Headlines
US frets as China pushes to head IMO
“There is no question where Zhang Xiaojie the Chinese Candidate for the IMO secretary General position, will fall on any issue of import to Beijing.
“We have seen what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is capable of when awarded such a leadership position.
“As ICAO Secretary-General from 2015 to 2021, Chinese national Fang Liu undermined the mission and integrity of the organization.
“Specifically, she used her influence to block Taiwanese participation, undermine accountability, and conceal a Chinese cyber-attack on the ICAO that spread malware to member governments and private industry.
“This is only one example. Whenever Chinese nationals have led U.N. specialized agencies—whether at the International Telecommunication Union, the U.N. Industrial Development Organization, or the Food and Agriculture Organization—they have used their influence to benefit China in defiance of their responsibility to be neutral international civil servants.
“Now the CCP wants to do the same at the IMO, which sets standards for the safety, security, and environmental performance of international shipping.
“The agency also has a role in maritime-related legal matters such as compensation, liability, and facilitation of sea traffic.
“As was made clear at ICAO, China seeks leadership positions in U.N. organizations not from altruistic fidelity to their missions or to bolster their effectiveness, but to advance CCP policies and priorities. Over and over, when a Chinese national assumes a position of authority in the United Nations system, Beijing demands that they support and advance Chinese interests.
“So now that China has put forth a candidate to lead the IMO, we must ask why China wants this position and how it serves Beijing’s interests.
“Though the IMO operates in relative obscurity, its actions have a substantial, if indirect, impact on standards of living worldwide. More than 80 percent of global trade in goods is delivered by sea, meaning that every person benefits from safe, secure, and timely shipping.
“Beyond the consumer, the IMO also impacts national interests.
“The IMO has focused increasingly on combating air pollution and decarbonization related to shipping, including a “rapid shift from today’s predominant use of fossil fuels to zero-carbon alternatives,” and combatting illegal and unregulated fishing.
“The IMO also sets rules and standards that affect military maritime movement through key international waterways such as the Straits of Malacca and through strategic archipelagic sea lanes in Indonesia and the Philippines.
“China has a strong interest in these issues. When combined, China and Hong Kong rank first among the world’s nations in terms of ownership by commercial value and third in terms of shipping registries, so rules and regulations that require refitting or updates to vessels disproportionately impact China.
“Illegal and exploitative legal fishing by Chinese vessels, often held by state-owned enterprises, is extensive and conducted at an unprecedented scale. Historically, China has strongly objected when U.S. warships sail through the Taiwan Strait to enforce freedom of navigation principles.
“Beijing has an interest in shaping how the IMO will address these matters.
“China also has significant commercial and military interests in the South China Sea, over which it has claimed “indisputable sovereignty.”
“The IMO plays a critical role in setting the rules of the road through the South China Sea” the two scholars submitted.
However, in July, the 40 member states of the IMO Council will meet to elect the next Secretary-General.
The selection is then submitted for approval to all 175 member states later in 2023 and the new Secretary-General assumes office in 2024.
However, the maritime commentators believed that Zhang Xiaojie, tge Chinese Candidate, should be the greatest concern and worry for the US.
“Having been charged with advancing China’s interests in the IMO, he knows China’s agenda in the organization intimately.
The Margaret Thatcher Center scholars both claimed that Zhang Xiaojie will not have a free hand if elected as Secretary-General as he will be teleguided by his home government to advance Chinese interests through hiring and managerial decisions, just as Fang Liu did at the ICAO.
“China is already pressing countries to support Zhang Xiaojie diplomatically and, if past practice is any indication, offering economic incentives for support. Countering this push and ensuring that an alternative candidate becomes Secretary-General of the IMO will require the U.S. to apply its own pressure and work closely with allies” the maritime experts noted
Category (a) 10 States with the largest interest in providing international shipping services:
China, Greece, Italy, Japan, Norway, Panama, the Republic of Korea, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America.
Category (b) 10 States with the largest interest in international seaborne trade:
Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Arab Emirates.
Category (c) 20 States not elected under (a) or (b) above, which have special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world:
The Bahamas, Belgium, Chile, Cyprus, Denmark, Egypt, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Malta, Mexico, Morocco, the Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Türkiye and Vanuatu.
Customs
Customs launches manhunt for killers of officer in Katsina attacks
Headlines
New wave of car imports set to hit terminals as new vehicle- carriers come on line
An expected jump in the number of car-carrying ships is set to flood ports with vehicles, making congestion at terminals even worse, the head of the industry’s biggest shipping line has said.
Lasse Kristoffersen, chief executive of Wallenius Wilhelmsen, made the comments in an interview after the Financial Times reported that many European car import terminals had turned into congested “car parks” following a big surge in vehicle exports from China.
The situation would have been even more difficult if there had been enough capacity to ship all the vehicles that manufacturers wanted to, he said. “We’re not able to lift all the volumes that our customers want.”
Car shipping capacity has been flat for the past 10 years but the number of vehicles moved last year increased by 17 per cent on the previous year, filling nearly all the available ships.
In response, operators have placed orders for 198 new ships that are due to arrive by the end of 2027, according to maritime consultancy MSI. These deliveries will increase capacity by 42 per cent.
Kristoffersen said it was unlikely terminal operators would increase port capacity at the same rate and that as a result, congestion at ports would worsen. “We think the next big bottleneck will be terminals and distribution.”
His comments come in the week that MSC, the world’s biggest container shipping line, announced its first sizeable investment in the car carrier sector, with a NKr7.64bn ($693mn) cash offer for Gram Car Carriers, an Oslo-listed owner of 18 car carriers leased to other operators.
‘The Red Sea situation materialised — 5% of our capacity disappeared overnight” said Lasse Kristoffersen: ’
Wallenius Wilhelmsen, meanwhile, is trying to avoid the congestion by investing in its own dedicated terminals.
Car-carrier companies operate a total of 776 ships for cars, trucks and other roll-on, roll-off cargo such as agricultural machinery. Wallenius Wilhelmsen operates 128 of the distinctive, boxlike ships.
The problems in ports had been exacerbated, Kristoffersen said, by changes in carmakers’ distribution systems. Many new manufacturers do not have traditional dealer networks, he pointed out. Some — including Polestar, an electric vehicle brand owned by Volvo Cars — had Wallenius Wilhelmsen handle their distribution, he said.
“When we get a Polestar at our terminal in Belgium, we’re the ones checking that car, making it ready to be delivered to a customer,” Kristoffersen said.
The trend had contributed to the build-up of vehicles in ports, he added, with some being prepared there for delivery to customers.
Kristoffersen also pointed out that the industry was feeling the effects of the volatile geopolitical environment.
From the end of last year, many car-carrier operators were forced to divert sailing between Asia and Europe to a longer route around the Cape of Good Hope, to avoid terror attacks in the Red Sea by Houthi militants. Because this has lengthened many journeys, the diversions have cut the number of vehicles shipped this year.
“The Red Sea situation materialised — 5 per cent of our capacity disappeared overnight,” Kristoffersen said.
He also expressed concern about the risks of sailing through the Strait of Hormuz after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards seized the MSC Aries, a large container ship, on April 13. Vessels have to pass through the strait to reach Gulf ports such as Dubai.
These ports have grown busier in recent months as Saudi Arabia’s main port at Jeddah, on the Red Sea, has become harder to serve.
“Whatever happens off Yemen and in the Strait of Hormuz is a big challenge for our ability to deliver,” Kristoffersen said.
Headlines
Maersk denies $600 investment claim in Nigeria
However, Maersk said such a claim appeared to be news to the company.
A $600m investment into Nigeria’s port sector from Maersk, announced personally by the West African state’s president Bola Tinubu on Sunday, appears to be less solid than the government initially claimed.
Despite a presidential statement from Tinubu detailing how he had secured the purported investment during a World Economic Forum meeting in Riyadh over the weekend, Maersk officials have confirmed that no such agreement is in place and no deals have been signed.
The Nigerian government statement detailed how A.P Moller-Maersk chairman, Robert Maersk Uggla, had discussed the investment with President Tinubu on the sidelines of a meeting discussing energy development and growth.
But according to Maersk, that deal does not exist.
Accordingthe report by Lloyd’s List, Maersk officials said while Uggla did meet the president, no such deal had been signed.
“Maersk has been present in Nigeria for 35 years and, as a global provider of logistics services, we remain committed to developing opportunities for growth to people, the port sector and businesses locally,” the company said in a statement to Lloyd’s List.
“Therefore, it is natural to have an ongoing dialogue with the administration. However, we are not able to comment on any investment talks.”
Maersk is due to report first-quarter results on Thursday, meaning that management is in a regulatory quiet period limiting what they can say publicly about the company’s activities.
Nigeria has promised to revamp its ports, including in the commercial capital Lagos, to ease congestion.
Tinubu’s statement explained that his government would support the modernisation and automation of its ports to improve trade, reduce corruption and boost efficiency. He claimed that the purported Maersk investment would “complement the administration’s ongoing $1bn investment in seaport reconstruction across the eastern and western seaports of Nigeria”.
“A bet on Nigeria is a winning bet. It is also a bet that rewards beyond what is obtainable elsewhere,” he said. “We need to encourage more opportunities for revenue expansion and minimise trans-shipments from larger ships to smaller ships.”
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