This is the first of what will hopefully become a weekly blog post about the latest activities here at Wavecrest.
It will also be somewhere to pass on any shipping and international trade news items as well as general tips and other things I stumble across along the way which may be useful or interesting.
The run up to the Easter holidays has been quite busy so far.
Last week we were asked to arrange the urgent shipment of a BMW car from the UK to New Zealand on the roll on roll off service from Southampton.
Our client (based in New Zealand) had purchased the car from a dealer in Swindon and needed it to arrive in Auckland in time to participate in the Targa Rally.
On the subject of shipping between the UK and New Zealand, we are expecting several shipments of vintage cars to arrive at Tilbury next month. These include two 1957 VW Kombis coming in for restoration and a 1947 MG. The MG is being imported temporarily while the owner makes a tour of the UK and Europe.
We have quoted for several used truck shipments from the UK to Africa in particular Ghana and Namibia. We have regular roll on roll off sailings from Tilbury to Tema and Takoradi and a monthly sailing from Sheerness to Namibia (please see http://www.shippingtonamibia.co.uk/ for latest sailing information).
The Greenpeace vessel Esperanza which we recently co-ordinated in Scotland is currently still in UK waters and we have again been asked to assist with crew changes etc at her next two ports of call.
The recent events in Japan continue to affect the shipping industry. The significant drop in the volume of export container shipments from Japan has put downward pressure on freight rates from the Far East to Europe.
Whilst this is good news for importers in the UK it is not sustainable in the long term. The shipping lines have to be able to make a decent return on their capital if they are to invest in new ships and equipment for the future.
We have heard reports of ships being detained and containers arriving from Japan being checked for radiation following the leaks at the Fukushima plant.
More next week.
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