Incessant rain halves box delivery at Chittagong port and depots
08.08.2023
An incessant rain caused waist-deep water logging in the port city of Chittagong in Bangladesh halving box and cargo supply from the port yard and inland container depots (ICDs) during the last couple of days.
The rain put almost all main and sub roads under water halting the movement of small and medium vehicles, while water also entered into the offices and residential buildings disrupting day-to-day activities.
Shipping officials say that due to water in the roads, shipping agents are failing to reach customs offices, banks, and other facilities associated with the release of containers from the port area.
Usually, over 4,000 TEUs of containers are delivered from the port yards per day while during the last couple of days, only around 2,000 TEUs were delivered. Data available from the website of the Chittagong Port Authority shows that on Monday only 2,204 TEUs of containers were delivered from the port yard while on Sunday 2,565 TEUs and on Saturday 2,309 TEUs.
Mohammed Abdullah Jahir, chief operating officer of Saif Maritime, said many of the low-lying areas of Chittagong were underwater during the last couple of days. Water entered most of the homes and offices there.
“Homes of many people involved in the container and cargo-related activities were also underwater thus they could not attend in works leading to lower delivery of boxes,” he noted.
Jahir further said in Chittagong rain is continuing also on Tuesday (8 August).
Chittagong Port Authority spokesperson Omar Faruk said businesses are not interested to take delivery of boxes due to waterlog created by heavy rainfall.
He pointed out that in the outer anchorage of the port, the number of ships is increasing as delivery of bulk cargoes remained suspended there for a couple of days due to incessant rain.
The Meteorological Office warned that rain may further increase from next Saturday and may continue throughout the month of August due to the axis of monsoon trough runs through Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal to Assam across Northern part of Bangladesh. One of its associated troughs extends up to North Bay. Monsoon is active over Bangladesh and moderate to strong over North Bay.
Shipping sector officials said the rain has also disrupted container deliveries from the inland container depots (ICDs) located across Chittagong. Rainwater also entered into the premises of some of the ICDs where outbound cargoes are stuffed into the containers and 38 types of goods-laden import boxes are delivered from there.
Ruhul Amin Sikder (Biplob), Secretary General of Bangladesh Inland Container Depots Association (BICDA), said container delivery from the depots has lessened to almost half during the rainy days compared to the regular volume.
Usually, some 850 TEUs of containers are delivered from the depots, while now, due to heavy rain, it came down to around 400 or less, according to Biplob.
AD Ports and Shandong Ports Group enhance collaboration
31.07.2023
AD Ports Group has signed multiple collaboration agreements with Shandong Port Group (SPG), a conglomerate based in Shandong Province, China, which provides port operations, port infrastructure construction, cargo transportation and warehousing among other services.
The deal leverages the ‘Sister Ports’ agreement between Shandong Port and Khalifa Port to forge a partnership and strengthen cooperation, announced in December 2021.
Under the agreement, SPG will transport passenger vehicles from its ports in China to Autoterminal Khalifa Port, to be stored and displayed within facilities in KEZAD.
The agreements covering all aspects of the operations, display and services, were signed at an event at Autoterminal Khalifa Port, which has already received the first batch of vehicles.
"Our agreements with Shandong Ports Group underscore our commitment to fostering global connections and serving as a catalyst for economic growth. As we embark on this journey together, we are poised to redefine logistics and port operations, setting new benchmarks for the industry at large, whilst driving prosperity and further strengthening our position globally," commented Saif Al Mazrouei, CEO of Ports Cluster at AD Ports Group.
SPG plans to establish MENA regional center in the UAE, and in Abu Dhabi more specifically, in 2023, according to Jai Funing, the deputy general manager of Shandong Port Group.
He noted that "by continuously improving the overseas supply chain of product exports, SPG will rapidly improve the overseas market competitiveness of China's tire and commercial vehicle industries."
Nhava Sheva Port builds integrated rail-side capacity for double-stacked box trains
25.07.2023
Nhava Sheva Port (JNPT), India’s busiest public container gateway, has announced it is in a position to handle double-stacked container freight trains out of its new integrated rail yard for all terminals in the harbour.
The port has five container terminals and mixed or combined train operations have been its mainstay for inland container depot (ICD) volumes.
The port authority noted that “the state-of-the-art integrated rail yard, designed to handle double-stacked container trains, is set to commence on the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) rail lines for all the five terminals.”
The authority went on to say, “This advanced common rail yard will streamline operations and enhance efficiency at the port.”
The sophisticated integrated common rail yard has been developed in an effort to upgrade the port's infrastructure for seamless freight movement as demand builds, propelled by the DFC connectivity.
According to a previous port statement, the long-haul common yard has three lines of 1,500 metres for double-stack container trains, out of which two are top-wired ballastless lines meant for loading and unloading of containers, and one is for engine turnaround of electric locomotives.
The Western DFC project, a high-stakes investment for India’s containerised trade, is a 1,504-kilometre broad-gauge freight only connector between Dadri, the busiest ICD in North India, and Nhava Sheva.
Along the DFC route, it is estimated that advanced wagons can carry freight up to 81 tons per wagon at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour, including for double-stacked container trains, compared with 60 kmph on the normal network.
Nhava Sheva Port has been working hard to convert more truckloads to the rail mode to alleviate road congestion and improve container dwell times.
The port saw 1.52 million TEUs during April-June, the first quarter of fiscal year 2023-24, up 3% year-over-year. Rail volumes accounted for 16.6% of total traffic, according to data obtained by Container News.
Container Corporation of India (Concor) and other private rail companies, including Gateway Distriparks (GDL), have already opened a flurry of new upgraded services on the DFC route.
Last month, GDL launched a double-stacked rail connection between ICD Viramgam and Mundra Port.
“This will help us with faster evacuation of containers and reduce dwell time at the port for our customers,” the company said.
GDL further explained, “In particular, as ICD Viramgam is a hub that we use for consolidating containers for double stack operations, we will greatly benefit from this development not only for the ICD Viramgam market but also our Northern India ICDs.”
The Viramgam-Mundra service followed GDL opening a train route between Faridabad ICD and Mundra.
Feeder ship capsized, sand barge sinks after collision
18.07.2023
A Chinese feeder ship capsized after colliding with a sand barge in Ningbo, China, on 17 July, scattering more than 40 containers into the water.
Maritime Safety Administration officials said that they were alerted to the accident around 10.16 am (local time) on 17 July and sent two patrol vessels to the scene. All the crew members of the 2021-built 922 TEU Xin Yuan Long 6 were evacuated and no one was injured, although the sand barge, Gang Long Fa Zhan, sank.
Video footage from China Central Television shows Xin Yuan Long 6 listing to its port side.
Xin Yuan Long 6 was owned by Shishi Xinyuanlong Shipping, which is based in Quanzhou in Fujian province. The company could not be reached for comment, and it appears that Xin Yuan Long 6 was its only ship.
Salvage work has begun to recover the containers that fell into the water.
The ship had departed Zhenhai Harbor in Ningbo on 17 July and was heading for Xiamen in Fujian province, when the accident happened. Xin Yuan Long 6 appeared to have been moving containers between Ningbo, Xiamen and Guangzhou.
MSC builds 1 million TEU lead over Maersk
05.07.2023
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has extended its capacity lead over Maersk Line, 1.5 years after surpassing its Danish rival as the largest liner operator.
Following aggressive newbuilding orders, long-term vessel charters and acquisitions of secondhand vessels, MSC's fleet now stands at around 5.13 million TEUs, nearly 1 million TEUs more than Maersk Line's 4.14 million TEUs.
In its report, Alphaliner said that on average, MSC’s lead over Maersk has grown by a whopping 12,800 TEU every week since January 2022.
Orderbook projections suggest that MSC will further expand its lead at the top of the mainline operators' league over the rest of 2023.
Currently, the Swiss-Italian carrier is one of the main drivers of overall fleet growth.
Encouraged by the Covid-19-induced boom, the overordering of container ships in 2021 and 2022 is beginning to manifest itself in ever-increasing tonnage deliveries, with June setting a record for deliveries in a single month. Of the 277,873 TEU delivered in June, MSC alone accounted for 39% of this at 111,474 TEU, including two 24,000 TEU ships and five 15,000-16,000 TEU ships.
Alphaliner noted that MSC has steadily expanded both fleet and network since the company was established in 1970, but the carrier’s growth has accelerated notably in the late 2010s and it went into overdrive in 2020, when Covid-19-related logistical bottlenecks pushed freight rates to historical highs.
Alphaliner said, "Not only does MSC have the largest vessel orderbook (1.5 million TEUs) of all carriers, but it also acquired far more secondhand vessels than any other shipping line. MSC bought well over 300 ships in the last three years. About two-thirds of this capacity came as a net addition to MSC’s fleet."
Newbuilding deliveries are expected to remain high in 2023 and 2024, fuelled by an orderbook of 7.6 million TEUs - or 28.5% of the existing fleet.
Alphaliner continued, "Although new environmental regulations have created some ’artificial’ tonnage demand though mandated slow-steaming, cargo volumes will most certainly not grow enough to absorb all of these new ships. Alphaliner therefore believes that large chunks of today’s vessel newbuilding pipeline will be for fleet renewal, rather than fleet growth."