West Mediterranean-West Africa Service (MAF) will offer a bi-weekly service between main ports in the West Mediterranean and West Africa, effective December 2011. The improved service will call the following ports: Napoli – Genoa –Tarragona- Tema – Tincan Island – Takkoradi – Abidjan – Napoli

This new set-up is part of our ongoing efforts to improve our service to customers and broaden our coverage of the African trades, which currently include, among others:

NAF – North Europe & West African – a weekly service operated jointly with Hapag-Lloyd and MOL  

MAF – Med & West Africa – including transshipment from the Americas and East Med to West Africa via Tarragona

FAX – Far East – West Africa Service – Connecting major Asian ports with West Africa, with connections to Zim’s network.

This is designed to strengthen economic, but also cultural and academic links between the two countries. Supported by Port of Hamburg Marketing, the Hamburg Senate and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and already functioning since the beginning of this year, the Representative Office is regarded as the contact point for representatives of the worlds of politics, commerce and culture from Hamburg and India. Thanks to the exchange of information and various events, the representative office headed by Peter Deubet, Deputy CEO of the German Indian Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai, supplies both locations with the latest news of developments in both regions.  

One of the breaking news on the relationship is the inauguration of new, direct liner services between Hamburg and India. Along with the eastbound service to India, since June the Rickmers Line has once again offered a direct service from India to Europe. Together with Mumbai and Chennai, Hamburg is one of the main ports in the rotation. With aid from additional tonnage, Rickmers Line, specializing in sea transport of project cargo, heavy loads and general cargo, is building up its links with India. Altogether five new ships with crane capacities (combined) of between 240 and 800 tons have so far been added to the service. The Chipolbrok shipping company is also extending its Middle East-India service to Mumbai to the discharge port of Chennai from December 2011. Multi-purpose ships with onboard cranes with a total lifting capacity of 300 tons are deployed on this.  

In addition, the Hapag Lloyd and Hamburg Süd shipping lines have further upgraded their joint service between Hamburg and India by deploying larger vessels. The seven 4,200 TEU ships so far operated on the India Ocean Service (IOS) will be replaced by vessels with a capacity of around 5,500 TEU. As a result, more cargo can be transported between Hamburg and India. IOS serves the Indian ports of Mumbai-Nhava Sheva and Mundra.  

 The European Union is India’s top trading partner worldwide, ahead of the United Arab Emirates, China and the USA. With trade between Germany and India totalling 15.4 billion euros in 2010, the Federal Republic is India’s most important trading partner in Europe. The target for 2012 is a trade volume of 20 billion euros. As Germany’s leading port, Hamburg maintains an outstanding position in European seaborne trade with India. In 2010 around 2.6 million tons have been transported between the Han seatic city and India.  By comparison with the previous year, the volume of cargo handled between Hamburg and India rose by around 23 percent. About 48 percent of total tonnage is attributable to exports. The main goods shipped from Hamburg to India are fertilizers, machinery/plant, chemical products and chemical substances. Clothing and textiles, stoneware, other finished goods, chemical products and textile raw materials predominate on the import side. Imports of Indian goods rose last year by around 40 percent. Growth of nine percent was also reported for German exports to the world’s second most populous country.  

 Container handling is far and away the most significant feature of goods traffic between Hamburg and India. Totalling 180,000 TEU in 2010, containerized transport accounted for a dominant 85 percent share. After the first nine months of this year, moreover, with an advance of around 11 percent to 148,000 TEU, the volume of containers transported directly between Hamburg and India continued to grow. In terms of container traffic, India currently ranks 12 th  among Hamburg’s trading partners. India’s leading container port is the public sector Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) that is to be expanded to a capacity of 8.5 million TEU by 2015.  

The Vladivostok project is vital for expanding freight traffic along international transit routes running through the Russian Far East. The Bank’s seven-year loan will enable FESCO to upgrade the Vladivostok commercial seaport, a major infrastructure hub in this important region, as well as the company’s intermodal container operations. The aim is to turn Vladivostok into a modern, clean and efficient port focused on handling high-value and environmentally friendly cargo, particularly in containers.

Most of the port infrastructure in the Russian Far East was built over 50 years ago and the current lack of adequate port and inland container terminal facilities have created bottlenecks which hinder the growth of export-import flows through Russia’s gateways.

As one of the few companies on the Russian market which owns facilities at every stage of the logistics chain, including shipping, railways and port facilities, FESCO’s strategy is to provide a single-service intermodal transportation system for its customers, particularly in the container market. 

“The project highlights both the EBRD’s commitment to renewing key Russian infrastructure projects as well as support for the private sector’s role in raising the efficiency of the country’s transport system,” said Varel Freeman, EBRD’s First Vice President.

In August 2008 the EBRD acquired a 3.7% equity stake in FESCO, whose shares are listed on Moscow’s MICEX and RTS exchange.

Zim continues posting growth in its activity scope despite the difficult market conditions stemming from the weakening of the global shipping line sector and the increase in fuel prices. In the current quarter, financial results continue to be in line with the average operating profit level in the shipping line sector. The company’s cashflow from operating activities is positive and there is an increase in throughput volumes.

 These facts reflect the increased efficiency and strategic changes the company has implemented in accordance with the strategic plan prepared during 2010 and that it is currently being implemented.

Market conditions in the global shipping sector continued deteriorating in the third quarter of the year. Despite this deterioration, Zim closed Q3 2011 with a positive cashflow from its operating activities totaling $23 million, compared to a negative cash flow from ongoing activity totaling $7 million in the previous quarter; an improvement of sum $30 million.

 The company’s financial assets total sum $340 million. The third quarter ended with an operating loss of $63 million, compared to an operating loss of $79 million in the previous quarter, an improvement of 20%.

The quarterly loss attributed to the shareholders totaled $66 million, compared to a $68 million loss in the previous quarter.

The net result was positively impacted by the low financing expenses totaling zero after posting revenues due to valuation of different accounting items in the company’s balance sheet.

The shipped quantity in the quarter totaled 646 thousand TEU, compared to 596 thousand TEU in the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter, an increase of 8% in the shipped quantity in relation to the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter. The company closed Q3 with a turnover of $973 million, compared to $1 billion in the previous quarter.

The average price per shipped container in Q3 was $1,311 per container – similar to the previous quarter. The relatively low shipping prices reflect the current difficult conditions in the sector, which mostly stem from an increase in supply following the entry of new ships into service in the market in the first nine months of the year. According to market estimation, during January up to October this year, some 160 ships with a capacity of over 1 million TEU entered the market (an increase of some 7% since the beginning of the year), creating pressure on shipping prices. Until the end of the year, some 200 thousand TEU (an addition of some 1.3%) are expected to be added to the sector, which deepens excess supply and continued pressure on shipping prices.

High fuel prices also contributed to the damage to the company’s results, and hurt its profitability. The average market price of shipping fuel (fuel oil/mazut) was some $650 a ton in this quarter, compared to an average of some $463 a ton in 2010. The trend of increasing fuel prices has already begun in Q3 2010 and continued all the more forcefully in 2011.

The company met its financial covenants for the third quarter, although in light of the difficult market conditions and uncertainty in the sector, the company expects its results in the next few quarters to be lower than previously estimated.  Accordingly, it will prepare a new long-term business plan. Furthermore, the company asked the financing banks to waive or amend its existing financial covenants for the next 12 months. The company has reached understandings or agreements with most relevant parties which included an agreement by the Israel Corp. and Ofer Group to inject $100 million to Zim, and a new long term business plan which will be prepared by Zim.