WCN Dec Front page - WorldCargo News Online

CONTAINER INDUSTRY NEWSThree more box plants in ChinaSingamas Container Holdings has formallyopened its latest dry freight containermanufacturing facility - Qingdao PacificContainer Co (QPCC) - its eighth containerplant in China and ninth in total.Located in the Huangdao district ofQingdao, close to the Huangdao containerport, the new facility is a joint venture betweenSingamas (55 per cent) and foreigntrade company Hiking Group (45 per cent).Total investment is put at US$13 mill.With a two shift capacity of 100,000TEU/year, QPCC is scheduled to commencefull scale operations on 1 January2004, boosting the Singamas Group’soverall annual capacity to 640,000 TEU.Singamas has also increased its stakein Shunde Shun An Da Pacific ContainerCo (SSPC) to 70 per cent after buyingan additional 10 per cent equity interestfrom SSCMC Transportation CompanyLtd last month at a cost of US$1.8 mill.Capacity at SSCMC is claimed be200,000 TEU/year on three lines.Meanwhile it has emerged that at leasttwo more new dry freight facilities will startoperations in China next year. US-basedChang Sheng Trading, which already hasinterests in Suzhou Asia Container International(SACI) and Lianyungang AsiaContainer International (LACI) has confirmedthat it is setting up a new 100,000TEU/year facility near Taicang port betweenShanghai and Suzhou. To be knownas Taicang Asia Container International(TACI), the new facility is due to open inthe third quarter of next year.Elsewhere, China International MarineContainers (CIMC) already theworld’s largest box builder with a marketshare approaching 50 per cent, will opena new 80,000 TEU/year facility inNingbo in March 2004, boosting its totalannual dry freight capacity to over 1.7mill TEU. The new facility is located inthe Ningbo Export Processing Zone, just8 km from the Port of Ningbo.A major capacity expansion is also reportedto be underway at CIMC’sNantong Smooth Sail facility, which hasbeen closed for two months while thework is undertaken.● Discussions are under way concerningthe relocation of Kwangchow ShipyardContainer Factory (KSCF), China’s oldestcontainer plant, which was forced tohalt container production on September19 due to “environmental reasons.”Carrier Transicold has announced thatproduction of container refrigerationmachinery and compressors at the company’smain plant in Syracuse, New York,will cease with effect from June 2004.According to the company, the move willresult in the loss of around 1200 jobs.Carrier director of marketing DavidDinh confirmed at last month’sIntermodal Transport & Logistics 2003exhibition in Rotterdam that future demandfor reefer machinery will be metby the company’s existing operation inSingapore. A new, larger facility close tothe former SeaCold Technologies plant,which Carrier acquired from Sea Con-WorldCargonewsCarrier on the movetainers in 1993, is being fitted out toaccommodate the increase in productioncapacity that the move entails.“Global container manufacturinghas become Asian-focused, with thebulk of our container refrigeration unitsbeing shipped to box builders in Asia.This move brings us nearer to the hubof container manufacturing,” Dinh said.The company’s future compressorrequirements will be met from existingmanufacturing facilities in Georgiaand China, while a number of sitesin North America are under considerationto take over the production ofCarrier’s genset range.Breakthroughfor DaikinJapanese reefer container machinerymanufacturer Daikin Industries has madea major breakthrough with the securingof an order for 3000 units from MaerskSealand, the first time the Danish operatorhas bought Daikin equipment.TheLXE10E single scroll/R134a units arescheduled for delivery in January.This latest order caps a strong returnto the market for the Japanese manufacturerfollowing the launch of the LXE10Edesign at the end of 2001. According tothe company, sales topped 10,000 unitsin 2002 and around 12,000 units will bedelivered this year.Besides the major Japanese carriers,recent customers have included MISC,PIL, Royal Arctic Lines and P&ONedlloyd. The latter has bought 4500Daikin units this year after taking 2000units on long term lease from Interpoolin 2002.David Marjoram, formerly generalmanager (technical) for P&O Nedlloyd’sInternational Container Management(ICM) division, recently joined Japanesetrading house Itochu, the global sales andmarketing agent for Daikin equipment,as general manager of the refrigerationbusiness unit of Itochu Europe plc, basedin London.DVB targetscontainersEvidence that the container shippingbusiness remains an attractive propositionfor the financial community comes withthe news that DVB Bank AG, the Frankfurt-basedbank, which specialises in transportfinance, has formed a Container FinanceUnit specifically designed to providefinancial services to the global containerindustry.The new unit will focus on the provisionof a full range of financial servicesto container leasing companies and shippinglines, including acting as arranger andunderwriter of lending products (rangingfrom equity to senior secured debt),cross border tax leases and advice in respectof financial restructuring and mergersand acquisitions.Eric Snellen, who has held variouspositions in Europe and Asia with theING Banking group over a period of 12years, most recently as managing directorof structured finance transport and logisticsin London, has been appointed headof the DVB Container Finance Unit. Hebrings with him a wealth of experiencein international transport finance, particularlyin terms of advising, structuring andarranging clients’ capital requirements inthe shipping, aviation and rail markets.December 2003 13