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Ro-ro market is all a-buzz 20


Irish shipping and port activity rose by 2% in the second quarter of 2014 when compared to the corresponding period of 2013, according to the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO). Ro-ro saw volume growth of 7% to 244,629 units, the sixth consecutive quarterly increase, while lo-lo traffic grew by 5% to 154,725 units. Container exports continued


to grow, increasing by 2%. IMDO added: “Encouragingly, container imports have now risen for three consecutive quarters; Q4 2013 +3%, Q1 2014 +6% and Q2 2014 +7%. Container operators have noticed a significant increase in deepsea traffic from Asia since the beginning of the year, which bodes well for domestic consumption.” The bulk traffic segment


saw tonnage decline by 8% but break-bulk, consisting largely of imports of construction and project-related


commodities, increased by 34% and has now


seen four consecutive quarterly increases. Alistair Eagles, Irish Sea MD at


Seatruck Ferries, believes steel is an interesting barometer of the Irish economy, although it has little direct relevance to ro- ro operators. ”It’s not a consumer purchase and there are no production plants in Ireland, so industrial demand reflects directly in import volumes,” he comments.


In his mainstream ro-ro business, Eagles


notes that


services in and out of Dublin are growing more strongly than those in Northern Ireland for one simple reason: “The southern market was more negatively affected by the downturn and has further to bounce.” Seatruck is further benefiting


from a gain in share on the Dublin-Liverpool route, where it carried 11% more trailers in the first half, compared with 8% growth for the market as a whole. “So we’re


doing something right,” Eagles says. A long-time However, he adds that “rates


advocate of unaccompanied services for the Irish Sea, he adds: “I may sound like a broken gramophone record, but we absolutely believe our model is still correct.” Despite increasing from 11 to 12 sailings a week on Dublin- Liverpool in September, with the addition of a Saturday morning service, Eagles claims: “We’re close to maxing out. There’s a bit more buzz in the market.” On the Dublin-Heysham


route, where Seatruck replaced the older R Class Arrow with a P Class vessel, Pace, in April, there has also been good growth. “Only five of our fleet of 12


are deployed on the Irish Sea, so we have got the capability to bring in vessels that are suitable for the routes we serve. Few of them are tied up on long-term charter,” Eagles says. For example, Performer and


Precision, two of Seatruck’s newest, FSG-built ships, are currently on charter to rival Stena Line but the contracts have only one more year to run. Irish Sea traffic is currently balanced,” Eagles


“fairly well


comments. “Those who want to reload back out of Ireland can, though some retailers don’t want hauliers to backload peat moss or timber.”


need to improve, both door-to- door [for the hauliers’ sake] and quay-to-quay.” Seatruck played a key role


in the building of the Gwynt y Môr wind farm off the North Wales coast. In the first use of a ro-ro vessel for this purpose, the operator moved components including 52-metre turbine blades from Esbjerg to Mostyn. The recent decision by


Centrica and Dong Energy to call off the next phase of their Irish Sea wind farm development, and Crown Estates’ announcement that it would not reissue the licences, is not all bad news. “It’s nice when


we get to build them, but the location of the next one would have lengthened our normal routing and given us more limited bad weather options,” Eagles explains. Seatruck was


voted Irish


Sea Shipping Line of 2014 at Northern Ireland’s annual Export & Freight Transport & Logistics Awards in September. Hauliers


were asked


Issue 7 2014 - Freight Business Journal


///IRELAND


to


anonymously choose the carrier that offered the best choice of routes, quality of service and on- board facilities. Seatruck topped the poll for the second year in succession and the award was collected by senior commercial manager Kim Swan.


Cool chain market hots up


Translogic Cool Chain Solutions (TCCS), a stand- alone company launched by leading Irish GSA International Airline Marketing, is bringing specialist products to the air freight market designed to protect temperature-sensitive and valuable cargo. “It’s a logical direction for


the company to go with, as this type of shipment is on the increase out of Ireland,” says Karl Louwrens, IAM’s director of marketing and business development. “Customers are asking a lot of questions about temperature-controlled cargo.” TCCS


has three agency


agreements, though not on an exclusive basis. It is offering Q-tag temperature


monitoring devices from Swiss manufacturer Berlinger, Kalibox insulated containers and pallet shippers, and SilverSkin thermal covers and blankets. Louwrens believes Ireland’s


Health Products Regulatory Authority, as


the Irish


Medicines Board, was renamed in July, is likely to build on the existing GDP (Good Distribution Practice) “passport scheme” to which major pharmaceutical forwarders and carriers have committed. Aer Lingus recently received its GDP accreditation after going through a staff training and facility compliance process that took 18 months to complete. “The rules will get tougher


and they don’t just apply to pharmaceuticals, but also medical


devices the wrong such as


insulin guns which can become ineffective if they are stored at


temperature,”


Louwrens says. TCCS will also look to add


other products such as tilt and shock meters to its range. IAM’s mainstream GSA


business has been boosted by Ireland’s economic recovery and the trend for war surcharge to be included in the all-in kilo rate. (GSAs can only charge commission on the base air freight rate and don’t earn anything on surcharges). IATA export statistics for the period from August 2013 to July 2014 are further inflated by Dollar


pricing. Hence a 30% volume


increase in flown exports to Hong Kong, which has overtaken Boston and Chicago to become Ireland’s leading air freight destination, translates into a thumping 70% revenue increase in dollar terms. Shanghai increased 60% by volume but 91% in dollars, and Chicago respectively by 3% and 25%. Comparing July 2013 to


July this year, the five fastest- growing destinations from Ireland were Tehran, Auckland, Bangkok, Los Angeles and Fort Worth.


the


IAM MD Ian McCool says agency


has benefited from Air Canada’s year-round Dublin to Toronto service,


operated by its low-cost Rouge subsidiary using B767s with services three per week during the summer season. Through interline deals, IAM customers can access


growing markets


in Central and South America and the Pacific region. McCool says Canada is preferred by many pharmaceutical shippers because it is an easier transit hub than the US. All Nippon Airways, also


represented in Ireland by IAM, flies a daily B777 from London Heathrow to Tokyo’s Haneda airport, carrying IT products, pharma and equipment - including, currently, redundant Intel plant as the semiconductor manufacturer


upgrades its Irish production lines.


IAM feeds Heathrow by road


and McCool notes that ANA has also added Cologne and a second Paris CDG service as part of its European expansion. Australasia is a relatively


healthy market for Irish exporters, to which IAM offers access via AirAsia’s Kuala Lumpur hub. However, cargo has to be placed with Etihad or Emirates for the Europe to KL leg after AirAsia X, the group’s long-haul arm, pulled its European services. “They’re mulling a return


to Europe, but it could be 2016 before that happens as they await


new fleet McCool comments. deliveries,”


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