Newsletter – January 3, 2018

AIR FREIGHT UPDATES

Air Canada Cargo Warns of Probable Delays in Toronto due to Cold Weather
Source:ciffa

Air Canada Cargo issued a notice on Tuesday that, due to extreme cold weather conditions in the Greater Toronto area that have impacted airport operations, domestic and transborder cargo shipments to, from or transiting through Toronto are subject to delay.

 OCEAN FREIGHT UPDATES

HMM CEO outlines plans to double fleet size by 2022
source: Maritime Asia

In a new year’s address to employees Yoo Chang-Keun has laid down plans to double the size of Hyundai Merchant Marine’s (HMM) fleet by 2022. Detailing how HMM had come through resturcturning and saw growth in 2017. Read more here.

MSC has Qingdao yard add 3,000 TEU to eleven 14,000-TEU ships
source: Splash 24/7

THE Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has ordered Qingdao’s Beihai Shipbuilding to raise the capacity of eleven 14,000-TEU vessels to 17,000 TEU by inserting new sections amidships lengthening them from 365 to 394 metres. The two companies have signed a firm contract to upgrade the capacity of nine 14,000 TEU vessels, and the carrier will confirm the contract for the conversion of a further two 14,000 TEU vessels at the beginning of next year, reported Singapore’s Splash 24/7. MSC currently has eleven 22,000-TEU ships under construction at South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

Port of Shanghai again breaks world record lifting its 40 millionth TEU
source: shippingonline

SHANGHAI International Port Group reached a record breaking 40 millionth TEU crossing its Yangshan dock on December 29, making the city’s port the first and only in the world to move that many containers in 2017.

Ocean freight rates rise as New Year GRIs partially succeed
Source :Lloydsloadinglist

Attempts by container shipping lines to implement New Year general rate increases (GRIs) appear to have partially succeeded, according to the latest Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI) figures. Read more here.

China hits back at Donald Trump’s ‘zero-sum mentality’ on trade, threatens retaliation
source: South China Morning Post

US politicians, with a ‘deep-rooted mistrust’, have failed to catch up with China’s understanding of cooperation, Xinhua commentary says. Read more here.

 INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS – GOVERNMENT UPDATES

China’s environment ministry to ‘encourage’ more recycling
source: The Loadstar

Intrinsically connected to the ban on imported paper, cardboard and plastic scrap products in China, the Ministry of Environmental Protection is set to roll out new recycling facilities across a swathe of second-tier cities to encourage more domestic recycling. It claimed these volumes would replace those that come from abroad – though what happens to those mounting piles of scrap elsewhere in the world remains a fundamental question for shipping and scrap recycling forwarders this year. Read more here.

Global Manufacturers Strain to Keep Up With Faster World Economy
source: Transport Topics

Factories across the globe warned they are finding it increasingly hard to keep up with demand, potentially forcing them to raise prices as the world economy looks set to enjoy its strongest year since 2011.
A slew of Purchasing Managers Indexes published on January 2 from China, Germany, France, Italy and the U.K. all pointed to deeper supply constraints.

Shrinking capacity may mean companies have to hire or invest more to avoid overheating, yet it could also force them to push up prices, propelling inflation enough to squeeze the expansion. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among the banks predicting worldwide growth will be around 4% this year, which would be the fastest since a post-recession rebound seven years ago. Read more here.