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Bjørnar Bukholm returns to Wallenius Wilhelmsen as CFO

Gavin van Marle — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 11:39:52 +0000

Wallenius Wilhelmsen has appointed Bjørnar Bukholm (above) as its new chief financial officer, replacing Torbjørn Wist, who leaves the company on 1 December.
Mr Bukholm will start next May and, in the interim, the CFO role will be undertaken by Jermund Lien, currently SVP global business performance management.
The move represents a return to Wallenius Wilhelmsen for Mr Bukholm, who spent nearly eight years at the car-carrier, holding several positions mainly within ...

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BYD signs major PCTC cooperation deal with Hyundai Glovis

Martina Li in Taiwan — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 10:53:50 +0000

China’s BYD, the world’s largest electric vehicle maker, has signed an agreement with South Korean pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) and forwarder Hyundai Glovis.
They will cooperate on moving some of Hyundai Motor’s (Glovis’ parent) vehicles on BYD’s controlled PCTC vessel, the 7,000 ceu BYD Explorer.
And, over the mid- to long-term, BYD intends to hire Glovis’s PCTCs to move its new cars, and engage Glovis as a forwarder to ship ...

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Bears vs bulls in the automotive supply chain – until the wheels come off

Alessandro Pasetti — Tue, 03 Sep 2024 12:09:33 +0000

“If there’s one vertical freight forwarders are keen to do business in, that is aerospace and defence (A&D), it requiring know-how and expertise where top dollar can be made. The automotive sector? It’s not so much in vogue these days, regardless of EV-related long-term trends.”
Those were the remarks of a senior forwarder yesterday, who bluntly downplayed the short-term upside to Q3 24 earnings for major asset-light actors, despite consensus suggesting ...

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EU tariffs on Chinese EV imports not expected to put the brake on sales

Gavin van Marle — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 10:55:38 +0000

The EU imposition of tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles this month is not expected to significantly dent export volumes to the continent, according to a Clarksons report.
Even with the tariffs, Chinese EV brands remain competitively priced in Europe, compared with European brands.
Depending on manufacturer, the tariffs range from 17% to 38% – on top of the standard 10% tariff on imports of Chinese-made cars.
Chinese auto makers could also circumvent the ...

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Ammonia finding favour as fuel after vessels carry it safely as cargo

Gavin van Marle — Thu, 06 Jun 2024 13:09:00 +0000

This week a new car carrier design, with an ammonia tank designed by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI), garnered approval in principle from Korean Register.
The design features a fuel containment system that can withstand the corrosiveness and toxicity of ammonia, and Korean Register’s decision joins several other recent endorsements of ammonia-powered vessels by class societies, including by Lloyd’s Register (LR), which this week signed-off a new ammonia tanker design.
Several ...

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BMW supply chain under threat after US investigates forced labour claims

Gavin van Marle — Thu, 23 May 2024 12:09:44 +0000

A US Senate probe has uncovered likely forced labour in the supply chains of Chinese-made BMW cars.
Some 8,000 models of the BMW Mini Cooper, manufactured in China, used electronic parts from Sichuan Jingweida Technology Group (JWD), one of 41 companies on the US’ Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA) entity list.
Companies on the list are presumed by the US government to be manufactured by Uyghur forced labour and are banned ...

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UK becomes one of world’s biggest exporters – or does it?

Alex Lennane — Mon, 20 May 2024 11:16:46 +0000

Interesting article by The Conversation on why the UK’s position as the world’s fourth largest exporter – yeah, we had to read that one again as well – is not all that is seems.
New data showed the UK overtook France, the Netherlands and Japan in 2022, with $1.02 trillion-worth of exports. However, noted the article, it’s a potentially misleading stat.
Total exports include the total value of products, but in the ...

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CPATPP may save UK exporters from Canada free trade deal failure

Gavin van Marle — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 11:11:39 +0000

For UK automotive manufacturers, a new trade route to Canada beckons – via the Pacific.
Not literally, of course – nobody is contemplating sending auto parts or finished cars from Felixstowe or Sheerness to Vancouver via Asia – but involvement with an Asian trading bloc could make up for the UK government’s failure to sign a free trade deal with Canada.
Negotiations began in March 2022, failed to reach an agreement and, ...

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Wallenius Wilhelmsen could see $10m hit from car-carrier stranded at Baltimore

Gavin van Marle — Thu, 04 Apr 2024 12:45:55 +0000

Wallenius Wilhelmsen could suffer a $10m financial hit after the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge stranded its car-carrier Carmen in Baltimore harbour.
The Carmen was making preparations to leave the port at the time of last week’s allision, which caused the bridge to collapse, blocking the harbour access channel.
“The suspension of all vessel traffic into and out of the port of Baltimore until further notice has obvious implications, both ...

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Ripples from bridge collapse will give importers a headache

Gavin van Marle — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 14:01:24 +0000

From a container supply chain perspective, the effect from this morning’s incident will probably not be as dramatic as Baltimore’s bridge collapse itself – although it does leave carriers and east coast importers with potential headaches.
Baltimore handles around 1.1m teu a year which, as Verspucci Maritime’s Lars Jensen calculates, is equivalent to 21,000 teu a week that will need to find alternative gateways. And while it may not be the ...

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