What is DG Shipping? The Directorate General of Shipping, India, or DG Shipping, is an office of the Indian Ministry of Ports, Shipping, and Waterways. As you might understand from its name, this government agency deals with all matters related to the shipping/maritime industry in India, whether it be passing & implementing shipping policies, rules and regulations, training seafarers/ merchant navy officers per IMO guidelines, issuing certifications, ensuring seafarers’ welfare, safeguarding maritime environments from pollution and other hazards, undertaking ship inspections and so on. It ..read more

Those in the shipping, warehousing, or supply chain business may be quite familiar with the acronyms, ETD and ETA. Organizations and businesses depend on these two for their planning and scheduling. What are EDT and ETA in Shipping? ETD is the abbreviated version of Expected or Estimated Time of Departure while ETA stands for Expected or Estimated Time of Arrival. ETD could be the estimated departure time of the shipper’s cargo on board a vessel or that of the transport vessel itself. It could be the estimated departure time of anything that could be waiting for dispatch. Similarly, in ETA, a ..read more

“General Average” is a term used in the maritime industry to define shares in a common loss during a maritime accident. Defined by York Antwerp Rules 1994 of General Average, these rules lay guidelines for the distribution of loss in an event when cargo has to be jettisoned in order to save the ship, crew, or the remaining cargo. The rule states the apportionment of losses amongst the parties involved in any maritime adventure in case of an extraordinary sacrifice or if the expenditure is made intentionally with the proper justification that the causes for the same involved preserve the othe ..read more

Transportation, warehousing, and inventory management are fraught with risks at all levels. For a successful buy-sell transaction or vice versa, all risk factors must be considered, managed, and countermeasures executed, leaving no room for error. However, logistics management and execution of its various functions are not easy tasks. Each step has to be handled with care. Achieving zero-error performance might not always be possible, but every step should be taken to aim for this. Supply chain disruptions happen when logistics management and task execution are not synchronised and, in some ..read more

While the maritime industry has, in the past few years, been the subject of intense scrutiny for its GHG emissions, most of the regulatory focus has been on the shipping sector. While this is not unusual given that it is the maritime transport leg of the supply chain that accounts for the bulk of emissions (primarily through its bunker consumption), there are other stakeholders that also contribute to emissions (albeit not of the same magnitude as shipping).  This set of stakeholders includes Maritime Ports and Terminal operators, who act as the link between sea and land transport, faci ..read more

ISPS code, or the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, is an essential maritime regulation for the safety and security of ships, ports, cargo and crew. The biggest challenge the world is facing today is fighting terrorism. There have been many events in history lately involving terrorist attacks in different parts of the world in various forms. But the most gruesome of all – the September 11 terrorist attack on the Twin Towers (World Trade Centre) proved that national and international security was at stake. Maritime security is a prevailing issue, and several incidences have ..read more

Generally, in the container shipping industry, shippers and cargo owners work with container carriers either through long-term contracts or on an ad hoc basis. The former involves signing contracts for a longer time frame (typical duration being one year, but sometimes could be shorter or multi-year contracts as well), while in the latter instance, shippers play the spot market.  While spot rates are generally commonly preferred when markets are bearish, and so shippers try to play the spot market in the anticipation that freight rates fall further in the future (closer to the cargo read ..read more

After exploring the concept of commoditisation and the implications thereof in previous articles, we will in this article explore ways and means through which Container carriers can counter (or at least mitigate) the debilitating impact of commoditisation of shipping services. After understanding the implications of commoditisation for Carriers, it is obvious that the trend has significant ramifications, both operationally and commercially, having forced a change in mindset towards serving customers and driving a change in the competitive positioning of carriers in the market. Given the natur ..read more

A. General overview and review of the Container Shipping industry in 2023 As we step into 2024, it would be worthwhile to briefly review how 2023 was for the shipping and logistics industry in order to understand the underlying context, which in turn will facilitate a better appreciation of the trends and factors that are expected to influence the maritime industry in 2024 (and beyond). In 2023, while the shipping industry in general witnessed a gradual return to pre-Covid levels, the year was uncharacteristic in many ways. Freight rates across most trade lanes continued their steady descent ..read more

In a previous article, we explored the trend of commoditisation of container shipping services and understood the reasons driving this trend. In this article, we will delve into the implications of commoditisation for various stakeholders and the deleterious impact thereof on carriers and cargo owners. To fully appreciate the commercial impact and implications of the trend of commoditisation, it is first necessary to distinguish between the commoditisation of shipping services and the commoditisation of freight. The commoditisation of freight started quite a while before the commoditisation o ..read more