Costa Rica News

In the second interview with Lloyd’s List published April 14th, 2020, Wrsit Group CEO Jens Holger Nielsen elaborates on keeping international trade moving to ensure deliveries to workers at sea – Seafarers' suppers fed by triple barrel supply pipeline. Local, regional, and global sourcing is needed to ensure food reaches those working at sea, and who are on the front line of helping to keep supermarket shelves stocked. Food supply challenge  Jens Holger Nielsen is adamant tha...

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the globe, SBM Offshore has been adapting to this unprecedented situation, protecting its workforce and putting in place business continuity measures. SBM Offshore’s priority remains the health and safety of its staff, contractors and their families, ensuring safe operations across the Company’s activities at the same time. A dedicated task force continues to monitor the situation at all Company locations across the globe, on a daily basis....

Maersk’s offer of intermodal solutions for the Russian market is expanding, with the new container service launched in April, connecting the port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea with the dry port Vorsino near Moscow (Kaluga region). The new service is offered by Maersk jointly with Russian partners Ruscon group and Transcontainer JSC and offers a reliable solution for containers arriving at Novorossiysk on Maersk’s ocean services and destined for customers in Moscow and neighbourin...

Pressure on business performance due to high costs and inflation has been showing on companies in recent years. Profit expectations for firms in the United States have fallen sharply to their lowest levels since late 2016, influenced by lower consumer spending and ongoing global trade difficulties. This has pushed businesses to find new ways to improve bottom-line numbers and better align their supply chains. The customer is a leading retailer in the US, dealing primarily in high-end furnishing...

Brands have been expanding globally in search of new markets in recent years. In doing so, the demand for specialised warehouses and distribution centres has also grown. Companies require warehouses that are not only closer to production sites but also to their customers. This leads to lower costs and improved lead times. With retail companies also focusing on e-commerce to target new customers, warehouses need to transform. They must become more multi-purpose-usage facilities that can handle s...

For multinational companies dealing in baby food products, one market remains the cream of the crop: China. According to research firm Euromonitor, the Chinese baby food market stood at 128 billion yuan (USD 18 billion) in China in 2018. This figure was forecast to increase to 160 billion yuan (USD 23 billion) over the next five years, much of it driven by international brands.   Buoyed by the 2015 withdrawal of the one-child policy in China and the rising spending prowess of its middle-c...

The Board of Golden Ocean Group Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Ulrik Uhrenfeldt Andersen as the new Chief Executive Officer of Golden Ocean Management AS from Tuesday, April 14, 2020. Mr. Andersen comes from a position as Chief Executive Officer of Avance Gas AS and previously worked as Head of Shipping for Petredec, Managing Director for Neu Gas Shipping, and Head of the Maersk VLGC Pool. Management skills and strategic insight We are confident Ulrik will move the Company...

FESCO Transportation Group (‘FESCO’) provided complex agent services for the vessel which was used to transport the platform Odyssey (the launch complex of the Sea Launch floating spaceport) to the port of Slavyanka (the Primorye Territory). FESCO performed operations on the territory of Russia to support and maintain the vessel and prepare all the necessary documents, as well as controlled the unloading of the platform at the destination port.

A.P. Moller - Maersk announces that it has closed its acquisition of Performance Team, a US-based warehousing and Distribution Company, to further strengthen its capabilities as an integrated container logistics company, offering end-to-end supply chain solutions to its customers.  The addition of Performance Team’s engineered solutions and distribution center capabilities to retail, wholesale and direct to consumer services will integrate ideally with Maersk Warehousing & Distri...

ClassNK granted an Approval in Principle (AiP) to SHIN KURUSHIMA DOCKYARD CO., LTD. for their concept design of a 49,000 DWT LNG-fueled chemical tanker. The AiP was granted to the concept design based on its Rule Part GF (regulation for ships using low-flashpoint fuels) incorporating “International Code of Safety for Ships using Gases or other Low flashpoint Fuels (IGF Code), IMO Res. MSC.391(95) and MSC.458(101)”. Design features The main features of the design announced by S...

HMM announced that the company has decided to stop using the name ‘Hyundai Merchant Marine’ as its official corporate name and brand, starting on 1 April 2020. The decision was approved at the 44th Annual Shareholders Meeting of the company, which was held at HMM headquarters, in Seoul, South Korea, on 27 March. The name ‘Hyundai Merchant Marine’ has been used for 37 years, since the company changed its name from the ‘Asia Merchant Marine’ in 1983. ‘HMM...

ClassNK has established its "Rules for the Survey and Construction of Governmental and Naval Ships", technical rules that are applied to governmental ships and their onboard equipment. Overseas transfer of defense equipment ClassNK has established standards for conducting third-party certification of governmental and naval ships During the overseas transfer of defense equipment including governmental ships and their onboard machinery, the equipment may be subject to third-party quality in...

The International Transport Forum (ITF) has announced the postponement of the ITF 2020 Summit, which was earlier scheduled to take place from May 27 to May 29, 2020. ITF 2020 Summit postponed The world’s renowned transport policy event, ITF 2020 Summit, was slated to take place in Leipzig, Germany The world’s renowned transport policy event, ITF 2020 Summit, was slated to take place in Leipzig, Germany, under the theme of ‘Transport Innovation for Sustainable Development&rsq...

A footwear company that was using a ‘direct-to-customer’ delivery model, changed its model into a combination of ‘direct’ and ‘consolidated’ shipments, making savings over USD 200,000 annually. This case study applies to a specific low volume country and not the entire globe. How Maersk helped Maersk analysed the containers that were being shipped directly into the final delivery distribution centre and discovered an opportunity. It then designed a new solut...

In addition to helping customers do well, Maersk's passion to do good has led it to work closely and successfully with NGOs, donors, suppliers, and aid & relief organisations within the UN. The Challenge Aid and relief organisations face very difficult and often unpredictable challenges, especially in the case of natural disasters. They are increasingly looking for the support of a global network of logistics experts who can understand their challenges and offer a full range of sup...

Maersk's customer is the world’s largest home improvement retailer with over 2200 stores across North America and manufactured in over 25 countries worldwide. They lead the Do It Yourself (DIY) category with in-stock and focus on a postponement allocation strategy via transload usage. This allows them to get “the right product to the right place at the right time.” To build on this proposition further, they need to strengthen their existing transload programme in their two l...

The consumer electronics industry has expanded steadily over the years. Product innovation, falling prices, and increased purchasing power of the consumers have been supporting an average growth rate of 1-1.5 percent since 2013. Even since then, numerous players have entered the market for a share of the pie. Given the growing competition, a customer, a manufacturer of set-top boxes and LCD TVs decided to ramp up their production and sourcing. The challenge The customer’s decision was d...

Maersk's customer is a U.S.-based global manufacturer of office products and marketing office business supplies. They have subsidiaries in more than 20 countries and sales in over 120 countries. Their latest plan was to start selling products directly to consumers by adapting their existing B2B supply chain in China to a B2C model. The challenge The change in their existing model required a much broader shift in mindset as well as capabilities that lacked within their current staff. The ne...

As year-on-year Christmas sales figures indicate, end consumers are rapidly adopting e-commerce. Shopping preferences like this are calling for a change in traditional supply chains. And while retailers are adapting to provide omnichannel experiences, this change is resulting in challenges like an increasingly complex customer base, more sourcing locations, and a highly competitive marketplace pushing to reduce costs and improve service levels. This article tries to demonstrate how ‘last...

A.P. Moller – Maersk’s (Maersk) customer is a leading home improvement retailer in the U.S. The US retailer currently have a staff of more than 340,000 and operate over 2,000 stores in all 50 US states, the District of Columbia, eight Canadian provinces and Mexico. Their goal was to reduce supply chain costs and facilitate growth in their import volumes. The roadblock to this was a high ratio (17.4%) of 20-foot light box utilisation. The current situation led to higher supply chain...

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) established for the first time in Korea’s shipbuilding industry ‘Co-Prosperity Business Office’ under the direct control of its CEO, with an aim to build a new win-win business model with its partner companies.   For this, HHI expanded and reorganized the existing business unit responsible for supporting partner companies, led by a Senior Vice President-level Executive, into Co-Prosperity Business Office with three departments staffed with...

The retail industry is undergoing enormous change. The customers have evolved. They are demanding and selective. In these times, the retailers must review their existing supply chain setups and devise faster ways of reaching the markets. Maersk’s customer, an iconic American retail brand, with over 500 stores across the US foresaw the possible implications of outdated processes and reached out to Maersk for a solution. The challenge The private labels’ supply chains were c...

Maersk's customer, a major US retailer, has been growing exponentially in Central America in the last few years. But the supply chain management they had in place could not support the sharp growth. This made it extremely challenging for them to meet their market demands. Initially, their imported cargo arrived from Asia to two main destinations - Costa Rica and Guatemala. From there the cargo would then be distributed to other countries in Central America. While this plan was suitable for th...

A multi-channel specialty lifestyle retailer was growing into one of the largest e-commerce retailers in the US. They had more than 50% of total revenue streaming through their online channels. As operations scaled up, the company needed to scale up its warehousing and distribution as well. The Challenge This growing American lifestyle goods company was facing challenges in its current supply chain setup. Their vendor-load consolidation was sub-optimal, the service levels were unsatisf...

Maersk's customer is a major US retailer with hundreds of stores across the country. They supplied their goods across these stores from 15 distribution centres (DC) located in various points.  They were purchasing merchandise from a major apparel manufacturer that imported its goods from Asia. These goods arrived through different gateways to the country and were then brought together, using a multi-modal transport system, to a DC in Jonesville, North Carolina. From there, the goods woul...

On the afternoon of December 3, 2020, the China Shipping 50 Forum, acclaimed as a think tank in the shipping industry, held its 7th annual meeting in Qingdao. As a member of the Forum, Chairman of CULines Raymond Chen attended the meeting upon invitation. Guest attending the event The event gathered top-class experts and scholars from the port and shipping logistics sector The event gathered top-class experts and scholars from the port and shipping logistics sector, senior executives at...

Neptune Pacific Line (Neptune) announced it has acquired Pacific Direct Line (PDL) from PDL’s parent holding company, Pacific International Lines (PIL). The combined business will seamlessly link transport, warehousing, depots, and customs clearance services and fully integrate customers’ supply chains across 18 South Pacific markets. The acquisition of PDL will strengthen Neptune’s Melanesian and Polynesian network, provide a link to Micronesia and the French territories, and...

An FMCG brand was expanding its business from Europe & Asia into America. However, this came with major challenges of long supply chain lead times and inefficiencies in re-export shipment routing. Because the transportation was far from optimised, the customer had trouble importing and storing shipments for the pick and pack process, which was required by the outbound order. Distribution centre Maersk's team identified the problem and devised a solution to open export distribut...

An FMCG brand was expanding its business from Europe & Asia into America. However, this came with major challenges of long supply chain lead times and inefficiencies in re-export shipment routing. Because the transportation was far from optimised, the customer had trouble importing and storing shipments for the pick and pack process, which was required by the outbound order. Distribution centre Maersk's team identified the problem and devised a solution to open export distribut...

Being one of the world’s leading bottled water companies, the customer has over 95 production sites in 34 countries, employing more than 20,000 employees worldwide. They own several unique brands across Asia, Europe, and the Americas. The Challenge The customer was experiencing high shipping costs and quality issues caused by heavy cargo weights and underutilised containers. Only 55-60% of the container space was fully utilised because cargo loaded at the origin was reaching maximum we...