FBJ 4 FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL


CONTACTS 2015 SALES


JOHN SAUNDERS - PUBLISHER Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 Fax: +44 (0)151 427 1796 Mobile: +44 (0)7932 102026 john.saunders@fj-online.com


RAY GIRVAN Tel: +44 (0)1691 718 045


USA PAM LATTY Tel: +1 770 517 3952 pam.latty@fj-online.com


EDITORIAL


CHRIS LEWIS - EDITOR +44 (0)7778 106433


chris.lewis@fj-online.com MARTIN ROEBUCK PHIL HASTINGS JAMES GRAHAM


CIRCULATION


Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 circulation@fj-online.com


ADVERTISEMENT PRODUCTION


LORRAINE CHRISTIAN Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 lorraine.christian@fj-online.com


MATT DYKES Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 matt@fj-online.com


HEAD OFFICE


FREIGHT BUSINESS JOURNAL Saunders Associates Ltd Station House Mersey Road Liverpool UK L17 6AG


Tel: +44 (0)151 427 6800 Fax: +44 (0)151 427 1796 Email: info@fj-online.com Web: www.fj-online.com


Issue 6 2015 - Freight Business Journal From the Editor


As ill-luck would have it, the freight industry came to the attention of the world’s media for all the wrong reasons over the summer. Firstly the Calais crisis threw into sharp focus just how dependent the UK supply chain is on, essentially two routes to and from the Continent – the ferries to Dover and the Eurotunnel shuttle. Road operators contacted by FBJ


said that they


were experiencing heavy delays while the crisis was at its height – four or five hours as a minimum but sometimes stretching to 24 or even 36 hours as Operation Stack was brought into play. Most had little choice but to sit out the queues. One effect of the Channel Tunnel’s opening 20-odd years ago is that, while its nearest ferry competitor, Dover-Calais has survived and even prospered, other short-sea routes such as Ramsgate-Dunkirk/ Ostend or Folkestone-Boulogne, gave up the ghost. The alternatives are long-sea crossings with limited capacity, and in many cases handling unaccompanied rather than drive-on freight, and which involve truckers in very lengthy detours to reach them. It’s easy to say that there “should” be alternative short-sea crossings in case something goes wrong with Dover-Calais. Would the Government subsidise an operator to provide such a service? Highly unlikely, even if the objections from the competition authorities could be overcome. Could a commercial operator make a go of such a service? Possibly, but it would depend on shippers being prepared to use it, and maybe incurring somewhat higher costs, perhaps to make their supply chains less vulnerable. As Professor Amar Ramudhin of Hull University points out elsewhere in this issue, shippers in the US did begin using East Coast as well as West Coast ports as part of just such a strategy. Failing a fully commercial operation, could the port of Ramsgate be brought back into operation at short notice, and plans drawn up to deploy suitably-sized ferries? As well as being a physically extant port, has the advantage of being only a couple of miles from Manston Airport, now seemingly designated as the official overflow lorry parking from Operation Stack. Boulogne could play a similar role on the French site, if the French Government and union pickets allow it.


Besides the massive delays, the other aspect of the Calais crisis was the upsurge in stowaways trying to break into trucks as they were brought to a stop by picketing former MyFerryLink workers. At the time of writing, the situation had reverted to something like normal, but no one believes that the problem has entirely gone away. It’s been said before in these pages, but the issue must be tackled at Government and EU level. Given that these people are determined to get to the UK, and that mostly either will eventually or die trying, would it not be far more sensible to gather up all refugees and migrants who say they want to come to Britain at their first point of entry to the EU and load them onto coaches and bring them here officially? As well as sparing truck drivers the threats of violence and damage to loads and vehicles, it would have the advantage that the authorities could keep proper tabs on these people rather than have them arrive clandestinely and disappear into the informal work sector. The tragic events that unfolded on a Turkish beach recently and which were flashed all around the world’s TV and computer screens, may have shiſted the public mood somewhat in Europe in favour of some form of managed migration for refugees. The Freight Transport Association and others are working with the Home Office and the French Government to at least shiſt the problem away from Calais, and that is only to be encouraged.


The other big negative freight story of course was the massive explosion in the Chinese port city of Tianjin, traced to a mishap at chemical storage firm Ruihai Logistics. Knee- jerk media reaction in the days immediately following the blast – at least in the reports that we heard - was that it was all down to lax Chinese safety standards and possible bribery of officials to allow practices that would never be allowed in the West. That may be so – China does reportedly have a large number of industrial accidents of various kinds – but can we afford to be so complacent? A huge amount of potentially nasty stuff is in transit on ships and stored in warehouses over here too. Insurers like the TT Club have been agitating for many years for better measures to ensure that dangerous goods are properly declared and documented.


Airfreight is allegedly the bellwether of the wider world economy, and some of the figures that have been coming out of China lately haven’t been too encouraging. They point to a slowdown in traffic growth both in and out of the country. That is to say, the market is chugging along at roughly the same rate as the rest of the world, rather than vastly outstripping it, as we’ve become used to these last few years. Should we be concerned, or even surprised? On the basis that what goes up must eventually come down, China’s economic growth engine was bound to falter at some stage. Every dog has its day, as the saying goes, and China has had a very good run these past couple of decades, growing rapidly even when Europe, North America and the rest of the world were mired in recession.


///OPINION


FBJ is the only UK and one of the few pan-European Multimodal newspapers. The comments we have received prove there is still room for a hard copy publication with the freighting industry. You don’t have to look at a screen all day!


FBJ boasts the most informative and authoritative source of information with unrivalled in-depth knowledge of the rapidly changing freight business environment.


By Chris Lewis


As the definitive publication within the sea, air, road and rail freight sectors, each issue includes regular news and analysis, in-depth coverage discovering the business decisions behind the news stories, shipper and exporter reports, opinion, geographical features, political and environmental issues.


If you have any stories or letters which should be of interest or any feedback on FBJ, please contact our editor Chris Lewis - +44 (0)208 6450666 chris.lewis@fj-online.com


next issue >> circulation >>


Our next issue will include features on Ireland and Africa.


There will also be our regular IT Section and news pages. For further details contact: John Saunders - +44 (0) 151 427 6800 john.saunders@fj-online.com


To guarantee your personal copy of FBJ please register by emailing your details to circulation@fj-


online.com or fax back the address cover sheet included with this issue.


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