In just under one week, the ocean freight industry will undergo a transformation in the form of shipping alliances.
Come April 1st, THE Alliance, Ocean Alliance, and 2M will set sail with new members. The new formation will look starkly different from the previous alliance groupings.

PREVIOUS SHIPPING ALLIANCES :
2M Alliance: Maersk and MSC
Ocean Three Alliance: CMA CGM, UASC, China Shipping
G6 Alliance: NYK Line, OOCL, APL, MOL, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM
CKYHE Alliance: K Line, COSCO, Hanjin Shipping, Evergreen, Yang Ming

NEW SHIPPING ALLIANCES :
2M Alliance: Maersk, MSC
THE Alliance: NYK, MOL, K Line, Yang Ming, Hapag-Lloyd (with UASC)
Ocean Alliance: CMA CGM, Evergreen, OOCL, COSCO Shipping

These three alliances represent 77.2% of global container capacity and a whopping 96% of all East-West trades. Ocean Alliance offers the most services, with some 40 loops. THE Alliance follows with 32 services and 2M with 25. Among the changes, THE Alliance and Ocean Alliance will run 11 weekly Asia-northern Europe routes. 2M has also increased its services on this route from five to six.
More recently, Hapag-Lloyd and UASC postponed their final merger date as a result of unexpected delays. The merger will now take place at the end of May as opposed to the end of March, which would have been in time for the new alliances reshuffle. However, this is unexpected to affect the start date of THE Alliance. It will set sail on April 1st, 2017 as planned.

Effect on ports
The alliance reshuffle will no doubt have an impact on ports. The port of Singapore is set to benefit the most but at the expense of other Asian ports. Of the 29 Asia-Europe services provided by all three groupings, the port of Singapore will attract 34 weekly calls. That’s up from the current 29 calls from 27 services. This is thanks to CMA CGM’s acquisition of APL, which prompted the French carrier to embark on a joint venture with PSA-Singapore for operating its CMA CGM-PSA Lion Terminal.

source : http://www.icontainers.com/us

Our Company is delighted to announce that has received the Quality Management Systems ISO 9001:2015 and Environmental Management Systems ISO 14001:2015 certificates, issued by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance, recognizing the company for its competence to provide the highest service quality, meeting the needs, requirements and expectations of all its interested parties in the most efficient way and to follow defined procedures in order to protect the environment, always in compliance with the legislation and applicable regulations.

CHINA Cosco Shipping Group, which has sealed the acquisition of a majority stake in Greece’s Piraeus Port Authority decided to invest half a billion USD more – in addition to the 350m EUR investment over the next 10 years that is already included in its agreement with Athens – which will be used to construct and expand Piraeus’ facilities in several sectors, including cruise ship, containership, ro-ro and ship repair.

Plans are made to turn Piraeus into one of the largest home port for cruiseships worldwide and in this respect they are planning to build a terminal than can accommodate world’s largest cruiseships and respective passenger center that would be big enough to welcome more than 10000 visitors.

Existing Container terminal facilities would be improved by adding better logistics and storage systems and by constructing a high-speed freight railway that will connect Piraeus directly with Central Europe; this way cargoes from China will more easily and quickly be able to reach the landlocked European countries, or vice versa.

Effective today, July 1st 2016, the amendment of the Safety of Life at Sea conventions (SOLAS) adopted by the International Maritime Union in 2014, regarding mandatory container weight verification comes in force.

From July 1st 2016 Shippers will be required to provide the Verified Gross Mass of each shipment. The timely and accurate provision of the VGM is solely Shipper’s responsibility and must always be in accordance with local government guidelines.

VGM is determined by using the following methods:

Method 1

Weighing the packed container once all cargo has been loaded & sealed into the container.

Method 2

By weighing the cargo, including packaging and dunnage, and adding the container tare as mentioned on the container door.

Accurate procedure in Greek ports is yet to be finalized and we are closely monitoring all developments in order to be able to assist our clients.

Five ARC Vessels Win James F. Devlin Safety Awards

WOODCLIFF LAKE, NJ – Five American Roll-on Roll-off Carrier (ARC) Group vessels were awarded James F. Devlin Awards for the calendar year ending December 31, 2015.

Devlin Awards have been awarded by the Chamber of Shipping of America (CSA) since 1958 to any ship or vessel that has operated for two full years or more without a crew member losing a full turn at watch because of an occupational injury. A vessel is also recognized for the number of qualifying years beyond the basic two year award minimum.

The five ARC vessels that won Devlin Awards were the M/V Endurance and M/V Honor (two years), M/V Freedom and M/V Resolve (three years), and M/V Integrity (nine years).

Kathy Metcalf, CSA President, said: “This extraordinary record is directly attributable to the professionalism of our seafarers and the dedication of shore-based company personnel to safe operation. These mariners are the front line in ensuring the safe and environmentally responsible operation of the vessels on which they serve and CSA extends its congratulations to these mariners and their shore-based partners for a job well done.”

ARC is the largest U.S.-flag Ro-Ro carrier, and the third largest U.S.-flag carrier operating in international trade. Founded in 1990, the company provides American-owned, managed, and crewed Ro-Ro shipping services committed to the requirements of the Department of Defense, other U.S. government departments and agencies, and commercial customers. ARC headquarters are in New Jersey, with an additional principal office in Germany.