Several Lines have reviewed their policy regarding the distribution of Container seals, particularly the higher security varieties required for shipments to certain Countries. We have stocks in our office which can be despatched, but Customers should ensure they have sufficient stocks to accommodate current loadings.Some Lines reviewing their policy regarding the supply of (especially) high security container seals - eg those suitable for USA markets conforming to C-TPAT / ISO 17712 standards.

This means that drivers will not necessarily be in possession of bolt seal or any seal for that matter) when arriving at store to load.Most Stores of course have a quantity of their own seals but it would be a good idea to check with your loading premises to ensure this is the case. We maintain a stock of seals at our office, but to courier one to a cold store should it be discovered there is none available at the time of loading is of course an expensive exercise. Could I suggest that you check with your Loading premises to ensure that they do indeed have suitable container seals.

We are installing another chiller at our packing premises in Heathrow, to ensure goods received are maintained in prime condition. We are looking also to increase capacity for frozen goods.

Clients wishing to monitor the carriage temperature and/or relative Humidity of their shipments can hire our data loggers. The size of a cigarette box they can be placed in with the goods, returned to us after discharge where we can down load information and provide detailed analysis of carriage conditions. Hire costs are typically £60 per trip.

MARINE CARGO INSURANCE

As part of their on going rate restoration programmes, Lines are generally advertising freight increases effective 1st October to reefer traffic. Though increases vary from Shipping Company to Shipping Company and to individual destinations they can be summarised approximately as follows for 40ft reefers

USA usd400
FAR EAST usd300
WEST AFRICA £250

Other trades remain stable or increases are smaller. This year has seen several attempts by all Lines to restore rates to 2000 levels. Market conditions have been more favourable to Lines this year with many trade lanes operating at capacity levels and so imposing these increases has generally been sucessful, and perhaps justified. We would hope that 2004 would see a more stable market place enabling a greater deal of confidence on forward selling. Should you have rates about to expire and if you have not received updated rates or indications please do contact us before quoting.

Should you wish to share in this facility or need further information please do contact us. If you have any specific requirements then Cheltenham can usually accommodate them.

All USA exports need to be loaded into the export container at least three days before advertised departure. Manifest instructions need to be lodged with carrier shortly after but certainly 48 hours prior to sailing, and in the case of weekend sailings even earlier. Failure to comply will result in non shipment and quay costs will be levied to the Cargos account.

Please be guided as follows and please ensure you can adhere:

Dubai, Muscat usd20/teu

Abu Dhabi / Doha Jeddah usd30 /teu

Dammam / Bahrain usd60 / teu

Kuwait usd180 /teu

Congratulation to Polly and Buzz on the birth of their baby daughter Sophie. Mother and daughter doing well and we look forward to Polly’s return in the Summer.

Katy is our new shipping administrator looking after bookings and documentation. Part of her porfolio is to further develop our I.T. systems to improve the accuracy and turnaround time of shipping documents. Katy who is actually an engineer by trade and a keen Geologist joined us on 23rd February 2003 from a local Air conditioning manufacturing Company. We welcome her aboard and wish her well in her new environment.

All USA exports need to be loaded into the export container at least three days before advertised departure. Manifest instructions need to be lodged with carrier shortly after but certainly 48 hours prior to sailing, and in the case of weekend sailings even earlier. Failure to comply will result in non shipment and quay costs will be levied to the Cargos account.

Please be guided as follows and please ensure you can adhere:

The new CHIEF system for exports went live on 27th October 2002. Despite several months of preparation we still got a few surprises, but thankfully did manage to get everything shipped. Registering is a long winded process and without specialist software each submission must be an individual entry and is therefore quite time consuming. Until our clients familiarise themselves with the new procedures we expect that we shall process more export entries than is usual. Should it become obvious that demand for this service will be on going then we shall of course invest in the necessary soft ware. It is interesting to note the parallels between this new system and that already established and therefore more advanced in Australia .

Elsa will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Reduced export opportunities, mainly in the meat sector following the foot and Mouth outbreak generally resulted in lower reefer rates during 2000 and 2001. Over the past 12 months Lines have attempted to impose several rate increases to restore rate levels but were doing so at a time when the reefer market remained relatively depressed.

Lines have achieved rate increases on dry cargo volumes but dry container rates did hit ridiculously low levels prior to the proposed rate restorations, and these rate increases have been easier to implement as vessels on the major trade lanes are full. Current reefer rates on most trades are only slightly higher than earlier in the year and remain low compared with those of say 1998. Although we expect them to harden a little over the next twelve months it is unlikely that they will be fully restored for some time to come.