A Year - or so - in Multimodal Freight
February 2016
Hapag-Lloyd says its Watchdog programme reg- istered 65% more incorrectly declared danger- ous goods in 2015 compared to 2014. The sharp increase was partly because many ports drasti- cally tightened their dangerous goods guidelines in the wake of the explosion in the port of Tianjin in August 2015.
New UK cargo airline CargoLogicAir completes its first charter flights since receiving its Air Operator Certificate from the UK Civil Aviation Authority and ahead of the launch of scheduled cargo services.
UK-based central Europe and Russia special- ist Eurogate Logistics goes into partnership with western and south-eastern Europe oper- ator Transmec Group to offer a comprehensive network stretching from Malaga to Moscow. Between them the partners have 50 offices throughout the continent.
Felixstowe, DP World and other UK port opera- tors announce that they are investing in contain- er weighing services at its UK facilities ahead of the introduction of new SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) regulations on 1 July.
The Freight Transport Association welcomes commitments to the European Commission by 15 shipping lines to change their pricing regimes. For the first time, they will cease to announce general rate increases and publish the actual prices available to customers on an individual basis. FTA says this will introduce a degree of transparency into maritime transport pricing.
The US and Cuba sign a memorandum of under- standing to allow up to 110 daily flights between the two countries - 20 daily flights between the US and the capital, Havana and up to ten daily frequencies to nine other airports.
The merged COSCO and China Shipping is re- launched as China Cosco Shipping Corporation (COSCOCS), creating a global operator with enough muscle to counteract other major global operators such as Maersk Line and stem the two operators’ mounting losses. COSCOCS owns 830 vessels – including bulkers and tankers as well as container ships.
DFDS returns the former SeaFrance Berlioz to the Dover-Calais route, renamed Côte des Flan- dres on 23 February. Like her sister ship, Côte des Dunes, which came into service on 9 February, she had extensive interior renovations.
PD Ports announces that it will handle most of the imports for Hitachi’s new railway carriage assembly line in Newton Aycliffe, County Dur- ham. The train body shells come into PD Ports’ Teesport on a new K Line ro ro service that uses new 7,500-unit vessels.
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March 2016
Inaccurate cargo weight information is found to be the main factor in 3 January 2015’s grounding of the Hoegh Osaka pure car and truck carrier, says a Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) report published on 17 March. MAIB stresses that it is imperative that correct infor- mation is provided and that sufficient time is made available before departure for an accurate stability calculation to be completed.
Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) resumes its regular European Container Line service between Northern Europe and the Per- sian Gulf following its closure in mid-2010 on account of sanctions.
The Port of Dunkirk officially inaugurates its new Channel Terminal on 17 March with four freight check-in booths at the terminal entrance.
A new intermodal rail service from the south of France to the UK carries its first trailers on 30 March. The VIIA Britannica service, operated by the logistics arm of the French Railways (SNCF) operates from Calais at to Le Boulou near the Spanish border. However, the service is later cancelled, reinstated and then cancelled again owing to continuing problems with migrant stowaways. The service resumes again on 7 Feb- ruary 2017.
Brussels airport reopens to passenger flights on 31 March following the terrorist attack nine days earlier. However, it takes several months to get fully back to normal.
A new toll system in Belgium plunges road ser- vices into chaos after only a small number of the satellite on-board units have been delivered to operators. The Viapass satellite-based toll system electronic officially replaced the Eurovi- gnette on 1 April and at the same time tolls be- come obligatory for all vehicles over 3.5 tonnes compared with the previous 12-tonne threshold.
April 2016
The IRU reports that the French authorities have published new guidance on minimum wages for foreign road transport companies carrying out operations in the country. The law states that as of 1 July 2016 foreign-based drivers must receive the French minimum wage and foreign operators must designate a representative in France. The European Commission meanwhile continues its investigation into a similar German case.
CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line con- firm that they are to form a new grouping, the Ocean Alliance. It will offer services including Asia-Europe, Transatlantic, Asia-Mediterranean, Asia-Red Sea, Asia-Middle East, Trans-Pacific, and Asia-North America East Coast with a fleet of over 350 containerships.
Maersk Line adds Cuban port of Mariel, near Havana to its CRX service which serves Cork, Til- bury and north-west Europe, following the lifting of international sanctions against the Caribbean country.
The European Secure Parking Organisation and the International Road Transport Union call on EU Member States to fulfil their obli- gations to create more secure truck parking on the Trans-European Road Network. Legislation requires member states to install secure truck parking areas every 100km on the core Trans-Eu- ropean network but progress has been very slow, they say.
The European Commission clears CMA CGM’s acquisition of Neptune Oriental Lines, condi- tional upon NOL leaving the G6 liner shipping alliance.
May 2016
Liverpool celebrates the return of Maersk Line to the port when its feeder vessel, Antwerp, ar- rives on 27 April. The 1,100teu ship made its first call as part of a new service by Maersk’s Seago short-sea arm between Algeciras, Liverpool and Dublin. Earlier, WEC Lines and X-PRESS, also launched new services to Liverpool.
The UK’s international trade continued to flow on 3 May despite the introduction of the first major changes to EU customs legislation in a quarter of a century, a BIFA expert told a Multimodal seminar a few days later. Addressing a workshop session on the new Union Customs Code on 11 May, Robert Windsor, in charge of policy and compliance at the British International Freight Association said implementation of UCC had worked better in the UK than in some other EU member states where customs took a more bu- reaucratic approach.
MOL, NYK, K Line, Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd and Yang Ming say they are to create a new alliance cover- ing all east-west trades including Asia-Europe/ Mediterranean, the Transatlantic, Asia-North America and Asia-Middle East, scheduled to be- gin operation in April 2017. The new partnership will create a network of 3.5 million teu ship ca- pacity or 18% of the global container fleet with 620 ships in total. Discussions between Hap- ag-Lloyd and UASC on a financial merger are meanwhile progressing and the two lines later sign an agreement to merge on 18 July. (Hanjin is later to go into receivership, in August.)
FedEx formally takes over rival operator TNT Express on 25 May. The combined company has over 400,000 employees, and handle 12.5 million packages a year with a fleet of 130,000 road ve- hicles and 657 planes.
June 2016
Peel Ports officially opens its Port Salford devel- opment on the Manchester Ship Canal on 31 May
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