The World Trade Organization (WTO) published the World Trade Outlook Indicator 2019, which expects slower trade growth and the weakness is possible to extend into the first quarter of 2019. The decline of several trade-related indicators should alert policy makers for a sharper slowdown, whether the current trade tensions remain unresolved.
Sentinel Midstream published its scheduled development of Texas GulfLink, a proposed Deepwater Crude Oil Export Terminal, located near Freeport, Texas. The facility will be able to fully load Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) vessels.
Vale informed on February 15, that there was a fire in one of the transfer houses of the belt conveyor system at its distribution centre in Malaysia. Vale anticipate this will result in a 10 to 15 day stop in operations and note that a planned 10 day shutdown for maintenance was already scheduled for this period.
Fitch Ratings resulted to the fact that the Russian container port market continues recovering, despite the fact that future growth is likely to be silent. According to the estimations, 2018 full-year throughput growth in Russia reached about 10% to 5 million TEUs. Yet, the market seems predominately import-driven.
Yilport Holding, port management and logistics subsidiary of Yildirim Group had a ‘golden year’ due to the increase of its business and volumes growth. The worldwide terminals handled 6.41 million TEU containers in 2018, reporting 5% year-on-year volume development in comparison to 2017, that was led by its 10 container terminals in Turkey, Scandinavia, Iberia, and Latin America.
Pacific International Lines (PIL) has used an electronic Bill of Lading (e-BL) built on the IBM Blockchain Platform in a successful real-time pilot tracking shipment of mandarin oranges from China for the Lunar New Year celebrations. With the use of the e-BL, the trial has experienced a decrease in the administrative process of transferring the title deed from five to seven days to just one second.
ESPO has not taken a stance on whether the Consortia Block Exemption Regulation should expire or be prolonged, but stressed the need for more monitoring of the current situation, in particular as regards the impact on the market power balance and the benefits for the consumer.
According to Realogis, a real estate, consulting company, the Hamburg logistics market experienced a 9% increase, as all market participants amounted to 490.000 sqm, during year 2018, in comparison to 2017. This reflects the third-highest figure in the past five years, since in 2016 610.000 sqm were registered, whereas in 2015, 540.000 sqm registered.
According to the World Bank, the January 2019 edition ‘Darkening Skies’ focuses on the economic growth that has weakened, the trade tensions remain high, several developing economies have experienced financial stress, and risks to the outlook have increased. As the report stresses, emerging market and developing economies, EMDEs, face great challenges but are expected to remain flat in 2019.
