BIFA News
Hutchison port volumes slide in fi rst half of 2023 Ian Matheson, from Impress Communications, reviews some recent news that might impact on Members’ business
2023 due to weak trade growth and increased equipment disposals by owners. However, global container handling activity is anticipated to grow 1% to 870.7million teu, and there remains an excess of containers in the global pool compared with the current and short-term trading needs and vessel slot operating capacity. Container lines are out- performing their customers in the race to decarbonise supply chains, although neither group rated very highly, according to Ship It Zero’s ‘Shipping Decarbonisation Report card system’, which the collective of US environmental groups has devised to rate the decarbonisation efforts of both shippers and shipping lines. Ratings are made by the environmental group on its three demands: to end port pollution, abandon dirty ships and to put zero at the helm. OVERLAND New Civil Engineer magazine has reported that Channel Tunnel infrastructure manager Getlink is pushing forward with a plan to upgrade a route from the tunnel to Wembley to a more modern freight loading gauge. It wants to convert the route from Dollands Moor, the Channel Tunnel’s freight depot, to Wembley via Maidstone to the gauge of W12, which is the standard across most of Europe. It believes it can do this at a cost of £42 million. The latest report (covering Q1 2023) from Ti, IRU and Upply on European road freight prices has revealed that both spot and contract rates are falling quarter on quarter, dropping by 7.5 and 2.8 points, respectively, with the report predicting that with volumes slackening and available capacity improving, the downward trend in rates looks set to continue in 2023.
ON THE QUAYSIDE Hong Kong-based port major Hutchison, which owns the UK ports of Felixstowe, Harwich and Thamesport, handled 39.3million teu through 293 operating berths in the first half of 2023, a 7% drop compared with the same period last year. It says that it expects cargo freight demand will remain sluggish for the rest of the year. DP World Southampton has started a one-year trial of a Modal Shift Programme (MSP) aimed at increasing the financial attractiveness of rail inland movements for laden
emissions and support the net-zero targets of UK businesses. An MSP Incentive, initially set at £70, will be credited for any import-laden container that leaves DP World Southampton by rail to a railhead within the MSP Incentive Zone, which extends approximately 140 miles from the port. IN THE AIR IATA released data for June 2023 global air cargo markets showing the smallest year- over-year contraction in demand since February 2022. Global demand, measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTK), fell 3.4% in June compared
with June 2022 and only 2.4% below June 2019 levels (pre- pandemic). Capacity, measured by available cargo tonne-kilometres (ACTK), rose 9.7% compared with June 2022, which was a slower rate compared with the double- digit growth recorded between March and May. A price war in air cargo is driving the market down, whilst the hoped for upturn that would steadily build into the second half has not happened, leading to companies active in the sector chasing volumes without regard to cost, which observers say is accelerating a decline in rates. ON THE OCEAN The container rate collapse deepens as new capacity enters the market, hitting a two-year low in July, reported the XENETA Shipping Index. Rates fell 9.5% compared with June and 57.8% since the same period in 2022. BIMCO has reported that deliveries of new containerships during the first seven months of 2023 reached a record high of 1.2million teu, beating the previous record by 0.2 million teu. With recycling of ships remaining low, fleet capacity has grown 4.3% since January. Drewry projects that the global pool of container equipment is expected to contract 2% in
containers, as well as to reduce the cost of CO 2
4 | September 2023
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