[290111.EN.SEA] Supply Side Fears Lead Carriers Back To Market Share Focus In 2011

SUPPLY and demand forecasts are now coming in thick and fast for 2011. And while actual growth, particularly on the demand side will be difficult to project this year, fears over surplus supply in the market are creeping into carrier thinking again, and market share unfortunately appears to be a focal point for the lines once again.  Despite the strong recovery in demand in the first three quarters of last year, figures for the fourth quarter reveal a significant slowdown, with vessel utilisation levels dipping slightly.  Average utilisation on the main trade lanes fell from 95-100 per cent between May and August 2010, when shippers were confronted with capacity constraints between the Far East and the west, to a projected 80-85 per cent in December, which although not bad, is evidently enough to make some carriers nervous. Growth rates slowed significantly in December. Shanghai, the world’s largest port, recorded a mild growth of 3.2 per cent, and Singapore, the second largest port, only 3.8 per cent in their latest monthly reports.  In October, Alphaliner estimated that the idle fleet would increase to 700,000 TEU as carriers were expected to lay capacity up in order to balance to forever see-sawing supply and demand situation.  However, as of January 2011, the idle capacity figure barely reached half of this estimate, with carriers seemingly unwilling to layup capacity in the winter months, thus resulting in a capacity surplus.  This is a scary development for the market, given that the most logical explanation for the carriers to act this way is that market share is again dominating the thinking of the shipping lines.  Further to this, carriers on the Asia-Europe trade announced they would delay their New Year rate increases of between US$250-$300 per TEU until March, as well as their proposed peak season surcharges of $320/400/450 per TEU, FEU and 40-foot high cube boxes, which were due to take effect on January 1.  Freight rates between Shanghai and north Europe dropped to $1,381 per TEU on January 7 from $1,401 the previous week, according to the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index (SCFI). Source : CSM, 18.01.11.

[290111.ID.OTH] Efek Buruk Kecanduan Pornografi

VIVAnews – Di dunia kesehatan, menonton film atau gambar porno dikenal dapat membantu meningkatkan kualitas hubungan seksual yang telah menurun. Tapi jangan berlebihan apalagi sampai kecanduan. Pria yang kecanduan, dalam jangka panjang, rentan mendapat masalah seksual.

Studi menunjukkan pria yang memanjakan diri dengan rangsangan visual seperti pornografi, rentan terkena gangguan yang disebut Sexual Attention Deficit Disorder (SADD). Dalam jangka panjang, penderitanya akan sulit memiliki hubungan seksual yang sehat dengan pasangannya. Sebab, stimulus seks hanya dapat dipicu melalui gambar visual atau grafis, bukan wanita sebenarnya.

Pakar kesehatan seksual, Dr Rajan Bhonsle, menjelaskan dampak pornografi dan sejenisnya terhadap hubungan dewasa. SADD dapat ditelusuri dari beberapa sebab utama.

Bentuk eksplisit seperti pornografi, pedofilia, voyeurisme, aktivitas seks lebih dari dua orang dan aktivitas menyimpang lain menimbulkan ketidakpekaan saat bercinta. Dalam jangka panjang, mereka akan sulit merasakan kenikmatan dengan aktivitas seks normal. Sehingga, mereka cenderung merasakan seks menyimpang sebagai kebutuhan agar menjaga rangsangan seks tetap tinggi.

Seperti dikutip Times of India, aktivitas seksual dengan rangsangan gambar atau video porno membuat seseorang sulit bila dirangsang pasangan. Ini pula yang menimbulkan permasalahan dalam pernikahan dalam waktu lama.

Penyebab umum lain SADD adalah hubungan seksual dengan banyak pasangan sebelum menikah. Karena terbiasa dengan banyak pasangan sulit meletupkan gairah seks hanya pada satu pasangan.

Pria kecanduan seks biasanya telah memiliki gambaran tentang bagaimana wanita seharusnya. Dan, pasangan yang tidak sesuai harapannya mungkin menimbulkan kekecewaan yang berpengaruh pada gairah seks. Komunikasi intens akan membantunya lepas dari masalah ini.

Berbeda dari kecanduan umumnya, mengobati kecanduan seksual sangat rumit dan butuh waktu lama. Ada baiknya menjauhkan anak dan remaja dari pornografi sejak dini.

Menurut Bhonsle, ada beberapa cara untuk menanganinya:

- Hilangkan pornografi

Saat gairah memuncak, lebih baik mengenang memori dan sejarah erotis Anda ketimbang sambil melihat gambar atau video porno.

- Dekat dengan pasangan

Saling berbagi fantasi seks dan tak malu bereksperimen membuat gairah fisik dan seksual tetap terjaga.

Sumber : VIVAnews, 28.01.11.

[280111.EN.SEA] Maersk Chief : Environment Biggest Challenge Line Faces

NILS ANDERSEN, CEO of shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk, says the environment is the biggest challenge the company faces, he told London's Daily Mail in an extended interview.

"We're working intensely on environmental matters, which we expect over time to be more important to the world and, hopefully, also to our customers," he told the newspaper that focuses on the women's market. 

Recent studies have revealed that shipping is environmentally dirtier than previously thought, said the newspaper. The UN claims the industry is responsible for 4.5 per cent of global carbon emissions. So Maersk is redesigning containerships and making them a further 25 per cent environmentally clean and efficient by 2020.

The new green ships will have redesigned hulls and will be painted with high-tech paint to reduce drag in the water, though they will be fatter and slower. New navigation systems will direct them to the areas of least winds and waves.

It is significant that Mr Andersen is putting his new green ships on what he regards as the most important new areas of business in shipping. The main traffic is between the US and west Europe and Asia, but the areas of most potential are Africa and Latin America.

The former's lack of good ports also gives the company the potential for more business - building ports.

The 52-year-old former head of Carlsberg - he says he still misses the free beer - has transformed the group's fortunes after three years in charge and turned it into Denmark's most profitable company.

The company, he said, has cut layers of management and given the various businesses the power to make more decisions autonomously.

In doing so he has removed GBP1.3 billion (US$2.02 billion) in costs out of Maersk Line operations, the largest unit in the conglomerate.

"Originally the group management structure was made out of countries, regions and head office. The regions were very powerful and heavily staffed. What we did for all practical purposes was to eliminate the regions. This brought us closer to customers and made decision-making easier," Mr Andersen said.

Source : HKSG, 20.01.11

[280111.ID.AIR] LCNC Tertarik Akuisisi Mandala

JAKARTA: PT LCNC diketahui berminat menanamkan modal di Mandala, maskapai yang setop operasi per 13 Januari 2011.

Dirjen Perhubungan Udara Kementerian Perhubungan Herry Bakti Singayuda Gumay mengatakan PT LCNC merupakan perusahaan yang pemegang sahamnya terdiri dari asing dan lokal.

“Perusahaan itu diantaranya bergerak di bisnis lessor atau penyewaan pesawat. Mereka pasti punya banyak pesawat, dan kemungkinan bisa memenuhi ketentuan yang harus dipatuhi Mandala pada 2012, yakni mengoperasikan 5 unit pesawat dan memiliki 5 unit pesawat,” jelasnya hari ini.

PT LCNC pada awal tahun ini juga diketahui mengajukan permohonan surat izin usaha penerbangan (SIUP) berjadwal ke Ditjen Perhubungan Udara Kementerian Perhubungan.

“Yang saya tahu, ada dua perusahaan yang tertarik karena sempat ke membahas Mandala di Kemenhub. Selain PT LCNC, perusahaan lainnya adalah Manunggal Group,” jelas Herry.

Dia mengatakan PT LCNC sudah diakui sebagai perusahaan lokal sehingga tidak ada batasan kepemilikan saham di Mandala.

Head of Corporate Communication Mandala Nurmaria Sarosa sebelumnya mengatakan pihaknya baru akan mengumumkan secara resmi investor baru pada minggu pertama atau kedua Februari. (sut)

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 28.01.11.

[270111.EN.SEA] The Containership Company Shanghai Mulls Index Rate Tie Up

CONTAINER carrier start-up The Containership Company (TCC) is discussing the possibility with customers of directly linking freight rates to something like the Shanghai Containerised Freight Index to avoid carrier-shipper friction and contractual defaults. 

In talks with customers, "there has been a very positive response", said TCC marketing chief Lars Jensen, whose recently created container shipping lines runs a simple shuttle service from Taicang, 60 miles up the Yangtze from Shanghai, to Los Angeles.

"We are confident this will take off. It could be a major step in stopping carriers and shippers reneging on contracts. We need to get to the point where both carriers and shippers agree that an index such as the SCFI [Shanghai Containerised Freight Index] accurately tracks the market," Mr Jensen said.

TCC says it has already started talking to customers about using index-linked container contracts (ILCCs), which would see prices linked to an index like the SCFI.

This will, said Mr Jensen, stop carriers cancelling contracts if market prices increase, and shippers doing the same if they fall. Carriers and shippers wish to avoid situations when rates increase above the contract price and carriers refuse to move containers because they can get a better rate on the spot market, or have to put on surcharges to increase rates.

Other shipping lines are exploring solutions to the conundrum, reports London's International Freighting Weekly. Maersk recently told IFW it was mulling accepting financial penalties in its Asia-Europe contracts if it was unable to deliver the service it has promised.

Source : HKSG, 20.01.11.

[270111.ID.LAN] KA Peti Kemas Beroperasi Juni

Oleh Raydion Subiantoro

CIKARANG: Kereta api angkutan peti kemas rute pelabuhan darat (dry port) Cikarang-Stasiun Pasoso, Tanjung Priok, diharapkan bisa beroperasi secara penuh mulai Juni tahun ini. Wakil Menteri Perhubungan Bambang Susantono mengatakan pengoperasian kereta tersebut sangat penting, diantaranya untuk meringankan beban jalan, selain tentunya memperlancar arus logistik dari kawasan industri Cikarang ke Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok.

“Saya targetkan agar PT Kereta Api Logistik dan pengelola Cikarang Dry Port supaya paling lambat Juni sudah ada angkutan peti kemas melalui kereta api,” ujarnya saat kunjungan ke Cikarang Dry Port, siang ini.

Di tempat yang sama, Direktur Cikarang Dry Port Noor Yusuf mengatakan saat ini pihaknya tengah membangun emplasemen KA, dan diharapkan sudah selesai April.

“Dengan emplasemen itu, peti kemas bisa diangkut dengan mudah ke kereta. Kemudian, kereta akan memanfaatkan jalur eksisting untuk menuju Stasiun Pasoso,” paparnya.

Wamenhub menuturkan kehadiran dry port di Cikarang cukup penting karena pabrik-pabrik di kawasan ini sebanyak 60% produksi untuk diekspor.

“Dry port akan mempermudah proses ekspor itu, karena ketika peti kemas sampai Pelabuhan Tanjung Priok akan langsung dimuat di kapal. Pengurusan surat-surat seperti Bea dan Cukai, dan lainnya, sudah dibereskan di dry port,” jelas Wamenhub. (sut)

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 27.01.11.

[260111.EN.SEA] Maritime Piracy Costs Global Community Up To $12 Billion a Year

At the end of 2010, around 500 seafarers from more than eighteen countries were being held hostage by pirates. During the same year, around $238 million was paid in ransoms to Somali pirates.  Piracy doesn't only affect the world's largest trade transport industry; it actually costs the global community a lot more than just ransoms and stolen cargo. Sharon Gillreports ...

Despite piracy on the high seas being one of the world's oldest crimes, the maritime industry has failed to figure out a way to deal with it.

According to the Oceans Beyond Piracy (OBP) project, contemporary international reactions to piracy follow similar lines to early international law, which declared it the duty of states and their navies to deal with pirates.

But, despite more than thirty countries (including the US) contributing to the navies patrolling the trade lanes around the Horn of Africa, pirates operating in the waters off the coast of Somalia are still doing a roaring trade.

Although the navies' presence managed to reduce the rate of successful hijackings, the pirates doubled the number of attacks and expanded their playground, so the actual number of successful hijackings increased.

Furthermore, hijacked vessels are reportedly being used as "mother ships". This not only enables the pirates to expand their operating area, but also gives them some degree of protection since a naval vessel would hesitate to fire on pirates aboard a ship full of crude oil.

OBP says that, between 2004-2009, only 15% of global piracy attacks occurred off the coast of Somalia. But in 2009, Somali pirates were responsible for 53% of reported attacks around the world, including 47 hijacked vessels and 867 seafarers held hostage. 

The cost

• Ransoms: Over the past five years, Somali pirates' ransom demands have increased from an average of $150,000 in 2005 to $5.4 million in 2010. The largest known ransom payment was for the South Korean oil tanker, Samho Dream, for which a record $9.5 million was paid in November 2010. Somali pirates' income for the whole year 2010 was around $238 million.

• Insurance: Insurance cover includes war risk, kidnap and ransom (K&R), cargo, and hull. The most significant increase in premiums has been in war risk and K&R. With the Gulf of Aden classified as a war risk area by Lloyds Market Association (LMA) Joint War Committee in May 2008, it is therefore subject to these specific insurance pre­miums. OBP estimates that the total excess costs of insurance due to Somali piracy are between $460 million and $3.2 billion per year.

• Naval forces: The cost of naval operations off the coast of Somalia is around $2 billion a year.

• Prosecutions: More than 750 Somali piracy suspects have either been tried or await trial in more than eleven countries. Working on an average cost of prosecution, OBP estimates that the cost of piracy trials and imprisonment in 2010 was around $31 million.

• Anti-piracy organisations: A number of intergovernmental organisations dedicated to working towards a solution for maritime piracy have a total budget of around $24.5 million.

• Re-routing ships: "Low and slow" vessels, which are prime targets for pirates, are often re-routed to avoid risk zones. The excess cost of re-routing these ships is estimated to be between $2.4 billion and $3 billion per year.

• Protection: Deterrent and security equipment costs ship owners between $363 million and $2.5 billion per year.

Total direct costs of piracy in 2010 is thus estimated to be between $7 billion and $12 billion.

But there are secondary costs as well: 

• Piracy costs Egypt about $642 million a year in lost revenue from Suez Canal fees, as ships are re-routed to avoid the Gulf of Aden.

• The trade impact of piracy costs Kenya and Yemen around $414 million and $150 million a year respectively.

• Losses to Nigeria's oil and fishing industries cost the country around $42 million a year.

• Losses to its fishing and tourism industries cost the Seychelles around $6 million a year.

Total secondary costs to regional economies:  $1.25 billion a year.

And we haven't even started trying to quantify "loss of use" and "loss of man-hours" while ships and their crew are held hostage, often for a few months, while shipowners and pirates negotiate a price for their release.

The One Earth Future Foundation says that the scourge of piracy will continue to increase because there is no effective international system to deal with the problem.

Which is why the Foundation established the Oceans Beyond Piracy project, which is attempting to develop a robust and global system to manage piracy through collaboration with stakeholders from industry and governments. 

[Sources:  One Earth Future Foundation, Oceans Beyond Piracy] 20.01.11