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Issue 4 2020 - Freight Business Journal


over from Peter Quantrill.


In autumn 2014, came the


first stirrings of an issue that was to greatly exercise the shipping industry, with Stena Line warning that the new sulphur limits for ships in European waters could push up freight rates. The new limits eventually came into force in January 2020.


GAC has a premonition


Late in 2014 came a sign of things to come when logistics company GAC’s health and safety manager Jose Lourenco warned that the industry needed to do more to reduce its exposure to the Ebola virus Africa, including increased use of personal protective equipment. In mid-2015, the Global


Shippers’ Forum warned that a US West Coast ports strike was putting supply chains under serious pressure. Indeed,


The Transported Asset


Protection Association (TAPA) said that there were an average of


three major cargo heists


goods reporting, including the Cargo Incident Notification System (CINS). The European Commission


announced that 1 May 2015 would be the date on which its new Union Customs Code came into force. The plan, two years in the making, aimed to usher in a simpler, more modern and integrated EU customs system. In autumn 2015 came a sign


the effects of the strike were to be felt for many months afterwards, with increased costs and shortages of capacity, not just in the US but in Europe too.


A survey by FedEx Express


declared Bradford as the UK’s leading ‘Export Epicentre’, finding that no fewer than 86% of the city’s firms were involved in selling overseas. Leeds, London, Manchester and Southampton followed, at 81%.


every day in Europe. On 6 August 2015, a


procession of ships officially opened the widened Suez Canal. The enlargement opened the way for larger vessels on many of the world’s container trades. Insurers the TT Club warned


that the massive chemical explosion in the Chinese port of Tianjin on 12 August could happen elsewhere. Shipping lines have indeed since tightened up their dangerous


of things to come when Danish- based forwarding and logistics operator DSV unveiled a plan to buy US-headquartered UTi, a move which was to propel into fourth in the global logistics league. However, an even bigger takeover was DSV’s eventual purchase of Swiss- based forwarder Panalpina, announced early in 2019 and completed a few months later. The new year – 2016 – began


with a clutch of shipping mergers, with CMA CGM announcing that it was to buy Singapore-based Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) for US2.4bn) while Chinese giants Cosco and China Shipping said that they would merge. A few weeks later, CMA CGM announced plans to create a ‘super- alliance’ including the merged Chinese lines, Evergreen and OOCL. Plans to create a vast lorry


park on the outskirts of Dover came in for criticism from Parliamentary Freight Transport Group chairman Rob Flello MP, who described the £250m plan as “absolutely bonkers”. The scheme was eventually cancelled in late


Maritime Commission, just one of many such moves which also including setting up in-house air freighter fleets and acquisitions of freight forwarding operations. Brussels Airport reopened


to passenger flights on 31 March following a terrorist bomb attack, but warned that it would take several months to get back to normal.


Brexit bombshell


On 23 June came a real shock to the industry – the British public voted in the referendum to leave the European Union, with all that it implied for the country’s international transport


and trade. While


2017. By then, the online


delivery industry had gained momentum, with Amazon’s plans to obtain an NVOCC licence from the US Federal


///10TH ANNIVERSARY


there were to be many twists and turns before the issue was finally decided – indeed, at the time of writing, the negotiations are still far from complete – the UK is officially on course to leave the EU by the end of the year. The


trade is still in the


process of digesting what Brexit will mean for the volume of customs entries that will need to be completed, and also the likely effect on cross-border trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland – including the possible introduction of customs controls on trade between Northern Ireland and the UK mainland. Another political shock


was soon to follow with the election of Donald Trump as US president. Early effects of the new broom in the White House included restrictions on US/China trade, tariffs on some EU products and the scuppering of the North American Free Trade Area. Still, there was some good news. A new freight


‘pathways’ in air, ocean or road freight.


On 31 August 2016, Korean


shipping line Hanjin called in the receivers, a fate that was narrowly avoided by fellow Korean carrier, Hyundai Merchant Marine. German line Hapag Lloyd simultaneously announced a plan to merge with United Arab Shipping Company. Francois Hollande, French


president at the time, vowed to raze the Calais ‘Jungle’ by the end of the year. The immigrant camp was a steady source of ‘customers’ for


people-


smugglers on cross-Channel freight services. A report, authored


by


Richmond MP (and, eventually, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Boris Johnson government) Rishi Sunak, extolled the virtues of freeports in a post- Brexit Britain. The new Liverpool2


container terminal was officially opened by Secretary of State for International Trade, Dr Liam Fox, on 4 November


forwarder apprenticeship was announced, a first for the industry. It was eventually launched in mid-2018, offering


2016. The facility would, together with the existing S e a f o r t h terminal, double


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