships on the Caribbean runs have always been among the fastest. As in other trades, fuel prices have risen so the ships don’t


sail at their top


speed of 21 knots, although they still hustle along at a very respectable 18.5-19.5 knots. In fact, although the image of the Caribbean might


are signs that it is returning, says Dixon. The English- speaking


Caribbean


islands be


one of a sleepy backwater, the whole shipping operation is pretty slick and efficient. While Geest Line’s ships are all self- geared, all the bigger ports have container gantries including Martinique and Bridgetown, Barbados. In the latter port, there are plans to build a new, separate cruise terminal which would free up space in the cargo area. One exception is the


Dominican Republic where the bananas and mangoes are loaded from a finger pier in a remote part of the island, but the operation runs smoothly enough, says Dixon. As well as refrigeration, the


ships also have a controlled atmosphere (CA) system, which slows down the ripening process and prolongs the life of fruit cargoes. “What CA does is reduce the oxygen level and effectively puts the fruit to sleep,” Dixon explains. The ships’ large reefer


holds can also be used for project cargo in the return direction, although there isn’t so much of that since the recession shut down many major


construction projects on the islands – though there


took quite a hammering in the recession and are still going through tough times, although the Francophone islands – which were already relatively wealthy – appear to be doing rather better. The French islands are in fact a French departement and their roads, buildings


and infrastructure


are as good as anything to be found in the south of France. Fruit may be the dominant


cargo into the UK, but in the return direction back to the islands it is anything and everything. Almost all the forwarders to the islands use Geest Line, sometimes to the exclusion of all other operators. Portsmouth, where


Geest


has called since 2001 after switching from Southampton, is the hub of the operation in Europe and the main import call, not only for the UK but the whole of Europe, and is the UK’s largest fruit-handling port. The ship’s arrival is very carefully choreographed – a few hours delay will have cargo owners and hauliers ringing up demanding to know what is happening -


with trucks


descending on the port to move fruit not only to all parts of the UK but also to Paris’s Rungis wholesale market and other points in Europe. Portsmouth is a quicker entry-point for French-bound fruit than the north-west Continental ports, Dixon considers.


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