FIATA E-Flash No. 216 – 27 January 2020
FIATA AND MEMBERS
BIFA’s annual award winners revealed
UK freight forwarder association BIFA held its annual awards on January 16th, hosted by the Paralympian and broadcaster Ade Adepitan and attended by more than 550 people. Host Adepitan announced eight winners from the 33 freight forwarding companies that were shortlisted as finalists, as well as three individual award winners.
The winners of the eight General, Modal and Specialist categories in the Awards, which has established a benchmark of quality for the British freight forwarding industry for more than a quarter of the century, are: Brunel Air Cargo Services, Core Management Logistics Ltd, Davies Turner, Morgan Cargo, Noatum Logistics, Spatial Global, Westbound Logistics and Zencargo.
For more details, please visit: https://www.aircargonews.net/freight-forwarder/bifas-annual-award-winners-revealed/
75% of freight forwarders untrained – CRFFN boss
Chairman of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, CRFFN, Col. Abubakar Tsani, (retd) has said that about 75 percent of freight forwarders currently practicing in Nigeria are untrained.
Speaking to Vanguard Maritime Report on the sideline of the just concluded corporate dinner and merit awards, Tsani said that training of freight forwarders is key to the development of the profession.
For more details, please visit: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2020/01/75-of-freight-forwarders-untrained-crffn-boss/
EIFFA BOD work hard for FIATA RAME preparation in Cairo
Egyptian International Freight Forwarders Association (EIFFA) followed by the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce announced the hosting of the 2020 RAME Field meeting to be held in June.
For his part, Eng. Medhat El Kady, Chairman of the Board Directors, said that the conference is for the International Organization of FIATA and its region Africa Middle East. Mr. Khaled Sabry Vice Chairman confirmed that EIFFA has invited a large number of ministers in the Egyptian government, in addition to a large number of businessmen, experts and specialists in the fields of international transport and logistics to attend the opening of the conference’s activities.
CRFFN to start collecting additional cargo clearing levy Feb 3
The Chairman, Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Abubakar Tsani, has disclosed that the Council will start the collection of the controversial Practitioners Operating Fee (POF) across the nation’s seaport, airports and border stations by February 3, 2020.
Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, who reportedly gave the approval in a letter dated January 6, 2020, and signed by the Director, Home Finance, Okokon Udo, had stated that freight forwarders must henceforth show receipt of payment of POF before they can exit their cargoes at the ports.
For more details, please visit: https://shipsandports.com.ng/crffn-to-start-collecting-additional-cargo-clearing-levy-feb-3/
ICAO FIATA DG Training Programme – Promotional Offer for DG Training Centers
FIATA wishes to extend an invitation to training organizations which offer Dangerous Goods by Air Training, to consider the benefits of becoming a Recognized ICAO FIATA DG Training Centre. Those interested Training Centers which come forward and submit an application prior to February 28th, 2020 will not be required to pay our Application Fee. A savings of 450 US Dollars.
We would be pleased to provide you with more information on the benefits of becoming an ICAO FIATA DG Training Center, simply send us an email at eid@fiata.com<mailto:eid@fiata.com>, with your contact details and a member of our training department will be in touch with you shortly.
For more details, please visit: https://us8.campaign-archive.com/?u=e6dd469f1a328320ed2810636&id=06869bef7e
WORLD ECONOMY
4PL Growth in Asia Pacific – An Overview
The Asia Pacific fourth party logistics market accounted for US$ 18.75 Bn in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.3% over the forecast period 2019-2027, to account for US$ 32.28 Bn in 2027.
The increasing complexities in supply chains demanding for outsourced logistics services is the key driver that is propelling the growth of the fourth party logistics market. Moreover, the factors such as the incorporation of effective logistics services by retail and consumer electronics end-users, and manufacturers seeking for inbound procurement and supplier collaborations management are expected to boost the fourth party logistics market growth in the forecast period.
For more details, please visit: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/01/23/1974005/0/en/The-Asia-Pacific-fourth-party-logistics-market-accounted-for-US-18-75-Bn-in-2018-and-is-expected-to-grow-at-a-CAGR-of-6-3-over-the-forecast-period-2019-2027-to-account-for-US-32-28.html
Ways the freight forwarding sector can adopt policy
Last year, Kenya began localising a regional bill to codify regulations and standards for the freight forwarding industry. The East African Customs Agents and Freight Forwarders Management Model Bill 2017 is set to be adopted by all 6 East African Community states to enhance professionalism in the sector.
The Kenyan version, tabled last October is on course to take effect at the beginning of 2020. The bill will create a self-regulating board for clearing agents and will require all of them to get new practicing licenses. This license will be renewable every year. Aside from requiring that freight forwarders have no complaints against them, the bill will also make clearing agents liable for lost cargo.
Before the policy can be adopted by freight forwarders, FIATA has longed advocated for its members to be provided a seat at the table with regulators in crafting such policy. This would ensure that the private sector can fully comply with the adopted policies from government. This is especially relevant in free trade agreements where FIATA is advocating, especially in Africa<https://fiata.com/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Position_Papers/The_Keys_to_Unlocking_Africa.pdf>, on behalf of its membership to ensure that private sector views are taken into consideration.
For more details, please visit: https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/analysis/ideas/Ways-the-freight-forwarding-sector-can-adopt-policy/4259414-5426800-2mtej8z/index.html
Don’t Let Government Logistics Funding Go Unclaimed
UK – There is definitely a more relaxed mood in the country since the landslide election of a Conservative government, a victory largely based on the premise that at least the spectre of Brexit was about to disappear regardless of individual opinions.
This laissez faire attitude is however seemingly creating a casual air towards many of the essential steps which businesses need to take, at least according to those in the know at the British International Freight Association (BIFA<https://www.bifa.org/home>), which is advising its members of the looming deadline by which they can apply for funding from a £16 million grant scheme.
For more details, please visit: https://www.handyshippingguide.com/shipping-news/dont-let-government-logistics-funding-go-unclaimed-warns-freight-forwarding-outfit_12587
Adjusting goods and/or packaging prior to onshore BMSB treatment
In response to industry feedback, we are developing Approved Arrangement (AA) conditions to standardise and streamline the process for treatment providers to obtain approval from the department prior to the remedial action (e.g. adjusting shipping packaging) being undertaken.
These updates will effectively remove the requirement to contact the department and obtain prior approval to undertaking remedial action on a per-consignment basis. Refer to Industry Advice Notice (IAN) 05-2020<https://www.agriculture.gov.au/import/industry-advice/2020/05-2020> for further information.
For more details, please visit: https://mailchi.mp/agriculture/department-of-agriculture-bmsb-general-updates-newsletter01?e=f736a26d2f
SEA FREIGHT
iContainers calls for urgent action misdeclared cargoes causing containership fires
Online freight forwarder iContainers says misdeclared cargoes causing boxship fires needs to be addressed this year. The last two years have seen a growing number of serious containership fires, which have often been blamed on misdeclared dangerous cargoes by shippers. The fires have led to loss of life hundreds of millions dollars worth of damage to vessels and cargoes.
Klaus Lysdal, vice president of operations at iContainers said that it was imperative the problem was addressed urgently in particular given ever large vessel sizes, with the largest containerships now approaching nominal capacities of 24,000 teu.
For more details, please visit: https://www.seatrade-maritime.com/casualty/icontainers-calls-urgent-action-misdeclared-cargoes-causing-containership-fires
Baltic index falls on weaker demand for vessels
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell to a near one-year low on Thursday, dragged by weaker demand across vessel segments. The Baltic index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, fell 47 points, or 7.5%, to 576 — lowest since early February.
“The market for capesize vessels has turned from bad to worse as prices for low-sulphur fuel oil remain high whilst freight rates deteriorate further,” ship broker Fearnleys said in a note on Wednesday.
For more details, please visit: https://www.reuters.com/article/baltic-index/baltic-index-falls-on-weaker-demand-for-vessels-idUSL4N29S3BJ
Shippers Get Boxes Rolled On Strong Spot Ocean Freight Rates
An increasing number of canceled sailings between Asia and the U.S. is tipping rates in the carriers’ favor. The upshot is that ocean carriers are taking advantage of some of the best rates in three months by deferring contract cargo in favor of spot freight as shippers try to book space ahead of China’s Lunar New Year shutdown.
Spot ocean freight on the main Asia-U.S. West Coast trade lane is running $1,557 per forty-foot equivalent unit (FEU) according to the Freightos Baltic Daily Index<https://fbx.freightos.com/> (SONAR: FBXD.CNAW<https://sonar.surf/admin/login/out>). While down from a mid-January high of $1,600 per FEU, the index is at one of its best levels since October.
For more details, please visit: https://www.benzinga.com/news/earnings/20/01/15162217/shippers-get-boxes-rolled-on-strong-spot-ocean-freight-rates
AIR FREIGHT
Extradited Former Air Cargo Executive Pleads Guilty for Price Fixing
Maria Christina “Meta” Ullings was sentenced to 14 months in prison with credit for the time she was held in the custody of the Italian government pending her extradition. She has also been sentenced to pay a $20,000 criminal fine.
Ullings pleaded guilty to conspiring with others to suppress and eliminate competition by fixing and coordinating certain surcharges, including fuel surcharges, charged to customers located in the United States and elsewhere for air cargo shipments. These air cargo shipments included heavy equipment, perishable commodities, and consumer goods destined for American consumers and shipped by American producers. Ullings participated in the conspiracy from at least as early as January 2001 until at least February 2006.
For more details, please visit: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/extradited-former-air-cargo-executive-pleads-guilty-participating-worldwide-price-fixing
Forwarder bemoans lack of airfreight capacity
A UK freight forwarder has said it is experiencing a lack of airfreight capacity as airlines adjust services to meet current market conditions. Millennium Cargo managing director Chadd Blunt said that the struggle to find capacity comes despite the airfreight market entering a period of decline.
“Everybody is battling for space so every freight forwarder is experiencing similar issues in finding airfreight capacity,” Blunt explained. “Services have been reduced and aircraft have been changed, along with their routes which in turn increases the difficulty of placing freight quickly.
Read more at https://www.aircargonews.net/business/supply-chains/forwarder-bemoans-lack-of-airfreight-capacity/
Air freight reinvents itself once again
Airfreight industry players have spent years—if not decades—adapting to constantly changing market conditions. Between e-commerce, Amazon, global trade, and the march of technology, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.
It seems like every decade since the airlines were deregulated in 1978, the airfreight industry, and the airfreight forwarders that have served as the industry’s backbone, has reinvented itself.
For more details, please visit: https://www.dcvelocity.com/articles/20200121-air-freight-reinvents-itself-once-again/
Nigeria: Nagaff Decries 40% Cargo Charges By Aviation Handling Companies
The National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, NAGAFF, has decried the hike in cargo charges by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company, NAHCO, and Skyway Aviation Handling Company, SAHCO, which it says has risen by as much as 40 per cent.
In a chat with Vanguard Maritime Report, President of the Association, Increase Uche, said the group discovered the illegal charges following the recent survey of all the port handling companies, noting that these aviation handling companies took advantage of the land border closure as most people who usually pass their cargoes through the land border, now resort to air trading.
For more details, please visit: https://allafrica.com/stories/202001220229.html
RAIL AND ROAD FREIGHT
Union Pacific Will Likely Report Lower Rail Freight Volumes. Wall Street Won’t Care.
The biggest railroad play, Union Pacific<https://www.barrons.com/quote/stock/unp>, is expected to report Thursday morning that it suffered a 10% drop in freight volumes in the quarter ended in December and lower earnings. Investors are fine with that. The stock (ticker: UNP) hit an all-time high last week of $185.
Wall Street has been enamored of freight trains lately<https://www.barrons.com/articles/union-pacific-stock-rises-despite-drop-in-freight-volume-investors-see-good-news-ahead-51571324721?mod=article_inline>, as the industry has widened profit margins with the cost-cutting programs espoused by<https://www.barrons.com/articles/union-pacific-earnings-show-why-coal-doesnt-matter-for-railroads-51563472811?&mod=article_inline> the late leader of CSX<https://www.barrons.com/quote/stock/csx> (CSX), Hunter Harrison. So even as shipping volumes tanked last year, investors cheered announcements like last week’s earnings report by CSX, in which it said that revenue for the past quarter dropped 8% but costs reached a new low as a percentage of revenue<https://www.wsj.com/articles/csx-projects-another-revenue-challenging-year-in-2020-11579213275?mod=article_inline>.
For more details, please visit: https://www.barrons.com/articles/union-pacific-rail-freight-volume-earnings-cost-cutting-51579708771
New EU rules to provide better rest conditions for drivers
A deal between Parliament and Finnish Presidency negotiators on reforming the road transport sector was approved by the Transport and Tourism Committee on Tuesday.
The revised rules for posting of drivers, drivers’ rest times and better enforcement of cabotage rules (i.e. transport of goods carried out by non-resident hauliers on a temporary basis in a host member state) aim to put an end to distortion of competition in the road transport sector and provide better rest conditions for drivers. The agreement keeps the existing limits to cabotage (three operations within seven days), but in order to tackle fraud, vehicle tachographs will be used to register border-crossings.
For more details, please visit: https://postandparcel.info/118257/news/e-commerce/new-eu-rules-to-provide-better-rest-conditions-for-drivers/
New Bettembourg-Dudelange to Kiel rail freight connection launched
A new rail connection<https://www.globalrailwayreview.com/news/95497/nightjet-connection-brussels-obb/> between the Intermodal Terminal Bettembourg-Dudelange and the Terminal Schwedenkai in the Port of Kiel has been launched by LKW WALTER, Stena Line, Port of Kiel and CFL multimodal<https://www.cfl-mm.lu/>, following all parties involved successfully settling on a partnership agreement that will expand their respective services.
The new connection will run three roundtrips per week for cranable trailers and containers, and was launched on 21 January 2020 at the Intermodal terminal of Bettembourg-Dudelange. The new connection will accommodate and encourage a modal shift, removing approximately 10,000 trucks from the road to rail, subsequently representing CO2 savings of roughly 11,000 tonnes per year.
FIATA commends the opening of this new line. Our position<https://fiata.com/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/Position_Papers/FIATA_Statement_-_The_Need_to_Assess_Connectivity_Measure_for_Freight_Transport.pdf> has been for developing consistent global policy on sustainable logistics connectivity can impress the required acceleration to achieve interconnected production and consumption, but failing to do so may increase expenditure by introducing a cost for inaction which may defeat all efforts toward development.
For more details, please visit: https://www.globalrailwayreview.com/news/95556/bettembourg-dudelange-kiel-rail-freight-launched/
INNOVATIONS
New digital platform Cargocast will be a ‘real game-changer’ for logistics
A “game-changing” new digital cargo platform is enabling “hands-free” visibility and automated warehouse operations, using RFID. Cargocast, backed by Tigers Global, tracks each piece of cargo, pinpointing its location within a two-foot radius.
Processes such as goods acceptance can then be fully automated, preventing errors, helping identify problems, and increasing efficiency for forwarders, airlines and handlers. It will also reduce costs, claimed Cargocast.
FIATA follows closely the emergence of digital platform which promise an interconnected ecosystem for supply chain stakeholder to share and protect their data. FIATA is advocate of such platforms however also stresses the importance to establish proper governance and rule making into such ecosystems in order not to constrain or supress the activity of any stakeholder within that supply chain.
For more details, please visit: https://theloadstar.com/new-digital-platform-cargocast-will-be-a-real-game-changer-for-logistics/
Flexport alters air cargo strategy as supply chains diversify
Flexport has signed block-space agreements (BSAs) on freighter services from several Asian origins and cancelled its dedicated all-cargo service in light of changing supply chain strategies.
For the last two years the San Francisco-headquartered freight forwarder has offered a dedicated freighter between Hong Kong and Los Angeles operated originally by Western Global and latterly by Atlas Air on behalf of Nippon Cargo Airlines (NCA) subsidiary Plus Logistics.
For more details, please visit: https://www.aircargonews.net/business/supply-chains/flexport-alters-air-cargo-strategy-as-supply-chains-diversify/
Artificial Intelligence and the Era of Autonomous Shipping
The world is interconnected through global trade on the basis of a transportation industry. And, it will continue to grow, with a predicted rise of nearly a third in seaborne-trade towards 2030, and with increases in tonne-mileage up to 74,000 billion over the forecast period.
In other words, the ocean will experience substantial increases in traffic, pressure will get much higher and risk of marine accidents and incidents at sea will persist. It is estimated that roughly 90% of marine casualties and incidents caused by human mistakes, costing over EUR1.4 billion in marine liability insurance claims.
For more details, please visit: https://seanews.co.uk/features/artificial-intelligence-and-the-era-of-autonomous-shipping/
Topics
FIATA AND MEMBERS
BIFA’s annual award winners revealed
75% of freight forwarders untrained – CRFFN boss
EIFFA BOD work hard for FIATA RAME preparation in Cairo
CRFFN to start collecting additional cargo clearing levy Feb 3
ICAO FIATA DG Training Programme – Promotional Offer for DG Training Centers
WORLD ECONOMY
4PL Growth in Asia Pacific – An Overview
Ways the freight forwarding sector can adopt policy
Don’t Let Government Logistics Funding Go Unclaimed
Adjusting goods and/or packaging prior to onshore BMSB treatment
SEA FREIGHT
iContainers calls for urgent action misdeclared cargoes causing containership fires
Baltic index falls on weaker demand for vessels
Shippers Get Boxes Rolled On Strong Spot Ocean Freight Rates
AIR FREIGHT
Extradited Former Air Cargo Executive Pleads Guilty for Price Fixing
Forwarder bemoans lack of airfreight capacity
Air freight reinvents itself once again
Nigeria: Nagaff Decries 40% Cargo Charges By Aviation Handling Companies
RAIL AND ROAD FREIGHT
Union Pacific Will Likely Report Lower Rail Freight Volumes. Wall Street Won’t Care.
New EU rules to provide better rest conditions for drivers
New Bettembourg-Dudelange to Kiel rail freight connection launched
INNOVATIONS
New digital platform Cargocast will be a ‘real game-changer’ for logistics
Flexport alters air cargo strategy as supply chains diversify
Artificial Intelligence and the Era of Autonomous Shipping