Blogs

We are back with more exciting developments in the shipping industry in the month of February. The maritime world is truly colossal and this month is filled with a lot of activities, both on the national and the international front. So, let us have a look at the brief summarization of the last week’s important news. The Visakhapatnam Port Ensures Faster and Improved Connectivity with Nepal After the great response from the business transactions with the Nepal trading companies and shipping lines via the Visakhapatnam port in Vizag, an extra effort is being made to ensure the increased transportation of third-country shipments. This faster connectivity will definitely boost the current trade situation and strengthen the commercial bond between the two nations. In fact, a count of approx. 36 trains have been departed to Nepal, all loaded with cargoes. Even the start of 2018 has gathered a glorious response with 12 rakes and 7 rakes being railed out in the months of January and February, respectively. With some tedious investigation, it has been discovered that there was no delays or bad service related to the Vizag port, CONCOR or customs. The highly simplified procedure of cargo transmission at the port has allowed a train service every third day. The most impressive fact has to be the products offered by huge names like the Maersk Line and NVOCCs out of the Visakhapatnam port and also, it is not mandatory for the appointed representative to be physically there at the port and can unload the shipment after the container reaches Birgunj, a metropolitan city in Southern Nepal. Read More . OOCL Launches a New WM3 Service for Asia-Europe Trade OOCL is all set to introduce a new Middle East/ Pakistan/ India-West Mediterranean service (WM3) in March 2018, which will extend its prevalent Mediterranean service network to the Middle Eastern region and of course, the Indian Subcontinent. According to the reports, the WM3 service will be a much better alternative to the usual transshipment process, in a more trustworthy manner. The service will be responsible for an improved connectivity between the Middle East, India, Pakistan, France, Italy, Egypt and Spain. The main advantage is that it will result in a faster transit time to the Western Mediterranean region, such as the Italian markets. The well-planned business venture will place two strategic hubs at Jebel Ali and Khor Al Fakkan to link up with other OOCL locations in the vast network, providing varied options to the customers and making it more flexible, as well. The port rotation of the much raved about WM3 service will read as: Khor Al Fakkan- Jebel Ali- Karachi- Mundra- Nhava Sheva- Jeddah- Suez- Malta- La Spezia- Genova- Barcelona- Valencia- Tangier- Fos- Genova- Malta- Damietta- Suez- Jeddah and again, back to Khor Al Fakkan. Read More Baltic Reefers Become World’s Top Conventional Reefer Operator As per the analysis reports released by Dynamar, the Baltic Reefers has replaced the Seatrade with a capacity share of 12.4%, as the conventional reefer ship operator, at the highest position in the world. The Baltic Reefers Company is now ruling the top along with the Cool Carriers (its subsidiary) and the Seatrade has been demoted to the 2 nd position with a capacity share of 11.5%, with the GreenSea Pool following next. However, 2017 was not all a good year for the reefer ship operators as 24 ships were scrapped. After an extensive research into the issue, it has been predicted that the fate of the reefer ships is sealed and it will only further decline due to the limited availability of newbuilding activities. Read More Korea Maritime Transport Company Builds Four Feeder Vessels at Hyundai Mipo The Korean Maritime Transport Company (KMTC) had bidden goodbye to its last bulker vessel in April 2017 in order to pay more attention to its containership business. As a striking new development, the KMTC has signed a contract with the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard for the purpose of constructing four boxships , each of 1,800 teu size. The prices of these particular vessels have been kept under the cover, as of now. The Alphaliner statistics has placed KMTC in the 17 th position in the global liner standings with 124, 711 slots to its name. Read More The Ministry of Shipping Plans to Utilize Barges to Ferry Containers The Ministry of Shipping (MoS) has devised a different mode of transferring containers, instead of the regular land route that takes a long time. The alternative is to use barges or flat-bottomed boats for transferring the containers from the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to the Mumbai Port Trust (MbPT). The Ministry has ordered a construction of a huge godown in Mumbai, which is meant for proper storage of all the containers. Once this plan is implemented, the traffic congestion shall considerably reduce in Thane, Mumbai and also in Bhiwandi. Read More ODeX in the news! And, of course, the announcement of our funding by Invoice Bazaar made the news as well. Read more . --- Want to know more news Around the World ? Stay tuned every Monday to ODeX and get the latest in shipping.