Messages

16

Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway

« on: February 11, 2014, 11:18:19 AM »

Yes, I saw this news item too, but Tilbury has seen the Sovereign Maersk (10,500 teu) at TCS in the past (albeit a one-off call I think). So in theory the new Hamburg Sud vessels could still be accommodated at TCS, but of course at London Gateway the tidal access restrictions are significantly less.

17

Shipping News and information / Re: MSC RITA

« on: February 09, 2014, 12:21:04 PM »

Yes, this vessel is on CSAV's IMEX 1 Mid East/Indian Sub Con service which normally calls at Felixstowe. I think CSAV operates the service jointly with MSC.

18

Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway

« on: January 27, 2014, 10:16:36 AM »

I agree re Southampton. SCT is a 51% stake in a leased terminal (with a finite time length) for DPW whereas London Gateway is 100% ownership of a freehold terminal (with a huge logistics park too). If push comes to shove, London Gateway is naturally DPW's preference over Southampton. But if they can win business from Felixstowe rather than Southampton, of course that would be preferable for them.

What is clear though is that London Gateway wants to (and has to) win a range of services. It's no good just having Far East services. They need the full set of east-west and north-south services in order to serve cargo owners' needs. Hence why Hamburg Sud, even though it's a relatively small volume, is important.

Yes, certainly more shake outs to come in terms of the big ship services. The P3 Alliance (assuming it gets regulatory approval) appears to be going for Felixstowe and Southampton but as you say, this may well cause others to seek preferential berthing at London Gateway.

What happens with the G6, CKYH, Evergreen, CSCL and UASC over the next few months will be very interesting!

19

Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway Doubles Container Lift Capacity

« on: January 27, 2014, 10:05:53 AM »

Sorry, yes, you are right. I had 2014 in my head but thought of it as "next year" !!

20

Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway Doubles Container Lift Capacity

« on: January 26, 2014, 04:48:10 PM »

The overall UK deep sea container market isn't growing that much, partly because the UK economy is still quite flat, but also because its a mature economy and so its a mature container market. You get growth of a few per cent p.a. and not double digits.

The big thing though is that whilst the overall volumes aren't growing much, they are coming in much bigger ships - and yes, there aren't that many berths in the UK able to take the 13,000 teu+ sized vessels. This will be a big factor in pushing customers with Far East services to London Gateway. But don't forget that Southampton will be adding another deep berth next year and at Felixstowe they are extending Berths 8/9 to be able to take two ULCVs at once.

So there won't be a shortage of the very deep berths in the UK, but at the same time there won't be way too many. The tricky thing though is that the berths that were in the past used for Far East services (and which are now not deep enough/don't have big enough cranes) will be under-utilised.

21

Shipping News and information / Re: London Gateway

« on: January 26, 2014, 04:37:22 PM »

It is a simple fact that new ports don't generate new import-export container traffic. The UK market is what it is, with its overall size driven by macro economic factors, and so yes, London Gateway has to win market share from other UK ports.

The list of where to win it from is a very short one: Felixstowe, Southampton and Tilbury (with Thamesport already out of the deep sea business now). DP World is the majority shareholder at Southampton Container Terminal and so may be less inclined to try and take business from there, and its sale of its shareholding at Tilbury Container Services certainly meant that there would be no qualms in taking business from Tilbury.

However, the north-south trades served by the likes of SAECS and Hamburg Sud are actually quite small in volume terms. SAECS and Hamburg Sud together are probably no more than 150-200,000 teu p.a. but London Gateway's first phase capacity is 1.6 million teu p.a. - so they have to win some of the big volume Far East customers - and these are at Felixstowe and Southampton.