APL Logistics Opens New Vietnam Facility

APL Logistics announced the opening of its latest consolidation center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It is the largest single-roof container freight station (CFS) within the company’s South East Asia CFS network. The facility will add further scale to the company’s consolidation and value-added services network for customers with growing global and regional sourcing needs.

The CFS is strategically located near major sea and airports around Ho Chi Minh City. It includes over 500,000 square feet of bonded / CFS warehouse space, 80,000 square feet of secured parking space easily accommodating 200 forty-foot trucks, and 170 loading and receiving bays, translating to approximately 170 trucks at one time. Besides being scale-efficient, transport time to international sea and airports will be equal or better than existing facilities around the city. The facility is also compliant with international standards for security and safety with environmentally-friendly features.

APL Logistics Opens New Container Freight Station in Jakarta

APL Logistics announced the opening of a new container freight station (CFS) at the Tungya Collins Terminal in Cakung, North Jakarta.

The new CFS extends APL Logistics’ footprint in Indonesia where it offers export consolidation and warehousing services. It also complements APL Logistics’ existing facilities across Asia as a sourcing hub for both international and domestic distribution.

Singapore's APL to quit Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement

SINGAPORE's APL, the container shipping arm of shipping group Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), is quitting the Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (WTSA), the discussion forum covering the westbound trade from the US to Asia, with effect from September 1.

APL is the third carrier to leave the WTSA over the past decade, following in the footsteps of MOL's departure in June 2005 and previously Maersk Line, which was known at the time as Maersk Sealand and left the group in July 2002.

This reduces WTSA members to nine shipping lines: Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), "K" Line, NYK Line, OOCL, Cosco, Evergreen, Hanjin and Yang Ming.

According to Alphaliner estimates, the remaining WTSA carriers, as of August, control 55 per cent of the total westbound Asia-North America capacity.

It said the 15 member ocean liners of the WTSA's eastbound counterpart, the Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement (TSA), control an estimated 92 per cent of total capacity on the Asia-North America route.

TSA members include: APL, Maersk, China Shipping, CMA CGM, Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and Zim.

The Westbound Transpacific Stabilisation Agreement  (WTSA) was established in 1990 to replace a more rigid rate conference system for the US-Asia market. It offers a discussion forum for its members to develop non-binding guidelines relating to freight rates, surcharges and other fees.

Singapore's APL named best ocean carrier, also tops in innovative IT

SINGAPORE-based carrier APL, the container shipping arm of Neptune Orient Lines (NOL), has been awarded the "Global Ocean Carrier of the Year" and the "Innovation IT of the Year" by London's Containerisation International, winning over other leading rivals, among them, Maersk, CMA CGM and Hyundai Merchant Marine.

Said APL president Kenneth Glenn: "We're delighted to once more be recognised by industry peers for shipping excellence. This is an affirmation of our focus on providing customers with schedule reliability and service integrity."

The Innovation IT of the Year award was won in recognition of the company's development and implementation of its proprietary SMARTemp service, which uses satellite tracking to continually monitor the temperature and humidity of refrigerated containers carrying sensitive cargo. This makes sea freight a feasible choice for shippers with cargo traditionally shipped by air, said APL.

It was the second time in three weeks that APL was honoured as the world's top carrier. In September, it won the Ship Operator Award at the Lloyd's List global awards.

Other awards conferred to APL this year include Liner Owner/Operator of the Year by Seatrade Asia magazine in June, and best shipping line in both the transpacific and Asia-Europe trades at the Asian Freight and Supply Chain Awards in April.

source: shippingazette.com / picture: google.com

APL Is Best Buy Top Carrier

APL has again been named Carrier of the Year by Best Buy, a leading multi-channel global retailer and developer of technology products and services. It's the second year in a row that the Singapore-based container shipping line has won the award.

APL, which transports Best Buy cargo from China to the US, was selected based on a nine-point scorecard. Criteria included transit time, pier service, shipping schedule integrity, systems, vessel space integrity, equipment availability, arrival notice issuance, loss and damage claims, and origin bill of lading issuance.

APL began transporting Best Buy cargo in 2008 from the Chinese ports of Shanghai, Xiamen, Fuzhou and Yantian. Most of it is discharged at the carrier's terminal at the Port of Los Angeles. Some is transported to the US East Coast via the Panama Canal.

Best Buy is an international retailer with operations in the US, Canada, China, Europe and Mexico .

source: logasiamag.com / picture:google.com

Singapore's APL Logistics wins Emerson Rosemount best supplier award again

FOR the second year in a row Singapore-based APL Logistics has received the best supplier award from US manufacturing technology giant Emerson's Rosemount business unit.

Tom Moser, president of Emerson Process Management, handed out the 2010 Supplier of the Year award to APL in Rosemount's annual strategic supplier summit held at Minneapolis, Minnesota.

"It's an honour for APL Logistics to be recognised by Emerson Rosemount two years in a row," said Tony Zasimovich, APL Logistics' vice president for international logistics services.

Last year, a programme designed by APL Logistics enabled Rosemount to cut its waiting time for access to imported materials for production in Singapore from between five and seven days to just 12 hours upon arrival.

This enables Rosemount to eliminate unnecessary urgent airfreight and production downtime. Rosemount also benefitted from full visibility of inventory movement and improved supply chain efficiencies with cost savings of 25 per cent.

Emerson is a diversified global manufacturing and technology company offering a wide range of products and services in the areas of network power, process management, industrial automation, climate technologies, and tools and storage businesses.

source: Shippingazette.com / picture: google.com

APL operates KODAK Cold Room Facility In India

APL Logistics has started running Kodak's Central Distribution Center in Mumbai, India. This houses a newly installed cold room facility for temperature-sensitive products.

APL Logistics converted a bare room into the 38,000-square feet high-tech facility after winning the contract to design, build and operate Kodak's new distribution center supplying to the domestic Indian market. Products being stored and disseminated out of this facility include digital cameras, photographic papers, motion picture films, digital printing plates and plate setting equipment, as well as chemicals.

"We're pleased to have delivered well against Kodak's stringent requirements," said Siddharth Adya, APL Logistics managing director for South Asia. "This demonstrates our capability in engineering as well as excellence in implementation."

Designed by APL Logistics solution engineering experts, the facility is unique because it has three different cold rooms of varying temperatures: ambient, 13 degrees and 21 degrees Celsius. To ensure that the facility runs at an optimal operational efficiency, the team has worked advanced cooling technologies and thermodynamics principles into its design. Kodak also required APL Logistics to migrate the operations from a former premise to the new one without disrupting its supply chain activities.

For a seamless data interface, APL Logistics has integrated its proprietary Warehouse Management System with Kodak's SAP system. This gives Kodak greater visibility over its inventory and greatly improved its accuracy in decisions.

Kodak India was established in 1913. Today, it is a leader in imaging, offering digital products and services for commercial and consumer use.

source: logasiamag.com

APL Wins Nissan Motors Award

APL Logistics has received the Best Support and Coordination 2010 award from Nissan Motors in Thailand. This is the first time the Thailand unit of the global automotive manufacturer is handing out awards recognizing service excellence in its supply chain.

"We're pleased to be recognized by one of the largest global manufacturers in the automotive industry, one demanding nothing less than precision in its supply chain," said Dhanes Mekintharanggur, APL Logistics' director responsible for Thailand operations. "Our commitment to service quality, versatility and operational excellence is being recognized."

Since 2009, APL Logistics has been Nissan Motors' logistics partner in Thailand handling the supply of locally-produced automotive parts required by the car manufacturer's Samutprakarn plant.

APL Logistics manages 50 trucks making 80 trips in scheduled milk-runs, picking up components from multiple part supplier locations, before consolidating and delivering them just-in-time to the plant for the car assembly process.

source: logasiamag.com

APL Logistics extends double-stack IndiaLinx train service to India

SINGAPORE's Neptune Orient Lines unit APL Logistics has announced that has run its first double-stack container train service in India.

APL IndiaLinx, its rail operations arm in the country, stacked 90 FEUs two high on a train that departed Mundra Port on the west coast on June 16 for an inland container rail terminal at Kishangarh, near Delhi, said a company statement.

The double-stacked train operation for the Mundra-Kishangarh followed the Indian Railways' recent decision to allow stacked train access along this rail corridor. The development was part of the rail authority's bigger project to provide a freight-dedicated network of railroads with double-stack train access connecting key gateway ports and major North Indian industrial centres before end 2016. APL IndiaLinx plans to expand its stacked train service network as more rail corridors are allowed double-stack access said the company.

"Double-stack trains are becoming an imperative in the rapidly-growing Indian market," said APL IndiaLinx managing director Amitabha Chaudhuri. "They help to ease congestion at ports where capacity constraint of rail corridors exists. Shippers also stand to enjoy improved connectivity between the key gateway ports and the major industrial centres in North India, and predictability, as we roll out stacked train services.”

APL Logistics provides international, integrated supply chain services in 53 countries, including both origin and destination services such as freight consolidation, warehousing and distribution management.

Established in 2006, APL IndiaLinx is one of the first privately-owned companies to be granted the most comprehensive rail operating licence in India. It owns and operates 18 weekly rail services between inland container rail terminals in the northern India and the gateway ports on India's west coast. The domestic rail operations arm of APL Logistics in India, APL IndiaLinx, reported a strong growth of 70 per cent in volume and 90 per cent in revenue in 2010.

source: Shipping Gazette / picture: google.com