Blogs

The last week (5 th March – 11 th March) was quite exciting on the shipping front. We have managed to compile a list of the top news articles. The Port of Oakland Aims at Promoting Digital Container Shipping The Port of Oakland is all set to introduce a new online portal to promote the breakthrough concept of digital container shipping. The unified space portal will make it a lot easier to regularly view and direct shipments. On 7 th March 2018, a special preview was on display at the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) meeting held in Oakland. The new online portal to make transactions easier for tracking and transporting cargo in containers. As per the recent reports, the Oakland Port Officials are designing the portal as a unified platform for all the separate freight owners and cargo owners in order to constantly check the ocean vessel schedules, receive all the cargo-related updates and to effectively pay the freight-handling fees. This portal is currently being developed by the renowned Advent Intermodal Solutions LLC, which is logistics software provider from New Jersey. The launch date of the portal is scheduled in the third quarter of this year. The implementation of this technology in the maritime industry shall change the scenario of global trade very soon. Read More . Maersk Honam is Destined to a Terrible Fate The Maersk Honam had set out on a journey from Singapore to Suez when a terrible fire broke out. The ship was at a distance of 900 miles in the south-east direction of the Omani port of Salalah. With only 12 months of service to its name, Maersk was almost a brand-new ship. According to the findings cited by the Wall Street Journal, the ship was loaded with dangerous, flammable cargo (both liquids and solids) that could have been the reason behind the fire. However, the cause of the fire breakout has not been discovered yet but no oil spilling is established. The investigation is still going on. The Maersk Honam was supposedly carrying 7,860 containers onboard. Out of the crew members, 22 were evacuated and 4 are still missing – one Indian, one South African and two Filipinos. Read More . Chennai Port Collects Appreciation After Handling Rock Phosphate On March 4 th 2018, the Chennai Port has set a new record for successfully handling 21,050 tonnes of rock phosphate, which had been imported via the ship called m.v. BULKTEC. Earlier on March 29 th 2009, the port had maximum experience in handling around 18,500 tonnes as imported via the m .v. BLUE DIAMOND vessel. The Chairman of the Chennai Port Trust, Mr. P. Raveendran, is highly appreciative of this new record and believes that this would definitely enhance the confidence and ability of the port to handle significant cargo in future. Read More . SM Line Teams Up with Cosco and OOCL to Form a New East India Service A new route called the East Coast India 2 service (EI2) is soon to be launched by the famous SM Line, in an active collaboration with other global shipping organizations like Cosco and OOCL. The launch of the new service will facilitate the expansion of the market share of the SM Line company. The new service involves operators like OOCL, Cosco, Xpress Feeder, Wan Hai, and the Inter Asia Line. These operators deploy large ships of around 4,000 teus, thus helping in providing a variety of shipping services to all the significant ports located in East India and Asia, in general. On the other hand, the SM Line purchases the necessary slots from the shipping companies and operates the routes. The route involves the ports of Shanghai-Ningbo-Hong Kong- Shekou- Singapore- Port Klang- Chennai- Kattupalli- Port Klang- Singapore- Shanghai again. The earlier East India Service (ELN) will still be functional. Read More . Daiichi Chuo Decides to Undergo a Reformation The Japan-based shipping line, Daiichi Chuo decides to reform its operations and mechanisms in order to promote business. The new reforms shall be implemented from April 1 st of this year. All the departments in the company headquarters will be reorganized as per the rules and a new department for large-sized or specialized vessels will be introduced, as well. Some of the old departments like domestic shipping, ocean shipping, and nearshore shipping will be no longer in action. As per the information shared in the VesselsValue, the Daiichi Chuo’s fleet has been reduced from 170 ships to 52 vessels, due to a large-scale downsizing act. Read More . Want to know more news Around the World ? Stay tuned every Monday to ODeX and get the latest in shipping.