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Showing posts with label Shipping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shipping. Show all posts

Saturday 27 March 2021

Suez Canal Blockage of the "Ever Given" Stagnates an Already Chaotic Global Supply Chain

Not exactly the news that any shippers, carriers, and forwarders wanted to hear, but a grounded mega ship has paralysed the Suez Canal, the world’s most critical trade artery, instigating a serious build-up of traffic sending ripples of disruptions across the global supply chain that is already stretched to the limit.

The quickest sea route between Asia and Europe is gridlocked by a 400 meter long, 224,000 ton container ship, "Ever Given", operated by Evergreen, after it was knocked off course by strong winds and a sandstorm early Tuesday March 23. As gusts of wind that reached as high as 46 mph swept up dust and sand around it, causing the crew to lose control of the ship and sending the ship sideways, gridlocking the entirety of the channel.

Hundreds of vessels, mostly bulk carriers, container ships carrying consumer goods, LNG vessels, oil and chemical tankers have been delayed and are still waiting to cross the canal. Carriers, shippers, and forwarders have been forced to re-route cargoes around the much longer route around Africa. The world’s biggest container line, Maersk, said seven of its vessels had been affected so far, with four of them were stuck in the canal system, and the rest were waiting to enter the passage.

The global trade now fears prolonged delays will have a knock on effect for consumer goods, LNG, and oil prices, which were already volatile. Oil companies are starting to prepare for the worst. 

Efforts were underway to re-float the mega ship, raising hope of at least partial congestion to ease, but the operations attempts during the night had been suspended until this morning.

Putting the scale of things into perspective: the huge CAT loader, more than twice the size of humans, is merely a child's toy compared to the giant ship

The world’s supply chain industry sets their hopes on SMIT Salvage, a legendary Dutch salvage firm, to save the day. The best temporary solution, undoubtedly, will be pivoting the giant ship to position her alongside the Canal bank, and consequently allowing restricted traffic. However, given the massive weight of the mega ship, the salvors may have to reduce the weight by removing things like the ballast water, and unloading fuel.

If this situation drags on then vessels will be re-routed via the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa which will cause huge increases in transit time, fuels costs and freight rates in an already supercharged freight rate market.

All for now,

Brad Skelton


Monday 15 October 2018

Green shipping but there is a significant price

Major shipping lines have commenced a cost recovery campaign to compensate for the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) commitment to reduce sulphur emissions from shipping lines by 85% by 1 January 2020.



Two of the largest carriers, Maersk and MSC, have each calculated the costs for compliance to the regulations will add USD2bn in operating costs each per annum which they intend to recover from shippers by way of surcharges.


For CMA CGM the average cost based on current operating conditions will be $160 USD / TEU.

Despite the 2020 effective date of the regulation, Maersk, MSC and others, are introducing their new fuel surcharge mechanisms from 1 January 2019- a year before the regulation kicks in. They say they have a heavy capital expenditure over the next year to prepare vessels and other infrastructure for the different fuels.


RoRo carriers are introducing surcharges in the region of USD1.00 per revenue tonne.
Here are a few of the major shipping lines announcements:
Maersk Line- IMO Regulations 2020: New BAF to replace SBF

MSC- IMO Sulphur Cap Surcharges

CMA CGM- Low Sulphur Regulation 2020

Hapag Lloyd- Marine Fuel Recovery Mechanism

OOCL Fleet moves to meet IMO 2020 Regulation

I have been posting for a long time that container rates are too low and unsustainable and many carriers have been unprofitable and this has caused tremendous consolidation of the container carrier market in particular over the last five years or so.

With the climate of very low freight rates the only thing carriers can do is pass on the sulphur emission cost imposts to their clients. Shippers demand reliable shipping services and simple fact is that takes profitable carriers for services to be sustained.

I have been telling my clients to factor in 10-20% freight increases for sometime however these new surcharges have not been part of my consideration.

I hope that in time the tide will turn as from my perspective GREEN = MORE EXPENSIVE not just for the shipping industry.

All for now,
Brad Skelton

Monday 24 September 2018

Tips for Shipping During Peak Season

Peak Season is again now upon container carriers with all experiencing a sharp increase in volumes while at the same time capacity on some trade lanes is actually smaller.

There are fewer carriers as consolidation of the global container shipping industry rolls on so they can fight their way back into profitability from unsustainably low freight rates and increasing operating costs. Most recently ONE Line has been formed with a huge merger between Japan’s three largest carriers namely, NYK, MOL and K Line. Furthermore Maersk and Mediterranean Shipping Corporation have formed an alliance.

This means carriers are operating at full capacity and frequently over-booking their vessels and this situation will persist into January 2019.

Here are some tips to minimise impacts on your business:

  • Factor in 1-2 week delays into your delivery schedule just in case
  • Factor in rate increases of about 20-30%
  • Supply forecasts and bookings as early as possible
  • Prioritise your shipments so carriers know that in a tight situation which ones should be uplifted first
  • All shippers scramble to load the faster more direct services but often in peak season the slower carriers prove more reliable and your cargo will arrive sooner
  • If your supplier has even part of your order ready consider a split shipment by LCL on the first available vessel or even some air freight to keep your customers orders flowing
  • You stay in control of your freight rather than your supplier. Generally suppliers only care about getting a container delivered to the port and off their hands so they can get paid and do not consider carefully which carriers will be most reliable. To frequently clients get told by their supplier they can get it shipped only to find the container then gets short-shipped at a transshipment port and ultimately arrives later than the routing we originally recommended
  • Allow for Golden Week holiday season 1-10 October if you are sourcing from China
  • Get your documents to your Customs Broker urgently so pre-clearance through Customs prior to arrival can be obtained. Even Customs, Quarantine, wharves and local trucking companies struggle to cope during peak season
If you would like more detailed advice on specific trade lanes or have a shipment stuck somewhere please contact me or any member of my team at Depth Logistics for help.

All for now,

Brad Skelton

Thursday 14 December 2017

Shipping Industry Consolidation rolls on with Maersk Acquiring Hambug Sud

Maersk Transport & Logistics, the world’s biggest shipping container company, have announced the successful acquisition of German rival, Hambug Sud in a $4.02 billion deal.

Combined, the two companies will be able to realize annual operational savings of about $350 million to $400 million, Maersk Line said in a statement fleshing out detail on the deal announced in December.

“By keeping Hamburg Sud as a separate and well-run company, we will limit the transaction and integration risks and costs while still extracting the operational synergies,” said Soren Skou, CEO of both Maersk Line and its parent A.P. Moller-Maersk Group.

This marks an important milestone on Maersk’s journey towards growing a new, stronger business alliance, which continues to offer clients integrated cargo solutions.This acquisition also evidences continued consolidation in the container trade where some carriers cannot continue without sustained profitability. This consolidation is decreasing capacity in some trade lanes including Australia and has made this year peak season the worst in many years.

Ultimately, although final approval from regulatory authorities in countries such as Brazil, China and South Korea, Maersk Line expects the Hamburg Sud transaction to close by the end of the year.

There has been unprecedented consolidation of shipping lines the last two years and others exiting altogether. The losses most have incurred are unsustainable so I am certain that we will see more consolidation into 2018 and rates must rise if shippers are to enjoy stable shipping services meeting there needs.

All for now,


Friday 4 August 2017

The World's First Electric, Autonomous, Zero-Emissions Ship


Welcome the Yara Birkeland

Welcome the Yara Birkeland, with a capacity of up to 150 shipping containers, the battery-powered ship will be small compared to modern standards (the biggest container ship in the world holds 19,000 containers, and an average-size ship holds 3,500), but its launch will mark the beginning of a transformation of the global shipping industry. This transformation could heavily impact global trade as well as the environment.


It's estimated that the ship will cost $25 million, which is about three times the cost of a similarly-sized conventional ship. However, the savings will kick in once the ship starts operating, since it won’t need traditional fuel or a big crew.

The Yara Birkeland won’t take to the sea unmanned on its first voyage, nor any of its several first voyages, for that matter. It'll undergo multiple types of tests to refining its sensors, upgrade its software, and generally improve it functionality little by little.

Rather, the ship’s autonomy will be phased in but the ship will eventually run fully on its own, under supervision from shore, in 2020.



The United Nations’ International Maritime Organization estimates over 90 percent of the world’s trade is carried by sea, and states that maritime transport is “By far the most cost-effective way to move en masse goods and raw materials around the world.”

Studies show that just 15 of the world’s biggest ships may emit as much pollution as all the world’s cars, largely due to the much higher sulfur content of ship fuel. Oddly, shipping emission regulations weren’t included in the Paris Agreement.

Interestingly, there’s currently no legislation around autonomous ships (which makes sense since, well, there aren’t any autonomous ships, either). Lawmakers are getting to work, though, and rules will likely be set up by the time the Yara makes it first fully-autonomous trip.

All for now,
+Brad Skelton

Tuesday 1 November 2016

NYK, MOL and K Line to merge container operations

Yesterday the three largest Japanese shipping lines Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. (K-Line), Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha (NYK) announced their agreement, subject to sign off by their respective boards and shareholder/regulatory approval, to establish a new joint-venture company and to integrate their container shipping operations.

M&A activity is sweeping the shipping industry globally as carriers in the wake of the Hanjin Shipping receivership fight to survive. The current wave of M&A activity is more about addressing structural industry issues by strengthening balance sheets, addressing poor investor returns and adapting to a low growth environment.

The industry still suffers from surplus capacity so M&A activity is needed to realign carriers and find synergies in cost reduction, economies of scale, improved competitive positioning and better protection from the prevailing weak industry fundamentals.

This announcement is another positive step for the industry where a significant number of carriers have not made money in the recent years. People that were affected by Hanjin's demise know the problems this caused and is still causing so hopefully another failure by a major carrier can be avoided.


The industry must navigate it's way back to a healthy and sustainable performance for all stakeholders as fast as it can.
All for now,

Friday 23 September 2016

New generation of car carrying ships now able to use the expanded Panama Canal

The term "Panamax" refers to ships of a size able to use the original Panama Canal. Prior to the expansion of the canal, which opened in July this year, some ships could not use the shortcut between North and South America. They were simply too big. Therefore many ships were designed and built to a maximum, "Panamax" size.

Since the opening of the expanded canal even the worlds largest ships can travel via the canal thus saving time and money. Ship owners have been building new bigger ships to take advantage of the improved economies of scale. These are called "Post-Panamax" ships.

Hoegh Autoliners now operates the worlds largest PCTC(Pure Car & Truck Carrier) and Post-Panamax ship in the "Hoegh Target". In fact she is the first PCTC of this size to transit via the canal.

The "Hoegh Target" can carry an incredible 8500 cars and has 71400 square metres of deck space. Importantly she is very fuel efficient and Hoegh claim will halve the emissions per car that they carry.

Here are a some pictures of her in the expanded Panama Canal.



Innovative vessels like this and the expanded Panama Canal are contributing to keeping freight rates lower for shippers.
All for now,

Wednesday 14 September 2016

Trade Finance is a way to ship more inventory more often

I have been pleased to be able to help many of Depth Logistics' clients with Trade Finance to fund their import and export activity. As I have spoken to many of them I have been surprised that most haven't even heard of this type of financing but when they do the majority have embraced it even if to reduce their reliance on financing from their bank.

It can give you greater and more transparent buying and selling power and the ability to ship more inventory, more often without tying up working capital.

For the uninitiated here are more of the key benefits of Trade Finance.

  • Available for imports and exports
  • Increase your negotiating buying power by being able to pay your supplier faster
  • Export more by being able to offer your buyer credit terms
  • Approvals within 5 days with a single establishment fee
  • Competitive interest rates available with up to 90 day terms
  • Does not interfere with existing bank security arrangements or letters of credit
  • Security is taken over the goods and a director’s guarantee only
  • Easy shipping and marine insurance arrangements via Depth Logistics
  • Credit facility is available in multiple foreign currencies
  • Bridge the gap between your shipping and other finance facilities such as Debtor Finance
Depth Logistics works in tandem with Depth Capital to provide this service so please contact me if you'd like to learn more about it.

All for now,

+Brad Skelton

Friday 20 May 2016

Global ship traffic as seen from space

I came across this fascinating (1min 40sec) YouTube clip of one weeks global shipping traffic as seen from space courtesy of Fleetmon.

Take a look...


All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Sunday 3 April 2016

Coal still has a future

The local economy in Queensland is currently hurting badly as coal miners falter with coal prices having fallen more than 60% over the last five years. Majors such as US owned Peabody Energy are going into administration or Chapter 11 which is threatening thousands of jobs in mines they operate here.


In November 2015 the OECD agreed to restrict coal fired power stations being financed by government while about two years earlier the World Bank also decided that they would only provide finance for coal in rare circumstances. These types positions are driven by the fact that environmentally coal is a dirty energy source compared to others such as gas, solar wind and nuclear. Nobody could logically argue against this.

Despite this there are some inescapable facts about coal that means it still will be a massive energy source for the world for many years to come. 

These are:
-It is still the cheapest source of fuel for base load electricity and currently accounts for about 40% of global electricity supply. Huge!
-In the third world coal demand is still growing as the need for electricity rapidly grows with urbanisation in countries such as India and China.
-While demand for coal in developed countries is decreasing the global demand overall is still growing.
-For the third world, coal is also a source of energy that is safely, easily and cheaply transported and stored. You can literally pile it up in heaps in a yard whereas gas for example needs extremely expensive infrastructure that these nations struggle to afford.


McKinsey & Co forecast that despite the boom in renewable energy fossil fuels like coal and gas will still be the dominant source of energy. Their forecast is that by 2040 renewable energy sources will only contribute about 17% to global energy needs and coal will still be meeting 31% of demand. 

Inevitably coal prices will recover and could do so quite spectacularly from where they are now in my view. Clearly demand will be strong for the next few decades while at the same time the supply side will reduce with action the World Bank, OECD and green groups are taking.

Therefore shares in low cost miners of thermal coal look like pretty good buying at the moment if you adopt a long term view.

All for now,
+Brad Skelton
Depth Commodities

Friday 3 April 2015

New expensive ship wreck removal convention comes into force this month.

A potentially massive cost impost on ship owners and their insurers is now in force with the Nairobi Convention. There will be an impact down the line on shippers rates and risks.

In operation this convention places strict liability on ship owners to remove the wrecks of their vessels if they are deemed to be hazardous.

Once upon a time the salvage technology and equipment simply didn't exist to remove some ship wrecks so they had to be left to mother nature to be broken up. Alternatively, in some situations, human intervention would cut them down only enough to allow the safe passage of the deepest draft vessels using that route. This has changed and in the last twenty years it seems removing any wreck is possible if enough money is thrown at it and therein lies potentially huge liability for the shipping industry. 

Although a cruise ship, take the "Costa Concordia" salvage for example. This cost approximately US$1.2bn and was a remarkable high tech operation. Here is a link to the time lapse of her being re-floated. 


So what does the Nairobi Convention potentially mean to shippers?

As I have mentioned in my blog in the past international maritime law places shared liability on all parties who have cargo on a vessel that gets into distress regardless of who is at fault. In simple terms essentially the law is that all parties are deemed to be joint venture-rs in the voyage and precedents tend to side with the ship owners who can successfully argue their vessel would not have been in that place, and therefore in distress, had it not been on it's way to deliver the shippers cargo it was carrying. This means that shippers share in the costs that flow from any incident. That's why my team and I constantly remind Depth Logistics clients to always always ALWAYS be insured!

The Nairobi Convention will inevitably lead to higher insurance premiums, charter rates and freight costs for shippers. 

Nonetheless the environment will be all the better for it with less wrecks dotting the worlds coastlines. 

All for now,
+Brad Skelton 

Saturday 10 January 2015

Plunging oil prices cause a surge in the shipping oil tanker market

There are winners and losers with the 48%+ drop in oil prices in recent times. The Shipping Industry is one winner as it is not only benefiting from lower operational costs but the oil tanker market is enjoying boom times but not from a growing transportation task.

Oil is in contango so traders and energy companies are buying and storing now in expectation of profiting from higher prices later this year. Land based storage is reaching capacity so the industry is switching to floating storage hence the surge in demand for oil tankers. In the next few months as much as 60 million barrels could soon be held in storage at sea.

Current charter rates for crude tankers is now US$35000/day and rising rapidly. This is the highest the tanker market has been since 2010. The shipping term for this practice is vessels going "Dark". This means that they effectively leave the transportation trade and instead enter the contango trade whereby they sit at anchorage brimming with oil waiting for the price to rise and then discharge their cargo.

The worlds largest oil tanker, "TI Europe", which has a capacity of 3.2 million barrels and is 380m long has gone "dark" and is off the coast of Singapore now. It was chartered by a Chinese oil trader who is waiting for the perfect time to sell her cargo.


Some forecasters believe the contango oil trade could ultimately see as much as 100 million barrels being stored at sea.

In the long term as alternative energies are favored and countries like the USA are self-sufficient for their energy needs, I wonder what the tanker market will look like then? 

We will we still see goliath vessels like the TI Europe operating or will they go the way of the dinosaurs?

All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Friday 1 August 2014

Mining in Australia and Canada...It's normalising, not crashing!

From my perspective as a mere shipping bloke, my view of what's happening with mining in Australia and Canada isn't a crash as some of my younger clients think, it's actually a "normalisation". At the risk of showing my age I have been through a downturn or cycle like this before and it's deja vu for me.

The mother of all mining booms has played out over the last ten years or so driven by big demand from China, which is still large, however the accompanying investment boom in mining has slowed radically to what I consider to be more normal non-boom dynamics.


Commodity prices are down and while most contracts are written in US dollars, miners in Canada and Australia are suffering from historically high exchange rates when they repatriate their profits. On top of that, the OH&S environment is out of control and salaries have been too. I am not saying safety isn't important but insane and completely noncommercial things have been going on that only serve to increase production costs and feed the voracious "Safety" industry.

In Australia sadly we are seeing lots of people losing their jobs and salaries "normalising" too. Paying plant operators circa $140k+ is simply not sustainable and anybody on these sorts of salaries surely must have considered this wouldn't last for them?

From a shipping perspective the amount of mining equipment moving is well down. No wonder really with the amount of gear parked up or mothballed currently. A client in Perth told me there are over 500 mining trucks idle right now in Western Australia. We are seeing increased exports of equipment which could gain pace if the AUD would normalise too BUT...which market in the world could possibly consume this much gear? 

The Depth Logistics Shipping Index for May and June is very telling. May recorded a 68% drop from the previous twelve month high and the index just released for June recorded the lowest import value of equipment into Australia in the history of the index. Only $147m! To put this into perspective some of my clients bigger trucks can cost $4m each.

I was talking to a mate in Canada this morning. He is very nervous about the Canadian stock market as basically the Canadian index overall is doing well but the miners, who traditionally have contributed greatly to the strength of the index are not. He and his buddies are waiting for the correction and with a "seemingly" recovering US economy they think the next move up with US interest rates will be the trigger. Perhaps Australia will be the same?

Meantime, space on ships for my clients is pretty easy to come by and freight rates are still at historically low, 1980's type levels.

All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Friday 31 January 2014

Crack down has started on RoRo carriers for alleged unfair practices

It seems that the Japan Fair Trade Commission and the US Federal Maritime Commission have finally acted against carriers alleged to be engaged in unfair practices that have violated antitrust laws.

Personally I am very pleased to see the authorities getting tough. My clients and I have been on the receiving end of these types of practices on the USA to Oceania trade lane where one carrier always tried to force 100% commitments of cargo to them in shipping contracts. This obviously closes out competition and is unfair. My USA based lawyers advised that this practice runs foul of both US and European Union competition law but nonetheless they held their stance.

WW, K Line, Nissan Motor Car Carrier, NYK, Eukor and MOL have all been under scrutiny by regulators.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen(WW) has been fined US$33 million for alleged unfair practices in the Japan to Europe trade lane.


K Line has provisioned for a JPY5.7bn fine from the Japan Fair Trade Commission this year. To put the size of this fine into perspective their forecast profit to March 31 this year is JPY16bn.
Hopefully fairer competition and better rates will result from this crack down on carriers.
All for now,

Friday 24 January 2014

How would your cargo fair on a ship in stormy seas like this?


I think this Youtube clip says it all...

I was recently told about this company by my friend, +Verne Harnish  .Thanks to services offered by +Fleetweather Inc shipowners now have resources available to help avoid bad weather at sea.


FleetWeather is a professional marine weather consulting firm that provides a service to the shipping industry to help route vessels away from heavy weather. Their team of marine meteorologists and ship routers gather information to inform vessels of the quickest and safest route to take to their next port. Whilst many companies continue to shift more to automation and providing stand-alone software offerings, FleetWeather continues to deliver a combined solution of technology and analysts, while maintaining a high emphasis on quality service, customized offerings and client successes. With some things you just can't beat the human element.


This innovative service provides insight and critical intelligence, giving global shipping leaders the ability to manage changing conditions, opportunities and complex decisions resulting in improved safety, increased profits through improved vessel performance and reduced operating costs and fuel consumption.


Above all...this service means less cargo claims and lower environmental impact from shipping disasters. To clients of +Depth Logistics this is what matters to them.


All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Monday 6 January 2014

Rolls Royce is predicting drone cargo ships will be operating within a decade.

I recently blogged about Amazon working toward octocopter drones to deliver orders to customers within 30mins from the time of order. At the time of writing this blog I didn't realise that Rolls Royce , who is a major supplier to the maritime industry, are on a similar path with unmanned drone cargo ships likely to become a reality in less than ten years.

Existing GPS, radar and visual controls make this is entirely possible. The main stumbling block is complex international rules governing shipping and environmental considerations in case of mishaps. For example there is a current requirement in international maritime law for another vessel to go to the aid of another. Perhaps drone ships could be exempted from this requirement?

Another potential impediment is navigating around other vessels at sea that might not have GPS navigation and anti-collision technology such as small fishing or recreational boats. This is currently done by radar and visual sighting of craft from the bridge of the vessel. It is likely that control rooms would be set up to monitor unmanned vessels and take remote control to deal with certain situations that may arise. Real time video feeds can go to the control room from cameras installed around the unmanned vessel so they can physically see what the vessel may be confronting.

There is a research project already running called "MUNIN" which stands for "Maritime Unmanned Navigation through Intelligent Networks. Learn more about Munin.

The MUNIN concept of unmanned vessel operation
The current thinking is that ships would be only be manned as they navigate departure and arrival of ports and their associated channels. Pilots roles would change to accomplish this where they would physically operate the vessel for these segments of the vessels voyage and then switch the vessel to remote and then get off the ship.

Operationally there are some significant gains commercially and environmentally. Vessels can steam more slowly thus using less fuel and creating less emissions. The reason they can steam more slowly is because is purely due to the fact that there is less pressure from the crew to get back to shore. The design of vessels can also change allowing more room for stowage of cargo as there will be no need for accommodation quarters and amenities for the crew. Obviously the ship owners would no longer have to pay the salary of crew as well.

For shippers drone cargo ships would translate into lower freight and charter rates. Of course not every type of vessel would be able to operate with this technology. In the short term bulk carriers and pure container ships would likely be enabled first.

Technology is impacting numerous industries and their are winners and losers but I am excited about the future and pleased to see the shipping industry actively embracing it.

All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Thursday 19 December 2013

Investment is flowing back into shipping with confidence reaching a 3 year high.

A November survey of ship owners has found their market confidence is the highest it has been since August 2010. Most owners are again optimistic and forecasting improving markets. The World Trade Organisation predicts growth in shipping volumes of 4.5% in 2014. The Baltic Index has pushed past 2000 for the first time since 2011 after bottoming in December 2008 at 663 points. All good news and these factors combined have most industry players feeling like we are in the early stages of a global shipping recovery.

Despite this positive sentiment many European banks are currently selling their shipping loan books to investment funds as the banks see them as problem areas of their portfolio. Admittedly some sectors of the shipping industry remain under extraordinary pressure and some loans are not performing.

Consequently private equity funds are buying loan books at discounts between 15 and 20% off their nominal value and are punting that recovery is finally underway and they can ride the market up and enjoy good returns.

Banks that have sold loan books to strengthen their own balance sheets include; Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Commerzbank and HSH. US based private equity firms are the main buyers.

So what does this mean for shipping?

As confidence and demand returns ship values will rise again and so will freight rates. There are already reports that bulk carriers currently being built have changed hands at up to 25% gains.

On the other hand, if a recovery falters, then ship owners will have a different type of creditor to deal with in an investment fund rather than a bank. Fund managers are typically far less patient to get their returns than the banks have been if payments fall into arrears.

I think the bottom line is that improved confidence and financial returns in shipping is bringing investment back for the first time in about 5 years. That is a really positive thing for everyone in the industry and I think this investment trend is gaining momentum.

All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Thursday 28 November 2013

The fastest ship in the world

The fastest ship in the world is the "Francisco" which is a 99 metre long vehicle and passenger ferry built by Incat in Hobart, Australia. She is capable of speeds of up to 58.1 knots or 107.6 km per hour with 150 cars and 1000 passengers on board.


The technology in the "Francisco" is amazing. She is a wave piercing catamaran and is powered by two GE gas turbines with modified Boeing 747 jet engines. The two engines combined produce 59,000 horsepower!

The primary fuel is LNG and Incat claim it to be the fastest, environmentally cleanest and most efficient high speed ferry in the world. The vessel will be operating between Buenos Aires and Montevideo. Below is a short YouTube clip about the ship.


The technological advances in the maritime industry producing vessels with capabilities like the "Francisco" are game changers for the industry. Much like what the Concorde did for world air travel when they were first launched although fuel economy and environmental impact were not really a big consideration back then.
All for now,

Thursday 14 November 2013

Depth Logistics is a finalist for Freight Forwarder of the Year in the Australian Shipping and Maritime Awards

I am very proud to advise with less than a year of operations +Depth Logistics is receiving recognition from it's industry peers.

We have been told this week that the company is a finalist in not one, but two categories of the 2013 Australian Shipping and Maritime Awards!

Depth Logistics stands to win the "Freight Forwarder of the Year" category and +Jenny Ruffell Smith of our team is in the running to win the "New Generation" award.

The awards ceremony is Thursday the 21st of November in Melbourne and I'll make some Google+ posts to keep you updated as the night unfolds.

Thanks to our great team and everyone else who has supported the company and enabled us to create some innovative new shipping services, powerful logistics and technological resources that makes shipping easier for our clients.

Depth Logistics - The Art of Logistics Management and Technology

Please wish us luck!

All for now,

+Brad Skelton 

Thursday 31 October 2013

The ghost ship "Flying Dutchman"

Throughout the ages seamen have reported seeing ghost ships at sea.

The most famous and legendary of all was the "Flying Dutchman". The sight of which to a sailor meant doom was imminent.



The "Flying Dutchman" was a Dutch man-of-war built in the 1700's. As the story goes she was a Dutch East India Company ship that was rounding the infamous Cape of Good Hope when she hit a severe storm. Rather than find safe harbour, the captain said he'd hold his heading until judgement day and the ship and her crew disappeared into the storm to never be seen again......

Until.....sailors started reporting sighting her all the way through to the 20th century. Even King George V claimed to have sighted her between Sydney and Melbourne in 1880 while he was on board the "HMS Inconstant". 

She was often said to be seen with dark clouds above her and she would pass across other ships bows right before something terrible happened.

Happy Halloween!

+Brad Skelton