MSC expands its reefer offerings in Spain

MSC is to launch a dedicated rail service for reefer cargoes and plans to invest in a new cold store as it expands its operations in Spain.

Ignacio Ballester, managing director, MSC Spain at Cool Logistics in Valencia

Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Company, world’s second largest liner shipping company, also hopes its affiliate company Terminal Investment Ltd will secure the operating concession for Valencia’s new T4 complex. An announcement on this is expected in October.

Addressing delegates at the Cool Logistics Global conference in Valencia, Ignacio Ballester, managing director, MSC Spain, said: “We are preparing ourselves for growth in Spain’s reefer trades and the ongoing demands of our customers. By the end of this month we will be running a dedicated train between Zaragoza and Valencia for perishable cargoes and we hope to have secured permission to build a new cold store in the logistics zone at the port of Valencia.”

Speaking to WCN after the presentation, the executive said the train service would carry up to 25 containers of frozen meat mainly for export to Asia. “We will operate the train service on a weekly basis but expect to upgrade its frequency to twice a week quickly, subject to customer demand".

Ballester expects MSC to be given the go ahead to build its 25,000m2 warehouse soon. “The planning process has taken a while but we expect to be given the green light for the development shortly,” he said. It represents an investment of approximately €20M and it will feature rooms able to accommodate a full range of chilled and frozen cargoes.”

MSC’s planned investment in Valencia strengthens its position in the port and also the Spanish port’s role in the Mediterranean. “Valencia is the best option in the Mediterranean for the transport of perishable products as we have excellent connectivity with the five continents,” said Aurelio Martínez, president of Autoridad Portuaria de Valencia.

Also addressing the conference, he said the port of Valencia was the European capital of perishable goods logistics. “One of the main challenges of this [reefer] logistics sector is the continuous search for the reduction of transport times, a basic aspect to guarantee the quality of perishable products,” claimed Martínez. “For this it is essential the connectivity of the port, the decrease in logistics processes and the increase in the efficiency of intermodal processes works and this is the case in Valencia.

In 2018, Valencia handled over 5M TEU, an estimated 10% to 12% of which comprised reefer containers.

Source: WorldCargo News

First berth open at Lamu

China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC) has completed the first berth of the container terminal at the new port of Lamu in Kenya

Following testing, it will be officially opened by President Uhuru Kenyatta in October, with the first vessel using the port in November. The first phase will comprise three berths, each with a depth alongside of at least 17.5m, and is scheduled for completion by the end of next year. The other two berths were 55% complete in early September. What once seemed to be an unlikely project is now starting to take shape.

CCCC was awarded the contract in 2015 and began construction at the end of 2016. Its US$449M deal is part of the US$689M total price tag for Phase 1, including the cost of dredging work, building access roads and purchasing tugs. Much of the ancillary infrastructure, including port headquarters, police station and power and water connections have already been completed.

The LAPSSET Corridor Development Authority (LCDA), which is managing the project, hopes to eventually see the development of 32 berths spread over different terminals.

The new Port of Lamu. (Photo: NMG/Business Daily)

It has been reported in Kenya that the government has financed Phase 1, which will be operated by the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), but expects private sector developers to build and operate the remaining phases. In a statement, the KPA said: “The port is expected to attract larger cargo ships [and] if run efficiently will also provide direct benefits within the region by passing on savings derived from lower marine costs due to faster ship turnaround times and at the same time of reducing the cost of doing business.”

The port is designed to serve northern Kenya and neighbouring states to the west and north. An oil pipeline will be built from Kenya’s Turkana oil fields to the port, while road and rail links with Ethiopia and South Sudan are planned.

It seems likely that the viability of the project over the next few years will rest on its ability to attract trade from Ethiopia but traders from that country also have the option of using ports in Djibouti, Somaliland and possibly in the future Eritrea. The KPA expects Lamu to attract cargo that currently passes through the ports of Mombasa, Djibouti and Port Sudan.

Source: WorldCargo News

Oakland’s exports go cold

The Port of Oakland’s refrigerated exports have jumped 20% in past year, but at the same time total export cargo has fallen.

Cool Port Oakland can transload refrigerated cargo from rail cars to reefer containers

The Port said it handled 119,756 TEU of refrigerated exports from August 2018 through July 2019, up 20% from the 99,740 TEU handled in the same period a year previously. However, over the same period the number of full empty containers exported through Oakland actually declined, from 922,375 TEU over July 2017 to August 2018 to 915,857 TEU in the following 12 months.

The port pointed to Midwest beef (+45%), and pork (+38%) as driving the increase in its reefer business, which it added “could indicate that the Port’s strategic bet on temperature-controlled cargo is paying off”.

“Our business partners are investing to meet increased overseas demand for U.S. farm goods,” said Port of Oakland Maritime Director John Driscoll. “When you couple their expertise with our infrastructure, it makes a compelling case for running the transportation cold chain through Oakland.”

US producers have suffered from the trade war with China, but they continue to find other markets. Oakland’s position as the last call out of the US for Asia-bound container ships leaving the US has enabled it to leverage intermodal connections to tap Midwest agricultural exporters, and the port has focused on growing its cold chain business.

Recent cold chain initiatives at Oakland include developing new distribution capabilities, extending operating hours to ease delivery of export containers to the Port for overseas shipment, and installing hundreds of new reefer plugs.

Last autumn Lineage Cool Port Oakland, a joint venture of Lineage Logistics and Dreisbach Enterprises, opened a 283,000-square-foot refrigerated distribution centre at the port. It transloads perishable cargo, mostly beef and pork, from refrigerated rail cars into reefer containers for export.

Source: WorldCargo News