Editorial
It's Thursday the 22nd of February, last week was quiet in many parts of Asia, mainly due to the festivities in connection with the Chinese New Year.
China is expanding its reach and influence, especially by way of "soft power" which includes trading, buying up companies at an unprecedented rate and making formerly brands formerly known as western into Chinese controlled companies. One example is the Swedish carmaker Volvo which Chinese the company Geely now holds a majority stake in. There was a lot of anxiety before Geely took over, however, every cloud has its silver lining and most of us now must admit that the Volvo car has shed its previous socialist container box image and is now more "sexy" than ever, and can indeed compete head-on with famous German brands. Volvo is now made by Sweden, not IN Sweden. In many countries including the US, Chinese money is buying influence and taking over businesses.
Shipping is no exception, with COSCO growing at an exceptional pace, having joined forces with China Shipping and are poised to take over OOCL soon. We can only hope that arrogance remains in check as the size grows and that good customer service continues to be one of their key goals. I worked as an agent of COSCO originally in 1984, so witnessing such impressive development in less than 35 years has been amazing. In the good ol' days, I recall seeing one of the first breakbulk vessels "Wangjiang" with a couple of containers on deck arriving in Europe. Those were happy days for Claus Rickmers KG who was the sole representative of Sinotrans, Cosco, etc.
The car industry, oil & gas, and shipping pretty much epitomize development around the world, it's scary to think that the US today has no sizeable commercial fleet of its own and that nearly all of its import/export is carried by foreign flag vessels.
SeaLand is a name of the past, APL is no-longer US owned and only a few regional US flag carriers remain, with Intermarine being the one exception. Oil & gas pretty much seems to be in the hands of a few Arab countries. The Chinese are investing heavily in this region, especially in Iran. I can recommend an interesting book about energy written by Mr. Moty Kuperberg of DSS in Israel. Available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/1941905161
Business wise has a great newsletter in store for you today. We start off in the Black Sea talking with a Romanian based feeder operator on the Danube/Donau river, we then speak to a law firm based in Odessa amidst the murky surroundings of some countries around the Black Sea. In the shipping industry having legal contacts is paramount. For our final interview of the week, we head west across the Atlantic to New Jersey to speak to a versatile freight forwarder with solid experience, including with inland transport in the US.
Wishing you a good read and until next time I remain...
Yours sincerely, Bo H. Drewsen
bo.drewsen@projectcargo-weekly.com
www.projectcargo-weekly.com
|