Executive Summary As a student of Master of business administration analyzing todays business world is very crucial to observe in this complex

situation. It is necessary to go through all fields of knowledge, both theoretical and practical. After passing four years MBA program, I was sent out to have practical knowledge in business life as a part of my academic program. An internship program is organized to give me an opportunity for enhancing my capabilities. In this report I had tried to focus my both theoretical and practical knowledge regarding freight practices. My internship topic is Freight Forwarding. The Communication on Inter modality and International Freight Transport (COM(97) 243) established that a lack of uniform carrier liability arrangement, which tends to lead to additional (ie friction) costs surrounding the associated insurance system, is an impediment for further development of freight inter modalism in the European Union. Following an EC sponsored study (EC Contract Nr. EI-B97- B27040-SIN6954-SUB) by a group of learned experts on harmonization of freight transport carrier liability regimes, IM Technologies, United Kingdom, (with Studiengesellschaft fr den kombinierten Verkehr e.V., Germany, as sub-consultant), was commissioned by the EC to study the underlying economics of carrier liability in the context of inter modal freight transport. This Executive Summary summarizes the key characteristics of the economic impact of carrier liability on inter modal freight transport and the main findings and conclusions of the study undertaken. 1.1 Introduction: Internship is a partial requirement of post graduation. It offers a great opportunity for any student to get some tremendous and brilliant ideas about the practical field. It is also a challenging experience to prepare Internship Report which increases intellectual abilities as an efficient graduate. As forwarding sector have emerged as the most important player of our economy and they also offer a passionate environment for career development so it was my premier objective since the very beginning of MBA program to accomplish internship in this type of marketing institution. A develop forwarding sector plays a vital role for marketing stability of a country. It is now providing their forwarding service with lot of sector. I am very glad for getting the opportunity to accomplish my practical training in the Bangladesh freight forwarding line. The internship program was carried on the Training Division. The internship report has been based on the freight forwarding and overall system of Bangladesh. During the four month long internship period spanning form May to August in Bangladesh freight forwarding the writer of this report gained practical knowledge about the performance appraisal system of the employees of Nexus and worked on a report titled Expolanka Freight Limited line. 1.2 Origin of the report:

The report has been prepared as a fulfillment of the partial requirement of the internship program as authorized by MKT Department, SoutheastUniversity. The primary goal of the internship prospectus is to provide on the job coverage to the student and an opportunity for translation of theoretical conceptions in real life situation. Students are placed in enterprises, organizations, research institutions as well as development projects. The program covers an overall period of approximate 12 weeks of organizational attachment, with report finalization work. 1.3 Purpose of the study: As an institution, Expolanka has been contributing towards the development of any economy for a long time and at the moment it is treated as an important service industry in modern world. Nowadays, the freight forwarding is not limited within the same geographical limit of any country. Due to globalization and free market economy, this industry is facing severe competition. One of the major reasons of their poor performance is adaptation of traditional forwarding system. They are very much slow in adopting new product line, less concerned about attracting and satisfying customers and being reluctant to implement information technology. But the most important thing is that nearly all of the company is more focusing on sale rather than the service, even they do not know how to evaluate their performance. Basically, this study is conducted to expose the way to find out the employees satisfaction level and know how to provide them better service. Different evaluating procedures and techniques have been followed to measure the employees satisfaction. 1.4 Methodology of the Study: For achieving the specific objectives of this study were gathering from both primary and secondary sources. 1.5 Primary Source: Direct conversation with the respective officers of the Departments. Face to face conversation with the employees. Observation of the Mkt department.

1.6 Secondary Sources: Various records of the forwarding line. Different Types of brochures. Website of Expolanka Limited.

 Different newsletters of FFL. Personal files of the employee 1.7 Scope of the report: There are five sections under the forwarding line general. I have worked in three sections vigorously. However, majority of the responsibilities were under the loan and advancement department. I had to spend most of the time working in this department and thus, I acquired a competitive advantage of knowing the loan products better. This motivated me to prepare the internship report on shipping products. This report finding will be limited to the life line products

1.8 Limitations of the study: Forwarding line is, in fact, a huge operation and it is quite impossible to cope up all the activities during internship period. And that for reason, limitations prevail while conducting the study. The basic limitation faced in preparing the report was:

The freights policy of not disclosing some data and information for obvious reasons, which would have been very much useful for the report. As the shipping is continuously changing its system is also changing time to time, it will be difficult to ascertain the true performance of the employees each time. Few officers sometime felt disturbed, as they were busy in job.

Sometime they didnt want to supervise us out of their official work.

Sometimes it was difficult to collect data from their files, because important files are kept in volt for safety. Performance appraisal is a very sensitive issue. So many informations are not been disclose as sack of secrecy. It is difficult to make information based a rich report in a shot time period. For the security of the organization many information couldnt provide me. This report is prepared within a short time.

Chapter 2 The Organization 2.1 Introduction: EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is a subsidiary of Orient Overseas International Limited, a Hong Kong based public company, and is a worldwide leader in integrated international container transportation and logistics services serving Asia, Europe, North America, and Australasia. It has a highly regarded reputation in the industry as providing

customer-focused solutions and by being a pioneer in providing Internet-based services for clients.

2.2 History: EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES was founded in the 1940s by CY Tung, with the intent of becoming the premiere Chinese international merchant fleet. Their first ship landed in 1947 on the U.S. Atlantic Coast and in Europe; the company went under the name Orient Overseas Line. In a restructuring move to expand operations, the company went under the name Orient Overseas International Ltd. (OOIL) in 1968. The following year, as containerized transport began, the subsidiary Orient Overseas Container Line (EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES) was created which assumed the primary business of containerized ocean cargo transport. In respect to ship capacity, their vessels back then could carry around 300 TEU (trade term for space meaning Twenty foot equivalent), or fifteen 20ft. containers. Their largest ship today (and at the moment the worlds largest), the EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES Shenzhen, has a capacity of 8,063 TEU. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES today has 160 offices in 50 countries with a global staff of 4,000.

2.3 History of Freight Forwarding

Previously, it was relatively straight forward to define the role of the freight forwarding community. Traditionally, it involved bringing together all the elements of international transport and distribution and arranging the most suitable space (depending on speed, cost, reliability and security) for the clients cargo. The forwarder was also responsible for processing all paperwork, such as customs and letters of credit. This role has changed significantly. One of the principal catalysts for change was the entry of the global express delivery and courier companies (also known as integrated carriers) into the freight forwarding market in the 1980s. The fundamental difference between a traditional freight forwarding company and an Integrator (DHL, Fedex, UPS etc) is that a forwarder provides pickup and delivery services but relies on independent carriers to transport the cargo. The integrated carrier also perform pickup and delivery services but use their own vehicles and planes to transport the cargo (forwarders continue to shop around with multiple airlines to ensure they obtain the most competitive rates for customers). The integrators offered a range of additional services, such as pick-up and delivery, as well as being relatively cheap and reliable. The effect on the freight market was to greatly increase customers expectations, as a single company was now able to deal with all aspects of the

collection and delivery of consignments. The traditional freight forwarders have therefore had to adapt and develop specialist and high value added services (a trend not exclusive to this industry). Today freight forwarders activities include the following functions:

To act on the customers behalf to procure the most suitable transport and shipping services. To undertake the arrangement of the routing and choice of mode for the customer, together with any ancillary service such as customs clearance or packing. This level of involvement introduces a higher level of expertise, which the shipper may not always be able to provide. Offering stand-alone ancillary services such as warehousing, customs clearance, packing and port agency

2.4 Span of International Operations: The companys world and Asian Pacific headquarters are in Honk Kong; The N. American headquarters are based in San Ramon, California, and the European headquarters are in London. Under these offices lie the individual countries with their respective headquarters and branch offices. In some nations, the company has an associate company through which they provide their services. 2.5 Relation to Containerized Liner Industry at Large: EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is largely concentrated in Asia where it began and developed into the regions market leader among mass-containerized liner carrier transport. In the larger competitive ocean transport markets servicing Europe and North America though, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES acts more so as a large player among a distinct group of partners. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is able to maintain its market competitiveness through memberships in Conferences (next section). This business situation in the containerized liner industry seems to be the norm nowadays, with each major player best serving their respective markets but collaborating at the benefit of both expanding operations combined with better and wider service coverage. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES has no operations in Central or South America. Could one say that this branch of the ocean transport industry has matured in size though? With respect to the number of carriers: yes. With expanded service coverage coupled with increased trade volume: no. The general logistics service industry over the last ten years has been one of the worlds fastest developing service markets considering the scope of modal operations: air, truck, and sea. However, in the last three years large number of logistics service providers left the market while others merged and consolidated. The merger of ocean carriers Maersk and Sealand, as well as P&O and Nedlloyd are prime examples of this movement in ocean freight. There is however, still much growth in this market as trade volume increases over time; variable on the geographical region being looked at.

North America and Western Europe have very large export production volumes that, although important, have only marginally increased over the last 3 years in light of the global economic recession. There is however much optimism in Central and Eastern European trade growth, complemented by the forthcoming admission of 10 new member states in the EU. The countries most watched (in order of importance) are Poland, the Baltic Nations, the Czech and SlovakRepublics, and Hungary. Germany will play a key role as the intermodal transport gateway to these nations. As such, logistics service providers willing to invest and serve their neighboring countries will have high growth prospects. The new interest in these nations has influenced the expected increase of Trans-Atlantic trade. According to a May 2003 article by World Trade Magazine, overall Trans-Atlantic vessel tonnage is expected to grow by 4.9 percent. Of this figure, air-freight will see marginal growth while ocean freight is also forecasted at around 4.9% and is expected to exceed air freight expansion for the first time in 13 years. In Asia, annual production growth is larger with an average of 3%. The leading countries are China with 7% and South Korea with 5%. Japan is the only exception in Asia with its trade growth being stagnant. (Source: Logistics Pilot August 2002). Although there is wide service coverage already by major carriers, volume and trade will still significantly rise among major ports like Singapore and Hong Kong with further port investment and growth among large regional ports including Shanghai and Shenzhen, and other smaller ports. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is the leading carrier here, already serving direct routes from Europe to cities that used to only be covered by transshipment in Hong Kong. One of EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINESs main competitors in the Asia region is China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO). Combined with the growth in Asian-European trade and Trans-Atlantic trade, ports like Antwerp, Rotterdam and Hamburg will continue to grow and expand. Hamburg expects in the near-future to see an increase in container traffic of 16% with a large portion stemming from China and the Baltic Sea region. A specific issue (discussed on p.13) related to the larger proportion of exports/imports from Asia to Europe trade, is the increased costs associated with moving unloaded containers within the European continent. This is causing a supply chain headache for all container companies in countries where export demand is not as high as that of import. 2.6 Conference Lines: A shipping conference is a voluntary association of ocean carriers operating on a particular trade route between two or more countries. These associations were originally formed in the nineteenth century as a means to provide transport services for trade between England and its colonies. A shipping conference establishes uniform freight rates, and terms & conditions that are adhered to by the member carriers. Although the sheer nature of this organizational structure can be compared to that of a cartel, it is seen as very beneficial in the growth of international trade

through the establishment of stable and predictable rate levels. This in turn, reduces the threat of predatory price competition. Although a conference serves as the association at large, member carriers are divided into alliances which provide the basis for a liner service. The carriers share or lease out an agreed portion of their ships to other members, thus providing more frequent services for each. At the benefit of countries and customers, liner services provide sailings on a regular schedule to and from specific ports along a trade route. This schedule is regularly updated for each ships ETA and ETD. The intervals, upon which the sailing schedules are set, are determined by the amount of cargo transported on that route. For large routes from Asia-Europe, this is a weekly service. For smaller inter-regional traffic, these may be on a two week basis. In order to keep conferences from unfairly discriminating against independent carriers through particular membership requirements, the U.S. and Germany require that all conferences that serve their ports must be open. This means they must be willing to accept new carriers under fair and reasonable terms and conditions. The formation of modern alliances began in 1994 with the formation of the Global Alliance between American President Lines, Mitsui OSK Line, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES, and Nedlloyd Lines. The Grand Alliance came next with the members: NYK, HapagLloyd, Neptune Orient Line, and P&O). The following shows the major alliances today: New World Alliance APL Hyundai MOL Independent Carriers Alliance CMA/CGM CSAV/Chilean Line Hanjin Shipping Montemar Maritime Zim Israel Navigation Co.

New Grand Alliance Hapag-Lloyd NYK Line EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES MISC

CKYH Alliance COSCO . K Line Hanjin Shipping Yang Ming Line

 P & O Nedlloyd

Hanjin/Senator/UASG

2.7 Values: Service Excelle Opennes Trust Integrity Responsible corporate citizen

2.8 Objectives of EFLL(Environmental Foundation Logistics Limited) :

Promote, protect and develop a sound freight forwarding and logistics industry, as the association may deem appropriate, in close cooperation and consultation with any government or non-governmental authority or the private sector. Promote and enhance Sri Lanka as a regional and international logistics hub with a reputation for reliability, integrity and high standards by introducing best in class freight forwarding and logistics practice and management. Represent, protect and promote the interests of Members and, enhance solidarity and mutual assistance between its members. Organize trade events and promote members participation in commercial events organized by the association and by third parties. Facilitate capacity building by promoting training and development of members and of their employees and of people interested in making freight forwarding and logistics a career. Foster good relations with associations whose objectives are, directly or indirectly, similar to those set out above. Improve the overall professional image of the freight forwarding and logistic industry. Exchange information between industry stakeholders in order to improve the entire freight forwarding and logistic process. Develop best practice industry standards in meeting the needs of consumers. Carry out the general functions of a trade organization and to provide information for its members through electronic means, publications and of meetings and conferences.

Represent, promote and protect the interests of the industry by participating as advisors or experts in meetings of international bodies dealing with transportation.

2.9 Service of EFLL:

International freight forwarding Air & Ocean services Import & Export CustomclearanceOcean / Air combination services Project forwarding Freight consulting Air & Sea freight charters NVOCC operations Break bulk handling Exhibition forwarding Storage and warehouse Distribution

2.10 Department Activities and Responsibilities: The Scandinavian-Baltic territory is served by either EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINESs own SBX service or by Public Feeders. Containers originating from Germany or elsewhere to a city in this region will have their shipping arrangements made by Transshipment. The only exception is the city of Gothenburg, Sweden which is served by the Iberia Scan Express Service (ISX). On the SBX route, there are three ships: the Neva, Nevskiy, and Narva which can carry up to 600 TEU. The Neva and Nevskiy operate on the SBX1 route while the Narva is on the SBX2 route. The port rotation for both services is as follows: SBX1: Grangemouth \ Antwerp \ Rotterdam \ Hamburg \ Gdansk \ St Petersburg \ Hamburg \ Grangemouth SBX2: Hamburg \ St Petersburg \ Hamina \ Hamburg The amount of TEU that Transshipment Bremen is allowed to book on the SBX service is allocated on a weekly schedule from England. If the department needs to book more space, they would have to call the Trade department in England and receive approval. The SBX booking/notification process begins with the retrieval from InfoNet of a Container Announcement List (CAL). This details the containers to be loaded/discharged from/to the port or to another ship. The tasks vary depending where the container is coming from. Containers from previously called SBX cities (east or west) may need to be unloaded if final destination is Germany, or another country by which mothership or public feeder further transports the cargo.

Motherships arriving in Hamburg may have containers needing further shipment via SBX. Containers from Germany may be bound for eastern or western SBX cities. As one can see, the origins of the container vary but the process of finding out where they need to go is essentially the same. Two versions of the CAL are made: one for loading and the other for discharging at the terminal. Each CAL is further divided up among the varying container sizes, whether they normal or reefer containers, if they contain Dangerous Goods (IMO), or if they are flat-rack/project containers. These two CALs are then reviewed for discrepancies and when ready, are sent to the Stevedore along with the arrival and departure dates. A Stevedore is a company that operates one or more port terminals. For IMO containers, a DG-Declaration and Packing Certificate have to be forwarded to the terminal (if not already available, booking office is contacted), while for reefer containers a cooling order must be sent so that the specified container will be connected and be set at the proper temperature while in the port. After all is done, Transshipment will receive a load/discharge report from the Stevedore which is then reviewed to find containers that werent loaded and follow up on their shipment status. Jochen handles outgoing containers coming from eastern SBX cities that need to transfer in Hamburg to outgoing motherships, while Hermann handles container loading from incoming motherships in Hamburg to eastern SBX cities. Although I was not involved with booking/notification of SBX ships, I observed that timing, planning and coordination were the main aspects of Jochen and Hermanns tasks. Other aspects of their work included contacting the ships, receiving updates on arrival/departure times and weather conditions, and relaying this information to all interested parties. Veterinary products also have to be declared and have their documentation forwarded on time. Another task is the review of terminal load/discharge reports for accuracy and be forwarded to accounting. Chapter 3 Working Process 3.1 What is Freight Forwarding? Freight forwarding is a service used by companies that deal in international or multi-national import and export. While his freight forwarder doesnt actually move the freight itself, it acts as an intermediary between the client and various transportation services. Sending products from one international destination to another can involve a multitude of carriers, requirements and legalities. A freight forwarding service handles the considerable logistics of this task for the client, relieving what would otherwise be a formidable burden. Freight forwarding services guarantee that products will get to the proper destination by an agreed upon date, and in good condition. The freight forwarding service utilizes established relationships with carriers of all kinds, from air freighters and trucking companies, to rail freighters and ocean liners.

Freight forwarding services negotiate the best possible price to move the product along the most economical route by working out various bids and choosing the one that best balances speed, cost and reliability. A freight forwarding service generally provides one or more estimates to the client along with advisement, when necessary. Considerations that effect price will range from origin and destination to special requirements, such as refrigeration or, for example, transport of potentially hazardous materials. Assuming the client accepts the forwarders bid, the freight is readied for shipping. The freight forwarding service then undertakes the responsibility of arranging the transport from point of origin to destination.

3.2 EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES Conference: EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is a member of three conferences. These are the Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement (TACA), the Far East Freight Conference (FEFC), and the Canadian Secretariat (CANSEC).

3.2.1 TACA Trans Atlantic Conference Agreement: This conference serves ports between Europe and the U.S. East, Gulf, and West Coast. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is a member of the New Grand Alliance along with the following other members: Hapag-Lloyd, NYK Line, P&O Nedlloyd, and MISC. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES serves these routes along with the New Grand Alliance members (excluding MISC) and including TMM, Americana, and Lykes (for the GMX and GAX routes). With each carrier, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES has Slot Charter Agreements in which it rents and leases vessel space.

3.2.2 FEFC Far East Freight Conference: This conference serves between Europe Asia and Asia N. America. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES serves this route through the New Grand Alliance. Since the creation of this alliance in January 1998, member carriers combined ports of destination have vastly expanded and service routes have become very frequent and reliable.

3.2.3 CANSEC The Canadian Secretariat: This conference serves between Europe and Canada. Under this conference, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES is a member of the Saint Lawrence Coordinated Service (SLCS)

along with the other members Hapag-Lloyd, Canadian Maritime, and Container Atlantic Shipping Transportation (CAST).

3.2.3 Other Alliances: The Asia Australia Alliance (AAA) is an alliance between Pacific International Lines (PIL), Malaysia International Shipping Corporation (MISC), Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), and EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES . Together they serve ports between Southeast Asia and Australia. 3.3 Services Offered and Assets: 3.3.1Trade Routes: The following routes cover transport for Europe-Asia and Europe-North America. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES covers other important routes over the Pacific Ocean and offers a significant number of routes for intra- Asia; those however will not be discussed here. Another route not mentioned here but in Section II, is the Scandinavian-Baltic Express. The main gateway European ports for EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES are: Southampton, Le Havre, Hamburg, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, and Antwerp. The acronym for Trans-Atlantic Trade is TAT, whereas Asia-Europe Trade is AET.

Europe Canada: There is the Gateway Express consisting of three services lines each running once a week between 5 European cities and Montreal. The service acronym to Canada is TAG, while the individual routes are GEX 1-3. GEX2 is the only line that connects to Germany, through Hamburg.

Europe USA/Mexico: There are five service lines running each once a week connecting 7 European cities to 13 N. American cities. The lines connecting in Hamburg include the Atlantic Express (ATXS) and the S. Atlantic Express (SGXS). Lines connecting in Bremerhaven include the Gulf Mexico Exp. (GMX), the Pacific Atlantic Exp. (PAX), and the Gulf Atlantic Exp. (GAX). All routes except PAX (which falls under TAP), are grouped under the acronym TAN.

Europe Asia: In conjunction with the New Grand Alliance, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES offers six service loops connecting 10 European cities to China, Japan, Singapore, Korea, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Middle East. Each loop covers a particular group of cities, but the two main Asian cities covered are Singapore and Hong Kong. Hamburg

covers loops A through E with the exception of B, covered by Bremerhaven. Loop F covers Mediterranean Asia trade. Loops A through E fall under the service acronym AEC (C for Continent) while Loop F falls under AEM.

3.3.2 Containers: EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES has around 350,000 containers worldwide. These vary according to size and purpose. The first and most popular sort is the general twenty and forty foot length container. The exact dimensions are 20/40 x 8 x 86. High Cube (HQ) containers are also available which offer one foot greater height, 96. These containers are made of steel or aluminum (which is lighter and can bear a higher max gross weight). Reefer containers are refrigerated containers for temperature sensitive goods like food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and particular medical equipment. Cooled air is delivered through the floor to allow thorough distribution. These containers are made of steel with a stainless steel lining and are available in 20ft, 40ft and 40ft high cube sizes. Open top containers allow bulk cargo like machinery to be loaded from overhead. They come with a PVC tarp cover and attachable bows with cable sealing devices, in addition to removable container doors for easier cargo stuffing. They are made of steel available in 20 and 40ft sizes. Flatracks are standard 20-40ft containers designed for heavy cargo loaded from the sides or top, for example lumber and pipes. These are available as collapsible or non-collapsible with or without walls, and are made of steel. To suit the shipment needs of clothing manufacturers and distributors, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES also offers Garmentainers. These special containers come in 20 and 40ft sizes, have either a string or bar system (or both) for hanging clothes, and offer the client greater load internal capacity and lower handling costs. 3.3.3 Vessels: EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES s ship fleet is modern and relatively young in comparison to other large carriers. All of their ships are registered under Hong Kong and come in different classes with respect to capacity and purpose. The S-class with 10 ships carry within an average of 5,500 TEU. The E-class with 2 ships carry 2,450 TEU. The F-class with 6 ships carry an average of 3,200 TEU. The ICEclass has 3 special ships with strong reinforced hulls for very cold weather and ice conditions; two carry up to 3,100 TEU while the last one up to 4,400 TEU. The last ship, and currently the worlds largest, is the EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES Shenzhen with a capacity for up to 8,063 TEU. While it has a fixed number of ships, EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES s membership in the Grand Alliance extends their offering of container shipment services to over 100 ships.

The need for larger ports Although ocean ships will only get bigger and have higher-capacities over the next 20 years, an important issue for certain ports is the ability to accommodate these massive vessels. In Hamburg for example, certain large ships have to wait until high-tide until they can enter the harbor because the water-depth is not that deep (average of 14 meters in high-tide). Even so, ships from Cuxhaven have a particular window-period of time of 2 hours within which to sail into Hamburg. While the solution for some harbors is to build further out into the sea, this option is quite costly and may not even be available depending on the relative geographic location of the port to the ocean. In northern Germany, there is a massive study into the prospect of a new mega port in Wilhelm shaven. The project would be a costly investment and undertaking, but the prospect of building a spacious harbor with the capacity to accommodate these massive vessels of the future is considered well worth it. An additional benefit of this harbor would be its ability to strongly compete against Rotterdam, already the 3rd largest port in the world. Wilhelm shaven originally approached Bremen and Hamburg into the idea of joint investment. At the moment only Bremen (namely BLG Bremer Lagerhaus Gesellschaft) has actively taken interest in the prospect. Although the long-term investment potential is quite large, a greater issue at hand is the massive infrastructure needed to support the port including larger highways, bonded warehouses, and companies willing to establish offices there. The largest and most important investment needed would be the building of a two-track electric railway to connect Wilhelm shaven to either Bremen or Osnabrck; this would need to be funded by the German Parliament. 3.3.4 Terminals: A terminal is an area of the harbor where a ship docks and from which its cargo is unloaded. It also may include a container yard and bonded warehouses. Terminals may be state or privately owned and operated, and may be located in- or outside of the Free Trade Zone of a harbor (if available). The commission in charge of the terminal draws up the applicable load/unloading, storage, and other applicable fees it charges the carriers. EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES also owns and operates port terminals in Asia and North-America. These include: Taiwan: Kaosiung Terminal Los Angeles: Long Beach Container Terminal New Jersey: Global Terminal New York: Howland Hook Vancouver: Deltaport and Vantern 3.3.5 Bill of Lading:

This official legal document issued by the carrier to the shipper is a contract of carriage that represents the ownership of cargo, a negotiable document to accept cargo, and the terms and conditions under this contract that identify the responsibilities and liabilities of each party. Issued B/Ls come usually in a set of three originals which are signed by the master of the ship or another authorized person on behalf of the shipping company. On presentation of any of the three originals (along with appropriate payment), the master or authorized person has to turn over the goods to the consignee or delegated party.

Types of B/Ls 1) Straight Here the consignment is made directly to the overseas customer or other entrusted agent to further handle the goods. 2) Order This B/L is negotiable, meaning that it can be bought, traded, or sold. There is no designated consignee, but rather an agent which is to be notified upon arrival of the goods. The agent is responsible for properly identifying to the carrier the right to pay for and pick up the goods. If the agent or overseas customer is unable to pay, the carrier (after notifying the shipper and a certain amount of time has expired) has the option to sell the B/L (and thus the goods) to an interested party. The transfer of title is completed when the carrier endorses the B/L to the respective agent or buyer. 3) Through This B/L is issued by the freight forwarder or carrier, and covers the contract of carriage for all primary and intermodal carriers used in the shipment from point of origin to destination.

Terms and Conditions The terms and conditions on the back of a B/L highlight the responsibilities of the carrier and their liabilities. This section is very important. As carriers would probably like to draw up their own limitations of the contract, all affected parties in B/Ls are subject not only to national laws, but international laws drawn under conventions signed by various nations. Under the EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES standard Bill of Lading, the following sections are outlined: Sections 1-2: Definitions attributed to terms used, such as CARRIER, MERCHANT, GOODS,PORT OF RECEIPT, HAGUE-RULES, and STATE.

3: Declaration of Carriers tariff to be further outlined. Copies of applicable tariffs can be obtained from EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES. In areas of inconsistency between the B/L and applicable tariffs, the B/L shall preside except in the U.S. where the tariff provisions preside. 4: Carriers Responsibility and Clause Paramount. This section details EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES sliabilities and the parties responsible under specific scenarios. Where limitations of liability are unclear, they are further delegated to international/national laws where applicable. 5-6: These sections outline the Merchants warrants for the authority to ship the goods that are suitable for containerized transport, the various merchant responsibilities, and the liabilities the merchant cannot hold EXPOLANKA FREIGHT LIMITED LINES accountable for. 7: The Merchant is delegated the responsibility for complying with all applicable regulations and paying all necessary dues that arise under previously agreed terms and any fines/penalties that may arise. Further, the carrier considers the cargo officially handed over to the consignee should the carrier be obliged to hand over goods to customs or the port authority. 8: Here, the merchant is responsible for any damage to goods (under listed conditions) that arise from containers that have been packed by the shipper.