The Friday Flyer - October 31st 2014

After seven rounds of negotiations, last night's talks moderated by Günther H. Oettinger, vice president of the European Commission, finally yielded a breakthrough: a USD4.6 billion winter package, agreed by Russia and Ukraine, secures gas for Ukraine - and ultimately also for Europe, says the Commission.

According to Oettinger, the breakthrough in negotiation is particularly reassuring, not only in making sure that Ukraine will have sufficient energy during the winter, but also in its contribution to the de-escalation of conflict between the two nations. HLPFI strongly hopes that this development will lead to further compromise.

In other energy resources news, Goldman Sachs has forecast Brent oil to fall to as low as USD80 a barrel in the first quarter of 2015, as production surges in the face of insufficient demand. As oil prices slump the feasibility of high-cost exploration projects is likely to be called in to question, as investors scale back capital expenditure - particularly in marginal fields and in the Asian markets.

 

This week's Friday Flyer is sponsored by Modulift, a supplier of spreader beams, lifting beams and other below-the-hook lifting equipment. Utilising specialist lifting engineers, the company provides custom lifting solutions for the heavy lifting industry, as well as modular 'off-the-shelf' range.

 

In business

?The headquarters of Combi Lift will move to Bremen from November 1, with the shipping line's technical and engineering work coming together with its chartering and operations activities under one roof. The company's owners - J.Poulsen Shipping and Harren & Partner - will jointly establish Combi Dock Chartering in Korsoer, Denmark.

Ballast Nedam has begun a process to divest its offshore business unit, including its heavy lift vessel Svanen.

DKT Allseas Shipping is taking over from Escombe Lambert as the UK liner agent and representative for the Shipping Corporation of India. 

?GS Infrastructure Partners and Infracapital Partners have commenced a process that could lead to the sale of their 33.3 percent stake in Associated British Ports (ABP).

MacGregor, part of Cargotec, began the reorganisation of its business into seven operational divisions, which will become effective on January 1, 2015.

A Joint Parliamentary Committee has cleared the way for the multi-million pound Able Marine Energy Park (AMEP) on the south bank of the Humber.

Terex Corporation posted a 3 percent year-on-year increase in net sales for the third quarter of 2014, despite seeing a 31 percent drop in income from continuing operations.

 

Capacity developments

The names of Atlantic Container Line's (ACL) new G4 vessels, which are currently under construction, were revealed.

BigLift Shipping celebrated the official naming of its latest heavy lift vessel Happy Star at Huisman China's yard in Xiamen.

Effective November 7, Lufthansa Cargo will serve Stavanger, Norway, with cargo-only flights for the first time.

APB Pilzen ordered two seven-axle flatbed lowloaders from Faymonville's MultiMAX series.

 

Shipment of the week

Tradelossa transported a 160-tonne transformer through Mexico from Tijuana to a wind farm located in Baja California. The transformer, which had the dimensions 8.9 m x 3.7 m x 4.6 m, had to be delivered to the top of a mountain, making it particularly challenging. On arrival at site, a jack and slide system was used to move the transformer approximately 12 m into position for a successful installation.

 

On the move

Nurminen Logistics' senior vice president Fedor Larionov resigned from his position at the company. Peter Kelly was appointed to head up CFNR Dordrecht, succeeding Cees van Putten, while Integral Chile appointed Carla Parra as its new operations manager. Euroports Benelux and France appointed Rik Standaert as its new commercial director. UTi Worldwide expanded its team with the appointment of Hessel Verhage as president, freight forwarding for the Americas, and Keith Pienaar as president, contract logistics and distribution. Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) appointed Jason Chin as ships agency service manager, Singapore. Crane Rental Corporation is opening a new office and equipment yard in Loxley, Alabama. DHL Global Forwarding named Graham Hunter as head of Industrial Projects for Europe.

 

Network and association developments

The Project Partners network held a successful seventh annual conference (pictured right) at the beautiful Lake Tegernsee in Germany, which director Viktor Fuchs said was "very positive". The XLProjects (XLP) network gained Linc Group as a new member in Singapore. The Global Project Logistics Network (GPLN) welcomed Raaziq International from Pakistan and Mory-Tnte Mondial Express from Malaysia. Czech Republic's International Logistic Gateway joined the Pacific Power Logistics (PPL) network. The Project Cargo Network (PCN) gained representation in Costa Rica with Logistics Transport RS.

 

Capital projects and contracts

Have you got your subscription to HLPFI's Capital Projects & Contracts yet?

If not, you could be missing out on some valuable information.

Published on a weekly basis, the newsletter provides a comprehensive summary of contract announcements by EPCs, oil majors, mining and civil engineering companies, energy groups, OEMs and governments. 

Don't miss out on information, which could be critical to your new business activities. Subscribe now by contacting David Kershaw - dk@heavyliftpfi.com - that will cost you USD825, GBP500 or EUR650 per annum. That's just 16 dollars a week for information that could be priceless!

 

All about Evie

Evie was intrigued when she heard about planet Earth's first outer space mining project. However, when exploration equipment was obliterated during a spectacular explosion in the USA earlier this week, she thought it might be better to invest her money a bit closer to home.

Never a lover of maths at school, Evie still doesn't understand what the "quantum internet" really is. But she has recently read reports stating that sending data between containerships could provide the arena for creating quantum networks. Whatever this might entail, she thinks it could be an interesting development in the shipping world.

?Evie is also looking forward to her invitation to the Perth Logistics Bash, which is being held on November 21, 2014.

This week, Richard Jones of DHL Industrial Projects, gets a special mention and award for spotting the deliberate error in our reader survey, whereby the option of 'freight forwarder' had been missed out from the drop-down menu. If you haven't completed the survey yet, please do so today here!