The default category of this resource – all articles related to shipping and freight
Many journalists and Twitteratis around the world might be having withdrawal symptoms after the Ever Given has been refloated from being stuck diagonally across the Suez Canal.. Although the vessel … Read more here..
Competition is one of the constants in business, something that can spur you on and make you better or something that can bring you down..
Every industry has competition in varying degrees.. Some companies look at their competition and say “Yeah ok, whatever” (think Google/Facebook).. Some companies look at their competition and say “Oh crap, that’s close” – like a lot of companies in the shipping and freight industry..
While competition comes in various forms, there are several cases where you may really struggle to find a way to stand out from your competition..
Let me explain further with some examples relatable to the shipping and freight industry..
For any business to be successful, one needs to know the business, its model and requirements inside out.. Many businesses start with a great idea..
But there could be big gap between a great idea and a great startup and many people don’t have a clue on how to bridge this gap and may end up spending their life savings to start the business..
Forbes published an article on 10 Reality Checks Before Starting Your Own Business..
Yes you are reading it right..
You shouldn’t start your own shipping and freight business if :
NVOCC is one of the terms you would have heard quite often in day to day business particularly if you are in the US or Chinese markets..
This article explains in detail who an NVOCC is, how they work and what is their role in the industry..
In 2012 there were less than 2 million blog posts every day and in 2020 just over 10 million blog posts have been published every day across all topics.
And perhaps, the most sobering statistic: five exabytes (or 5 billion billion bytes) of data could store all the words ever spoken by humans between the birth of the world and 2003. In 2011 alone, five exabytes of content were created every two days.
Based on these numbers, we could be excused if we miss out some very important things or salient happenings in our industry due to all the digital clutter that we face every day.
But if you are interested in identifying and consuming information related to shipping and freight that matters, help is at hand in the form of a nifty app that gives you a snapshot of the important information that you need in less than 50 words.
Further to previous reports about containers falling overboard from the Maersk Essen, it has been reported that the vessel has arrived at Lazaro Cardenas, modern, deep-water port on the Pacific Coast that serves Mexico City..
But the vessel will only berth on the 30th of January after which cargo operations will commence.. As per WK Webster, a general average situation could be looming..
Work from Home (WFH) – the “new normal” of 2020 seems to have gained worldwide acceptance since COVID-19 and has been the subject of many discussions on its merits and de-merits..
When I think about how the shipping and freight industry has adapted and is currently adapting to WFH practices, I can’t help wondering how the industry might have coped with this pandemic, the disruption it caused and if WFH would have been possible had it occurred in the 80s and 90s when things were handled much differently in the industry..
For those of you who were “born” into this current technology driven world of shipping, freight and logistics, read here how vintage shipping was done.. ?
The leading international freight transport and logistics insurer, TT Club has drawn attention to action required to reduce perishable cargo losses and refrigerated container failures and damage.
Analysis of the specialist insurer’s claims records for transport operators over the past three years shows temperature-controlled incidents ranking in third place.
Almost 30% of these incidents involved a miscommunication of operational instructions on care of the cargo with a further 23% down to temperature setting errors. Reefer equipment failure or damage accounted for a quarter of the reefer claims.
Many a time, shippers have asked shipping lines for “CLEAN ON BOARD” clause on a bill of lading and if the request relates to a container shipment, this might have very well been rejected by the shipping line..
Why do the shipping lines reject this..??
Supply chain disruption due to container rollovers at leading transshipment ports eased marginally for shippers in September compared to August.
However, the ratio of rollovers remained far higher compared to a year earlier at most hubs, according to Ocean Insights, the world’s leading real-time and predictive ocean container tracking data provider to forwarders and shippers.
The latest global container port rollover findings were compiled by analyzing Ocean Insights’ proprietary global container tracking data through to the end of September.
Any maritime disaster will have severe impact on assets, people and environment.. The effects of the oil spill from the Wakashio is beginning to manifest itself as there have been several reports of dead dolphins washing ashore on the beaches of Mauritius, even as the bow of the ship has been scuttled and sunk about 14 nautical miles of where the incident happened..
The Captain of the Wakashio has been arrested and charged and currently faces a possible 60 year jail term for failing to safely navigate the vessel in Mauritius waters..
What is your opinion..?? Should the Captain of the ship be responsible for this incident and is a possible 60 year jail term (if convicted) justified..??
These are some of the quotes that have been echoed by various people, organisations and companies around the world across the last few years and especially now due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But are the seafarers really happy, content and do they feel valued?
In view of the recent incidents relating to stack collapses on board and containers lost at sea, I thought a refresher on “What is container stowage planning and how it works” would be in order..
This is also to remind everyone in the shipping chain – exporters, agents, freight forwarders, carriers, documentation teams, vessel operators, and stowage planners, the importance of providing and using the correct information for the planning and stowage of the vessel..
Container stowage planning is an art and I absolutely loved the time when I used to do it.. While there are computer systems to do this these days, the basics remain the same..
In this article I have explained how the stowage planning works and why it is so important..
On the 30th June 2020, a barge “MV Pruthvi” carrying 45 TEUs of sponge iron left Haldia Docks on its maiden voyage to Dhaka on the Indo Bangladesh Protocol Route (IBPR)..
This first-ever containerised cargo from India to Bangladesh using the Inland Waterways reached Pangaon International Container Terminal, Dhaka on the 12th of July 2020..
This movement which was organised by Adani Logistics Limited in association with Five Star Logistics Private Limited carried the cargo of Rashmi Cement Ltd and Orissa Metaliks Pvt. Ltd..
The MSC Palak a Portuguese flagged container ship built in 2016 with a carrying capacity of 9,411 TEUs is reported to have lost 23 containers while at anchorage around the Port of Ngqura (Coega) along the Eastern Coast of South Africa..