NEWS\\\


Government slammed over ferry plans


The Government has been criticised by MPs and other groups for ‘allocating’ over £100m to charter ferries to ease congestion on the Channel in the event of a no-deal Brexit, as part of its contingency planning. According


to press reports


in late December, some £47.3m has been awarded to DFDS and £46.6m to Brittany Ferries to ramp up services on their existing routes, in an apparent bid to ease the pressure on Dover should customs clearance be required for import freight into the UK. It is understood that the extra sailings would be outside the main Calais/ Dover corridor. However, what raised eyebrows


in particular was the decision to allocate £13.8m to Seaborne Freight, a company which has been attempting, but so far without success, to restart ferry services on the Ostend/Ramsgate route. In August, Seaborne Freight said it planned plans to start services between Ramsgate and Ostend by the end of the year – in itself a postponement


from the earlier


1 March 2018 start date. The company has reportedly been in the process of securing finance, as well as identifying suitable ferries, which are currently in short supply. The Liberal Democrats criticised


the government for failing to put this and the contracts with the


News Roundup


DP World UK chief executive Chris Lewis is to retire aſter 35 years in ports and shipping. He has been with DP World for eight years; first as chief executive of DP World Southampton before taking on responsibility for both DP World Southampton and DP World London Gateway. He will remain in post until April 2019 to ensure a smooth handover to his successor.


Sea


The Containerization and Intermodal Institute has named Lisa LoManto Aurichio as executive director. She will take over from Barbara Spector Yeninas, who has held the role since 1985 and who now becomes senior advisor. Aurichio will continue her position as president of marketing communications and special event agency, BSY Associates.


Torben Weilmuenster has been elected chairman of the Poseidon pharmaceutical logistics programme. The network of independent shippers and logistics providers aims to reform the pharmaceutical logistics process and make ocean freight the default mode of carriage for bulk medicines. Weilmuenster is currently head of global supply chain management at Frankfurt-based Merz Pharma.


Intelligent supply chain firm E2open has completed acquisition of the INTTRA ocean shipping portal following regulatory approval. It will offer INTTRA by E2open as a dedicated product, handling over 25% of all ocean containers shipped globally.


Ian Diaper has joined Portsmouth International Port as head of operations, a new role created to manage shore side activity. He has spent over 40 years in the shipping industry, most recently as the service delivery improvement manager for ABP Southampton.


ABP has appointed Marina Wyatt as its new chief financial officer (CFO), replacing Sebastian Bull. Most recently she was CFO of UBM and previously held senior finance roles at TomTom NV, Colt Telecom Group and Psion. Meanwhile, Sebastian Bull will take up the new role of managing director, ABP Property Development, realising new development opportunities for non-core property.


DP World’s recently acquired Unifeeder short-sea shipping arm is to begin operating a direct service between Gydnia in Poland and DP World London Gateway from 22 February. The new service is in addition to Unifeeder’s existing services to Grangemouth, South Shields, Teesport, Immingham and Felixstowe.


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other two operators through the normal tender process, arguing that it was a reckless use of public money. The Government claimed that time was too short for tenders to be issued in the usual way. Further press revelations


revealed that Seaborne chief executive Ben Sharp was previously managing director of Mercator International, a Folkestone-headquartered maritime security company that was forced into administration by HMRC in 2014, owing creditors


Issue 1 2019 - Freight Business Journal


over £1.75m. It also appeared that Seaborne’s terms and conditions, quickly deleted from its website, had been cut and pasted from a pizza delivery operation. The


company was later


reported in late January to be advertising for operational staff and claimed that a vessel agreement was at an advanced stage.


Thanet District Council also


said on 2 January that dredging at the port of Ramsgate was due to start that week as part of the


bid to re-establish ferry services at the moribund ro ro port. Since the end of the TransEuropa freight ferry service from Ostend in 2013, the port has handled mainly bulk shipments and trade cars. Later, the mayor of Ostend Bart weighed into the


Tommelein


debate, saying that his local port would not be ready for any new service before 29 March. The extra ferry capacity


would presumably have a role in spreading the traffic load away from Dover, where post-Brexit


3


customs clearances could create a bottleneck. The extra capacity would also help prevent bunching by spreading traffic between more sailings. Whether hauliers would


willingly forego longer, less frequent sailings to ports other than Dover remain to be seen, however. During the migrants crisis two years ago, many preferred to sit out queues at Dover and Calais rather than commit themselves to less convenient alternatives.


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