A word from GPLN:                                                                                                        Newsletter Issue 89 / November-December 2022

Dear Reader,

Looking back at 2022 it started with a more optimistic outlook than the previous two years during the pandemic, despite capacity issues across all modes of transport, landside disruptions and volatile rates. The business conditions were favourable, with delayed projects coming back and renewable energy projects and civil infrastructure projects taking off also due to some government stimulus packages. But after Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February this year the shockwaves were felt almost immediately and energy prices soared to historic highs, besides other negative effects.

Our GPLN members from Russia, Ukraine etc. were affected most, together with our Chinese members who were all locked down by the Chinese Government and could therefore not travel abroad and also not attend our AGM which took place in May 2022 in Rotterdam, just after Breakbulk Europe. However even considering this handicap GPLN reached over 140 GPLN delegates who were networking during our annual conference and discussed in person many promising business prospects with their fellow members. This positive situation continued during the year as GPLN was able to welcome in 2022 over 30 new member companies from all over the globe.

As you know our next annual global conference will take place at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam from June 3-5, 2023, followed by our renown Heavy Transport and Lifting Seminar on June 6, 2023 at the same venue, which is also open for non-members. Both GPLN events can be combined with Breakbulk Europe which is scheduled from June 6-8, 2023 at Ahoy Convention Center in Rotterdam.

The GPLN team will exhibit early next year at Breakbulk Middle East in Dubai, UAE from February 13-14, 2023 at Dubai World Trade Centre. We will be joined by 5 GPLN member companies, namely: AZKA Shipping & Logistics/Iraq, Czechoslovak Ocean Shipping/ Czech Republic, Indial Shipping /India, JSL Global/Qatar & Oman and Turk Logistics/Bahrain.

We are looking forward to meet our members during this event in Dubai at our GPLN Booth #B01, which is located just next to the main entrance.

As this is our last newsletter for this year, we wish you all the best for 2023.

Best regards,

Your GPLN team

GPLN Partnership between JSL Global and Eastship Projects & Logistics

GPLN members JSL Global Qatar and Eastship Projects & Logistics, Romania handled recently a big project consisting of a Concrete Segment Factory Relocation. The term was DAP and the cargo originated from Hamad port, Qatar and was shipped with the vessel “MV Rudolf” to Constanta, Romania, and delivery to final site. The total volume was 98×40’OT/Flat Racks, plus 1100 CBM part charter breakbulk shipment. Cargo description: Gantry Cranes, Girders, Steam boilers, flying buckets, panels, air compressors etc. The biggest dimension was a Gantry Crane Girders and beams: 28 to 32 meters long x 14 pieces. When the cargo was loaded from site and moved to Hamad port, the length of the convoy was almost 112 meter long. Cargo delivery in Romania: 390 km ex Constanta port to client site.

Challenges: This was a complete industrial plant relocation. JSL provided feasibility study to client almost 8 months prior to actual shipment delivery date.
Main challenge was exporting this full plant ex Qatar due to multiple owners. Many owners changed and most of the material was procured locally and from Turkey and UAE. Due to multiple factory owners, original shipping documents were missing. Biggest challenge was to authenticate the ownership and generated export documents.

JSL Global worked out with multiple government agencies and put up this full case to concerned authorities. After 6 weeks rigorous follow-up, Qatar concerned authorities approved this export. Due to COVID/Pandemic freight rates for special equipment like Open Top and Flat Rack were quite high. JSL Global filed special rates with Hapag Lloyd and Maersk and managed to move 47 plus special equipment’s ex Qatar to Romania. Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, breakbulk rates were too high and client had a very strict budget to follow. Freight rates changed multiple time but JSL asked client to wait for right vessel operator and right timing. JSL finalized Europe based vessel owners and made this possible with committed budgeted figures.

Police escort & route survey were key factors for this project considering the length of the pieces at 28 meters and 32 meters. JSL Project’s team planned to place 2 girders on multi axel trailer after several meeting with the heavy lift hauler.

JSL managed also a police escort with the most suitable roads due to FIFA ongoing work. After loading cargo at the Qatar site, when JSL moved this on road it was a 112-meter-long convoy, plus police escort vehicles. JSL Project’s team and Q-Terminal worked 3 days continuously and supervised safe offloading of cargo inside Hamad port and then loading on “MV Rudolf” Breakbulk vessel. As shipping terms were door to door, JSL Project team members visited Constanta before the vessel was reaching Constanta port. Due to heavy vessel traffic at Romania port due to ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, JSL and its Romanian GPLN partner had to take special approval from concerned authorities for priority berthing. To ensure that the cargo was transported and handled safely during voyage and offloading, JSL & Romania partner did a 3rd party cargo survey and checked all cargo personally.

After import customs formalities were finalized, the full shipment was delivered to the client within one week time to avoid any port storage etc. JSL and Eastship Projects & Logistics worked shoulder to shoulder and managed this difficult plant relocation and delivery of all cargo safely to client’s Romania site and full satisfaction of the client. YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/CZmaWHkHPN4

360 Logistics ships forged ring

Khimji Ramdas Shipping move transformers and accessories

Consolidated Shipping Services move Multicat Vessel

MAMQ Milestone Movement on RCD Highway, Baluchistan

GPLN member M/s M. Amin M. Qaseem (Pvt) Ltd. (MAMQ) arranged a milestone movement of Goldhofer’s Multi Axle Hydraulic Trailers on RCD Highway, Baluchistan: Under-hook Receiving of Siemens Auto-Transformer(s) 2 Units, Customs Clearance at Karachi Port, Transportation from Karachi Port to 220Kv NTDC (National Transmission & Dispatch Company) Quetta Grid Station, Baluchistan.

This December 2022, MAMQ has contributed a remarkable achievement for Pakistan’s Heavy Lift Movement Industry by delivering 2 Units of 250MVA 3 Phase Auto Transformers on to its Goldhofer Multi-Modular Hydraulic Trailers from Karachi Port to 220KV NTDC Quetta Grid Station Site with utmost safety and within the provided lead-time. Baluchistan is well-known for its Mountainous regions, road gradients, steep turnings, harsh weather, lack of in-transit facilities and having only one highway road i.e., completely a single track which connects Karachi to Quetta and onwards to Southern Afghanistan & Eastern part of Iran.

The aforesaid road rack is known as the Regional Development for Cooperation Road (RCD). Keeping in view the challenging nature of the aforementioned task of delivering 02 heavy-lift transformers main bodies, weighing 120 tons each and dimensions as 9.35 x 3.76 x 4.21 meters, MAMQ first conducted the land route physical inspection survey from Karachi Port (Origin) to Quetta Grid Station (Destination) via RCD road to understand and form-up the strategy and provide solutions for the challenges & hindrances existing enroute.

Road gradients and Tunnel at Quetta were the extreme challenges enroute which were successfully met by our state-of-the-art equipment i.e., New Modeled Goldhofer Multi Axle Hydraulic Trailers, Heavy Duty Prime Movers, well trained drivers and technical workforce. After the under-hook reception of the ATR Main Bodies at Karachi Port, the ATRs were dispatched and delivered to site with perfection in all spheres.  MAMQ is proud to achieve this milestone by delivering the heavy-lifts in the districts of Chaghi Mountain Region which is considered as the toughest land route for heavy-lifts movement.

Megalift handle 4-ton spool to Denmark

Total Movements delivers critical Energy Project Cargo

Protranser coordinates the delivery of various project cargo

		GPLN member Protranser’s team from China delivered recently13 pieces of slag pots from Zhangjiagang, China, to South America. Each unit measured 4.4 m in length, 3.6 m in width and 2.8 m in height, and weighed 23.4 tons. Their working scope included the handling of port service and the chartering of a breakbulk vessel. In another similar move Protranser delivered a 52-ton tank also from Zhangjiagang to South America. The dimension of the tank was 2.150m x 3.97m x 4.2m. Protranser’s scope included the chartering service of a breakbulk vessel. Furthermore, Protranser delivered also two sets of environmental protection tanks from Yixing to Zhangjiagang by river barges.
© Protranser International Logistics Co., Ltd. All rights reserved.		Yixing is located on the west side of Taihu Lake, Jiangsu Province, East China. The cargo was delivered to Zhangjiagang port by river barges via Huangpu River and Yangtze River, which is almost 400 km away.The total volume and weight were 32 pieces, 7838 CBM and 302’500 tons. The heaviest piece had a weight of 60 tons and the dimension of it was 16.4m x 8.6m x 8.6m. Protranser arranged 10 river barges to carry the tanks, and they have been working continuously for over two months. Most of the barges were 2’000 tons each, and this was the first time to sail with such a heavy weight on the Wuxi Inland River waterway (usually1’000t tons barges or below are only allowed to sail on it). In order to keep the safety of this sailing process, maritime escorts were arranged, which was also reported positively.

Finally, Protranser’s arranged two shipments to Australia. The first delivery was 10 tubes with 6m length from Xi’an city, Shaanxi province to Australia via Shanghai port. The cargo was a Dryer Section Felt Rolls and working scope included picking up cargo at factory located in Xi’an city to the warehouse in Shanghai within 3 days (a distance of around 1400 km), stuffing cargo properly in one 40’OT and shipping it to Melbourne, Australia. The second delivery was cargo from Hongkong also to Melbourne, Australia by air. The cargo was a boiler waterwall panel which had a dimension of 3.17m x1.84m x 13.2m and a weight of 6.7 tons. The original plan was to transport the cargo from Guangzhou airport to Australia, but it was not easy to find a suitable plane to carry it in a short time because the cargo was too wide and overweight. Our team provided an alternative solution within a short time to our client to deliver the cargo from Guangzhou to Hongkong by truck and to catch a direct flight from Hongkong to Melbourne. The working scope included re-packaging and strengthening the cargo, picking up cargo from the factory in Guangzhou and delivery to Hongkong airport, as well as customs clearance and booking service.

STC Logistics handle various projects

GPLN member SCT Logistics from Vietnam have recently delivered an over-length cargo from Hai Phong, Vietnam to Turkey on 01×40’FR. They offered a solution at reasonable cost to the client while ocean freight rates have the trend to increase.

The cargo (main beam) had a dimension of 12,87m (L) x 1,76m (W) x 2,78m (H) and was successfully shipped by international sea transportation and delivered to the jobsite.

Furthermore, TS moved also two units of Hydraulic Crawler Drill with a dimension of 8.64m (L) x 2.4m (W) x 2.81m (H) each and 8 packages of accessories from Yokohama, Japan, to Cambodia, with transit via Ho Chi Minh port. The cargo was delivered successfully to client.

And one more project from Vietnam to Cambodia was also successfully arranged by SCT Logistics JSC Commodity: two units of fixed column, suitable for a Liebherr Cargo Crane, Type FCC. Volume: 28 packages, 65 tons and 168 CBM.

Universal Transport share the love at Christmas

One of the most important Christmas traditions at GPLN member Universal Transport Group from Germany is to support various charitable projects, including the children’s cancer project “Fruchtalarm” and the North Rhine-Westphalian “Aktion Lichtblicke”. For the third year in a row, Universal Transport was donating to the “Fruchtalarm”. Once a week, the volunteers visit 33 children’s cancer wards and oncological rehabilitation clinics across Germany with their mobile children’s cocktail bar. The colorful fruit cocktails bring some variety and fun to the wards, they also stimulate the children’s creativity and, above all, give the young patients some self-determination. „The ‘Fruchtalarm” enables children and their relatives to escape the stressful everyday routine for a few hours. It is close to our hearts to support the dedicated team, with our donation we can make our contribution to putting a smile on the children’s faces,” says Holger Dechant, Managing Director of the Gruber Logistics subsidiary Universal Transport, who this year presented the generous donation to “Fruchtalarm” Managing Director Carmen-Eliza Schilling.

“For the first time this year we have also had a children’s hospice in our program. In order to be able to interact with all children and young people there, we had to develop a very special smell and feelings concepts in addition to our mobile children’s cocktail bar. A time-consuming and costly task, but very worthwhile and only possible thanks to supporters like Universal Transport,” says Carmen-Eliza Schilling happily. The “fruit alarm” is already in touch with other hospices to expand their offer to more places and in addition, a possible extension to other European countries, such as the Czech Republic, is being looked at. Universal Transport will accompany the campaign as it continues. As for many years, Universal Transport has been taking part in the “Aktion Lichtblicke” again. Whether its signed football shirts or a meet & greet with well-known artists: everything that is auctioned off is for a good cause. Since 1998 the “Aktion Lichtblicke” has been supporting children, young people and families who are in material, financial or emotional need. Universal Transport is auctioning off the rare opportunity to accompany a heavy-duty transport. This raised a great 350 Euros this year and Universal Transport topped this up and donated a total of 1’000 Euros to this amazing charity.

COMEXAS your trusted Vessel Agent in Ghana

Wallenius Wilhelmsen : How RoRo supports the Japanese machine tools export industry in times of change

For many years, Wallenius Wilhelmsen have shipped machine tools from Japan to its primary market, the US. With current pressures on global trade, that relationship is more important than ever. Earlier this year, the Japan Machine Tool Builders’ Association published its Machine Tool Industry Vision 2030. In it, the Association forecast that by 2030, orders of machine tools in Japan would reach 2.475 trillion yen (US$17.6 billion) with 1.581 trillion yen [CJ1] (US$11.24 billion) of that being exports. That’s an increase of 60.6% from 2021. The machine tools industry provides critical inputs to all areas of manufacturing and has an important part to play in the development of a country’s manufacturing sector. This is certainly the case in Japan which overtook the US in 1982 as the world’s leading producer of machine tools, maintaining that dominance for 27 years.Providing breakbulk solutions since the 1980s Japan’s success as a leading exporter of machine tools worldwide, and to the US in particular, came through the expertise that rapidly developed in the country, but also through the breakbulk shipping arrangement the producers struck with Wallenius Wilhelmsen. Sadamori Yoshio, Senior Manager Segment Development East, explains.

“Wallenius Wilhelmsen has a very long history with the major machine tool producers in Japan and has been one of the top ocean carriers for these very high-quality machines to the US for more than 30 years,” Yoshio says. “We had a strong value proposition that not only solved the customer challenges the sector faced at that time with container lines, but also satisfied an entirely new set of needs that customers previously didn’t perceive as there was no similar offering.” This proposition included regular and punctual sailings from Japan to the US, the ability to transport the machine tools at scale, a very high focus on cargo quality, relatively stable costs in the face of market fluctuations, the ability to secure space well in advance, and well-functioning customer support.

Overcoming today’s challenges: Japan has always been one of the top exporters of machine tools worldwide with US making up about 16% of the revenue. Today, the US is the third biggest market for the Japanese industry behind China (23%) and its domestic customers (33%). The US is heavily reliant on many of these products, especially those in the fields of high-precision, composite processing and machining of hard-to-cut materials. Receiving nearly 95% of the Japanese machine tools our vessels carry, the US remains by far our biggest market in terms of product volumes. Working with leading Japanese manufacturers such as Mazak, Okuma, Amada, Makino, Shibaura and DMG Mori, our vessels ship products including machining centers, milling machines, turning centers, drilling machines, boring machines and grinding machines to the main destinations of Long Beach, Savannah, Newport News and Baltimore. The pandemic and the subsequent effects on global trade remain in play with customers facing disrupted schedules from ocean carriers, as well as labor shortages and capacity issues on board vessels and at US ports.

However, these challenges are beginning to ease and we are able to continue providing industry-leading capacities and capabilities to customers. Transporting breakbulk presents a number of challenges, including the risk of product damage. However, our vessels are purposely built to suit a wide range of breakbulk cargo and this flexibility is evident in the diverse range of products that are transported on our vessels. Yoshio believes the long-standing relationship Wallenius Wilhelmsen has with the Japanese machine tools industry reflects our expertise in breakbulk shipping. “By working closely with our customers from initial preparation to delivery, we ensure we gain their confidence and trust. I’m confident that our ability in providing our customers with this high level of service for more than 30 years has ensured our good standing in the industry,” said Sadamori Yoshio, Senior Manager Segment Development East.