Liverpool Orders Larger Cranes in Bid to Draw Round-the-World Services

Peel Ports, owner of the port of Liverpool, signed a £100 million ($168 million) contract with China’s Zhenhua Heavy Industries to supply cranes for a new deep-water quay that will triple the size of container ships the northwestern UK port can handle.

Liverpool aims to tap a new shipping market it expects to develop when the enlarged Panama Canal, able to handle vessels up to 14,500 TEUs, opens in 2016.

Shanghai-based Zhenhua will supply five ship-to-shore megamax quay cranes and 12 cantilever rail-mounted gantry cranes for the first phase of the $500 million Liverpool2 project, which will expand capacity by creating a new river berth than can simultaneously handle two 13,500-TEU ships.

The new post-Panamax facility will boost the port’s annual capacity by 600,000 20-foot-equivalent units to 1.4 million TEUs.

The new terminal will be outside the locks that restrict the existing Royal Seaforth Container Terminal to handling vessels of no more than 4,000 TEUs capacity. The cranes are due to arrive from China in 2015.

With the expansion of the Panama Canal, container ships will be able to sail from Asia to the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts and then across North Atlantic, paving the way for the revival of round-the-world container services.

“The fact that we’ll be able to handle 90 percent of the global fleet will be a game-changer for shipping lines,” said Peel Port Group chief executive Mark Whitworth.

Although 60 percent of the UK’s container traffic is destined for the north of the country, around 80 percent currently moves via southern ports, led by Felixstowe and Southampton.

Liverpool has steadily lost traffic to its deep-water southern rivals over the years. The process accelerated with the growth of east-west services, particularly on the Asian trades, deploying ever larger vessels. It now accounts for around 8 percent of UK container traffic.

“The cranes will help future proof the UK’s most centrally positioned deep water port for growth,” Whitworth said.

Zhenhua will supply a further three ship-to-shore cranes and 10 gantry cranes if the port proceeds with the second phase of the Liverpool2 project, which would increase capacity by an additional 900,000 TEUs.

Liverpool will retain its role as the UK’s leading trans-Atlantic port following the decision by Newark-based Atlantic Container Line to continuing calling at the port when its deploys five of the world’s largest container/roll-on, roll-off vessels in 2015.

The ships will have a container capacity of 3,800 TEUs, more than double that of the five 30-year-old vessels they are replacing, 45 percent more ro-ro space and 31 percent more space for cars, trucks and rolling machinery.

ACL also likely will launch a new U.S.-North Europe service, calling at Liverpool, to fill the new vessels.

“At Allseas we welcome developments within the industry that give opportunity to both ourselves and our customers. With the new quay cranes and the ability to handle larger vessel calls, additional services will be attracted to Liverpool …. but only time will tell what they may be and the impact they have on the ports of Felixstowe and Southampton!” - Mark Binge - Group Commercial Manager.

 Working as a woman in the Middle East

Working in the Middle East, namely Dubai is an eye opener for any person who has spent their entire working life in the United Kingdom, but for a woman in Logistics it is that little bit harder or should I say challenging.. a positive attitude always helps where ever you are in life.

Dubai is home to 202 different nationalities in their workforce so to get yourself heard and noticed you must firstly understand who you are dealing with, what nationality, how they approach business and any religious beliefs and traditions that you must follow so as not to offend. Woman of course are also not always accepted by some nationalities however with others are welcomed as a breath of fresh air.

My first challenge upon arriving in Dubai was to understand the Arab culture, our English ways make us wary of offending and in this belief makes us nervous to step forward too quickly. However upon closer relations, I soon discovered that the Arab people, male and female are extremely warm and welcoming and are as interested in our beliefs as we are in theirs. This grounding helped me to understand that my lack of knowledge was a tool I could use to show interest in another’s culture and by listening and learning I was opening up my own warmth and personality to another person, another company and at the same time earning their trust. This I channelled into a marketing / advertising tool to be able to assist clients and build the business for Allseas Global Logistics here in Dubai.

Running a business in Dubai therefore means we encounter various nationalities also running their own business, of course this is nothing new to an International logistics company, however I have found that a common problem for companies here is communication and speed of response. Countries outside of the Middle East, believe all companies within the GCC to be notoriously slow in communication, some fail to remember that our weekend is different to the majority of the world, our weekend falls Friday/Saturday and of course the time difference is there also, however questions on email can also be mis-understood due to misinterpretation or just not reading things correctly due to language barriers and therefore many mails can go to and forth without the question being answered appropriately and therefore resulting in extreme frustration in both sides.

Since my arrival I have analysed the above greatly and believe we have solved this issue a few ways, firstly by actually reading or listening to the question correctly, this may appear simple but you would be amazed as to how frequently this is not done here, secondly we have employed 3-4 different nationalities so far as every nationality likes to speak to their own country from time to time, even as a British citizen I need to be able to converse with British every so often to get that feeling of home, thirdly we employ male and female’s so we can assess our clients needs should a male/female be more suited to the client, and lastly we structure our business in a way so we can pre-empt questions, be proactive and learn from problems that happen so we can guide clients to the right solution rather than letting them make the same mistake time and time again.

I like to feel little by little we are changing the difficult way logistics is being done in the Middle East to make it easier for all. Customer service is and always has been first and foremost for our company.

Dubai is certainly a city where customer service comes first in hotels, shops and restaurants however within the logistics industry it appears to have been lost somewhat, myself and my team are changing this, our clients stay with us due to this reason and we will only grow stronger in this market with a good sustainable growth.

Paula Bellamy - Regional Manager at Allseas Dubai

Felixstowe Expansion Commences

Work has started at the port of Felixstowe on the latest expansion of the UK's largest container port.

VSBW joint venture, a consortium of VolkerStevin and Boskalis Westminster, has been appointed as the lead contractor to extend the port's berth 9 by 190 metres. The work will increase the combined lengths of berth 8 and 9  to 920 metres, giving the port even greater flexibility to berth the worlds largest container ships.

The Bpskalis Westminster dreger, Causeway, began dredging the area on 13 April 2014. The initial dredging is in preperation for construction to beging in the summer. The project will involve dredging 1 million cubic metres of material to provide the berth and approaches,and enable a new steel-piled quay wall will be built.

Commenting on the project, Clemence Cheng, Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited Chief Executive Officer, said "The scale of operations at the Port of Felixstowe already gives us the ability to berth more large container ships simultaneously than other ports in the UK. The new extension will increase the berthing permutations we can offer and continue to ensure that we turn our customers' vessels in the quickest possible time."

Ian Cussons, VSBW Project Manager said: "We are ready to mobilise all necessary resources in the very near future. The tubular pile design is very similar to the existing Berths 8 and 9 will be built to allow the water alongside to be dredged to 18 metres depth." Piling of the quay wall for the new extension will start later in the summer with construction due to complete in mid-2015. The new extension will be equipped with three new ship-to-shore gantry cranes, each with a 25-container wide outreach.

Mark Binge comments "This is fantastic news, not just for the Port of Felixstowe, but the UK shipping industry in general. As more and more of the new generation of ULCS enter the market it is imperative that berths are available to cater for their needs and that direct calls are not lost to our European neighbors."

Protect your data - Phishing warning

At Allseas Global we want to provide you with the most simple, reliable and safe solutions to run your business and deliver on your promises. Criminal activities are of great concern to us and while we take our precautions we unfortunately have become aware of phishing attempts made from emails appearing to originate from ‘@allseasglobal.com.’

Internet criminal offenses often come in the form of phishing which is theft of personal information usually for a financial gain and installation of malicious software such as virus and can cause great damage to the victim.

We urge all our customers to carefully consider the information you share on the internet and through email correspondence. Allseas Global will never ask for personal information including bank account, credit card number or other financial data through email. We will also never send program installation files such as .exe.

Hints to avoid phishing:

By checking the sender field carefully, you can often see an alternative email. Be cautious if it does not show ‘@allseasglobal.com’
By moving you mouse over potential links you can see the site to which it links. Do not open any links that do not contain ‘allseasglobal.com’ before confirming with your local representative
Do not open executable attachments such as .exe files from untrusted sourcesIf in any doubt please contact your local representative immediately.

More information about phishing can be found here
http://www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/phishing-symptoms.aspx

"The phishing scams have become more sophisticated over time leading to experienced IT users being caught out by such phishing scams. Only recently our commercial manager was a victim of a sophisticated phishing scam." - Wayne Booth

Dante's wildfire inferno in Chile's historic port city

Wildfires have turned the Jewel of the Pacific into a vision of hell. The Chilean port of Valparaíso, famed for its UNESCO-listed historic quarter, has been engulfed in fire, blotting out the sun and causing at least 12 deaths.
The mayor, Jorge Castro, compared the disaster to a scene from Dante'sInferno. "Valparaíso is without electricity at the moment, and this means the flame column is creating a Dante-esque panorama and is advancing in an apparently uncontrollable manner," Castro said in a TV interview on 12 April, the day the blaze began.
The fire is thought to have started in the forested hills that ring the port city, 110 kilometres west of the capital Santiago. Strong winds off the Pacific spread the flames rapidly, displacing tens of thousands of people and destroying at least 2000 homes, although the historic quarter's late 19th-century wooden buildings were spared.

After a state of emergency was declared, thousands of troops backed around 1200 firefighters to bring the worst of the fires under control. The blaze is the second catastrophe to strike Chile this month, following a magnitude-8.2 earthquake that hit the north on 1 April, killing six people.
Wildfires are expected to become more frequent as a result of global warming. Last year they claimed the lives of 19 firefighters in Arizona, and Australia's bushfire season was the worst in years due to record-busting temperatures.

Constraints of exporting to Africa

Shipping to Africa, especially the West Africa region causes issues to both the shipper, importer and Freight Forwarder. Additional documents are used to monitor volumes of cargo, track cargo, aid in customs clearance and duty and gather statistical information.

Documentation requirements range from Pre-shipment Inspections (PSI), Electronic Cargo Tracking Notes (ECTN), Conseil National des Chargeurs Angolais (CNCA), Bordereau de Suivi De Cargaison (BSC), Form M. In addition to this there could be Letters of Credits involved in relation to payment, Certificates of Origin and national prohibitions to be aware of. Many of the documents have to be arranged at origin; some even by the importer BEFORE the cargo has been booked to sail in the form of pre-shipment inspections and the Form M for Nigeria. If the cargo fails, the sale falls through.

These factors can cause a shipper to avoid trade with some African countries due to the lack knowledge required. African buyers in two different countries and a shipper could have double problems. If customs requirements are not adhered to then fines are guaranteed to be imposed - some in the region of USD 5000. Clearance can be severely delayed and demurrage charges will accumulate. The additional documents and requirements are not the responsibility of shipping lines and the majority will not be able to provide them. The responsibility can be assigned to a nominated agent in the UK in the case of the CNCA for Angola shipments but for others such as BSC for Ivory Coast and ECTN for Republic of Congo it is expected that the seller/shipper arrange these themselves through the specific web facilities approved by the respective shipping councils at destination.

Freight Forwarders are used by sellers to take the hassle out of shipping yet these documents are largely uncatered for. A seller would not normally have the knowledge and experience to ship to Africa, especially if it’s a new market for them so it would seem bizarre for Freight Forwarders not to accommodate for the whole product that the seller expects. Researching the requirements for Africa Documentation has not been an easy task. Only a handful of forwarders are offering the documents and there isn’t one complete service.

The BSC Waiver for Ivory Coast became mandatory at origin as of March 2013 and became impossible to obtain through a third party. This change plus a consistent flow of West Africa bookings fuelled the need, as a Forwarder, to provide as many in house documents as possible and information/advice for other documentation/requirements for this region of the world.

Lauren Tyler

UK’s Newest Container Berth Officially Opened at Southampton

It was the final stage of a £100 million investment by ABP in the container terminal in Southampton. This is part of more than £650 million of capital investment planned by ABP across the group’s 21 ports.
It is estimated that this pipeline of investment will generate in order of £1.75 billion in GVA to the UK Economy.

The ceremony with the four-times Olympic gold medallist and the CMA CGM Marco Polo marked the official opening of Southampton’s new 500m long berth. It also brought to an end one of the biggest engineering projects in the south; creating a facility designed to handle the largest and deepest container vessels afloat.

 The port hosted a day of celebrations, which saw more than 300 guests drawn from the global

shipping industry, local community and port staff entertained by BBC South Today’s Sally Taylor holding a live question and answer session with the America’s Cup winning sailor.

Themed on the gold standard, the event highlighted Southampton’s status as the UK’s no.1 performing container terminal, turning vessels around faster than any other UK port.

Mark Binge, Allseas Global Commercial Manager added: “Watch out Felixstowe and London Gateway! The opening of the new quay in Southampton shows just how determined the port is not to be overlooked in the battle to accommodate the world’s largest ships wanting to call in the UK. At Allseas we welcome this news and the opportunities it brings for us and our customers.”