Dear All,
It is Thursday 6th June. Summer, at least here in Europe, is fast approaching and this week is special for me in several ways. First, it was on 4th June exactly thirty years ago that the clampdown on the students’ democracy movement at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square happened.
I was in a car that day in 1989, driving from Stockholm to Copenhagen, when suddenly my then-wife (from Hong Kong) started crying. She had been listening to the radio and, as I was not paying attention to it, I asked what had happened. She told me about the Tiananmen Square clampdown on the students’ movement; indeed, a moving time that also cost Zhao Ziyang his power and elevated Li Peng as the hardliner for several years in China.
Also, this week, my native country of Denmark goes to the polls in our national election. Luckily, we have not (yet) parked our brains in Brussels and with the EU and thank goodness for that. A total of thirteen parties have been arguing amongst themselves and selling their ‘products’ to the Danish electorate. It is interesting to note how many promises are made during an election campaign and it can sometimes be a bit like a kindergarten. Still, on balance, a system that has democracy is still superior to the alternative and I do appreciate living in a free and open country.
Scandinavia is part of the group of countries that are probably the most equal and where everyone (willing and able, that is,) has a reasonable chance to secure a quality life. One of the major topics during the election campaign has been the competition over who is the most ‘green’, meaning environmentally friendly. I’m getting a bit tired of listening to the phrase ‘climate change’ lately and my take on this issue is that there are dragons arguing in the kindergarten and unless we get them to play along, whatever minuscule amendments we make to our way of living won’t amount to much. Let us see what happens, I suppose. The jury is still out on this matter but there is no doubt that many so-called ‘experts’ on climate change and green guidance have golden days ahead.
In three weeks exactly, I shall be landing in the Lion City of Singapore and thus commencing the start of my five-week-long Asia trip, most notably with the trip onboard CMA CGM Georgia (name changed) from Singapore to Melbourne together with my seventeen-year-old daughter. She is almost a deckhand at this point and it is her third trip aboard an international cargo vessel along with her old man. Don’t forget to check out www.cross-ocean.com and click ‘ocean voyages’ to see what routes are available worldwide. Do consider it as it’s a fantastic way of getting away from it all whilst recharging your batteries. Having said that, don’t forget to download our app so you can bring Project Cargo Weekly with you everywhere.
Back to business. This week, we start off speaking to a company in Singapore that provides heavy lift and special equipment for OOG and special transports. Considering their good reputation on the market, you may be well advised to speak with them. Next, we visit the country of Spain. Besides the tapas, toreadors and siestas, they still work hard, even though it is the land under the sun. We speak to a shipowner/shipping agent with a focus on West Africa, but who is also able to serve the Med trade and other locations. Finally, we revisit the country of Brazil and re-publish an interesting interview with a project freight forwarder located in Curitiba. Brazil is a gigantic country and has continuous project cargo moving in and out. It could perhaps become even bigger if their customs clearance system was modernised. Yes, you do need a solid contact there to ensure your project will be
We have interesting videos this week, as well as fascinating shipping news and, of course, trade intelligence too. We round off our newsletter with Wise Words and, until next week, I remain,
Yours sincerely,
Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
Bok Seng Group – Singapore
Interview with
Mr. Vincent Teo
Senior Director
First, I’d like to ask about the name Bok Seng. Is it a family name, or does it mean something else? When was the company established and can you elaborate a bit on its history?
Bok Seng is the name of the company’s founder. The company was established in 1975. The company started out as a civil engineering company mainly focusing on the construction business. Over the years, with a growing fleet of trailers, the company evolved into a transport company then into a total logistics service provider with two main business divisions, namely the integrated and project logistics divisions.
Marguisa – Madrid, Spain
Interview with
Mr. Andres Cadenas
Head of Sales & Marketing, Container Line Division
First, Andres, can you please tell us about the history of Marguisa? Are you a shipowner, a shipbroker, a liner agent, a forwarder, or all the above?
Marguisa was founded in 1990 with the name Mares de Guinea (abbreviated to Marguisa), offering regular sailings from Spain to Equatorial Guinea and mainly returning logs and sawn timber.
Today, Marguisa Shipping Line is part of a holding group called Sea & Ports. It offers regular services covering trades between the Mediterranean Sea, the North Continent, South America, Asia, the Middle East and the East Med to two main destinations: the coast of West Africa and the Caribbean Sea. Marguisa is the leading carrier to and from Equatorial Guinea and is a well-known operator in other West African countries.
ES Logistics – Brazil
Interview with
Mr. Fabiano Ardigó
Director
First of all, Fabiano tell us a bit about ES Logistics. When was the company established, who owns it
ES Logistics is a family-owned company established in 2001. Our head office is in the south of Brazil in Itajai which today is at the center of the second largest inbound and outbound sea freight market in Brazil after Santos. Our objective has always been to be very strong in the South of Brazil which is the region with the second largest GDP of the country after Sao Paulo.
Marc-Oliver Brockmann to Spearhead AAL EU Commercial Activity
Editor’s Note:
AAL was traditionally focused on Australasian and North American trade, but is now heavily getting into European trade with their very modern and versatile breakbulk ships. The latest news from AAL is here.
Following a string of new agency appointments and office launches across Europe – the most recent in Finland – global multipurpose and project heavy lift carrier AAL is strengthening those operations yet further with the appointment of Marc-Oliver Brockmann as European Commercial Manager. With 27 years in the project heavy lift cargo sector, Brockmann brings vast experience and a strong reputation for excellence to AAL’s Hamburg-based Team run by General Manager, Eike Muentz.
Malaysia Ships 3,000 Tonnes of Waste Back to Countries of Origin
Editor’s Note:
In the Western world, we’re often ‘teaching’ everyone else how they should take care of their environment. The whole climate/’green’ agenda is reaching almost hysterical heights among politicians here in the West. But we certainly have no problems shipping our waste to the countries that we try to lecture. Double standards, I say.
Malaysia’s environment ministry plans to ship about 3,000 tonnes of unusable, contaminated recyclables back to the countries of origin, marking the nation’s latest move in a long-running fight against unwanted plastic waste imports.
Ever since China clamped down on imports of recyclables last year, Malaysia has seen a sharp uptick in illegal recycling operations and an influx of poorly-sorted garbage at its seaports, and it is now the world’s leading importer of waste plastic.
China’s Vice President Wang Qishan visits Container Terminal Tollerort
Editor’s Note:
Shipping-wise, Hamburg’s trade with China has always been significant for Hansestadt. One might say that Hamburg needs Chinese trade. Recently, the port received a vip visitor from China. Read more below.
HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT) welcomed an eminent visitor: during a one-day visit to the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, the Vice President of the People’s Republic of China, Wang Qishan, today came to the HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort at the Port of Hamburg. Mr Wang was greeted by the Chairwoman of the Executive Board of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), Angela Titzrath, Hamburg’s First Mayor, Dr Peter Tschentscher, and representatives of the Chinese container shipping company Cosco Shipping Lines.
Two More Shippers Join Maersk’s Cost-Cutting Blockchain-Based Platform
Editor’s Note:
Digitalisation is ever-increasing and the major shipowners are now also getting into bed together in this field.
Two of the world’s biggest shipping groups will join a Maersk led blockchain platform aimed at boosting efficiency and limiting the enormous paper trail of global container shipping.
With Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC) and CMA CGM, the second and fourth largest container shipping companies, joining the platform, nearly half of all cargo being shipped by sea, which accounts for 90% of traded goods worldwide, will be tracked using it.
Vietnam – Sweden Business Forum
Editor’s Note:
Sweden and Vietnam have had a close relationship ever since the disastrous Vietnam war that showed the strength and resilience of the Vietnamese people. Vietnam is a proud nation and one of the fastest developing Asian tigers nowadays. Their prime minister recently visited Stockholm, Sweden, where I am located. Two of the CLC Projects Network members from Vietnam and Sweden were seen among the visitors. It’s a good idea to mingle on this level, especially for business.
Vietnam hopes that Swedish investors and businesses will cooperate with and invest in the Southeast Asian nation, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said.
The PM on Monday told the Vietnam-Sweden business forum in Stockholm that the Southeast Asian nation is reforming its institutes and restructuring its economy while promoting the private sector, so the time to invest is now.
China Communications Construction Company and Vale Group Team Up to Build a Steelworks in Brazil
The China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), in partnership with Brazilian group Vale, will build a steelworks for the production of flat steel in Marabá, in the southeast of the state of Pará, officials said recently.
The Vale group said in a statement it had signed a protocol of intent to support the financial structuring of a project to be developed by Concremat, a Brazilian construction company that the CCCC group acquired at the end of 2016.
$50 Million in Aquaculture Project
Forever Oceans Panama, S.A. presented the Environmental Impact Study (EIA) to develop the project called “Open sea cages and marine fish laboratory”, where intensive cultivation of marine fish native to the Gulf of Chiriqui will be carried out.
The EIA specifies that the project consists of the construction, operation and maintenance of a fish farm, where the complete life cycle will be implemented in a laboratory, from the reproductive to juvenile stage, up to the breeding and harvesting of fish in 29 production and 10 research cages.
GOIL to Build Biggest Bitumen Plant in West Africa
Goil Company Ltd says it is on course to complete the construction of one of West Africa’s biggest bitumen processing plant in Tema.
The about $25 million plant expected to deliver quality bitumen for road construction in the sub-region is a partnership between the company and its Ivorian counterparts.
Besides the bitumen plant, the company has disclosed that it has begun the establishment of a gas plant for the cylinder re-circulation model in the country and looking forward to partner some banks to fund the projects.
Wheelabrator to Purchase Land for 300,000 TPA Waste to Energy Plant Near Leeds
Waste to energy
operator and developer, Wheelabrator Technologies, has secured the right to
purchase 19.5 acres of land at the Skelton Grange site in Leeds which already
has planning permission for a 300,000 TPA waste to energy plant.
The site, currently owned by Harworth Group plc. Is adjacent to Junction 45 of
the M1 in east Leeds, also has an application to vary the capacity up to
410,000 tonnes which expected to be submitted later this year.
Editor’s Note:
Onboard CC Andromeda berthing at Westport Port Kelang, edging in beside another CMA CGM container vessel at night time.
Editor’s Note:
Landing in Malta is always a pleasure, in particular when the weather is good, which is mostly often the case on the island and when flying over the Marsaxxlokk Container Terminal.
Editor’s Note:
“Anchored outside the Suez Canal. Chivas, peanuts and a view. Life could be worse.”
–From a passenger onboard the CMA CGM Christophe Colomb.
