Industry News
Ian Matheson, from Impress Communications, reviews some recent news that might impact on Members’ business
Southampton handles pair of mega boxships
slow down after a busy start to the year, according to analysis by Xeneta, which says that additional belly capacity is affecting the dynamic load factor. OVERLAND TT Club, which is well known for its campaign to increase awareness of the risks associated with overnight parking of trucks, emphasised recently that over 70% of cargo thefts globally in 2023 were from trucks. It welcomed the UK government’s 12-month Task and Finish Group (TFG) project, as part of its contribution to encouraging the adoption of better security and safer rest facilities at truck stops. Overly restrictive and inconsistent police enforcement across a number of forces on abnormal load movements costs the economy an estimated £584million per year, according to an impact assessment based on independent research commissioned by The Abnormal Loads Group. IN BUSINESS The third year of the £7 million Freight Innovation Fund Accelerator was launched on 1May 2024. With £1.8 million targeted at boosting British freight decarbonisation efforts, SMEs can receive government funding to support the freight sector in deploying AI technology and automation to improve the way trains, lorries, vans and ships carry parcels and goods. The UK Sustainable Investment and Finance Association (UKSIF) has called on UK government to provide greater transparency on its approach to decarbonising the UK transport industry, stating that greater clarity would improve investor confidence and unlock growth opportunities for the transport sector.
ON THE QUAYSIDE DP World Southampton handled two of the world’s largest container vessels simultaneously for the first time, in April, following ABP’s investment in widening the channel within the Western Docks. This enables ABP Marine Pilots to manoeuvre ultra-large vessels to other berths in DP World’s container terminal. ON THE OCEAN April saw a new record for containership deliveries with 50 newbuilds delivered adding 330,000 teu to global capacity, according to analyst Alphaliner, following delivery of 41 newbuilds in March with 260,000 teu of capacity.
Manila Express berths at Southampton
Conflict in the Red Sea has brought massive carbon emissions increases in ocean freight container shipping, according to the Xeneta and Marine Benchmark Carbon Emissions Index (CEI), which
measures carbon emissions per ton of cargo transported across the world’s top 13 trades. The index hit 107.4 points in Q1 2024 – the highest it has been since it began in Q1 2018. Container shipping lines appear to have stabilised services during disruptions in the Red Sea region, with major carriers showing the first improvement in schedule reliability in five months, according to figures released by Sea-Intelligence in early May. The report evaluates schedule reliability across 34 trade lanes and showed that container carriers improved their reliability by 1.6% in March 2024, versus the prior month, and achieved the highest level so far in 2024. In 2023, 2.3 million teu of containership capacity was delivered, beating the former all-time high by 37%, according to BIMCO, as year- to-date another record was set with more than 1 million teu of capacity delivered during the first four months of 2024. IN THE AIR April was the fourth month in a row that global air cargo demand increased by over 11%, but the market has begun to
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4 | June 2024
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