It’s the usual talk we hear from participants about a merger, but this is an established and well-respected ocean carrier.
One of the most interesting comments in the story is the concentration of firms in shipping compared to a year ago– down to 13 firms from 20. That is a big change, considering the amount of capital in a vessel owning carrier.
Source: Maersk Line to acquire Hamburg Süd in cash deal worth up to $5bn – The Loadstar
Posted in Logistics, Shipping, Strategy, Supply Chains
Tagged intermodal, Logistics, mergers, ocean shipping, supply chains
Talk about unintended consequences.
The Verified Gross Mass (VGM) rule promulgated by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) on July 1, 2016 is intended to make cargo and ships safer, by making sure that container weights are properly recorded. when you are loading a ship, it’s good to know how the weight is distributed. if people give you containers overfilled, you won’t have the right balance on your ship. A ship might turn over, or other containers might be damaged if there’s a shift in cargo.
But the rule has created an entire industry and a plethora of fees being charged by supply chain partners. they’re presumably to offset ‘costs’ of the rule. But there is a concern that they are merely ways of increasing profits. And the fees certainly add to the complexity and cost of a container shipment, and even of identifying the best route for my cargo.
This story about India’s experience highlights some of the bad experiences shippers are having. And it is affecting which ports are used and which carriers. Will there ever be rationality in this area? Everyone agrees we want correct weights of containers, unless we want to cheat, but how complex can it be?
The downside of IMO’s container weighing rule
Source: Shipping Tribune
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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Shipping, Supply Chains
Tagged container shipping, intermodal, Logistics, ports, supply chains, VGM
Again the container chassis issue creates controversy. Leasing companies created a ‘pool of pools’ in the LA/Long Beach area but are not paying port operators for services and storage performed on or by the port operators. The $5 fee on a loaded chassis (whether the container is empty or not) is supposed to cover this work.
It’s another example of how hard it is to get a pool to work well. Normal ways of compensating participants are not usually fair to all parties; nor do they usually act to keep the pool together. But here the issue is simply that the pool is skimming profits by benefiting from free work by a non-participant; or we could look at the terminals as a dummy participant that contributes no chassis but pays anyway.
We have a talk on a related aspect at the IAME 2016 annual conference in Hamburg later this month.
LONG BEACH, Calif.–The West Coast MTO Agreement (WCMTOA) has extended the implementation date of a new tariff rule for chassis services by one month.
Source: Terminals in Ports of L.A., Long Beach move chassis rule to September 1 – Canadian Shipper
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Posted in Logistics, Ports, Production Operations, Supply Chains, Trucking
Tagged Chassis, container shipping, intermodal, Logistics, ports, supply chains, trucking
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