The Bradfield Bulletin - 17th October

I'M BACK in Western Australia after leaving Melbourne last night. I had beautiful sunny weather while I was there, but as I left, the storms and rain rolled in! It's great to be home, but I really enjoyed my time in Melbourne and hope to be back soon.

This week has been very busy in the world of shipping. Much of the focus has been on the IMO’s extraordinary MEPC session (ES.2), where delegates are working to turn the 2023 GHG Strategy into binding measures by 2027. With shipping responsible for nearly 3% of global emissions, this marks a pivotal moment for our industry.

We’ve also had a front row seat to the US-China showdown, a contest over who can impose the highest fees with the most complex conditions. I'm finding it hard to keep up!

Across Europe, port congestion is expected to worsen. In Antwerp and Zeebrugge, operations are slowly resuming after the pilots’ union BVL temporarily suspended industrial action until 24 October, though more than 160 ships remain queued to enter or depart. Clearing the backlog is expected to take several days, into weeks.

In Rotterdam, strikes by container lashers continue to disrupt operations. The Rotterdam District Court has ordered workers to suspend the strike on weekdays, allowing operations to resume Monday to Friday while negotiations continue. If no agreement is reached, industrial action could resume from today, with knock on effects for our trade lane expected to be felt in the coming weeks.

So, what else has been happening out there?

💠 BIMCO, Hong Kong Chamber of Shipping sign MoU
💠 Chittagong pulls CMA CGM permits amid surcharge storm
💠 Maersk diverts two US flagged vessels from China
💠 WA signals rail freight upgrade
💠 easyJet shares jump on MSC bid rumours
💠 Canada Post resumes operations amid strike delays
💠 Cargo ship Thamesborg freed after six-week Arctic rescue
💠 TasPorts, Strait Link sign long-term deal
💠 Southern Ports gives 1,799 locals a seafarer’s view
💠 $200m Sydney road upgrade to boost freight links
💠 The Istanbul Bridge sets 20 day Arctic record China to UK
💠 US hikes China container crane tariffs up to 270%
💠 KMSB begins live livestock exports from Broome floating wharf
💠 Panama Canal transits rebound in FY2025

Today's picture is of the TS Osaka arriving into the Port of Melbourne. This vessel has been in and out of the port pretty quickly and is now on its way to Shekou, China.

It’s 172 metres long, 28 metres wide, and was built in 2018 by CSBC Corporation in Taiwan, with a capacity of 1,787 TEU. A little bit of digging also revealed it has quite a few sister ships, all named after well known ports around the world, like Qingdao, Bangkok, Busan, Tokyo and Kaohsiung.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!