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Issue 4 2014 - Freight Business Journal


///MALTA Malta needs joined up thinking


The container shipping industry long


ago recognised Malta’s


strategic importance and Malta Freeport is a well-established transhipment hub used mainly, these days, by CMA CGM and Maersk. So successful has the Freeport been, in fact, that nowadays it is getting rather full. Local forwarders report that ships can sometimes wait a couple of days before berthing, much to the annoyance of importers who can of course track ship movements on the internet these days and see that the vessel is hovering somewhere just outside port. The airfreight industry is rather


more localised and parochial. Malta Airport has not, up till now, developed into a major transhipment hub, although with up to three flights a day to Libya, it does have the potential to become one, provided the North African country settles down again aſter the fall of Gadaffi. As it happens, there is only a certain amount of airfreight traffic


to be won so there is something of a tug-of-war between the main carriers on the island. Air Malta and Turkish Airlines have apparently been successful in wresting some of the electronics traffic away from Luſthansa and Emirates, who no doubt will now rethink their commercial strategy in order to win it back again. The irony is that two of the protagonists, Luſthansa and Air Malta, share the same weekly freighter aircraſt, so the traffic is moving on the same plane in some instances. Airfreight on Malta has been in


decline lately, and it’s not hard to guess why. It’s been getting more expensive, not so much because rates per kilo have been going up, but because of heſty hikes in fuel and security charges. That has prompted shippers to look at alternatives such as trailers or even controlled atmosphere containers for traditional airfreight traffics like pharmacueticals. Some products that might in the past have been flown into Malta


might also nowadays be supplied from Sicily, on the fast catamaran service that links the two islands in less than two hours. Online retailing has also probably had an effect too. The first four month figures for


2014 suggest that airfreight is still in decline – the underlying trend, excluding charters – is a reduction of around 70 tonnes a month, which is quite a bit in such a small market. Imports are also down, by around 7 tonnes per month. Considering the small size of


the market, Malta is well served though. As well as substantial bellyhold capacity offered by the likes of Air Malta, Libyan Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Luſthansa to Europe and North Africa, there is the five days a week DHL freighter to various European hubs (usually Brussels but Marseilles on one day a week) and the small 6-tonne capacity Marseilles freighter operated by a Bridges Worldwide/ Farrugia joint venture every weekday used by UPS and TNT.


of


Both these aircraſt are available to third party freight. There is also the weekend joint freighter operated by Air Malta and Luſthansa. Malta, aſter a quarter century rule


by Nationalist the party, now has


centre-right a


Labour Government. One of its first actions, following its election over a year ago, was to draw up a new logistics policy, stressing the importance of the sea- and airport and, moreover, the desirability of getting them to work in tandem to develop concepts such as sea- air traffic. The airport’s runways almost


touch the Freeport –


hardly surprising, as Malta is only a few miles wide. The logistics industry would


appear to be a good bet for the island’s future economic development. There are pharmacutical and electronic manufacturing industries, but they are limited in scope; moreover, there is something of a question-mark over the future of pharma manufacturing on Malta.


Carmelo Caruana and Cargo Overseas offer Libya solution


Carmelo Caruana has partnered with forwarder Cargo Overseas to offer a comprehensive groupage service from the UK to Malta and Libya. By fusing their unmatched knowledge and experience of both regions, the two companies aim to offer seamless access to the Mediterranean and North Africa. Established in 1990, Cargo


Overseas has offices in the UK, the US, and Sri Lanka and is active in air and sea freight worldwide. It numbers several multinational


companies among its clients, but has also helped many smaller companies expand their business. A partner of CMA CGM and


SPT Marine, Carmelo Caruana is a regional specialist in freight forwarding,


free trade zone


warehousing and logistics, ship and liner agency services, and ship-to-ship operations through its portfolio of companies headquartered in Malta. It also operates an office in Tripoli to market its portfolio of services


to the international business community. Carmelo Caruana is part


of Hili Ventures, a group with long-established partnerships with McDonalds, Microsoſt, Konecranes, Allison Transmissions, Hoffmann, Terberg and Apple in more than 12 countries and a team of over 3,000 people. Thanks to Malta’s geographic


location, Carmelo Caruana has serviced Libyan and North African routes for decades. Its


J.B. Sorotto Limited Malta International Mercantile & Shipping Services • Established 1877


A wealth of services for the shipping world


Ship and Yacht Registration under Maltese Flag • Ship Agents, Brokers, Charterers, Tour Operators Offshore Bunker Supply & Services Outside Harbour • Transhipment Operators - Cruise Liner Agents Exchange Buildings, Republic Street, Valletta, VLT1117, Malta


Telephone: (+356) 21 232649 / 22296600


Facsimile: (+356) 21 250326 AOH Telephones: (+356) 99497326 / 99497577


Cablegrams: SOROTTO MALTA Email: info@jbsorotto.com.mt www.jbsorotto.com.mt


logistics base in the free trade zone at Malta Freeport offers 6,500sq m of space for storage, cargo consolidation, repackaging, relabelling, and other value added services, including onward transhipment cargo solutions. With its presence in Libya,


Carmelo Caruana says it can identify opportunities in a region that is prospering despite turmoil and its consistent investment in people and resources allows it to react rapidly in an ever-changing business environment.


Some of the trucks may be ancient, but Malta’s new government has a brand-new logistics poilicy


At present, generic companies are allowed under an EU derogation to work on the development of drugs before their patents expire, so that they can be launched and shipped


to market the moment that they so, but there are fears that this may not be renewed. If it isn’t, that could lead to the reshaping of the generic drugs industry.


Business blooms for BAS


A new venture for DHL Global Forwarding and its Malta agent, BAS, are fresh flowers from the Netherlands. A twice-weekly service is being


offered via


Brussels and the regular DHL freighter link, using a reefer truck to provide the road link to Brussels airport, ensuring that the blooms are not allowed to wilt en route. With 7-8 regular clients, soon


aſter its introduction the service was stepped up to twice a week and generally operates overnight on Monday and Tuesday evenings, arriving in Malta on Tuesday and Wednesday morning respectively, says BAS general manager Ray Buttigieg. The unusual choice of days of operation is because most of the flowers are used by wedding planners, who start to make up bridal bouquets and the like early in the week so as to be ready for the weekend’s festivities. The service will operate on extra days of the week if there is a special event on Malta requiring a lot of flowers, such as a state visit. The flowers used to come


on Air Malta, but an integrator offers a much more coordinated, controlled door to door service, Buttigieg considers. “We keep the client advised about what is happening and you need a good agent to sort out any issues.”


Provided there are no overriding problems with the flights, such as weather delays, the service operates pretty impeccably, he says.


In time, the service may be permanently


stepped up to


three times a week because, as Buttigieg points out, weddings are big business on Malta. BAS will, as part of the DHL


network, also be launching the new Thermonet product in about September with the accreditation and testing process now underway. Thermonet uses special sensors to keep the client abreast of the product temperature, and any temperature ‘excursions’ that may occur, with one sensor included in the basic rate (extra ones can be hired if required). Pick up and delivery will be by reefer truck, and the temperature is scanned and recorded at each point of the process. Special packaging will be use to main product temperature in flight. On Malta, the pharmaceutical


industry is a clear potential customer and the aim is to launch the service at the same time as DHL’s lifestyle conference on the


island.


Ultimately, Thermanet will be rolled out across the whole of the DHL network, giving pharma manufacturers ready access to world markets.


Profit from our experience


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