Newsletters

THE COOP QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER

MARCH 2021

IN 2021 LET US COME FORWARD

TRANSFORM OUR OPERATIONS, EVOLVE OUR BUSINESSES,
AND GET ONBOARD WITH THE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION...

FOR GREATER CUSTOMER SATISFACTION BUT ALSO FOR SURVIVAL!

Message from the President

Dear members,

Welcome to the spring edition of The Coop’s quarterly newsletters for 2021. We hope all of you are busy with loads of new projects at hand and that 2021 is turning out to be a much better year than the previous one! The Coop team is presently in the process of expansion to serve you more extensively.

Before anything else, I would like to remind our agents once again about the importance of digitization in our sector. Even the smallest of independent freight forwarding companies are taking advantage of the digital tools that are making the business much easier for them. Therefore, now like never before you need to avail the several online tools that The Coop offers for the benefit of the members. FreightViewer with all its recent updates is offering a digitized infrastructure for the automated transfer of carrier rates and tariffs. It will help you create an instant and accurate quotation that can be shared with your clients/ partners within a few minutes. I would encourage you once again to make the most of this useful tool.

In this newsletter, you will find all the important news about the achievements of your fellow members in the last few months. Like every other issue, there is also a collection of important news headlines from the supply chain sector. Read our sector news to find out about how Coca-Cola and Walmart have teamed up for a drone delivery project. Also, make sure to check out our post on how the arrival of the vaccine is helping to solve the problem of dwindling airline share prices.

Make sure to keep sending us all the news from your end so that we can promote your company by publishing them on our website and newsletter!

Happy reading!

Kind regards,

Antonio Torres President and Founder

A QUICK LOOK AT

HOW THE VACCINE RALLY HAS HELPED TO MITIGATE THE PROBLEM OF DWINDLING AIRLINE SHARE PRICES

THE PANDEMIC AND THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY

The pandemic has contributed to a downward spiral of airline share prices in 2020 and the share price of several airline companies in the close of 2020 fell by over 50%. The airline industry was one of the worst-hit sectors in 2020 because of the lockdown and travel restrictions in so many countries around the world, and it is not hard to guess why the airline shares tumbled more drastically than the wider equity markets.

END OF THE PANDEMIC AND SUBSEQUENT RECOVERY OF AIRLINE SHARE PRICES

However, by the end of 2020, the international stock markets started recuperating and managed to come above the pre-pandemic level as financial activities were once again resumed. Since November, the plans for the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines by so many companies coupled with the potential for new financial incentive packages further reinforced the anticipation for economic growth in 2021.

HOW THE LAUNCH OF THE VACCINE HAS ACTED AS A GAME-CHANGER

At the same time, the airline shares differed from the global stock markets as a large chunk of the population were wary of taking the flight even after the easing of the travel restrictions. Nevertheless, it was the news of the launch of the vaccine which acted as a game changer for the shares of the airline companies. As soon as the vaccine announcement was made, the airline shares surpassed that of the international equity market more than twice! This is because the shareholders could finally see the silver lining. In spite of this good news, the optimism didn’t last long as the travel demand is still way below the normal level.

The latest Financial Monitor report of IATA points out that the airline companies are still incurring massive losses and it is only after the large-scale availability of the vaccine, that this industry will once again experience a positive cash flow.

MEMBERS NEWS

Grupo Casco's Director publishes his second book about the nuances of carrying out international export projects
Read more

Imperial contributes 30% of the total freight volume for the inaugural China-Europe freight train
Read more

Capital Shipping takes the first step of their strategic plan to digitize their services
Read more

Greenvine Company Ltd. turns 10!
Read more

E2E Supply Chain Management kick-starts the New Year with three challenging shipments consisting of tower cranes
Read more

The Maritime Transport Sector of Egypt makes available new instructions for the implementation of the ACI system
Read more

Imperial begins shipping temperature-sensitive COVID testing kits
Read more

Blaiklock Compass World Transport moves their office to a new premise in the port area
Read more

Unitex Int’l Forwarding Ltd has garnered the 17th Golden Wheel Award
Read more

Imperial beats the crunch with ten charters from China to South Africa
Read more

Stella Shipping gets listed as one of the best logistics company in South Africa
Read more

MEMBER INTERVIEW

Mahmoud Samman, Regional Project Director of Durar Logistics, a Coop member in Damman, Saudi Arabia

"Risk assessment prior to execution is compulsory when transporting inflammable or toxic liquids through populated areas, since people are exposed to undue risk in the event of an untoward incident."

THE NETWORK

THE COOP RAMPS UP ITS MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT FOR INCREASED MEMBER EMPOWERMENT

We are also investing in SEO optimization that will enhance the visibility of the network as well as the individual members. The Coop has made considerable investments in their marketing and communications department for increasing their outreach. The new SEO strategy will increase the visibility of the network by making them rank higher on the Google search result page. This in turn will allow them to reach out to more prospective agents which will further increase the coverage of the network. One important aspect of this new marketing strategy is also investing in the latest marketing tools that will improve the services offered to members.

According to Antonio Torres, President and Founder of Cooperative Logistics Network:

"The news about the achievements of our members that we regularly publish in our News section will henceforth have much greater visibility due to our enhanced SEO tactics. We have also upgraded our website and added a very useful feature that will allow visitors to live chat with our team any time of the day,"

The Coop has also upgraded its Members Area to make it more functional and userfriendly. Antonio Torres adds:

"We have started 2021 with plenty of ambitious projects and I am happy to say that we have already executed many of them successfully!"

LOGISTICS NEWS

Suez Canal blocked by a massive container ship

The blockage of the Suez Canal in Egypt was a cause of concern for the oil and sea cargo shipping industry. The cargo ship Ever Given which was plying on the canal got stuck sideways. This was mainly due to a dust storm on Tuesday which deviated the hull of the vessel. Since then, the entire world was talking about the ongoing crisis at the Suez Canal. The massive cargo shipping containership blocked the passage for other vessels. Consequently, this led to a significant traffic jam on the Canal.

The cause of the blockage
The Ever Given is a 200,000 tons container ship that is 400m in length and around 60 m in width. This Panama registered ship got stuck in the canal sideways while it was moving from China to the Netherlands. The vessel’s operation states that a sudden dust storm had probably detoured the ship. At the moment, the stern of the containership is touching one side while the bow is stuck on the other bank of the canal.

The efforts to resolve the crisis
Several teams were deployed for the task of dislodging the vessel from the banks. The tugs and dredgers attempted to dislodge the ship by dragging it to an area with a deeper water level. The Ever Given is the largest container ship to ever traverse the canal and the canal authorities are now in the process of re-floating the vessel with the help of the tug units. Additionally, diggers also tried to detach the ship from the canal’s banks. The operation was a complicated one and demanded much attention and effort. In the worst case scenario, the ship had to be unloaded before it can be moved. It took a few days before everything got back to normal.

Dutch company SMIT Salvage, which specializes in rescuing wrecked ships was in charge of dislodging the vessel. To quote Martjin Schuttevaer, the spokesperson for SMIT, “It will be critical to inspect the vessel and how deeply it is lodged in the embankment. The question is how solidly she has been grounded.” Suez Canal blocked by a massive container ship

A bit about the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal in Egypt is a manmade sea-level canal which was constructed between 1859-1869. This 193 km long canal comes with three natural lakes. Tanker ships often utilize the Suez moving crude oil from the Middle Eastern oil exporters to Europe and the USA. Moving oil between Asia and the North Sea is another use of this Canal. Approximately, 50 ships regularly operate in this canal. Moreover, last year alone, over 19,000 container vessels with a total tonnage of 1.17 billion crossed the Suez Canal.

The impact of this crisis on the global ocean cargo
The BBC interviewed Sal Mercogliano, a maritime historian. He opined that although these sorts of events happen very rarely, its impact on the international trade scenario can be enormous. The blockage of the canal can also adversely affect the movement of international sea cargo. Specially between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. Vortexa, an oil analysis firm, thinks that the obstruction of the passage way could deter the movement of ten cargo vessels carrying over 13 million barrel of crude oil. On the contrary, changing the route of the ships will result in a 2 weeks delay in their arrival time. This undoubtedly took a toll on the prices of oil which went up by 2%.

"It could be having a bit of an impact when you consider about 10% of total seaborne oil trade goes through the Suez Canal, but I imagine any disruption would be very temporary,"

MORE LOGISTIC NEWS AT A GLANCE

DHL launches a new service viz. European Fulfillment Network (EFN)

The EFN is going to help the rising number of SME online retailers to make use of the scale of DHL for boosting the speed, resiliency, and flexibility of their supply chain

Daimler AG, the German automobile corporation launches the BharatBenz BSafe Express which is a special reefer truck created for effective distribution of vaccines in India

As stated by the MD and CEO of Daimler India, "With this truck, we can deliver vaccines in perfect condition to even the most remote destinations, bringing the hope of a return to normalcy to over 1.3 billion people."

The sharp rise in United Parcel Service’s (UPS) e-commerce customers has significantly increased their dependence on Amazon

"It is all about niche-ing out where you have a mutually beneficial relationship and I think that is what we have got with Amazon," says Carol Tome the CEO of UPS>

IoT pioneer Loginno finds a solution that will help to find lost containers at sea

Loginno's smart containers will henceforth come with a low-frequency sonar becon that will allow the carriers to track and trace the lost containers from a distance

Google is making use of Analytics for effective distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines

Google Cloud’s Intelligent Vaccine Impact Solution will create "a set of core technologies to help regional and local governments deliver successful COVID-19 public health strategies, ranging from vaccine information, and scheduling to distribution and analytics to forecasting and modeling COVID-19 cases and more," says Mike Daniels the VP of Google Cloud

LET'S KEEP GROWING

The Coop is currently covering 131 countries represented by 306 freight forwarders around the world.

HOWEVER, THERE ARE STILL A FEW CITIES IN NEED OF COVERAGE!

Take a look at the cities needing coverage and tell your friends in the industry about the advantages of becoming a Coop member. If the agent you are referring to eventually becomes a part of our network then you will get a 25% discount on your upcoming annual membership fee.

If you refer more than one agent who successfully becomes a part of our network then you stand a chance to get a maximum of four discounts every year which means that your membership fee could be just 0 for the coming year!

Make sure to spread the word about our network and send us referrals of eligible and reliable freight forwarders!

Examples of cities needing coverage

PUBLIC HOLIDAYS

You can check all the public holidays and details on www.officeholidays.com

THE COOP BIRTHDAYS

ENDORSED MEETINGS

The Cooperative Logistics Network is collaborating with many industry events and members can enjoy exclusive discounts.

Check the list of events