Irish Freight & Logistics Monthly – Jun ’11

Irish Port & Shipping Volumes Up in 1st Quarter 2011

The volume of shipping and port traffic on the majority of the principal sectors grew during the first quarter of 2011, this is according to the latest figures released today by the Irish Maritime Development Office (IMDO).

The first quarter data shows moderate trade volume growth in four of the five principal freight segments;

• Total lift-on/ lift-off (lo/lo) trades volumes grew by 3%.
• Roll-on/Roll-off export traffic was also up 2% per cent on an all island basis.
• Dry bulk volumes through ROI ports increased by 21%
• Breakbulk volumes were also up 25%
• The tanker/liquid market was the only sector to record a decline, down by -12% compared to the same period last year.

Roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) traffic on an all-Island basis continued to make a steady recovery increasing, by 2%, with 390,334 ro/ro units being shipped in the 1st quarter. The ro/ro segment is largely weighted towards services to and from the UK which remains our largest trading partner. Exports units in this sector were up 3% while imports declined by -1%.

Shipping Lines Get Tough Over EU Cargo Information Rules

The shipping industry has warned its customers that failure to comply with new EU regulations will mean fines and their cargo will not be loaded. The new regulations, requiring cargo information 24 hours before shipment, came into force on 1 January, but for the first six months, compliance was not strictly enforced, to allow companies time to get used to them.

However, from 1 July, the Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) regulation will be fully enforced, meaning carriers will refuse to load cargo if the requirements are not met.

The new regulation allows EU Customs to perform a security risk assessment before goods enter the EU. It requires that shipping companies receive an ENS – which includes information such as the bill of lading number and shipper and consignee name and address – 24 hours before loading the cargo on a vessel that will call at an EU port, or, for shortsea traffic, two hours before entry at its first EU port.

It applies to all goods brought into EU customs territory, cargo transhipped via an EU port – even if it has a non-EU final destination – or cargo remaining on board a vessel calling en-route at an EU port.

Maersk Line warned customers: “The European Customs Advanced Manifest rule will be strictly enforced from 1 July and failure to comply may lead to penalties and/or fines.

Container Volumes Continue to Grow

Moderate growth in container volumes across Europe seen in the beginning of the year have continued in March, according to Hackett Associates and the Bremen Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics.

The latest Global Port Tracker: North Europe Trade Outlook said low volumes in February led to a relatively weak quarter, with a total of 5.52 million teu. This represents a 2.1% increase over the previous quarter and an 8.9% year on year gain. In February it predicted imports in the first quarter of 2011 to increase 7.3% year on year.

Import volumes for March were up 8.6% year on year and 6% month on month. Export volumes for March were, at 1 million teu, 16.1% up on the previous month and 7.8% higher than March 2010. Meanwhile, Ben Hackett, Founder of Hackett Associates, predicts trade to grow only in single digits this year, despite capacity increasing in double digits.

“The carriers will be under considerable pressure as freight rates remain weak. One can certainly expect to see a return to laying up ships in the coming months.”

The Global Port Tracker monitors six North European ports: Le Havre, Antwerp, Zeebrugge, Rotterdam, Bremen/Bremerhaven and Hamburg.

The ports of Zeebrugge and Hamburg were the only ports to see a decrease in incoming volumes in March, while Antwerp was the only port to experience double-digit increases.

Analyst Alphaliner has reported that the total volumes of containership deliveries in 2013 could hit 2 million teu, reigniting concerns that overcapacity could once again become an issue.

It forecasts that total capacity in 2013 would increase by at least 8.9% and as much as 11.3% if all options and letters of intent are exercised.

Drogheda Port Pushes Ahead with Plan

Drogheda Port Company has sought tenders from engineering firms to carry out investigations off Bremore Head in Dublin, as it bids to advance plans for a major deepwater port in the area. The partners in the project, Drogheda Port and Treasury Holdings, are looking at two possible sites for the €350 million facility, Bremore in north Dublin and further north at Gormanston in Meath.

The firms are working with Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa on plans for a port with initial freight capacity of ten million tons a year. The port company is seeking tenders from engineering firms to drill up to 20 offshore boreholes at Bremore and carry out laboratory testing on the location, despite concerns about the possible impact of a port on archeological sites in the area.

Treasury has said it wants to avoid developing the facility at a location that could interfere with a historical site. The port project received a boost earlier this month when Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar said he supported the bid to develop a new facility at Bremore.

The port company would require the minister’s permission to operate a facility outside a restricted zone around the current Drogheda Port. The Department of Transport said it would not grant ministerial approval to extend the port until the project had gone through the planning process.

The project has not gone to the planning board yet and discussions on the outline of the plans will not be held until after the pre-planning consultation process with An Bord Pleanála.

CityPost Announces 180 New Jobs

Independent postal services company CityPost has announced the creation of
180 new jobs over the next 18 months. CityPost – Group currently employs 188
staff in Ireland The jobs will be based primarily at its headquarters in Ballymount
in Dublin, but also at its 32 regional handling centres nationwide.

The new jobs will be mainly mail sorting, delivery and collection, operations and administration roles. The group currently employs 188 staff in Ireland.

The announcement by the company to effectively double its workforce in 18 months comes following recent expansion and a number of high profile contract wins in the last six months.

Irish Meat Distribution Contract for Culina

Meat producer Feldhues has appointed Culina Logistics Ireland to manage the distribution of its products to grocery retailers throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland. The contract includes all storage, order picking and distribution of products including Billy Bear through Culina’s shared user network.

Culina Logistics Ireland will manage the operation from its 173,000 sq ft chilled, ambient and temperature controlled warehouse at Rathcoole, County Dublin. It is one of nine facilities in its UK and Ireland network.

Schenker Signs Three Year Contract with William Grant & Sons

Global premium spirits business William Grant & Sons has signed a three year deal with Schenker – the UK arm of the global logistics company – to provide domestic and international freight services for its world-famous products using air, ocean and land services. In addition to exports from Scotland, Schenker has also been awarded significant business from Clonmel in Ireland to Europe, the Middle East, North America and Russia.

The majority of shipments are destined for Europe, the Middle East and Africa plus a number of major South American destinations and will move ex-UK by ocean, but DB Schenker’s unique service offering of being able to provide a four modes option means that the spirits producer can use a variety of flexible services to precisely match its needs.

Among the premium brands which form the William Grant portfolio are Glenfiddich®, the Balvenie® range of handcrafted single malts and, Grant’s® and one of Ireland’s finest Irish Whiskeys, Tullamore Dew®.