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The delivery of Irish Ferries’ new EUR 144 million ro-pax W.B. YEATS from German shipbuilder Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (FSG) has been further delayed until September at the earliest, affecting the summer holiday plans of thousands of Irish travellers.

Philippines-based International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI) is keeping up with market developments and has taken delivery of three new cranes at Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) to enable its flagship terminal to handle the world’s largest container ships and be on par with other major ports. ICTSI said in a press release it took delivery of a pair of neo-panamax quay cranes and a post-panamax quay crane from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industry. The delivery of the cranes brings the Philippines’ largest port handling equipment to MICT, and the neo-panamax crane will enable the terminal to handle up to 14,000 teu ultra large container ships (ULCS), putting the terminal on equal footing with major ports in developed markets, it said.

Oceanwide Expeditions' new polar cruise ship Hondius has been launched at Brodosplit shipyard in Croatia. Hondius is the first-registered Polar Class 6 vessel in the world. The Polar Class 6 vessel will offer deluxe accommodation for 176 passengers sailing both the Arctic and the Antarctic. She will be equipped with two main engines for a total of 4,200 kW, generating a speed of 15 knots. The propulsion system consists of two medium speed main engines and one adjustable pitch propeller. The flexible power management system (in combination with a shaft generator instead of a diesel-driven generator) is designed to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/polar-explorer-hondius-launched#gs.FFxv2XU

Notwithstanding the plans by the United States to impose fresh sanctions on Iran nuclear deal, India is all set to begin interim operations in the strategically important Chabahar port project next week, shipping ministry officials familiar with the development said. India has selected an Iranian company, Kaveh Port and Marine Services, for running the operations for 18 months till it selects a firm to manage and maintain the facility for long term. As per the memorandum of understanding signed between India and Iran in May 2016, India would equip and operate two terminals in Chabahar port Phase-I with a capital investment of $85.21 million and annual revenue expenditure of $22.95 million on a 10-year lease. “We have been able to enter Chabahar port for interim operations, which will start from June 13,” said shipping secretary Gopal Krishna.

VietNamNet Bridge – The northern city of Hai Phong’s People’s Committee has established an inter-sectoral inspection group to examine inland waterway vehicles, including tourist boats, operating in the city. Hai Phong, manage tourist boats, tourist complaint, Vietnam economy, Vietnamnet bridge, English news about Vietnam, Vietnam news, news about Vietnam, English news, Vietnamnet news, latest news on Vietnam, Vietnam The move comes after a scandal reported by an Australian tourist in the middle of last month. Nguyen Van Luyen, chief secretary of the office of the city’s Road Safety Committee, said inter-sectoral inspectors were expected to examine all inland waterway vessels and passenger boats in the city from May 29 to June 9. “Vehicles that fail to meet operational requirements will be suspended,” he said. According to the city’s Transport Department, there are 322 steel boats, 171 wooden boats, 55 aluminium boats and 19 fibre-reinforced plastic ships and boats operating in the city’s waters. Of these, 15 are registered to operate on four fixed routes: Ben Binh-Cat Ba downtown station, Ben Got-Cai Vieng, Dinh Vu-Cai Vieng and Dinh Vu-Ben Got-Cai Vieng. Another 117 passenger boats are registered to offer contract-based services.

Manila International Container Terminal (MICT), the flagship terminal of International Container Terminal Services (ICTSI), is ready to handle some of the largest boxships with its new cranes. Three new cranes, a pair of Neo-Panamax quay cranes and a Post-Panamax quay crane, arrived at the terminal on June 7. These will be positioned at Berths 6 and 5, respectively. With the new equipment, MICT will be capable of handling containerships of up to 14,000 TEU, the largest in the intra-Asia trade. “With the arrival of the new Neo-Panamax cranes, MICT is ready to address the pressing demand and volume increase by servicing larger vessels,” said Christian R. Gonzalez, ICTSI Head of Global Corporate and Regional Head of Asia Pacific & MICT. Two more quay cranes are set to arrive in 2019.

Most major international grain houses have not been included in a draft list of exporters who will work with the two largest grain terminals in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk in the new marketing season, sources familiar with the matter said. Competition for access to grain export infrastructure has intensified in Russia as its ports are running at maximum capacity after it harvested a record crop in 2017 and prospects for 2018 are also bright. While the majority of the key global grain houses did not get on the list, some local firms are aiming to build up their presence at the two largest Novorossiisk grain terminals in the 2018/19 season, which starts on July 1, traders at international firms said. “Significant consolidation of business in hands of small number of market participants, mainly Russian, is happening there,” an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. The list of these local firms include privately-held RIF, Russian largest grain trader, and the state grain trader United Grain Company, sources said.

Bunkering company Iraqia Shipping Services and Oil Trading (AISSOT) says over a 500 bunkering operations have taken place at Iraqi ports since it started up operations last September. Demand for bunkering services is primarily from tankers, the company said. "Customers prefer to take bunkers after crude oil loadings to avoid diversion to other ports for bunkers thereby saving huge costs and time," the company said in a statement. The company added that it plans to commence berth supplies at Um Qasr Port to cater for box ships and bulkers. AISSOT is joint-owned by state firm Iraqi Oil Tanker Company and the Arab Maritime Petroleum Transport Company. https://shipandbunker.com/news/world/114608-aissot-in-iraq-bunkering-established-for-tankers

New pre-arrival clearance protocols and reduced terminal handling charges for containers in transit, mean that Jordan’s deep-water Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT), located on the Red Sea, is now a realistic alternative maritime gateway for Iraq-bound cargo, APM Terminals said in its press release. Containers imported into Iraq will no longer have to be trans-loaded onto new trucks as they cross the Jordanian/Iraqi border. “The Aqaba Container Terminal has been working hard over the years to develop a competitive gateway to Iraq," says ACT Managing Director Steven Yoogalingam. “This will enhance the already strong Iraqi port system and gives the business communities of both countries a fantastic transportation system to better support economic development in the region." Ideally located, the ACT is 550km - or 36 hours by road - from the Iraqi border town of Traibil and 48 hours from Baghdad. This development comes as the volume of Iraqi imports experience rapid growth - 86% last year alone.

On June 7, 2018, for the third time since the inauguration of the Expanded Canal, the Panama Canal set a new monthly tonnage record of 38.1 million tons (PC/UMS) after facilitating the transit of 1,231 vessels in May 2018. The previous record was established in January 2017, when 1,260 vessels transited 36.1 million tons (PC/UMS) through the waterway, just a month after setting the record with 35.4 million tons (PC/UMS) transited by 1,166 vessels in December 2016. The container ship segment contributed the highest tonnage (36%), breaking its segment record with 13.8 million tons (PC/UMS) transited by 229 vessels.

Carnival Corporation’s subsidiary Holland America Princess Alaska Tours is to acquire TWC Enterprises’ White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&YR) division so it can manage operations at White Pass port, railroad and associated retail outlets in Skagway, Alaska. Holland America Princess Alaska Tours has also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for Ketchikan-based company Survey Point Holdings to continue managing the daily operations at WP & YR’s port, the White Pass Scenic Railway, the associated retail operations and customer relations. Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska, Amak Towing and Southeast Stevedoring will also help to operate the port. As part of the new MOU, Carnival Corporation and Survey Point will invest in several initiatives to make Skagway a popular cruise and shore excursion destination, and continue driving growth in the local economy.

A new international cruise terminal will be operating in Brisbane within two years after Port of Brisbane and Carnival Australia reached a commercial agreement. The Brisbane International Cruise Terminal (BICT) at Luggage Point will be operating by mid-2020 and is expected to generate almost AUD 5 billion in economic value for the Queensland economy alone within fifteen years. The amended agreement between the duo follows the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) conditional approval of the project last month.

The construction of the lock gate chamber of the outer head (number 1 in the picture) is scheduled for near completion in June. The diaphragm walls for the guard walls (numer 2 in the picture) will also be constructed this month, just like the flood defence between the new sea lock and the North Lock (number 3 in the picture). Outer head lock gate chamber This month, the outer head lock gate chamber will get close to its final dimensions. With its four metres thick floor, the underside of which lies at 5 metres below NAP (Amsterdam Ordnance Datum) and its six metres thick walls with a height of 17 metres above NAP, it surely is an impressive structure. Its total floor area is 26 by 80 metres. Once the required dimensions are reached, preparations can be made to sink the outer head lock gate chamber; this sinking operation is planned for later in the summer. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/the-new-sea-lock-whats-happening-in-june/

There is now another “front in the Russian-Ukrainian war,” Mikhail Zhirokhov says. “It is the Sea of Azov … a real cold war which at any moment risks growing into an open armed conflict” as Russia tries to block all shipping to Ukrainian littoral ports and thus weaken Kyiv’s hold on a region adjoining the breakaway Donbass. In order not to run afoul of international maritime law, the Ukrainian military expert says, Moscow has chosen “a relatively legal path,” of requiring inspections of all ships under any flag to be inspected if they are headed to or from the Ukrainian ports of Berdyansk and Mariupol. According to Mariupol port officials, that meant that there were no ships loading or being offloaded in that port from June 2 to June 4, something that is costing the city’s economy dearly. Moreover, shippers, delayed by the inspection, are losing between 5,000 and 15,000 US dollars per hour as a result. Not surprisingly, they don’t want to suffer such losses. The practice continues. Last night, Zhirokhov says, Russian coastal guards detained a Turkish freighter for three hours, again inflicting higher costs on any ship that might be destined to or from these Ukrainian ports on the Sea of Azov. Russian forces have also take additional steps to complicate the lives of the two Ukrainian ports, the Kyiv analyst says. They have announced live fire drills and exclusion zones, and they have introduced new and more powerful naval vessels into the Sea of Azov to underscore Russia’s advantages. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/russia-seeking-to-block-maritime-shipping-to-ukrainian-ports-on-sea-of-azov/

Commodity trading company Trafigura has has started a new bunkering venture in the Americas. As widely reported by various media outlets last month, Trafigura Group Pte Ltd recently acquired the majority of Pampa Energia SA’sdownstream assets. The deal will see some 250 of Pampa's retail service stations rebranded over the coming months. But the deal has also seen physical bunkering operations at Bahia Blanca, Argentina switch to Trafigura, Ship & Bunker has learned. It is understood that there is only one physical supplier in the port using a single barge to deliver notably low sulfur RMG380 as part of its offering. https://shipandbunker.com/news/am/824793-new-bunkering-operation-for-trafigura-in-the-americas

The expansion of the Polnocne Quay is one of the largest projects carried out by the Port of Gdansk Authority. The PGA has just announced a call for tenders in order to find a contractor for the investment, the company said in its press release. This is not the first step of the Gdansk port aimed at expanding the quay. The investment is ready for implementation: project documentation is complete, including the construction design prepared as part of the project co-financed from the TEN-T programme and valid building permit. Now, it is time to find a contractor to turn the designs and documentation into reality. "The expanded Polnocne Quay will be used primarily for Ro-Ro transshipments. We are witnessing rapid growth in this area, particularly in the transshipments of commercial vehicles. Compared to 2016, the year 2017 ended with a result better by 400%. Our task is to adjust the infrastructure to the needs and development of the market," says Lukasz Greinke, President of the PGA.

Only a small percentage of Hamburg’s container traffic is transported to and from the hinterland via the network of inland waterways, something the German port wants to change.

APM Terminal Inland Services Uruguay (also known as Montevideo Port Services SA) have made large steps towards becoming emission free as 648 solar panels were turned on this month. The solar panels are capable of producing 228.6 MWh per year, enough to meet 90% of the facilities entire annual consumption. The switchover to the renewable energy source will reduce Inland Services Uruguay’s CO2 emissions by approximately 50 tonnes per year. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency it would take around 1,300 seedling trees 10 years to absorb this amount of CO2.

The youngest member of the AIDA fleet is now being given its smile at the Meyer shipyard in Papenburg. https://worldmaritimenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/dfbtyeow0aidcsw.jpg

The Board of the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) has approved the purchase of 10 additional Konecranes Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes. This will bring the fleet at Garden City Terminal, Port of Savannah, to 156 Konecranes RTGs. The Port of Savannah had a record April in which 356,700 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEU) were moved, an increase of 7.1% over April of last year. “We’re on track to move more than 300,000 TEUs in every month of the fiscal year, which will be a first for the Authority,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch. “We’re also anticipating this to be the first fiscal year for the Port of Savannah to handle more than 4 million TEUs,” continued Lynch. As the fastest growing container port in the USA, the Port of Savannah has achieved a compound annual growth rate of more than 5% a year over the past decade.