Category Archives: Shipping

Tackling 2020 Sulfur Limits

Posted on June 12, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Tackling 2020: the impact of the IMO and how shipowners can deal with tighter sulfur limits

This special report from S&P and Platts documents the issues for ocean carriers, and the strategies they might employ.  The report is detailed and interesting, and important reading for shipping executives.

Ocean shippers will be more tightly coupled into world petroleum markets, and their prices will be more volatile and depend on other supplies and demands, more so than before.  There’s potential for the supply of proper bunkers and its location to alter trade routes and even the profitability of some export trades, especially in agricultural products.

And the strategies ocean shipping owners can use are limited; they include noncompliance, too, which may get them in a lot of trouble, but would save a lot of money in upfront expense for scrubbers, new ships, or for a specialized fuel rather than MDO.

The report is well worth a read.  You have to register to get it, but it’s free.

plattslogo  Special report
The International Maritime Organization’s decision to tighten sulfur limits on bunker fuel has left shipowners with a dilemma they continue to brush aside. S&P Global Platts weighs up the options and the implications for the shipping industry, the market and refiners as the 2020 deadline approaches.

Download the report…

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Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Sustainability

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Drewry – West Coast upgrade

Posted on June 5, 2017 by | Leave a comment

Drewry’s Container Insight Weekly had this detailed piece on West Coast usage by large ships.  The major takeaway: bigger ships are calling but it may be too soon for many of the ULCC (18000 teu or so) to call yet, due to port related delays.  There’s also a sort of bedlam caused by the reshuffling alliances; the firms in each alliance have different preferences as to which terminal to use at the ports. Hence there’s no stability in where a ship might call on each visit.  To fix this will require compromise on ocean carrier objectives, like “always use our affiliated terminal when you come to LA”.  Stability would make it simpler for the terminals to plan how to unload or load and get the customers’ cargoes on the way to their destinations.  That part is challenging enough for the ports terminal operators today. Everyone has to work together to improve the customer (cargo owner) journey (literal and figurative!!!).

  The number of containerships of 13,000 teu or above deployed on the Asia-US West Coast trade has nearly doubled since the start of 2017. How long before the mega-ships arrive?

Source: Drewry – Weekly Feature Articles – West Coast upgrade

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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Production Operations, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains

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ILA concerned about NY/NJ chassis depot rents

Posted on May 23, 2017 by | 1 comment

Trucking and container chassis again moves into the spotlight. But now it’s how much to pay for the ground the chassis get stored on at the port.  The dislocation caused by ocean lines trying to foist off chassis ownership on truckers continues to hurt US ports.

Chassis provision has played a key role in the port container supply chains since ocean lines divested in 2013.  The issue was a key factor in the West Coast labor dispute at ports, and now is headed eastward.

The whole problem with pools, of chassis or otherwise, is how to allocate the burden of maintaining them, or, put another way, allocate the gains of pooling among the participants. Again it seems, truckers will not be benefiting; these players will fight over fees and split them while truckers will wind up paying in lease rates for whatever adjustments there are.  The ILA is at least bringing attention to the problem.

  Increasingly high rents charged to chassis providers by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey could hurt the port’s overall competitiveness, says Dennis Daggett, executive vice president of the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Source: ILA concerned about NY/NJ chassis depot rents

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Posted in Labor Economics, Logistics, Ports, Shipping, Supply Chains, Trucking

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