Table of Contents
Hapag Lloyd to start real-time box tracking
Hapag-Lloyd is to begin installing new real-time tracking and telemetry devices across their fleet of standard containers at the end of the month.
This will entail investment of around $250m across the shipping line’s 1.6 million boxes. While many reefer containers are already fitted with such equipment, Hapag-Lloyd is considered a first-mover in equipping ordinary containers with tracking, which includes GPS location data, temperature measurement and the logging of sudden vibrations like shocks to the container.
The carrier said today its Hapag-Lloyd LIVE product would be available to customers from early next year and, by the end of next year, its entire fleet of containers will be trackable using the new equipment.
“The new technology will offer us the advantages of being able to create visibility, detect delays earlier, automatically inform any affected customers and initiate the appropriate countermeasures,” said Hapag-Lloyd.
Stefan Kalmund, CEO of Nexxiot, which is providing the tracking devices, recently said he believes Hapag-Lloyd’s offer will be a tipping-point for mass adoption of tracking hardware on containers – the beginning of a “megatrend.”
He added:
“There will be a race between shipping lines to follow Hapag-Lloyd. The moment you have a device sitting on a container measuring temperature, humidity and so on, you create the option to offer new services. Shipping lines want that capability.”
An incidental benefit of the tracking and telemetry devices is likely to be better safety on board ships, as the live tracking of the temperature inside each container brings the obvious benefit of being able to pinpoint fires immediately they start.
New biosecurity measures to combat the threat of Foot and Mouth disease
As many are aware, Australia’s biosecurity measures have been ramped up over the last several months in response to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) in Indonesia.
On confirmation that FMD had spread to Bali, additional controls were immediately imposed at major airports and international mail centres to protect Australia from this threat. This has required a significant redirection of resources with operations at airports focusing on travellers arriving in Australia from Indonesia who present a risk of carrying FMD into Australia through contaminated footwear or clothing, or bringing risk goods such as meat and dairy.
The Department of Agriculture recognises that vessels and containers also present potential pathways for the virus and measures are already in place which extend to all countries with FMD, not just Indonesia.
In May this year, vessel masters and shipping agents were reminded of their obligations to ensure requirements for cleaning and disinfection of conveyances are strictly adhered to (industry notice 74-2022). In early July, requirements for additional footbaths for entry and exit to livestock vessels whilst docked at port were implemented, and MARS directions updated.
Should additional measures be necessary across the cargo and commercial vessel pathways, we will engage with relevant industry groups and issue further advice.
Empty Container Congestion Spikes
Empty shipping container congestion has spiked again around Australian again in recent weeks, leaving importers and their transport providers incurring added costs from empty de-hire delays, yard storage of empties, futile trucks trips, and additional administration.
The congestion and delays come off the back of a relatively positive month in June when over 80,000 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Units) of empties were evacuated by shipping lines through Port Botany, with a Load/Discharge Ratio of 1.07. Unfortunately since then, weather events in Sydney have led to unforeseen reductions in the movement of empty containers away from Port Botany, leaving the main Empty Container Parks (ECPs) at or near capacity.
The ECPs have not been able to accept additional empty equipment for their client shipping lines and are asking importers /transport operators to contact shipping lines for de-hire alternatives, which are not forthcoming. It takes only slightly higher import volumes, caused in large part by off-window vessel arrivals and bunching, and larger container exchanges from those vessels, coupled with delays due to weather events or other issues impacting on ECP capacity, and the system becomes chaotic and unsustainable.
Trucks are driving from ECP to ECP looking for a de-hire location, only to be told by ECP operations staff that they aren’t accepting that equipment anymore due to capacity constraints, or that a redirection has been notified.
This is despite the transport operator having a valid Notification Window slot booking through the Containerchain truck-arrival notification system which aren’t being accepted in good faith.
Industry Advocates have seen numerous email exchanges with shipping lines where they have been unable to advise an alternative de-hire option, yet they are also reluctant to issue immediate waivers or extensions to container detention fee policies even though they cannot offer adequate de-hire capacity.
Chinese Military Drills in Taiwan
China has been conducting large-scale military drills and missile tests around Taiwan in a defiant show of force after House speaker Nancy Pelosi became the highest-ranking US politician to land on the island in a quarter century.
Beijing announced six exclusion zones encircling Taiwan to facilitate live-fire military drills from Thursday to Sunday, with some of the areas crossing into the island’s territorial waters.
The size and scope of the areas could set the stage for the Chinese military’s most provocative actions near Taiwan in decades. Separately, the People’s Liberation Army said exercises could start as soon as Tuesday, leaving open the possibility of military activities around Taiwan while Pelosi was visiting.
The operations include “long-range live firing in the Taiwan Strait” and “regular-guided fire testing in the eastern waters” off Taiwan from Tuesday evening, the PLA said.
During the military drills, “relevant ships and aircraft should not enter the above sea areas and airspaces during this period,” the official Xinhua News Agency said in a report late Tuesday, which gave coordinates for the exercises. The exercises highlight the risk that Taiwan tensions could exacerbate existing supply chain woes.
The Taiwan Strait is the primary route for ships passing from China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to points west. Almost half of the global container fleet and 88% of the world’s largest ships by tonnage passed through the waterway this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
German Port and Rail Disruption Ahead
From the 9th August up to the 15th August, activists have called for civil disobedience and disruptive actions around the port of Hamburg.
Both land and water based actions are to be expected in the Hamburg port area as a result. There is expected to be blockades of roads, bridges and waterways as well as climbing actions (including chaining) at important transport links and access roads to terminals.
Similar incidents involving rebel group, ‘Extinction Rebellion, XR’ have already occurred in Hamburg in the past (blockades: Feb. 2022 Köhlbrandbrücke, Nov. 2021 Schlump). This will certainly not improve the ongoing tense situation in Hamburg where there is currently still a landside delay of at least 12 hours at all terminals.
Due to this, volume has been shifting further and further west for months, which means that Bremerhaven and Wilhelmshaven are also still at the limit of their capacity. The situation at the ARA (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Antwerp) ports is also becoming increasingly tense and is now nearly similar to that in the German ports.
As a result of the fact that the rivers hardly carry any water anymore, almost all inland waterway shipments are cancelled, so at the start of the drought period, as every year, many deliveries were switched to rail.
As a result, many of the rail depots are now at capacity around the ARA, resulting in many trains having to sit idle or having their service cancelled. The consequence of this now is that a large part of the cargo is now transported by road, which means handling at the truck depots is also reaching capacity.
To deal with the rising costs and delays, many carriers have begun to increase their surcharges with no quick fix in sight for the inland challenges.