NEWS\\\


DP World has confirmed that its new London Gateway port will move forward with a third berth. It will add a further 400 metres of quay length with a dredged depth of 17 meters alongside, capable of handling the largest container ships afloat. Contracts have been awarded


to VolkerFitzpatrick for civil and electrical works and four new quay cranes have been ordered from ZPMC. The third berth is planned to be operational in the second half of 2016.


The announcement came


during a visit on 10 February by Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin. He said: “The continued expansion of London Gateway Port proves Britain is a country where companies want to invest. Having visited the port I have seen for myself what a fantastic piece of infrastructure it is and the opportunity that exists for even further growth and expansion at this site.” DP World London Gateway


engineering director, Andrew Bowen, added:


“Last week


we saw our busiest day since operations began with both our existing berths simultaneously handling ultra-large container vessels, the Maersk Edinburgh and Hamburg Süd’s Cap San class, with strong performance ship-side and landside.”


The Munkebo Maersk broke the record for largest ship to ever sail up the River Thames and to call at the new DP World London


New deal brings UASC onto North Atlantic – but upsets shippers


Middle East-owned container line UASC has signed another partnership – with CMA CGM and Hamburg Süd, to bring it onto the North Atlantic service for the first time. Under a vessel sharing agreement, the service will call at north-west Europe, Southampton, New York, Norfolk, Charleston and Savannah and vice-versa, with a weekly capacity allocation of around 3,300teu. The new service will start


in the third week of May 2015. More details on transit times and allocation will be published soon. UASC has already joined the


Ocean3 alliance with CMA CGM and China Shipping Container Lines, in January and has also entered into a general cooperation agreement with Hamburg Süd to join the South American trades for the first time, with services due to start in mid-April. The two operators will widen their existing cooperation to include a new pendulum service between Asia, the Caribbean, the US East Coast and North Europe, together with UASC on the transatlantic leg. The two lines have agreed


to explore other cooperation opportunities when they arise.


CMA CGM vice chairman


Rodolphe Saadé said the agreement would reinforce the line’s position in South and North America. UASC president and CEO Jørn Hinge, commented:


“This


announcement marks an exciting new chapter for UASC as we enter the North Atlantic service and further cements our position as an emerging global carrier.” He added that collaboration


with other carriers “ensures that we can provide our customers with the widest scope of global services and the lowest possible unit costs, whilst growing in a responsible fashion and without adding unnecessary capacity.” UASC is


currently building


17 new ships; eleven 15,000teu vessels (A15) – the world’s first LNG- ready ultra-large container vessels and six 18,800teu vessels (A18). However, the latest move, as


well as the growing cooperation between between CMA-CGM and Hamburg Süd has incurred the displeasure of the European Shippers’ Council which said it would bring the container liner market “one step closer to total convergence. This will reinforce


the risk of reducing service quality and sailing frequency as well as free choice for manufacturers and retailers, as well as enhancing prices,” it argued. ESC believes that maritime


liner competition should be seen from a global perspective and not at a regional level. It also called on the competition authorities to develop “uniform process and analysis” and for national competition authorities to agree between themselves competitive sensitive data that could be monitored.


Hamburg Süd has signed a


sale and purchase agreement to acquire the container liner activities of Chile-based CCNI.


The takeover, which had already been announced, is scheduled


to take place at the end of March. Hamburg Süd will operate the CCNI container liner business under its brand name in the main trades between the West Coast of South America, Asia,


Europe and North America. CCNI will discontinue its container liner services but will use the CCNI name for its car carrier activities.


ECS and Containerships to cooperate


Intermodal and shipping operators European Containers (ECS) Containerships are to enter into a cooperation agreement from February to improve geographic coverage. They also plan to improve efficiency of their land transport, by combining import and export flows in the UK and Ireland and continental Europe, significantly cutting CO2 emissions in the process. A common


container pool will ensure better availability and reduced empty positioning cost, say the lines. At sales and customer service


level there will be common representation, starting with ECS being appointed as agent for Containerships in Italy from 14 February. ECS is a rail and land operator,


while Containerships has extensive shipping operations.


Its main UK hub is Teesport in the North East, served by regular routes from Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic. Containerships chief operating


officer, Frédéric Leca, said: “We serve different transport corridors but both have a strong presence in Western Europe. Together we aim for a great deal of synergy, improving the European container transport network.”


Issue 2 2015 - Freight Business Journal


London Gateway to press on with third berth


Gateway deep-sea port at 7.30am on 26 February. The 18,300teu vessel, operating on Maersk’s


new East-West Network was on an ad hoc call from the Far East. The Edith Maersk set the


previous record a few weeks ago. DP World London Gateway chief executive, Simon Moore, said: “We have demonstrated again that we are more than capable of handling the world’s biggest container ships, in this case


operating on the Asia-Europe routes.”


McLoughlin: London Gateway is a fantastic piece of infrastructure Work starts on logistics park


DP World held a ground-breaking ceremony on 6 February to mark the start of construction on its 316,000sq ft London Gateway Logistics Park. The building is being developed speculatively as an equal joint venture between DP World and industrial real estate specialist, Prologis. The ceremony was attended by


non-executive director and vice chairman of DP World, Jamal Majid Bin Thaniah, group chief executive, Mohammed Sharaf, and Prologis chairman and chief executive, Hamid Moghadam. The new single-sided 15-metre distribution centre, which


high


has been designed to offer flexible distribution space, will have a


55-metre yard and space for expansion. It also includes more than 10,000 sq ft of office space. It is scheduled for occupation


by the third quarter of 2015. DP World London Gateway CEO Simon Moore, said: “We are engaged in discussions with potential occupiers and we are seeing a high level of interest in the new facility.”


13


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  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48