DCN May Edition 2019

CONTAINER SHIPPING & LOGISTICS
JOINT PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS DIGITAL EVOLUTION IN CONTAINER SHIPPING
Container shipping giants A.P Moller-
Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, MSC and Ocean
Network Express recently teamed-up to
establish the Digital Container Shipping
Association in The Netherlands.
To be led by Thomas Bagge, the
association is to drive standardisation,
digitisation and interoperability across the
industry. Following regulatory approval
from the Federal Maritime Commission,
the DCSA was officially launched on
12 April.
“For the first time in 20 years, the
container shipping industry has come
together with a common goal to move
the industry into the digital era,” Andre
Simha, chief intelligence officer of MSC
and chairman of the supervisory board of
DCSA said.
“With the regulatory approval in place,
we look forward for the association to
take up work and to begin to collaborate
with multiple stakeholders from the entire
value chain.”
It is expected the concept will help
overcome some of the “biggest painpoints”
in the industry and one of the first
projects of the association is overcoming
the lack of a common foundation for
technical interfaces and data. The
association is also creating an industry
blueprint for processes. This work is
expected to benefit the entire industry, as
all standards are made available for free.
The association has no intent to
develop or operate a digital platform and
is not working on topics of a commercial
or competitive nature.
“We are pleased to have with Thomas
Bagge the first one of a strong leadership
team in place, who is supported by
all of the founding members and
represents container shipping at its
best,” Mr Simha said.
The association’s headquarters
are to be located in Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
“DCSA is working for the benefit of
the entire container shipping industry,
hence it was important for us that the
headquarters is located on neutral
grounds, so no specific stakeholders or
companies are favoured,” Mr Simha said.
DCSA is already in discussions with
other container shipping lines that have
expressed an interested in joining the
association.
FACT BOX
“From our point of view, it is about supplying our customers
with what they’re telling us they want.
“We’ve done a lot of enquiry about additional capacity in and
out of the port on rail.”
INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS
Also looking to enhance container handling capacity are
Intermodal Group and Qube Logistics who have done a deal, again
in the WA market.
IMG is currently the operator of North Quay Rail Terminal
and manages the inland Forrestfield Intermodal Terminal, where
significant volumes of containers are transported on rail to and
from Fremantle.
IMG chair Grant Thompson said the deal made sense.
“This strategic partnership with Qube is all about bringing
onboard an astute investor with strong industry expertise that will
bring considerable container volumes onto rail and assist with IMG
plans to expand services and terminals to meet growing demand in
WA,” Mr Thompson said.
“We have worked closely with our customers and key
stakeholders to achieve record growth in container numbers
through the NQRT over the past 12 months and having Qube on
board only strengthens IMG’s capability.”
KENWICK INTERMODAL TERMINAL
•
Direct freight line to the North Quay Rail Terminal at
Fremantle
• Access to the interstate mainline corridor
•
Aims to provide exporters and importers throughout WA
with an efficient supply chain
•
Direct RAV 7 truck access from Roe and Tonkin Highway
through to the Roe Highway Logistics Park, connecting
metro and regional business areas to a port rail shuttle
service and an empty container park service
Qube director logistics John Digney said partnering with IMG
was “the obvious choice for us in WA”.
“IMG have a well established and successful business model and
with Qube’s market share of container volumes and supply chain
expertise, the company will grow rapidly and importantly enable
the state government to better manage container freight in and
out of Fremantle Port by moving more containers on rail,” Mr
Digney said.
“We are looking forward to being part of IMG and as with
elsewhere in Australia, rail being a core part of our business model
for many years to come.”
With the NQRT Management Agreement currently being
tendered out by Fremantle Ports, this partnership is aimed at
strengthening existing plans to significantly grow rail volumes and
enable improved operating efficiencies at NQRT in order to reduce
costs and increase volumes between the container wharves and the
rail terminal.
“Furthermore, the proposed development and investment
in inland intermodal terminals to attract greater volumes of
containers onto rail remains a high priority,” Mr Digney said.
IMG plans to work closely with customers, industry and
government stakeholders to facilitate investment to drive greater
volumes onto rail and through NQRT.
“Providing our customers with reliable, quality service is the key
to maintaining momentum with the growth of container volumes
on rail,” Mr Thompson said.
“IMG brings the experience of successfully operating NQRT as
an open access terminal for the past 10 years,” he said.
“We strongly believe continuity in operations at NQRT,
improved wharf interfaces, continued support from the state
government and the development of appropriate inland intermodal
facilities to attract container volumes onto rail underpins the
ultimate success of this strategy.”
INLAND RAIL
The completion of the 1700-kilometre Inland Railway, linking
Brisbane and Melbourne, is expected to increase the role of
Andrew Linturn and ironmedia.com.au
46 May 2019
thedcn.com.au