misinformation

Shippers berate carriers…Once again liner shipping companiestook the brunt of criticismat this month’s TOC CSCEurope conference, held in Rotterdam.In particular, their failureto innovate, add value and beproactive when it comes to servicefailures was highlighted.Filip Degroote, transportationdirector for the EMEA region atStanley Black & Decker (SBD),told delegates: “Carriers need tocreate added-value services atorigin and destination points ifthey want to be sustainable.”He said: “Some carriers aremoving in the direction of offeringorigin and destination services,and I think that is the wayfor them to go. Today, forwardersare taking that role, but I thinkcarriers should also give a totalsolution package.”However, he thought thismove was some way off and didnot see a fundamental change intheir focus on the port-to-portsector. But he warned that thiswas not sustainable, arguing thatsuch a strategy was of “no valueto SBD”.Degroote elaborated: “Oursupply chain is focused on endto-endtransit times and we seefour main areas where thereare opportunities for carriersto work with us – origin services,destination services, portto-portreliability, and overallFOR SALE:Used Liebherr Mobile Harbour CraneType LHM 320, two ropesBuilt: 2005Lifting capacity:On hook: 100,4t/10,5m-17m – 25,5t/43mRunning Hours:Diesel Engine 11.500Condition:Good working conditionvisibility of the supply chain.”He continued: “While peopletalk about port-to-port transittimes, this doesn’t tell me anything,as we can lose so muchtime at the origin and destinationpoints and so I need toknow end-to-end what is happening.”While SBD has reluctantly acceptedslow steaming as the newnorm, the executive expressedFor immediate delivery from EuropeFor this and other second-hand port equipment,please visit: www.bendezu.comThere is, however, a way forwardthat could be achievedwithout a magic bullet thatsomehow doubles terminal productivity.Tom Ward, senior maritimeplanner at Parsons Brinckerhoff,put forward that it is timefor terminals to adopt a new yardplanning paradigm, where importsare stacked according today of delivery. Truckers wouldthen collect the first available boxand be paid an agreed rate for delivery.Without having to shuffletrucks and containers, yard craneslike RTGs could actually handle25 trucks per hour, as opposed tothe 9-10 that most achieve now.There are contractual and operationalissues that would need tobe addressed to put day-of-deliveryyard planning into practicebut, as shippers like Degrootepoint out, being sold a serviceSHIPPING NEWS…but need to count spreadersWhile Degroote called on portsto find ways of speeding up thehandling of mega ships, in anotherstream at the TOC CSCEurope conference, consultantsand a terminal operator werediscussing how to improve terminalproductivity. The focuswas not on new equipment orautomation that might producea paradigm shift, but on ways ofimproving the planning and internallogistics at terminals to getproduction closer to the equipment’sachievable cycle times.Shippers might be disappointed,but they need to understandthe operational reality terminalsare facing. With mega ships,call sizes have reached the pointwhere the landside interface atmost terminals cannot possiblymeet the expectations placedon it today. It is not mathematicallypossible for a terminal thathas 10 or 20 spreaders servingtrucks, to deliver all the importcontainers from a 10,000+ containercall within 24 hours of thevessel berthing. Some containerswill just not be available for threeor four days after the vessel hasberthed.Degroote’s comments indicatelines are not providing their customerswith full disclosure overthe implications of their newships in this respect.unhappiness about the lack ofconsistency when it comes totransit times, service reliability,rise in transhipment and ongoingproblems associated with cargobeing rolled.“Slow steaming is painful, butthe most crucial thing is to haveconsistent transit times,” Degrootetold delegates. “In addition,we try to avoid transhipment becausewe had a bad experiencewith that and so we always lookfor direct calls.”In other comments, he calledfor ocean carriers to use more45ft palletwide containers, bemore transparent in their exchangeof information and becomemore differentiated.SBD’s global spend on transportequates to about US$400Ma year, approximately a third ofwhich involves shipping services.Shippers do not understand the implications of big ships on container availabilityat the port gatebased on “port-to-port” sailingtime does not meet their needs.Some ports are, in fact, takingsteps in this direction today. APMTerminals MVII Rotterdammanaging director Frank Tazelaarsaid it started working withbarge, rail and trucking interests18 months before the terminalopened, to identify how planninginformation could be shared betweenthe modes of transport, toenable MVII to better plan itsyard. It is “bartering” with bargeand rail operators, exchangingcommitments on handling timefor planning information. Thedisparate trucking community ismore difficult, but the terminal isgiving commitments to freightforwarders in exchange for theirdata. “We are trading high-valueinformation; we are part of theInternet of Things,” he added.Pan-Africa FTZ moves forwardIn June, representatives from 26African nations met in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt and signed an initialagreement that paves the wayfor the creation of a pan-AfricaFree Trade Zone, encompassingover 60% of Africa’s GDP and57% (approximately 625M people)of its population.The proposed new pact willboost intercontinental highway,rail and coastal shipping servicesand should attract additional internationalinvestment into theregion.At less than 15%, Africa boaststhe smallest volume of intra-regionaltrade of any continent inthe world, and economists andpoliticians have often mentionedthis as stalling Africa’s economicgrowth potential and its relativelysmall showing in global tradingterms.Known as the Tripartite FreeTrade Area (TFTA), it will combineexisting trade pacts, such asthe Common Market for Easternand Southern Africa (COME-SA), the South African DevelopmentCommunity (SADC) andthe East African Community(EAC) into one. This will cut bureaucracyand streamline documentaryand customs procedures,all of which should encouragethe flow of cargo.However, notable for its absenceis the Economic Communityof West African States(ECOWAS), which includes sub-Saharan Africa’s largest economy,Nigeria, and some of the region’sfastest growing nations.Significant investment will stillneed to be made in improvingAfrica’s transport infrastructure,as bottlenecks and congestion atborder crossings, into and out ofports and in major cities remainproblems in many of the countriesthat have signed up to theTFTA.The initial agreement nowawaits discussion and ratificationby the various national governmentsinvolved. In Africa, thiswill not be an easy task. Thenthere is the process of implementation,which is also likelyto prove difficult. Consequently,even after more than five yearsof discussions at country-tocountrylevel, a single pan-Africatrade pact is likely to still be someway off.Bottlenecks and congestion at border crossings, into and out of ports and inmajor cities remain problems in many African countries that have signed upto the TFTACalle Camino Padre Cura, No 15, Bloque Oasis II, 1°C, 29680 Malaga, SpainContact Mr. Andres BendezuTl. +34 952 805 716 Mb +34 679 449 189E-mail: info@bendezu.com14June 2015