[030320.EN.BIZ] DHL Express To Take Delivery Of Six New Boeing 777 Freighters in 2020

DHL Express is receiving six new Boeing 777-200 freighters this year. The first of these planes landed at its future base of operations at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, as part of its Strategy 2025 goals.

In 2018 DHL ordered 14 new Boeing 777 freighters, with four delivered in 2019, six to come this year and the remaining four to be taken into service in 2021. The current freighter will be operated by DHL Express' partner airline Kalitta.

The freighters have been purchased to modernise the long-haul intercontinental fleet of the courier company by replacing older aircraft. The Boeing 777F is equipped with fuel-efficient technology and features the longest range at full payload of any widebody freighter aircraft.

With a payload capacity of 102 tons and a range of 9,200 kilometres, the B777F has the largest capacity and range of all twin-engine freighter aircraft. They are also more fuel-efficient, reliable than older planes and reducing CO2 emissions by 18 per cent.

DHL Express operates 260 dedicated aircraft with 17 partner airlines on 3,000 daily flights across 220 countries and territories.

The new freighters aim to realise the goals of the company Strategy 2025, which focusses particularly on e-commerce activities and boost efficiencies to push up profits.

"We expect further growth in cross-border e-commerce trade and, as a result, increased demand for our express logistics services and expertise in intercontinental deliveries," said vice-president Travis Cobb.

"With the new Boeing 777Fs, we can increase our intercontinental connections while reducing carbon emissions and fuel consumption. This enables us to continue to provide customers with the excellent quality they've come to expect from us while we work to expand our global services."

Source : HKSG.

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[020320.EN.SEA] Big 4 European Carriers Plan To Tackle Greenhouse Gas Emissions

MAERSK, CMA CGM, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Hapag-Lloyd aim to team up to accelerate progress with the decarbonisation of ocean shipping. As such, they are now collectively lobbying regulators to support a controversial US$5 billion research and development fund.

Sustainability and regulatory chiefs from these four world leading containership operators, sat together for a rare common outing during an event at European Shipping Week, during which they pushed for coordinated R&D efforts through a new international body, reported London's Lloyd's List.

The panelists gave their full support of an industry-wide proposal for an independently-run $5 billion global research and development fund, powered by mandatory payments based on fuel consumption.

Maersk has been very effective with its own sustainability efforts and has taken on a leadership role in the field, according to director of regulatory affairs Simon Bergulf, who admits the company has not traditionally been good at collaborating with its major competitors.

Maersk was the first major company to demand carbon-neutral vessels by 2030 and claims to have already spent billions on sustainability R&D over the past few years. It will also focus on alcohol, biomethane and ammonia and wants to further narrow down its choice to a single fuel in 2023.

"But what we have done is drying up. If it's drying up for us, it's drying up for everyone. So, we can't continue to do that," Mr Bergulf said.

Hapag-Lloyd environmental management director Wolfgang Guntermann, whose firm has committed to cutting its carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per TEU-kilometre by 20 per cent by 2020 compared to 2006, said sharing ideas with its rivals would have been inconceivable some decades ago.

"It is not a matter of competition, it is a matter of jointly developing these issues," he said, admitting this is a whole new ballgame for the rivals.

CMA CGM sustainability chief Guilhem Isaac Georges also said it is essential to accelerate R&D to get to zero emissions vessels.

"Betting today on technology to break through in 2035 to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 seems to us very risky. That is why I insist that we have to take these decisions today," he said.

The French shipping company has just partnered up with hydrogen tech firm Energy Observe to share resources and expertise.

MSC Group executive vice president for maritime policy Bud Darr admitted that despite the size of the company, it could never produce the necessary R&D breakthroughs on its own.

"To bring together the whole community really is going to take a collaborative effort and sharing the results of what has developed through this fund," he said.

Three years in the making, since its public unveiling late last year, the R&D fund proposal has been received a mixed reception.

"We are creating a neutral body looking at possibilities over which we do not have the faintest clue. This will enable a level playing field," Mr Guntermann said in support of the idea.

But others question whether this would delay the adoption of a market-based measure in the UN's International Maritime Organisation (IMO).

Mr Darr said there has been "perhaps deliberate misinformation" on the proposal and said the inability of governments in the IMO to agree on a market-based measure (MBM) in the past is their responsibility.

Source : HKSG / Photo : Lloyd's List.

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[010320.EN.BIZ] North American Rail Freight Traffic Volume Down 7pc to 654,066 Carloads

COMBINED North American rail freight traffic for the week ending February 22 was 654,066 carloads and intermodal units, down seven per cent year on year, according to the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

North American rail volume for the first eight weeks of 2020 was 5,278,276 carloads and intermodal units, down 4.7 per cent compared with 2019.

US rail traffic for the week was 482,690 carloads and intermodal units, down 7.6 per cent year on year. Carloads for the week ending February 22 were 232,869 carloads, down 9.3 per cent, while US weekly intermodal volume was 249,821 containers and trailers, down six per cent.

Four of the 10 carload commodity groups posted an increase compared with the same week in 2019. They included chemicals, up 2,366 carloads to 33,284; petroleum and petroleum products, up 1,217 carloads to 13,401; and motor vehicles and parts, up 1,193 carloads to 17,898.

Commodity groups that posted decreases compared with the same week in 2019 included coal, down 23,225 carloads to 63,540; grain, down 2,785 carloads to 18,909; and nonmetallic minerals, down 1,628 carloads to 29,854.

North American rail volume that week, with 12 reporting US, Canadian and Mexican railways totalled 329,343 carloads, down 6.7 per cent, and 324,723 intermodal units, down 7.3 per cent year on year.

Canadian railways reported 76,331 carloads for the week, up 1.9 per cent, and 56,299 intermodal units, down 14.9 per cent. For the first eight weeks of 2020, Canadian railways reported cumulative rail traffic volume of 1,121,322 carloads, containers and trailers, down 1.7 per cent.

Mexican railways reported 20,143 carloads for the week, down 6.4 per cent, and 18,603 intermodal units, up 1.1 per cent. Cumulative volume on Mexican railways for the first eight weeks of 2020 was 298,985 carloads and intermodal containers and trailers, up 8.9 per cent year on year.

Source : HKSG / Photo : Railway Age.

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[290220.EN.SEA] Japan's Ocean Network Express Upgrades Raft Of Intra-Asia Loops

JAPANESE-OWNED Singapore-based Ocean Network Express (ONE) has announced its enhanced Intra-Asia Japan Services, offering improved coverage, comprehensive port connections and competitive transit times.

ONE will operate seven of these services, and co-loading five ensured through slots. Enhancements include the introduction of a Keelung call on the Japan Straits Malaysia (JSM) service, providing competitive and direct coverage from Japan ports to Keelung, and Keelung to Singapore and Malaysia.

The carrier will also review port rotation in Japan for JTV1 to provide faster transit time from Laem Chabang and Cai Mep to Yokohama and Tokyo.

Details of the Intra-Asia Japan service network are as follows: JTV1: (Japan Thailand Vietnam 1) Yokohama, Tokyo, Shimizu, Pusan, Laem Chabang, Cai Mep and back to Yokohama - JTV2: (Japan Thailand Vietnam 2) Osaka, Kobe, Yokkaichi, Nagoya, Laem Chabang, Cat Lai and back to Osaka - JTV3: (Japan Thailand Vietnam 3) Tokyo, Yokohama, Nagoya, Kobe, Taichung, Xiamen, Hong Kong, Yantian, Cat Lai, Laem Chabang, Hong Kong and back to Tokyo - JID (Japan Indonesia Tokyo) Kawasaki, Yokohama, Yokkaichi, Nagoya, Kobe, Singapore, Jakarta, Singapore, Cai Mep and back to Tokyo.

JSM (Japan Straits Malaysia) Tokyo, Yokohama, Shimizu, Nagoya, Kobe, Keelung- Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Kelang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shekou and back to Tokyo - JSM3 (Japan Straits Malaysia) Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Yokohama, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Kelang, Cai Mep,Shekou, Hong Kong and back to Osaka.

JPH (Japan Philippines) Osaka, Yokkaichi, Nagoya, Shimizu, Tokyo, Yokohama, Kobe, Busan, Manila, Busan and back to Osaka. JVH (Japan Vietnam Haiphong) Tokyo, Yokohama, Shimizu, Nagoya, Kobe, Hakata, Pusan, Keelung, Kaohsiung, Haiphong, Kaohsiung and back to Tokyo.

JTS (Japan Taiwan South China) Nagoya, Tokyo, Chiba, Yokohama, Keelung, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Shekou, Xiamen and back to Nagoya. JP1 (Japan Pusan 1) Pusan, Hakata, Nagoya, Kobe. HAS (Hokkai Arirang Service) Pusan, Tomakomai and back to Pusan. BNX (Busan Niigata Express) Pusan, Niigata, Toyama Shinko, Kanazawa and back to Pusan.

The strengthened service network is scheduled to launch from April 2020, subject to necessary regulatory approvals. With the upgraded service network, ONE provides more excellent, reliable, efficient, and effective services in Asian and Japanese markets for our valued customers.

Source : HKSG.