Porti & ambiente — le notizie raccolte

Well, it’s quite the conundrum Zim’s shareholders now find themselves in, after the Israeli shipping line yesterday received a $4.5bn unsolicited takeover bid from an investment fund headed by local businessman Haim Sakal. However, last week 97.3% of company’s shareholders voted to approve Hapag-Lloyd and FIMI’s $4.2bn offer, according to a Zim SEC filing, in which it added that the agreement was now “binding” on all parties. And following the news of Mr Sakal’s offer, the Zim board last night issued a statement which said that its “board of directors re-confirmed that following the approval of Zim’s shareholders at the 30 April shareholders’ meeting, the merger agreement with Hapag-Lloyd is binding on the parties”. The board added that it “reaffirmed that it continues to support the merger transaction with Hapag-Lloyd, and that the parties continue to engage with the applicable regulatory authorities, including the state of Israel, in order to satisfy the regulatory conditions under the agreement and consummate the transaction”. The two key differences in the bids are price and promise: the new offer is some $300m higher; and the Sakal-led consortium is also promising $250m for Zim’s employees – which has understandably delighted the labour unions that had generally opposed the sale to Hapag-Lloyd/FIMI. Additionally, whereas the Hapag-Lloyd/FIMI proposal will effectively carve up Zim into a domestic Israeli business controlled by FIMI, while the international operations – and vessels – will be folded into Hapag-Lloyd’s fleet, the Sakal offer promises to keep the entirety of Zim in Israel. According to Israeli news outletYnet, which first reported the Sakal offer yesterday, the Israeli government has “yet to take a position on the deal”. Under Zim’s current charter, the government holds a “Golden Share” in the carrier, via its Government Companies Authority, and the emergence of the Sakal offer is likely to change the environment within which it makes this decision. Either way, Hapag-Lloyd and FIMI had two hurdles to surmount before completing – shareholder approval and regulatory approval. One has been achieved, the second, however, is now probably more open to question than it was a couple of days ago.

Ascolta la versione audio dell'articolo 3' di lettura English Version Translated by AI. For feedback, please contact english@ilsole24ore.com I più colpiti dal blocco dello stretto di Hormuz non saranno i trasporti aerei, rimasti senza cherosene, o gli automobilisti senza benzina, ma gli agricoltori senza fertilizzanti. Tanto che l’Onu ha previsto 45 milioni di persone in più destinate a soffrire la fame (due terzi delle quali in Africa), se il blocco si protrarrà per tutto il primo semestre dell’anno. Questo porterà a 363 milioni le persone che si troveranno in una situazione di grave insicurezza alimentare nel 2026. Loading... La dipendenza dalle fonti fossili L’agricoltura moderna, infatti, è completamente dipendente dalle fonti fossili, all’origine di tre nutrienti fondamentali: azoto, fosforo e potassio. I fertilizzanti azotati, come l’ammoniaca e l’urea, vengono prodotti a partire dal gas naturale. Il fosforo, a sua volta, deriva dallo zolfo, un sottoprodotto della raffinazione del petrolio e del gas. Il cinquanta per cento del commercio marittimo mondiale di zolfo transita attraverso Hormuz e secondo la Commodities Research Unit, società di consulenza sulle materie prime, anche il 43% del commercio globale di urea è a rischio a causa del blocco dello stretto. L’India, che importa l’80% della sua ammoniaca e il 40% dell’urea dai Paesi del Golfo, potrebbe essere la prima a soffrirne. A soli due mesi dall’inizio della semina del riso, il panico si sta già diffondendo fra i contadini del Punjab. Gli australiani semineranno subito dopo. Lì, i prezzi dell’urea proveniente dal Golfo sono aumentati di oltre il 50% nelle ultime settimane. Ma anche negli Stati Uniti e in Brasile il blocco sta cominciando a farsi sentire, se non altro per l’aumento stratosferico dei prezzi. In Europa, almeno uno stabilimento di fertilizzanti in Slovacchia ha già fermato la produzione per carenza di materia prima. E altre chiusure seguiranno. Il ruolo delle monarchie del Golfo Prima degli anni Cinquanta del secolo scorso, gli agricoltori si affidavano agli apporti organici di letame e compost per mantenere il suolo fertile, ma con l’arrivo della Green Revolution sono passati ai fertilizzanti industriali, in particolare prodotti a base di azoto come l’urea e il nitrato di ammonio. Questo ha determinato un crescente legame fra la produzione alimentare mondiale e la fornitura di idrocarburi. Da qui il ruolo sempre più centrale delle monarchie del Golfo, come l’Arabia Saudita, il Qatar e gli Emirati Arabi Uniti, nell’economia alimentare globale: gli Stati del Golfo influenzano direttamente la produzione e la circolazione degli alimenti, fornendo input chimici fondamentali, esportando grandi volumi di fertilizzanti finiti e controllando i corridoi logistici attraverso i quali i prodotti alimentari e agricoli si spostano.

President Trump’s strained relationship with local and state politicians may have been a factor in the Federal Aviation Authority’s (FAA) recent decision to reduce the number of flights into one of the country’s busiest gateways. The aviation authority announced last month that Chicago O’Hare is to lose some 10% of its services– carriers told to reduce daily flights to some 2,700 from a high of 3,000 peak-day movements. Local sources toldThe Loadstarthe FAA’s decision could have been motivated by the president’s ongoing feud with Illinois governor JB Pritzker and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, whom, he said on social media, “should be in jail for failing to protect ICE officers!”. One source familiar with the decision-making pointed out that the airport had invested heavily in a modernisation plan that allowed it to operate three runways simultaneously, and that even in bad weather it was still capable of operating two. They claimed the FAA’s decision was “political”, and a consequence of Chicago and Illinois – both stood up to last year’s chaotic ICE enforcement programme as well as other Trump administration measures – being in “Trump’s crosshairs”. One source toldThe Loadstarthat even with the cuts, they did not expect any impact on international capacity as it would be domestic services facing the axe, but warned that those moving small packages, ecommerce, and mail would come under pressure. “Without more information from federal government about what’s driving this – either an insufficient number of air traffic controllers, construction of terminals underway and overdue, or something else – it doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense,” they said. “With carriers continuing to see strong demand and having to make decisions on the fly with regard to jet fuel prices, it deprives shippers and travellers of options,” they said, further adding to speculation over the FAA’s motivation. However,it is widely felt that the FAA’s decision was also motivated to rein in the rapid expansion of United Airlines and American Airlines, which has been dubbed a “capacity race”, with both carriers welcoming the move. But forwarders certainly have not: executive director of the US Airforwarders Association Brandon Fried calling it the result “of years of under-investment in infrastructure and failure to adequately staff air traffic control”. “When demand outpaces what the system can safely handle, the result is disruption, reduced capacity, and higher costs that ripple across the supply chain,” Mr Fried added, warning that constraints in cargo were likely, with time-sensitive shipments under threat. For its part, the FAA said the decision to push back the introduction of the cap was to “give operators sufficient time to modify their schedules due to certain crew scheduling already assigned for the summer 2026 scheduling season”.

Strong volume growth in ocean, alongside sharply lower rates, points to a trade-off by Maersk that appeared to prioritise utilisation and network efficiency over margins. Maersk’s first-quarter performance saw ocean volumes up 9.3% year on year, to 3.2m teu, while vessels ran at 96% utilisation. But this came as average freight rates fell 14%, to $2,081 per 40ft, driving the division to an EBIT loss of $192m, compared with a $743m profit a year earlier. The combination – along with anecdotal evidence from forwarders – suggests Maersk has leaned into market share gains, particularly on the key east-west trades, where volume growth of 9.2% was driven by strong Asian exports. During today’s earnings call, chief executive Vincent Clerc acknowledged the imbalance, noting the quarter was marked by “strong volume growth… against… materially lower earnings in ocean driven by deteriorating rates as a result of industry oversupply”. In effect, the carrier is using its scale and network, including the Gemini Cooperation, to optimise asset utilisation and reduce unit costs, at the expense of near-term margins. Mr Clerc explained that Maersk had delivered “a six percentage point overperformance on volume growth versus fleet growth… allowing us to increase our asset turn and bring down our unit cost”. Group revenue fell 2.6%, to $13bn, while EBIT dropped sharply, to $340m, from $1.25bn, largely reflecting the downturn in ocean profitability. While the outbreak of the Middle East conflict late in the quarter has driven disruption across global supply chains, Maersk said the financial impact on Q1 had been limited due to timing effects, with higher costs and rates yet to be fully recognised in earnings. However, the carrier indicated the impact would become more visible from the second quarter, as higher fuel costs and longer routing patterns begin to flow through the P&L. Maersk’s Logistics & Services division, which includes forwarding, continued to deliver steady growth and improving margins. Revenue rose 8.7%, to $3.8bn, while EBIT increased 22%, to $173m, lifting margins to 4.6% and marking the eighth consecutive quarter of year-on-year margin improvement. Forwarding-related activities were a key contributor, with “Transported by Maersk” revenue up 10%, and first-mile volumes up 9.3%, while air freight volumes surged 20% year on year, to 82,000 tonnes. The growth in air cargo reflects continued strength in high-value and time-sensitive flows, particularly from Asia, alongside demand linked to AI-related goods, but Maersk noted transatlantic charter activity was its key driver. Mr Clerc said the division was “growing, and… growing profitably”, adding that improvements were “especially [in] air freight and middle-mile, with higher year-on-year margins in both”. Maersk said margin gains were driven by productivity improvements, tighter revenue management, and a more favourable product mix, particularly in air and middle-mile services, underlining its push to build a more resilient earnings base, beyond ocean freight. The wider air freight market was estimated to have grown between 3.5% and 5.5% year on year in Q1, again driven by exports from Asia, it said. However, rates remained under pressure, averaging $2.10/kg, down 1.5% year on year, although they strengthened towards the end of March. While lower bunker costs helped offset some of the rate pressure in Q1, Maersk indicated that this dynamic was reversing, with fuel costs rising sharply towards the end of the quarter. Q1 bunker costs were down 15% YoY, with price down 16% and consumption down 5.3%. The group said energy market disruption, including tighter bunker availability and rising oil prices, was already increasing cost pressures, with the full impact expected to be felt in coming quarters. The outlook remains finely balanced: while demand has so far been resilient, supported by strong Asian exports, Maersk warned that the combination of industry overcapacity and rising cost pressures could weigh on profitability if market conditions softened later in the year.

’To do nothing is the hardest job of all.’ (Remember that) The good news first. There’s plenty. As disclosed today further down the cash flow statements, in the first quarter (Q1 26) – which, make no mistake, was always meant to be underwhelming to a great extent – AP Møller-Mærsk (APMM) generated $1bn of operating cash flow. (Sound, operationally, despite falling freight rates: -14% on average year on year) Revenues were little changed, down to nearly $13bn in the three months to 31 March, from ...

“Good afternoon, Gavin,” GXO’s comms chief said as we began a post-earnings call interview with chief executive Patrick Kelleher (pictured below). “It’s been a slow week in supply chain news. Nothing has happened – nothing at all happened on Monday! I’m joking, right?” Exactly. He was referring, of course, to the unveiling of Amazon Supply Chain Services at the start of the week, which prompted a -17.7% drop in GXO’s share price on Monday (more under ’GXO’ on DeskOne), and despite the company ...

Growing industry attention around the hub-and-spoke logistics model, instrumental in shaping the Gemini Cooperation between Maersk and Hapag-Lloyd, seems to be encouraging other main container lines to invest in multimodal logistics hub projects in India. Multimodal cluster development, enabling shippers and freight service providers to switch from a point-to-point transport system to an integrated logistics model, was a priority for Indian policymakers trying to tighten logistics costs. The government’s latest annual budget announcement has approved setting up 35 multimodal logistics parks across the country, with five new mega-multimodal logistics hubs in the pipeline – sites identified at Dadri (near Delhi), Jogighopa (Assam), Nagpur (Maharashtra), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), and Bengaluru (Karnataka). Among them, the Dadri project is stoking deep interest among investors because of its high freight potential and dedicated rail access to the western gateways of Mundra and Nhava Sheva (JNPA). According to industry sources, several leading container lines are considering placing bids to secure development rights for the Dadri project, individually or through joint-venture arrangements, and early indications are that CMA CGM, Maersk, and MSC are in the fray, with the tender deadline in the second half of this month. The project is designed to cover some 825 acres, with phase 1 development estimated to cost about $250m, according to available information. “It is positioned near the intersection of the eastern and western dedicated freight corridors,” the project document notes. “It aims to serve export-driven industries in Western UP by reducing transit time to JNPT, improving logistics efficiency, and enhancing the region’s appeal as a global investment and industrial destination.” JNPA recently had final trial train runs over the dedicated freight corridor, a 1,500km connector, prior to commercial operations, which trade sources believe could become a game-changing experience for hinterland shippers using the port. From a broader perspective, the mega-hub scheme forms part of the government’s long-contemplated Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor, which aims to boost industrial activity. Some of the leading Indian conglomerates, including Adani Group, Welspun World and GR Infraprojects, are also reportedly keen on participating in the Dadri project. A significant portion of volumes shipped via Mundra and Nhava Sheva has its roots in northern Indian hinterlands, so carriers expect strong green shoots of demand at Dadri. Major lines, CMA CGM in particular, have been increasingly seeking to shore up their inland network strengths in India, with warehousing depot operations a major focus, to support end-to-end, integrated logistics solutions for shippers. With accelerated reforms and supply chain infrastructure modernisation, government estimates claim there has been a marked improvement in logistics costs for Indian exporters/importers, dropping to an estimated 7.97% of GDP in 2023-24.