Shenzhen port to adopt 0.5% fuel sulphur regulation from October

PostTime:2016-08-26 08:27:38 View:506

China’s Shenzhen port has expected to adopt a stricter requirement for ships at berth requiring them to burn marine fuel with sulphur content not exceeding 0.5%, starting October 2016, according to Huatai Insurance Agency & Consultant Service. The move by Shenzhen port follows other Chinese ports in the Yantze River Delta such as Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Suzhou and Nantong, which are required to comply with the country’s own Emission Control Area (ECA) since 1 April 2016. “Recently local authorities in Shenzhen made a similar decision and intend to adopt higher requirement on using low sulphur content fuel (not exceeding 0.5%) during ships berthing at Shenzhen port from 1 October 2016,” Huatai Insurance said in a note on 23 August. “According to the information we obtained, in Pearl River Delta ECA, only at Shenzhen port such requirement will be implemented in advance, namely, from 1 October 2016; whilst at other key ports within Pearl River Delta ECA, such requirement will still be implemented from 1 January 2017 as per original schedule of China MSA (Maritime Safety Administration),” the note stated. “As advised by Shenzhen MSA, they are now working out details on these requirements and plan to issue a formal notice in the end of this month.” Shenzhen port has 10 berths that are equipped with shoreside power, or cold-ironing facilities, which ships can plug onto for electricity power and do away with the consumption of bunker fuel. Internationally, the IMO is mulling a global sulphur content cap of 0.5% by 2020 or 2025, subject to a review in 2018. At present, a cap of 3.5% is being enforced.

GLP China, Shenzhen box maker CIMC tie-up to develop logistics properties

PostTime:2016-08-26 08:20:13 View:492

SHENZHEN's China International Marine Containers and Global Logistic Properties Investment Management (China) are teaming up to develop logistics-related properties. Under the terms of the deal, CIMC will contribute its land reserves, and expertise in logistics equipment, manufacturing and transport services, while GLP (China) will add its experience in managing properties. Both parties are planning to explore opportunities in logistics property development projects, provide a range of service packages to clients in logistics parks, and look to carry out equity-related ventures in the area of financial services, such as financing leasing and supply chain financing. "The agreement was entered into to reflect the interest of both parties in co-operation, serving as the foundation for their further co-operation," CIMC said in a statement. The move by the container manufacturing company, which has been hard hit by the protracted downturn in the container shipping industry, is regarded as a further attempt to diversify its businesses. In June, CIMC Enric, its energy and chemical equipment unit, announced it will acquire the entire stake of UK-based Briggs Group to expand its products and services in the liquid food industry, with opportunities to diversify into the non-beer sectors of the liquid food industry, as well as the biofuel and pharmaceutical sectors. Listed parent companies are China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, China Merchants Group and China Cosco Shipping.  

Shenzhen's China International Marine plans US$928 million share sale

PostTime:2016-04-13 07:55:00 View:423

SHENZHEN's China International Marine Containers (CIMC), the world's largest shipping container maker, hopes to raise CNY6 billion (US$928 million) in a share sale, reports Bloomberg News. CIMC will sell yuan-denominated stock to a maximum of 10 investors, it said in a filing April 9. The money will be used to fund the development works of CIMC's financial-leasing arm. CIMC's expansion of diversified businesses comes during a global slump in container shipping rates and overcapacity in the sea-freight market. Shipping lines worldwide have been selling assets and exploring consolidations to stem losses as the fees they charge customers plunged after years of slowing trade and overcapacity. The company counts China Merchants Group and Cosco Container Industries among its biggest shareholders.  

Rising fear of mass shipping exodus from Hong Kong to Shenzhen

PostTime:2015-08-11 20:41:23 View:642

THERE are growing fears among shipowners that they will be forced to move operations from Hong Kong to neighbouring Shenzhen if government cannot offer an exemption to new competition rules what would make their vessel sharing agreements (VSA) illegal. Shenzhen on the mainland has no such regulation and if there is no block exemption before the new ordinance comes into force December 14, members of the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association (HKLSA) see little option but to abandon the port. "A good 10 per cent of our business moves through Hong Kong and it is a nice business," said HKLSA head Tim Smith, also Maersk chief in China. "If everything moves to Shenzhen I will be forced to lay off people and may even lose the business." Guidelines on how the new competition law will be implemented when it is introduced mid-December were released this week. The Competition Ordinance outlaws vessel sharing agreements under which most of the containers entering and leaving Hong Kong operate. "When you think that 95 per cent of the container throughput in Hong Kong comes in or goes out in services that are VSAs or other operational sharing agreements, that could be quite problematic," said Mr Smith. The Competition Commission, an independent agency to enforce the ordinance, earlier said it would consider block exemptions, but said little else since. "We are in a very uncertain situation, and companies like ours do not like uncertainty," said Mr Smith.  "While it is difficult to believe that the Hong Kong government will allow a competition law to destroy its container shipping business, it's inaction has led to a steady decline of the port in the past 15 years.  Mandatory clean fuel is 40 per cent more expensive than regular bunker in Hong Kong. In Shenzhen, use of low sulphur fuel is voluntary, providing another incentive for carriers to shift calls across the border.  

New HK competition ordinance risks driving Maersk to Shenzhen

PostTime:2015-06-23 08:11:39 View:526

MUCH of Hong Kong's container shipping will be made illegal next year if the new competition ordinance is implemented, says Maersk's North Asia chief Tim Smith. If the problem isn't fixed - and it is not susceptible to a quick fix - Hong Kong customers will migrate to more tolerant Shenzhen - Maersk Line included. "Companies like ours do not like uncertainty. We don't want to do something that is not in Hong Kong's interests, like move our business out," he said. "The law makes no allowance for vessel sharing agreements. From January 1. All vessel-sharing alliances [VSA] will be illegal in Hong Kong," he told the Journal of Commerce. "Fines are huge - 10 per cent of turnover, which for us is US$2.7 billion if we do not comply. The way it is going, we will be breaking the law from January 1," he said. "Ninety-five per cent of the container throughput in Hong Kong comes in or goes out in VSAs and that could be quite problematic," he said. While it is expected to take force on January 1, Hong Kong's Competition Commission still has chance to make changes, said Mr Smith. "We are trying very hard to persuade the government to allow exemptions, or more time to arrive at solutions that don't hold back trade in Hong Kong," he said.  "We think there are grounds for an exemption. In all other major jurisdictions - China, the US and Europe - there are exemptions that allow VSAs to operate." The commission has indicated that it will look block exemptions. But Mr Smith said there was lot more to consider than what first appears. "There are quite a few industry segments saying 'we need an exemption'. The process will take months, or even years. What we don't want is business impacted in the meantime." Hong Kong has evolved from a port handling direct China exports to a major transshipment hub, and this cargo could easily move to Shenzhen, he said. Once the world's busiest container port, a refusal to tackle the cost of exporting a box from Hong Kong vis-a-vis Shenzhen saw its market share reduced by the terminals across the border.  "Hong Kong will never be back to being the world's number one container port, but there will be a substantial amount of business here for some time and it is a maritime industry that is worth supporting," Mr Smith said.

Taiwan South China Express calls at Shenzhen's Da Chan Bay

PostTime:2015-05-29 08:21:46 View:526

THE Taiwan South China Express (TSX) service has started calling at Da Chan Bay Terminals in the west Shenzhen port area with a call from the 886-TEU FPMC Container 6.  The Taiwan South China Express (TSX) service is operated by Formosa Plastics Marine Corporation (FPMC) with its partner member line - CU Lines.  The new TSX service connects the Pearl River Delta with direct calls to major ports in Taiwan.  As the last port of call in South China, Da Chan Bay brings advantages to customers, including faster transit time and more time for cargo declaration, said the terminal operator. The TSX calls Da Chan Bay every Thursday, following a port rotation of Keelung, Taichung, Kaohsiung, Huangpu, Humen, Da Chan Bay.  Da Chan Bay Terminals is an international container terminal serving the Pearl River Delta cargo catchment areas.  Da Chan Bay covers 112 hectares with five berths along its 1,830-metre-long quay that is 600 metres wide. It has 15.5 metres alongside, but has plans to dredge to 18 metres.  Occupying a strategic location that encompasses well-developed land and waterway access to both the eastern and western sides of the Pearl River Delta, Da Chan Bay Terminals offers opportunities of capturing new cargo as factories migrate inland west of the Pearl.  Managed by Modern Terminals Limited, which has 40 years of solid experience of container terminal operations in Hong Kong, one of the world's busiest seaports, Da Chan Bay Terminals is equipped with the most advanced IT systems, facilities and equipment available.    

Hapag-Lloyd joins Shenzhen Port low sulphur emissions scheme

PostTime:2015-04-15 08:23:28 View:611

Shenzhen Port's efforts to reduce emissions is gaining some traction with Hapag-Lloyd annoucing it has entered into an agreement with the port to cut sulphur oxide emissions. In continuing efforts to improve air quality in cities, Hapag-Lloyd will voluntarily use fuel with a sulphur content of less than 0.5% while its ships are docked at the terminal. “By joining the Shenzhen Port Green Convention, Hapag-Lloyd has once again demonstrated its commitment to environmental and health protection on a voluntary basis that goes beyond national and international requirements, thus emphasising how important this is to our company,” said coo Anthony Firmin. Hapag-Lloyd is already participating in Hong Kong's groundbreaking  Fair Winds Charter voluntary environmental protection programme.

Guangdong to open free trade zone next week: Shenzhen trade group

PostTime:2015-03-13 08:08:52 View:608

GUANGDONG province, in which Hong Kong would be included if it were not for other arrangements, will become a free trade zone on Wednesday March 18, according to a provincial trade association, Reuters reports. Beijing has announced it would set up three new trade zones: In Guangdong and in the neighbouring coastal province of Fujian, centred on the Port of Xiamen and yet another farther up the coast in Tianjin, the seaport closest to the national capital. The Guangdong opening comes less than two years after its Shanghai FTZ will be opened in light of the experience in Shanghai, said the Shenzhen Cross-Border E-Commerce Association. Hu Chunhua, Guangdong Communist Party chief and provincial governor Zhu Xiaodan, would attend the launch ceremony, said the trade group's blog. The pilot FTZs, part of wider financial reforms such as moving to a fully convertible yuan currency, are seen as an important step towards developing a more open economy, said Reuters.

Shippers pay US$333/TEU more shipping via Hong Kong than Shenzhen

PostTime:2014-12-09 10:16:36 View:570

SHIPPERS exporting through Hong Kong port must pay US$333 per TEU more than they would using neighbouring Port of Shenzhen, according to the BMT Asia-Pacific report commissioned by the Hong Kong Transport and Housing Bureau. "Carriers could move international transshipment business to other hubs. Yet, with the cabotage rule in place, Hong Kong is likely to remain attractive for handling China-related transshipments that will sustain competitiveness of its hub port status," said the report. The cabotage rule prohibits foreign carriers from domestic maritime transport and shipping cargo between Hong Kong and mainland ports because such voyages are not regarded as domestic transport. But carriers surveyed in the study said they would transfer international transshipments from Hong Kong to mainland ports if there were no cabotage restrictions. Transshipments now make up 75 per cent of Hong Kong's total in face of mainland exports rapidly declining via Hong Kong. "Calling purely for transshipments only adds to a carrier's operating costs. If other business is available at the port, such as gateway cargo, the revenue from carrying this cargo can defray the cost of calling for transshipment purposes," the study said. Shipping lines calling at Hong Kong are already struggling with critical levels of congestion as increasing transshipment volumes, larger ships and complex alliance structures create bottlenecks, notes Newark's Journal of Commerce. Hong Kong Shippers Council executive director Sunny Ho said in the early 2000s, transpacific shipping lines told Legco they had no intention of lowering terminal handling charges unless the terminals reduced theirs. "The shipping lines have no reason to lower the THCs. They have no preference for Hong Kong or Shenzhen, either, and can change ports if they are ever unhappy," he said. Then there is the chronic lack of available back-up land to handle increasing volumes and yard storage needs stand as the No 1 complaint from terminal operators.  "We urge the government to broaden and accelerate their work on the report's key recommendations, including rationalising the use of land and providing additional barge berths adjacent to the existing terminals, given the increasing congestion faced by the port," said Jessie Chung, chairwoman of the Hong Kong Container Terminal Operators' Association.  To which the Transport and Housing Bureau said: "The administration is reviewing the allocation and management of port back-up land in the vicinity of the Kwai Tsing container port currently leased under short-term tenancies.  "The review will explore how to better utilise the land to support the efficient operation of the container terminals and the port as a whole. Proposals will be set out in a document for industry consultation in due course," said the government statement.  

US Commerce Department wants anti-dumping duties on Shenzhen boxes

PostTime:2014-11-26 08:23:07 View:683

AFTER declaring Chinese standard shipping containers were sold below cost in the United States, the Commerce Department has decided to apply for anti-dumping duties on further imports from China. Under a ruling, Chinese 53-footers would face anti-dumping duties of up to 153.24 per cent after a complaint from Stoughton Trailers, Reuters reports.  Other containers, including those produced by the world's biggest box maker, Shenzhen's China International Marine Containers (CIMC), face a lower 24.27 per cent rate. In 2013, US$184 million worth of such containers were imported from China. The duties, which must still be confirmed in a final decision by the Commerce Department and by the US International Trade Commission, would come on top of anti-subsidy duties set in September. 

Shenzhen to offer US$32.6 million annually to cut ship, port emissions

PostTime:2014-09-29 08:53:27 View:703

THE Shenzhen municipal government has announced an offer up to CNY200 million (US$32.6 million) a year to cut ship and port emissions starting October 1.  Under the scheme, port and ship operators will be encouraged to install and use shore power, and ocean-going vessels to switch to the use of low sulphur fuel while berthing on a voluntary basis.  Different levels of subsidy will be provided to cover the cost of shore power installation, maintenance and electricity use.  Ship operators will receive a subsidy to cover 75 per cent to 100 per cent of the cost of fuel switching, depending on the fuel's sulphur content, a statement from Hong Kong environmental lobby Civic Exchange said. Since 2013, Shenzhen has become the third largest container port in the world. Most of the ocean-going vessels calling at Shenzhen burn standard bunker.  "This is a milestone in Shenzhen's ship emission control and air quality management policy development," said chief research officer of Civic Exchange Simon Ng.  

Shenzhen follows HK's lead to subsidise low sulphur fuel at berth

PostTime:2014-09-28 07:58:41 View:538

 Hong Kong's enthusiasm for clean air has spread to neighbouring Shenzhen, where the government plans to spend RMB200m ($32.6m) a year on cash rebates to encourage shipping lines to switch to low sulphur fuel while at berth, local media reported. Emulating Hong Kong's earlier subsidies scheme, the Shenzhen government will subsidise 75% to 100% of the extra costs incurred by the lines in the voluntary scheme. It will kick in next month and last for three years. "We are learning from the experiences in Hong Kong where companies have volunteered to switch to low sulphur fuel and the government provides subsidies for extra costs incurred," Dong Yangze director of Construction Management Office of Shenzhen municipality's Transport Commission was quoted as saying. In addition, Shenzhen is also pushing to set up an emissions control area that would cover the Pearl River Delta by 2018, Li Shuisheng deputy director of Shenzhen's Human Settlements and Environment Commission said.