AIRCARGO THROUGHPUT - KUALA LUMPUR (KUL)

AIRCARGO THROUGHPUT - KUALA LUMPUR (KUL)

TONNES

2002

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

TOTAL

IMPORT

8,033

7,944

10,512

9,336

9,340

9,310

9,448

8,968

9,303

10,810

10,100

9,260

112,364

EXPORT

11,457

10,343

13,554

11,416

11,316

11,607

12,183

12,093

12,090

13,666

13,391

12,787

145,903

TRANSFER

14,922

16,876

18,678

17,028

18,016

22,079

23,560

23,474

24,126

25,730

27,160

25,068

256,717

TOTAL

34,412

35,163

42,744

37,780

38,672

42,996

45,191

44,535

45,519

50,206

50,651

47,115

514,984

2003

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

TOTAL

IMPORT

8,570

7,703

10,229

8,707

9,401

8,870

9,122

9,572

9,640

10,607

9,710

10,344

112,475

EXPORT

11,945

9,934

13,685

12,558

11,614

11,562

11,327

12,262

12,494

13,944

13,625

15,283

150,233

TRANSFER

22,040

21,667

27,774

24,640

27,587

25,260

24,132

26,068

26,899

27,927

28,139

24,227

306,360

TOTAL

42,555

39,304

51,688

45,905

48,602

45,692

44,581

47,902

49,033

52,478

51,474

49,854

569,068

2004

JAN

FEB

MAR

APR

MAY

JUN

JUL

AUG

SEP

OCT

NOV

DEC

TOTAL

IMPORT

8,890

8,940

11,688

10,068

10893

9,953

10,754

10,571

10,725

11,253

9,699

10,460

123,894

EXPORT

12,830

13,585

16,012

14,204

13952

13,180

13,652

13,013

13,537

15,019

12,885

15,874

167,743

TRANSFER

19,151

24,457

27,997

28,283

29864

29,070

31,636

29,952

30,659

32,655

32,735

31,668

348,127

TOTAL

40,871

46,982

55,697

52,555

54,709

52,203

56,042

53,536

54,921

58,927

55,319

58,002

639,764

Although crude oil price is stabilising, shipping players must be prepared to face any future uptrend in global oil prices.

Crude oil price stood at US$118 per barrel on Tuesday after reaching its all time high of US$147.27 on July 11.

According to Aseambankers (M) Bhd senior analyst of equity markets Liaw Thong Jung, the middle term outlook for the next 18 months for crude oil price seem to be rosy.

“Basically, due to global inflation that is making its headway and slower demand from the US and Europe, the oil supply currently covers demand.

“This correction of oil price is further fuelled by slower world's gross domestic product growth. Oil stock build-up is also still healthy,” he said in his presentation entitled Current Assesment and Outlook On World Oil Market at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia's seminar on high oil price and its impact on the shipping industry last week.

Currently, global oil production is about 86 millions barrels per day (bpd) while consumption is estimated at 85.5 millions bpd. This translates into a deficit of 500,000 bpd.

Reserves-to-production ratio is at 40.5 times or 41 years.

Liaw estimated that oil price would hover around US$110 to US$120 per barrel until year-end.

“Next year, the oil price is estimated to float between US$100 and US$120 per barrel,” he said.

However, Liaw was sceptical that crude oil price would stay at the current healthy level after next year.

“Year-on-year demand growth of 3.5% based on swelling population and transportation needs is inevitable. There will also be the issue of supply limitations as “easy oils” are reaching the finishing line. Finding oil in harsher deepwater environment also involves extra cost,” he said.

On alternative energy, Liaw said, there was nothing in the pipeline yet that suggested a large-scale replacement of fossil fuel.

In view of all these factors, Liaw cautioned ship owners to be prepared, as a sudden hike in oil price would further aggravate the situation that was hampering the maritime industry.

“The present hike in oil price has resulted in longer lead times for the supply of equipment to sharp demand of raw materials as well as escalation in cost,” he said.

Malaysian Shipowners Association representative Zahar Mohd Hashim Zainuddin said the effect of high oil price would translate into expensive bunker cost for shipping players.

“Bunker fuel price has exceeded US$700 per tonne, a US$250 per tonne increase since January.

Overall, bunker fuel price has risen 87% from the beginning of last year,” he said, adding that the increase in bunker fuel eroded shipping companies’ profitability.

Fuel cost represents between 50% and 60% of the total ship operating cost depending on the type of ships and services.

Citing an example of a container vessel of 7,750 twenty-foot equivalent units capacity in the Trans-Pacific trade, Zahar Mohd Hashim said, it consumed 217 tonnes of bunker fuel that translated into US$3.4mil in its 28 days voyage.

“A year ago, the fuel cost of the same ship was US$2.7mil less or 87% less than the current cost,” he said, adding that the bunker adjustment factor was not enough to cover the high operating cost.

“Shipping companies are now utilising a range of operational modifications to be cost-efficient.

“These include redeploying ships among major global trade lanes to optimise utilisation, consolidating services through multi-carrier alliances, consolidating routes to serve more locations with fewer ships, slowing sailing speeds to conserve fuel, monitoring of hull and propeller conditions to reduce resistance,” he said.

Calls for independent body to study cabotage rule

THE Transport Ministry has been asked to appoint a consultant to set up an independent body to review the cabotage policy and address complaints of high shipping freights between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak.

International Trade and Industry Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the long outstanding complaints by exporters and importers in Sabah and Sarawak were discussed recently by the National Logistic Council which he chaired.

He said the independent body was expected to make recommendations for discussion by the council in six months’ time.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin

The cabotage policy adopted in 1981 reserves the domestic sea trade to Malaysian shipping lines.

Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers Sarawak branch vice-chairman Michael Hii raised the cabotage policy with Muhyiddin during a trade dialogue in Kuching recently.

“I feel this matter should be resolved so that local manufacturers will not suffer from the high freight charged by the shippers,” said Muhyiddin.

On a Sarawak Manufacturers Association official's request that the Government provide special incentives to manufacturers in Sarawak to compensate for the high transportation costs of goods, Muhyiddin said he would look into the matter.

In an earlier keynote address to a Sarawak investment conference, Muhyiddin said the federal government approved 332 projects involving a total investment of RM26.2bil for the first five months of the year.

Foreign investments amounted to RM17.8bil or 67.9% while domestic investment was RM8.4bil.

“The major sources of foreign direct investment were from Australia, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Britain,” he added.

Muhyiddin said the country’s total trade during the first five months of the year grew 11.2% to RM481.6bil against the same period last year.

Exports increased 7.2% to RM213.4bil.

Container shipping growing

MAERSK Line, the world's largest container shipping firm, expects container shipping to grow 7% to 8% globally this year, with trade within Asia outperforming that, in spite of soaring fuel costs and a slowing world economy.

Its Asia Pacific chief executive Jesper Praestensgaard said intra-Asia trade was growing relatively more than between the regions, so Asia was probably more shielded from a downturn in the US and Europe.

He added that the firm would introduce a new China-Singapore service from next week to tap growing demand.

Jesper Praestensgaard

Maersk Line, part of Danish shipping and oil group A.P. MollerMaersk, now operates over 500 container vessels and 1.9 million containers.

Since June it has ordered 34 new ships for delivery by 2012, amid concerns of an impending oversupply in shipping capacity worldwide.

“Shipping is cyclical, everyone knows that. So when we make investments in shipping, we invest in ships with lifespan of 25 to 30 years, and you have to measure success over that lifespan,” said Praestensgaard.

Soaring bunker fuel prices, now at over US$750 per tonne, up from about US$500 in January, represents over 50% of the firm's operating costs, and has had a significant impact on margins, he said.

Maersk's biggest container ships, at full capacity, can consume an estimated 46,200 litres of fuel for every 100 km.

Maersk Line partially offsets its fuel costs by imposing a bunker adjustment charge on customers, fuel hedging, and the practice of “slow steaming”, where shippers operate vessels at slower speeds to cut fuel consumption and make up for it by increasing the number of ships on a route.

“There is no doubt that the current oil prices is hindering global trade, both in terms of reducing consumption and increasing transportation costs in general,” he said.

On mergers and consolidation, Praestensgaard said, the potential merger between Singapore-controlled Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) and HapagLloyd, the container unit of Germany's TUI AG, could be good for the industry that was now overly fragmented.

He declined to comment on Maerk's own interest in the German shipper, but Maersk Line global CEO Eivind Kolding told a German newspaper last month that he was not ruling out takeovers and was keeping a close eye on HapagLloyd.

Maersk Line had shocked Singapore authorities when it decided in 2000 to take a 30% stake in Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) and shift most of its operations there, threatening PSA Singapore Terminal dominance in the region.

“The market demand was to be in Singapore as well, so that's why we're here too,” he said, adding that more of Maerk Line's operations were still based in PTP compared to PSA at this point, but declined to give specifics

Holiday in BELGIUM

21 July Holiday in Belgium

Import Detention Charges Australia

Notice to our Valued Clients

Import Detention Charges Australia Increase - Effective 11^th August 2008All Trades into Australia Dear Customer, Hapag-Lloyd wishes to advise that as of 11^th August 2008, Import Detention will increase as follows:

Container Type	Per Calendar Day	AUD
20’Dry All Equipment Types	Days 1 – 10	Free
	Days 11 – 20	60.00
	Thereafter	120.00
40’Dry All Equipment Types	Days 1 – 10	Free
	Days 11 – 20	120.00
	Thereafter	240.00
20’Reefer	Days 1 – 5	Free
	Days 6 – 15	110.00
	Thereafter	220.00
40’Reefer	Days 1 – 5	Free
	Days 6 – 15	220.00
	Thereafter	440.00

HOLIDAY IN ARGENTINA

NATIONAL HOLIDAY IN ARGENTINA

"INDEPENDENCE DAY"

FORWARDERS TO INCREASE RATES

Northport on track for stellar year

NORTHPORT (M) Bhd, one of the two port operators in Port Klang, is likely to surpass its usual “moderate” growth in container volume this year based on its stellar performance in the first quarter.

Deputy chief executive officer Haris Abdul Aziz told StarBiz that Northport had posted a 17% increase in the container throughput to 730,452 TEUs in Q1 this year against the same period last year.

Last year, Northport handled 2.86 million TEUs, a 7.5% increase over the volume handled in 2006. That exceeded its target of 2.8 million TEUs.

“The growth rate exceeded our expectation based on our key performance indicator (KPI) of 5% growth,” he said.

Reflecting the jump in cargo volumes, an 11% of increase in revenue was recorded in Q1 to RM165mil.

Northport has posted a 17% increase in the container throughput to 730,452 TEUs in Q1 this year against the same period last year. Inset is Haris Abdul Aziz.

This also exceeded the port's KPI of a 5.3% increase in revenue for Q1 this year.

Haris said the high growth posted in Q1 reflected its customers' strong confidence in the port.

“Several key shipping lines have fostered new services and deployed bigger ships to further enhance the shipping connectivity at Northport. Last year we received 14 new major strings of services mounted by major mainliners and feeder operators,” he said.

He added that regional transhipment had been growing, especially the intra-Asian trades connecting Northport with several ports in the region, including those in Vietnam, China, Indonesia, Thailand and the Indian sub-continent.

“Also, the volumes of import and export TEUs via Northport are expected to be sustained, and we anticipate to maintain our leadership in this segment at Port Klang,” he said.

On its RM585mil expansion plan announced last year, Haris said the port would be evaluating tenders for the re-development of a multi purpose terminal into a dedicated container terminal (Berth 8A) soon.

“The 370-metre Berth 8A will be transformed to handle the ultra-size container ships with three super post panamax cranes capable of lifting two 40-ft containers or four 20-ft containers in one move.

“The cranes will have an outreach of over 22 containers across the beam with six-containers-high stacking,” he said.

The RM585mil port expansion exercise spans three years starting this year. The fund is internally sourced.

Haris said it was developing a new container terminal to meet the growing trend in container shipping characterised by the emergence of mega-size carriers.

“With only a handful of global ports taking this ambitious effort to attract the giant container ships that are expected to be operation by 2010, we expect our initiative to send strong signals to the industry that the port will be prepared,” he said.

Most global liner operators are building ultra large containerships in the range of 12,000 TEUs to 13,000 TEUs in capacity to enjoy higher economies of scale.

“Complementing our development is the initiative taken by the Port Klang Authority to have the North Channel dredged. This allows the safe and swift passage of the mega-size carriers,” he said.

The Port Klang Authority spent more than RM300mil on the dredging project.

With a high tidal range of about five metres, the deepening of the channel to 13.5 metres will offer a total channel depth of 18 metres, more than adequate for under keel clearance to allow the passage of the mega-size new generation ships of up to 12,000 TEUs.

Other than its core container business, Haris said, Northport expected to broaden its offering base by expanding the scope of its core services in the value chain and becoming more integrated in the logistics supply chain.

“We foresee vast opportunities in this area by becoming more engaged in distripark (distribution park) services. We offer 1 million sq ft of covered space and free zone space for integrated warehousing and cargo consolidation services.

“The widening of its cargo base will also include fostering the growth of bulk and conventional cargoes, automotive trade, dry bulk, regional and coastal trades via the south point of Northport,” he said.

Operationally, the port expects to increase its productivity through higher efficiency.

“The measures will include optimal utilisation of our resources, efficient deployment of equipment as well as the acquisition of new equipment and replacement of old equipment,” he said.

APP Global Logistics Consortium Sdn. Bhd.

AIRCARGO THROUGHPUT - KUALA LUMPUR (KUL)

Calls for independent body to study cabotage rule

Calls for independent body to study cabotage rule

Container shipping growing

Container shipping growing

Holiday in BELGIUM

Import Detention Charges Australia

Notice to our Valued Clients

HOLIDAY IN ARGENTINA

FORWARDERS TO INCREASE RATES

Northport on track for stellar year