Page 53: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2012)

December 2012www.marinelink.com 53?kanpie?Having Grossed 200 MT ClassNK focuses on the Indian subcontinent Having reached a new milestone ClassNK is repositioning itself to expand its opera- tions not only in India but the entire sub- continent Not wanting to rest on his laurels after ClassNK having outstripped the 200 million gross tons figure by the end of August 2012, Noboru Ueda, Chairman and Pres- ident of the society has already embarked on a staunch strategy. ?We want to seize this opportunity to manifest our three basic goals for our society,? he says. ?We want to create a stable foundation in order to respond to changes in the market environment. Besides, we will maintain ClassNK?s position as the world?s leading classification society and expand our share of the classification market. We hope to undertake this by taking a more proactive approach to new oppor- tunities?. He considers India a niche market where they already have a full-fledged op- erational office in Mumbai, two sub-offices and three survey offices in the rest of the country. The total Indian flag gross tonnage is nearing 12 million GT. ?But when it comes to expansion ClassNK focus is not just India but the whole South East region including Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and other countries,? he says. ?We are planning to upgrade our Cochin office shortly. We have a long relationship with ABG Shipyard in India. The scope and extent of ClassNK survey and inspection services is increasing. Not only are more ships being built there, but the shipyard is more and more appreciative of our high quality services. According to IHS Fairplay data, ClassNK is not only the leading classification society for bulk carriers with nearly three times as many bulk car- riers on it register as the next International Association of Classification Soci- eties (IACS) member society, but is also the leading class society in IACS for tankers and second for container carriers in terms of ship numbers. In addition to newly built vessels, the large number of vessels transferred from other classification societies has propelled ClassNK?s rapid growth in recent years, and ClassNK remains dedicated to continual improvement of its services to maintain the strong support and trust it has earned from the maritime in- dustry. In India the Society has entered into a few joint ventures. ClassNK has part- nered IRS in several research and development projects. It has developed sev- eral technical software tools for in-house use as well as for the industry. Under this joint venture it has developed guides for the the master of the ship as well as the personnel on-board regarding the condition of the ship in real time, and how to manage the safety of the ship in case of grounding and other emergen- cies. Besides, it advises on how to mitigate the damage caused in an accident. It also indicates the current condition of the hull, so that repairs / renewals can be carried out in the most efficient manner Recently ClassNK was the recipient of The Lloyd's List Middle East & Indian Subcontinent Awards. This was in acknowledgment of its operations in the Indian subcontinent including survey operations at shipyards for newly-built and exist- ing ships, providing training to improve safety of seafarers, and recognizes ClassNK high quality of services. With a total of 8036 ships of 206,927,557 gross tons as of end August 2012, ClassNK, the world's leading classification society, now has 121 survey offices throughout the world with a total of 18 located in the Middle East and Indian subcontinent. Posted by Joseph Fonseca on Maritime Professional.com December GRIs must stick or lines will be off to a bleak start Backed into an unprofitable corner, expect container lines to fight hard for the endofyear freight rate hikes. The general rates increases carriers hope to implement from Decem- ber 15 are flooding in. Container lines on transpacific and Asia-Eu- rope/Mediterranean trades have announced plans to hike rates and will be vigorously pursuing the proposed figures, generally around US$550-650 per TEU. Weak market sentiment forced the carriers to postpone previous GRIs but shippers should expect them to stubbornly stick to the advertised increases this time. Financially, the shipping lines have little room left to manoeuvre. Profitability this year has been unachievable as overcapacity and poor demand saw rates lingering at below break-even and a stubbornly high oil price pushed operating costs to record levels. With the container shipping industry preparing to record another year of losses and trying to find certainty in a very uncertain 2013, wringing every last dollar out of every box has become its prime objective. For- get service levels and loyalty, improving profitability is priority number one.The carrier drive to balance ship capacity and demand has seen a record amount of capacity being scrapped, surplus ships are being idled and deliveries are being deferred. Will it help? Not by much, unless business improves and forget everything you read about China's econ- omy ? improving liner balance sheets all depends on Europe and US consumers. Another reason container lines are trying to bump up rates is to oc- cupy a better position when annual contract rates on the transpacific are negotiated early next year. The carriers and their big customers will sit down and try to thrash out a mutually unacceptable compromise, the same procedure as every year. Container lines are desperate to push up freight rates to discourage shippers from going to the spot market. They want to lock their cus- tomers into annual contracts signed at profit-generating levels. What?s good for the goose in this case, however, is not good for the gander. Shippers are happy to play in the spot market as long as rate levels remain low. With such volatility in rates - and such low levels being regularly reached - liner customers may be better off avoiding 12-month contracts. The third reason lines want rates to rise has to do with Chinese New Year. The Year of the Snake begins in mid-February in 2013, which is later than usual and leaves more time for factories to produce exports, so the carriers want to have higher rates in place to capture any post- Christmas demand. If there is any post-Christmas demand. Posted on by Greg Knowler on MaritimeProfessional.com Class NK celebrates its historic mark in style at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City Containerships Hike ratesMR#12 (50-57):MR Template 12/4/2012 3:43 PM Page 53