Did You Know That…

…Chinese carrier CULines expands reach into volatile Red Sea. CULines is expanding in the turbulent Red Sea despite security risks, launching a new weekly service between Jeddah and Port Sudan. Although tensions have re-escalated in the Red Sea, CULines has been operating in this market for some time and secured relatively safe passage with its status as a Chinese company.

…Where will be the next electric-vehicle superpower? Three Asian countries make their pitch. Governments around South-East Asia are in the race. Many in the region, particularly Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, want a share of global EV growth. By fostering investment relatively early, the thinking goes, they can become crucial production centres, with spillover benefits such as a reduction in deadly air pollution. But success is far from assured, and vast sums are being risked. Many schemes look a little foolhardy.

…Why China hates the Panama Canal deal, but still may not block it. Xi Jinping might need to lose some to win some. “We didn’t give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we’re taking it back.” Thus spoke Donald Trump shortly after BlackRock, an American investment firm, announced on March 4th that it would buy two ports on the Panama Canal from ck Hutchison (ckh), their Hong Kong-based operator. China’s initial response was strikingly muted, given the genesis and scope of the deal, which covers a total of 43 ports in 23 countries.

…Enhancing air export booking in Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi’s ‘Advanced Trade and Logistics Platform‘ is introducing new export rate determination and booking features to boost efficiency and accuracy in air shipments.

…Houthi threat to shipping extends to Mediterranean, warns naval forces. Naval advisory says Houthi missiles and drones can reach targets in the northern Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean. Shipping urged to remain vigilant as Houthi retaliatory attacks are anticipated. SHIP operators have been warned that Houthi missiles and drones can now reach targets as far north as the eastern Mediterranean. The warning, issued on Thursday by the Joint Maritime Information Center, came as Yemen’s rebel Houthi group fired what they described as a “hypersonic ballistic missile” at Israel, which was intercepted.

…Box rates still sinking but disruptions due to port fees could spur rebound.

·SCFI Shanghai-US west coast index now down 63% vs late January peak, with rates to US east coast down 55%

·SCFI and Drewry global composites are back to levels seen in December 2023 at the onset of the Red Sea crisis

·US Trade Representative plan to institute $1m-per-call port fees could lead to congestion and push Asia-US spot rates back up. The outlook for spot rates is uncertain. On one hand, US consumer sentiment is weakening, a negative for pricing. On the other, America’s controversial plan to charge high port fees, if approved, could cause congestion at larger ports and propel rates higher.

…'It’s healthy competition' Maersk tells forwarders bidding for same business. Maersk said the “competition is on,” when asked what the future was for forwarders in the face of the company’s integrator strategy. Maersk North Europe managing director Ole Trumpfheller said Maersk was bidding for the same volumes as forwarders, describing it as “healthy competition”.

…What really happens to everything you recycle. You probably don’t want to know (but should).  What happens to that single-use plastic bottle after you, a conscientious citizen, place it in a recycling bin? Most people, if they think about it at all, assume it really will be recycled, probably at a facility not far away. Much more likely is that the bin is only the departure point on a long journey to the other side of the world, where that bottle will, at best, be washed, dried, sorted by material, turned into pellets and then reconstituted into something flimsier, such as packaging.

…Europe-E Asia box rates plummeting alongside backhaul demand. Forwarders are being quoted rates as low as $1 on backhaul routes to East Asia, against a 20% decline in volumes.

…Global trade faces 25% tariff surge by 2026, warns Nobel-prize winning economist. Retaliatory measures of countries impacted by Trump’s trade war will lead to a cycle of escalating tariffs. Nobel laureate and US economist Paul Krugman predicts tariffs on nearly all global trade could rise to 25% by this time next year as a result of trade war escalation.

…Dredging key to Dutch-Belgian resilience. A new report by NMT-IRO and Erasmus University highlights the strategic importance of the Dutch and Belgian dredging sector for coastal protection, port access and the energy transition. Jordex Group in the Netherlands (JPC) is highly involved in this vertical, serving some of the leading dredging companies in the Netherlands and Belgium.

…Musk Inc is under serious threat. The world’s richest man has lost focus. His competitors are taking advantage. UNTIL RECENTLY Elon Musk had little need to look over his shoulder. He once described competition for Tesla, his electric-vehicle (EV) company, as “the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world’s factories every day”, rather than the “small trickle” of other EV-makers. SpaceX, his rocket firm, had so undercut and outwitted the bloated aerospace incumbents that it had developed an almost invincible aura. Yet if Mr Musk can tear himself away from the intoxication of shredding the American government, he may notice something. It is not just that the political firestorms he has whipped up this year are singeing his companies’ brands. It is that the two businesses that underpin his corporate empire—accounting for around 90% of its value and probably all its profit—are facing increasingly stiff competition. The world’s richest man has lost focus—and now has a target on his back.

The threat to Tesla is both greater and more immediate. From a peak of $1.5trn in mid-December, its market value has fallen by roughly half. Activists have been picketing Tesla’s showrooms in America and Europe in anger at Mr Musk’s behaviour. Yet Republicans buy Teslas, too. Protests are only part of the story. In China, the world’s biggest car market, the future looks bleaker still. BYD, Tesla’s largest rival, has 15% of the market, more than triple that of the American carmaker. In February Tesla’s sales in China plunged by 49%, year on year, whereas BYD’s rose by 161%.

…BYD’s share price hit a record high after the chinese maker of electric vehicles said its new battery-charging system could provide a car with a range of 470km (292 miles) in five minutes, about the same time it takes to fill a petrol engine.

…Two weeks ago we had the annual conference in the Philippines. Please find the link below to download all the EAA AGM 2025 presentations for your reference.

https://we.tl/t-jnMUxsbWNT. We have consolidated all of the presentations into a single PPT file and included a link to the presentations with AVP.

… On these links you can find the pictures of the event:

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…Microsoft is shutting down Skype, the video-calling service that it bought in 2011.

…The risk to the world economy from Mr. Trump’s tariffs and tensions in the Middle East spurred the price of gold to another record. The spot price for the precious metal rose above $3,000 an ounce for the first time.

…Did you know that more than two billion Muslims will celebrate Eid al-fitr in 2025? This special observation is significant to followers of Islam, as it commemorates the end of the fasting period during Ramadan and marks a time of spiritual renewal. We wish all our Muslim brothers and sisters a joyful celebration of the EID Mubarak ("blessed feast or festival")          

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