Good morning, friends. It’s a busy start to the week in the logistics realm, with renewed attack tactics from the Houthis in the Red Sea and a smattering of updates from around the region. Let’s dive right in.

PSA-

#1- MSC announces new peak season surcharges:Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) will implement new peak season surcharges of USD 1.6k per container for dry cargo effective 29 January 2024, AJOT reported on Wednesday. The surcharges will affect cargo traveling from Dammam and Jubail in KSA, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, the UAE, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh to the US’s East Coast, Gulf Coast, and San Juan. MSC also released another round of surcharges applied to cargo traveling from Europe, including UK, NWC, Western Mediterranean, Adriatic, Eastern Mediterranean, Greece, Turkey, and the Black Sea, to Abu Dhabi, Jeddah and Shanghai, according to a statement. The surcharges range from USD 300 to USD 1.7k for dry cargo, depending on the vessel size and route. Both surcharges are a reaction to longer transit time and additional vessel deployment. Last month, MSC began re-routed its vessels around the Cape of Good Hope due to Houthi attacks in the Red Sea. MSC will also be applying PSS on vesselings going from the Middle East to Dar Es Salaam, Tanzanian, at a rate of USD 1000 per container, for dry cargos, effective 15 January, according to a statement.

#2- Danish shipping giant Maersk has Congestion Fee Destination(CFD) rates for containers shipped from Saudi Arabia to Yemen, with changes effective 8 Jan 2024, according to a statement. New CFD rates will stand at 2.25k USD or 2.5k USD, depending on the types of containerized cargo. Disruptions to global networks were cited as the reason for the revisions in Maersk’s statement.

WATCH THIS SPACE-

#1- The Iraqi Transport Ministry is reviewing offers from undisclosed international firms for the purchase of rolling stock, a ministry official told Al Sabaah on Thursday. The acquisitions represent one axis of the government’s efforts to implement the Development Road initiative, which will also see the rehabilitation of existing locomotives and passenger and oil transport vehicles, the acquisition of spare parts, and the repair of railway lines. Completion rates for the Development Road’s railway lines have exceeded 50%, the official also said.

REMEMBER- Iraq launched a USD 17 bn project to link Grand Faw Port in Iraq’s southern Basra province to Turkey in the north through rail and road infrastructure last March. The project’s launch was announced at the Development Road Conference in Baghdad.

#2-Iran has halted oil shipments to China as it demands higher prices, Reuters reported on Friday, citing sources in the know. The move comes after Iran lowered price concessions for December and January deliveries. China’s refineries and global prices could be impacted by lower oil supply from Iran. The supply cuts come after the US waived sanctions on Venezuelan oil in October, which redirected oil shipments from the South American country to the US and India.

DATA POINTS-

#1- Global air cargo tonnage for the full year of 2023 declined 5% y-o-y,according to a WorldACD report. Air cargo tonnage for the last two weeks of 2023 were up 5% y-o-y, driven by a 14% y-o-y increase in cargo flows out of the Middle East and South Asia and a 17% y-o-y increase for the Asia-Pacific region. Global rates declined 18% y-o-y in 2023, but were 39% above pre-Covid levels in December 2019. Available capacity also rose 8% y-o-y, driven by a 19% annual boost in Asia-Pacific capacity and a 9% yearly hike in Middle East and South Asia capacity. Air freight has yet to see a significant boost from disruptions to sea lanes in the Red Sea, but this could change if the disruptions persist, the report says.

#2– Oil stocks at Fujairah rally after 16% y-o-y fall:Stockpiles of oil products at the UAE port of Fujairah topped 19.2 mn barrels on 1 January, their highest in 12 weeks, after climbing 10% w-o-w, S&P Global reported citing data from Fujairah Oil Industry Zone. The latest weekly jump in Fujairah’s oil stocks was led by a 55% w-o-w leap in light distillates such as gasoline and naphtha which reached 7.3 mn barrels, their highest since mid-August. Exports from Fujairah in 2023 dropped to an average 671k barrels per day (bpd), compared to the 691k bpd average daily exports seen in 2022. The decline in exports was attributed to a fall in fuel oil shipments, S&P Global said.

MARKET WATCH-

OPEC oil production increased in December on the back of boosted output from Iraq, Nigeria, and Angola offset KSA-led production cuts, Reuters reported on Friday. The cartel’s output for the month hit 27.9 mn barrels per day (bpd), up 70k bpd from November, but down more than 1 mn bpd y-o-y. Production is poised to decline in January, as deeper voluntary cuts and Angola’s departure are slated to erode the cartel’s output and market share, the newswire wrote.

CIRCLE YOUR CALENDAR-

The UAE will host The Dubai International Pharma and Technologies Conference and Exhibition from Tuesday, 9 January through to Thursday, 11 January in Dubai.The event will bring together the entire pharma value chain, from suppliers, manufacturers, distributors to pharmacists.

The UAE will host Transport Middle East from Tuesday, 23 January through to Thursday, 25 January in Abu Dhabi. The event will see more than 30 speakers come together to tackle the current challenges in global transportation and logistics.

Check out our full calendar at the bottom of this email for a comprehensive listing of upcoming news events and news triggers.

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