Auto Advance

Metro witness the launch of environmental first – reducing vehicle carbon emissions before they have ever been driven

Nov 2, 2022 | , ,

Operating a fleet of 17 pure car and truck carriers, United European Car Carriers (UECC) is the leading RoRo provider of short sea services for cars and other rolling cargo. Leading customer, Metro, was invited to Zeeburgge, to witness the naming of the world’s 1st hybrid pure car and truck carrier.

UECC, the Norwegian RoRo transporter of rolling cargo held a naming ceremony for its first dual-fuel LNG battery hybrid pure car and truck carrier (PCTC), the vessel Auto Advance, at the Port of Zeebrugge’s, ICO Bastenaken Terminal on the 26th October.

Present at the naming ceremony were Metro directors Tom Fernihough and Matt Weight, who are responsible for key automotive, construction and commercial/industrial vehicle accounts, and consequently big volume users of PCTC RoRo services.

The Auto Advance measures 28 by 169 meters in length (that’s big – think of two football fields), with capacity for 3600 vehicles, over 10 cargo decks and is said to be the world’s first vessel of its type. It will provide significant gains in energy efficiency and emissions reduction as it enters service this year to boost UECC’s efforts to decarbonise its fleet.

It is part of a new build trio of multi-fuel LNG battery hybrid PCTCs that UECC hope will make a real difference for the environment and for their business, as new green regulations are set to shift the RoRo market playing field.

LNG battery hybrid technology, together with an optimised hull design for better fuel efficiency, will enable these new builds to exceed the IMO requirement to cut carbon intensity by 40% from 2008 levels within 2030. Emissions of carbon dioxide will be reduced by around 25%, SOx and particulate matter by 90% and NOx by 85% from the use of LNG, while the new builds will also meet the IMO’s Tier 3 NOx emissions limitations for the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Tom Fernihough. "Delighted to attend the naming ceremony of UECC's latest vessel the MV Auto Advance. A significant innovation in hybrid technology for a greener environment . Many thanks to UECC for their investment to a cleaner solution.”

Matt Weight. “Metro is committed to extending our zero-emission strategy as far down our customers’ supply chains as possible, which is why we welcome this positive move towards decarbonisation, by a key carrier partner.”

There is much more to come from Metro, on the environmental front, in the very near future which we will continue to announce as we roll out further initiatives with our partners and within the organisation. This is beyond a focus – it is our mission to ensure our customers have the slickest and most environmentally creative supply chains available at any time, regardless of the external influences.

To learn more about our commercial/industrial solutions contact Tom Fernihough, or Matt Weight for our automotive solutions and Simon George for our ECO/MVT, carbon measuring and offsetting solutions. We have the end to end movement of the most valuable cargo covered - with complete visibility and ability…

Suspension of Transit

<strong>Schedule reliability and port congestion in decline</strong>

Nov 2, 2022 | , , ,

The latest, market leading source, Sea-Intelligence schedule reliability figures show a slight decline of 0.7% in September to 45.5%, which is the first fall since reliability began to trend upwards in April and follows the year’s largest reliability increase of 5.8% in August.

The average delay for late vessel arrivals has been dropping consistently since the start of the year and In September improved once again, albeit slightly, dropping by -0.10 days, bringing the average delay to 5.81 days and is the second consecutive month that the delay has dropped below the 6-day mark since April 2021. Pre-Covid pandemic situation this would have been deemed completely unacceptable. But transits and measurements have changed over the last few years and many traders would like to slow down their products in transit in the current global environment so it is actually, by some businesses adjusting their supply chains in line with current consumer demand, considered a benefit we have observed.

With schedule reliability of 53.2%, 2M was the most reliable carrier in September 2022, followed by CMA CGM with 45.5%, with another four carriers recording schedule reliability of 40%-50% and the remainder at 30%-40%, or lower, it has been widely reported in the trade news.

Yang Ming recorded the lowest schedule reliability of 35.1%. In September 2022, once again, most of the carriers were very close to each other, with the difference between Yang Ming at the bottom and CMA CGM at second, a little over 10 percentage points.

Despite schedule reliability improvements global port congestion remains an issue with ~11% / 2.8m TEU of capacity tied up due to bottlenecks, labour shortages, industrial disputes and other post-pandemic disruptions.

The overall trend is on a downward trajectory, as congestion is starting to ease across the main hotspots in the US and Europe, though there was a small increase in vessels waiting at Chinese ports, due to weather related issues and isolated COVID lockdowns.

US East Coast port congestion is improving, with Savannah remaining the most congested port with 33 vessels recently waiting at anchor. US West Coast congestion is now almost cleared with only a handful of vessels waiting in the San Pedro Bay area.

The situation at the main European ports remained largely unchanged, although dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool began their second strike last Monday and are set to continue through this week, and with no agreement reached with the Unite union at Felixstowe, there is a risk of further industrial action at either port before Christmas.

We are working closely with our offices and network partners to monitor the situation throughout US and European ports, with contingency plans to ensure product is delivered to market, without delay, until congestion finally subsides.

To learn how we can help you avoid disruption and port congestion, or to request our regular ocean market report, please EMAIL our sea freight director, Andy Smith, who can advise on the best solutions for your ocean supply chain. 

The freight market is changing every week, across all modes – we have the latest intel and will share our recommendations on the coming months and into the New Year of 2023 – a NEW challenge approaches. You are in safe hands to ensure you have the options available to achieve your future plans. Across the board we try to future proof all aspects of global trade to ensure that you achieve, as an agile leader and ambitious partner to your business.

Terms of trade will trip you up

Metro are getting BIGGER in Europe

Oct 19, 2022 | , , , ,

Metro has been shipping freight to, from and across Europe since 1981, using road, rail and short-sea services to create country and product-specific transport solutions. Our new Head of European Services, Matt Paxton-Rhodes, wants to make these award-winning solutions available to more shippers, in more verticals.

Metro’s European transport solutions are designed to meet the needs of individual customers, many of whom have entrusted the management and operation of their supply chain to Metro. 

Safely, efficiently and cost-effectively, Metro plan and arrange the time-definite transport of components intra-Europe, and finished products from the manufacturer or producer, to their final point of use on the European continent.

The European team is experienced in orchestrating and overseeing the timely, cost-effective transport of goods to anywhere in Europe, using rail, short-sea and carrier partners’ modern fleet of vehicles. Designed to transport loads of any size and type, including out-of-gauge, refrigerated and automotive.

Metro’s new Head of European Services, Matt Paxton-Rhodes, has held senior executive roles with some of the biggest global carriers and forwarders, gaining an enviable breadth of experience, knowledge and contacts along the way.

It is a sign of Metro’s growth and stature, that a senior industry professional like Matt is excited by his move and the opportunity to transform the European product.

Matt is very clear on the factors that attracted him to Metro:

People - The passion of the senior team and their total commitment to customers and colleagues.

Power - The flat reporting structure and the empowering of management to make decisions gives Metro the agility to react quickly to customers’ needs. Now.

Product - Metro’s European product is established, proven and effective, with a distinct opportunity for replication in new verticals and geographies. 

Platform – We will always provide all options and best fit recommendations – regardless of the requirement for overland trucking. Trade with our closest markets continues to change, almost daily – so do we with our solutions.

Despite only being with the business for less than a year, Matt has set his sights on some short term objectives. 

“The Metro team has extensive knowledge of European transport and customs compliance arrangements, which means they are well experienced in providing the most appropriate solutions for transporting goods in the fastest, safest and most reliable ways, to deadline and including for JIT operations.”

“Having an established and effective core-product means that I can focus on building a dedicated team to increase capacity, by taking our best-practice and matching it closely to the needs of new verticals, on new routes.”

“Turkey, an increasingly popular location for near-shoring, is a good place to start as it is one of our most established routes and the potential for growth is immense.”

‘’Our brokerage team are market leading and cutting edge – the whole end to end piece is naturally part of the offer and it is a very compelling proposition that we design around our customers individual needs and requirements.’’

If you would like to explore our European capability, or learn more about our Turkish services, EMAIL Matt now. It will be 5 minutes well used!

Liverpool

UK container port strikes continue

Oct 5, 2022 |

Dock worker strikes at Felixstowe and Liverpool, which overlapped for seven days, ended this week still without agreement and the likelihood of further disruption appears inevitable, with Liverpool members of the Unite Union preparing to stage a second walkout, from the 11th to 17th of October.

The Unite union said the offer of an 8.3% pay rise and one-off £750 payment by Liverpool Port’s operators fell well short of the present rate of inflation, which is forecast to continue rising.

Despite the strikes at Liverpool and Felixstowe, they have had a limited impact on our operations, with increasing numbers of shifts working on strike days, to keep Felixstowe partially operational. Continuing labour disputes are in no one’s interest and we hope that all parties can reach an amicable settlement without delay.

Much of Unite’s Liverpool grievance concerns Peel Port’s failure to honour promises from the 2021 pay agreement and improving shift rotas. Unite officer Steven Gerrard said: “It has refused to honour previous pay pledges it made to our members and is refusing to put forward an acceptable pay rise now.”

The Unite Union blamed the Felixstowe Dock and Railway Company for unilaterally ending pay talks, after refusing to improve its pay offer and imposing a pay deal of 7% on the workforce.

Bobby Morton, national officer of Unite said. “We will strike again and again and again until our wages match inflation. We asked our members, are you prepared to accept the 7% that’s been imposed upon you? Or do you want to carry on striking to get what you deserve? And we got a return of 82% of our members saying that we want to carry on regardless. Now the inflation rate is rocketing.”

Unite union representatives from Felixstowe and Liverpool were to meet yesterday to discuss next steps. We understand that employers are not part of this discussion and details of any agreements or actions have yet to emerge.

Industrial action is also prevalent throughout European and American ports and other related infrastructure and we are ensuring that we report back as soon as these are announced, with options and recommendations to mitigate the fallout as it occurs. This is not unique to the UK.

We continue to monitor and manage the evolving situation at Liverpool and Felixstowe and will keep you updated should there be any significant developments.

As with previous industrial action, we clear our cargoes from the ports in advance of strike dates and have contingency plans to protect supply chains and work around any points of disruption.

For further updates and the latest news on the announced strike action and potential impact, please contact Simon Balfe, who is leading the team or your day to day account manager.

Category: Sea

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