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Tosca Bonardi passes CMA Student Propeller Club
President Hat to Emily Arquette
The Propeller club of Los Angeles-Long Beach would like to thank Tosca Bonardi for her tireless work and dedication to the CMA Student Propeller Club. She will be missed!
It is a bittersweet moment in which we bid farewell to Tosca and welcome Emily Arquette as the new President! Emily comes with glowing recommendations and we look forward to working with her and offering
her our support in any way possible!

NEW SHIPPING LINE DEBUTS AT PORT OF
LOS ANGELES’ TRAPAC FACILITIES

SAN PEDRO, Calif. — May 3, 2010 — The Port of Los Angeles today welcomed
a new shipping line, The Containership Company (TCC) to the TraPac container terminal in Los Angeles. TCC will be importing and exporting goods and products between the Los Angeles region and China’s Jiangsu province, a major inland industrial and manufacturing region 40 miles northwest of Shanghai.
TCC’s Taicang Dragon vessel arrived Sunday and will be unloaded, then loaded
with exports and depart on Tuesday. Upon entering the Port of Los Angeles, it
was greeted with a customary welcoming escort and salute from the Los Angeles Fire Boat “Warner Lawrence.”
The Containership Company will operate a weekly service between Los Angeles and the Port of Taicang in the Jiangsu province of China.
For more information about The Containership Company, visit:
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/newsroom/2010_releases/news_031210_newcargoservice.asp
For downloading high-resolution photographs of the Taicang Dragon’s arrival, click here:
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/temp/tcc1.jpg
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/temp/tcc5.jpg
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/temp/tcc9.jpg
http://www.portoflosangeles.org/temp/tcc3.jpg
Contact for The Containership Company:
Jakob Tolstrup-Møller
Chief Executive Officer
The Containership Company
Phone: + 47 6711 3000
Email: Jakob.Tolstrup-Moller@Containership-Company.com
CARRIERS MOVING FROM SURVIVAL MODE TO RECOVERY MODE
When the economy begin to nose dive in 2008, ocean carriers began cutting rates to keep market share, Hyundai Merchant Marine Vice President David Arsenault told the Propeller Club on Wednesday in Long Beach. That was not sustainable, he said. When you are losing money on every transaction, you can’t make it up in volume.
Then the carriers went into survival mode. Now, wounded but wiser, ocean
carriers are beginning to cautiously emerge into a new world with lots of
remaining capacity and reduced demand. It’s going to be a while for that
demand to catch up with supply, Arsenault said.
The forecast for 2010 is mixed. Most economists are estimating a 6 percent to 7 percent growth in global trade. The most optimistic are predicting a 15 percent growth, he said. So far this year, the trade statistics are looking good with a 17 percent year-over-year increase in January. February is looking like it could hit 30 percent, he said. The first half could average out at about a 25 percent boost, but some of that is replenishing inventory. That kind of growth will not be sustainable throughout the year, he said.
The current economic downturn is the first time that all global trade lanes were down substantially. In previous downturns, global carriers could reduce the number of vessels in one trade lane and redeploy them to another. The
one-trade-lane carriers were more vulnerable. This time there was no place to redeploy, so ship owners have scrapped some vessels and laid up others at anchor.
The ships laid up at various anchorages are an ongoing expense for the owners, who are still supporting a small onboard crew, paying finance charges, and performing maintenance. The ships usually have a load of empty containers, stored onboard in order to avoid the expense of storing them on land. The owners are anxious to get those vessels back in service.
One of the tactics shipping lines are expected to use during the recovery is slow steaming. Standard cruising speed for most vessels is about 24 knots (27.6 mph). Slow steaming reduces that to about 20 knots (23 mph), and super slow steaming takes it down to 12 knots (13.8 mph).
There are some benefits. Slow steaming slows the actual transit time by only a few hours, but allows an extra ship to be put into the string, Arsenault said. Slow steaming saves money for fuel and also is more environmentally favorable.
Despite slow steaming, it will still be a while before the surplus capacity is employed. The first 90 percent of the slots that are filled on a ship cover the overhead. It’s the last 10 percent that accounts for the profit, Arsenault pointed out.
About 39 percent of the ships in the Asia to U.S. trade are currently slow steaming, and the jury is still out on the benefits of super slow steaming. There are some concerns about possible engine wear at extended slower speeds.
Between 1995 and 2008 there was a 122 percent growth in global trade. There is a two- or three-year lead time in ordering new vessels, so many vessels that were ordered during that period are getting ready for delivery now, he said.
Reprinted with permission from The Cunningham Report
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