ONE Takes Delivery of Seventh Magenta Ship

Singapore-based shipping company Ocean Network Express (ONE) has taken delivery of the 14,000 TEU containership ONE Cygnus from Japan Marine United Corporation’s shipyard at Kure, Hiroshima. This is ONE’s third delivery this year after the ONE Apus was delivered in April 2019.

The 364-meter ONE Cygnus is also the last in the series of seven newly-built, 138,611 DWT magenta containerships.

All units were delivered between June 2018 and July 2019.

The boxship will be deployed on the Asia to Europe 3 (FE3) service, under THE Alliance (THEA), with a port rotation of Hong Kong – Xiamen – Kaohsiung – Yantian – Rotterdam – Hamburg – Antwerp – Le Havre – London Gateway – Singapore – Hong Kong.

Hapag-Lloyd Testing Ship-Painting Robots

German container shipping company Hapag-Lloyd revealed it is currently testing ship-painting robots with nine of its ships.

With the help of robots that replace traditional application by hand, Hapag-Lloyd said it is possible to improve the quality of ship painting and shorten the docking time.

At shipyards in Hamburg, Marseilles and most recently Singapore, the company has tested the so-called Hull Treatment Carrier (HTC) coating on its vessels.

As explained, the system from the Austrian manufacturer Palfinger is made up of several automated units that travel along the side of the ship’s hull while it is in dry dock. Its job is to remove the old layers of paint from the hull with extremely high water pressure and then to evenly apply new paint.

The machining heads of the system can reach up to 77 percent of the approximately 9,300 square meters of surface area per ship. The shipyard staff works by hand on the bulbous bow, below the bilge keels, at the propeller apertures, and on the flat bottom. The HTCs can each apply around 600 to 800 square meters of paint per hour, which means it only takes a few hours for one coat of paint.

What is more, overspray is no longer an issue thanks to robots, according to Hapag-Lloyd. Specifically, the thickness of the applied layer of paint is much more uniform. It is also possible to lower the amount of paint that is used.

“We can ensure a certain level of quality with automated application systems, and the system is less harmful to the environment,” Jan-Evan Lütje, a shipbuilding engineer in Hapag-Lloyd’s Technical Fleet Management, explained.

“The performance indicators show that the smoother surface results in both lower fuel consumption at the start and a greater resilience to fouling over the entire 60 months,” Lütje added.

Maersk and MSC add Middle East Gulf ports risk surcharges

More container lines are adding risk surcharges for shipments to and from Middle East Gulf ports following last month’s attack and two tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

The world’s two largest container lines Maersk Line and MSC have joined Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and APL in adding a surcharge in the region to cover increased insurance costs.

Maersk is introducing a Gulf Emergency Risk Surcharge of $42 per teu and $84 per teu for from 10 July for non-regulated trades, and 1 August for regulated trades. It cover shipments from all port worldwide, excluding China, to Saudi Arabia (Damman & Jubail), Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Kuwait, Iraq and Oman (only Sohar and Muscat). And all shipments from the Middle East ports to destinations worldwide.

Meanwhile 2M alliance partner MSC has introduced a $40 per teu War Risk Surcharge from July on all trades, excluding US and China, to and from Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait , Oman , Qatar , Saudi Arabia (Dammam, Jubail ), and UAE. For US and China ports the surcharge will apply from 1 August.

Singapore Remains World’s Top Shipping Center

Singapore has topped the 2019 Xinhua-Baltic International Shipping Centre Development (ISCD) Index for the sixth year running, the Baltic Exchange said.

The index provides an independent ranking of the performance of the world’s largest cities that offer port and shipping business services.

Based on objective factors including port throughput and facilities, depth and breadth of professional maritime support services, as well as general business environment, the report is a collaboration between the Chinese state news agency, Xinhua, and international freight benchmark provider, the Baltic Exchange.

In the six years since this report has been published, there has been a general rise in the performance of Asian and Middle Eastern locations. The first report in 2014 included three European locations in the top five — in 2019 only London remains.

The top five international shipping centers in 2019 are Singapore, Hong Kong, London, Shanghai and Dubai.

“Singapore commands a strategic position as a maritime hub in the regional and global arena. The maritime industry is, and will remain, a big contributor to Singapore’s economy and it is therefore important that we continue to innovate and invest in this sector to achieve long-term success,” Lu Su Ling, Head of Baltic Exchange Asia, commented.

Based on the evaluation scores, Singapore shows strength in ship management and shipbroking services, while Hong Kong is benefiting from China’s Belt and Road Initiative and economic opportunities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.

London’s first-class services in shipbroking, legal and shipping finance were highlighted. As important cities in emerging economies, Shanghai and Dubai are catching up with London in their level of shipping development and were ranked fourth and fifth respectively.

Among the top ten international shipping centers in 2019 are also Rotterdam, Hamburg, New York – New Jersey, Houston and Athens.

Maersk Family Sails into Renewable Energy Sector

A.P. Moller Holding, that controls Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk, has unveiled its first step into the renewable energy industry with the planned acquisition of Danish wind turbine supplier KK Group.

On July 10, the company said that it agreed with SoLix Group AB to acquire the supplier of power electronics solutions to the wind turbine industry.

“As the wind industry has gained momentum globally, KK Wind Solutions must expand its global footprint and follow its customers’ international expansion. With A.P. Moller Holding’s global mindset, network and expertise, we believe we can be a good partner and an engaged owner to support KK Wind Solutions on this exciting journey,” Jan T. Nielsen, Chief Investment Officer, A.P. Moller Holding, said.

The parties have agreed not to disclose price and other terms of the transaction. The deal is subject to customary regulatory approvals in Denmark and Germany, with expected closing in the third quarter of 2019.

“Denmark is the leading hub for the wind industry worldwide with significant global growth potential. We look forward to supporting KK Wind Solutions’ further development and growth in this important industry,” Nielsen added.

KK Wind Solutions built one of the world’s first electrical control systems for a wind turbine in the 1970s. Over the last couple of years, KK Wind Solutions moved from being a components supplier with a narrow product portfolio to becoming a leading systems supplier within wind power electronics, delivering to all the large Wind OEMs, including SiemensGamesa, Vestas, Mitshubishi Vestas Offshore Wind and GE Renewables.

US - China trade war hitting Panama Canal revenues

The US China trade war that began almost a year ago, is taking its toll as illustrated by revenues from the Panama Canal. 

The impact of the US –China trade war is greatest in US states that export agricultural products, electronics, LNG and LPG and chemicals directly to China and California has taken the biggest hit, followed by Texas, Illinois and Louisiana.

California's export volumes for the first four months of 2019 are down roughly 13%, according to the US Census Bureau. 

And as the trade war continues it is California that stands to lose the most, trade experts say. In terms of volume, California conducts more trade with China than any other state in the country, reported CNBC news. 

Exporters have been creative, say US experts, noting that exports are being directed to new destinations.

For the Panama Canal, where the US is the largest customer, authorities announced mid-June, that Japan had overtaken China as the second biggest user of the waterway largely because of the escalating dispute between Washington and Beijing. 

Also grain exports from the US Gulf to China fell significantly with approximately an $8m impact on Canal revenues. Plastic resins exports from the US gulf ports, mainly Houston, to China also registered a considerable drop in volume through the waterway.  However, South Korea and Japan have been buying more LNG and LPG from the US, which resulted in Japan to displacing China as the second largest user of the Canal.

However, container traffic increased because of the “extra loaders” put in place to arrive before the full implementation of the US tariffs on Chinese goods. 

Qingdao Port to Take Control of Weihai Port

Qingdao Port International is soon to take control of the Weihai Port as the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) arranged a merger deal between the parties.

Namely, the Qingdao SASAC notified the company on July 9 of the deal through which Weihai Port Group would transfer its 100 percent stake in the Weihai Port to Qingdao Port International.

The arrangement is subject to the approval from the State Administration for Market Regulation on the declaration of concentration of business undertakings.

Upon the completion of the transfer, Weihai Port will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Qingdao Port.

The company said that the two ports have similar businesses, that include stevedoring of cargoes such as container, metal ore, coal and other cargoes and the ancillary services, logistics and port value-added services, port ancillary services, finance lease services and the transport services of shipping lines for passengers and ro-ros.

Although there is horizontal competition in the principal businesses between the parties, the scale of Weihai Port is relatively smaller as compared to that of Qingdao Port, therefore the competition on the principal businesses is limited.

MSC Says It Is Not Target of US MSC Gayane Probe

Mediterranean Shipping Company informed that it is not the target of a U.S. investigation that was launched after customs authorities found almost 20 tons of cocaine of one of the MSC-operated containerships.

MSC added that it is “assisting and cooperating in any possible way with the authorities” related to the drug trafficking operation involving the Neopanamax MSC Gayane.

To remind, the vessel was searched at the Packer Marine Terminal in Philadelphia on June 17. Relevant authorities detected anomalies in seven shipping containers and extracted 39,525 pounds of cocaine from containers aboard the ship.

As a result of that operation, MSC Gayane was seized on July 4 and is “ subject to a possible forfeiture“, William McSwain, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, earlier said.

The incident led to a temporary suspension of MSC’s C-TPAT certification.

We are actively seeking to assure the authorities that our certification can be reinstated as soon as possible,” MSC said, adding that, notwithstanding this temporary status, the company continues to comply with all the requirements of the C-TPAT programme and security criteria for ocean carriers.

MSC Gayane was en route to northern Europe at the time of the incident, with calls scheduled at Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre. Aside from a small number of containers, which have been held by the authorities as part of their ongoing investigations, all cargoes on the MSC Gayane have been transshipped to other MSC vessels and sent on to their respective destinations.

Source: Seatrade Maritime, Sea News, World Maritime News