Container Barge Service Constanta - Belgrade (for Novi Sad Congress)_jugoagent

Container Barge Service Constantza - Belgrade

Dipl.-Ing. Saša Jovanović Deputy Commercial Manager

General overview •

HAMBURG

• BELGRADE KOPER

• CONSTANTZA

RIJEKA

• BAR

THESSALONICA

It is a very well known fact that Serbia is a landlocked country In such position, orientation towards the nearby seaports as hubs is a must Nevertheless, Danube “Sea” offers vast possibilities for strategic transport orientation towards Constantza port hub The Danube “12-lanes highway” offers good possibilities for reaching the maximum benefits – maximum number of TEU at minimal costs

Motivation and first experiences • • • • • • • • •

Then came the idea… Jugoagent undertook an analysis of cargo flows in Serbia Results showed that both freight rates and inland haulage routes from/to traditional export-import ports (in the Adriatic, Aegean, Med and North Sea) were fairly stable It seemed that no alternative could be foreseen But… As general agents for ZIM ISS Jugoagent strongly supported a direct Constantza call of ZIM’s Far East liner services from where originate the great share of Serbian import cargoes Danube proved to be the best possible option for inland haulage to/from Serbia Best partner for inland haulage via the Danube found in Bulgarian River Shipping Port of Belgrade offered strong support and exclusive conditions

• •

• • •

Jugoagent activated a strong marketing campaign Industry was attracted by attractive rates, acceptable transit time and contingency plans in case of nautical hindrances Jugoagent’s clients accepted the challenge Official opening of the eastbound service took place in the Port of Belgrade on May 12, 2005. Port of Belgrade became an important gate for export cargoes to Mediterranean, USA, Middle and Far East and Australia and for import cargoes from Far East and other world areas

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•

Jugoagent’s service offered the well known advantages: Direct link with the main Black Sea port of Constantza Lower tariff rates in comparison with the tariffs of other sea ports (Rijeka, Bar, Thessalonica, Koper, Hamburg) serving Serbia Link with direct lines from Far East and other world areas Opportunity for all shippers dealing in and with Serbia to improve their competitiveness Promotion of export of raw material, finished and semi-finished products, without changing the swappable transport unit Containers can be manipulated anywhere in the world as their dimensions are an ISO standard. Transfer infrastructures allow all elements (vehicles) of a transport chain to handle it with relative ease Environmentally Sustainable Transport, in line with European initiatives on environment protection and on promotion of using European Inland Waterways Network.

Organization, operational problems and countermeasures

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Line designed to ship max 80 TEU/barge, 10 TEU in length, 4 in row, 2 stacks high Service was scheduled to run on a weekly basis, given the satisfaction of minimum cargo volume, otherwise it runs on a biweekly basis Transit time upstream 7 days, downstream 6 days Economy of scale could not be applied at present country-wide volume of only 20.000 TEU/year This required a genuine solution of integration of the container barges in the existing convoys running on the route Since the beginning of service Jugoagent carried some 2500 TEU, roughly 60% import and 40% export cargoes

Operational problems and countermeasures Problem Nautical hindrances: -Ice -Extreme water levels

Countermeasure Activation of contingency plan: -Road haulage -Rail haulage

Result Compliance with reliability and regularity of the service

Containers treated as goods by customs

Movement of containers facilitated (control sheet)

Some import cargoes could be cleared in determined places only

Variety of sites available for customs clearance of containerized goods

Short deadlines for exiting the country of the export cleared containers Obsolete and slow customs and border procedures

Intervention by Jugoagent

Deadlines adjusted with realistic operational conditions in IWT Ongoing process in cooperation with Govt.

Statistics for 2006 Container barge line volumes for 2006 1000

927

900 800 700 600

542

500 392

400 300

219

200 100 0

61 51

112

I trimester

142 77 II trimester

204 116

385

223 169

88

III trimester

IV trimester

Total

Import Export Total

Statistics for 2007 Container barge line volumes until 30-Sept-07 1540

1600 1400 1200 1000

856

800

684

658 561

600 400 200

321

371

287

141 180

344 217

0 I trimester

II trimester

III trimester

Total

Import Export Total

Trends in 2006-2007 Import trends 2006-2007 400

Export trends 2006-2007 350

371

350

344

300

300

287

250

250

223

200

Log. (Import)

150

142

100

61

50

0 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

1

2

3

4

5

Total trends 2006-2007 700

658

600

561

500 400

392

Total 321

300 219

200

Log. (Total)

204

112

100 0 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Export Log. (Export)

88

77

51

50

0

180

169

150

141

116

100

217

200

Import

6

7

Development and expansion • Experienced only slow growth of cargo volumes by IWT • Reasons for that were not the freight rates, but longer transit time in comparison with the “Adriatic solution” • Recent increase of FCL exports – signs of recovering economy • Being ready to absorb the substantial growth of the country’s economy and to offer more attractive options Jugoagent turned to looking for better solutions • Improvement of transit time through looking for the selfpropelled cargo vessel solution • Expansion of the service both eastwards and westwards

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Looking for a convenient self-propelled vessel, adjusted to nautical conditions on the Danube, capable of carrying reefer containers Expansion westwards including ports of Novi Sad and Vukovar, and, in the later stage Budapest Expansion downstream and further eastwards, directly connecting via water the region with Black Sea ports of Novorossiysk and Odessa and the huge market of ex Soviet Union where duty free trade agreements with Serbia are in force Great opportunity for Serbian exporters of fruit and vegetables and cargoes requiring refrigeration during transport Monitoring of the shipping situation and cargo flows in the Adriatic, which in great extent influences the transport via the Danube For all these plans and visions Jugoagent counts on its true advantage – its young people, top experts in the shipping industry, well educated, fast learners and multilingual, educated and experienced in the West

Looking two steps ahead • Jugoagent strongly supports and backs up structural changes in various aspects of the overall system of IWT • Closely monitoring the latest trends and developments in the EU and resulting programs and initiatives (PINE, NAIADES…) • Supporting the need for a straightforward national plan of developing of all aspects of IWT • Existing “Master Plan for IWT Serbia” did give the overview of the most of present problems and recommendations for overcoming them • However, a concrete, fast and most of all, visible action is still missing

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Jugoagent has its own view on the necessary improvements: Improvement and harmonization of the legislative framework with EU legislation Improving the existing waterway infrastructure Enhancing the overall performance of the port and terminals Innovations in ship technology Human resources and promotion of IWT education River Information Services (RIS) Integration of IWT into intermodal logistic chains Marketing issues and improvement of IWT image Eager to see more of this on the Danube

Thank you for your attention!

Maritime-River Agency

Bulevar Mihaila Pupina 165a 11070 Beograd Tel : +381 (11) 20 18 700 Fax : +381 (11) 31 12 070 e-mail : [email protected] Web : www.jugoagent.net