News Letter

Cargo News Summary composed by NNR Global Logistics

Air:

Ocean:

Global Terminal acts to double wharf space

Ship stuck on NZ reef spills fuel and boxes

Maersk sells LNG unit for $1.4b

Logistics:

Asia faces turmoil if world enters recession, says bank

Shenzhen airport confirms third runway plan

A Shenzhen municipal official yesterday confirmed plans to build a third runway and a fourth

passenger terminal at Baoan airport by 2040, helping the city to compete with Hong Kong as a

regional air hub, reported the South China Morning Post.

Shenzhen airport is planning to open its third passenger terminal by the end of next year following the

opening of the second runway in July.

The third terminal is intended to help meet Shenzhen's forecast capacity of 45 million passengers by

2020. It will be connected to the existing terminals by underground passenger and freight links. Once

open, it will handle check-ins, arrivals and departures from terminals one and two.

Terminals one and two were designed to handle 15 million passengers. But passenger throughput

reached 26.7 million last year, Shenzhen vice-mayor Zhang Wen said.

Outlining revisions to Shenzhen airport's 2020 master plan, Huang Min, the director-general of the

transport committee at Shenzhen municipality, said the "ultimate goal" included developing an airport

that could handle 63 million people by 2040. This included a third runway parallel to the second

runway and a fourth terminal between the two runways. New cargo facilities are also planned, which

would boost air freight capacity to two million tonnes per year.

"In the long term, the existing freight area will be integrated and a new freight area will be built in the

north side of Terminal 4. By then, 4.5 million tonnes of freight throughput will be met annually,"

Huang told about 300 airline and airport executives at the China air cargo summit.

The revisions to the earlier master plan were carried out by the China Civil Aviation Airport

Construction Group and NACO, a Dutch airport planning consultant for the city's transport committee,

and the Shenzhen Airport (Group).

Wang Xianping, a general manager of airport advisory firm GCW Consulting, said there was no time

frame for developing the third runway or fourth terminal.

He said the runway was likely to be financed by the airport group or the municipality, adding officials

thought the terminal could be built under a public-private partnership. This could involve possibly

domestic and international funding development of the terminal in exchange for a long-term

build-and-operate concession.

GCW is involved in a mainland programme that envisages the development of 45 airports by 2015 to

take the total number to 220.

Shenzhen airport confirms third runway plan

Dreamliner rolls out of factory

PM tells Qantas and unions to resolve dispute


Huang said terminal three would have a ground transport centre that would contain metro and

mainline stations, including an interchange for the planned Hong Kong-Shenzhen airport express

railway and the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen intercity railway line.

Outlining the benefits from the airport's expansion, he said estimates showed a million passengers

generated US$181.9 million, while every 10,000 tonnes of freight produced $30.74 million of social

and economic benefit.

Huang said Shenzhen airport handled about 800,000 tonnes of freight last year, up 185 per cent from

2009. This followed the opening of the UPS Asia-Pacific cargo hub and the arrival of courier firm SF

Express.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China said cargo volumes this year had been hit by sluggish

economic prospects in Europe and North America and a slowdown in domestic cargo. Cargo volumes

in the first nine months grew by just 1.1 per cent.

But Chen Fanhua, a general manager of Shenzhen Airport, forecast cargo volumes could exceed 1.3

million tonnes by 2015, of which 650,000 tonnes was expected to be air express cargo.

"By 2020, we may handle one million tonnes of air express."

Back To Top

Dreamliner rolls out of factory

United Airlines said that Boeing has completed the final assembly of the airline’s first 787 Dreamliner,

finishing the first major step in the aircraft’s production.

United will be the first North American carrier to take a 787 delivery, with plans to introduce the first

of 50 Dreamliners into service in 2012.

While in final assembly, the aircraft moved through four factory positions, including the final aircraft

body join, landing gear installation, weight-on-wheels testing and installation of interior components

and systems.

Over the next several months, the aircraft will move to the next phase of completion, which includes

final cabin configuration, installation of engines and painting.

The aircraft’s use of light-weight composites, together with more electric systems, modern engines

and improved aerodynamic design, allows it to fly farther, faster and more efficiently.

Back To Top

PM tells Qantas and unions to resolve dispute

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard today added pressure on Qantas Airways and unions to resolve

a crippling industrial dispute that has grounded flights, telling both sides to "get on and do it",

reported Reuters.

The government warned this week it could intervene and force an end to the dispute which the airline

warned would ground aircraft and cut around 1,000 domestic flights a week.

Gillard said she would prefer Qantas and unions to resolve the long-running dispute themselves but

reiterated there were legal provisions for the government to intervene if a dispute had implications for

the nation's economy.

"Qantas and the relevant unions say they want to negotiate this dispute. Well, I think they should get

on and do it," Gillard was quoted as telling ABC radio.


Qantas said this week a prolonged dispute involving baggage handlers, ground staff, engineers and

increasingly pilots, would disrupt thousands of passengers, with flights to and from the major cities

like Sydney and Melbourne most affected.

Earlier this month, the industrial fight with unions turned violent, with racist threatening letters sent

to Qantas' chief Alan Joyce and other management, while the cars and homes of Qantas staff were

damaged after they refused to strike.

Qantas has been hit by a series of strikes triggered by a dispute over pay and conditions and plans to

cut domestic job cuts as the airline expands in Asia.

Back To Top

Global Terminal acts to double wharf space

As container ships keep getting bigger and bigger, Bayonne's Global Terminal is on track to more than

double its capacity to stay competitive with other regional ports, officials said.

A permit application filed with the US Army Corps of Engineers would allow Global Terminal to expand

its existing wharf to 4,000 ft – long enough to make it a four-berth container port – at 302 Port Jersey

Blvd, which straddles the border between Bayonne and Jersey City, reported The Jersey Journal.

Officials say the investment is needed to ensure the port, which generates roughly US$36 billion in

annual business activity, stays competitive beyond 2014, when larger container ships will be in use.

Jim Devine, president and CEO of Global Terminal and Container Services, said other ports in the

region, including Port Newark and Port Elizabeth, have already gotten the jump.

"We are playing catch-up," Devine said. "The facility has to evolve to handle the evolving ships."

At 1,800 ft, the existing wharf is 200 feet too short to handle two modern ships, officials said.

The new permit would allow Global Terminal to add an additional 1,340 ft of wharf to 900 ft already

under construction. Contractors are now dredging a 50-ft deep channel for the first phase, which is

slated to be complete in 2013.

The port, which is used by several major international shipping lines, including Hapag Lloyd Container

Line and NYK Line, is being prepared to handle post-Panamax ships.

Because the project would involve covering over 6.6 acres of wetlands and open water, the company

would create and restore 16 acres of wetlands in Moonachie Creek in Carlstadt, according to the

application.

Back To Top

Ship stuck on NZ reef spills fuel and boxes

Salvage teams raced today to resume pumping oil from a stricken container ship, which has almost

split into two pieces off the New Zealand coast, as businesses started to count the cost of the country's

worst environmental disaster in decades.

The Liberian-flagged Rena has been stuck for nine days on a reef 22 km off Tauranga on the east coast

of New Zealand's North Island, spilling about 300 tonnes of heavy toxic fuel and some of its hundreds

of containers into the sea, reported Reuters.

Authorities said the 236m ship was in a precarious position, as salvage teams prepared to cut holes in

the stern to get to the tanks holding more than 1,000 tonnes of fuel.

"What's holding the vessel together at the moment is the fact she's lying on the reef and some internal


structures,

companionways, ducting and the like inside the vessel," Maritime NZ spokesman Andrew Berry told a

meeting of local residents.

The salvage teams are working to install equipment and platforms on the high side of the aft section

of the 47,230-tonne ship, which is listing at up to 25 degrees, so they have a level surface to work on.

"There is some hope ... they might be able to start pumping oil tomorrow, but we cannot pin time

frames on things, that ship is very, very dangerous," said Matthew Watson of the Svitzer salvage

company.

He said oil leaks from the ship have slowed and there was a "reasonable level of confidence" that the

stern tanks are intact and would hold.

Oil has washed up along about 60 km of the coast, which is popular with surfers and fishermen.

Weather and sea conditions were favourable, but winds are expected to strengthen and may force the

salvage workers off the ship, which has lost 88 of its 1,360 containers.

An estimated 1,000 white-suited workers, including soldiers, wildlife experts and residents, were on

the beaches scraping and collecting clumps of the foul-smelling fuel oil cargo wreckage from the ship.

More than 220 tonnes of waste, including oil and debris from the ship, have been cleared from the

beaches.

Residents said the beaches were looking cleaner as the winds were now blowing oil out to sea allowing

clean up teams to make progress.

"It's much better than it has been, not that much oil is coming (on shore) and we seem to be getting

on top of it," said resident Liz Bridgeman.

Authorities said more than 3,000 people had volunteered to help clean up the coast and teams were

being trained to go where needed.

Preparations have been made in the small town of Whakatane, about 80 km down the coast from

Tauranga, should wind and currents push oil that far.

Tourism businesses in the district, which is a holiday spot renowned for good surfing waves and

big-game fishing, were reporting cancellations, and some were fearing for their survival.

"Effectively, I think a lot of people will have to sell their business or go under," said surf school operator,

Bjorn Waling.

The area's chamber of commerce is working with government agencies on possible short-term

subsidies and payments to affected businesses.

The ship's captain and second officer, both from the Philippines, have been charged and remanded on

bail, accused of operating the ship in a dangerous manner.

But the mayor of Tauranga dismissed an apology from the ship's owners, Greece-based Costamare

Shipping Inc. "It's half an apology and a lot of excuse, no it's not good enough, I'd like to see the ship's

owner come to Tauranga and stand up in front of our people," Stuart Crosby said on TVNZ.

Back To Top

Maersk sells LNG unit for $1.4b

Danish industrial conglomerate A.P. Moller-Maersk has reached a deal to sell its liquefied-natural-gas

transport unit Maersk LNG, as it refocuses on its shipping, container and oil businesses, reported the

Wall Street Journal.

The LNG unit, which owns and operates a fleet of six LNG carriers and owns 26 percent stakes in


another two vessels, has been purchased jointly by Teekay LNG Operating and Japan's Marubeni

Corporation for US$1.4 billion on a cash and debt-free basis, Maersk said.

Maersk has sought a buyer for Maersk LNG since it announced its intention of divesting the unit in May.

The company said the LNG unit doesn't have the scale to influence how the industry develops.

"As Maersk LNG is not within those core business areas where the group intends to invest, the

conclusion is that Maersk LNG would benefit from a different ownership," the company said.

Maersk said the agreement comprises all of Maersk's LNG vessels and the stakes it owns in carriers.

The transaction remains subject to customer consent and regulatory approval and is expected to be

completed during the fourth quarter of 2011, Maersk said.

Back To Top

Asia faces turmoil if world enters recession, says bank

Global trade volumes could drop by up to 15 percent by early next year if the world enters a recession

similar to the downturn caused by the 2008 financial crisis, Standard Chartered Bank's chief

economist for Asia warned yesterday.

Nicholas Kwan said Asian economies would also be hit if trade collapsed as a result of deeper financial

problems in the euro zone, triggered by a Greek default, according to the South China Morning Post.

"In the next six months, the decline in trade could be 10-15 percent globally. In Asia it would be

slightly less and China less still," he told the Trans-Pacific Maritime conference in Shenzhen.

By comparison, global trade slumped 25 percent between 2008 and 2009. In China, trade volumes

dropped by 12 percent and in the rest of Asia by 20 percent over the same period, Kwan said.

He said the mainland and Asia were now more exposed to Europe's financial problems than they were

during the 2008 crisis, indicating there could be a deeper impact on trade over the longer term. This

is because Germany and France, whose financial institutions are heavily exposed if Greece defaults,

are big trade partners of Asian economies.

Kwan said the recent Greek bailout agreement reached by Germany and France offered some

optimism. But uncertainty over the euro zone's financial woes would not be lifted until at least

December when the International Monetary Fund would be due to decide whether to release US12

billion in aid to Greece.

Kwan also doubted "China could save the world again" as it did three years ago because the

mainland's debt levels had already soared over stimulus packages.

Its current debt levels are now similar to several European economies at around 70-80 percent,

compared to about 20 per cent of gross domestic product three years ago.

But Kwan said it would not take too much extra spending to push China to reach a position where its

debt-to-GDP ratio was close 100 per cent, similar to the US level.

He said one of the main reasons trade was badly hit in 2008 was the virtual freeze on bank lending to

support trade finance, but financial institutions were now better prepared and had built liquidity

reserves.

But shipping executives indicated that Kwan was being overly bearish because he did not take into

account growth in emerging economies such as those in Latin America and Africa.

Rodolphe Saadé, a senior executive with French shipping group CMA CGM, said: "Emerging markets

are growing quite strongly. We need to be careful when we look at 2012."

He said container trade volumes were growing year on year - a view echoed by Rod Riseborough, CEO

of Container Trade Statistics, who said trade volumes between Asia and Latin America were growing

by around 16 percent a year, while trade growth from Asia to Europe was set to climb five percent this


year.

But Brian Conrad, from the US industry group Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement, said

there were mixed signals in future trade due to political uncertainty. He said manufacturers and

suppliers were unable to give forecasts up to December, when they could previously give five-month

estimates.

Back To Top

Documents

News Letter