ECGD, the UK export credit agency, today announced that it will be extending its Fixed Rate Export Finance (FREF) scheme to 31 March 2011.

The scheme has already been extended once, from 31 December 2008 to 31 December 2009, and Minister for Trade, Investment and Small Business, Lord Davies of Abersoch, said this additional extension showed the Government continued to listen to the needs of business.

Lord Davies said: “In the present difficult climate for exporters, ECGD wants to continue providing British exporters with the real help they need. For those companies that use FREF, this extension should be welcome.”

During 2010 ECGD will discuss with banks and exporters how to take forward the decisions set out in the interim response to ECGD’s 2008 consultation on the future of FREF.

Access to the FREF scheme is subject to its existing budget, of which £4 million currently remains available for new business.

Source: egovmonitor.com

It now seems almost a daily report that ocean freight rate increase are being announced.

Evergreen have announced new tariffs applicable on sailings from the Far East  and Indian subcontinent to North Europe and The Mediterrean effective as of 1st December. Rates will increase by USD$225 per teu.

Shipping via Hapag Lloyd will also cost more as from 14 December. Rates from East Asia to N. Europe and the Mediterranean will increase by USD$250. Exports from Japan are currently exempt from this increase.

Many importers will despair at the recent rise in rates and their alarming regularity. Whilst economists would certainly argue that having produced such losses the Lines cannot continue to trade at current rate levels, importers would maintain that it is impossible for them to budget with any confidence. Many would perhaps also the query how is it that the Lines rate increases tend to mirror each other in respect of timing and amount.

Meanwhile UK exporters are now starting to query the fact that many routes, especially those to the Middle East, are now running full and space is at a premium when so many vessels are laid up. One exporter, when discussing the situation in general with us,  felt that Lines were “creating their own shortage by laying ships up and then increasing the rates beacuse the ships they are full”.

Due to the increase demand from British importers for ready made clothing from Bangladesh and in order to better serve both existing and new clients, DAP (UK) Limited is pleased to announce an exclusive logistics agency agreement has been signed with Global Cargo Logistics whose head office is in Dhaka.

Global Cargo has strong presence in Bangladesh 0ffering seafreight, airfreight, consolidation, warehousing, distribution and customs brokerage services via its three offices.   

Each company will represent the others interests in their respective countries and will jointly promote services.

MSC has announced freight increases effective as from December 1st. The general freight increase covers movements from US, Canada and Mexico to Northwest Europe, the UK ,  Scandinavia and  the Baltic countries. The rate will be increased by USD$200 per 20 foot container and USD$ 400 per 40 foot containers.

At the same time rates to  the West Mediterranean will increase by USD$150 per 20′ and USD$300 per 40′.

Dock workers in Piraeus have begun a 48 hrs strike – starting 2nd November  – as part of their continuing battle to pressurise the Greek government into overturning the agreement made with Cosco Pacfic.

The agreement allows Cosco to operate two container terminals under a 35 agreement concession. The dock workers representatives maintain that jobs will be lost under this agreement and that the government have failed to give any assurances on their futures.

Indication are that the action taken will be repeated in the future until some compromise situation can be found.

Israel’s largest container line, Zim, had its meeting to approve a restructuring deal worth $6.85bn postponed for the second time.

The new proposals were only made available on Tuesday and as such it was deemed necessary for investors to be given time to further consider the proposals.

The initial meeting scheduled for Oct 14 had been postponed.  It is believed that Zim’s Auditors have warned that, in order to be sure of survival, the Company needs to secure funding.

Maersk Line have announced on Wednesday 21 that rates on their Trans Atlantic services would be increased by $400 for 20 foot containers and $500 for 40 foot containers.

The senior Director of Maersk Lines Atlantic Services,  Soren Castbak stated that “rates are now so low that it is not possible to run a sustainable service. We are simply restoring them to previous sustainable levels.”

Castbank said that the trans-Atlantic market had now stabilised sufficiently for it to make sense to prepare clients for rate increases to take effect next year. Container volumes on Europe and North America routes had fallen by 25%  in the past 12 months resulting in Maersk reducing capacity by one-fifth. 

Sources: Reuters

The UK’s ECGD (Export  Credits Guarantee Department) has launched a new scheme which is aimed at assisting exporters by helping to increase the availability of export finance. In the current climate with the pound being weak against other currencies, exporters have increased possibilities yet many are concerned about being paid.

Under the scheme, letters of credit issued issued by 282 overseas banks of 36 countries to either Lloyds TSB, Barclays, RBS, HSBC or Standard Chartered will be guaranteed up to 90%  of their by the department. It is expected that more banks and exports markets will be added to the scheme at a later date.

The scheme running until March 2011 does nt cover exports to the EU or Australia, Iceland, New Zealand, Canada,  Japan,  Norway, USA  or Switzerland.

The dock workers in Piraeus have suspended industrial action at the port until November 2, after the Government stated that it would re-negotiate the deal with China’s Cosco Pacific in respect of the running of two container terminals.

It is expected that the Greek government will ask Cosco to sign an new labor contract which will guarantee job security for the dock workers who had previously maintained that 2 out of every 3 three jobs would be lost.

It is expected that it will take up to a week to clear the backlog of containers that built up during the strike action and which also forced ship owners to divert to other ports in the Mediterranean.

With Brazil hosting both the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, many manufacturers are now viewing Brazil as a future area of development for the export of both their products and technical knowledge.

 The expertise of UK construction companies and manufacturers of associated products is well known and respected in Brazil and a UKTI report says there are many opportunities for British businesses, including construction companies, engineering firms and project managers many of whom are already involved in preparing London for the 2012 Olympics. 

Brazil’s stadiums, airports,  hotels and the public transport system needs to be revamped prior to the arrival of  an estimated 700,000 visitors expected for the World Cup and even more for the Olympics in 2016. Reports indicate that over £30m will be needed to be spent on the required infrastructure prior to being in a position to host the two events. .

UKTI says that UK-Brazil bilateral trade has increased 17 per cent to £4.25 billion in the past year, with British exports up 35 per cent.

For details on our servces to Brazil and to all other S American countries visit our ocean freight forwarding pages or for immediate costings quotations visit our quotation request page.