10


Issue 4 2020 - Freight Business Journal


Europa hits the heights with Linde


Linde Material Handling is to supply materials handling equipment for Europa Warehouse’s new £60m site in Corby, Northants. The new location at Midlands Logistics Park


will double Europa Warehouse’s logistics portfolio and is being built 18 metres high with three mezzanine fl oors. Racking is on nine levels and uses the latest handling technology.


Lashing dispute goes to EU Commission


Six European shortsea and feeder ship operators have fi led an offi cial complaint with the European Commission, claiming that International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) attempts to force ships to use dockers for container lashing violate EU competition law. In a letter to the Directorate-


General for Competition on 19 May, the operators called for an investigation into the ITF and affi liated Dutch union FNV Bondgnoten. The complaint focuses on the ‘Dockers’ Clause’ part of an agreement reached between the ITF and the Joint Negotiating Group (JNG) of maritime employers in 2018, which covers approximately 15,000 sea-going vessels worldwide. The six operators


do not accept that JNG acted on their behalf in agreeing to a change in long-established working practices. The Clause seeks to prohibit


seafarers from lashing if qualifi ed dock workers that are members of an ITF-affi liated union are available, with the ITF arguing that the approach is safer. In response, ITF said: “The


agreement was voluntarily negotiated and agreed upon between the ITF, representing seafarers, and JNG, representing ship owners. This clause was negotiated in good faith and the ITF has an expectation that those who employ seafarers will adhere to this clause in the same way in which they are expected to adhere to the rest of the agreement.”


Kuehne+Nagel extends Heathrow lease


has


Aberdeen Standard Investments’ AIPUT fund (Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust) has secured a lease extension to 2030 with forwarder Kuehne+Nagel


(KN)


for its Heathrow South Cargo Centre. GlaxoSmithKline is the leading


customer of the facility, where it handles a signifi cant share of the UK’s pharma imports and exports. KN also operates AIPUT’s


Perishables Handling Centre at Hatton Cross, a 72,500 sq on-


airport temperature-controlled warehouse facility specifi cally


Freight breathes sigh of relief over quarantine rules


The Freight Transport Association welcomed the government’s intention to exempt truck drivers and freight transport workers from the new quarantine regulations that come into force on 8 June. Other travellers arriving in


UK ports and seaports will have to confine themselves to an agreed address for 14 days. Freight drivers are exempt


from the UK quarantine requirement but must fill out a Public Health Passenger Locator Form on the


Global logistics SOLUTIONS


Local needs TAILORED TO YOUR


Strategic supply chain partners www.transmecgroup.com


government portal before each and every journey (https:// www. g o v.uk/uk-bo rd er - control). There will be a penalty for those who do not comply. Drivers will need to provide


passport information, travel details, including times and


News Roundup


///NEWS


Intermodal operator Hupac has launched a service between Italy and the UK, via its terminals at Geleen and Moerdijk in the Netherlands and the A2B-online short-sea shipping service. It runs three days a week, connecting Bari, Rome (Pomezia), Bologna, Padova and Milan (Busto Arsizio) with Thamesport, Immingham, Teesport and Blyth.


DB Cargo’s Transfesa Logistics arm has launched a new refrigerated rail service from Valencia and Murcia in Spain to Barking Intermodal Terminal in East London, via the High Speed 1 line. The 72-hour service will transport food and medical products, carrying up to 30 leased Unit 45 boxes per train.


Pan-European railfreight operator DB Cargo has appointed current chief fi nancial offi cer in the UK Andrea Rossi as its new chief executive from 1 September 1. It follows the decision of current chief executive Hans-Georg Werner to retire later this year. Rossi has worked for DB Cargo UK for the past seven years.


Maritime Intermodal has operated a rail freight service from DP World Southampton to its terminal at East Midlands Gateway, the fi rst-ever train from the port city to enter EMG. Hauled by a DB Cargo locomotive and with a capacity of up to 74teu each way, Maritime’s eighth service to date ran for two days only on 30 April and 1 May. It will however become a regular service if there is enough volume. Containers destined for the East Midlands region would have been stored at Maritime’s Birmingham Intermodal Freight Terminal but EMG now off ers storage for up to 4,000teu willing cutting delivery times signifi cantly and providing much greater fl exibility.


designed to process imported food airfreight. Heathrow


been


repurposed in recent weeks to focus mainly on importing essential products to support the UK’s recovery and is currently handling up to 95 dedicated cargo fl ights each day - 14 times the number in normal times. Overall cargo volumes passing through the airport have though been signifi cantly lower than usual due to the dramatic reduction in belly-freight usually carried in long-haul passenger aircraſt .


dates and, if applicable, the UK address where they are staying. Information cannot be submitted until 48 hours before the arrival time in the UK. The


reciprocal quarantine


period applied by the French authorities on people arriving on the UK does not apply to freight workers either, nor to crew members of passenger and cargo flights or to train drivers and crew.


The A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon road has opened eight months ahead of schedule. It will shave up to 20 minutes off journeys and improve access to the port of Felixstowe.


Eurotunnel’s truck shuttle traffi c was down 29% in March compared with the same month last year, at 90,300 vehicles, although it was up by 10,000 vehicles on the previous month, April, acording to data released by operator Getlink on 5 June. Eurotunnel’s truck traffi c declined by a third in April 2020, to just under 80,000 vehicles. Whilst lockdown eased in France on 11 May, severe travel restrictions remain, and Eurotunnel continues to focus on ensuring the supply of critical goods between France and the UK. Getlink said that traffi c held up in May mainly due to the resilience of demand for food, pharmaceuticals and e-commerce.


A plan to use ten miles of the M26 carriageway as a temporary truck park in the event of problems aſt er Brexit have been offi cially dropped, reports the kentonline website. Channel-bound vehicles will instead be held on the M20, in the event of disruption, work for which, including a moveable barrier, is currently going ahead.


UK forwarder Davies Turner says that rerouting of several Asia to Europe sailings via the Cape of Good Hope rather than the Suez Canal has boosted business on its Express China Rail service. Much lower fuel bunker prices has seen a sharp upturn in the number of container services being re-routed to avoid the Suez Canal and its transit fees and dues, but adding several more days to transit times.


Road & Rail


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