 Invicta Management Services Latest News March Newsletter 2010 Created by Richard R. Butcher, IMS Inc THE CHANGING MARKETS As Invicta Management Services Ltd enters its 31st year of trading we have witnessed harsh financial times for the Container Shipping Sector – The financial melt- down in the global economy created a chain of disasters for the worlds liner operators. As the world’s top 20 container carriers begin to release their 2009 financial results the sheer magnitude of their losses send tremors across the global community and more drastic measures will be required by these lines in order to prevent similar losses occurring in their 2010 financial results. We have seen carriers introducing cost cutting exercises such as :- - Moth balling excise tonnage - Delaying or cancelling the delivery of new tonnage - Reducing Head Count across their Operations - Closing and consolidating Office Networks - Introducing Slow Steaming on all trade routes - Renegotiation of all 3rd party service contracts These Operators have also been looking at financial restructuring of their debit and securing longer term repayment plans whilst also trying to secure additional working capital. Other larger more diverse Operators have been selling off all "Non Core" essential assets and building "War Chests" with the aim of strengthening their Credit ratings and becoming more liquid especially when low hanging fruit might arise such as competitor lines that cannot restructure or are facing chapter 11 status. The Markets will eventually bounce back and the Liner Shipping market will survive however the players will be fewer and consolidation will occur which will leave a marked change in the carriers ranking in the higher echelons. However at Invicta we believe that further financial savings can be introduced and our team of experts have looked at measures whereby a combination of consulting, technology and re-introduced concepts can bring much needed relief to the world beleaguered Container Carriers. For more information on our range of consulting services – please contact – Mr Richard A. Butcher at rbutcher@invictasolutions.com THE GREEN CONTAINER POOL During 2009 and into 2010 – Invicta have been revisiting one of our first big global projects which was undertaken on-behalf of a large Asian Shipping Group – The study was to look at the introduction of a common container Pool which became the original “GREY Box Company” The study initially looked at the feasibility of consolidating 6 companies container fleets into a common pool. The savings that were identified moved the project from feasibility into a implementation – the savings at that time were highlighted below :- Container Fleet and Operational Benefits - 115,000 down to 87,000 units - US$107 million dollars per annum down to US$85 million dollar - 10 % more cargo per annum being carried - Better rate negotiations with all vendors (Leasing Companies, Storage / Depots, Transport vendors (Road, Rail, Barge and Feeders services) - Introduction of a standard M&R procedure for the equipment. - Reduced empty container repositioning - eliminating dead moves and an improvement of asset utilization. - Reduced dwell times on all equipment in the fleet allowing for a greater number of round trips per unit. The initial saving of US$30 million dollars was accompanied by further annual savings on their operating budgets as a smaller container fleet were being managed. During the duration of the Pool it continued to save the Asian Carrier millions of dollars during a server financial market downturn and helped establish it as one of the top 20 World Carriers. Well the time for a new Green Box Pool is great – the financial savings that could be achieved in today’s markets could far exceed those achieved in the first grey Box – the reasons are clear :- - Carriers Operate larger Fleets - Newer Technology with advanced Optimization and Forecasting tools are available and these will allow for even greater cost reductions and provide better asset utilization. The other major factor facing the Carriers is their Corporate Responsibility in the reduction of CO2 emissions and with global and governmental pressure the Green Box will certainly help them reduce the damage that is being caused by the management and handling of these larger container fleets. Invicta and their partners Intellect Technologies in New Jersey are driving this new project forward. For more information on the "Green Pool" and to learn of some of the benefits that could be achieved please contact - rbutcher@invictasolutions.com PARTNER NEWS Cambridge Academy of Transport We are pleased to announce that our Training Partners – the Cambridge Academy of Transport successful ran 2 new Container Anatomy courses these being in Singapore and Dubai during the later half of 2007. Both of these courses focused on the regional issues facing the maritime markets and CAT’s brought in a team of internationally renowned experts to cover key areas of the business and to share there experiences. The success of these courses has promoted a further Singapore course to be run in June 2008. For more information on CATS or these courses please visit their website :- www.catz.co.uk Intellect Technologies Inc Intellect Technologies our New Jersey Partner has just completed a suite of Transport and Logistics based shipping applications. These applications cover the following key areas:- Intell eShip - a full enterprise solution for Liner Shipping and Liner Agency Companies (Click here for details) Intell eFreight - a full enterprise solution for NVOCC and Freight Forwarding Companies (Click here for details) Intell eModal – a full enterprise solution for Intermodal (Click here for details) Intell eCustoms - a full enterprise solution for US Custom Filers (Click here for details) Intell eWMS - a full enterprise solution for Warehouse and Retail Stores (Click here for details) Invicta and Intellect believe that these advanced solutions will set a new standard in the market and will offer a much needed alternative to the traditional run of the mill solutions currently residing in the market. For more information please visit – www.intellecttech.com White Papers Click on the below pages to read the Changing face of Shipping Community: Paper-I Paper-II Paper-III (Grey Box Concept) Paper-IV (Grey Box Powerpoint)
|