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Maritime logistics faces new challenges

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At a time of revaluation and resurgence of companies, the maritime sector in the process of expansion, could also suffer a new scenario. That, undoubtedly, becomes a short to medium-term challenge for ports and shipping lanes. 

According to a report by Sea-Intelligence, it is expected that once the distribution chains are normalized, a new wave of congestion will be generated due to the number of empty containers. 

During the pandemic, new containers had to be used due to delays in supply chains worldwide. 

Now that everything’s back to normal, maritime logistics will be faced with a large number of unused containers. 

The bulletin notes that there will be at least “the presence of 3.5 million TEUs of empty containers in the transpacific alone.” 

Another place that will affect the logistics line will be the United States and Europe. Therefore, both terminals and warehouses will have to consider new strategies to avoid a new wave of congestion. 

Strategic planning and logistics… 

Supply chains are expected to normalize between mid-2022 and 2023. So leasing, shipping, and seaport companies will need to take the necessary measures to avoid havoc. 

Likewise, GP Nauticals within its SUITE offers automated services for administrative processes, not only for the aeronautical sector but also for the maritime sector. 

Such is the case of PAY AIMS, a service that allows managing invoicing processes, supply chains, and more, which allows centralizing the work and handling it more efficiently and anywhere in the world. 

It also allows the port to collect payments from shipping companies and administrative processes, leaving aside manual and tedious work. PAY AIMS can be integrated with other SUITE services, such as NAUTIC AIMS, to provide more optimal work. 

 

Thailand plans to open a national shipping company

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Thailand plans to open a national shipping company, to minimize dependence on foreign vessels. The announcement of this new plan was made by the Ministry of Transport of Thailand, adding that another objective is to encourage commercial exchange in Thailand.

Although it is still in the study phase, Saksayam Chidchob, Thailand’s Transport Minister, said that the Thai port authorities have already received instruction to assess the viability of a shipping line during the next month.

If feasible, the national shipping company would have three independent branches, the first for cargo movement in the Asian region, the second for cabotage, and the last for exchange with other regions worldwide.

Subsequently, once the feasibility tests have been carried out by the competent authorities, they may be presented to the cabinet during the first months of 2022.

If the procedure is positive, the creation of a national shipping company in Thailand would begin in the middle of the year.

As mentioned in previous lines, it is not only about the independence of foreign ships, but also about promoting maritime trade in Thailand.

In this way, strengthening logistics ties with the Thai Gulf and the Andaman Sea is part of the plans to expand and strengthen connections.

Read the full note at Portal Portuario.

 

 

 

Spain seeks to become a leader in maritime transport in Europe

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Spain seeks to implement a wide variety of technological tools to boost competitiveness in the Spanish port system, and thus become the leader in maritime transport within Europe.

In the report published by the Ports Commission of the Chamber of Spain, entitled “Measures to promote the competitiveness of the Spanish port system”, all the measures to be implemented are detailed and are grouped into 5 categories such as: governance, management of border control ports, intermodality, digitization, and training, which will be renewed thanks to technological advances.

Among the technologies that they will implement at the port, digitization level is 5G sensorization, automation, artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, IoT, and distributed ledger technology such as Blockchain.

The purpose of these measures is to take advantage of an industry that is underdeveloped in terms of innovation and digitization and thus transform Spanish ports into a 4.0 model, which are intelligent, interoperable, and transparent.

There are currently 3 Spanish ports (Valencia, Algeciras, and Barcelona) that are in the top 30 of the world ranking of ports thanks to the influx of merchandise, so this type of measure seeks to promote logistics and port development, which will help Spain to become a leader in the maritime sector in Europe.

 

Digital acceleration in the port sector

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The shipping sector has been characterized by being very traditional and not very adventurous when it comes to implementing new solutions that imply drastic changes in its behavior. However, the port industry has grown in the last 3 months than in the last 3 years, and all due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Currently, it has been possible to evidence a striking trend for the implementation of digital tools and platforms aimed at the digital transformation of ports and shipping companies. This without leaving aside those aimed at cybersecurity that today has become a primary concern for any sector.

The technological implementation in the port sector is considered the second major transformation of the industry after the creation of containers, taking as one of the main contributions the digitization and automation of processes. The implementation of software that performs merchandise traceability and the interconnection of ports are just some of the improvements that the sector has received, and can only provide greater visibility and confidence in the port industry.

However, the change in the sector is not only limited to technological tools. There is also hard work together to encourage ecological work practices such as the development of green hydrogen for the decarbonization of maritime transport that can offer greater sustainability to the industry.

These are great advances for an industry that has always been considered extremely conservative. However, the need to face a situation like the pandemic has provided numerous opportunities for startups and venture capital companies to enter an industry that generates billions of dollars a year.

 

Alarms go off with mega-ships

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After the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal, maritime authorities raised their alarms, thanks to the new mega-ships being built today.

With the growing surge of international trade, the manufacture of vessels increases more and more and with it its size. This entails a great responsibility because the ports are not prepared for the reception of the new mega-ships.

“Ports and canals have not always been developed enough to accommodate extra-large vessels and in some cases, they have become relatively narrow and markedly reduced maneuvering space and margin for error,” explains Rahul Khanna.

Thanks to this, concern increases because the production of these mega-ships is only intended to cover the needs of one sector, without measuring the risks that may arise with maritime transport.

In this sense, China and South Korea are the ones currently in the battle for the production of ships: “In 2020, 43% and 41% of the world market of orders for the sector were respectively distributed.”

What are the consequences of mega-ships?

The biggest concern is undoubtedly the issue of collisions, accidents such as fires, or the danger posed by the size of the ships in ports. Also, the handling of a large ship in extreme weather situations.

 This leads to the movement of infrastructure that must be done in the ports, to optimize the departure and grounding of mega-ships.

You can read the full note in Portfolio.