Happy Birthday SILA!

Happy Birthday SILA!

Dear Valued Clients,

We are 5 years old today and it wouldn't be possible without you - our customers!
A huge thank you to all our customers for your dedicated support to SILA over the years and in partnering with us to achieve this milestone!

THANK YOU from all of us at SILA!

We look forward to continuing our partnership with you for many years to come.

Kind Regards
SILA Customer Service


Latest News; CHAFTA, India & Taiwan Dumping Investigation and DP World Terminal Presentation

China-Australia Free Trade Agreement

Australian Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb and Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng signed the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement (CHAFTA) in Canberra on 17 June 2015. Informative reading and CHAFTA commentary provided by Russell Wiese of Hunt & Hunt Lawyers can be found here and Andrew Hudson of Gadens can be found here.

While CHAFTA has been signed it has not entered into force as yet, a possible implementation date is 1st January 2016 subject to being put before a senate committee.

• Further details can be found at the Implementation Processes and Timeline factsheet.
• The text of the Agreement and other support documents are available here.
• A full list of tariff commitments provided by the agreement can be found here

Anti-Dumping Investigation of GALV Steel Coil from India and Taiwan

The statement of essential facts (SEF249) into the Anti-Dumping Investigation of GALV Steel Coil from India and Taiwan was released earlier this week in which the Commissioner has proposed to terminate the investigation. To quote the summary provided on page 5.
“Based on the findings in this SEF, and subject to any submissions received in response to this SEF, the Commissioner proposes to terminate the investigation.

The Commission notes that dumping duties will be recommended when:

• goods have been exported to Australia at dumped prices – dumping occurs where the export price is lower than the normal value in the country of export (normal value is usually based on domestic selling prices or costs); and

• the dumping has caused material injury to the Australian industry producing like goods.

In this case, the Commission has found that particular exporters from India and Vietnam were dumping. The volume of dumped goods from Vietnam was negligible. After considering a range of factors relating to dumped goods from India, including the magnitude of the dumping margins and the volume of dumped goods, the Commission is satisfied that the dumping has not caused material injury to the Australian industry.”

DP World Brisbane Terminal Familiarisation Presentation

DP World released a Terminal Familiarisation Presentation which relates to the automated Brisbane Terminal. It provides and interesting view into the workings, layout, safety and technology driving its operations and helps gain further understanding on terminal ops for those which may not have been exposed to such.

The presentation can be found here.

If you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact your local SILA representative.


Patraikos V.1501w will omit calling Brisbane

Dear Valued Customers,

We have been advised by the vessel operator that Patraikos V.1501w will omit calling into Brisbane under force majeure.

Due to port closure in Sydney during extreme weather condition which caused terminal closure between 20th April and 22nd April, Patraikos V.1501w was given by DP world a revised berthing window to berth Sydney on 29th April 0600hr resulting in further delay of the berthing window in Brisbane which was revised to 6th May 1400hr.

In order to maintain schedule integrity, Patraikos 1501w will omit calling Brisbane and discharge all Brisbane import containers in Sydney with a recovery plan (TBA).

If you have any questions regarding above matter, please contact our team.

Kind Regards
SILA Customer Service


Port Botany Update - 23/4/15

All Terminals and Empty parks are operational now and working to restore productivity.

We appreciate your understanding of the delays the recent weather has caused and we are working to get back to routine as soon as possible.

Kind Regards

SILA Customer Service


Port Botany Weather Conditions - Afternoon Update 22/4/15

To provide further update on Port Botany Conditions. Terminals remain closed with all slots up to 1800hrs cancelled which we expect they will continue to cancel slots through the night as new storms are predicted and winds are increasing again.

Empty parks are open at this stage, however experiencing major delays..

We will update further once news is received.

Kind Regards

SILA Customer Service Team


Port Botany Weather Conditions - Update 22/4/15

Unfortunately the adverse weather conditions continue to affect Port Botany. At this stage all Terminals will remain closed and re-assess the situation at 1400hrs today.

The situation will cause vessel delays, availability delays and we anticipate some congestion when the Terminals do re open after the worst of the weather has passed.

Empty Parks also remain closed preventing us from de hiring containers.

SILA will continue to make contact with receivers in regards to delays however please feel free to contact us should you have any questions.

Kind Regards
SILA Customer Service Team


Port Botany Weather Conditions - Update

Good Afternoon,

We would like to advise at this time that all Terminals and empty parks remain closed and not processing any trucks with containers.

Slots have been cancelled at all wharves up to 22.00 tonight and we anticipate that the wharves will not open until 6am tomorrow.

Will send further information as it comes to hand and we appreciate your understanding.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any inquiries.

Kind Regards
SILA Customer Service


Port Botany Weather Conditions

Dear Customers

Weather conditions at Port Botany further deteriorated over night with ongoing high winds and heavy rain falls.

Container Terminals and Empty Parks were closed overnight and will remain closed while the poor weather continues.

The closures will effect FCL deliveries for containers currently on vessels at berth or on ground at the Port Botany Terminals as well as general road deliveries due to poor driving conditions and heavy traffic.

SILA will make contact with any receivers directly with delays today. We also ask to be mindful that there may be delays in dehiring empty containers due to closures.

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any inquiries.

Kind Regards
SILA Customer Service


Sinotrans Shipping returns to the black

Hong Kong-listed Sinotrans Shipping, part of state-owned Sinotrans & CSC Group, recorded US$1.9m net profits for 2014, reversing the US$638,000 losses from the year before, thanks to considerable interest gains on banks loans.

The company pocketed US$15.82m in net finance income which was mainly contributed by US$18.2m interest income on bank deposits – a legacy from the US$1.47bn initial public offerings in Hong Kong eight years ago.

However, operating losses widened by 3.7% to US$27.6m last year as tonnage oversupply continued to haunt the shipping market and China’s weaker demand for commodities further weighed on the industry.

Revenue in its dry bulk business dropped by 13.8% year-on-year to US$621.1m, while shipping volume stood at 37.5m tonnes versus 40.4m tonnes in 2013.
Its container segment, mainly focusing on Intra-Asia area, fared relatively better, seeing revenue slide1.3% to US$585.2m.
Shipping volume totalled 898,935 teu, a decrease of 7% compared with 2013.

Last year, Sinotrans completed the internal acquisitions of a stack of assets from Sinotrans Group, including a dry bulk unit Sinochart, Sinotrans Container Lines and Sinotrans Tianze, a ship management firm in Shanghai.

“After the acquisition, we transformed our original relatively single business mode of ocean dry bulk shipping to a comprehensive business mode combining ocean dry bulk shipping and short-sea container shipping business,” it said.
Li Hua, Sinotrans’s managing director said during a press conference on Monday that the company is also seeking opportunities for external acquisitions and quality new business, amid a pessimistic outlook for dry bulk and container business.
Mr Li added that the company is considering a possible plan to enter into the clean energy shipping market, such as liquefied natural gas carrying, as China will largely increase its LNG consumptions under Beijing’s mounting concerns over environmental protection.

“We haven’t had a detailed plan, but it’s a big opportunity for us.”
In 2014, the company added 12 vessels, including six container carriers, four dry bulkers and two multipurpose vessels, into its fleet, while having scrapped two aged bulk carriers.
It has also booked 10 eco bulk ships which are expected for delivery in 2015.

Up to the end of last year, Sinotrans owned 62 vessels in total with an aggregate capacity of about 4.4m dwt and an average age of around 9.9 years.
The total controlled fleet consisted of 126 vessels with a total capacity of 8.8m dwt.
Please visit Lloyd’s List at http://www.lloydslist.com/sector/ship-operations/article458820.ece for the original article.

Kind Regards

SILA Customer Service


NOTIFICATION FROM PATRICKS TERMINAL

Dear Valued Clients,

Please find below notification which has been received from Patrick Stevedoring in regards to their Port Botany redevelopment commencement date.

Customer Cutover Email

Please note that Patrick Terminal Port Botany will start to ramp down operations from Thursday 26th March 2015 leading into a full terminal closure which (will include all rail operations) on Sunday 29th March 2015 for a total of 4.5days.

On Thursday 02nd April 2015, Patrick Terminal will reopen as an automated facility with a ramp up period in place. With Easter holiday period beginning Friday 03rd April we anticipate that extra pressure will be put onto other Port Botany Container terminals during the closure and holiday period which may well lead to congestion and delays in being able to collect containers from wharf.

We would appreciate any clients with containers arriving from 25th March and approx. 10th April please request maximum amount of free time available, taking into consideration some lines will begin free detention period when containers are discharged NOT first available.

If any questions or concerns please feel free to contact your SILA representative.

Kind Regards
SILA Customer Service