July 2006, 29 th week Typhoon blows containers overboard +++ Hanjin Bremerhaven christened +++ More ships for Seaspan and CSCL +++ Who s in control of Hyundai Merchant Marine? +++ Shanghai s Boxes Boom +++ A Change of Mind at APMT +++ Cosco Beijing Premiers at Hamburg +++ Hanjin to Stay at Kaohsiung +++ Delphis Acquires Teamlines +++ Asia-Europe: Westbound Volumes Soar +++ Container Lines avoid Santos +++ Germans opt for bigger ships +++ Oetker ready for more takeovers +++ MSC Tomoko delivered +++ Xin Fu Zhou Damaged in Collision Typhoon blows containers overboard At least three ships that encountered the gale-force winds of typhoon Ewiniar have lost containers off South Korea. More than twenty boxes were blown off the Malta-registered Zim Japan (3,029 TEU) in the morning hours of June 10 th. The ship was sailing off Jeju when the incident occurred. An alert has been issued to ships in the region. Fairplay reports that Zim
Japan was carrying 1,682 containers and all the boxes that fell overboard were 40-ft containers. The ship was on its way from Shanghai to Busan. Battling the very same storm up to 100 containers have reportedly fallen overboard from Easline Tianjin, a Singapore-registered 156m-vessel of 700 TEU capacity. Taiwanese Wan Hai Lines 1.057-TEU-vessel Wan Hai 213 also lost 11 containers in Korean Waters when she was hit by the typhoon. Zim Japan comes into Hong Kong on another occasion. Photo: Jan Svendsen Hanjin Bremerhaven christened For quite some while, no new ship has been added to Hanjin s Asia-Europe services. Finally however, this is about to change with the introduction of Hanjin Bremerhaven. After a long row of chartered vessels, Hanjin now takes delivery of a series of ships owned by the Korean company itself. The new 6,622 TEU ship was christened last week. It will be introduced on Hanjins Asia-Europe Service, where it represents a capacity increase of nearly 1,000 TEU over the vessel it replaces. However, Hanjin Bremerhaven is not only a bigger vessel, but also a faster one. With a service speed of 27 knots she is at least two knots faster than her predecessors on the North European sling. Once the loop s entire fleet has been replaced, the high service speed will enable Hanjin to trim up to two days off transit times from Asia to Europe. Most competitor s ships sail at a speed of about 25 knots. Unlike the majority of Hanjin s containerships, Bremerhaven has not been built by sister company Hanjin HI, since that shipyard was booked to capacity and would not have been able to deliver the ships timely. The shipping company
thus opted for Ulsan s Hyundai HI. The Bremerhaven name is a first for Hanjin, but has no relevance when it comes to the vessel s port rotation: Hanjin s German calls are at Hamburg, so the vessel is unlikely to ever see its namesake town. She will however sail past the Weser s mouth on her way to Hamburg where she is to arrive first on October 5 th, later this year. Her first European port of call will Rotterdam on October 4 th. More ships for Seaspan and CSCL Earlier this year, at the end of February, Vancouver-based Seaspan Container Line (SCL) ordered four 2,500 TEU ships from Chinese Jiangsu Yangzijiang Shipbuilding. At the same time, the company signed options for eight more ships of similar design. Recently, Seaspan had to decide whether to pull the first four of these options or not. Since Seapan Container Lines s long-term client China Shipping Container Line (who will also charter the first four ships) was interested in a long-term charter, SCL now turned the options into firm orders. Seaspan will pay the shipyard 44.5 million USD for each of the new ships. The four vessels are scheduled for delivery from May to August 2009. CSCL will charter each of the units for approximately 17,000 USD per day for a period of twelve years. The remaining four options have to be decided upon until September 30 th. Since CSCL s rapid expansion scheme needs to be fed with tonnage, your Editors very much believe the ships will be signed by Seaspan and subsequently chartered to CSCL, too. By 2009, Seaspan s fleet will have grown to 40 ships in less than a decade. Today, the company has developed into one of the largest non-service-operating companies in a marked led by German and Japanese ventures. Who s in control of Hyundai Merchant Marine? Earlier this year, John Frederiksen s attempt to take control of Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) made quite some headlines. Eventually Hyundai managed to remain in control of its shipping offshoot HMM, but surly had to pay a significant amount of money to (re-)gather together a majority stake at the very last minute. Nevertheless, all is not quiet: The Hyundai family, seems not to be able to agree upon HMM s future course.
Peculiarly, the Hyundai Group seems to consider Hyundai Heavy Industries large-scale purchase of HHM shares an act of hostility. Presently, the Hyundai Group and its allies control 40.79% of HMM s shares, enough to defend the shipping company from a hostile (well: hostile?) take-over bid by Hyundai HI. The latter company presently holds 31.37% of the shipping line, but has denied any acquisition plans. HHI explained that the purchase was prompted by HMM being one of their most important customers. HHI has so far delivered 125 ships to HMM. Shanghai s Boxes Boom Shanghai International Port Co, operator of China's busiest mainland container port, has now released the numbers for the first half of 2006. 10.1 million TEU were moved trough Shanghai terminals. This figure represents an increase of more than 18% compared to the equivalent period in 2005. Since the second half of the year traditionally is the stronger one, an overall throughput of 22 or 23 million TEU seems a realistic figure for 2006. Volumes have been fuelled lately by the opening of a new deep water container terminal south of Shanghai s traditional port area. Today, all mainline services to Europe have been shifted to this new facility. The so-called Yangshan Island Terminal went into operation at the beginning of this year. Ever since, it has broken one record after another, handling in excess of a million TEU per month. The terminal s capacity will almost double when the second construction stage goes into operation late in 2007. Many expect Shanghai to surpass Hong Kong and Singapore as the world s busiest container port as soon as 2007. Shanghai International Port Co recently announced to not only focus on Shanghai, but to expand into the world. Their first target market will be North America. A Change of Mind at APMT AP Moller Group s terminal offshoot APMT, headquartered in the Netherlands, has for long (rightfully) been regarded as a company working solely for Maersk Line. Today, APM Terminals wants to go beyond that, broaden its costumer base and accept
other companies ships, too. A first step was taken at Tanjung Pelepas, Malaysia: The APMT facility there does not only serve Maersk and it local allies, but also rivalling Evergreen and MOL. Additionally, recent takeovers and mergers in the terminal world, have prompted APMT to reconsider its way of expansion. The company that liked to build new facilities from scratch, now also considers acquiring a competitor, if necessary. The company s new course was recently explained by CEO Kim Fejfer in a Financial Times interview. Cosco Beijing Premiers at Hamburg Cosco Beijing arrives at Hamburg for the first time on July 9 th. Local tug Accurat assists at her bow. Photo: Jan Tiedemann With the arrival of Cosco s latest mega ship, the company now only lacks one more vessel to finish the upgrade of their main Asia-Europe loop to +8.000 TEU ships. The brand new Cosco Beijing arrived at Hamburg for the first time on Sunday, July 9 th. The 9,469 TEU ship is 350m long and 42,80m wide. The vessel is number four in a series of five identical sisters built by Hyundai HI and operated by Costamare of Greece. The series will be concluded with the delivery of Cosco Hellas, soon. Eventually the AE1 s line-up will consist of the five Costamare ships, supplemented by three 8,204 TEU units operated by
Hamburg-based E.R. Schiffahrt. The latter ships are products of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries. Hanjin to Stay at Kaohsiung South Korea's largest shipping line Hanjin has agreed to renew its lease of a container terminal at Kaohsiung Port, Taiwan, for another 10 years. Reportedly, Hanjin has agreed to renew its lease of the No 78 Terminal at the Kaohsiung Harbour for another nine years and nine months. The facility was jointly built by Hanjin and the Kaohsiung Port in 1996 and started operations in 1998. Hanjin's lease contract ended September 30 th this year. The carrier s decision to remain at Kaohsiung is good news for Taiwan, especially since many international shipping lines have quit Taiwan due to the island's international isolation and the ban on sea links with China. Delphis Acquires Teamlines On June, 6 th the maritime transport company Delphis announced its acquisition of Teamlines. After Unifeeder, Teamlines is Northern Europe s second biggest feeder operator. It is part of Finnish-listed shipping company Finnlines. With this deal Delphis becomes a Pan-European group serving clients from the Iberian Peninsula to the Baltic. Delphis will have eight branches in Belgium, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Spain, Portugal and Poland. The new group has 45 ships and 155 employees. It foresees an turnover of more than 340 million EUR in 2006. Gotland is a typical Teamlines feeder. Here this vessel is pictures on the river Elbe, approaching Hamburg. Photo: Jan Tiedemann
Asia-Europe: Westbound Volumes Soar Last year in December, the Far Eastern Freight Conference published its forecast for the development of container volumes in 2006. According to FAFC, volumes on services from Asia to the Mediterranean and Northern Europe were to expand by 13 or even 14 percent in 2006. While these figures were received with much scepticism, it seems they turn out to be correct: During the first five months of this year, westbound volumes grew by 14% on average. This represents an actual growth in the region of some 15,000 TEU per week enough to fill two typical mainline loops. This growth rate was achieved despite a relatively a slow start in the first two month of 2006. Later, March and May saw figures up by 18 percent and 19 percent respectively, compared to 2005. The second half of the year might even see a growth rate bigger than that, since it traditionally is the stronger one. Nevertheless, despite this development rates are still under pressure a quick look at the list of new ships deliveries explains why. Container Lines avoid Santos Containership operators have started to temporarily cancel scheduled calls at the Brazilian port of Santos. Strike action by customs officers, agricultural inspectors and local truck drivers paralyses the flow of cargo. The port s four terminals are filled to capacity with boxes awaiting inspection. Ships are turning away because it has become virtually impossible to land any more containers in Santos. By blocking access roads to the port, truckers are protesting against the port authority s efforts to restrict entry into port areas only to accredited truck drivers: The Port Authority considers this measure an increase in port security and a bid to comply with ISPS code regulations. Germans opt for bigger ships In Germany there is quite a number of shipping companies who do not employ ships in their own trades and services, but exclusively charter vessels out to container lines. Usually, the big ones in this business operated large vessels, while smaller
companies had found their market niche by chartering out ships in the region of 2,000 or maybe 3,000 TEU. Only recently, a handful of these companies took delivery of larger units. Mostly panamax vessels of up to 5,100 TEU. Some of these ventures have now taken another step on the ladder: Oltmann Verwaltung recently signed a new 6,655 TEU ship at Hyundai HI. The deal reportedly includes an option for a second ship of similar size. Furthermore, Herman Wulf from Kollmar (Germany) who recently took delivery of their first Panamax ships, have ordered a 6,655 TEU ship, too. Again, the vessel is to be built by the Hyundai group. This deal also includes one option. Both companies ships are scheduled for delivery late in 2009 and may well be of rather similar design as the most recent Hanjin vessels. Oetker ready for more takeovers Germany s industrial group Dr Oetker, parent of shipping company Hamburg Süd, is eyeing further takeovers. Reportedly, the line s war chest is filled with 1.27 Billion USD for acquisitions. This is what managing owner August Oetker told Financial Times Deutschland in a recent interview. Shipping is one of the group s core businesses: Other activities include the production food and beverages. Since desserts have become a Dr. Oetker trademark, Hamburg-Süd is frequently nicknamed the Pudding-Line. Interestingly, the carrier actually really is (amongst other things) specialised in the transportation of food: Hamburg-Süd carries the bulk of chilled South American Beef across the Atlantic. Recent Dr Oetker / Hamburg-Süd acquisitions in shipping include the takeover of FESCO s services in the Australia and New Zealand trade. Another example is the Spanish shipping group Ybarra. MSC Tomoko delivered After the delivery of the 8,400 TEU MSC Rania and MSC Silvana earlier this year, South Korean Daewoo HI in has now handed over another vessel of the same type. MSC Tomoko is number three in a series of four ships ordered by MSC for delivery this year. The ship s name continues MSC tradition of girls names for Swiss-owned ships. Furthermore choosing a Japanese name
coincides with the Addition of Hakata to the Lion Service, where MSC Tomoko will be employed. Here maiden call there is scheduled for July 17 th. Hakata represents the first ever Japanese port of call in an Asia-Europe main loop of MSC. The new ship will be around in Northern Europe late in August. Her fist port of call in Antwerp in August 19 th. (Check out last week s newsletter for more information on the on MSC s Lion Service and the call at Hakata) Xin Fu Zhou Damaged in Collision On last week s Wednesday, the Chinese container ship Xin Fu Zhou was involved in a collision on the river Elbe. Xin Fu Shou arrives at Hamburg. Photo: Jan Tiedemann The 5,668-TEU-vessel had departed Hamburg, Germany, when it collided with the small German coaster Lass Uranus near the Finkenwerder Airbus plant. Both ships were outward bound at the time of the accident. Lass Uranus bow was damaged and the CSCL vessel suffered an eight-meter cut on its starboard side, about two metres above the water line. Lass Uranus immediately returned to Hamburg, while Xin Fu Zhou was allowed to proceed to Brunsbüttel for damage assessment. The vessel was deemed not seaworthy and subsequently returned
to Hamburg s Eurogate Terminal where containers were removed from the damaged bays to allow a more detailed inspection of the area. The exact cause of the accident is not yet clear. Visibility conditions at the time of the accident were good and Xin Fu Zhou was carrying a river pilot. The German Police has taken up inquiries and confiscated copies of taped radar images and radio communication. A close-up of the damage. Photo: Jan Tiedemann *** This Newsletter is edited and compiled by Jan Svendsen and Jan Tiedemann. This pdf-file is available for download at www.jantiedemann.de and www.containership-info.net.tc. Feel free to contact the editors by e-mail at jantiedemann@hotmail.com and jan.svendsen@gmx.net. We greatly appreciate your feedback and your input. More contact details can be obtained from the above websites. Please note the disclaimers displayed on the download pages. All information given in this newsletter is believed correct, but not guaranteed. For assistance with the present issue, the editors gratefully acknowledge the contribution of Klaus Masuch.