fleetMaritime: IRISH SHIPPING & FREIGHT
MARITIME 1 | 25
Compiled by Howard Knott Edited by Jarlath Sweeney email: maritime@fleet.ie
Volume 8, No. 3 Summer 2013
Multimodal 2013 – a visitor's view
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Derry and some of her team arrived and joined the conversation which, by then, was turning to whether or not there might ever be a direct ferry route from Ireland to Spain. General view was that a weekend sailing from Ireland might fly.
obert Jervis and his team have staged ‘Multimodal’ at the NEC in Birmingham for each of the last six years, and the event has grown steadily throughout the recession. It runs over three days and has a strong mix of exhibitors large and small and an ever stronger line-up of Seminars both within the main Exhibition Hall and in adjoining Meeting Rooms.
On the other side of the Hall, Damian McGrath, Commercial Manager of Seatruck Ferries was busy and more than happy with the level of interest in the company and its services. He told me that its withdrawal from the Belfast/ Heysham route and re-deployment of vessels better suited to market conditions on other routes, had greatly improved the company’s fi nancial position. The level of interest at the Show would seem to support his view that 2013 would be a good year for Seatruck.
Right from the start Multimodal has had strong Irish support both in terms of stands and visitors. In some cases such as Dascher Logistics, itsalongside Irish agent alongside its British team joined representatives from the parent company on the stand, thus adding greatly to the local value for those interested in doing business in Ireland. Niall Hickey, Sales Manager at Johnston Logistics told us about the very substantial and growing groupage volumes coming in nightly through its Cologne hub, and volumes for all over Europe and further afield shipping through Manchester.
In the midst of all of the big stands and transport operators one small one stood out for me. I spoke with Max Carling at Levatonplatforms. com about his invention, a metal pallet type platform that he designed so as to be able to put delicate objects, in his case initially, restored Classic cars, into 20 ft containers. The car is totally secured to the platform which is secured in the container using the standard lashing points. Having, in my earlier life, had heart stopping moments as container doors were opened having conveyed prized cars across the North and Irish Seas, I was completely taken by Max’s simple idea.
Over on the Woodside Distribution Group stand, Carson McMullan, incoming President of BIFA (British International Freight Association) was promoting both the activities of All Route Shipping and its Ships’ Agency arm, W.E.Williames as well as taking the opportunity to network with a number of the Shipping Lines represented and organisations including the Rail Freight Group, the FTA and others with similar agenda to BIFA. At the very substantial Stena Freight stand, I met Frank Nieuwenhuys, the long-time Freight Commercial Manager for UK & Ireland who will leave Stena at the end of June. Richard Horswill, the Birkenhead based Head of Freight for UK & Ireland, and Hook of Holland based Rob Mittelmeijer were also on the stand and very much promoting the new Stena Line Freight slogan, ‘Freight is great’. Though they insist that Stena Line maintains its strong focus on its passenger and car business, there is a new, much more freight mindset within the Gothenburg based company.
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In speaking with the Stena people about the likely response to the imposition of significantly higher pollution control standards, their general view
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was that, having modified their fuel surcharging rating system to reflect the cost of fuel on the vessels in use on the specific service, it would be able retain customer confidence as the volumes of low sulphur fuel being consumed rises and with it the surcharges. Richard spoke about Stena’s move into rail freight, with twice weekly trains from Verona to Kiel linked to the ferry service from there to Gothenburg for unaccompanied trailers while Rob Mittelmeijer spoke about similar rail links from both Italy and Poland to the Stena Hook of Holland terminal. Bridget
There was a huge range of topics covered by the Seminars. I was particularly interested by those on Low Sulphur Fuel and on PortCentric Logistics. One thought from the fi rst one was that a less sophisticated Bio-Fuel might be developed for Ship propulsion with a price considerably less than the diesel oil alternative. At the Port Centric Logistics session which included speakers from the soon to be opened DP World, London Gateway, PD Ports at Teesport and Stephen Carr of Liverpool based, Peel Ports, I think that I slightly upset the applecart by suggesting that discharging ocean containers near the Quay at the import Port meant that exporters would be starved of boxes. Peel Ports were ‘on-side’ on this one, but that’s a story for another day. Roll on Multimodal 2014.
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FREIGHT FERRY SERVICES FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 2013
26 | MARITIME 11
Multimodal 2013 – NEC Birmi
“A
roaring success” is how event organiser Robert Jar vis described the 6th running of the only UK & Ireland event for the freight and transport sectors. With over 6000 visitors, an increase of more than
18% on last year “packed seminar sessions, an over-subscribed VIP Dinner and a busy hog roast party rounded it all off nicely”, commented Robert. “Rebookings for 2014 are exceptionally brisk,” he added. To be held from 29th April – 1st May, it runs alongside
the CV Show 2014 in the vast exhibitions arena that is the NEC, Birmingham. AEROTAILS – www.aerotails.com From Bath, the Roman innovation heritage must rub-off at Aerotails as it develops low cost aerodynamic kits for vans, and trucks (side skirts) that are easy to repair. Fitt ing is superquick too! ANALYTIQA – www.analytiqa.com Research agency Analytiqa recently conducted a survey with Grant Thornton to reveal that the tough economic landscape is likely to remain in the near future. Mark O’Bornick and Conor Anderson were present.
AEROTAILS
ANALYTIQA
BPW – www.bpw.co.uk The German companies new TCONTROL telematics system was launched which includes EBS monitoring, provides real-time data such as track n’ trace, trailer speed and maintenance plans, etc. DACHSER – www.dachser.co.uk Niall Hickey and Albert Johnston represented Johnston Logistics, the Irish agents for Dachser, one of EU’s leading global logistics players. Albert showed us the plans for a new integrated centre in Northampton.
BPW
DENNISON TRA ILERS – www.dennisontrailers.com With two manufacturing plants in Ireland (Naas) and UK (Lancaster), Dennison Trailers is a leading name in the industry with its award winning gooseneck skeletals designed to suit 12.2m (40 ft) containers.
DACHSER
DENNISON TRA ILERS
KRONE TRA ILERS – www.krone.de As Europe’s largest inter-modal swap body producer, Krone offers a broad range of insulated trailers, chassis, skeletals with special designs for the UK and Ireland markets. LEVATON PLATFORMS – www.levatonplatforms.com A new simple way to ship vehicles and fragile cargo in ISO containers, the Levaton Platforms feature no moving parts, has a lifespan of 10 years and a working load of 5500kg and is made to fit 20 and 40 ft containers.
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KRONE TRA ILERS
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FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 2013
LEVATON PLATFORMS
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IRISH SEA ROUTES
MARITIME 111 | 27
mingham UK, 23-25 April 2013 MCCULLA (IRELAND) LTD – www.mcculla.co.uk “Superior solutions from a unique customer focused team,” is the working mission theme from the Lisburn headquartered fi rm. McCulla provides temperature-controlled storage and distribution companies serving the UK, all of Ireland and Europe.
UKWA/AIWA – www.ukwa.org.uk Pictured at the announcement that the UKWA/ AIWA UK and Irish Warehousing Association has adopted Transaid as its official charity. John Maguire, Roger Wiliams (UKWA/AIWA) and Gary Forster represented Transaid.
MONTRACON – www.montracon.com News from the Northern Irish manufacturer is its appointment as sole agent for Europe for Swinglift , the New Zealand designed trailer mounted container handling system that lift s/ drops ISO containers. NARROW AISLE – www.flexi.co.uk Plans are afoot at Narrow Aisle to expand production facilities at its Tipton Headquarters whereby increased numbers of its Flexi articulated forklift trucks can roll-off to meet demand from the UK and abroad. PROTEUS – www.proteussoft ware.com Among the number of exhibitors on the UKWA stand was Proteus which specialises in warehouse/transport management and supply chain soft ware. Linda Rodway was pleased with the high number of enquiries.
MCCULLA (IRELAND) LTD
MONTRACON
NARROW AISLE
PROTEUS
SDC TRA ILERS
TERBERG DTS (UK)
TEREX
UKWA/AIWA
SDC TRA ILERS – www.sdctrailers.com A nother Northern Irish based trailer manufacturer to exhibit here is fresh from gaining a big order of 250 new curtainsiders/ skeletals from Hireco. SDC sponsored the local Mid-Ulster Truck Festival held last May. TERBERG DTS (UK) – www.terberg.dts.co.uk The number one supplier of Sea Port, industrial and distribution fi ft h wheel tractors offers 24/7 365 days a year support. Trailers, forklift s, aviation equipment and other services are provided.
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TEREX – www.terexportsolutions.com Tailor-made handling solutions from a single source is on offer here whether it’s loading, unloading, transport, storage or handling. Derek Robson, Company Representative, is keen to trace his Mayo roots!
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Text: Rob Van Dieten - rob@fleet.ie
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EUROPEAN ROUTES FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 2013
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IMDO Publication highlights ten years of changes In the cruise ship business almost all of the Ports had a good year in 2012, with many smaller Ports welcoming their fi rst calls. Dublin hosted 87 visits but Belfast harbour showed the strongest increase with 45 stop-off s, up by 45% from the previous year. The Document also contains not only an analysis of the development of the Irish and world economies over the ten year period, but its concluding section goes into the developments in world shipping and the drivers of those developments. (The IMDO IMTE can be found on the website, www.imdo.ie)
Maritime Minutes
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n launching the tenth annual edition of the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO) “Irish Marine Transport Economist”, its CEO Glenn Murphy pointed to significant developments over that period. In the last ten years 484 million freight tonnes have passed through Ports on the island of Ireland with ever more of that cargo packed in containers. About 11.7 million 20ft equivalent boxes (TEU) passed over the Irish Quays, while another significant growth area was the number of cruise vessel calls. In 2003 there were 127 such visits, in 2012 there were 229 while 2013 promises significantly higher figures again. On the World stage the order book for container ships with over 8000 TEU has increased eleven fold since 2003. Within the Report this deep sea vessel order book is analysed in further detail with the explosion in numbers of vessels significantly
larger than 8,000 TEU being built as Shipping Lines seek to further drive down costs. Looking at the significant business sectors for Ireland, the Report states that Bulk cargoes which collapsed with the economic downturn have now recovered strongly and have returned to 2003 levels. Animal Feed imports increased by 34% in 2012 over the previous year and, in fact, Agri-related products accounted for 22% of the total dry bulk market in 2012.
The Irish Continental Group has reported on its fi rst quarter for 2013, the period up to 11 May. The Eucon subsidiary which operates the Lo-Lo container business had a very strong growth during the period with a 10% volume increase of carryings to 102,100 TEU. Ro-Ro freight volumes also increased with a 6.4% higher figure at 71,000 units, while passenger and car volumes slipped. The Company’s container terminal operation in Dublin’s business held steady while that at Belfast dropped by 3.4%.
On the Lo-Lo container market Dublin remained the leading port accounting for 55% of the total unit throughput with a 1% volume increase to 527,734 TEU. Dublin also led the field in the RoRo trailer sector with a throughput of 719,121 units which is almost more than the throughput of the next three largest Ports in this sector, Belfast, Larne and Rosslare. The Maersk Container Group has launched the fi rst of 20 sister ships. Each will have a capacity of 18,270 TEU’s and a length of 399.25 metres. Some indication of the speed of progress of ship design can be seen from the fact that the current largest vessels in the Maersk Fleet, some of which are only now entering trade, have a capacity of 15,500 TEU but the cost of carrying each container is 35% more on the older vessels that the new series.
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The Port of Shanghai has surged further ahead in the World Container Port rankings with a 9.3% increase in throughput in 2011 over the previous year to 31.74 million TEU. Th is is over 40 times more than the combined Irish Port throughput. Europe’s number 1 Port remains Rotterdam with a 2011 throughput of 11.88 million TEU.
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FLEETMARITIME | SUMMER 2013
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