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CONNECTING FLIGHTS HOLD THE KEY TO LOW-COST LONG-HAUL SUCCESS

IT IS a peculiarity of the airline business that a connecting flight is often cheaper than a shorter nonstop route to the same destination. Normally, paying less to receive more is economically preposterous. But in transportation, where the fastest conveyance from A to B is the main utility, it makes perfect sense. For passengers, sitting on a plane any longer than necessary can be an exasperating, even painful experience. For airlines, flying empty seats is no less harmful. This inverse relationship between a journey’s value and its cost is something that Europe’s new breed of long-haul budget carriers may be overlooking.

 

As Gulliver reported in March, International Airlines Group (IAG), the holding company of several airlines including British Airways, is the latest pretender in the low-cost long-haul market. Its new venture, Level, has begun offering rock-bottom airfares from Barcelona to the West Coast of America, the Dominican Republic and Argentina. Routes from other European cities are expected shortly. In Germany, Lufthansa already deploys its low-cost carrier, Eurowings to the Americas, Thailand and Mauritius. Air France is to launch its own offshoot, Boost, this autumn. All three flag-carriers have been spurred to action by Norwegian Air Shuttle, the budget long-haul pioneer that began widebody flights in 2013 and, in many people’s eyes, has proven a business model once thought unviable.

Amid talk of a low-cost long-haul revolution, lessons from Asia’s older, more experienced budget carriers are being ignored. AirAsia X, the long-haul division of Malaysia’s AirAsia, launched widebody flights a decade ago. Cebu Pacific Air in the Philippines, Jetstar Airways in Australia and Scoot in Singapore were also low-cost long-haul trailblazers. Yet none of them spreads their wings beyond Asia, the Middle East and Oceania. (The only one with imminent plans to fly to Europe, Scoot, is restricting itself to Athens, on the south-eastern periphery of the continent.) “Our sweet spot is about seven hours,” says Benyamin Ismail, chief executive of AirAsia X, “because you can do more flights and you can earn more revenues. Once you start flying for 12, 14 hours, you lose that ability.” His airline trialled flights to London and Paris a few years ago, but could not keep fares low when fuel prices rose. Both routes were axed.

With Brent Crude now hovering around $50, less than half its recent peak, Gulliver wonders if cheap oil is again clouding the industry’s judgement. The four-engine Airbus A340s that AirAsia X briefly flew to Europe were, admittedly, gas-guzzlers. But the A330-200s that Eurowings and Level have selected are hardly revolutionary machines. Should oil prices tick up again, the lengthy flights they operate to Asia and deep into America will become pricey. And there will be no large premium cabin to subsidise economy-class passengers on these planes. Norwegian and Scoot, meanwhile, may be cushioned by the fuel efficiency of their next-generation Boeing 787s, but such cutting-edge technology does not come cheap. What they save in fuel expenses they will inevitably spend on leases.

The solution, says Mr Ismail, is to break up the journey. AirAsia X’s planes already stop in the Gold Coast on their way to Auckland. When its Hawaii flights begin this summer, they will take a detour via Osaka in Japan. These layovers boost the economics of long-haul flights by adding new points for traffic to feed and de-feed. And the model is highly scalable. By selecting centrally located intermediary hubs, airlines can shuffle passengers between an array of short- and long-haul routes. More liquid traffic-flows means fuller planes and lower fares. Small wonder that AirAsia X has long-term plans for bases in Japan and either India or the Middle East. “India can connect you to Europe. Japan can take you to Russia and also to the US,” Mr Ismail says. “If you have that connectivity it will be great. But we’re still far from it.”

Elsewhere, low-cost hubs are already taking root. Iceland’s fast-expanding WOW Air will connect 19 European points with ten in North America this summer. The budget carrier’s Atlantic base is within six hours flying time of the United States. To the east, Kazakhstan’s Air Astana styles itself as the first “low-cost long-haul full-service” carrier. Its location halfway between Europe and North Asia, coupled with a weak currency, makes Astana a convenient and affordable hub for stopovers. If passengers and airlines continue to see mutual benefits in cheap connecting flights, the likes of Level and Eurowings might struggle to make their name.

Source: http://www.economist.com/

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ZIM NAMES GLICKMAN CEO

Zim Integrated Shipping Services also announced the departure of its chief financial officer.

Zim Integrated Shipping Service’s board of directors named Eli Glickman as president and CEO to replace Rafi Danieli, who announced last year he was stepping down.

Glickman will assume leadership of Zim on July 1. Zim also announced that CFO Guy Eldar, who led the complicated restructuring of the company’s debts in 2014, would also step down. No replacement for Eldar was named.

Glickman was previously CEO of the Israel Electric Company and worked in logistics from 2003 to 2005 as CEO of Exel MPL. He has also served as deputy CEO at Partner-Orange Cellular Communication where he managed the customer division and comes from a military background, having been a commanding officer in the special operations unit of the Israeli navy.

He has also been a missile ship commander and naval attache in Washington, DC.

Glickman has a masters of science in financial management from University of Monterey (California) and has graduated from Georgetown University’s International Executive Business Administration program.

Danieli has led Zim for the past 8 years and worked previously as CFO and deputy CEO. Zim said Danieli led a successful operational reorganization that has had tangible benefits.

Zim operates around 80 vessels with a total capacity of 344,460 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs), according to the company’s website.

Zim posted a net profit of $4.6 million in the fourth quarter, down from $43.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2015. For the full year, Zim posted a loss of $163.5 million compared with a profit of $6.5 million in 2015.

In preparation for the new vessel-sharing agreements that launch April 1, the Haifa-based carrier has been restructuring its network, unveiling new trans-Pacific services connecting Asia with the Pacific Northwest.

The company also is rolling out its Zim Med Pacific service using 15 vessels with capacities of 4,500 TEUs as well as a new service to the Mediterranean from India.

Dustin Braden, Assistant Web Editor, JOC.com
Source: http://www.joc.com/

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CUSTOMS ISSUED AN ACTION PLAN TO IMPLEMENT RESOLUTION 19/2017

VCN – The General Department of Customs has just issued Decision No. 737/QD-TCHQ promulgating an Action Plan to implement Resolution No. 19-2017/NQ-CP dated 06/6/2017 of the Government on the main tasks and solutions to improve the business environment and enhance national competitiveness in 2017, orientation to 2020.

customs issued an action plan to implement resolution 192017

Huu Nghi Customs officers (Lang Son Customs) guide enterprises Customs procedures. Photo: H.Nu

According to the plan, Customs shall comprehensively carry out the solutions of administration reform, focusing on: Continuing to support and remove difficulties for production and business; Enhancing Customs administrative procedures, shortening processingtime, modernizing and applying information technology in State management; Reducing time to implement administrative procedures, ensuring publicity, transparency and enhancing the responsibility of Customs offices; andcomprehensively reforming regulations on specialized management for imported and exported goods and services in line with international practices.

In particular, the first target is shortening the clearance timefor goods across borders to 70 hours for exports and 90 hours for imports; and improving the rank on cross-border trade implementation time assessed by the World Bank from No. 93 to below No. 82.

At the same time, minimizing papers, shortening the time and reducing the cost of administrative procedure implementation in import-export. Primarily changing the mode of management and specialized inspection on the basis of risk management principles andwide application of international practices; and Computerizing management procedures and specialized inspection; Connecting and sharing information between management and specialized inspection agencies and organizations and Customs agencies.Continuing to complete Customs institutions and laws to create maximum favorable conditions for Customs declarants and taxpayers.

The General Department of Customs emphasized the target by 2020, Customs clearance time for goods across borderswill be less than 60 hours for exported goods and 80 hours for imported goods.

The plan clarifies the tasks of perfecting the Customs law system. Further studying, formulating and submitting to competent authorities and promulgating according to their competence the documents amending and supplementing the document system detailing the Law on import and export duties and Customs Law 2014. Formulating legal normative documents to implement theASEAN Single Window and the National Single Window. Improving the efficiency of specialized inspection for imported and exported goods.

In which, proactively collaborating with ministries and branches to amend legal normative documents relating to Customs specialized management.Particularly, actively coordinating with ministries and branches to speed up the revision of the system of legal normative documents on specialized inspectionin accordance with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 2026/QD-TTg of November 17, 2015 on approving the project “Solutions to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of specialized inspections for imported and exported goods”. Developing and promulgating a completed list of goods subject to specialized inspectionin the direction of narrowing subjects of specialized inspection and detailing the HS codes; and promulgating national standards and technical regulations for goods subject to specialized inspectionas basis for goods quality inspection.

Also promoting and encouragingorganizations which assess the conformity to join the implementation of the specialized inspection for imported and exported goods in the direction of socialization to add inspection facilities to meet the requirements of strong development of import and export activities, and save State investment resources. Renovating the method of specialized inspections in the direction of creating favorable conditions for import and export activities, reducing costs and shortening goods clearance time.Extending the implementation of specialized inspections with centralized checkpoints at the border gates.

Besides, completion of the National Single Window and ASEAN Single Window: to organize the implementation of the master plan ondeployment of Single Window for 2016-2020; Consolidating and expanding procedures that have joined the National Single Window; Newly deploying the procedures of the ministries and agencies participating in the National Single Window; Deploying electronic payment on the National Portal; Deploying the use of electronic documents issued through the National Single Window when implementing relatedadministrative procedures; and Expanding the e-Manifest system for all seaports and airports nationwide and linking them withthe ASEAN Single Window.

Finalizing and enhancing the effectiveness of the automated clearance system VNACCS/VCIS is also a task that Customs needs to implement well in 2017. Accordingly, the electronic connection and exchange of information on goods at ports to reduce paperwork and improve the effectiveness of State management for goods and containers at the seaports.

Cooperating with commercial banks to expand electronic payments in accordance with Circular No. 184/2015/TT-BTC dated November 11, 2015 of the Minister of Finance prescribing procedures for tax declaration, tax guarantee; tax collection, late payment penalties, fines, fees, charges and other levies for imported and exported, transited goods and means. Formulating the mechanism on origin control, the protection of intellectual property rights and the management regime for appropriate types of goods and means of transport according to the committed roadmap.

In particular, the Customs Offices are step by step effectively implementing online public services at level 3, and striving to the end of 2017 that 100% of public service will be provided online at level 3 and 70% of other public services in key sectors of the Customs will be provided online at level 4.

The General Department of Customs requested the heads of the units and subunits under the General Department to build plans for the implementation of tasks assigned in the Action Plan, and concretize the tasks into solutions, schemes, works, output and completion schedule of assigned tasks to develop the work program of their units.

Concurrently, effectively implementingthe administration reform under the 2017 Administration Reform Plan of the General Department issued together with Decision No. 31/QD-TCHQ dated January 9, 2017, noting to deploy full contents on administration reform under requirements of Resolution 30c/NQ-CP dated November 8, 2011 of the Government promulgating the Master program on State administration reform for 2011-2020 period, ensuring its suitability with the situation, scope and characteristics of the units (from 2017, the General Department plans to carry out the evaluation, grading, ranking for administration reform of the units annually).

Receiving dossiers and returning results of processing administrative procedures through public postal services in compliance with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 45/2016/QD-TTg of October 19, 2016 under the direction of the General Department. Developing and implementing the 2017 plan on preventing and fighting against corruption, implementing savings and combating wastefulness; and deploying effectively the 2017 plan on administrative procedure control issued by the General Department together with Decision No. 55/QD-TCHQ dated January 11, 2017; Building e-Government according to the annual plan of the General Department.

Enhancing and improving the quality and effectiveness of post clearance audit in accordance with the law. Attaching importance to internal inspection of post clearance audit activities; deploying the application of the ISO quality management system into the operation of agencies and units under the direction of the General Department; Further training and improving the quality of cadres and civil servants; Upholding the spirit and attitude of serving the people; Strengthening disciplines andrules.

Focusing on effectively implementing the scheme on enhancing the reform of regime on public operationsand civil servants in line with the Prime Minister’s Decision No. 1557/QD-TTg dated October 18, 2012; Well implementing regulations on public operations of Vietnam Customs issued together with Decision No. 188/QD-TCHQ dated February, 2, 2017; Consolidating the apparatus to meet requirements of administration reform and change management modes at units and subunits under the General Department of Customs in order to raise the efficiency and effectiveness of State management and carry out the tasks assigned in the Resolution No. 19-2017/NQ-CP

The General Department of Customs also requested the Legal Department to monitor, urge and inspect the units and subunits under the General Department of Customs to carry out the tasks assigned in the Action Plan and promptly report to the General Department difficulties and obstacles of implementation, thereby, proposing solutions to improve national competitiveness within the management scope of the General Department.”
The Customsnews, Customs Electronic Information Portal and Customs Research Bulletin timely publicize operations on deploying and implementing the Action Plan of the General Department for the implementation of Resolution No. 19- 2017/NQ-CP dated February 6, 2017 of the Government.

To implement Resolution No. 19-2017/NQ-CP of the Government and the Action Plan to implement Resolution No. 19-2017/NQ-CP of the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Customs issued 11 task groups, 29 measures and 38 outputs in the Action plan.

By Dao Le/ Huyen Trang

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The Vietnam e-Commerce Portal is ready for operation

VCN- That was the content announced at the conference on introduction of the Vietnam e-Commerce Portal held by the General Department of Vietnam Customs together with the World Bank and the PM Group Company on the morning of March 2, 2017.  

the vietnam e commerce portal is ready for operation
The conference Photo: H.N

Speaking at the conference, Mr.Nguyen Toan, the Director of International Cooperation Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs said, the Trade Facilitation Agreement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) officially took effect from February 22, 2017) for all member economies including Vietnam.

According to commitments in Article 1 on announcing and providing information on the TFA Agreement of WTO: “Each member economy shall promptly publish information relating to import and export and transit procedures, tax rates, fees, the rules of goods classification, the regulations relating to origin principles and banned or restricted imports, and penalties, complaints and prosecution in import and export procedures; and the agreements or part of the agreement relating to import and export and transit procedures”.

For this requirement and strong development trend of electronic networks as well as the benefits from electronization, each member economy including Vietnam needs to build an electronic website to publish and provide the information under the requirements in the Agreements.

The construction of the website not only meets Vietnam’s commitments in the TFA Agreement of WTO but also is a useful tool to further facilitate the parties interested in imports and exports and transits with Vietnam, and also as a tool to transparentize, the required trend in most international agreements which Vietnam is a member and also to catch up with the trend of the World Customs – Digital Customs 2016, Mr.Nguyen Toan said.

The portal will fully provide the information relating to the management of Vietnam’s export and imports and information on the policies of the State management ministries, agencies on imports and exports.

According to Mr. Chris Lewis-Joner, the Head of Consulting and Project Management team, the Vietnam e-Commerce Portal is a single window information website providing a window for businesses to access easily, logically and effectively information on import-export regulations and procedures and also being an important step to improve the predictability and transparency of the commerce rules and processes.

The Vietnam Commerce Portal is suitable with the Vietnam’s commitments to meet WTO’s standards on compliance Article 1 of the Trade Facilitation Agreement and Article X of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The Vietnam Commerce Portal is also a tool to support for the Government and other relevant parties to reduce, modernize and simplify the import and export declaration process in line with international practice.

Currently, the construction process of the Vietnam Commerce Portal is completed and ready to be launched in the second quarter of 2017, Mr. Chris Lewis-Joner stressed.

By Dao Le/ Ngoc Loan

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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Import – Transportation – Move-in for new factory in Binh Duong

The commodity is a precision machinery system of high value. Client insisted of extremely careful handling due to large dimensions as well as heavy weigh of his device. All participated staffs must be trained and fully understand the plan before execution. Different scenerios have been considered and solutions for each have been discussed to details.

Removing dummy materials

Unstuffing the 5m long package

Ready to unpack with support of crane truck

Cross-check to make sure the machine is completely detached from the base 

Move-into-position, using forklift, roller and cable

Last check before final positioning

The device was delivered to exact location per Client’s request. Thank you for your trust in our service. We are looking forward to serving you again soon in the future.

 

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3 OPTIONS FOR ENTERPRISES TO CHOOSE E-CUSTOMS DECLARATION SOFTWARE

VCN – To declare e-Customs through VNACCS/VCIS system, there are 3 options for the business community to choose e-Customs declaration software.

3 options for enterprises to choose e customs declaration software

Support department of the General Department of Customs maintain to receive obstacles and support and guide enterprises 27/4. Photo: T. Binh

Recently, Nam Ha Garment JSC (Nam Dinh province) has reflected that when the company wants to use the e-Customs declaration software, the Nam Dinh Customs Branch (the Ha Nam Ninh Customs Department) requested the company to buy the software as indicated.

Related to the above issue, according to the Customs IT and Statistics Department (the General Department of Customs), the businesses can choose to use the software under one of the following options for electronic customs declarations:

The first option is that business use the free software provided by the General Department of Customs. This software and instructions can be downloaded from the Vietnam Customs Portal ( (https://www.customs.gov.vn)

The second option is using the services of IT companies which were certified by the General Department of Customs on standard conformance. These companies are: FPT FPS information system Co., Ltd; Thai Son technological development Co., Ltd; G.O.L Information and Technology Trade and Service Co., Ltd; Softech JSC; TS24 JSC.

The third option is that business actively develop a connection software in accordance with the connection standards of the General Department of Customs posted on the Vietnam Customs Portal.

In addition, according to the Customs IT and Statistics Department, the business can contact the Support Division of the General Department of Customs under the E-mail: bophanhotrotchq@customs.gov.vn or telephone number: 043.7824757 for any questions.

Talking with a Customs reporter on 27 February, 2017, the leaders of Nam Dinh Customs Branch added that the problems of business were handled and the fact that the problems of business were related to the annual maintenance costs, not related to the e-Customs declaration software.

By Thai Binh/ Huyen Trang

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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HOW TO USE PUBLIC ONLINE SERVICES OF CUSTOMS

VCN- From 1st March 2017, 41 administrative procedures in the field of Customs will be received and returned the results through the public online services system at the address: http://pus.customs.gov.vn  In order to perform public online services, what should enterprises do?

su dung dich vu cong truc tuyen cua nganh hai quan the nao
Operational activities at the Lang Son Customs Department. Photo: T.B.

41 procedures formally implemented

Speaking to a reporter of the Customs Newspaper, a representative of the Customs Portal Management Division (the IT and Customs Statistics Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs) said that currently, Customs had implemented 73 administrative procedures at level 3 and level 4 through the VNACCS/VCIS system and the electronic payment portal. They are mostly core procedures in the field of Customs related to Customs declaration and payment of taxes and charges.

According to the plan of the General Department of Vietnam Customs on implementation of public online services, by the end of 2016, Vietnam Customs had provided 46 procedures in public online services (including 5 procedures conducted on the National Single Window). In 2017, Vietnam Customs will conduct 49 remaining procedures so that 100% of administrative procedures in the field of Customs are provided on the electronic environment at level 3 and level 4.

Besides, the Ministry of Finance has requested Customs authorities to use electronic documents and administrative records as follows: Customs authorities use electronic documents and administrative records in the public online services system for inspections and handling as prescribed. In the case where administrative records include documents which must be submitted to Customs authorities as prescribed in the Law or documents which must be certified by Customs authorities to perform administrative procedures, Customs authorities have to inform enterprises in the public online services system to provide additional documents before returning results.

In order to fulfill the request of the Government and the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Vietnam Customs has selected 41 administrative procedures to implement in the public online services system. According to the leader of the Customs Portal Management Division, these 41 administrative procedures are mainly implemented in local Customs Departments and Customs Branches. In particular, administrative procedures implemented in Customs Branches mainly are: procedures for canceling Customs declarations; procedures supplementing information on Customs declarations; procedures for certifying the origin of imported automobiles and two-wheeled vehicles; classification of various kinds of machines; certified true copy of Customs declarations; procedures for tax refund according to Circular 38/2015/TT-BTC; tax reduction for goods which are damaged or lost in the surveillance process and tax reduction for gifts and samples.

The leader of the Customs Portal Management Division added that the formal implementation of public online services met the requirements of e-Government and was also an important step in the reform and facilitation of the business community to implement administrative procedures in Customs. Specifically, in the case where records should be amended or supplemented, it will take enterprises much time to accomplish if they work directly instead of using public online services. Accordingly, enterprises now can easily use online trading methods based on the Internet.

What should enterprises do?

In fact, the implementation of administrative procedures through the public online services system is fairly simple. Firstly, businesses or individuals should have an account which has been already registered with the Customs office (an account on the VNACCS/VCIS system or a new account registered through the public online services system).

Secondly, after having an account, businesses or individuals should prepare dossiers as prescribed in the Law. Then, they shall declare and submit as instructed in the public online services system.

Many enterprises which want to cancel declarations are instructed through the public online services system with details as follows: The order of implementation; how to perform; and the number of records.

The leader of the Customs Portal Management Division said that, to prepare for the official implementation of the public online services system on 1st March 2017, the General Department of Vietnam Customs had tested the system for two months (November 2016 and December 2016) and conducted a pilot operation in January 2017 and February 2017. In 2 months of pilot operation, the public online services system received more than 900 records. The reception of records and operation of the system has been stable and secure for formal implementation.

By Thai Binh/ Hoang Anh

Source: http://customsnews.vn/

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COSCO Corporation’s Full-Year Loss Widens

COSCO Corporation (Singapore) Limited, a shipbuilding, marine engineering and dry bulk shipping group, saw a net loss of SGD 976.1 million (USD 695.5 million) in 2016, against a net loss of SGD 914.8 million (USD 651.8 million) recorded in 2015, mainly due to losses in shipyard in shipping operations. 

COSCO’s revenue decreased by 27.3% to SGD 2.6 billion in 2016 from SGD 3.5 billion in 2015 due to a decline in shipyard and shipping revenue.

Revenue from shipyard operations dropped by 27.4% to SGD 2.5 billion in 2016 from SGD 3.5 billion in 2015, owing to lower revenue contribution from ship repair, shipbuilding and marine engineering.

Additionally, revenue from dry bulk shipping and other businesses went down by 22.6% from SGD 39.4 million in 2015 to SGD 30.5 million in 2016.

The group said it continues to face challenging market conditions in the shipbuilding, shipping and offshore marine industry.

Due to the overcapacity in the shipbuilding industry amidst a weak global economy, the group’s shipyards have had fewer orders and lower contract prices. Additionally, the firm said it faced delivery extensions and cancellations. Subdued global economic conditions have also led to depressed shipping rates for COSCO’s dry bulk fleet.

As of 31 December 2016, COSCO’s gross order book stood at approximately USD 6.4 billion, with deliveries until 2019.

Subdued global economic conditions have also led to depressed shipping rates for COSCO’s dry bulk fleet. In October 2016 and February 2017, COSCO scrapped two of its dry bulk carriers and may consider scrapping more bulkers in 2017.

In the outlook for 2017, COSCO predicts that the shipbuilding and shipping segments will continue to be highly challenging.

Source: http://worldmaritimenews.com/

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YUSEN LOGISTICS ACQUIRES EUROPEAN AUTOMOTIVE LOGISTICS PROVIDER TRANSFREIGHT

Third-party provider Yusen Logistics (Europe) BV has purchased Transfreight Automotive Logistics Europe for an undisclosed sum in an effort to expand its vehicle transport support and operations offerings.

Faced with increasing demand for its high quality solutions in the sector, this acquisition of Transfreight provides a superb platform for continued growth for Yusen Logistics.

The Transfreight business dovetails well with Yusen Logistics’ award-winning pan European automotive offering.

Both companies offer industry leading expertise in cross-docking, transportation and manufacturing plant logistical support and operations, but with complementary regional scope.

Ian Veitch, CRO Yusen Logistics Europe, commented: “This business offers an excellent fit for Yusen Logistics, with shared customers and service offer, but with a regional focus which complements Yusen’s infrastructure.”

“This business offers an excellent fit for Yusen Logistics”Ian Veitch, CRO Yusen Logistics Europe

“Customers from both our companies will benefit from the combined organisation’s industry expertise and broad based supply chain solutions, as well as new team members.”

This expanded infrastructure will enhance Yusen’s existing automotive network capability by adding key network consolidation points in Western Europe, as well as multi-modal possibilities running between Northern and Southern Europe.

In particular, the acquisition boosts Yusen Logistics’ footprint and skill base in Northern France, an area where many automotive tier one suppliers and OEMs are located.

Yusen Logistics’ award winning automotive network extends from Poland to Portugal; Ukraine to UK, and currently handles in excess of 6 million cubic metres or 1.3 million tons of materials per annum on behalf of leading OEMS and tiered suppliers in Europe.

Source: http://www.supplychain247.com/

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CONTAINER SHIPPING LINES SIGN UP WITH ALIBABA TO OFFER ONLINE BOOKING

SHANGHAI — Two container shipping lines, France’s CMA CGM and Israel’s Zim, have signed up with Alibaba to allow customers to book space on their vessels through the Chinese e-commerce giant, in a bid to boost sales as the sector battles a severe downturn.

Container lines, facing their worst ever downturn due to a glut of ships and weaker demand, are pursuing several measures such as vessel-sharing arrangements or mergers and acquisitions to ride out the current slump. A growing number of logistics firms are going online to buoy their business.

In December, Maersk – the world’s largest container shipping line and a unit of Denmark’s A.P. Moller-Maersk – started offering online booking services to Chinese shippers on Alibaba’s OneTouch website.

Shippers traditionally go through freight forwarders to book space for goods on container vessels, but more liners are allowing cargo owners to book directly via the internet. As for e-commerce companies, they are venturing into logistics to try to gain better control over their supply chain networks.

“Alibaba.com is open to collaborating with logistics firms who want to join our platform which aims to streamline the logistics process for small and medium-sized enterprises and empower them to seize cross-border trade opportunities,” an Alibaba spokeswoman told Reuters in an e-mail on Thursday.

Israeli shipping line Zim, which is 32 percent owned by Kenon Holdings, has begun allowing customers to book space through the platform on routes such as Shanghai to India and Pakistan, or from Xiamen to South America, according to advertisements posted on the OneTouch platform.

France’s CMA CGM has signed a memorandum of understanding with Alibaba to begin cooperating on the OneTouch platform for routes such as Qingdao to Barcelona or Ningbo to Venice, it said in a statement.

Acquired by Alibaba in 2010, OneTouch targets small and medium-sized Chinese exporters with online services such as customs clearance and logistics. It also allows them to book air freight and parcel delivery services and supports its parent Alibaba.com’s business-to-business marketplace.

Maersk has begun offering a similar service to customers of online freight forwarding website Yun Qu Na, it said in an e-mail to Reuters on Thursday. The liner said in January that it planned to launch more pilot programs on third party portals.

(Reporting by Brenda Goh; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/