ITALIAN ports have renewed their offensive of trying to capture European hinterland cargo market share from their northern range rivals.
Some shippers are already dropping boxes at Genoa and La Spezia. Local newspapers reported that IKEA had signed a deal with Genoa and La Spezia to give its cargo priority.
Speaking at the TOC Container Supply Chain conference in Rotterdam, Contship Italia commercial director Mike Cashman said his port operating company had focused on bringing Italian imports from Asia instead of Rotterdam.
"There's a lot of Italian cargo being routed through Rotterdam, and we want to target that segment of the market," he told London's Loadstar on the sidelines of the conference.
"There are reasons why the country's ports have lost so much market share. The Mediterranean region, and Italy, have a historical reputation for inefficiency and red tape that needs to be shed. It is ingrained in the industry - not just the shipping lines, but the whole market.
"That said, we are beginning to see changes, and the market finds itself in a paradox. The northern ports are hit by congestion and the market is crying out for alternatives," he said.
"The carriers are trying to fill all those big ships," said Mr Cashman, adding that the shipboard capacity between Asia and North Europe was, at 270,000 TEU a week, some 2.2 times greater than the 105,000 TEU that operates between Asia and the Mediterranean - and around 35,000 TEU of that comes nowhere near Italy as it serves east Med and Black Sea ports.
That spot freight rates from Asia are commonly some 25 per cent cheaper to north European ports than Med destinations also accounts a northern preference.
"We have to be rather circumspect about comparing cost, because what you should look at is the end-to-end cost rather than just the sea freight element," Mr Cashman said, pointing to higher intermodal costs on much longer distances.
"If the distance between one port and the end destination is 500 kilometres less than another port, then it has to be cheaper in terms of land transport," he said.
There is also the added fact that the increased transit time via northern Europe incrementally adds to the amount of working capital tied up with inventory.
Contship Italia's main Italian gateway of La Spezia has four weekly Asia-Med calls and some 20 per cent the port's throughput comes off ultra large container vessels.
Mr Cashman elaborated on an investment plan that sees capacity at the port 60 miles west of Genoa that would mean some 35 per cent of its volume leaving by rail to be increased to two million TEU by 2020 from its current level of 1.2 million TEU.
The company has also invested heavily in its hinterland connectivity, with much of that directed at developing the 300,000-TEU-capacity rail hub of Melzo, near Milan, which has 24 services a week and "houses the largest concentration of rail services between Milan and Rotterdam".
Also it is now operating its own rail traction services and has the fleet of trucks in the country, at 350.
It recently launched a new intermodal service between Melzo and the Swiss hub of Basel, with six round trips a week, offering shippers faster transits.
"It takes a vessel 30 days to steam from Singapore to Rotterdam and the inland leg will then take between two days and week, depending on the mode, whereas a container delivered to Basel via La Spezia and Melzo will take 31 days at most," he said.
PORTS
24 June 2015 - 21:11
La Spezia wants Asia-Europe ships to dock in Italy, abandon northern range
ITALIAN ports have renewed their offensive of trying to capture European hinterland cargo market share from their northern range rivals.
PORTS
24 June 2015 - 21:11
La Spezia wants Asia-Europe ships to dock in Italy, abandon northern range
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