Will confirmation of Maersk's 18,000 TEU vessel order intensify competition for capacity among carriers?

MAERSK Line, the world’s largest shipping line by capacity, is now also confirmed as having placed the largest capacity order in the history of container shipping, with a reported 10 X 18,000 TEU vessels ordered by the Danish shipping giant for delivery between 2013 and 2015.

The deal, which was inked with Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), also gives the carrier an option to purchase a further 20 such vessels in the future.

In comparison with Maersk's present largest Emma Maersk "PS Class" ship carrying 15,550 TEU, the new Triple-E class will have 16 per cent more capacity.

These mega ships, sometimes referred to as "Malaccamax", have been talked about for more than a decade and media reports of this Maersk order have been circulating worldwide over the past few months.

Speaking on the benefits to operators of these vessels, Oslo-based DNV said that these large ships are not only green vessels due to their lower fuel consumption per TEU, but they also provide the shipping lines with a lower fuel cost, courtesy of their economy of scale.

"Two decades ago, studies were published comparing two 4,000-TEU ships to one 8,000-TEU ship and showed a reduced total cost per unit. Today, a comparison between two 8,000-TEU ships and one 16,000-TEU shows the same trend. The capital cost for the bigger ship is in the order of 20 per cent less and the fuel cost around 40 per cent less, the exact numbers depend on the building price and fuel price," said DNV in an article entitled "The future of the ultra large containership".

Reiterating this salient concept, Maersk positions this new and gigantic 18,000-TEU container vessel class as Triple-E: "Economy" of scale, "Energy" efficiency and "Environmentally" improved.

The dimensions of the new vessel class are 400 metres long (LOA), 59 metres wide (beam), 73 metres tall (height) and is equipped with a draft of 16.5 metres.

The Triple-E class ships can stow 23 rows of containers on deck for a deadweight estimated at 200,000 tons, according to maritime analyst Alphaliner.

source: csm.hksg.com | picture: google.com

CSAV boss QUITS after supervising company's METEORIC rise

CHILE's Compania Sud Americana de Vapores (CSAV) - which moved from 16th to 6th place on the global container shipping league tables in less than two years - must now find a new president with the resignation of Jaime Claro Valdes, the man who made it happen.

Mr Claro Valdes took over the company in November 2008 on the sudden death of his brother Ricardo Claro Valdes by heart attack, after which his presidency supervised the meteoric rise of the financially troubled company, then ranked 16th to skyrocket to sixth place, ahead of APL, Cosco, Hanjin and China Shipping, which rounds out the top 10.

To this, Mr Claro Valdes can now add recent financial results, reporting a net CSAV profit of US$181.5 million in 2010 compared to a loss of $653.4 million in 2009. The Valparaiso-based company moved 2.9 million TEU - 62 per cent ahead of 2009 downturn year and also 32 per cent more than in 2008. In 2009, CSAV only moved 291,000 TEU.

CSAV posted record revenues of $5.45 billion in 2010 - 80 per cent more than in 2009. A company statement said "2010 was better than forecast, characterized by sharp fluctuations and ending with an uncertain outlook. Global trade has grown in recent decades at larger rates than GDP, and container trade has experienced an even larger growth."

source: shippingazette.com

SUSI Airlines has taken a MARKET share of MERPATI Airlines

Susi Air airlines are slowly been taking market share of Merpati Nusantara Airlines. Susi Air is now a direct competitor of Merpati Airlines, which is owned by the government.

State Enterprises Minister Mustafa Abubakar was deeply impressed with the performance of Susi Air. Starting from the joint efforts of husband and wife with only a few planes, now Susi Air already has 42 aircraft. As a nation of Indonesia, continued Mustafa, Susi Air performance should be appreciated because it was pioneered by people of Indonesia and also a woman.

"They were husband and wife to be a pilot," said Mustafa reveals his admiration for the husband and wife owners of Susi Air.

Susi Air is Indonesia's airline operated by PT ASI Pujiastuti Aviation with scheduled flights and charter services. Based in Pangandaran, West Java, Susi Air operates from five main bases in Medan, Jakarta, Balikpapan, Kendari, Bandung, Cilacap, and Sentani.

Founded in late 2004 by married couples, Christian von Strombeck and Susi Pudjiastuti, Susi Air was originally founded to deliver a cargo of fishery of their owned other Susi companies, namely PT ASI Pudjiastuti.

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that occurred on the west coast of Sumatra some time after two Cessna Grand Caravan Susi Air's first book, is directly used to assist delivery of equipment and medicine for rescue.

In 2005 the third Grand Caravan join the Susi Air fleet so that Susi Air to start scheduled flights from Medan. Furthermore, besides Grand Caravan, Diamond Twin Star, Pilatus Turbo Porter and Diamond Diamond Star was added to the Susi Air fleet. In June 2009, Susi Air announced that it had ordered 30 Grand Caravan planes at Paris Air.

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QATAR Airways to Launch THIRD destination in IRAN

Qatar Airways today announced plans to launch flights to the southern Iranian city of Shiraz. The airline will commence twice-weekly flights from its Doha hub to Shiraz International Airport on June 5.

Shiraz will become the airline’s 101st global destination and third route to Iran. The carrier already operates double daily services to the capital city of Tehran and five-flights-a-week to Mashad in northern Iran.

News of the new route further enhances Qatar Airways’ commitment to Iran, where it first began operating services to the country in 2004 with the launch of the Tehran route, followed a year later by Mashad.

The new services will be operated with the airline’s Airbus A320 aircraft, which features 12 seats in Business Class and 132 in Economy. Traffic for the new route is expected to come from around the Gulf region as well as Europe and North America.

Qatar Airways Chief Executive Officer Akbar Al Baker said that the launch of flights to Shiraz supported the company’s business plan of operating to key cities around the world that the airline had identified as underserved.

“Qatar Airways is pleased to be bringing its third route to Iran online in early June. Iran is still largely underserved by international carriers and Shiraz in particular presents Qatar Airways with an opportunity to target new business,” he said.

“The potential is significant and we are looking forward to developing our market prospects with the launch of these new flights.” “Iranian expatriates number between four and five million people, with many living in Europe and North America. We have good connections from these continents to Shiraz through our Doha hub, so facilitating travel for this expatriate community would soon be much easier. “As the route to Shiraz develops, we will also look to add frequency and capacity to improve connectivity even further,” added Al Baker.

Shiraz is home to over 1.5 million people and one of the largest cities in Iran. As the capital city of the Fars Province, Shiraz is the economic centre of southern Iran. Outbound traffic from the city will significantly contribute to Qatar Airways’ new flight.

Globally, Qatar Airways has launched 13 new routes since February 2010 – Bengaluru (Bangalore), Copenhagen, Ankara, Tokyo, Barcelona, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Phuket, Hanoi, Nice, Budapest, Bucharest and Brussels. Two additional destinations will be launched over the next few weeks – Stuttgart from March 6 and the Syrian city of Aleppo from April 6, with the latter becoming the airline’s milestone 100th destination. On 15 June Qatar Airways will start a daily non-stop service to Venice, the airline’s third destination in Italy.

By 2013, Qatar Airways plans to serve over 120 key business and leisure destinations worldwide with a modern fleet of more than 120 aircraft. Today, the airline’s fleet stands at 94 aircraft, flying to 98 destinations across Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, North and South America.

source: airtransportnews.aero / picture: google.com

DHL plans to build a multi-user WAREHOUSE facility

One of the express services and logistics company, DHL has plan to build a multi-user warehouse facility to support the distribution chain business in Indonesia. Construction of warehouses in Cililitan, East Jakarta that requires an investment fund worth 3 million Euro or equivalent to IDR 36.5 billion.

CEO DHL Supply Chain South and Southeast Asia, Oscar de Bok said that Indonesia is an important component of their business development strategy in Asia Pacific. "The Indonesian market showing strong growth in line with domestic economic growth is increasingly improved," said de Bok.

According to Abdul Rahim Tahir, Managing Director of DHL Supply Chain Indonesia, the location of the new facility to help ease access to the business center with delivery time 2 hours. "Indeed, this warehouse is specially designed to special DHL customers on automotive and technology sector that requires urgent and sustained supplies," he explained.

The facility will combine the best means of handling goods to support the ordering process incoming and outgoing goods. This warehouse will also be equipped with the latest computerized warehousing system.

With the construction of new facilities that will be completed in November 2011, the total area of warehouses and offices DHL Supply Chain more than 140,000 m2. DHL Supply Chain currently operates in 17 locations across Indonesia.

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Lion Air still want to BUILD hangar in INDONESIA

Until now, PT Lion Mentari Airlines still seeking development of hangar for their aircraft maintenance in Indonesia. According to General Director of PT. Lion Mentari Airlines, Edward Sirait, needed a better solution for these efforts. "We still want to build a hangar in Indonesia," said Edward.

Edward said, now there is a bid to Lion Air to build a hangar at the airport Riwut Little, Palangkaraya, Technical Implementation Unit of the Ministry of Transportation. "We also are considering about this solution," he said.

Regarding the request of joint cooperation from PT Angkasa Pura I to manage the hangar aircraft that will be built at Sam Ratulangi Airport, Manado, North Sulawesi, he said this is difficult to be realized.

Therefore, there will be conflict if there is a business division within the actual construction of the hangar is focused solely for Lion Air aircraft maintenance only. "It would be a conflict. Because they want the business division. In other words, there is a distribution of stock to the Angkasa Pura I, "he explained.

Therefore, Lion Air chose to withdraw its investment from Manado and move it to another place. Even Lion Air plans to move the investment to Malaysia. Malaysia in this regard has been prepared of 2.6 hectares of land for lease to the Lion Air at a rate of U.S. $ 3,600 per month.

picture: google.com

Garuda Indonesia recruit ex-Mandala Airlines pilots

PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk (GIAA) plans to recruit 180 new pilots in 2011, and as many as 36 pilots of whom are former pilots of the Mandala Airlines.

"This year we are conducting the recruitment process as many as 180 pilots, 36 pilots are ex-Mandala Airlines," said Emirsyah, President Director of Garuda Indonesia, at the Indonesian Stock Exchange, Jakarta, Friday (11/02/2011).

According Emirsyah, the need for new pilots are part of the company's business expansion program, so the amount is adjusted by the addition of the fleet. Emirsyah admit, procurement pilot for Garuda Indonesia is very urgent, as evidenced when the number of pilots is reduced resulting in flight operations caused little disturbance.

To recruit the pilots, Garuda Indonesia in cooperation with the domestic pilot schools. Besides pilots from domestic, Garuda Indonesia also been using some foreign pilots who are employed by contract.

On February 11, 2011, Garuda Indonesia officially listing in Indonesia Stock Exchange, with the acquisition of the proceeds from the IPO (initial public offering) of IDR 3.3 trillion. Emirsyah asserted, the entire IPO proceeds will be used for business expansion by increasing the number of fleet.

Until 2015, Garuda Indonesia plans to increase its fleet to 153 aircraft, from the current 86 aircraft. Emirsyah said the addition of the 67 unit aircrafts up to the year 2015, consists of the type Boeing 777-300 ER Longhorn, Air Bus 300 (medium), Boeing 737-800 Next Generation.

"In addition, Garuda Indonesia will also conduct a plane with a capacity of under a hundred seats to fly a number of cities in the region of Sulawesi and Kalimantan," said Emirsyah.

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QATAR Airways add flight route to KUALA LUMPUR

Qatar Airways has announced the increase in their network capacity, including adding of flight routes to Kuala Lumpur become two flights per day, which will start on March 1, 2011.

Qatar Airways – the airline from Doha - will be doing some network expansion in their global flight routes, as the beginning of the winter program in the future.

Additional services of three times a flight from Kuala Lumpur will begin on March 27, 2011 and will connect the capital city of Malaysia with Doha as much as two times a day.

This year, Qatar Airways celebrates 10 years of operation of Qatar Airways in Malaysia. As one well-known and longest routes in the region of Southeast Asia, Kuala Lumpur route continues to grow since its introduction in 2001.

The increasing of flight frequency will answer the needs of businessmen from the Middle East who are interested to expand trade to Malaysia and offers a convenient connection flights to exotic destinations in Europe and North America, which is generally difficult to achieve, to the Malaysia passengers.

Through daily and nonstop flights of Qatar Airways from Doha to Sao Paolo, Malaysia sports fans can enjoy the convenience of through non-stop flights from Doha to Brazil which is the location of the FIFA World Cup matches to be held in 2014.

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The ten NEWEST aircrafts of GARUDA INDONESIA

Until May 2012, Garuda Indonesia will get the newest ten aircrafts to strengthen their fleet. The latest information which received from Standard Chartered on Wednesday (February 2, 2011) indicates, the Standard Chartered and Garuda Indonesia already signed a cooperation contract sale and lease back transaction of four Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (NG).

In essence, as an explanation of Standard Chartered CEO Tom Aaker, they will helps Garuda Indonesia to get and lease the planes through the Pembroke Group Limited, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered, which is engaged in leasing, financing, and management planes.

On the second transaction, such cooperation to fruition six series of the same plane. The planes are scheduled to be delivered in the period starting from December 2011 to May 2012.

Indeed, ten aircrafts were part of a total of 25 Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft that have been ordered by Garuda Indonesia to the aircraft manufacturer, Boeing.

According to Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia in 2011, it will get delivery of 12 new planes from Airbus and Boeing. In 2015, Garuda Indonesia will have a total fleet of 153 aircraft consisting of Airbus A330 series, Boeing 737-800 NG, and Boeing 777-300 Extended Range (ER).

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Indonesian EXPORT of 2010 reached a NEW Record

Head of Indonesia Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Rusman Heriawan said Indonesia's total exports from January to December 2010 to carve new record in the history of Indonesian exports, which amounted to US$ 157.73 billion.

"A total export from January to December 2010 is US$ 157.73 billion, the latest record for export performance during the history of Indonesian exports," he said in a news conference in his office, Jakarta, Tuesday (01/02/2011). The figure for December 2010 was a highest record export monthly of US$ 16.8 billion.

According BPS data, the rate of export performance throughout 2010 was a growth of 35.38 per cent from the same period in 2009 is US$ 116.51 billion.

Rusman Heriawan said oil exports during January - December 2010 recorded around US$ 129, 68 billion. The largest export commodity is mineral fuels, such as coal US$ 18, 73 billion as well as fat and vegetable oil or palm oil reached US$ 16.29 billion.

BPS noted Indonesia's largest exports are to Japan of US$ 16.5 billion. While export to China around US$ 14.07 billion and the United States amounted to US$ 13.3 billion.

"The contribution of the largest exports are still held by conventional market except China. As for Japan US$ 16.5 billion, China US$ 14.07 billion and United States US$ 13.3 billion. The market share for those three country is 33.85 percent of the country total exports. Meanwhile, exports to the European Union is US$ 17.07 billion, "he explained.

picture: google.com