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Issue 1 2015 - Freight Business Journal


Bigger Irish Sea ship for Stena News Roundup


Stena Line will increase capacity on its Dublin to Holyhead service in early 2015 by replacing the Stena Nordica with a larger ropax vessel, Stena Superfast X - a sister ship of the Superfast VII and VIII ships which it currently operates on the Irish Sea. She has almost 2,000 metres of lane space and capacity for up to 1,200 passengers. The Stena Hibernia is meanwhile celebrating


the first anniversary of her debut on the Liverpool (Birkenhead) to Belfast route. The Stena Hibernia joined the service in November 2013 to complement the Stena Lagan and Stena Mersey to help cope with increased demand for freight capacity on this route. Richard Horswill, Stena Line’s Head of Freight


UK and Ireland said he had been “thrilled by the response”, adding: “We have worked with our customers to develop the service to suit their needs and in doing so, earlier this year we altered the timetable so that the first sailing of the week left Belfast at 15.00hrs on a Monday instead of 03.00hrs on a Tuesday from Liverpool – as we identified Monday afternoon as a key sailing time for our customers.”


SECA control area claims another short-sea victim


Transfennica closed its ro-ro service between Bilbao, Portsmouth and Zeebrugge in late December as part of a rethink of its Iberian strategy in the light of the new SECA control area. The Spliethoff subsidiary started the route started in September 2007 and while it had enjoyed steadily increasing traffic, the new SECA legislation will from 1 January 2015 impose increased fuel costs, with up to 50% of


the trailer volumes expected to return to the road. Spliethoff Group decided that there is no profitable future for a ro-ro service on the route. Ironically, the route is part of the European


Union’s Motorways of the Seas project, which aimed to move traffic off the roads and onto shortsea shipping. It is the latest casualty of the new SECA rules in short sea services, which has seen the


ending of DFDS’s Harwich-Esbjerg service, LD Lines services from Portsmouth to Spain and DFDS’s Tilbury-Sweden route, among others. Transfennica Logistics will maintain its door-


to-door services to between Spain and Portugal, UK and the Benelux, as well as to and from Finland and Russia as well as its lo-lo service between Rotterdam, Tilburg (Netherlands) and Bilbao.


Bonded status for Southampton handler


Southampton Cargo Handling (SCH) has gained bonded status from HM Customs and Excise. SCH moved into a 40,000 square feet facility at Totton near Southampton earlier this year; bonded status means that payment of excise duty on imported goods can be deferred until they are transported inland for use or sale. Cargoes can also be broken down and duty


paid as part shipments are released. The SCH facilities are in a secure compound


and comprise racked and unracked storage, supported by an inventory control IT system. These can also be securely linked to customer systems for real-time stock management. SCH offers terminal management and stevedoring services at various ports


throughout the south of England. Business development manager Lee


Davis commented: “Achieving bonded status will considerably enhance our warehouse services. With warehouse space at a premium in the region, we are now in a stronger position to provide shippers with an attractive, modern alternative for storage and distribution.”


Ocean shipping e-commerce network INTTRA has appointed Paul Mullins as senior vice president, global sales. He was previously senior vice president, business development of Agility and, prior to that he held a number of positions at DHL.


///NEWS Sea


Fourteen more shipping lines have joined Trident Alliance, the shipping industry initiative pressing for robust and fair enforcement of the new sulphur emission regulations. They include Hapag-Lloyd, DFDS, Spliethoff, Transfennica and Bigliſt. This brings membership to 31 companies.


Maritime services company Inchcape Shipping Services has signed a joint venture agreement with Orient Overseas Container Line. OOCL Egypt will operate from existing ISS offices in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, and Damietta and will offer a “one-stop-shop” for Egyptian customers, including full container fleet network coverage.


Transport Minister John Hayes launched a study into how to boost the UK’s maritime industry on 26 November. It will look at all aspects of the sector to identify where and how improvements can be made to generate growth and will report in summer 2015.


Forth Ports has appointed Lord Smith of Kelvin as chairman, succeeding Michael Seymour who will stand down from the role at the end of the year. Lord Smith is currently chairman of SSE plc and the UK Green Investment Bank and is a non-executive director of Standard Bank Group Limited. He chaired the Organising Committee of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and the Smith Commission cross-party talks on strengthening the powers of the Scottish Parliament within the UK.


Shipping line Zim has launched a new monitoring, tracking and security services package for valuable and sensitive cargo in reefer containers. The service allows customers to closely monitor their cargo’s status, change settings remotely and intervene to prevent damage. ZIMonitor is particularly suited to the pharma industry.


ABP is seeking a judicial review of the Secretary of State for Transport’s decision to grant a Development Consent Order for the Able Marine Energy Park on the South Bank of the Humber at Killingholme. The port operator says that it would allow the compulsory purchase of the Port of Immingham’s last remaining undeveloped land with access to deep water which it wants to develop into a major fuel product import facility, the Immingham Western Deepwater Jetty. It also said that Able had not sought a compromise, preferring instead to adopt an “all or nothing” approach.


The Port of Tyne has appointed the main contractor for the £25m extension of its multipurpose deepsea Riverside Quay at South Shields. The main contract for over 300 metres of quay work includes a 125 metre quay extension, an upgrade of 118m of existing quay and 90m of quay wall renewal at the former McNulty site. The £18.6m contract was won by Tyneside-based Southbay Civil Engineering who will start construction during January.


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