[110916.EN.BIZ] September US Retail Imports Strong Despite Hanjin Bankruptcy

IMPORT volume through US major ports should be at near-peak levels this month even as retailers work to cope with the Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker from the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates.

"Hanjin should not significantly affect volume for the month since alternative arrangements to unload those containers or shift cargo elsewhere should be dealt with by the time the numbers are tallied," said NRF vice president Jonathan Gold.

"But millions of dollars worth of merchandise is in limbo at the moment, and retailers are working hard to make sure they ends up on store shelves in time for the holidays."

Ports covered by Global Port Tracker handled 1.63 million TEU in July, the latest month for which after-the-fact numbers are available. That was up 3.2 per cent from June and up 0.7 per cent from July 2015.

August was estimated at 1.67 million TEU, down 0.4 per cent from last year, and is expected to have been the busiest month of the annual shipping-cycle buildup to the holiday shopping season.

September is forecast at 1.62 million TEU, down 0.2 per cent from last year; October at 1.63 million TEU, up 5.3 per cent from last year; November at 1.53 million TEU, up 3.8 per cent, and December at 1.49 million TEU, up 3.6 per cent.

Those numbers should bring 2016 to a total of 18.6 million TEU, up 1.8 per cent from last year. Total volume for 2015 was 18.2 million TEU, up 5.4 per cent from 2014. The first half of 2016 totalled nine million TEU, up 1.6 per cent from the same period in 2015.

January 2017 is forecast at 1.53 million TEU, up 2.8 per cent from January 2016.

"Despite the apparent slowdown in economic activity being reported around the world, the volume of imports continues to grow slowly, much along the lines that we have been projecting," Hackett Associates Founder Ben Hackett said.

Global Port Tracker covers the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach, Oakland, Seattle and Tacoma, New York/New Jersey, Hampton Roads, Charleston, Savannah, Port Everglades, Miami and Houston.

Source : HKSG.

[110916.ID.BIZ] Rencana Menghidupkan Maskapai Merpati Diapresiasi

JAKARTA. Pengamat dari Arista Indonesia Aviation Center Arista Atmaji menyambut baik rencana pemerintah untuk menghidupkan kembali maskapai penerbangan Merpati Airlines.

Menurut dia, Merpati Airlines itu penting bagi Indonesia untuk mempercepat konektivitas ke daerah. Karena, kata dia, Merpati Airlines mempunyai rute yang menjangkau ke pelosok daerah.

"Merpati itu mempunyai rute pelosok daerah yang maskapai lain belum siap," ujar Arista saat dihubungi Kompas.com, Jakarta, Minggu (11/9).

Arista mengungkapkan, Merpati Airlines juga bisa menggerakkan kembali industri penerbangan Indonesia.

"Apalagi saat ini PT Dirgantara Indonesia ingin produksi pesawat berbadan kecil 19 penumpang, sehingga Merpati Airlines bisa gunakan pesawat itu," ucapnya.

Sebelumnya, pemerintah dalam hal ini Kementerian Badan Usaha Milik Negara (BUMN) menempuh jalan privatisasi untuk menghidupkan kembali PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines agar kembali mengudara di langit Indonesia.

Rencananya, jika proses privatisasi tersebut rampung dibahas di DPR dan telah mendapatkan investor, bisa mengudara pada tahun depan.

Sumber : Kontan, 11.09.16.

[060916.EN.BIZ] Naked Hanjin Ships Seized, Cargo Refused, Creditors Grab What's Grabbable

KOREA's big box carrier Hanjin Shipping, stopped taking cargo and US ports began turning away its ships after it filed for receivership.

The move caused US shippers to brace for steep rate increases on routes to and from Asia as large scale capacity was withdrawn from the market.

Singapore port officials said the 3,711-TEU Hanjin Rome was seized after a request by a creditor on Tuesday, reported the Wall Street Journal.

Another, the 13,100-TEU Hanjin Sooho was stopped from entering the Port of Shanghai as creditors sought to have ports either deny entry or impound Hanjin-operated ships.

Three of its ships, reported the WSJ, expected at Los Angeles and Long Beach drifted off the coast Wednesday, their contents marooned indefinitely.

Terminals from Long Beach to Seattle turned away outbound containers that had been destined for Hanjin ships, sending US exporters scrambling to rebook, truck, reload and repack their cargo into other carriers' containers.

Shippers and truckers fretted about rising costs and shrinking capacity.

"There's going to be exorbitant costs," said Peter Schneider, vice president of TGS Transportation in California.

"Everything is unravelling." His company has about US$6,000 to $7,000 in outstanding bills to Hanjin, which he will likely write off, but other trucking companies could be harder hit. Smaller companies that "had all their eggs in one basket with Hanjin - they may go under," he said.

The filing with the Seoul Central District Court came just a day after the company's creditors cut off a lifeline, as financial assistance of more than KRW1 trillion (US$896 million) failed to keep it afloat.

The Korean government said it wants Hanjin's domestic rival, Hyundai Merchant Marine, to buy healthy assets from the troubled company. It rejected the idea of a merger.

A Hyundai Merchant spokesman said the company would discuss the matter with the government and Korea Development Bank. The state-run bank is also Hyundai Merchant's main creditor. Hyundai Merchant, the country's second largest shipping company, is on a recovery track under a creditor-led debt restructuring programme.

Government officials said Hanjin's receivership also could lead to the company's exclusion from a global shipping alliance, reducing its chances of survival.

Source : HKSG.

[060916.ID.BIZ] Ninja Xpress Masuki Pasar Jasa Kurir Berbasis Aplikasi Di Indonesia

Bisnis.com, JAKARTA – Perusahaan logistik dan jasa kurir asal Singapura, Ninja Van, melakukan ekspansi ke Indonesia dengan membuka layanan kurir berbasis aplikasi yaitu Ninja Xpress.

CEO Ninja Van, Lai Chang Wen merasa Indonesia memiliki pangsa pasar e-commerce yang sangat besar di Asia Tenggara. Pangsa pasar yang masih bertumbuh mendorong Lai Chang Wen membuka bisnis kurir Ninja Van berbasis teknologi dengan nama Ninja Express di Indonesia.

“Indonesia memiliki pangsa pasar yang sangat besar di Asia Tenggara, bisnis e-commerce juga terus bertumbuh sehingga kami memutuskan melakukan ekspansi ke Indonesia,” kata Lai Chang Wen di Kuningan, Jakarta, Selasa (6/9/2016).

Perusahaan ini telah menggelontorkan sekitar US$30 juta untuk melakukan ekspansi di kawasan Asia Tenggara. Nilai itu diberikan dari The Abraaj Group untuk mendanai bisnis di Singapura, ekspansi ke Malaysia dan Indonesia, dan untuk meningkatkan teknologi untuk pengoperasian aplikasi jasa kurir.

Ada pula tiga investor lain yang juga ikut menyokong perusahaan ini yakni; Monk’s Hill Ventures, B Capital Group, dan YJ Capital.

Lai Chang Wen menyatakan untuk membuka usaha di Indonesia dilakukan sejumlah kajian dan adaptasi pada kultur masyarakat Indonesia. Selain itu, Lai menilai kemacetan di Ibu Kota menjadi masalah baru bagi perusahaannya jasa kurir tersebut. Kemacetan dinilai Lai Chang menjadi penyebabnya tingginya biaya logistik di Indonesia.

“Biaya logistik di Indonesia ini menurut saya disebabkan oleh kemacetan di jalan, lalu orang mengatasi dengan memakai kendaraan pribadi sepeda motor. Tetapi itu bukan solusinya,” tuturnya.

Sebagai pelaku usaha jasa kurir dan logistik baru di Indonesia, dia mengimbau pemerintah Indonesia untuk memberikan perhatian dalam perkembangan industri ini.

Lai mengatakan untuk mengoptimalkan industri jasa kurir di Indonesia, pemerintah Indonesia perlu fokus melakukan perbaikan infrastruktur dan mengentaskan permasalahan kemacetan yang menguras biaya cukup besar.

Dia tak menampik bahwa Ninja Xpress memiliki banyak pendahulu yakni perusahaan jasa kurir dan logistik eksisting yang memiliki pangsa pasar terbesar seperti PT Jalur Nugraha Ekakurir (JNE) ataupun PT Citra Van Titipan Kilat atau TIKI.

Namun, Ninja Xpress tidak sama dengan perusahaan jasa kurir tersebut, Ninja Express lebih spesifik sebagai perusahaan logistik one to one point dengan moda transportasi darat seperti motor dan mobil.

“Jadi mungkin kompetitor kami lebih mirip seperti Go-Jek, Grab Express, jadi kami tidak berkompetisi dengan JNE, atau sejenisnya” ungkapnya.

Perusahaan jasa kurir dari Singapura ini sudah melebarkan bisnisnya di Indonesia dan mulai beroperasi di lima wilayah Jabodetabek, lalu Bandung, Surabaya, Sidoarjo, Gresik, Malang, dan Medan hingga akhir Agustus 2016.

Perusahaan ini juga sudah membuka layanan Ninja Point atau gerai yang dapat dikunjungi untuk mengirimkan paket dan dokumen.

Lima lokasi Ninja Point tersebut sudah dibuka di Jakarta beberapa berada di; Thamrin City, ITC Cempaka Mas, ITC Mangga Dua, ITC Kuningan, dan Pusat Grosir Cililitan. Ninja Van menargetkan pembukaan 50 gerai Ninja Point hingga akhir 2016.

Sumber : Bisnis Indonesia, 06.09.16.

[050916.EN.BIZ] The Freight Summit Is To Be Held In Bali On October 9-12

THE Freight Summit (TFS) will be held at The Stones Hotel-Legian, Bali, Indonesia from October 9-12. The global networking event is intended to serve as a meeting point for independent international forwarders, logistics media and solutions providers.

Since its launch in 2008, The Freight Summit has been attended by hundreds of freight forwarding CEOs and decision makers looking for business partners to grow their business.

"Freight forwarding networks have committed to participate and bring their members in this year's TFS event. With their participation, we can ensure that all delegates are reliable forwarders as they have undergone due diligence of their respective networks," say organisers.

They explained that the 'Face2Face Scheduler" system used for TFS enables the delegates to schedule their meetings. Delegates can choose their preferred specialisations and countries and the scheduler will automatically filter the list to only show those delegates who meet these preferences.

Source : HKSG.

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[040916.EN.BIZ] SCPA Unveils Arrangements For Hanjin Shipping Containers At Its Terminals

THE South Carolina Ports Authority has released an advisory to stakeholders outlining the arrangements for empties, import and export containers related to Hanjin Shipping in the wake of the South Korean shipping line filing for bankruptcy.

The SCPA said no empty Hanjin Shipping containers will be released from terminals until further notice. All Hanjin empty returns for boxes out-gated in Charleston must be returned to North Charleston Terminal.

Empties outgated from Charleston on an export booking, but a returning empty, require a gate to receive an empty EIR generated by Hanjin for the North Charleston Terminal. Empty returns for import loads out-gated from Inland Port Greer will be returned to Greer.

With regards to exports, Hanjin export loads will not be received in Charleston or Greer from September 1. Return to shipper requests for export loads already on terminal will require the approval of both Hanjin and the beneficial cargo owner (BCO)/responsible party. Hanjin will have to create an out EIR for the move.

The SCPA has waived the non-vessel delivery fee for export loads out-gated. Empties created from the cargo removal must be returned to North Charleston Terminal.

As for import containers the port authority said it will continue to allow imports that discharged prior to September 1 out the gate with no restrictions. All import loads discharged from September 1 will be placed on hold until all SCPA charges are paid.

The port authority will collect all port and throughput charges totalling US$350 per container from the BCO/responsible party with authorisation required from Hanjin. Payment is required prior to manual release of hold and outgate.

Source : HKSG.