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“We do get various breakbulk – could be
anything from swimming pools to steel,
anything really. If we can get it on a ship,
we’ll take it.”
constantly keeping our ear to the ground
with what’s happening with the market.”
COASTAL SHIPPING
Domestic shipping has always been a
significant part of the ro-ro trade in
Australia, with significant trade going in
both directions.
Höegh’s Mr Wallis says the company
had always done coastal shipping from
east to west.
“We’ve had a lot of success and a lot
of support with that trade, and now
with the new service we’re also offering
coastal shipping coming from east to
west,” he says. “We’re offering it in both
directions now.”
WW does a roaring coastal trade as
well. “It’s been pretty good business –
we’ve been doing two, sometimes three
vessels east to west, it keeps us busy,”
Mr Johnson says.
“There is a lot of repositioning of
automotive equipment domestically;
we also get various breakbulk cargoes –
could be anything from swimming pools
to steel, anything really. If we can get it
on a ship, we’ll take it.”
BIOSECURITY
The mighty nuisance
that has been caused by that tiny, odious
insect known as the brown marmorated
stink bug has wreaked seasonal havoc on
supply chains, and the ro-ro sector is not
immune.
Mr Wallis confirms one of the major
biosecurity issues the sector faces is from
that malodorous bug, particularly in
cargo coming from the US and Europe.
“Last year it became an issue out of
Italy and therefore out of our European
load ports,” he says, “because it’s a cargo
origin, not a port origin issue”.
“We got through the season without
any real incident, which is great, and a lot
of vigilance from all of our booking staff,
operational staff, port captains, etc.”
However, Mr Wallis says when one
carrier has issues with biosecurity, it can
impact on all the other carriers in the
trade, pointing to a series of events this
past summer when vessels were blocked
from berthing at Auckland because of
stink-bug infestations.
“While we didn’t have anything
impacting on us directly, I think everyone
Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s Salome
in the trade felt some major issues around
transiting Auckland Port,” he says.
“The flow-on effects are still felt now,
with delays getting through Auckland,
because the bottleneck just moves
further up the supply chain with the
processers, the trucking companies, etc.”
With the Northern Hemisphere
summer just beginning to heat up, stinkbug
season is nearly upon us again.
Mr Wallis says Höegh has robust
procedures in place, and he is pleased
about how the company managed last
year’s stink-bug season.
“We’re eagerly awaiting the new
guidelines from the Department of
Agriculture so we can make sure we’re
compliant and ready to go,” he says.
THE FUTURE
Technological developments in vehicles
are progressing swiftly, around the
world, with electric and autonomous
vehicles shaping up to be the way of the
future. However, Mr Johnson explains
electric vehicles are looking slow on
Höegh Autoliners/Wallenius Wilhelmsen
36
First published in 1891
July 2018 thedcn.com.au