Porti & ambiente — le notizie raccolte

Delegates at this week’s Container Supply Chain conference in Hamburg were reminded of the importance of inserting clauses into long-term contracts that would help them navigate periods of increasing geopolitical instability. Keith Gaskin, MD of SHIFTX UK, a cooperative of small-to-medium-sized shippers that negotiate with carriers collectively, explained how he had negotiated a clause in contracts that would allow shippers to renegotiate the agreed rate if the spot market “fell through the floor”. “We were in Asia in October and November, doing our annual contracting, and there was a lot of talk about Suez reopening, and we knew what was going to happen if it did – there would be overcapacity, and we all know what what the impact of that would be. “So, one of the things we discussed was not a Suez clause, as such, but if the underlying market dropped considerably, we could have re-entry into negotiations with the carriers if there was an underlying huge drop in the rates. It wasn’t as strictly a Suez clause, it was just on the underlying rate value,” he said. The usual tactic for carriers facing sudden declines in pricing is to reduce capacity, with blanked sailings typically the first resort. HFW partner Matthew Gore told delegates that shippers could also protect themselves against these sorts of disruptions. “It’s not only the blanked sailings, but there are other instances, such as landing containers in ports where they weren’t supposed to be; so generally we encourage shippers to build provisions into their contracts which give solid undertakings and commitments from the carriers of what they will do if there is a blanked sailing,” he said. “Again, it depends how you define that, but it could be a delayed sailing, a sliding, but you need to get a solid commitment from the carrier in terms of when that container will go if it’s rolled over because of a space issue – you want a solid commitment from the carrier of which ship it’s going to go on. “Is it getting on the next ship? Is it going to go on the next fastest one? You want to get your cargo from A to B, and you want to get it from A to B reliably, so it’s getting these things built into the contracts to make sure that you’re not stuck with your cargo still at origin when it should be on the sea or at destination,” he added. However, he also warned shippers that drawing up contracts could be a hugely protracted process. “One of the things we find is the sheer amount of time and effort it can actually take to actually get a contract together. We encourage clients to work across legal procurement and logistics to get input from all of those, so all of their interests are effectively covered within the contract, but then the amount of time it will take as part of the tender process that the big shipper puts out, then for the carriers to engage to feedback for their negotiations to happen. “This is often really underestimated, to the extent where we’ve seen contract negotiations going on for longer than a year, and effectively it means that the cargo is still moving, the rates are probably being honoured, but there is no effectively contract in place to govern this. “So if either party decided to kind-of go back on their obligations, you can’t actually point to the contract and say, ‘well, this is what we’ve agreed’, because the negotiations are still ongoing. Underestimating how long it can take to get these contracts in place is one of the biggest mistakes many shippers make,” he said.

Abbandonata da tempo la pista Zim, Msc sarebbe direttamente sulle tracce della compagnia che ne sta trattando l’acquisto. Secondo il giornale tedesco Magazin Manager, infatti, il gruppo elvetico fondato da Gianluigi Aponte e oggi guidato dai figli, avrebbe messo gli occhi sulla principale società di trasporti marittimi di container della Germania, Hapag-Lloyd. Msc vorrebbe entrare nel capitale del rivale tedesco e acquisirne la maggioranza nel lungo periodo, portando sotto il proprio controllo il numero cinque del settore, secondo “fonti interne” ad Hapag citate dalla rivista connazionale. Aponte starebbe sondando da tempo i principali azionisti di Hapag-Lloyd e non intenderebbe rinunciare alle proprie ambizioni nonostante i ripetuti rifiuti. Un portavoce di Hapag-Lloyd ha preferito non commentare la notizia. L’azienda di Amburgo è protetta da un patto tra i soci di riferimento. L’imprenditore della logistica Klaus-Michael Kühne e la compagnia di navigazione cilena Csav detengono ciascuno il 30% del capitale. Secondo la rivista, un accordo vincola entrambe le parti a mantenere l’investimento e a esprimersi con un’unica voce. Il patto, la cui scadenza originale era prevista per il 2026, è stato prorogato fino alla fine del 2030. Ad alimentare le speranze di Aponte potrebbero essere i cambiamenti in corso presso l’azionista cileno. All’interno di Quiñenco, la holding che controlla Csav, i rapporti di forza sono infatti mutati. Francisco Pérez Mackenna, storico capo dell’azienda, si è dimesso a febbraio per diventare Ministro degli Esteri del Paese. Il suo successore, Macario Valdés Raczynski, descritto come un uomo molto attento ai numeri, non avrebbe lo stesso legame affettivo con il settore marittimo. Inoltre, il protettore storico della divisione, il patriarca di Quiñenco Andrónico Luksic Craig, si è ormai ritirato lasciando il campo ai membri più giovani della famiglia. Con un’offerta d’acquisto allettante, Aponte potrebbe spingere il nuovo vertice aziendale a riconsiderare la quota in Hapag-Lloyd. Qualora i cileni cedessero, anche i grandi azionisti arabi del Qatar e dell’Arabia Saudita potrebbero essere disposti a vendere. Insieme, questi ultimi detengono il 22,5% di Hapag-Lloyd. “Questa notizia non è vera né corretta” ha però dichiarato a Reuters un addetto stampa di Msc, mentre una fonte di Hapag-Lloyd ha liquidato l’articolo tedesco come “pura speculazione”. ISCRIVITI ALLA NEWSLETTER QUOTIDIANA GRATUITA DI SHIPPING ITALY SHIPPING ITALY E’ ANCHE SU WHATSAPP: BASTA CLICCARE QUI PER ISCRIVERSI AL CANALE ED ESSERE SEMPRE AGGIORNATI