Insight and Opinion – Page 43
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NewsFly by night
More and more, moving a container from A to B is becoming like flying with a low cost budget airline. You book your ticket, you pay the fare only to find that it doesn''t really cover everything you expected it to.
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NewsNew Yorker OPINION, October '09 issue
There is a fine line between great foresight and lemming-like marches, so which camp do the major container carriers fall into, as they continue to support their orders of dozens of mega-ships, booked at prices of circa $100-$130m each?
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Motorway hold up is testing patience
Among consultants there is a standard joke that if Europe had funnelled into the marketplace as much money as it has spent studying the idea of Motorways of the Sea then the European maritime sector would be much richer for it.
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The slippery box throughput slope
Drewry Shipping Consultants'' newly released Top 10 container terminal operators ranking lists the Port of Singapore Authority (PSA), not surprisingly, at the No 1 slot, becoming the first company to register an annual volume in excess of 50m teu.
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"New Yorker" Opinion- for Sept issue
The whole issue of public-private-partnerships (PPP), and privatisations will be vociferously debated in Virginia, as the state (technically, a "Commonwealth") evaluates three proposals that could potentially shift port operation to the private sector.
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A fine mess
The news that France and Germany are ''officially'' out of recession should be music to the ears of box terminal operators. A growth in gross domestic product - albeit a subdued 0.3% one - in both countries in the second quarter should herald the start of the uptick, bringing with ...
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NewsMoney matters
The ports sector has over the past few years been the scene of some significant innovation regarding the deployment of finance for acquisitions, capital expenditure and even debt finance.
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The Silly Season
The summer period of vacations, leaving offices and governments with skeleton staff, is known as the "silly season" in the UK and the "dead season" in France. There are few events of newsworthiness and news readership drops dramatically.
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Labour bends
The attitude of dock labour in Spain is changing. There is a reality dawning that new competitive pressures - of the type being fielded from Morocco''s Tangier Med container transhipment terminals - require a competitive response.
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If you did not anticipate it, blame the economists
The last two weeks has made me think that it is time to change professions. Being an economist is becoming unpleasant. Reading the newspapers and attending industry conferences can be very depressing. Why does everyone like to pick on economists when the shipping executives make irrational decisions?
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What's in your basket?
As the latest set of quarterly container throughput figures hits the wire, there''s no disguising the continued trade slump on the key east-west trade routes. So, perhaps it''s time to remind ourselves that seabourne trade is not all about boxes - although it''s been hard to think of anything else ...
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New Yorker Opinion- June 2009 issue
Later this year, the US Congress will re-authorise the fuelling of surface transportation by the beleaguered Highway Trust fund. At a time that the Obama camp has now mandated even more improvements in fleet efficiencies, it''s clear that there must be a better way to fund infrastructure in the US.
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Barry Parker Opinion submission May 5 2009
It usually takes an oil spill, collision or, lately, a pirate attack, for maritime stories to make the front pages of newspaper, or the top of the hour on prime time TV news.
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PORT STRATEGIST
If you live in the UK then you would have ''enjoyed'' a feast of controversy on the political scene of late as the expenses of Members of Parliament were unveiled for the first time in the media.
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Work smarter
It''s easy in this economic trough in which we find ourselves to be fooled into thinking that nips and tucks in your business structure will be enough to see you through the lean times. But if your "vision" is that narrow, you will be missing many tricks that could put ...
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Terminal Capacity Expansion Slows
With the liner shipping industry facing a calamitous year as a result of excessive over capacity and falling demand one would expect a similar pattern to emerge on the landside with the terminal operators.
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Fully charged
It amazes me in this day and age - and this economic climate - that the UK government is still persisting in its drive to drag backdated rates from the nation''s port businesses.
