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Global ports lost more than one-third of their expected capacity to ship containers in 2021, causing economic trouble for some smaller developing nations, among others, finds research commissioned by the Global Shippers Forum (GSF).

The study, which was conducted by MDS Transmodal, identifies the extent of capacity restriction in 2021 that resulted from scheduled port calls being skipped by shipping lines. It measured the number of container ship slots that were expected to be available at the port but never materialized because the lines skipped the port—often because vessels were already fully occupied by containers collected at ports called at earlier on the service.

Skipped ports have become part of how shipping lines are managing their heavily utilized fleets.

“Skipped port calls have multiple effects on shippers,” says James Hookham, director of the GSF. “They create local upward pressure on shipping rates, as shipping line agents ‘auction off’ available slots on the vessels that do call. Shippers also face unexpected surcharges for the handling and storage of delayed containers.

“More pernicious is the wider effect on national economies, especially those of developing nations that lose opportunity to deliver their exports, and hinder the recovery of their economy from the effects of lockdowns and COVID restrictions,” Hookham adds.

Source: www.inboundlogistics.com

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Advanced nuclear energy technology company Core Power is working on a concept for an offshore facility that combines advanced nuclear power with an offshore ammonia production facility, which would enable affordable production of green ammonia for shipping.

“The production of green ammonia is a key component of the decarbonization plans for international shipping. While the largest 17,000 ships are unlikely to find economic value in using hydrogen-derived green fuels, a very significant portion of the world fleet may find green ammonia to be a viable pathway to zero emissions.

“The decarbonization of other difficult to abate sectors such as chemical and steel manufacture as well as aviation will also require the manufacture of a substantial amount of these green e-fuels, Core Power said.

The concept

“Our concept design is for an offshore facility partnering advanced nuclear power with an offshore ammonia production facility, which will create green ammonia from abundant seawater and air. No emissions would come from the plant,” says Dr Rory Megginson, CORE POWER’s Director of Analytics.

Core Power said its modeling showed that with current technology it is possible to produce one million tonnes of ammonia per year using 1.2 GW of electric power, on each floating production platform, reducing to 0.9 GW by 2050. This is the equivalent of 440,000 tonnes of very low sulphur fuel oil (VLFSO) and it would allow the decarbonization of a considerable number of vessels, the company said.

The flexible nature of these systems will mean it will also be possible to provide a mixture of electricity, hydrogen, and ammonia for other applications, including chemical manufacturing and aviation, Core Power said Dr. Megginson says: “The production of green ammonia at sea using advanced nuclear power would be superior to both productions from renewables and non-marine atomic systems because atomic power has the highest capacity factor of any power generation method – whereas intermittent renewables, notably wind and solar, have the lowest. This reliability and dispatchability makes advanced atomic the ideal power source for e-fuel production.”

Moving the reactors to sea will allow for a substantial reduction in costs due to the lack of a need for expensive civil engineering as well as opening the possibility of shipyard construction, Core Power said.

“The production of Molten Salt Reactor technology is modular by design rather than the historical ‘first of a kind reactor,’ that has kept nuclear generation prices elevated up until now. Offshore advanced atomic power shows the best results at the lowest cost for large scale, secure, and truly green ammonia production,” the company said.

Source: www.marinelinks.com

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Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering (KSOE) expects to have the technology to transport hydrogen by ship by 2025, an executive said, targeting a breakthrough in supplying a fuel touted by supporters as offering a major source of clean energy.

The development by KSOE, the shipbuilding arm of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group, one of the world’s biggest shipbuilders, comes amid growing global interest in rolling out hydrogen as a cleaner fuel alternative. Vessel makers worldwide are looking at ways to transport the gas, currently supplied via pipelines and trucks.

A major challenge is to keep the hydrogen chilled at minus 253 degrees Celsius – only 20 degrees above absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature – so it stays in liquid form, while avoiding the risk that parts of a vessel could crack.

“We already have developed a concept ship with a capacity of 20,000 cubic meters,” said Yoo Byeong-yong, vice president with Korea Shipbuilding & Offshore Engineering’s (KSOE) Energy System Research Institute.

Though small at 20,000 cubic meters compared with the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supertankers – which can carry up to 266,000 cubic meters – the hydrogen tankers will grow in size as the technology develops.

Around 20 ships with a 20,000 cubic meters capacity are expected to be built in the decade starting in 2030, and if demand grows that could increase to 200 larger vessels of 170,000 cubic meters after 2040, according to industry estimates in South Korea, one of the world’s shipbuilding powerhouses.

“We foresee the global hydrogen market will grow rapidly after 2030 and demand for ships will grow accordingly,” said Yoo, speaking in a video interview from Las Vegas during the CES tech trade show. KSOE expects hydrogen tankers to be commercialized between 2025 and 2027.

KSOE’s Yoo said in the early stages ships transporting hydrogen would be fueled by LNG, but the vessels could be powered by hydrogen itself once the hydrogen market matured.

Shipping, which transports about 90% of world trade and accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions, is under growing pressure from environmentalists to deliver more concrete action.

Industry regulators say first net-zero ships must enter the global fleet by 2030, and ships powered by green hydrogen could help meet the target.

Source: www.marinelink.com

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European Commission proposals to bring shipping into the bloc’s carbon market contain exclusions for small commercial and military vessels that would leave millions of tonnes of CO2 emissions unregulated, an NGO study showed on Thursday.

With about 90% of world trade transported by sea, global shipping accounts for nearly 3% of the world’s CO2 emissions. So far, the industry has avoided the EU’s system of pollution charges.

Under proposals announced in July 2021, shipping would be added to the European Union Emissions Trading System (ETS) from 2023 phased over a three-year period, a move designed to spur emissions cuts from the sector.

A study by environmental group Transport & Environment (T&E) said that the proposals, which will be negotiated in Brussels this year, exclude ships below 5,000 GT (gross tonnage), which include small offshore supply ships that service the oil and gas industries. Fishing and military vessels would also be exempt.

T&E said the loopholes would mean that some 25.8 million tonnes of CO2 would not fall under the ETS, meaning that roughly 20% of the 130 million tonnes emitted annually by shipping in the bloc would be excluded.

Jacob Armstrong, sustainable shipping officer at T&E, said the proposals were “based on arbitrary loopholes” and would let “too many heavily polluting vessels off the hook”.

“The EU must rethink its shipping laws,” he said.

A European Commission official said the 5,000 GT threshold aimed “to minimize administrative burden for companies”, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, “without jeopardizing the objective to cover the vast majority of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector”.

Peter Liese, the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the ETS reforms, told Reuters that he was looking at the issue raised by T&E ahead of negotiations on the policy.

The Commission official said its proposal was aligned with the emissions covered by an existing regulation on the monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of emissions from maritime transport.

Ships above 5,000 GT accounted for around 55% of the vessels calling into EU ports and around 90% of the related emissions, the 2015 MRV regulation showed.

Ship owners will have to buy permits under the ETS when their ships pollute or face possible bans from EU ports.

Source: www.marinelink.com

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Imports at the United States’ major retail container ports are expected to end 2021 with both the largest volume and fastest growth on record despite supply chain disruptions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

“This has been an unprecedented year,” said Jonathan Gold, NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy. “We’ve seen more disruption than ever before because of issues along every step of the supply chain and continued strong consumer demand, but we’re also seeing more cargo and faster growth than ever before. There are still ships to be unloaded and containers to be delivered, but everyone in the supply chain has worked overtime this year to try to overcome these challenges. For the most part, they have succeeded, and consumers will be able to find what they need for the holidays.”

Imports for 2021 are expected to total 26 million 20-foot equivalent Units (TE), an increase of 18.3% over 2020 and the highest number since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. The projected total would top last year’s previous record of 22 million, which was up 1.9% despite the pandemic. The growth rate would also be the highest on record, topping 16.7% in 2010 as the economy recovered from the Great Recession.

While imports do not correlate directly with sales, the record comes as NRF expects holiday sales during November and December to grow 11.5% over last year.

Despite the double-digit import growth for the year, monthly totals have settled to single-digit year-over-year growth, a pattern expected to continue at least through the first quarter of 2022.

“After nearly a year of what seemed like runaway growth once the economy reopened from the worst days of the pandemic and unleashed pent-up consumer demand, port data now shows imports settling down,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said. “As economic activity slows after the holidays, we do not expect to see a resurgence of year-over-year double-digit import growth. Instead, it will be more like ‘steady as she goes.’ ”

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U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.21 million TEU in October, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was up 3.5% from September but down 0.2% from October 2020, marking the first year-over-year decline since July 2020. The decline ended a 14-month streak of year-over-year growth that began in August 2020 after stores initially closed by the pandemic reopened and retailers worked to meet demand. Even with the decline, October was still among the five busiest months on record.

Port have not reported November numbers yet, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.21 million TEU, up 5.1% year-over-year. December is forecast at 2.2 million TEU, up 4.6%.

January 2022 is forecast at 2.24 million TEU, up 9% from January 2021; February at 2 million TEU, up 7.3% year-over-year; March at 2.19 million, down 3.3%, and April at 2.2 million TEU, up 2.2%.

Source: www.marinelink.com

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The White House on Wednesday lauded improvements in clogged U.S. supply chains, with more goods moving than ever before, but said more work was needed to ensure fair competition in a global shipping sector dominated by three alliances of ocean carriers.

In a new blog, the White House National Economic Council said the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC), an independent agency, was already investigating excessive shipping fees, but should consider using other tools, including challenging carrier alliances if they resulted in unreasonable costs or delays.

It also urged Congress to enact reforms to give the FMC more tools to oversee the global shipping sector, including boosting transparency about fees carriers charge their customers.

President Joe Biden and his administration are racing to address supply chain snarls that emerged in the wake of stronger-than-expected recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, fueling product shortages and inflation.

Much of the focus has been on U.S. ports, which have been inundated with cargo as a result of seismic shift in consumer spending during the pandemic, from travel and dining to physical goods.

The pandemic also reduced the number of workers needed to keep goods flowing smoothly. Aging truckers retired early, while infection control measures have limited dock and warehouse staffing.

The White House said new data showed continued improvements, with a record number of containers imported at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, from January to October, retail inventories up 4% from 2020, and on-the-shelf availability at 90%, just 1% below levels seen before the pandemic.

“The good news is that we’re moving more goods than ever before, we’re seeing that retail is fully stocked, and we’re seeing that the ports are moving these goods more quickly,” a senior White House official said. “That means it’s going to be a normal holiday season for Americans.”

At the same time, the White House said more work was needed to improve exports out of U.S. ports, with rising shipping costs making it more profitable for carriers to load empty containers instead of waiting for loaded containers to get to ports.

“The problem … raises questions about the fair treatment of American exporters and importers in the shipping industry,” it said, noting that nine carriers organized in three alliances now controlled 80% of global shipping, up from just 29% in 2011.

The alliances are legally immune from antitrust laws, but the FMC can challenge them if they result in unreasonable delays, unreasonable increase in transportation costs or “substantially lessen competition,” the White House said.

It said the U.S. Justice Department stood ready to help the FMC, adding that the agency needs a bigger budget than its current $30 million.

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A surge in container shipping rates poses a threat to the global economic recovery, with small countries dependent on deliveries by sea expected to be hardest hit by a spike in import prices, U.N. agency UNCTAD said on Thursday.

A surge in demand for consumer goods during the pandemic has created major supply bottlenecks around the world, which has impacted the supply of container ships and boxes to transport cargo.

Shipping and port officials expect global supply chain disruptions to extend into 2022.

“The current surge in freight rates will have a profound impact on trade and undermine socioeconomic recovery, especially in developing countries, until maritime shipping operations return to normal,” said UNCTAD Secretary General Rebeca Grynspan.

In its Review of Maritime Transport for 2021, UNCTAD said that the current surge in container freight rates, if sustained, could increase global import price levels by 11% and consumer price levels by 1.5% between now and 2023.

“The impact is expected to be more significant for smaller economies that depend heavily on imported goods for much of their consumption needs,” it said.

UNCTAD said maritime supply chain stakeholders including container lines, ports, inland transport providers, customs and shippers “should work together to share information and make maritime transport more efficient”.

“In the face of these cost pressures and lasting market disruption, it is increasingly important to monitor market behavior and ensure transparency when it comes to setting rates, fees and surcharges,” it said.

Source: www.marinelink.com

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Imports at the United States’ congested container ports are expected to remain at near-record levels for the remainder of the year as retailers rush to move merchandise from docks to shelves in time to meet the expectations of holiday shoppers, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

“Dockworkers are unloading ships as fast as they can, but the challenge is to move the containers out of the ports to make room for the next ship,” NRF Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “We need better empty return procedures and more chassis, truck drivers, rail capacity and warehouse workers to keep the system moving. Retailers have enough inventory on hand to make sure shoppers won’t go home empty-handed this holiday season. But there are still items sitting on the docks or waiting on ships that need to make it to store shelves and online sellers’ warehouses. Retailers want to make sure customers have product choices.”cargo industry,

More than 70 ships were reported waiting to dock at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach last week, and the wait at Los Angeles has averaged two weeks over the past month. Those delays, in turn, can push back the vessels’ arrival at other ports on their schedules. Some carriers have announced plans to divert to other locations, but congestion is building nationwide.

“The once-vaunted supply chain continues to come under pressure from all sides,” Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said, citing issues ranging from port congestion in the United States to electrical shortages impacting production in China. “It does not look like the congestion will improve any time soon, with most commentators suggesting problems will continue well into 2022 – and that is assuming COVID-19 does not spike again.”

Congestion and disruptions that began in 2020 have continued through the current “peak season” for shipping when retailers normally stock up for the holidays, but many retailers anticipated the challenge and began bringing in holiday goods months ahead of schedule to be sure sufficient inventory would be available. NRF has forecast that holiday sales will grow between 8.5% and 10.5% over 2020.

U.S. ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 2.14 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in September, the latest month for which final numbers are available. That was down 5.9% from August but up 1.4% year over year.

Ports have not reported October numbers yet, but Global Port Tracker projected the month at 2.19 million TEU, down 1.2% from October 2020. The year-over-year decline would be the first since July 2020, after which unusually high import volumes began to arrive when stores closed by the pandemic reopened and retailers worked to meet pent-up consumer demand and to stock up for the holidays.

Even with the year-over-year decline, October would be among the five busiest months on record since NRF began tracking imports in 2002. Busy cargo is expected to continue through the end of the year, with November forecast at 2.17 million TEU, up 3.3% year-over-year, and December at 2.18 million TEU, up 3.5%.

January 2022 is forecast at 2.21 million TEU, up 7.6% from January 2021; February at 2 million TEU, up 7% year-over-year, and March at 2.17 million, down 4.1% year-over-year.

The first half of 2021 totaled 12.8 million TEU, up 35.6% from the same period last year. For the full year, 2021 is on track to total 26 million TEU, up 17.9% over 2020 and a new annual record topping last year’s 22 million TEU. Cargo imports during 2020 were up 1.9% over 2019 despite the pandemic.

Source: www.marinelink.com

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The head of a U.S. commission that oversees ocean transportation said in an interview on Tuesday he suspects some ocean carriers have improperly charged importers, one of many factors driving supply chain woes.

A broad range of companies importing goods have been frustrated not only by the pile-up of ships outside harbors but also by higher shipping costs and fees for lapses many say are for problems outside their control.

U.S. Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Dan Maffei said the current mess is largely driven by a demand surge as the U.S. economy emerges from a coronavirus slowdown but added he expected the FMC would find some wrongdoing.

In August, Maffei said the commission had launched an inquiry in response to reports of ocean carriers improperly assessing fees.

“We need to do a very good and thorough job of investigating,” Maffei told Reuters on Tuesday. “Of course, there’s probably abuses going on. And, you know, I don’t want to go farther than that.”

In 2020, the FMC said importers should not be hit with demurrage or detention charges, which refer to fees charged when importers delay in picking up containers of goods and then returning them, if the delays are caused by circumstances beyond their control.

Noting one carrier charge was “value added”, Maffei said, “What do they mean by value added? Are they going to gift wrap the metal container?”

The Travel Goods Association, whose companies do $1 billion in U.S. sales annually, pressed the FMC last week for aggressive enforcement and said shipping costs were now eight to 10 times higher than last fall.

The demand surge has caused unprecedented bottlenecks in the supply chain which economists and businesses expect to persist into 2022.

The White House in a competition executive order issued July this year encouraged the commission to “vigorously enforce the prohibition of unjust and unreasonable practices in the context of detention and demurrage.”

Source: www.marinelink.com

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