Trade Update Review - March 7, 2022

Asia

Pacific International Lines (PIL) to levy penalty on incorrect cargo weight declarations

• Singapore-headquartered PIL will levy a penalty of $30,000 per container in the event of shippers declaring incorrect cargo weight. Additionally, both the shipper and the consignee will be held accountable for all the other remedial measures such as expenses, damages, delays, losses, liabilities, claims, fines and others.

MOL & TOYO Construction ink agreement for commercialising vessels for offshore wind power projects

• Mitsui O. S. K. Lines (MOL) and Toyo Construction inked an agreement to explore synergies in offshore wind power plants construction. Both the entities will aim to market vessels for offshore construction connected to offshore wind power projects in Japan and other geographies.

PIL introduces new service connecting China and Australia

• PIL’s new weekly service Sino Australia Express (SAE) will connect China and Australia staring from Qingdao on March 10th.

MOL and partners set world records in autonomous navigation

• MOL, two of its group companies and other partners set a world record by achieving the world’s longest distance autonomous sailing by covering a distance of 750 km in 18 hours.

Americas

Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach withhold dwell fee for another week

• The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have decided to withhold container dwell fee by another week till March 4th.

S&P Global Platts said congestion worsened at East Coast North America container ports

• S&P Global Platts highlighted that congestion at East Coast North America container ports has worsened due to many vessels being diverted to those ports to bypass West Coast jam, leading to further delays and inflated costs of consumer goods.

Europe

Baltic Dry Index rises by 78 points to1964

• London-headquartered Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index increased, enabled by arise in capesize and panama vessel rates. The index, which factors in the rates of capesize, panamax and supramax vessels rose by 78 points or 4.1 percent to reach 1964.

Hapag – Lloyd to launch China Germany express service

• German Hapag – Lloyd will soon launch China Germany Express (CGX) service, which will connect south China and northern Europe, offering a faster linkage from Dachan Bay to Hamburg with weekly departures of 27-day transit time.

MSC to stop slot agreement with SMLine

• Following the end of slot swapping agreement between SM Line and 2M alliance partners on Asia to United States of America (USA) West Coast trade from May 8th, 2022, shipping giant MSC will end slot agreement with SM Line marketed as Rose Service by the shipping line.

CMA Terminals to operate Port of Beirut container terminal

• Starting March, 2022 CMA Terminals, a fully owned subsidiary of French shipping giant CMA CGM will manage, operate and maintain the Port of Beirut’s container terminal for a decade.

Maersk’s new intermodal freight services to connect Far East to Europe

• Danish shipping heavyweight Maersk has launched new intermodal freight service AE66, which will connect the Far East to Europe, linking Korea,Japan and China to the Kaliningrad region in Russia and also the Baltic countries and Poland via Trans-Siberian.

CMA CGM to levy overweight surcharge (OWS) from Baltic ports to Indian Subcontinent

• French shipping powerhouse CMA CGM  will start levying OWS from Baltic ports to the Indian Subcontinent.  
• Starting March 15th, the surcharge will be applicable at the rate of $200 per 20’ dry with a container gross weight over 15 tons.  

WTO observed that merchandise trade is likely to turn up soon

• TheWorld Trade Organisation (WTO) observed in its latest trade barometer note that merchandise trade is likely to turn up soon, even as the barometer’s current reading stood at 98.7, lower than the baseline value of 100 and below November’s reading of 99.5

Sea Intelligence observes container supply chain’s transition back to normalcy will leave a massive pile of empty boxes on import side

• Sea Intelligence, a leading provider of research and analysis and data and advisory services to the global supply chain industry noted that the eventual container supply chains transition back to normalcy will leave a massive pile of empty boxes on the import side which cannot be handled readily under normal flows.

CMACGM Group begins global trial of biofuel adoption

• CMACGM Group with the support of Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) began biofuel bunkering in the city-state, aimed at scaling up and wider adoption of clean energy through its global trial.
• Involving32 container ships serving major trade lanes in the trial, the French shipping giant is in the pursuit of becoming a net zero carbon company by 2050.

Maersk unveils digital customs academy

• Danish shipping giant Maersk has unveiled a digital customs academy to help customers navigate the complex maze of customs and border agencies under compliance requirements. The academy is a global e – learning platform for customs, logistics and international trade compliance.

Middle East

MAWANI & Bahri sign pact to build and operate logistics park at Jeddah Islamic Port

• The Saudi Ports Authority (MAWANI) and shipping major Bahri have entered into a long term deal to build and operate an integrated logistics park on leased land at the Jeddah Islamic Port in an area stretching up to 95,436 square meters.

AD Ports and partners to establish multi-category wholesale food trading logistics hub in KIZAD

• AD Ports Group, a leading facilitator of logistics, trade and industry has joined hands with UAE-based Ghassan Aboud Group to set up one of the largest multi-category wholesale food trading logistics hub in the region in KIZAD, including a collaboration with Rungis.

India

Soyameal export fall by 64 percent

• Soyameal exports fell by 64 percent during October –January period because of price disparities and lower crushing at 3.62 lakh tonnes while it was 10.03 LT in the same period of last fiscal.  

Multi-dimensional approach needed forIndia to reach $1 trillion merchandise exports

• A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)report said India needs a multi-dimensional approach to achieve $1 trillion merchandise exports by 2030.

Post FTA, 80 percent Indian exports to UAE to be duty free

• Following the free trade agreement, 80 percent of India’s exports to the UnitedArab Emirates (UAE) are expected to be duty free.

Indian vessels still being subjected to quarantine procedures at Indonesian ports

• Indian vessels arriving at Indonesian ports continue to be subjected to quarantine procedures.

Paradip Port handles 100 million tonnes (MT) for fourth year at a stretch

• One of India’s 12 major ports, Paradip Port, achieved the distinction of handling 100 MT of cargo for the fourth year at a stretch recently.

India & UAE trade pact to open new markets

• Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal noted that theComprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and UAE will open new markets for the former’s goods and services.

Anti-dumping duty on aluminium foil extended

• India’s Finance Ministry extended the anti-dumping duty on Chinese aluminium foil till June 15th.   

Sugar exports skyrocket by 242 percent

• India’s sugar exports in the first four months of the sugar season of 2021 – 2022 skyrocketed by 242 percent on excellent demand to 31.5 lakh tonnes.

India expected to face stiff competition from Thailand in rice exports

• Following rice production rebounding inThailand, India is expected to face stiff competition from theSoutheast Asian country in the export of this commodity at a time when price difference in parboiled rice sector slumped to $20 a tonne.

Pharmaceutical exports to USA decline by 8.6 percent from April to December

• India’s pharmaceutical exports to USA declined by 8.66 percent in the first nine months of 2021 – 22.

APM Terminals Pipavav surpasses own record on berth productivity

• APM Terminals Pipavav surpassed its own berth productivity record of 140moves by clocking 143.26 moves per hour on Maersk Sentosa of MECL service.

‘India witnessing unprecedented economic development’

• Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said India is witnessing unprecedented levels of economic development at the rate of 9.2 percent and is expected to grow at similar levels in the near future.

Karur Vysya Bank & UNANUTechnologies join hands for digital freight finance

• Karur Vysya Bank and Chennai firm UNANU Technologies teamed up to offer digital freight finance to fund transport contractors, deploying an end-to-end technology platform.

Deendayal Port Authority (DPA) handles large vessel

• DPT Kandla handled MV Maha Jacqueline, a panamax vessel of Indian flag with a draft of 14 meters. Timely dredging of the navigation channel in January enabled the passage of the ship, which was shipping a load of 74,000 MT of salt to Singapore.  

Agri products exports touch seven-month high in December

• Value of exports through Agricultural andProcessed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) rose by 37 percent to touch a seven-month high of $2.44billion.

India likely to clock record seafood exports in 2021 – 22

• Powered by increased consumption of shrimps byUSA and China, India is likely to clock record seafood exports in 2021 – 22. In the first 10 months of this fiscal, the country exported seafood worth $6.7billion.

Joint venture led by Vishwa Samudra Holdings wins EPC deal for Bhavanampadu port in AP

• Hyderabad-based Vishwa Samudra Holdings Pvt. Ltd. led joint venture won the Rs 2,950 crore engineering procurement and construction (EPC)deal for Bhavanampadu port in Andhra Pradesh.

Shipping Minister inaugurates centre of excellence in maritime and shipbuilding

• Union ShippingMinister Sarbananda Sonowal recently inaugurated the centre of excellence in maritime and shipbuilding (CEMS) in Visakhapatnam