[310314.EN.BIZ] Customs Dispute Over Trucker Guarantees At Finnish-Russian Border

RUSSIAN Federal Customs Service's has breached international law by no longer accepting United Nations TIR (Transports Internationaux Routiers) guarantees in the north-west region at the Finnish-Russian border.

TIR is a universal transit system that allows goods to transit from a country of origin to a country of destination in sealed load compartments with customs control recognition along the supply chain.

Transport operators travelling through this high-traffic border crossing point between Europe and Russia will now be obliged to purchase additional national guarantees.

Truckers driving in Russia are to use the International Road Transport Union (IRU) Recommendations for TIR Carnet Holders (EN/ RU) in case TIR Carnets are illegally refused by Russian Customs, said the IRU statement, reported by British International Freight Association (BIFA) newsletter.

This additional illegal decision by the FCS RF is in direct violation of the TIR Convention, as well as several court decisions rendered by the Supreme Arbitration Court of Russia.

It also defies instructions from the Russian Government taken in relation to TIR in the past few months and constitutes another worrying sign for the business climate in Russia.

The IRU is currently in discussions with various Russian Ministries at all levels to quickly resolve this situation through the immediate reinstatement and long-term continuation of the TIR System in Russia.

IRU has reported on about excessive high guarantees for operators at the borders, both for import and export in Russia. According to some CLECAT members border crossing is still possible in practices without buying additional guarantee.

Source : HKSG.

[310314.ID.BIZ] Riset Bertelsmann, Jerman: Globalisasi Lebih Untungkan Negara Maju

Bisnis.com, BERLIN - Negara-negara maju lebih diuntungkan oleh globalisasi dibandingkan negara-negara berkembang. Hal tersebut diungkap suatu studi baru-baru ini terhadap 42 negara oleh Bertelsmann Foundation, lembaga riset Jerman, Senin (23/3/2014).

Semua negara yang diteliti mendapat manfaat dari globalisasi, karena mereka semua mengalami peningkatan pertumbuhan akibat proses saling ketergantungan. Namun, pertumbuhan mereka meningkat pada kecepatan yang berbeda, kata lembaga yang berbasis Guetersloh itu.

Produk domestik bruto (PDB) per kapita di 20 negara industri utama rata-rata meningkat sekitar 1.000 euro (sekitar 1.377 dolar AS) per tahun akibat globalisasi.  Sebaliknya, kenaikan itu kurang dari 100 euro di negara-negara berkembang seperti Meksiko, China, dan India.

Jerman adalah salah satu pemenang terbesar globalisasi, studi ini menemukan, berperingkat tepat di belakang Finlandia, Denmark dan Jepang.

Pada 1990 - 2011, PDB riil Jerman tumbuh rata-rata sebesar 100 miliar euro per tahun akibat globalisasi, memberikan kontribusi sekitar 20% dari pertumbuhan ekonomi di ekonomi terbesar Eropa itu. PDB per kapita naik dengan rata-rata 1.240 euro.

"Hal ini membuat jelas bahwa globalisasi cenderung memperlebar kesenjangan antara kaya dan miskin. Negara-negara dunia pertama adalah yang paling diuntungkan dari globalisasi," kata Aart De Geus, ketua dan CEO Bertelsmann Foundation. "Kerja sama pembangunan lebih proaktif diperlukan," katanya.

Para ahli dari lembaga riset itu mengatakan bahwa negara-negara maju harus menawarkan bantuan lebih lanjut kepada rekan-rekan mereka negara berkembang dalam rangka untuk menutup kesenjangan kemakmuran.

Negara-negara industri harus membuka pasar mereka bagi produk dari negara-negara kurang berkembang, selain mengurangi subsidi untuk produk-produk pertanian di dalam negeri, mendanai program-program pendidikan, serta perluasan infrastruktur, fasilitas produksi dan teknologi yang relevan di negara berkembang.

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 25.03.14.

[300314.EN.SEA] Seaspan Receives Energy Saver, 10,000 TEU-ship For Hanjin Charter

SEASPAN Corporation has taken delivery of its first 10,000-TEU newbuilding, the Hanjin Buddha, constructed using the fuel-efficient Saver design and built by Jiangsu New Yangzi Shipbuilding Co.

The vessel will commence a 10-year, fixed-rate time charter with Hanjin Shipping. It is the first of three ships to be chartered by Seaspan to Hanjin, and brings the owner's operating fleet to 72, a company statement posted by Marketwire said.

CEO, co-chairman and co-founder Gerry Wang commented: "We look forward to adding another four 10,000 TEU Saver design vessels to our operating fleet during 2014, two of which will be chartered to Hanjin.

"We continue to see strong interest from liner companies in our Saver design and are committed to expanding our fleet and providing leading liner companies with state-of-the-art, fuel efficient containerships," Mr Wang said.

Source : HKSG.

[300314.ID.BIZ] Huawei Kutuk NSA, Ini Penyebabnya

Bisnis.com, BEIJING - Perusahaan telekomunikasi China yang juga raksasa internet, Huawei, mengutuk Badan Keamanan Nasional Amerika Serikat (NSA) setelah muncul laporan bahwa organisasi itu secara rahasia menyadap jejaring perusahaan tersebut selama bertahun-tahun.

New York Times dan harian Jerman Der Spiegel hari Sabtu (22/3/2014) melaporkan bahwa NSA telah membobol arsip email Huawei, komunikasi antar pejabat tinggi perusahaan ini, dan bahkan kode sumber rahasia sejumlah produk Huawei.

Laporan kedua media ini didasarkan dari dokumen yang diberikan buron NSA Edward Snowden.

"Jika aksi dalam laporan itu benar maka Huawei mengutuk aktivitas-aktivitas yang menginvasi dan menyusupi jejaring korporat internal kami dan memonitor komunikasi kami," kata Roland Sladek, wakil presiden urusan hubungan internasional Huawei, dalam pernyataan tertulisnya seperti dikutip AFP.

Dia menambahkan, “Huawei tidak sepakat dengan semua aktivitas yang mengancam keamanan jaringan dan berniat untuk bekerjasama dengan semua pemerintah, pemangku kepentingan dan pelanggan industri ini, dalam pola terbuka dan transparan, guna bersama-sama menghadapi tantangan global terhadap keamanan jaringan.”

Niat awal Operasi "Shotgiant" dari NSA ini adalah mencari kaitan raksasa teknologi informasi yang berbasis di Shenzhen itu dengan militer China, kata dokumen tahun 2010 yang dikutip The Times itu.

Namun tujuan program ini akhirnya berkembang menjadi lebih mencakup pula penetrasi produk komunikasi Huawei ke negera ketiga untuk mendapatkan akses ke jaringan kepentingan di seluruh dunia, tulis dokumen tersebut.

Laman New York Times diblokir di China dan laporan ini tidak bisa diakses oleh internet China.

Washington telah lama menganggap Huawei sebagai ancaman keamanan karena dipersepsikan mempunyai kaitan kuat dengan pemerintah China yang sudah dibantah perusahaan itu.

Baik Amerika Serikat maupun Australia telah melarang perusahaan ini terlibat dalam proyek broadband di negara masing-masing karena kekhawatiran melakukan spionase.

NSA sendiri mempertahankan operasi pengumpulan data intelijennya dengan alasan untuk target-target intelijen asing yang valid.

"Kami tidak menggunakan kemampuan intelijen asing untuk mencuri rahasia-rahasia dagang perusahaan-perusahaan asing, atas nama --atau memberikan data intelijen yang kami kumpulkan-- untuk perusahaan-perusahaan AS demi memperkuat daya saing mereka,” demikian NSA seperti dikutip AFP.

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 24.03.14.

[290314.EN.SEA] China Shipping Widens Loss Threefold to US$478 Million in 2013

CHINA Shipping Container Lines (CSCL), the world's ninth biggest container shipping company, nearly tripled its year-on-year net loss to CNY3 billion (US$478 million), drawn on revenues of CNY36 billion, up three per cent.

Container throughput increased two per cent year on year to 8.2 million TEU, of which 43 per cent was China domestic trade, 22 per cent intra-Asia, 17.5 per cent Asia-Europe and 16.4 per cent transpacific.

Volumes did not meet expectations; the short fall was blamed on "uncertainty in supply and demand" and "a changing competition environment". CSCL made $833 per TEU in 2013 from international traffic, down 13.5 per cent year on year, while its overall average revenue, including domestic China traffic, came to $597 per TEU, down 7.6 per cent.

"The imbalance between supply and demand will not show significant improvement in the short term," said the company.

Targetting 8.3 million to 8.5 million TEU in container throughput this year and CNY41.5 billion in revenues, CSCL stated: "The company will actively push for the restoration in freight rates and further control costs, striving to keep cost increases not exceeding revenue increase on a per TEU basis." 

The CSCL fleet grew 2.6 per cent to 611,000 TEU, with an average ship size of 4,126 TEU.

Source : SN-TR.

[290314.ID.BIZ] Investor Tunggu Data, Termasuk Neraca Perdagangan RI

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA- Trust Securities mengemukakan pasar menantikan sejumlah daat ekonomi global sepanjang pekan depan.

“Untuk pekan depan, beberapa data ekonomi yang akan menjadi perhatian sentimen,” kata Kepala Riset Trust Securities Reza Priyambada dalam risetnya yang diterima hari ini, Sabtu (29/3/2014).

Data ekonomi global yang ditunggu adalah:

• Inflasi, indeks manufaktur, dan neraca perdagangan Indonesia
• RBA interest rate, balance of trade, & private sector Australia
• Building permits & ANZ business confidence Selandia Baru
• Manufacturing PMI, industrial production, housing starts, & construction orders Jepang
• NBS manufacturing index, HSBC service PMI, non manufacturing PMI, & HSBC manufacturing PMI China
• Current account, inflation rate, balance of trade, & HSBC manufacturing index Korsel
• Markit service PMI Jerman; Inflation rate & GDP growth rate Zona Euro Mortgage approvals Inggris
• Markit service PMI Perancis; Inflation rate Italia
• Current account, markit manufacturing PMI, & Markit service PMI Spanyol
• Dallas Fed manufacturing index, Markit service PMI, markit manufacturing PMI, ISM manufacturing PMI, balance of trade, ISM non manufacturing, unemployment rate, initial jobless claims, nonfarm payrolls, & Redbook AS

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 29.03.14.

[280314.EN.SEA] Container Shipping Industry Still at Risk, Says AlixPartners Study

Beset by continued sluggish demand, a growing mountain of debt and a radically changing marketplace, listed companies in the global container shipping industry as a whole face a greater risk of financial distress than at any time since 2010, and that risk has grown in each of those past three years.

Contributing mightily to this situation, says a new study from AlixPartners, the global business-advisory firm, is a so-so global economy that still hasn’t bounced back from the downturn following the worldwide financial crisis of 2008-09 the way other post-recession economies have in the past.

However, the study points as well to several structural issues also buffeting the industry, including a drive to build, fill and route “mega-ships” – a drive that over the past decade has steadily increased leverage across the industry and has left it with an average EBITDA interest-coverage rate of just 4.9, less than half the rate it was in 2011 (10.8) and less than a third of what it was in 2010 (15.0).

The study notes, too, that while global fleet capacity in the industry has risen steadily in the past decade, to 16.9 million TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) for the 12-month period ending September 2013, up from 16.3 million TEU in 2012 and from 10.9 TEU in 2007, that capacity is a long way from being totally utilized, leading in part to more alliances in the industry. This, in turn, according to the study, is likely creating an environment of haves and have-nots where smaller carriers in particular may face some hard choices going forward.

On top of all that, the study asserts that other structural changes that will challenge companies this year include changing trade routes in some parts of the world, with cost increasingly trumping transit time, and a newfound pressure on the part of some of the stronger lines to squeeze, or even totally bypass, non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOCCs), giving those lines more advantage over the have-nots of the industry.

Container Shipping Industry Still at Risk, Says AlixPartners Study“The container shipping industry as a whole continues to face stiff challenges, and for many companies in the industry those challenges could be existential if not addressed,” said Lisa Donahue, managing director and global head of Turnaround & Restructuring Services at AlixPartners. “These challenges also have, and will continue to have, a big effect on shippers and investors as well.”

Source : SN-TR.

[280314.ID.BIZ] Rugi Smarftren (FREN) Capai Rp2,53 Triliun

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA - PT Smartfren Telecom Tbk. (FREN), perusahaan telekomunikasi, mendulang rugi tahun berjalan pada 2013 sebesar Rp2,53 triliun, meningkat 62,18% dari rugi tahun berjalan 2012 sebesar Rp1,56 triliun. 

Rugi tahun berjalan meningkat karena beban lain-lain dan beban usaha melonjak. Beban lain-lain per 2013 sebesar Rp1,1 triliun, naik 426,32% dari beban lain-lain per 2012 sebesar Rp209 miliar. Adapun, beban usaha pada  2013 meningkat 24,31% menjadi Rp4,04 triliun dari tahun sebelumnya Rp3,25 triliun.

Naiknya pendaptan usaha tidak mampu mengimbangi penaikan beban. Pendapatan usaha FREN pada 2013 sebesar Rp2,43 triliun, melonjak 47,27% dari pendapatan usaha 2012 sebesar Rp1,65 triliun.

Per 2013 jumlah liabilitas FREN sebesar Rp12,82 triliun, naik 36,97% dari jumlah liabilitas 2012 senilai Rp9,36 triliun. Sedangkan, jumlah ekuitas pada 2013 sebesar Rp3,05 triliun, merosot 38,76% dari jumlah ekuitas tahun sebelumnya Rp4,98 triliun. 

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 28.03.14.