How freight forwarders have benefited from the pandemic

It’s been a tough year for most industries, and the shipping trade has certainly not been exempt. As a full-service maritime and offshore procurement company that offers quality service to all South African ports, Link Ship Chandlers have been in the front lines, watching our industry take big knocks as the shipping trade was disrupted for a large part of the year – first due to a lack of supply in the East, and then due to a lack of demand in the West.

The Robotics Revolution May Be Looming

As COVID-19 continues its global rampage, many people are looking at robotics as a sound investment strategy. There’s no denying the massive impact of the pandemic on the world economy and supply chains which can justify this sort of reasoning.

In light of what has transpired, it’s no surprise that an increasing number of companies want to plan ahead, utilising technology to improve automation of production lines and putting in place more resilient supply chains. Robotics can certainly help as it has several distinct advantages.

First South African Chemical Tanker

As a proud purveyor of chandling services to ships at port, at various major harbours along the South African shoreline, the Link Ship Chandlers team was very excited to learn that Sasol had teamed up with Nduna Maritime to launch the Sasol Siyakha Trust in the fourth quarter of last year. Not only was this collaborative venture the integrated energy and chemical company’s single largest funding agreement to date, but it also yielded our country’s first specialised chemical tanker.

Autonomous Boats: How They Will Change Shipping

The notion of an autonomous ship can seem a little like something out of a science-fiction movie or a kid’s made-up fantasy game, but in 2019 it is a very real, tangible reality in the shipping trade.

The first ever mention of the possibility of such a thing was noted in ‘Ships and Shipping of Tomorrow’, a book published by Rolf Schonknecht in 1970. Now, a scant 50 years later (which is a blink of an eye if you take into account that ocean-faring has been around for aeons!), Yara International ASA and technology company Kongsberg are getting ready to launch the world’s first autonomous and zero-emission container vessel, the Yara Birkeland, in 2020. What a time to be alive!