QATAR BEING SERVED BY MAERSK, MSC FEEDER FROM SALALAH (OMAN)

Hundreds of containers on their way to Qatar from Oman

A Qatari food company owner said shipments began arriving on Sunday from Oman, and that about 12 vessels were headed to Qatar from Sohar and Salalah.

"There are around 300 containers of fresh and frozen food coming. Some have arrived and the others are on their way," Ahmed al-Khalaf said.

He said containers at Jebel Ali port of the United Arab Emirates were still stuck, but that others, including from Europe, were being diverted to Oman's ports.

The world's number 1 container line, Maersk of Denmark, said on Monday it would accept new bookings for container shipments to Qatar from Oman.

Swiss-based MSC, the world's number 2 line, said it would deploy a new dedicated shipping service to Qatar from Salalah.
                                                        

Last week, Qatar Ports Management launched a new direct service linking Hamad port in the Qatari capital with Sohar Port in the Sultanate of Oman.

At a press conference held at Hamad Port, Qatar Ports Management said: "In light of the recent developments in the region, Mwani Qatar (Qatar Ports Management) and its partners have ensured the business continuity of its ports and shipping operations in and out of Qatar to mitigate the impact of any action that would affect the imports and exports to and from the country."

The service will operate three times a week and journey's will take up to one and a half days.

In an advisory released Sunday, the UAE’s transport authority suggested that the Emirates no longer bars non-Qatari vessels that are engaged in Qatari trade from entering UAE ports – an important development in the ongoing dispute, as the Emirates’ Port of Fujairah is home to the region’s main bunkering facility.

“This notice differs in substance to notices which have been issued by some of the ports within the UAE during the course of the last week,” commented law firm Ince & Co. in a client advisory. “Of particular relevance is the fact that there is no reference to vessels not being given port clearance if the last port of call or next port of call is Qatar, This could mean that vessels which have loaded in Qatar and wish to bunker in Fujairah may be able to do so.”

The announcement still forbids UAE ports from handling any cargo of Qatari origin, receiving any Qatari-owned or -flagged vessel, or loading any cargo of UAE origin bound for Qatar. The transport authority called on “those concerned to implement strictly .”

Oman emerges as a transshipment alternative

The Qatar Ports Management Company announced Sunday that it has initiated two new container services between the Omani ports of Sohar and Salalah and Hamad Port, Qatar. The UAE’s shipping ban has stranded thousands of Qatari containers in the Emirates, as most normal transshipment services to and from Hamad are routed through Jebel Ali and Khalifa Port. The new substitute feeder routes from Oman will each run three times a week. Maersk Lines, Evergreen, OOCL and COSCO had all announced service suspensions to Qatar and stopped accepting shipments bound for Hamad Port.

With transshipments routed through Oman, Maersk has since resumed all normal operations; in a statement Monday, number two carrier MSC proudly noted that it never stopped accepting consignments, unlike competitors.

The new feeder services will ease pressure on Qatar’s supplies of fresh and frozen food, which the tiny nation of three million obtains through imports. Iran and Turkey have been flying provisions into Doha as an emergency measure, but with a sea route reopened, at least 300 containers of food supplies are now on their way, trader Ahmed al-Khalaf told Reuters.

CHINA BELT AND ROAD FORUM : THE NEW CHINA SILK ROUTE COVERING MOMBASA PORT

China currently is trying to flex its might in the geopolitics arena with this initiative that will cost them 1.4 trillion dollars in 10 years. They are looking to revitalize the ancient silk road to usurp America as the top dog in the world.

We all know what the ancient silk road did for the ancient somali civilization, imagine the benefits this project could do for the country. China is investing 150 billion annually in upgrading roads/ports, building railways, and setting up pipelines.

China Silk Trade Covering Parts of Africa

However, as it stands the current map bypasses Somalia but the country is abundant with natural resources. Once Somalia takes care of its house in the next few years it could take advantage of this opportunity by asking china to help build pipelines to service our offshore black oil to the global market.

All in All, we need to find a way to eat a piece of this pie to catch up with the modern world.

MOGADISHU PORT : THE NEW FACE OF SOMALIA SHIPPING INDUSTRY

AFRICAN SHIPPING LINE -SOMALIA

africanshippingdubai@gmail.com

Aerial view of the Port of Mogadishu, Somalia. Three cargo ships, large, medium and small sized vessels are moored to the docks. A tugboat is heading out of the port.

Mogadishu’s port, having recently modernized to facilitate the shipping of containers, has made it much easier for the country to ship larger quantities of goods in and out of its port facilities. The use of containers at Mogadishu’s port, as opposed to off loading items individually, has dramatically increased the amount of goods that can be imported and exported to Somalia.

The Port of Mogadishu, also known as the Mogadishu International Port,is the official seaport of Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. Classified as a major class port, it is the largest harbour in the country.



Since Roman centuries existed a commercial port called Sarapion in what is now modern Mogadishu. However during the Middle Ages the port of Mogasdishu was very small and only with the arrival of the Italians in 1890 were made the first improvements in order to create a modern port. Since then the port has increased in capacity until now when it is the most important port of Somalia and one of the biggest in eastern Africa.

The port of Mogadishu was created as a modern port (called in Italian Porto di Mogadiscio) with magazines and docks in the late 1920s by the Italian government of Italian Somalia.

In 1930 a protective dike with breakwaters was made in front of the enlarged port, that was connected to the Somalia interior by a railway and even by a new "imperial road" (from Mogasdishu to Addis Abeba). After incurring some damage during the civil war, the Federal Government of Somalia launched the Mogadishu Port Rehabilitation Project, an initiative to rebuild, develop and modernize the Port of Mogadishu.

A joint international delegation consisting of the Director of the Port of Djibouti and Chinese officials specializing in infrastructure reconstruction concurrently visited the facility in June 2013.

According to Mogadishu Port manager Abdullahi Ali Nur, the delegates along with local Somali officials received reports on the port’s functions as part of the rebuilding project’s planning stages. In November 2014, Minister of Transportation Said Jama Mohamed launched a new transportation reform initiative at the Port of Mogadishu.



The minister met with local transportation union officials to discuss how to optimize the new system’s implementation, ensure its transparency and accountability, and gauge their requirements and those of the owners of transported goods that they represent.

According to Mohamed, the project’s ultimate goal is to establish a fair transportation system. He also stressed that transport owners should make sure that their vehicles are in good condition and attain the standards of goods owners.

In 2013, the Port of Mogadishu’s management reportedly reached an agreement with representatives of the Dubai-based company Simatech Shipping LLC to handle vital operations at the seaport.

Under the name Mogadishu Port Container Terminal, the firm is slated to handle all of the port’s technical and operational functions. In October 2013, the federal Cabinet endorsed an agreement with the Turkish firm Al-Bayrak to manage the Port of Mogadishu for a 20-year period.

According to the Prime Minister’s Office, the deal was secured by the Ministry of Ports and Public Works, and also assigns Al-Bayrak responsibility for rebuilding and modernizing the port.

Al-Bayrak had previously overseen construction of the Istanbul Metro in Istanbul.

In April 2014, the Federal Parliament postponed finalization of the Seaport Management Deal pending the approval of a new foreign investment bill. The MPs also requested that the agreement be submitted to the legislature for deliberation and to ensure that the interests of the port’s manual labourers are taken into account.

In September 2014, the federal government officially delegated management of the Mogadishu Port to Al-Bayrak.

The Turkish company’s indicated that under the terms of the agreement, 55 per cent of revenue generated at the seaport will go to the government and the remaining 45 per cent is earmarked for the firm.

According to Minister for Transports and Seaport Yussuf Maalim Amin, the management transfer is expected to double the federal authorities’ income from the Port.

Al-Bayrak’s modernization project will cost $80 million.



According to Al-Bayrak, the majority of its revenue share will be re-invested in the seaport through additional port-based trade and new docks, construction materials and machinery.

The company also plans to install an environment wall and a closed circuit camera system in accordance with international security protocols, erect a modern port administration building, and clean the ship entrance channels via underwater surveillance.

As of September 2014, the first phase of the renovations are reportedly complete, with the second phase underway. During its first month of operation under Al-Bayrak, the port generated $2.7 million in service revenue.

Towards the Year 2014, A Dubai registered Shipping Line Company advanced its expansion to Mogadishu port and in 2015, African Shipping Line -Kenya managed to make registration and presence as Ship Liner Agents in the Port of Mogadishu.

African Shipping Line -Mogadishu being a representative of Kenya-based company African Shipping Line- Kenya to provide services related to Ship Liner Agency as well as Container Logistics Operation at the Mogadishu port, Somalia.

Africa Shipping Line Now Runs a Container Feeder Service Between Mombasa (Kenya), Mogadishu (Somalia) fortnight service. 

'OCEAN ALLIANCE' & 'THE ALLIANCE' ASIA AND EUROPEAN PORTS JITTERS

Shipping Companies have described the Asia-Europe schedules of the Ocean and THE alliances as ‘organised chaos’ this week, with thousands of containers stranded in Asia and European Ports. The Ocean Alliance brings together the recently formed China Cosco Shipping, with Evergreen Line, CMA CGM, and OOCL in a vessel sharing agreement, while THE alliance consists of NYK Line, MOL, “K” Line, Hapag-Lloyd, and Yang Ming Line.

Commentators say there is very little chance of vessels hitting itineraries before June as the two major shipping alliances transition ships and containers from previous schedules to their new alliance hubs.

The move has proven more complicated than expected, according to one shipping alliance member that spoke to The Loadstar. The shipper added that it had containers stranded at terminals between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. He admitted that phasing-in and -out had been “a disaster”, resulting in big gaps appearing in network coverage.

“We are chartering-in or using commercial feeders where we are allowed to,” he said, “but it is tough to get approval, and sometimes the containers will just have to stay on the quay until the next big ship call.”

He added that where an alliance was no longer calling at a terminal, a “best-cost option” to repatriate containers was being applied.

The greatest disruption is in Shanghai, where hundreds of containers have been stranded for as many as eight weeks, port officials say that much of the congestion is being driven by ultra-large containerships running off-schedule and ‘bunching’, clogging the port.

There have been reports of ships waiting at anchor for up to three days to get onto berths, a situation exacerbated by dense fog and congestion is now said to be spreading to other major Chinese ports, such as Ningbo and Qingdao.

Dubai’s Jebel Ali Port did not respond to a request for comment, but according to AIS data there have been no berth shortages at the port, which is going ahead with a major expansion project to increase capacity and throughput.

Source: ASC

SEYCHELLES TO IMPORT LIVESTOCK FROM KENYA

Seychelles will start importing poultry and Livestock meat products from Kenya, instead of Brazil, to help lower his citizens’ cost of living. This was said by visiting President Danny Faure to Kenya during his visit last week. The Seychelles head of state assured that enhanced business cooperation will see his country import meat products (Livestock) and increase cooperation with Kenya in terms of Maritime Security and Tourism.

Seychelles President Visiting Kenya Livestock Sector

President Danny Faure also had a visit at the Kenya Meat Commission (KMC) factory during his tour to see the company's products in Athi River, Kenya, to see the standard of Kenyan Livestock set for Export to Seychelles. 

Currently Seychelles imports most of its poultry and beef products from Brazil. According to Kenya Meat Commission’s website the factory is the biggest and most modern licensed export abattoir in East, Central, and the Horn of Africa. 

President Faure was accompanied by the Seychelles Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Michael Benstrong; Ports and Marine Minister Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, chairperson of the Seychelles Chamber of Commerce (SCCI) for a tour of the facilities and further explore the possibilities of enhancing cooperation for the trading of agricultural meat products between Seychelles and Kenya. An agreement, derived following successful bilateral talks by President Faure and President Kenyatta on Monday.

African Shipping Line does Livestock shipping from many ports in Africa Including Mombasa, Mogadishu, Berbera and Djibouti.

We can get some livestock for you from Africa especially Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti or Tanzania. Please send an email: africanshippingdubai@gmail.com or call/whatsapp +971 56 953 8569 or +254 726 722 226

  اغنام صـومـالـي  بيع جميع انواع المواشي والأغنام 🐐🐄🐏 جملة & مفرد تصدير إلى جميع دول الخليج العربي للاستفسار اتصل بنا على +971 56 953 8569

CONTAINER SHIPPING SET TO GROW IN 2017 : MAERSK GROUP

Container shipping may grow 2%-4% in 2017 as economy revives: Maersk
Singapore (Platts)--30 Mar 2017 456 am EDT/856 GMT

Cargo volumes moved in container ships are expected to grow 2%-4% this year, up from around 1.5%-2% in 2016 as the industry capitalizes on a revival in demand in the US, Europe, China and major oil exporting countries, a senior Maersk executive said Thursday.

"The economy in both Europe and US is picking up though it is not back to the heyday, there is a lot of talk of Chinese economy growing. The oil export-dependent economies in West Africa and South America will benefit for the increase in crude prices," Group Representative Asia Pacific, Maersk Group, Rene Piil Pedersen, said at the Seatrade roundtable discussion in Singapore.



He said oil prices were a double-edged sword as they increased shipping lines' costs but expressed optimism they could be reflected in freight rates.

"It is only when oil prices rise and fall very fast that they are difficult to pass on to the customers," Pedersen said. Maersk's fleet of container ships is less than eight years old compared with the global average of 12, he said. "For an energy efficient fleet, higher fuel prices are less of a problem."

While the demand for container ships is rising, there is a large overall global program of new builds and "there is a big question of how that capacity will be managed," he said.

Last year, there was a significant amount of recycling and scrapping of older ships, that kept the supply in check, he added.

The World Container Index assessed by Drewry Maritime Research, a composite of container freight rates on eight major routes to or from the US, Europe and Asia, fell almost 3% week on week to $1,350.61/40 feet container as of March 23. Nevertheless, the index is more than double what it was a year earlier.

"The increase compared with the previous year is from a very low base and we are not out of the woods yet," Pedersen said.

CONSOLIDATION

The supply and demand for container ships is now more balanced but better capacity management will be required, Pedersen said. "Some consolidation in the container shipping sector has been announced but these are early days and it is yet to take effect," he said.



He was referring to New Ocean Alliance that is expected to begin operations from Saturday and includes the Evergreen Line, CMA CGM, Cosco China Shipping and Orient Overseas Container Line.

Another grouping, called The Alliance has brought together members including Hapag-Lloyd, Yang Ming, MOL, NYK Line, and 'K' Line.

Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Co. or MSC, the two market leaders by deployed capacity, already have a 2M Alliance in place. The two companies also have a strategic cooperation agreement with Hyundai Merchant Marine or HMM.

One ramification of the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping last year is the wave of consolidation that followed in the container shipping industry. He said at one point of time around $14 billion worth of cargo was stranded at sea or ports due to the bankruptcy.

"If one has to survive, it has offer a global product. You can't be a small fish in a big lake," Pedersen said. "The consolidation is not huge, the top 20 container shipping companies have now become the top 12. There are still a lot of small players," he said.

The next two years would be tricky because demand would increase but a lot of ships will hit the water, he warned.

Maersk alone will take delivery of nine 14,000 TEU and 11, 19,000 TEU new container ships this year, Pedersen said. The company has not placed any new orders so far this year.

REDUCING COSTS

Pedersen stressed that there was an increasing need to transform the containers business through digitalization.

"This is a huge opportunity for Maersk. Until around three years ago making a booking with us required a couple of hours, now it is in minutes and by next year we want to reduce it as low as five seconds," he said.

A better cost structure around the containers, container ships, terminals and cranes could reduce the overall costs of handling cargoes, he added.

Pedersen cited the example of a case study Maersk did sometime ago, when tracking a cargo of flowers and avocados from East Africa to to Northern Europe revealed involvement of close to 200 sets of documentation or paperwork and engagement with 30 different entities.

"The future lies in using a much more transparent and efficient process to dealing with these entities called the block chain technology which will be seamless and save time and costs," he said.

On the new global norms for sulfur emissions that will be implemented less than three years from now in 2020, Pedersen said the Maersk Group would be ready but was concerned over enforcement.

"The rules are clear, what is not clear is how different [geographical] jurisdictions will police it and may disrupt the level playing field," he said, adding that if were to happen, those like Maersk who followed the rules might be at a disadvantage to others who did not.

ILLEGAL FISHING IN SOMALIA COAST : BIG CAUSE OF PIRACY

Somali pirates who seized a Comoros-flagged oil tanker earlier this week after five years without a major Sea Piracy off the Indian Ocean have released the ship and its crew without conditions, officials said late Thursday.

Security official Ahmed Mohamed told The Associated Press the pirates disembarked the ship, which was heading to Bossaso port, the region's commercial hub, with its eight Sri Lankan crew members aboard. Monday's hijacking of an oil tanker off Somalia's northern coast surprised the international shipping community after several years without a pirate attack on a large commercial vessel there. Naval patrols by NATO members and other countries like China had calmed the crucial global trade route that once saw hundreds of attacks.

But people in this sleepy village saw something like this coming. Some are former pirates themselves who quit in recent years as the international pressure grew and armed guards appeared on cargo ships. They turned to fishing but now say they're the ones being targeted at sea.

In recent years, local officials have warned that rampant over fishing by foreign trawlers was destroying the livelihoods of Somali coastal communities, stoking fears of a return of piracy as a way to make money to secure their way of life. They have blamed Yemeni, Chinese, Indian, Iranian and Djibouti-flagged fishing boats and trawlers.

“The illegal fishing is a very serious problem. Fishing has declined, equipment was confiscated and they destroyed our livelihoods and properties,” said Aisha Ahmed, a fish dealer. The chairman of the fishermen's association, Mohamed Saeed, said frustrations are growing. “They have no choice now but to fight,” he said.

Somalis say illegal, unlicensed, and unregulated fishing forced them to turn to piracy 10 years ago in order to recoup their losses. "We got fed up and took guns to the sea," said one Bosaso fisherman, Mohamed Adan Ahmed.

The hijacked oil tanker was anchored Tuesday off the town of Alula, local elder Salad Nur told The Associated Press. He said young fishermen, including former pirates, had gone searching for a foreign ship to seize out of frustration.

“Foreign fishermen destroyed their livelihoods and deprived them of proper fishing,” he said.

The armed men were demanding a ransom for the ship's release and were holding the crew captive, the European Union anti-piracy operation off Somalia said late Tuesday after making contact with the ship's master. Illegal fishing needs addressing, said John Steed, the director of Oceans Beyond Piracy. “It's an aggressive business and in some cases international fleets pressure, even attack, local fisherman, which breeds resentment,” he wrote in an email.

“We have a famine and food is short. Fish is one answer,” he said, referring to the drought that Somalia recently declared a national disaster. “Fishing communities are angry and out-of-work fishermen have become - and are - pirates.”

In December, NATO ended its anti-piracy mission off Somalia's waters because there was no piracy for the past 4 years. Abdirizak Mohamed Ahmed, the director of the Anti-Piracy Agency in northern Somalia's semi autonomous state of Puntland, said he wasn't surprised by Monday's hijacking. The Incident happened in the Northern Puntland state.

Ahmed said fake fishing licenses issued to foreign fishermen and lenient enforcement of regulations by local authorities are major factors in the increase of illegal fishing. Fishermen have reported several cases of attacks by illegal fishermen, including close-ramming of their boats by trawlers. One fisherman died and another was seriously injured after a trawler ran over a small skiff off the coast early this month, Ahmed said.

Local fishermen also have reported incidents of foreign fishermen opening fire at them or robbing them of their catches before being chased away.

“It's matter of life and death. Now we have to fight at any cost,” Bile Hussein, a Somali pirate commander, said Tuesday, after the new hijacking was reported. He said he was in contact with the armed men on the seized oil tanker and that they had not yet decided on how much ransom to demand.

The ship in the Monday’s incident was owned by Flair Shipping Trading FZE in the United Arab Emirates and linked to UAE-based ship management firm Aurora Ship Management FZE. It was flying under the flag of Liberia at the time. It was not immediately clear if the companies were still linked to the ship.

Argyrios Karagiannis, the managing director of Flair Shipping, declined to comment. Calls and emails to Aurora went unanswered.

Concerns about piracy off Africa’s coast have largely shifted to the Gulf of Guinea.

THE FUTURE OF KENYA NATIONAL SHIPPING LINE

The Government of Kenya Ministry of Transport is seeking to to revive The Kenya National Shipping Line which has been dormant for many years.

It says, it has plans to revive the Kenya National Shipping Line (KNSL) that has the potential to contribute over 3 billion U.S. dollars into the country’s economy annually, a government official said on Sunday.

Kenya's State House Spokesperson Manoah Esipisu said the shipping line is expected to create an average of 3,000 job opportunities for youth in the first year, and thereafter progressively increase to 6,000 in five years.

"This administration has invested billions of shillings in this region to build or improve security, infrastructure and general service delivery, with the simple goal of uplifting the lives of residents in an inclusive way," he told journalists in Mombasa.

Esipisu said negotiations are at an advanced stage for the exit of foreign shareholders who have expressed desire to cease working with KNSL, due to KNSL having become a parastatal.

The revival of the shipping line is expected to return Kenya to its historical place as a rich seafaring nation with highly respected seafarers. The shipping line has been dormant for decades.

Esipisu said the plan which is being rolled out by the State Department of Maritime and Shipping Affairs, is part of the government’s wider plan to boost the economy of the coast region as well as that of the whole country.

SOMALIA SMALLER PORTS

AFRICAN SHIPPING LINE will be supporting the Current Humanitarian Crisis in the Horn of Africa by providing Door - Door Services of Containerized Cargo as well as Barge Services from Mombasa to Somalia and Djibouti through the Following Smaller Ports:

Kismayo Port
Bosaso Port 
Berbera Port
Hobyo Port


Please feel free to inquire about Shipping Services to Kismayo Port, Bosaso Port, Berbera Port and Hobyo Port In Somalia from Mombasa Port, Dubai Jebel Ali, Sharjah Ports, Ajman Port or Salalah (Oman) Port.

Send an Email: africanshippingdubai@gmail.com 

RORO CAR SHIPPING FROM JAPAN AND DUBAI: USED EXPORT CARS DIRECT TO YOUR DOORSTEP

RO-RO  your  Car / Trucks / Vehicle to Africa

Africa is the world’s second-largest and second-most-populous continent , including 54 states and some more territories. While selecting a Shipping company to carry your goods, ensure that it has network in the region where you will receive your consignment. Some company may not have coverage in particular regions.

African Shipping Dubai is the best choice for shipping / exporting to Africa. If you plan to transport cargo to any African nation, it is necessary that you select a company which has ample knowledge about the shipping sector of that location.

Get a free quote for your export by sending an email: asline@africanshippingline.ae or Visiting http://www.africanshippingline.com/

Africa divided into the following  Region :-

North Africa lies north of the Sahara and runs along the Mediterranean coast.



West Africa is the portion roughly west of 10° east longitude, excluding Northern Africa and the Maghreb. West Africa contains large portions of the Sahara Desert and the Adamawa Mountains.



East Africa stretches from the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa to Mozambique, including Madagascar



Central Africa is the large mass at the center of Africa which either does not fall squarely into any other region or only partially does so.

Southern Africa consists of the portion generally south of -10° latitude and the great rainforests of Congo.



Shipping your car to Africa and trying to decide who can offer you the best pricing and international shipping services to ship your vehicle?  AFRICAN SHIPPING DUBAI Transport’s specialties is overseas car transport to East and West Africa.

Our international shipping services are among the best when compared to other international shipping companies. Shipping a car to Africa should be given to a trusted shipping company such as AFRICAN SHIPPING DUBAI. Our shipping to Africa services include: door pick-up of your vehicle, documentation handling and overseas vehicle shipping to the port of destination in Africa.



International car transport to Africa can be simple if you ship with one of the leading overseas shipping companies and freight forwarders such as AFRICAN SHIPPING DUBAI . Let’s take a look at what you should consider when deciding to ship your car to Africa:


You can ship your auto overseas to  Africa using the following methods: roll-on / roll-off (ro/ro) service, container shipping and air shipping. Ro/Ro shipping is the most affordable and popular method of overseas car shipping to  Africa while air shipping is the most expensive way to send your car to Africa.

Get a free quote for your export by sending an email: asline@africanshippingline.ae or Visiting http://www.africanshippingline.com/

Low-cost inexpensive roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) international automobile shipping service  available for the following African countries:

International Car Shipping to North Africa, East and West Africa

Our shipping to North Africa, East and West Africa services include: door pick-up of your vehicle, documentation handling and overseas vehicle shipping to the port of destination in West Africa.

Get a free quote for your export by sending an email: asline@africanshippingline.ae or Visiting http://www.africanshippingline.com/

Vehicles that are shipped internationally to East and West Africa from the Dubai, Japan via ro/ro service must follow the below guidelines:

Vehicle must be free of all personal effects
Vehicle must be clean and have no more than ¼ tank of gas upon pick-up at door or delivery to port.
Vehicle must have the original title or Cerificate of Origin or Japan/Dubai customs

Looking to ship multiple cars to East and West Africa or have other items you will need to ship? International container shipping is also available from the Japan and China to most African ports including: Mombasa, Dar Es salaam, Mogadishu, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Sudan, Rwanda, Burundi, Tin Can Island, Nigeria; Onne, Nigeria; Matadi, Democratic Republic of Congo; Lobito, Angola; Walvis Bay, Namibia; Malabo, Equitorial Guinea and more!

Get a free quote for your export by sending an email: asline@africanshippingline.ae or Visiting http://asldubai.blogspot.com/p/contact-us-online.html



Car shipping overseas to Africa ports also has a number of requirements to keep in mind:

Check to see if there is an overseas auto shipping age restriction for the destination country as some West African countries do not allow international automobile shipments for cars older than 2-8 years.

Some countries in Africa require a cargo loading certificate for all incoming international car shipments.

Check to see if your country also requires a pre-shipping inspection prior to international car transport to the destination country.

provides overseas car transport to several worldwide destinations including East and West Africa. Visit our rates request page to submit your international shipping rates request and to receive car shipping quotes. We will respond to all shipping quotes within 1-2 business days.

ALL CAR, AUTOMOBILE, HEAVY UNITS SHIPPING/EXPORTING TO AFRICA

Get a free quote for your export by sending an email: asline@africanshippingline.ae or Visiting http://www.africanshippingline.com/

MAERSK CHINA PARTNERSHIP WITH YUN QU NA

Maersk announces partnership with Chinese e-logistics platform

Denmark's Maersk Line has signed a strategic agreement with the Chinese online logistics platform Yun Qu Na to jointly develop online booking services.

Yun Qu Na was launched in Febuary 2015 and provides a platform to facilitate deals between small to medium sized shippers and shipping agencies.

Through the collaboration with Maersk, users of Yun Qu Na can directly book containers on Maersk ships. This partnership follows one made earlier this year by Maersk when they made a deal with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba for a similar collaboration and has plans to launch trial more similar services.

TRADE NOTICE: OUR SHIPPING ROUTES FOR 2023-2025

For our weekly service to following destinations in Africa, kindly share your export inquiries/bookings for following destinations.  Looking forward to your valuable support.

DUBAI SHIPPING TO EAST AFRICA

MOMBASA
MOGADISHU
ZANZIBAR
DAR ES SALAAM
NACALA
TANGA (via Dar Es Salaam)
Pointe des Galets (Reunion Island)
Port Louis (Mauritius)
Tamatave (Madagascar)
Port Victoria (Seychelles)
Longoni (direct)
Moroni and Mutsamudu (via Longoni)
Diego Suarez, Nossi Be, Majunga,
Beira, Maputo, Quelimane, Pemba (via Durban)
Berbera

Bosaso Port

Kismayo Port

Garacad Port

Hobyo Port

DUBAI SHIPPING TO WEST AFRICA

WALVIS BAY (Namibia)
POINTE NOIRE (Congo)
LAGOS (APAPA)
TINCAN (Nigeria)
LUANDA (Angola)
DOUALA (Cameroon)
DURBAN (S.Africa)
COTONOU (Benin)
LIBREVILLE (Gabon)
CABINDA (Angola)
LOBITO (Angola)
BOMA (Congo)
BANANA (Congo)
PORT GENTIL (Gabon)
MATADI (Congo)
ONNE (Nigeria)
TEMA (Ghana) LOME (Togo)
NAMIBE (Walvis Bay)

DUBAI SHIPPING TO NORTH WEST AFRICA 

DAKAR (Senegal)
BATA/ MALABO (Guinea)
CONAKRY (Guinea)
NOUAKCHOTT (Mauritania)
BANJUL (Gambia)
ABIDJAN (Ivory Coast)
FREETOWN (Sierra Leone)
MONROVIA (Liberia)

And other inland African Inland destinations:

Nairobi ICD, Kampala, Juba, Kigali, Kigoma, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, etc……

GLOBAL SEA PIRACY RECORD LOW SINCE 1998 - INTERNATIONAL MARITIME BUREAU

Global Sea piracy down in 2016 - IMB report, Wednesday, 25 January 2017

Sea Piracy is down in the World but increase in kidnappings at sea reported in the Gulf of Guinea. 

More crew were kidnapped at sea in 2016 than in any of the previous 10 years, despite global piracy reaching its lowest levels since 1998, according to the International Maritime Bureau's (IMB’s) annual piracy report.

Its report for last year also makes note of the Gulf of Guinea as “a kidnap hotspot” and not Somalia Ship Basin anymore.

Further, It is reported that, only two incidents were reported off Somalia Targeting Large Fishing Vessels and Trawlers but Cargo or Container Vessels.

In its 2016 report, the IMB recorded 191 incidents of piracy and armed robbery on the world's seas.

"The continued fall in piracy is good news, but certain shipping routes remain dangerous and the escalation of crew kidnapping is a worrying trend in some emerging areas," said Pottengal Mukundan, Director of IMB whose Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) has monitored world piracy since 1991.

"The kidnappings in the Sulu Sea between East Malaysia and the Philippines are a particular concern.”

Gulf of Guinea

Worldwide in 2016, 150 vessels were boarded, 12 vessels were fired on, seven were hijacked and 22 attacks were thwarted. The number of hostages fell to 151.

Maritime kidnappings, however, showed a threefold increase over 2015. Pirates kidnapped 62 people for ransom in 15 separate incidents in 2016. Just over half were captured off West Africa, while 28 were kidnapped from tugs, barges, fishing boats, and more recently merchant ships, around Malaysia and Indonesia.

The IMB has urged governments to investigate and identify kidnappers and punish them under law.

Mukundan said ships should stay vigilant in high-risk areas. "Shipmasters should follow the latest best management practices and where possible take early action to avoid being boarded. They should inform the IMB PRC or regional counter piracy centres for help and advice," he said.

The Gulf of Guinea remained a kidnap hotspot in 2016, with 34 crew taken in nine separate incidents. Three vessels were hijacked in the region. There was a noticeable increase in attacks reported off Nigeria: 36 incidents in 2016, up from 14 in 2015. These included nine of the 12 vessels fired upon worldwide in 2016. Some were almost 100 nautical miles from the coastline.

The IMB recorded two incidents off Somalia mostly targeting Large Fishing Trawlers. Before, Pirates attempted to attack a container vessel in the Gulf of Aden side in May and fired on a product tanker in the Somalia basin some 300 nm from Somalia shore in October near Socotra. For IMB, this latest incident demonstrates the capacity and intent to attack merchant shipping still exists off Somalia.

The kidnapping of crew from in transit merchant vessels in the Sulu Sea and their transfer to the Southern Philippines represents a notable escalation in attacks. In the last quarter of 2016, 12 crew were kidnapped from two cargo vessels whilst underway and an anchored fishing vessel. In November a bulk carrier was fired on but pirates were not able to board the vessel. Earlier in 2016, crew members were kidnapped in three attacks on vulnerable slow-moving tugs and barges.

The IMB advises charterers and owners to consider avoiding the Sulu Sea by routing vessels west of Kalimantan.

Meanwhile, Indonesian piracy incidents fell from 108 in 2015 to 49 in 2016. Although the overwhelming majority were low-level thefts, vessels were boarded in all but three of the incidents.

MAERSK LINE ADDS ANOTHER PORT IN IRAN

Maersk Line has expanded its footprint in Iran by adding a second port of call less than three months after it resumed services to the country following the lifting of sanctions imposed on Tehran because of its nuclear program.

The Danish carrier, which suspended services in 2012, has added the port of Bushehr to its Iran coverage, which was relaunched with calls to Bandar Abbas in October, the US-based biweekly magazine The Journal of Commerce reported on its website.

Maersk, which also has an office in Tehran, the Iranian capital, said it selected the port because it is the largest gateway for transportation of goods in the province of Bushehr, with an annual throughput of 7 million tons.

The port of Bushehr can provide all containerized cargo services and, most significantly, refrigerated products.

The port has 400 reefer plugs and cold-storage warehouses with a total capacity of 5,000 tons and has easy access to local markets and is a short distance from ports in neighboring countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain, Maersk said.

The first direct weekly feeder sailing from the port of Jebel Ali in the UAE to Bushehr, the 3,400-TEU containership Inter Sydney, was launched on January 4.

When Maersk first resumed service to Iran, the company said the market was estimated at about 700,000 forty-foot-equivalent units.

Iran’s largest trading partners in first 11 months of 2016 by value were China, the UAE, South Korea, Turkey and Germany, according to Global Trade Atlas, a sister product of JOC.com within IHS Markit.

China and the UAE were by far the largest trading partners with Iran, amounting to 24.3% and 15.9%, respectively, of Iran’s international trade volumes, according to GTA. South Korea accounted for 8.1%, Turkey was 6.9% and Germany 5.5%.

Maersk’s 2M partner Mediterranean Shipping Company resumed full service to Iran much earlier than the Danish carrier, with a ship with a capacity of 9,000 TEU units calling at Bandar Abbas on Dec. 31, 2015.

MSC partially resumed service to Iran in April 2014, employing a third-party feeder service that enabled cargo to be transshipped at Jebel Ali.

Container lines, not just Maersk, have been struggling since the 2010 financial crisis, when the GDP multiplier, which refers to the rate of growth in container shipping as it relates to global GDP growth, evaporated.

The multiplier from 2000 to 2008 was 2.2x with x being global GDP growth, which had averaged around 4%. The multiplier since 2010 has shrunk to 1.1x while GDP growth fell to an average of 2.9%. That slower rate of growth dovetailed with a surge of mega-ship newbuilds that have created an enormous capacity surplus

Given these difficult conditions, other container lines have also looked to Iran for volume growth. CMA CGM, for example, teamed up with IRISL to share vessel capacity and jointly operate routes and marine container terminals.

UBERIZATION OF SHORT SEA SHIPPING

Shipping is a traditional and romantic industry. Ship chartering, in particular, has not experienced major revolutionary changes during the years. From the Virginia and Baltick coffee house in the City of London and the Baltic Exchange we have gone to chartering via mail, telephone, and then to telex, fax and finally to e-mail. Apparently, since the very early years, it has just changed the way of communication between the parties but the whole process has remained almost the same. When you want to fix your ship, you have to build your own network, read hundreds of emails, which might also be irrelevant with what you are looking for, discuss with your counter-party for several hours and exchange various offers in writing, search information of the other party’s background in order to perform a due diligence, then draft the fixture recap and the charter party, print a copy and send to the other party for its signature.



E-Mail has sped up the communication between the parties but chartering still looks like a very time-consuming work which may take even days. And this is just for a simple fixture. Despite the fact that digitalization has been developed in all aspects of our life and while everything can now be done on the go -via a smartphone- this is not yet the case with ship chartering which has remained quite traditional. Even the special language of abbreviations which was developed in order to minimize the cost of telex remains popular nowadays, while it just creates misunderstandings and disputes between the parties. New technologies have already entered shipping, even in a limited way (e.g. electronic maps, AIS, e.t.c.) and one would expect that the commercial sector would have been one of the first to take the benefit, though chartering is not the leader of digitalization but a follower.

Could an ‘Uber of the Oceans’ concept be the start of a new era?

Our Finnish colleagues made a research and analyzed how ‘Uberization’ of short sea shipping can be effected: “Why is the Uber transportation concept interesting to compare with? Uber revolutionized the traditional taxi transportation concept by creating a new, more transparent marketplace, which is more efficient and provides a better service for a significantly lower price. It also, importantly, created a more relational approach that has a friction-free way of interacting. Moreover, by having a two-way feedback, it created a system that continuously strives to improve its performance. Another interesting factor learned from Uber is the extensive resistance from existing structures and organizations, where many of the lock-ins have made the implementation troublesome yet successful from a global perspective.”

Finnish academics were really surprised when they realized that their concept already exists and not only for Short Sea Shipping but on a greater scale of “Uber of the Oceans”. After so many years of technological revolution around us, the online marketplace has recently come to change the way that ship chartering process is taking place. With the online marketplace of OpenSea.pro which is now used by more than 1,300 professionals, you can get an instant result by avoiding the long chain of intermediaries, the time-consuming negotiations and the heavy paper works. It does not take more than a couple of minutes to join the OpenSea platform and become a member of the electronic marketplace where you can, then, register your ship’s position or post your cargo inquiry. Then, smart algorithms will automatically find the best matching cargo or ship’s position and bring the shipowner in contact with the charterer so as to fix the charter party with just a few clicks.

The OpenSea marketplace brings various revolutionary advantages in the chartering community:

A strong online community is built where you can easily communicate with the other members, establish new business relationships with them in a quicker manner and use a common platform for easier and prompt communication.

The users can easily have a clear picture of the available cargoes and ships around the world. At any given time shipowners may take a look at the online map and evaluate the demand at each port. Therefore, they can not only find cargoes for their current opening but also see the market dynamics in the area around the port of discharge so as to optimize their chartering strategy with backhaul cargoes.

It improves your own efficiency and time management since the fixture can take place way faster and even within just a few minutes. Instead of scanning your mailbox or talking on the phone for hours, the system automatically finds the best matching cargo & ship. Then you can send an offer by inserting just the necessary information and conclude the charter without leaving the service. This way, all information will be safely stored in the cloud and available from any place and any device you use.

Principal’s contact details remain private and confidential until the user starts firm negotiations with the counter-party. This way the ship/cargo details are not exposed until the parties decide to move forward. Such approach gives additional opportunity to the charterers – to place their cargoes with freight ideas and become the first to receive a firm offer.

The users can easily evaluate the performance of their counterparties. After the completion of each charter which is fixed via the OpenSea marketplace, the parties are welcome to leave feedback on the performance of their counterparty. This contributes so as the marketplace to become transparent and safer for its participants.

Furthermore, OpenSea users can save more time and update their positions or cargoes on the online map, by simply adding the ‘chartering@opensea.pro' e-mail address into their list of circulars and all changes become instantly available to the worldwide users. This way, their mailbox will not be bombed with irrelevant emails/ business but will only receive all matching opportunities or firm offers.

The online marketplace is already here and moving forward it needs to be established. The more than 1,000 members of OpenSea within just a few months show that we are not far apart. The market establishment is very important since the chartering procedures require high interaction between the parties, therefore the more the members of the marketplace, the higher the success. Any new technology needs to be used by as many companies as possible in order to become the norm in the shipping markets and this is the main reason that new technologies have failed to lead the way in the commercial sector of shipping so far. We still see chartering people to believe that digitalization is far from our industry and that new technologies are handled by the IT people only, however our world is becoming so technologically advanced that the online marketplace is the future of ship chartering. 

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