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The Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) recently welcomed the ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (ZIM) 10,070-TEU (container) Tianjin vessel on its maiden call to the port’s Blount Island Marine Terminal, the company said in its press release. JAXPORT offers worldwide cargo service from more than 40 ocean carriers and with the addition of ZIM, one of the world’s largest container shipping lines, ten of the world’s top 11 global carriers now offer service through the port.

With no Moroccan operator interested in serving the route between Almeria and Nador, it would appear that the Moroccan ‘Marine Marchande’ authorities have authorised Baleària to continue operating on the route, competing with Trasmediterranea.

The Regional Government of Sardinia has selected Moby to operate the winter ferry service between Santa Teresa di Gallura (Sardinia) and Bonifacio (Corsica).

Piraeus Port Authority (PPA), operator of Greece’s largest port, wants the Greek government to speed up the approval of an investment plan that aims to attract more business to one of Europe’s largest harbours, executives said. PPA, majority owned by China’sCOSCO Shipping, is awaiting the green light from Greece’s shipping ministry to proceed with mandatory investments based on its concession agreement with the Greek state.

Cruise traffic hit an all-time high at Sweden’s Ports of Stockholm in the 2018 season. Between April and October, Ports of Stockholm hosted visits from 267 international cruise ships and 619,000 passengers at its cruise berths in located in Stockholm and Nynäshamn. The Port of Kapellskär also welcomed its first-ever cruise call when MSC Cruises’ MSC Meraviglia arrived with 3,500 guests this September, bringing the total number of cruise ships to 268. This marks a rise from both 2016 and 2017 when the ports welcomed a total of 230 ships and 490,000 guests and 263 vessels and 600,000 passengers respectively.

Virgin Voyages are announcing to open the first tattoo studio on their SCARLET LADY currently under construction at Fincantieri Genoa. In addition various onboard renderings have been published.http://cruisedeck.de/erstes-tattoo-studio-auf-einem-cruise-liner/

Jordan’s Aqaba New Port will see all ship and goods movements, warehouse management and logistics fully digitised in a project with a contract volume worth millions of euros. German company INPLAN Software Solutions (INPLAN), which provides software solutions for ports, terminals and maritime logistics firms, has won a tender for the venture, which will be realised in several phases and is anticipated to last two years. “INPLAN has been able to fully demonstrate its strong performance and succeeds in an 18-month bidding process against some 50 international competitors,” INPLAN chief executive Mohamad Itani said.

New cruise ship visitors and longer homeporting seasons from operators who regularly call at PortMiami helped the Florida port break passenger records in 2018. Almost 5.6 million cruise passengers passed through PortMiami this year – a 4.7% rise from 2017. The growth has been largely attributed to the fact that Oceania Cruises and Disney Cruise Line both extended their winter seasons, while Royal Caribbean International added extra sailings Empress of the Seas’ schedule and also began offering Miami departures on Mariner of the Seas. Three operators – Viking Ocean Cruises, Victory Cruise Lines and Seabourn – also called at the port for the first time.

Fosen Yard, together with the investment group around Deutsche Industrieanlagen and Patrick Hennings-Huep, the previous owner of Nordseewerke Emden Shipyard, has entered into an agreement to establish Fosen Nordseewerke GmbH and jointly take over the ongoing business in Emden.

Chinese gas distributor ENN Energy Holdings has begun operations at the first phase of its Zhoushan liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, Vice President Ma Shenyuan said, speaking at a commencement ceremony for the terminal on Friday. As ENN aims to ramp up winter supplies in eastern China, the tanker ‘Asia Integrity’ docked at the Zhoushan terminal on the same day, bringing 145,000 cubic meters of LNG from Australia supplies to mark the launch of China’s first privately-owned LNG facility. ENN has signed long-term deals including sales and purchase agreements with Chevron Corp and Australia’s Origin Energy and also has an agreement to buy LNG from Total . The deals total about 1.5 million tonnes per year of LNG.

Cargo transshipment from the Aktau port (Kazakhstan) to Azerbaijan increased by 32 percent in the first eight months of 2018, compared to the same period last year, the Ministry for Investments and Development of Kazakhstan told Trend. “For the eight months of 2018, about 1.3 million tons of cargo were transshipped through the ports of Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan, including 202,000 tons from the Aktau port or 32 percent compared to the same period in 2017 (624,000 tons); 1.141 million tons from the Kuryk port, which is 66 percent more than in the same period last year (756,000 tons),” the ministry said. The ministry noted that in 2017, 740,500 tons of cargo (266,800 tons of oil, 19,700 tons of dry cargo, 454,000 tons of ferry cargo) were transshipped from the Aktau port to the Baku port, which ensured an increase of 76,900 tons compared to 2016 (663,600 tons).

Estonia-based shipping company Tallink Grupp has ordered an environmentally friendly car and passenger ferry from Finnish shipyard Rauma Marine Constructions (RMC). To be delivered in December 2021, the €250 million (US$288 million) Tallink Shuttle ferry will accommodate 2,800 people and will provide services between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia. The vessel will be equipped with the latest technology and systems to ensure she is as energy-efficient and environmentally friendly as possible. RMC, which has previously worked on six Tallink Grupp ferries, will begin planning the newbuild in spring 2019 and commence construction in 2020.

APM Terminals has reached a sales agreement with current partner SOCAR to divest its container terminal in Izmir, Turkey. The Aliağa facility, to be named Petlim Container Terminal, is the largest container terminal in Turkey’s Aegean region, and the third largest in Turkey with a capacity of 1.3 million TEU per year. As part of the deal, APM Terminals will continue managing the terminal, ensuring that both its shipping line and landside customers are looked after. The new structure of the terminal means that operating company Petlim will be fully owned by SOCAR Turkey and managed by APM Terminals.

Liebherr Container Cranes will deliver 10 electric rubber-tyred gantry cranes (ERTGs) to Montréal Gateway Terminals Partnership’s (MGT) Cast Terminal and Racine Terminal next year. In a release, Liebherr said that the electrically-operated, environmentally-friendly machines — of which five are destined for Cast Terminal and five are destined for Racine Terminal — offer lots of benefits regarding less noise and emissions and allow MGT to keep offering its customers an exceptionally-efficient and productive service. The cranes have a safe working load of 40.6 tonnes and can handle six containers, plus a truck lane’s width, while stacking 1-over-5 high.

The long-awaited newbuilding contract for what will become the largest ro-pax ever in the history of Naviera Armas has now been officially signed with Hijos de J. Barreras, the Vigo-based shipbuilder with whom the Canaries-headquartered ferry operator has a longstanding relationship.

Production has now started with the first steel cut of the first two Norled double-enders at Poland’s Remontowa Shipbuilding (yard number 619/1 and 619/2). The two diesel-electric hybrid double-enders will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Egypt will reduce the tariffs on container ships and ferries coming from foreign ports to East Port Said for a period of one year, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement. A 30 percent discount on port, docking and guiding fees will apply for vessels carrying less than 80,000 tonnes while those carrying more than that will receive a 40 percent discount, the statement said. Vessels carrying more than 50 containers will be eligible for a discount of up to 60 percent, but both rates cannot be applied at the same time, it said. The Suez Canal is the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and one of the Egyptian government’s main sources of foreign currency. Source: Reuters

On behalf of Port of Rotterdam Authority, the consortium Boskalis, Van Hattum en Blankevoort and Mobilis is constructing a deep-sea quay, inland navigation quay and jetty for the new HES Hartel Tank Terminal on the Hartelstrook (Maasvlakte 1). To enable the tank terminal to accommodate large oil tankers and inland vessels, the consortium is constructing a 1,200-metre quay wall for sea-going vessels, an 1,100-metre quay wall and a 350-metre jetty with four berths for inland vessels, as well as the necessary bank and seabed protection. ‘Port of Rotterdam Authority started its part of the work in January 2018. The 600 mixed-in-place piles are now in place and the reinforcement work and concrete placements of the quay walls are in full swing. We need to have completed our work by the end of 2019 and we’re on track,’ says Stefanie van der Wee, project manager Port Development Port of Rotterdam Authority.

The harbour board has announced when the wreck of a fishing vessel in Littlehampton Harbour will be recovered. The boat sank at the entrance in the morning of Oct 19, 2018, and six people were rescued. Large commercial vessels could not use the harbour, but none were expected until Oct 22. Mariners were warned of the marked wreck between the Entrance Beacons of Littlehampton Harbour which was resting on the bottom approximately 10 metres to the east of the West Pier Beacon, also known as the Drumhead at the end of the West Works. Wreck position 50o47.89N, 000o32.45W. The 8,5-m fishing vessel was marked by two yellow buoys. The vessel’s antenna was visible at high water. Multicat operations were being mobilised with a 20 m multicat workboat and dive team expected by early afternoon. Small and medium sized vessels could depart or enter the harbour safely by carefully navigating around the marked wreck which is situated on the west side of the channel just before the end of the West Pier. The harbour may be closed during later recovery operations. The timber vessel was departing the harbour when it struck the entrance, causing it to take in water and sink. The six people in the boat were stranded in the water, and two other fishing vessels came to their aid and pulled five of them out of the water. The HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter based at Lee-on-Solent, Littlehampton Coastguard Rescue team, the South East Coast Ambulance Service and Sussex Police were also involved. The volunteer crew of the Atlantic lifeboat rescued the man from the water and took him and a second man, who had been rescued by one of the fishing boats and was believed to be one of the most severely affected by their time in the water, to the lifeboat station. The lifeboat then returned to the harbour entrance and the four remaining men were transferred from the fishing boats to the lifeboat and taken to the lifeboat station to warm up and receive treatment by the ambulance crews. None of the casualties required transferring to hospital. Reports with photos and video: https://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/transport/littlehampton-harbour-boat-wreck-set-to-be-recovered-1-8675384 https://www.littlehamptongazette.co.uk/news/six-rescued-after-boat-sinks-in-littlehampton-harbour-1-8674910

The Freeport of Riga has announced that it is testing the suitability of its Spilve Meadows territory for construction and development projects. During the geodetic investigation, 3D visual modelling was performed to demonstrate the future development of the port, promoting the competitiveness of Riga for investors. Possible projects that could take place in the Spilve Meadows territory, as part of a proposed development programme, include a road network connection with the Daugavgrīva road and the construction of a new railway line. In addition to this, eight warehouses or manufacturing buildings, each with an area of 10,000 square metres, could also be built.