JUPITER SEA & AIR SERVICES PVT. LTD, EGMORE – CHENNAI, INDIA.

E-MAIL : Robert.sands@jupiterseaair.co.in   Mobile : +91 98407 85202

 

Corporate News Letter for Thursday  December 01, 2022.

                                                                                                                  

 

Today’s Forex Rates : Source – The Economic Times

CURRENCY	PRICE	CHANGE	%CHANGE	OPEN	PREV.CLOSE	DAY's LOW-HIGH
USD/INR	81.69	-0.009995	-0.012233	81.72	81.70	81.6825- 81.775
EUR/USD	1.0261	-0.0064	-0.619854	1.0319	1.0325	1.024- 1.0268
GBP/INR	96.7104	-0.7313	-0.7505	96.9566	97.4417	96.5947- 97.0375
EUR/INR	83.918	-0.8937	-1.053746	84.2792	84.8117	83.8345- 84.3443
USD/JPY	141.753	1.383011	0.985261	140.25	140.37	141.633- 142.243
GBP/USD	1.1858	-0.0032	-0.269138	1.1907	1.189	1.1816- 1.1864
DXY Index	107.514	0.584	0.546151	106.968	106.93	106.894- 107.60
JPY/INR	0.5797	-0.0037	-0.634216	0.5831	0.5834	0.5796- 0.5835

::                    Sea Cargo News               ::

Maersk adds new weekly rail service in India

A.P. Moller – Maersk has announced another weekly, dedicated rail service, the ‘Pratigya Express’, from Sonipat Inland Container Depot (ICD) in National Capital Region (NCR) to APM Terminals Pipavav Port on the western coast of India in Gujarat.

Maersk’s new ‘Pratigya Express’ service on the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) will move 90 TEUs every week. "The NCR is abundant with retail and rice exporters who need a regular connection from their manufacturing facilities to the consumers in the western market," commented major Jyoti Joshi Mitter, head of rail at Maersk India.

He added, "Through our dialogues with our customers, we realised that they faced two challenges - either they don’t have a fixed schedule for departure from Sonipat ICD, and once they get it, they do not necessarily make it to the right vessel connection at the port."

According to Maersk, the ‘Pratigya Express’ will move cargo from Sonipat ICD to APM Terminals Pipavav Port with a transit time of two and half days.

Also, from there, the cargo will have the option to connect on services such as the Shaheen Express, which will be launched in the coming days, or the MECL. Both of these services will then be able to take the cargo to the Middle Eastern or European markets.

Crew released from twice-hijacked South Korean tanker

South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today (25 November) that the crew on a South Korean-owned oil tanker has been released unhurt after the vessel was hijacked on 24 November.

The 5,700 DWT products tanker, B. Ocean, owned by SK Shipping, was manned by two South Koreans and 17 Indonesians when it lost contact around 7 am South Korean time on 24 November. At the time, B. Ocean was 200 nautical miles south of Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

B.Ocean / Credit: Steven Ng.

 

The South Koreans were the captain and chief engineer of B. Ocean. The crew resumed contact with SK Shipping at 11.15 am South Korean time today, revealing that pirates stole the petroleum cargo on the tanker and damaged the tanker’s equipment, before releasing the seafarers. B. Ocean expects to return to Abidjan.

It is the second time that the ship was hijacked, after an earlier incident in the same area in January. In the earlier case, the pirates also stole the tanker’s cargo before escaping, without hurting the seafarers.

The International Maritime Bureau’s latest report, in October, said that global piracy has hit a 30-year low, while incidents in the Gulf of Guinea, once regarded as a piracy hotbed, have declined.

In the first nine months of 2022, there were 90 piracy incidents worldwide, the lowest since 1992, while attacks in the Gulf of Guinea halved to 13, compared with 27 in the same period last year.

Ship robbery in Mongla port – ReCAAP concerned over piracy in Singapore Strait

AS Elenia / Source: VesselFinder.

 Bangladesh Coast Guard has recovered a huge volume of goods looted from a Liberian flag carrier vessel at Mongla port on 24 November.

A group of pirates on Tuesday (22 November) night boarded the ship namely AS Elenia which was anchored at the outer bar of the Mongla port. The robbers took away huge volumes of paints, machinery, ropes, gas cylinders, etc from the ship in two small boats by breaking the locker room.

Lieutenant Commander Khandaker Munif Taki, media officer of the Coast Guard, said the coast guard personnel could recover the goods from the Kanainagar area of the Passur River alongside the weapons the pirates used during the robbery.

However, the robbers could not be nabbed so far as they left diving into the water and law enforcers are continuing the efforts for the same.  The vessel was carrying 31,000 tonnes of fertiliser for the Bangladesh Chemical Industries Corporation brought from the Al-Ruwais Port of Qatar.

Meantime, the Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) in its latest weekly report expressed grave concern over rising ship robbery in Asian water, especially, after three incidents were reported at Singapore Strait (SS) between 19 and 21 November.

Of the three incidents, two cases occurred on board barges towed by tug boats off Tanjung Piai, Malaysia while underway in the westbound lane of Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS) in the SS and one incident occurred on board a bulk carrier while underway in the eastbound lane of TSS in the SS.

In the three incidents a total of 28 perpetrators, boarding in eight small boats, tried to take away valuables from the ships.  With the three incidents, a total of 48 incidents were reported in the SS since January 2022.

An incident alert was issued on 21 November to advise all ships to intensify vigilance when transiting the area, and urge littoral States to increase patrols and enforcement, ReCAAP noted.

Data shows that this year until 25 November 70 actual incidents and three attempted incidents occurred in Asian waters compared to 77 actual incidents and five attempted incidents in the entire 2021.

Box rates could deteriorate to pre-Covid levels in December

Further slides in the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI) are continuing, and it is expected that in December, freight levels will be at pre-pandemic levels.

On 18 November, SCFI stood at 1,307 points, plunging 74% from an all-time high of 5,110 points on 7 January, and bringing the index near the 1,000 points seen in January 2020, just before the Covid-19 crisis erupted.

Port of Shanghai.

 

Shanghai-North Europe freight rates, having peaked at US$15,600/TEU on 14 January, dived to US$2,350/TEU on 18 November. On the same date, Shanghai-US West Coast rates fell to U$1,550/FEU, from a high of US$8,100/FEU in February. Shanghai-US East Coast routes lost 67%, from a high of US$11,800/FEU in January to US$3,900/FEU on 18 November.

Declines were also registered for shipments from Shanghai to the Persian Gulf, South America and Australia.

The all-time high rates are not reflective of what shippers actually paid, as tight container availability compelled them to pay premiums to be assured of slots.

The chief cause of the weakening rates is a drastic fall in headhaul cargo demand, a trend going back to August.

Global inflation, spawned by rising energy prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February, has discouraged consumer spending. In turn, retail sales have been sluggish, resulting in warehouses in Europe and the United States becoming full.

Container Trades Statistics show a massive drop in the Far East – North America volumes of 25% in September. Volumes shipped from Asia to Europe are also estimated to have plunged 20% in the same month. The usual Q3 peak effect of extra shipments at the end of September before the Golden Week holidays in China in the first week of October did not materialise this year.

China ports handle 245 million TEUs so far with Shanghai, Ningbo and Shenzhen taking lion’s share

Port of Shenzhen.

The container throughput of Chinese ports reached 244.9 million TEUs from January to October 2022, which represents a year-on-year increase of 4%.

Additionally, Chinese ports have seen a slight year-on-year growth of 0.5% in terms of tons, handling 12,933.8 million tons in the first ten months of the year.  The chart below shows the cargo throughput and container throughput data of the twelve major ports in China.

The three ports with the highest container throughput are Shanghai port with 39,080,000 TEUs, Ningbo & Zhoushan port with 28,890,000 TEUs and Shenzhen port with 24,180,000 TEUs.

It is important to mention that smaller box ports have shown the largest percentage increases compared to last year's numbers. Dalian port showed year-on-year growth of 18.3%, Beibu Gulf port noted a 17% increase, while Rizao port's container volumes climbed by 12.7%.

On the other hand, Yinkou port was the only container port in the list that saw its box volumes decline by 12.5%, compared to the same period in 2021.

Port of New York and New Jersey overtakes San Pedro Bay giants for third consecutive month

Port of New York and New Jersey is the busiest container port in the United States for the third month in a row, handling 18.9% more boxes in October 2022 over pre-pandemic October 2019.

In particular, the Port of New York and New Jersey moved 792,548 TEUs in the previous month, surpassing the two container giants on the West Coast of the United States, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA) and Port of Long Beach (POLB).

In contrast with the port of New York and New Jersey, the two Californian ports experienced significant container volume declines in October. POLA handled 678,429 TEUs, translating to a 25% decrease from the same month in 2021, while POLB reported 658,428 TEUs, which is a 16.6% fall from October in the last year.

However, it is worth mentioning that October cargo volume at the port of New York and New Jersey decreased by 5.9% compared to September 2022, when the seaport handled 842,219 TEUs.

:://              AIR CARGO NEWS             //::

Air India-Vistara deal: Inside Tata's aviation reboot

The merger of Tata Group’s joint venture with Singapore Airlines Ltd. into Air India Ltd. should help consolidate the aviation sector in the South Asian nation and provide fresh growth opportunities for the flag carrier after years of mismanagement and losses.

“India needs a high-quality, dependable long haul and ultra-long haul airline to meet the country’s air connectivity requirements,” CAPA Centre for Aviation said in a statement following the announcement that Vistara will merge with Air India. Singapore Airlines will invest $250 million for a 25% stake in the national carrier, which will become India’s second-biggest airline.

“The combination of Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines will provide Air India with the requisite strategic expertise, industry capabilities, access to capital and determination to create an airline that India will be proud of,” Sydney-based CAPA said.

For Tata, the merger marks the start of yet another chapter in its long and tumultuous history in aviation. The conglomerate set up Air India in 1932, originally flying mail between Karachi and Bombay, now known as Mumbai. It was taken over by the government in the 1950s and only bought back by Tata last year in a win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push for privatization.

Tata embarked on two other ventures in the middle of the last decade with Vistara and AirAsia India, but both failed to make money even prior to the Covid pandemic. The conglomerate also owned Air India Express, established in 2005, leaving it with four different airlines in a highly competitive and fragmented market.

Bloomberg News reported on Tata’s plan to integrate the four carriers earlier in November.  All brands combined gave Air India a domestic market share of about 26% in October, far behind market leader IndiGo’s nearly 57%. The Vistara merger should give the formerly state-run airline more firepower to aggressively expand, and a huge order for aircraft is already in the works. Air India Chief Executive Officer Campbell Wilson said last month the airline will triple its fleet of 113 aircraft over five years.

Tata and Singapore Airlines have both agreed to inject fresh capital if needed to help lift Air India back to the highs of decades gone by, when the airline had a glitzier sheen as it sought to reflect India’s rising might. It was famed for its advertisements featuring Bollywood stars (as well as ashtrays designed by surrealist painter Salvador Dali.)

“We have an opportunity to deepen our relationship with Tata and participate directly in an exciting new growth phase in India’s aviation market,” Singapore Airlines CEO Goh Choon Phong said Tuesday. “We will work together to support Air India’s transformation program, unlock its significant potential, and restore it to its position as a leading airline on leading airline on the global stage.”

Singapore Airlines will own a quarter of an entity that will have 218 aircraft once the brands are combined, and have access to lucrative landing and parking slots around the world. The merger also gives it a strong foothold in the busy westbound market from India, which is dominated by the the likes of Dubai’s Emirates, sometimes dubbed the unofficial national carrier of India.

Singapore Airlines said the new entity will be four to five times larger than Vistara and help strengthen its multi-hub strategy. Vistara, a full-service carrier, operates flights to 12 international destinations, including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The investment could help Singapore Airlines protect itself against the fallout from another pandemic. Covid hit the carrier especially hard because it had no domestic market to serve while international borders were largely closed. Phong told Bloomberg News in June the company was committed to working with international partners and establishing overseas hubs.

Singapore Airlines can easily fund the Air India investment, which “should be a better alternative than more outlays in sub-scale Vistara,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts including Tim Bacchus wrote in a note. The carrier can also maintain a strong balance sheet, with leverage rising to just 0.8 times, analysts including Sharon Chen said in a separate note.

 

In the meantime, Air India said earlier this month it would acquire AirAsia’s local venture and merge it with Air India Express into a single low-cost carrier. That consolidation will likely happen by the end of 2023.

Tata and Singapore Airlines have a long history, including an ambitious project in 1994 to start an airline with 100 planes, but the government refused to allow a foreign entrant and the idea was abandoned. The two teamed up again in 2000 to bid for a stake in Air India when the government sought to sell shares in the carrier. That plan was later dropped because of political opposition.

Tata won its bid for Air India in October 2021, ending decades of attempts to privatize a debt-laden airline that was kept alive on years of taxpayer-bailouts. Air India has been unprofitable since its 2007 merger with state-owned domestic operator Indian Airlines Ltd. In the years since, Jet Airways India Ltd., which bought budget carrier Air Sahara, and Vijay Mallya’s Kingfisher Airlines Ltd., which took over Air Deccan, have both gone bankrupt.

 MSC drops interest in ITA Airways stake acquisition

The largest container shipping company in the world MSC has told Italian authorities that it is no longer interested in investing in ITA Airways as part of a planned privitisation.

MSC and German airline Lufthansa had expressed interest at the beginning of the year to acquire a majority stake in ITA Airways, the successor to Alitalia. However, the discussions did not come to an agreement.

"MSC did not now see the right conditions for a deal in the current process," said the company in a statement.

Lufthansa seems to be still interested in buying into ITA despite MSC's decision to pull out, according to a company's spokesperson, reports Reuters. 

Airbus develops fuel-cell engine for hydrogen plane

Airbus has started developing a fuel-cell engine, it said on Wednesday, sticking with plans to introduce a hydrogen-powered commercial aircraft by 2035.

The system is one of several options being considered for a potential zero-emission aircaft based on hydrogen, Airbus said. It is the first time the world's largest planemaker has branched out directly into developing engine technology, but zero-emission project head Glenn Llewellyn said it would not necessarily go it alone if the system ended up being deployed.

Jet engine makers Rolls-Royce, General Electric , Safran and Pratt & Whitney are among its biggest suppliers.

Fuel cells use hydrogen to generate electricity for electric powerplants. An alternative approach based on combusting liquid hydrogen in more conventional jet engines depends on heavy cooling in larger and heavier tanks.

Rival Boeing has voiced scepticism about the commercial feasibility of hydrogen in aviation, but Airbus said it was pushing ahead with ahead with the goal, which it says is part of a mix of measures and which has drawn political support in Europe.  "All of us are dead-set on making zero-emission aircraft a reality," Llewellyn said.

Airbus also renewed calls for a sharp increase in the availability of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) which many experts say represents the most promising path to curbing emissions in the near term.

Airbus is aiming for a 100-seater "zero-E" plane, sitting below its current portfolio starting at 110 seats, and has said it is looking at various shapes and designs for propulsion. 

But it ruled out pressing ahead with a distinctive blended-wing-body shape which has featured in earlier presentations alongside a conventional "tube and wing" shape or a turboprop.  Airbus will start ground and flight testing fuel-cell architecture towards the middle of the decade, the company said during a two-day sustainability event.

Silver Seafood and Lufthansa Cargo settle claim

Good news for Silver Seafood’s team: Their claim was recognized by Lufthansa Cargo – company courtesy.

In our last issue, we reported on a consignment of live King Crabs that had been falsely declared and, after an odyssey of several days from Norway to Italy on board of Lufthansa Cargo, finally had to be destroyed because it was spoiled. We asked our readers to stay tuned. Now both parties have come to an agreement.

 

A brief reminder: The case was brought to our attention by the shipper, Silver Seafood AS, and was corroborated by transport documents. After thoroughly reviewing them, we decided to make the issue public. This is because despite the incorrect product assignment on the accompanying documents of the shipment caused erroneously by the Oslo station of Lufthansa Cargo, the airline rejected the shipper's claim twice, each time with different explanations. 

 

We requested a statement from Lufthansa Cargo and at the same time pointed out that we would report on the matter on the basis of the transport documents presented to us and the explanations delivered by Silver Seafood.  After being informed, the airline approached the exporter and promised a further review of the process and a short-term reaction. So, it happened and prompted the airline to acknowledge the stance of its Norwegian customer.  

We document Lufthansa Cargo’s reaction here:
“…We come back to your claim regarding the […] shipment to Bologna. Thank you for your email sent to us last Friday and for taking the time to provide us with your further explanation of what happened. Based on the new findings, we are available to settle the claim within the scope of our air carrier’s liability.

This transport to Bologna is governed by the Montreal Convention. According to this Convention and as mentioned in our condition of carriage, the air carrier’s liability is limited to a maximum of 22 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per kilogram of the concerned cargo. Therefore, our settlement amount is calculated as follows: 22 SDR x 313 kg (weight as per MAWB) = 6.886,00 SDR = 8.817,80 EUR […]

Subject to the receipt of the above and the observance of the confidential nature of this settlement, we will transfer the amount of 8.817,80 EUR converted to 91.086,55 NOK to the given account. The foregoing is without prejudice for future similar cases. The payment will be effected in local currency NOK.

Dear […], we sincerely regret the inconveniences and additional workload, which was caused by this most unfortunate incident. Appreciating your business, we are looking forward to regain[ing] your confidence and – given the chance – to convince you of our high quality service in future. Sincerely yours,”

Lufthansa Cargo AG / Customer Feedback Management

Nothing much to add to this settlement from our side. Seemingly, the chapter is closed.

I reckon you have found this information useful. Have a nice day!

 

Courtesy : CAN, CFG & ISN.

Hope you enjoyed reading the news. Have a nice day.

Thank you and kind regards

 

Robert Sands, Joint Managing Director

 

Jupiter Sea & Air Services Pvt Ltd

Tel : + 91 44 2819 0171 / 3734 / 4041

Fax : + 91 44 2819 0735

Mobile : + 91 98407 85202

E-mail : robert.sands@jupiterseaair.co.in

Website : www.jupiterseaair.com

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