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| February 2002 - Hub and Spoke Shipping | |
| It was not so
long ago that the term "transhipment service"
would send a shiver up the spine of New Zealand importers
as this type of service was susceptible to all kinds of
problems between the port of loading and the final
discharge port.Their concerns were not only for the
longer transit time compared to the "direct"
shipping lines but there was also the inherent danger
that their container would not connect with the feeder
vessel and end up sitting on the transhipment wharf for
another week or so. Worse still was the prospect that
their cargo might get loaded onto the wrong second vessel
and end up heading in the other direction.
Others were more concerned about the potential for damage as a result of additional handling of their cargo and reefer shippers would not get a good nights sleep worrying about their temperature controlled product being plugged into some wharf facility whilst awaiting to be loaded on another ship. It was no surprise that the direct carriers were able to attract higher revenue cargo and often benefited from Letter of Credit clauses that specified "direct service only" as some insurance companies would not cover tranship modes. It is fair to say that t/s could be a haphazard affair as in most cases the first carrier and the second carrier ( feeder service) were separate entities and their shipping services were not synchronized to connect on a certain date. For example; a shipment from Tilbury in the U.K destined for a NZ port would be loaded on a European/Asian service and the container would be discharged at a main hub such as Singapore or Hong Kong and then be t/s onto a feeder service running between Asia and New Zealand. If the first carrier was a weekly service and the feeder was fortnightly your container could be having a long wait between drinks. If that was bad enough then there was a distinct possibility that your cargo may be short shipped anyway as the feeder carrier would certainly give first priority to their own cargo. Transhipment rates between shipping lines are at the bottom end of the rate spectrum and therefore likely to be shut out to accomodate higher paying traffic.
Sounds bad doesn’t it?, but my how time have changed in this part of the world over the past few years. The phrase " Hub and Spoke " is the new terminology and it’s caught on in a big way. Carriers such as PONL move cargo to and from N.Z to anywhere in the world via their hub in Singapore.The advantage that these larger carriers offer is that they operate both the primary vessel and the feeder which means they can plan the schedules so the vessels will connect within a day of each other. As a result the transit time is just as quick as direct sailings,and in some cases quicker as the number of port calls have been reduced and the reliability has become a selling point. The key is to have a well oiled regional hub and Singapore seems to fill this role perfectly.Their economic success has been due to cashing in on their geographical position and investing hugely in the most sophisticated terminals that makes Singapore the busiest port in the world, not bad for a country that produces nothing!.Likewise Hong Kong the main hub for the Far East as is Rotterdam in North European and the throughpout in these hubs is amazing. Auckland is also a regional hub . Unfortunately our Pacific Island neighbours such as Tonga and Niue are not quite in the same league as the five tigers of Asia. Bugger. Previous Diaries Why Ships don't go faster. read more .... The history of Containerisation. read more .... Forget the Gold Coast - try Port Chalmers instead. read more .... |
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