Page 1 of 6 Alex Yong Monday, March 12, 2007 Today's e-news sponsored by : Click on the banner to know more... Senator Lines offers Europe-S America service Ecu-Line cuts transit time from Antwerp to Luanda in half US airline fuel consumption drops in 2006 KLM faces EU fines if price-fixing charges stick BA, Virgin, American labour oppose UK-US 'open skies' deal TSA chief executives hold first-ever customer meeting Shanghai's ZPMC to build gantry and rail cranes in Busan Jinzhou port handles record box throughput in January Expert to address Malaysian port privatisation seminar Senator Lines offers Europe-S America service GERMAN container shipping line Senator Lines is adding a Europe-South America service to its current schedule of its 12 regular services. The ESX service is being launched three months after the company reduced its capacity, as part of its Concept 2007 management plan, a statement from the carrier said. "Definitely the ESX is not only a further service for our customers; it also indicates that we are off to a flying start again and that, following our internal reorganisation, we can concentrate fully on the market and on our services," said CEO Hans- Hermann Mohr.
Page 2 of 6 A total of 6 x 2,700 TEU containerships will be deployed on this service in cooperation with "K" Line, China Shipping, Hatsu Marine and Maruba, which will link northern Europe with the east coast of South America. The port rotation for the weekly ESX service will be: Rotterdam, Hamburg, Antwerp, Santos, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rio Grande, Sao Francisco do Sul, Santos, returning to Rotterdam. The first southbound departure on the ESX service will be undertaken by the CSCL Napoli, which is scheduled to set sail from Rotterdam on March 20. The first northbound voyage is expected to start with the same vessel on April 8 in Buenos Aires. "Through the ESX we are offering an attractive north-south link in the scope of our regional services. It has two plus points: it includes Montevideo as a direct port of call, and its rotation enjoys improved transit times," said Mark Ehlers, head of operational management. Ecu-Line cuts transit time from Antwerp to Luanda in half ECU-LINE Antwerp has announced that by using the Angola Shuttle Service provided by OT Africa Line, the European shipping line has cut the transit time of its groupage service to Luanda to 15 days. The company has been making full use of this arrangement since the end of January as it replaces the weekly transshipment service via Abidjan, which used to offer a transit time of 35 days. Ecu-Line Antwerp added in a statement that all B/L instructions have to be in the possession of OT Africa Line prior to the departure date to avoid high fines for manifest corrections at the port of destination. Ecu-Line is represented in Angola by SDV-AMI Luanda. US airline fuel consumption drops in 2006 US AIRLINES used less fuel in all but two months of 2006 with consumption reaching a total of 19.4 billion gallons, a 2.8 per cent decrease from 2005. The Panama Bulletin also reported that the total fuel bill was US$38 billion, pointing out that US airlines paid very close to the average market price. The report said that according to statistics from US Energy Information
Page 3 of 6 Administration, the average market price for jet fuel was $1.968 per gallon during the full year. Airlines reportedly paid an average of $1.965 per gallon, 17.1 per cent higher than a year earlier. Cargo airlines account for about 15 per cent of the volume of jet fuel used by US airlines. KLM faces EU fines if price-fixing charges stick A PROBE launched early last year into alleged price-fixing by air cargo airlines in Europe and the US is expected to lead to the freight division of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the Dutch arm of Air France KLM, being severely fined, reports Holland's Telegraaf newspaper. US and European authorities raided airline offices on both sides of the Atlantic to investigate the activities of a suspected price-fixing cartel in the airfreight industry that may have involved in tampering with fuel surcharges. The authorities targeted a variety of big-name carriers, including British Airways, Cargolux and Lufthansa. The newspaper said that according to sources who requested anonymity, KLM's freight division was facing steep EU fines for price fixing, and the director of the freight division, Michael Wisbrun, may be forced out. "We have given all information requested and are still waiting on the outcome," said a KLM spokesman. "We have no indication of when or what the decision will be." The European Commission in Brussels refuses to comment on the matter. BA, Virgin, American labour oppose UK-US 'open skies' deal AVIATION experts are dubious that much can be achieved in the next round of talks on "open skies" agreement between the European Union and the United States. Resistance from British Airways and Virgin, is expected to put the outcome of the talks in jeopardy, or result in only a partial success, particularly as the carriers' opposition to the move is supported by the British government. BA and Virgin currently share control of flights to and from the US via London Heathrow, which handles about 40 per cent of trans-atlantic traffic. They would lose their advantageous position, if an open-skies deal were struck permitting any European airline to fly from any airport in Europe to any airport in the US. A draft aviation accord that proposes an opening up this fiercely regulated market
Page 4 of 6 will be submitted on March 22 when the Transport Council next meets, which would require ratification by members of the 27-nation trade bloc. Experts maintain that such a treaty could be worth up to EUR12 billion (US$15.81 billion) in economic benefits and create up to new 80,000 jobs. The European Commission is forecasting that the deal would also stimulate growth of between one and two per cent in the airfreight market. In the US, opposition comes from labour unions, notably the AFL-CIO, the Air Line Pilots Association, Association of Flight Attendants (CWA), Transport Workers Union of America, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which issued a joint statement: "We strongly object to the tentative air transport agreement that the Bush Administration reached with the European Union last week. This agreement is not in the best interests of US aviation workers or our economy." TSA chief executives hold first-ever customer meeting MEMBER shipping line executives from the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) have for the first time met a group of 27 customers to discuss common issues including conditions in the transpacific trade over the next three years. CEOs from four of TSA's 12 shipping lines of the newly-created TSA executive committee held a three-hour meeting to exchange views on a variety of topics including building greater trust and understanding in the carrier-shipper relationship and the importance of service issues in contract negotiations. TSA, established in 1989, underwent a restructuring last November, placing management directly into the hands of the executive committee, which includes the CEOs of APL, Evergreen, Hanjin Shipping and NYK. Ron Widdows, chairman of the committee and CEO of global container carrier APL said: "Carriers and shippers have taken an important first step, in keeping with TSA's evolving mission to establish a new, constructive kind of dialogue in the transpacific market." He described the meeting as a beginning in achieving greater candour and openness in shipper-carrier relations. "Our objective," Mr Widdows added, "is to directly engage with customers and share market information at a level that helps all parties manage costs and assets, better understand each other's businesses, and make effective business planning decisions." The APL executive also said that TSA will follow up by regularly providing research and analysis that carriers can share with their customers, and that TSA lines intend to hold subsequent meetings with shippers to continue the dialogue on transpacific issues. TSA members are: APL, HMM, CMA-CGM, K Line, Cosco, MOL, Evergreen,
Page 5 of 6 NYK, Hanjin Shipping, OOCL, Hapag Lloyd and Yangming. Shanghai's ZPMC to build gantry and rail cranes in Busan SHANGHAI Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. (ZPMC) has recently signed a US$200 million contract to provide the Hanjin Shipping Group with port machinery to equip Hanjin's new container terminal at the Port of Busan, Xinhua reports. The contract includes an order for 12 quayside gantry cranes and 42 rail mounted cranes. ZPMC first entered the South Korean market when it sold 18 cranes to the port four years ago, the report added. Jinzhou port handles record box throughput in January THE Chinese port of Jinzhou saw its container throughput surge 39.5 per cent in January to reach a monthly record of 39,030 TEU, Xinhua reports. The total volume of cargo handled by the port in January hit a record 2.94 million tons, an increase of 15 per cent year on year. The strong growth comes as the port accommodated a total of 256 vessels in January, 80 more ships than during the same month last year. The figures also show that during the Chinese New Year holidays alone, the port handled 443,000 tons of cargo from February 17 to 24, which was 203,000 tons more than the amount handled during the same period a year ago, however, Chinese New Year fell a couple of weeks later this year. Expert to address Malaysian port privatisation seminar A LEADING expert on the privatisation of global transport infrastructure, Hans J Peters, will address a seminar in Kuala Lumpur aimed at highlighting Malaysia's first use of privatisation as an instrument of development. Dr Peters spent nearly 20 years with the World Bank where he held the post of
Page 6 of 6 maritime advisor. He is now Baltic maritime advisor and also teaches at the George Mason University in Virginia. Dr Peters is expected to make references to Malaysia's first and one of the most successful privatisation ventures involving the container terminal operations at Port Klang. The privatisation of the container terminal in 1986 was succeeded by Northport (Malaysia) and has been rated by the World Bank as one of the most successful privatisations which brought widespread benefits to all the stakeholders. According to Dr Peters, the privatisation of the container terminal operations at Port Klang was not only the first port project to be privatised but was also the first exercise of its kind involving a public-sector owned utility to be carried out in the country, "In more than one way, it was trailblazer," said the managing director and CEO of Northport, Basheer Hassan Abdul Kader. The one-day seminar, which is expected to be attended by 350 participants, will also include presentations and discussions on the changing role of ports and the way ahead for Northport, which is Malaysia's leading national gateway. The March 21 event at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre is organised by Northport in conjunction with its 21st anniversary of privatisation. To subscribe, please click http://www.schednet.com/news/subnews.asp?banner=no To unsubscribe, please click http://www.schednet.com/news/unsubnews.asp?banner=no -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.446 / Virus Database: 268.18.8/718 - Release Date: 3/11/2007 9:27 AM