Barcelona Europe South Terminal

Hutchison Port Holdings Limited (HPH) subsidiary Barcelona Europe South Terminal (BEST) achieved a new record on 16th May when it moved 7,760 TEU on the call of the MSC Beatrice. A total of eight ship-to-shore gantry cranes were deployed simultaneously for the operation, achieving a peak Vessel Operating Rate of 221.3 moves per hour. BEST has 1,500 metres of quay length, eleven ship-toshore cranes, as well as 36 automatic stacking cranes and 26 shuttle carriers, allowing it to serve the largest vessels currently in operation. BEST’s average gross crane rate (GCR) of 40 moves per hour is one of the highest productivity ratios in the world. This extremely high level of crane productivity makes it possible for BEST to achieve vessel performance rates over 220 moves per hour.

OPDR

Oldenburg-Portugiesische Dampfschiffs-Rhederei (OPDR), a subsidiary of CMA CGM, began its new CAVA service on 7th June to connect the Spanish east coast with northern European ports, including St. Petersburg. The new service links the major Spanish ports of Valencia and Cartagena to four of the main ports in northern Europe: Tilbury, Antwerp, Rotterdam, and St. Petersburg. The company employs six 1,800 TEU container vessels capable of carrying pallet-wide equipment on the service. On 26th May, OPDR announced a revised AGAX service connecting northern Europe with Morocco, the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands. The service now includes the port of Rouen, providing a direct connection between northern France and Morocco. The upgraded rotation shortens transit times from Rouen to Casablanca to four days. Three 700 TEU ships are deployed on the new AGAX service.

Hapag-Lloyd

In April the second of the two 3,500 TEU capacity ships purchased from the Dutch shipping company NileDutch, the NileDutch Rotterdam, officially changed hands. The 39,106gt/2015 built, 222m long and 35m wide vessel has now been renamed the Antofagasta Express and sails under the Chilean flag. The ship, with a capacity of 3,500 TEU, was rechristened by Hapag-Lloyd and takes her new name from the Chilean port city of Antofagasta. Together with the second new acquisition, the San Antonio Express, and two recently chartered vessels of identical construction, the Antofagasta Express will be deployed in the Conosur service, which covers twelve ports, from Guayaquil on the western coast of South America to Rio de Janeiro on the eastern coast of the continent. These wide-beam ships have both a shallow draught and a high transport capacity. Their shape makes them excellently suited for South America’s often shallow ports. In addition, each of them is outfitted with 466 reefer plugs, which makes them ideally configured to transport temperature- sensitive foodstuffs.

Maersk Line

Maersk Group beached its first two ships for recycling in Alang, India in May 2016. The 50,698gt/1996 built Maersk Wyoming and the 50,698gt/1997 built Maersk Georgia are being recycled at the Shree Ram yard in Alang which is certified to the standards of the Hong Kong Convention. The market for ship recycling is dominated by practices unchanged for decades. Out of a total of 768 ships recycled globally in 2015, 469 (representing 74% of the total gross tonnage scrapped) were sold to facilities on beaches in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh with challenges to workers and the environment. The Maersk Group’s policy is to only recycle ships responsibly. Until recently, this was only feasible in a limited number of yards in China and Turkey. On 24th May Maersk Line announced the optimisation of its AC network with the launch of its AC1 service, connecting the West Coast of Latin America with Asia. The new service will provide Maersk Line’s customers an improved product, including reduced transit times and greater port coverage on certain corridors, while maintaining the network’s stability. The AC1 service began operations at the end of June. Other benefits of the AC1 service include the only direct service in the market from Nansha to West Coast South America, the fastest service from Chiwan to San Antonio and Callao (27 days), a direct service from Shanghai to West Coast South America, 2 weekly sailings from Shanghai and Ningbo to West Coast South America and a direct call from San Vicente, Chile, to Taiwan. Maersk Line’s existing product offering from China, Korea and Japan to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean via Panama will be maintained fully on the AC2 and AC3 services.

CMA CGM

CMA CGM has awarded COSCO Singapore, the shipbuilding arm of state-owned conglomerate China Cosco Shipping Group, an order for a quartet of 3,300 TEU capacity container vessels. Cosco Zhoushan Shipyard, a unit of the company’s 51%-owned subsidiary Cosco Shipyard Group, signed the deal and the vessels are expected to be delivered between 31st March 2018, and 31st August 2018, with both parties agreeing to keep the contract price confidential for now.

On 6th June CMA CGM S.A launched an all-cash voluntary conditional general offer for all outstanding shares of Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL). CMA CGM currently owns 10.5% of all NOL shares, and intends to delist and privatise NOL through the offer. In acceptance of the offer, NOL’s majority shareholders (Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited and its affiliates), which own 66.78% of all NOL shares, will tender all of their NOL shares. The offer price was SGD 1.30 per NOL share in cash, totalling in $2.43 billion. CMA CGM believes that the acquisition of NOL would enable it to reach a capacity of approximately 2.35 million TEUs, a market share of approximately 11.7%, a fleet of approximately 540 vessels and a combined annual turnover of approximately $21 billion. The move follows approvals by the relevant regulatory authorities in the European Union and China.

On 9th June CMA CGM S.A. satisfied the acceptance condition in its all-cash voluntary conditional general offer for Neptune Orient Lines Limited (NOL), after NOL’s majority shareholders (Temasek and its affiliates) tendered all of their shares in acceptance of the Offer. The Offer was therefore declared to be wholly unconditional.

CONTAINERSHIPS, the Finnish container shipping firm, has pushed back the delivery of its first of four short sea LNG-powered vessels until early 2018 due to a change in the shipyard, the company said. The Chinese Yangzhou Guoyu Shipyard was initially entrusted with the construction, however the company did not disclose which shipyard has been selected as a potential replacement. Renegotiations of the two company-own-financed vessels and two other vessels are ongoing, the company added. As a result, the first four of six dual-fuel engine-technology vessels are targeted to be delivered during 2018 instead of 2017 as had been planned. Each ship is set to accommodate up to 639 units of 45-foot containers and have a total capacity of 1,400 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Containerships will be chartering the ships over the long term. The owner and technical manager will be GNS Shipping/Nordic Hamburg, while Arkon will be the commercial manager.

Great Southern Shipping Australia

Great Southern Shipping Australia (GSS) and China’s Rizhao Port Group are joining forces to purchase five containerships, to be flagged with the Australian International Shipping Register (AISR), to focus on Australia’s coastal trades and voyages to Rizhao in northern China’s Shandong province. The new venture plans to expand the fleet to 10 ships and to move the weekly service to twice a week as the business expands.

UASC

UASC shareholders voted on 2nd June to back the merger with Hapag-Lloyd although there had not yet been a vote to approve a deal. UASC, which is owned by Gulf governments, said the merger talks were discussed at an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) for shareholders at the company’s office in Dubai. If a deal is reached it will create a group with an estimated combined enterprise value of around €7 billion to €8 billion ($7.8-$8.9 billion).

The Alliance

Container shipping companies Hanjin, Hapag-Lloyd, K Line, Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Nippon Yusen Kaisha and Yang Ming have confirmed the creation of a new alliance, called THE Alliance, covering all East- West trade lanes. A five-year agreement has been concluded, and the new alliance is scheduled to commence operations in April 2017 subject to regulatory approval. The six members of the new partnership have more than 620 ships with a combined capacity of around 3.5 million TEU, giving The Alliance an 18% share of the global container fleet capacity. The new group will be a formidable rival to the 2M and Ocean Three alliances. This new conglomerate only has room for one South Korean member, according to a government official in Seoul, which now trigger a merger between Hanjin Shipping and Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM). HMM has repeatedly stressed it is keen to join The Alliance once its restructuring process is completed.