DACHSER Asia Pacific expands air charter activities to the LATAM region

IMO 2020 and its impact on sea freight transportation

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is taking initiatives to promote sustainability and reduce harmful sulphur gases emissions. While the new regulation to reduced maximum sulphur content (currently 3.5%) to 0.5% will be fully enforced on January 1, 2020, it is expected that the adjustment on bunker surcharge will come into effect already at the last quarter of 2019.

• Impact on shippers

With the new regulations to be fully enforced on January 1, 2020, carriers are getting prepared during the course of the year with some options available:

• Switch to low-sulphur fuel
• Use Exhaust Gas Cleaning Systems which commonly known as a “scrubber” to clean up the sulphur oxide emitted from the vessel’s engine.
• Change the fleet to Liquefied Natural Gas Ships that are powered by Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG). LNG is considered as a cleaner fuel with less emission of greenhouse gases including sulphur oxide.

To ensure a smooth transition, carriers have to implement the above changes before January 1, 2020. Due to the investment in clean energy and cleaning systems, there will be an adjustment to the bunker surcharge formula which is expected to be effective from the last quarter of 2019.

• What is IMO 2020?

IMO is proactively taking steps to reduce marine pollution and minimize the vessels’ impact on global warming. Currently, most of the cargo ships use heavy fuel oil which is derived from crude oil and contains sulphur oxide. The gases can cause acid rain and trigger respiratory diseases. Therefore, the tolerant of sulphur oxide emissions has been tightened progressively throughout the past decade.

Also known as “IMO 2020 fuel sulphur regulation”, IMO 2020 is an initiative from the IMO which aims to reduce sulphur oxide emissions from ships.

By the deadline of January 1, 2020, all carriers will have to comply with the new regulation, which imposes a 0.5% global sulphur cap on fuel content and replaces the current limit of 3.5%.

If you have any questions regarding this topic, please feel free to reach out to your local DACHSER representative.

DACHSER enhances Intra-Asia LCL services

In response to the reduced air freight capacity, the logistics service provider offers an alternative and reliable solution to its customers.

New regulatory requirements for lithium batteries and cells as of January 1, 2020

Before lithium batteries and cells can be transported, they must pass certain tests. These tests simulate various conditions with regard to, for example, pressure, temperature, crushing and impact that may arise during shipping.

On January 1, 2020, more stringent requirements concerning lithium batteries and cells will come into effect for all modes of transport worldwide. In future, a test summary compliant with UN 38.3.5 must be submitted for all lithium batteries and cells manufactured after June 30, 2003 (i.e. UN3480, UN3481, UN3091, UN3090), as well as for all battery-powered vehicles manufactured after June 30, 2003 (i.e. UN 3171). Doing so will be the joint responsibility of the manufacturers and the distributors of these goods.

According to the airlines, carriers and shipping companies, these documents can be requested from DACHSER. We therefore kindly ask our customers to make these documents available to us for all the lithium batteries and cells mentioned, so that we can, in turn, make them available throughout the entire supply chain. We hereby inform our customers that, as of January 1, 2020, it will no longer be possible to load the affected goods without these documents. For further information, please click here.

Knowing where and how

Shipment tracing and transport management in the Internet of Things: with GPS location tracking using 5G/LPWAN technology and telematics, DACHSER Road Logistics is setting new standards in real-time tracking, arrival-time prediction, and visualization of long-distance groupage shipments.