Guest Article

All posts written for this blog by guest authors..

Hire payment in time charters: a condition or not – a legal perspective

by Categories Guest Article, Maritime, Maritime Law, Shipping, Trade Tags , Leave a comment Estimated reading time = 7 minutes
chartering

Chartering is an important concept of the global maritime trade sector and it consists of different types. One of the forms of carrying out a maritime business is a time charter.

Under a time charter, the owners undertake to place their ship at the disposal of the charterers for a defined period of time for the carriage of goods in accordance with the charterer’s instruction, while the ship remains in both the ownership and possession of the owners, and the officers and crew who man her will be the employees of the owners, not the charterers.

In this article we are going to look at some particulars of time charters and, in particular, New York Produce Exchange Form 1993 (NYPE 1993) recommended by BIMCO and FONASBA.

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Suez Canal Crisis and its aftermath – a legal perspective

by Categories Guest Article, Marine Insurance, Maritime Disasters, Maritime Law, Opinion, Vessel Operation Tags , , , 2 Comments Estimated reading time = 9 minutes
Executive Insights - Shipping and Freight Resource - Philip Teoh

The fragility of trade routes which had been sorely tested by disruptions caused by Covid 19, shortage of containers and increased freight rates was once again exposed when the Ever … Read more here..

Anatomy of a shipping container

by Categories Freight Container, Guest Article Tags , , , 8 Comments Estimated reading time = 6 minutes
image for container

An illustrative post outlining the anatomy of a shipping container written by Robert John Wheeler.. An interesting read for people who are within the industry and heard of these terms, but have not had the opportunity to see what it looks like..

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Supply chain ‘coopetition’ Brings Logistics Visibility

by Categories Digitalisation, Guest Article, Information, Innovation, Opinion, Technology Tags , , , Leave a comment Estimated reading time = 4 minutes
Shipping and Freight Resource Press Release

The impact of COVID-19 has been a definitive jolt to supply chain logistics stakeholders, as the widespread transport blockades impacted global freight movement.

Maritime logistics operations witnessed massive delays at the port terminals and customs, as countries shut down borders for several weeks.

For realizing true end-to-end logistics visibility, it is critical to think beyond the maritime mid-mile. Data streams across the entire value chain must be tapped for insights while initiating inter-modality collaboration to gain real-time intelligence over freight movement.

In that context, the recent announcement of maritime visibility leader Ocean Insights partnering with over-the-road visibility major FourKites is a welcome step in integrating transport intelligence across modalities.

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African Continental Free Trade Area and what it means for South Africa

by Categories Guest Article, Information, Trade Tags , Leave a comment Estimated reading time = 8 minutes
AfCTA - what it means for south africa - shipping and freight resource

The continent of Africa comprises of 55 countries with about 1.35 billion people (16.72% of the global population) calling it home. The continent has a combined GDP of more than $3.4 trillion, a vast untapped potential and some of the fastest growing economies of the world.

But trade within the African continent is the lowest globally with more trade done from Africa outwards rather than inward.

The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement which started as a journey over four decades ago with the adoption of the Monrovia Strategy in 1979, the Lagos Plan of Action in 1980, the Abuja Treaty in 1991 and subsequent Decisions and Declarations adopted during various summits has finally come to fruition with the commencement of trading as of the 1st January 2021.

Anup Rampiar takes a look at what is AfCFTA and what it means for South Africa and the African continent in general.

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Cause and effect of incorrect hazardous declaration and what needs to be done to avoid it

by Categories Education, Guest Article, Hazardous Goods, Skills Development, Vessel Operation Tags , , 1 Comment Estimated reading time = 5 minutes
IMDG Code book

In the IMDG Code, many actions are listed but the responsibility to carry out that action may not be specifically assigned to any particular person.

The IMDG Code does however assign responsibilities to named persons or entities in certain cases, such as;

  1. Shipper: for classification, assigning proper shipping name, packaging, marking, labelling, placarding, dangerous goods declaration
  2. Packer: for packing of CTU and related responsibilities.
  3. Master: of the vessel- responsibilities under SOLAS Chapter VII Part A & MARPOL Annex III
  4. Competent Authorities: for granting exemptions and approvals

No one knows what is inside the box; everyone depends on the dangerous goods declaration.

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Digitalisation of Chinese Freight Industry – research report

by Categories Case Studies, Digitalisation, Guest Article, Opinion, Technology Tags , 1 Comment Estimated reading time = 3 minutes
Opinion Piece

A research report by Paul Zhang, Founder & CEO of FreightPaul, a Chinese digital freight forwarder explores the digital landscape among Chinese freight companies including the various digital tools used by these companies..

The report outlines the process of digitalization in the freight industry of China and how usage of digital tools such as cloud computing, data analytics, and artificial intelligence techniques is enhancing the service of transportation and speeding up the process of movement of goods from warehouses and factories to the final consumers.

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All you need to know about Cargo Insurance and why you need it

by Categories Education, Guest Article, Marine Insurance Tags , 17 Comments Estimated reading time = 7 minutes
Image for Cargo Insurance
Although it may seem obvious, it is shocking to mention the least how many customers still do not take the right Cargo Insurance cover to insure their cargo comprehensively..

I don’t think anyone will intentionally not cover their cargo properly and can only assume that it is due to ignorance or lack of knowledge..

This post aims to educate everyone on what is Cargo Insurance and what steps are involved..

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The changing landscape of shipping in global trade – The India Perspective

by Categories Guest Article, Women in Shipping Tags , 2 Comments Estimated reading time = 9 minutes
article contribution

Global trade is the backbone of any country’s economy. In this article, Kuljit Anand, a highly experienced and versatile Shipping & Supply Chain Professional based in Mumbai, discusses the changing landscape of shipping in global trade from an Indian perspective.

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4 tips to reduce cargo damage and save money on shipping costs

by Categories Freight Forwarding, Guest Article, Logistics, Shipping Tags , 3 Comments Estimated reading time = 4 minutes
cargo damage

Shipping damage is a massive threat to any products that travel on the supply chain.

As per a Statista survey, eighty per cent of consumers say they’d return a product they received that was damaged in shipping.

The more your products get damaged in shipping, the more money your company loses and the effects of that loss can spread throughout your organization, causing both direct and indirect expenses and affecting sales.

Here are 4 tips to reduce cargo damage and save money on shipping costs.

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What are the major reasons for misdeclared or undeclared dangerous goods?

by Categories Guest Article, Hazardous Goods, Maritime, Maritime Disasters Tags , , , Leave a comment Estimated reading time = 2 minutes
All about hazardous cargo

In the past few years, we have seen a large number of maritime disasters such as catastrophic fires onboard ships mostly due to misdeclared and undeclared dangerous goods.

Some of the vessels which had major fires in the year 2019 are Yantian Express, APL Vancouver, E.R. Kobe, Grande America, KMTC Hong Kong, APL Le Havre.

Most of the cases involving leakage, fires, cargo damage is linked to undeclared, misdeclared or poorly packed containers.

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Guidelines for claims handling and submission

by Categories Guest Article, Marine Insurance, Opinion Tags , 1 Comment Estimated reading time = 9 minutes
cargo damage

For obvious reasons, no one wants to receive cargo claims. More so, carriers who carry the cargo from A to B. It could possibly be the reason why there is a lot of misunderstanding among BCOs and OTIs about which documents are really necessary to submit and which are completely irrelevant in the process of claims recovery.

Below are some simple guidelines for claims handling and submissions. I hope this will help to make the claim submission process as efficient and as simple as possible for you.

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Importance of sustainable packaging and shipping

by Categories Climate Change, Guest Article, Opinion, Shipping, Sustainability Tags , , 1 Comment Estimated reading time = 6 minutes
sustainable packaging and shipping

Global trade keeps us connected with customers, consumers and industries around the world.. There are several modes of transport used in global trade – sea, air, land and rail..

Whichever mode of transport you use, even the most meticulously planned shipment can go awry either due to natural disasters or man-made errors..

Cargo damage is one such disaster that not only gives rise to product and financial losses, but could also affect the relationship between customers and their service providers..

Physical and wet damage could be caused due to lack of proper packaging to protect the cargo on its long voyage..

With current modern developments in sustainable packaging and shipping solutions, businesses have no excuse not to take the movement into consideration.

Making an effort to reduce your environmental impact will not only pay off in cost but will impress your consumers in our now rightly eco-centric society.

Technology has led to the creation of numerous types of sustainable packaging materials, to allow businesses from any industry to reduce their carbon footprint and environmental impact.

Here are some of the pressing reasons to incorporate sustainable packaging and shipping into your supply chain.

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Advance notification of cargo rollover – Reality or Myth?

by Categories Guest Article, Shipping, Technology, Vessel Operation Tags , , 2 Comments Estimated reading time = 7 minutes
cargo rollover

Cargo rollover happens for a variety of reasons, at various stages and various places. Cargo rollover can cause significant delays and result in potentially crippling operations.

Most shippers assume carriers would send rollover notifications, but only a few carriers seem to notify customers in advance that their cargo is about to be rolled or has been rolled. This especially happens when transhipment is involved and catches many customers by surprise and upsets their production or sales plans.

What most customers don’t know is that there is a reliable way to get advance warning of cargo rollover so that they can take suitable action.

How?

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6 tips to preparing your cargo for international shipping

by Categories Freight, Guest Article, Logistics, Shipping Tags 4 Comments Estimated reading time = 7 minutes
cargo packaging

For businesses that ship internationally, return of goods due to damage in transit can be a huge burden in terms of time and money.

Here are six tips on how to prepare your cargo for part or full load shipments and prevent lost revenues when using worldwide parcel delivery services.

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