Samsara Newsletter

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Week 16, 2019 (Apr 13 - Apr 19)

Policy & Economy News

India's export (Merchandise & Services) reaches new peak of $535.4 bn in FY 19

India to be fastest-growing economy this year despite risks of global slowdown: RBI Governor

Business News - The India Boom Factor

Oilmeals exports show all-round growth in 2018-19

India, ASEAN vow to step up ties in maritime sector, boost connectivity

Textile and apparel exports grow 1.66% in FY19

India to partner with Japan and UAE to set up two projects in Africa

Shipping News

Bahri to expand presence in Asia-Pacific

Logistics News

CONCOR moves a record cargo of 43.32 MTs by rail

Indian Port News

DP World Cochin hosts Wan Hai's new China-India mainline service

ICTT registers noteworthy performance in Q1 2019

MSC Splendida makes maiden call in Kochi

Policy & Economy News

India's export (Merchandise & Services) reaches new peak of $535.4 bn in FY 19
Daily Shipping Times - New Delhi, April 18 Top
India's exports rose to a five-month high of 11 per cent in March on account of higher growth mainly in pharma, chemicals and engineering sectors, marking the outbound shipments at $331 billion for FY 2018-19, official data showed. Merchandise exports in March stood at $32.55 billion as against $29.32 billion in the same month last year. This is the best growth rate for exports since October 2018, when shipments grew by 17.86 per cent.

Imports rose by 1.44 per cent to $43.44 billion in March 2019. However, trade deficit, the difference between exports and imports, narrows to $10.89 billion during the month under review as compared to $13.51 billion in March 2018. Oil and gold imports rose by 5.55 per cent and 31.22 per cent to $11.75 billion and $3.27 billion, respectively in March 2019.

For the full fiscal (2018-19), imports rose by 8.99 per cent to $507.44 billion, widening the trade deficit to $176.42 billion as against $162 billion in 2017-18. "Through secular growth over the last three financial years, following the major downturn in the face of the global slowdown, merchandise exports for 2018-19 are estimated at $331.02 billion, the highest ever, surpassing the earlier peak of $314.4 billion achieved in 2013-14. This has been achieved in a challenging global environment," the Commerce Ministry said in a statement.

During the full fiscal, the sectors which recorded healthy growth include petroleum (28 per cent), plastic (25.6 per cent), chemicals (22 per cent), pharmaceuticals (11 per cent) and engineering (6.36 per cent).Data showed that oil imports in April-March 2018-19 grew by 29.27 per cent to $140.47 billion, while non-oil imports were up by 2.82 per cent to $366.97 billion during that fiscal.

Commenting on the data, Trade Promotion Council Of India (TPCI) Chairman Mohit Singla said that despite global challenges, exports registered best ever performance."There is a need to further focus on new products like food commodity so that the growth is more resilient and sustainable. Also, it will cushion our exports from the global volatility and shocks in the long run," Singla said. The Ministry also said that total exports (goods and services combined) have been growing since 2016-17 and have surpassed the $500 billion mark in 2018-19 "for the first time".The overall estimated exports (merchandise and services) have reached a new peak of $535.4 billion this year, attaining a growth of 7.97 per cent.

India to be fastest-growing economy this year despite risks of global slowdown: RBI Governor
Daily Shipping Times - Washington, April 16 Top
India will remain to be the fastest-growing economy this year clocking a growth rate of 7.2 per cent in 2019-20, despite risks of a global slowdown, financial markets and crude price volatility, according to the Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das.

He called for greater co-operation among emerging market economies on all fronts which will help them be better off in this uncertain environment.

"Real GDP growth is expected to clock 7.2 per cent during 2019-20, the fastest among large economies of the world, growing by an average rate of around 7.5 per cent in recent years" said Das at the event "Governor Talks" on the sidelines of the Fund-Bank Spring Meetings, 2019, Washington DC.

Business News - The India Boom Factor

Oilmeals exports show all-round growth in 2018-19
Exim News Service - Mumbai, April 17 Top
Exports of oilmeals rose by 31 per cent to a value of Rs 6,222 crore (RS.62.2 billion) during the just-concluded fiscal as compared to Rs 4,762 crore (Rs.47.6 billion) during 2017-18, on higher volumes as well as price realisation, as per data from the Solvent Extractors' Association of India (SEA).

The latest figures from the SEA also showed that in volume terms, exports increased 6 per cent to 3.2 million tonnes in 2018-19 from 3.02 million tonnes in the previous fiscal.

Specifically, the shipment of rapeseed meal rose sharply to 10,51,869 tonnes from 6,63,988 tonnes. South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand were the major importers of Indian rapeseed meal.The export of soyabean meal also rose to 13,37,215 tonnes during the last fiscal from 11,87,818 tonnes in the previous year.

However, the outward shipment of rice bran meal dropped to 4,40,927 tonnes from 594,129 tonnes. Export of castor seed meal was also down to 3,67,084 tonnes from 5,72,762 tonnes, reports said.

The major importers of Indian oilmeals were Vietnam (6,15,403 tonnes), South Korea (7,38,795 tonnes), Thailand (3,02,619 tonnes), Taiwan (1,19,794 tonnes) and Iran (5,08,050 tonnes), as per the SEA data.

India, ASEAN vow to step up ties in maritime sector, boost connectivity
Daily Shipping Times - New Delhi, April 16 Top
India and ASEAN have resolved to strengthen ties by deepening cooperation in the maritime sector and boosting connectivity.

The two sides made the affirmations at the 21st ASEAN-India Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM) held here on April 11-12, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

The meeting was co-chaired by Vijay Thakur Singh, SOM Leader and Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, and Busaya Mathelin, SOM Leader and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Thailand. The SOM leaders also exchanged views on regional and international issues of interest to ASEAN and India. They agreed to deepen maritime cooperation as decided at the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit 2018. In this context, they proposed to undertake a variety of measures, including enhanced cooperation in the sub-sector of Blue Economy, the MEA said. It was decided at the meeting to give an impetus to ASEAN-India connectivity in all its forms.

Textile and apparel exports grow 1.66% in FY19
Daily Shipping Times - New Delhi, April 18 Top
India's textiles and apparels exports for the fiscal 2019 just grew 1.66% to $35.969 billion as compared to $35.381 billion in the previous fiscal, mainly due to a sharp drop in the shipment of apparels.

The export of textiles products grew 6.19% to $19.830 billion during the fiscal under review as compared to $18.674 billion a year ago and that of apparels declined sharply by 3.40% to $16.138 billion during the fiscal 2019 as against $16.706 billion in the previous financial year, said the Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI), citing Government data.

Among textile products, cotton yarn/fabrics/made-ups, handloom products continued to be the largest export earner with a growth of 9.22% during the fiscal 2019 to $11.206 billion ($10.260 billion in last fiscal), man-made fabrics exports increased by 3.15% to $$4.978 billion as against $4.824 billion in the previous fiscal, CITI said. The next big segment under the category is carpet, which saw a growth of 3.63% to $1.481 billion as compared to $1.429 billion in fiscal 2018.

India to partner with Japan and UAE to set up two projects in Africa
Livemint -New Delhi, April 15 Top
India is joining hands with Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to implement two projects in Africa as it seeks to extend its footprint on the continent where strategic rival China has made deep inroads, two people familiar with the developments said.

While India will build a cancer hospital in Kenya in collaboration with Japan, it will partner with the UAE to set up an information and communications technology (ICT) centre in Ethiopia, said the two people cited above, requesting anonymity.

The parties have held talks in recent weeks, one of the people said, adding that the details on implementing the projects are expected to be finalized shortly.

Analysts have welcomed India's plans, given the major forays of China into Africa since 2004-05.

Once seen as a major political influence in Africa, thanks to New Delhi's support for the freedom movements in many African countries, India has seen its popularity dwindle since the 1990s. But since the middle of the last decade, India has moved to remedy that-reworking its ties with Africa through high-level summits and frequent top level visits.

A study by Washington-based think tank American Enterprise Institute (AEI) estimates China's investments in Africa between 2005 and 2018 at more than $220 billion. Another AEI study showed that Nigeria and Angola were major destinations for Chinese investments with Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia and South Africa bringing up the rear. Almost all these countries figured in China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) that aims to link China by sea and land with South-East and Central Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa.

As a counter to BRI, India and Japan had announced the Asia Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) with four major strands, including capacity building and human resource development in Africa, creating quality infrastructure and institutional connectivity, people-to-people partnership, and development and cooperation projects. It also envisaged developing capacities to sustain infrastructure, greenfield projects, power grids, agriculture and agro-processing, besides health and pharmaceuticals.

One of the two officials mentioned above did not specify whether the cancer hospital in Kenya would be built as part of the AAGC intiative, but described it as a "trilateral" cooperation venture with Japan, and similarly with the UAE in the case of the ICT centre in Ethiopia.

Analysts say that India is seeking partnerships with third countries in Africa given its resource constraints though New Delhi has undertaken many projects like the ambitious Pan African e-network project on tele-education and tele-medicine-that provides "integrated" satellite, fibre optics and wireless network between educational and medical institutes in Africa and India. The project also supports e-governance, e-commerce, infotainment, resource mapping and meteorological services.

Former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal said India's expertise in skilling manpower, if backed by financial resources and technical expertise from countries like Japan and the UAE, could create quality projects in Africa.

In the case of India and Japan, there is a "mutual interest in doing things together" as both are wary about China's BRI, Sibal said. Both Japan and the UAE could make use of the political goodwill that India enjoys in Africa, making it a win-win situation for all sides, he added.

"Ethiopia has become a very big focal point for Chinese investments into East Africa," Sibal said. With India's ties with the UAE warming up considerably and the UAE looking to invest in India's infrastructure, it was natural that two countries should look at collaborating in third countries and regions like Africa, he added.

Shipping News

Bahri to expand presence in Asia-Pacific
Exim News Service - Riyadh/Singapore, April 15 Top
Bahri, a global leader in logistics and transportation, has announced the expansion of its market presence in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region's maritime industry. The stronger presence will help the company gain deeper insights into market trends as well as customer needs in chemicals and logistics sectors in Singapore and the wider APAC region.

The announcement took place at a grand ceremony held on April 5, 2019 at Regent Hotel in Singapore, in the presence of Mr Abdullah Aldubaikhi, CEO of Bahri, and senior executives of the region's oil majors, petrochemical trading companies and ship brokers.

The expansion will also enable Bahri Logistics and Bahri Chemicals, two of five business units of the company, to market their offerings, acquire new clients, serve existing clients and channelise the communications. Bahri has plans to expand the services of its other business units to the APAC region in the future, said a release.

Said Mr Abdullah Aldubaikhi: "In our efforts to deliver on Bahri's vision of connecting economies, sharing prosperity and driving excellence in global logistics services, we have been actively pursuing the company's ambitious long-term strategy to drive sustainable growth and expand its market footprint. As a result, we have established a solid presence regionally and globally. Our expansion in the Asia-Pacific region represents a key milestone in our journey, and with this, we have come even closer to our customers, allowing us to serve them better, offering a wider range of industry services and unprecedented value."

Over the past 41 years, Bahri has steadily expanded market presence to cement its position as a global leader in the maritime industry. The company currently has offices in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, the US and India, in addition to a vast network of agents across the Middle East and Africa, the US, Europe and Asia.

Bahri is the leading direct full liner service provider from US East and Gulf Coast ports and Canada to Jeddah, Dubai, Dammam and Mumbai, including way-port calls along the liner service route in the Mediterranean and Europe. As a true testimony to the company's strong presence in Asia, Bahri's global network of destinations includes ports in China, India, Singapore and South Korea, the release added.

Logistics News

CONCOR moves a record cargo of 43.32 MTs by rail
India Seatrade News - April 20 Top
The Container Corporation of India (CONCOR) of the Ministry of Railways has achieved 43.32 million tonnes of cargo by rail, 8.4% higher than the previous year 2017-18 of 39.97 million tonnes, thereby clocking the highest ever in its history. There has also been a 30% increase in double stack trains from 2,303 trains to around 3,000 trains in 2018-19, said Chairman and Managing Director Kalyana Raman at a press conference here on Wednesday along with Directors Sanjay Swarup and Manoj Kumar Dubey and General Manager K. Sambasiva Rao. Giving details of the performance in the just-concluded financial year, he said along with Krishnapatnam, three terminals have been commissioned, including two at Bodhjungnagar (Tripura) and Barhi (Haryana), while a distribution logistics was commissioned in Chennai in March last week. With this, the company has a presence across the country with 83 terminals in total.

The CONCOR also entered the coastal shipping arena with the first voyage flagged off earlier this year in January from Kandla Port to Tuticorin Port. A container train service was started to Bangladesh, which was flagged off from Majerhat towards Banglabandhu West and a new transit route was opened to Nepal via Batnaha-Joghani-Biratnagar with the first train flagged off from Kolkata Port in April last. Mr. Raman said as part of their global outreach strategy, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed with Russia for providing logistics services and another with Egypt. Distribution logistics, integrated logistics and manufacturing zone were the new areas of diversification. The firm has signed pacts with the Kandla International Container Terminal to provide exclusive rail access to run rakes. Another was with the Central Warehousing Corporation to operate its facility at Pipavav port to meet the export, import and domestic businesses needs. A train with 90 containers was flagged off to Nepal with electronic cargo tracking system, they added.

Indian Port News

DP World Cochin hosts Wan Hai's new China-India mainline service
Exim News Service - Kochi, April 14 Top
The DP World-operated International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT) at Cochin Port has added a new weekly mainline service, the China-India Express 2 (CI2), operated by Wan Hai Shipping Line. The maiden vessel called at DP World Cochin was on April 9, 2019. The service will strengthen the direct connectivity from Cochin to Far East locations, highlighted a release.

The direct service is an opportunity for the trade, benefiting customers through faster connections and ensuring timely loading and delivery as per schedules. With this major development, ICTT reinforces its position as South India's transhipment hub, the release added.

The service provides direct connectivity to: Cochin - Penang - Port Klang - Hong Kong - Qingdao - Shanghai - Ningbo - Shekou

ICTT registers noteworthy performance in Q1 2019
Exim News Service - Kochi, April 15 Top
The DP World-operated International Container Transhipment Terminal (ICTT), at Cochin Port, delivered a growth rate of 14 per cent in the first quarter of 2019, surpassing the average industry rate of 9 per cent. South India's premium transhipment terminal recorded the highest quarterly throughput of over 1.6 lakh TEUs and recorded its all-time highest monthly throughput of more than 56,000 TEUs in March 2019, highlighted a release.

The terminal also witnessed a 48 per cent improvement in transhipment volumes during the first three months of 2019. This is due to the excellent feeder connectivity the terminal boasts to the major as well as minor ports and inland waterway ports in India.

This growth is attributed to the terminal's persistent efforts in enabling smarter trade solutions, delivering world class productivity and is a testament to its increasing prominence as South India's leading gateway. The terminal's in-house developed TOS-Zodiac and RFID-enabled gate movements facilitate optimisation of time and seamless movement of cargo.

Furthermore, with the commencement of the barge service through National Waterway 3 and 9 connecting to Kottayam and a feeder service to the minor ports of Beypore and Azhikkal in Kerala, the terminal is now equipped to provide an alternate mode of transport for containers in Kerala, the release said.

Commented Mr Praveen Joseph, Chief Executive Officer, DP World Cochin, "At DP World, our focus continues to be on strengthening India's connectivity to other international ports and developing ICTT as an international transshipment hub."

Internationally, the terminal has regular main line services connecting Australia, the Far East, South-East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and the Mediterranean. It expects to further boost its international main line connectivity in the coming months, which will help its customers reduce delivery times and costs to serve international markets, the release added.

MSC Splendida makes maiden call in Kochi
Exim News Service - Kochi, April 17
One of the biggest cruise ships ever to call India Top
On April 7, 2019, Cochin Port welcomed MSC Splendida on her maiden call, and celebrated the moment with the exchanging of crests to officially celebrate the ship's first arrival. This event marked an important moment for MSC Splendida as it was the first time the ship called a port in India. With this maiden call, Cochin Port and India enjoyed the privilege of welcoming one of the largest cruise ships in their history, highlighted a release.

The occasion saw Capt. Deepak Tewari, Managing Director of MSC Agency (India) Pvt. Ltd, and Dr (Ms) M. Beena, IAS, Chairperson of Cochin Port Trust, present mementoes to the Master of the vessel.

The maiden call presented a unique opportunity for the citizens of Kochi and many tourists to witness MSC Splendida in all its splendour. The 333-metre ship, which brings to the sea some of the very latest innovation and technologies, is designed to deliver a unique cruise experience, meeting the needs of guests today and for years to come. One of the most technologically advanced ships at sea, it was the first ship in MSC Cruises' global fleet to be fully retrofitted with the ground-breaking MSC for Me digital innovation programme. This guest-centric feature connects holidaymakers with their desired cruise experience through cutting-edge technology that is specially engineered to meet their every need, regardless of how they prefer to use technology when travelling.

At 137,936 GT, MSC Splendida is one of the largest, most modern cruise ships to ever operate in the region. She features 1,637 cabins, 76 per cent of which come with a balcony, and can accommodate up to 4,363 guests. The ship, which entered into service in 2009, continues to provide state-of-the-art cruise experiences and, amongst others, features the MSC Yacht Club, an exclusive "ship-within-a-ship" high-end concept which has been designed for the most discerning guests who desire exclusivity and privacy. Offering a broad range of private facilities, MSC Yacht Club guests benefit from exclusive services, including a 24-hour personal butler, a dedicated concierge service as well as priority boarding and disembarkation.

Angelo Capurro, Executive Director, MSC Cruises, commented: "Calling the Port of Kochi is a great highlight in our journey and it is exciting to deliver an unparalleled cruise experience at this beautiful destination. Kochi is a bustling centre of activity, with a rich and varied cultural heritage and a maritime history that goes back many centuries. To be able to call here is a privilege and an unforgettable experience we wanted to share with our guests."

MSC Splendida is the tenth ship MSC Cruises built. The company currently operates a global fleet of 16 ships and has another 13 ships on order which are set to come into service by 2027.

The ship is currently on her way to South-East Asia and will make further stopovers in Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan and China. It will be sailing the South-East Asian canvas until next summer 2020, when it returns to Northern Europe and the Mediterranean, said a release.

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