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News Desk


www.bifa.org Ian Matheson, from Impress Communications, reviews some recent news that might impact on Members’ business


to bid for freeport status incorporating the ports of Tilbury and London Gateway. The two companies say the combined freeport would “have the scale, global connectivity and the ability to expand and develop land at scale as the market demands”.


Freightliner resumes Southampton-EMG link


OVERLAND Freightliner has recommenced its intermodal service from the port of Southampton to the East Midlands Gateway (EMG) rail terminal operated by Maritime Transport, following the start of a new intermodal service operated by GB Railfreight (GBRf) between the Suffolk port of Felixstowe and EMG. The latest development further supports Maritime’s evolution from road haulage to a multimodal logistics operation.


Ti and Upply’s European Road Freight Rate Benchmark for the second quarter of 2020 shows that road freight rates have fallen to their lowest level in two years amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The benchmark rate was EUR1,083 in the second quarter, having dropped 1.8% year-on-year.


On August 20, EU driver rules changed with new provisions for rest breaks on ferries and rail services. Drivers must return home every four weeks and will be banned from taking regular rests in their cabs, and there is a new definition of ‘non-commercial


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carriage’. Full details can be seen on www.gov.uk


IN THE AIR Global air cargo volumes continue to show a slow recovery, Air Cargo News reported in August, citing a study from CLIVE Data Services, which said that July volume was down 20% year-on-year, but down less than the year-on-year declines of 26% in April, 31% in May and 37% in June.


ON THE OCEAN In early August, Alphaliner’s fortnightly idle tonnage report recorded a further sharp drop in inactive capacity with the idle containership fleet standing at 264 vessels, with a total capacity of 1.2 million teu and representing 5.1% of the global fleet.


Reflecting the high demand for tonnage, containership brokers are reporting “brisk business”, although owners are reluctant to fix for longer periods against rising daily hire rates.


The global containership orderbook, seen as a percentage of the world fleet, has dropped to its lowest level


in more than 20 years, Alphaliner revealed in late July, showing the boxship orderbook-to-fleet ratio now stands at 9.4% or 2.21 million teu. It is the first time this key indicator has dropped below the 10% mark this century.


Container shipping lines face the prospect of cutting capacity by scrapping if the downturn caused by the COVID-19 crisis persists, says maritime consultancy Drewry. It adds that a downturn stretching to five years would see a “withdrawal of capacity on a more permanent basis, demolitions ramp- up and an end to newbuilds”.


ON THE QUAYSIDE The British Ports Association (BPA) is launching a major new review of UK port connectivity to highlight to government and local authorities where post-COVID-19 investment in infrastructure can be concentrated in order to maximise economic growth and speed up the recovery.


The UK government’s insistence that freeports will be one advantage of Brexit has seen Forth Ports and DP World announce a partnership


The Annual UK Port Freight Statistics for 2019, published by the Department for Transport in mid- August, showed that total tonnages remained stable in 2019 at 486.1 million tonnes (an increase of 1% compared with 2018). The total volume of unitised traffic decreased by 3% to 23.3 million units, following a fall of 1% in 2018, after five years of consecutive growth.


Drewry Shipping Consultants expects growth in container capacity at ports will likely shrink by at least 40% over the next five years, suggesting that the maritime sector is bracing for a prolonged slowdown as companies reset and resize their supply chains.


IN THE WAREHOUSE Planning consent has been awarded to an additional 574,000 sq ft of warehouse and logistics space, consisting of three more industrial units ranging in size from 113,000 sq ft to 250,000 sq ft, as part of the second phase at Markham Vale’s Horizon29, just off junction 29a of the M1 between Sheffield and Nottingham.


Winvic has started the construction of Prologis’ new Intermodal Rail Freight Terminal at Prologis RFI DIRFT in Northamptonshire. Work will include significant earthworks, a 79,000 sq m concrete terminal slab, 9 km of rail track networked to the existing terminal and the West Coast Mainline, and three bridges.


A public consultation has been opened by developer Tritax for the development of a 1 million sq ft industrial and logistics scheme being proposed for the former Cronton Colliery in Knowsley, Merseyside.


September 2020


Courtesy of the Port of Felixstowe


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