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On 24 May, P&O Cruises revealed that the name for its 183,000gt LNG-powered cruise ship will be IONA, the name of an Island on the Scottish west coast. The first steel cut has also been made at the Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg on 25 April.

The new 111,500gt and 315-metre long MEIN SCHIFF 2 was floated out on 1 June at the Meyer Turku shipyard, one month after the delivery of her sister, the MEIN SCHIFF 1.

Following China’s ban on import of plastic wastes, a lot of them are coming instead to Việt Nam, but with consignees failing to claim shipments, the wastes are piling up at ports including in HCM City. As of late May 389 containers arriving in 6,801 consignments are lying in ports for more than 90 days without being claimed by their owners, a customs official told Người lao động (The labourer) newspaper. According to a Ministry of Finance circular, goods left unclaimed for more than 90 days at ports could be seized and sold. Cát Lái Port in District 2 has 307 containers and 448 parcels while Tân Sơn Nhất international airport and the express customs branch have 1,949 and 4,384 parcels. A customs official at Cát Lái Port said an increasing number of consignments have been piling up at ports for more than 90 days since the beginning of this year. The reason was China’s ban on import of plastic scrap from the EU, the US and Japan this year, who are now sending it to Southeast Asian countries, including Việt Nam, he said. But related agencies impose restrictions on import of wastes, meaning customs authorities are unable to process their entry, he said. Goods are also stuck at ports because consignees do not claim them.

The $5 billion-plus Terminal 4 coal export expansion planned for Newcastle has been scrapped after demand for the fossil fuel failed to increase as expected. Port Waratah Coal Services said on Thursday that it would allow a lease for the terminal – known as T4 – to lapse, signalling that the project would not go ahead. Port Waratah’s two terminals, Carrington and Kooragang, last year exported 105 million tonnes of coal out of a combined capacity of 145 million tonnes, the company said in a statement. Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group, operator of the city’s third terminal, shipped about 60 million tonnes, helping make Newcastle one of the largest coal export centres in the world.

Navis, a part of Cargotec Corporation and provider of operational technologies and services that unlock greater performance and efficiency for the world’s leading organizations across the shipping supply chain, announced that Tianjin Port Group has completed the cut over and go live of N4 across its six terminals in record time.

Construction work has started to build a new cruise terminal in Liverpool, UK after plans were approved in April this year . An overwater jack-up platform has started site investigations on the bedrock where the new facility will be built. The new permanent terminal, which will replace the current cruise facility, will enable the city to accommodate the world’s biggest cruise ships on the UNESCO World Heritage waterfront. “Liverpool is used to welcoming majestic vessels to the Mersey, like Cunard’s Queen Victoria the other day, but this unusual looking jack-up platform is arguably our most critical visitor this year given the importance of the work its carrying out,” said Joe Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool.

To better serve customers shipping from the Dominican Republic to South Florida, Crowley Maritime Corp.’s liner services group announced today that it has launched a new direct, weekly shipping service from Puerto Plata to Port Everglades, Fla. Crowley is the only ocean carrier that provides a direct shipping service connecting these two locations.

UK cross-Solent ferry operator Red Funnel has started upgrade work on its East Cowes terminal for its three Raptor Class ro-paxes on the Southampton-Cowes route, as well as preparing the terminal for the arrival of its new freight-only ro-ro.

Brazil’s trucker strike entered the ninth straight day amid signs that the protests may be shrinking. While there’s no official data yet on the number of the blockades across the country on Tuesday, industry reports indicated that many were halted after the government signed decrees meeting trucker demands. Local media said protests persist in several states. Brazil terminals run out of soybeans (12:19 p.m.) Most export terminals ran out of soybeans for shipments scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, Lucas Trindade de Brito, manager at export group Anec, said in a telephone interview. Grain-truck traffic resumed slowly on Tuesday, though new supplies haven’t arrived yet to export terminals. Political protests prevent end of strike (noon) Protests are becoming politically motivated as truckers return to work after the government met their demands, Brazil Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha said at a press conference in Brasilia. Earlier, Jose da Fonseca Lopes, head of the largest trucker union, said the strike continues because of the interest of “people who want to overthrow the government.” Vale output cut inevitable if strike persists (11:24 a.m.) Strike impact for the time being is limited, Vale CEO Fabio Schvartsman says at an event in Sao Paulo. Dow halts plants, limits deliveries (11:21 a.m.) Amid strike impact, Dow still expects to expand in Brazil many basis points above GDP and will continue spending in Brazil, Fabian Gil, the CEO for Latin America, says at an event in Sao Paulo. Beef output almost completely halted (11:16 a.m.) Among Brazil’s 109 beef plants, 107 suspended operations and two are running below 50% of capacity, exporter group Abiec said in an email. Exports of 40,000 tons of beef haven’t been shipped as planned, and thousands of trucks loaded with perishable products, including boned meat, are halted on roads. Truck flow to main export terminals still halted (10:15 a.m.) Ports at Santos, the main source for grain exports, and Paranagua, the second-largest, haven’t received any cargoes by truck on Tuesday, according to authorities for both terminals. Truck grain transportation resumes slowly: Abiove (10 a.m.) Soybean and soybean-meal transportation slowly returned to normal in some parts of the country, Daniel Furlan Amaral, a manager at industry group Abiove, said in a telephone interview. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/most-port-terminals-run-out-of-soybeans-brazil-strike-timeline/

Norwegian company Barents NaturGass said Wednesday it has reached an agreement with Swedish gas distribution and infrastructure company Swedegas on the delivery of LNG to a new bunkering facility in the port of Gothenburg in Sweden. The facility is expected to be complete in August. Swedegas will own and operate the facility. Barents NaturGass will supply the LNG with ISO-containers from European LNG terminals. LNG as a shipping fuel reduces emissions of sulfur and particles close to zero and nitrogen oxide emissions by up to 90%.

Oil loadings from Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiisk have resumed, Russian oil pipeline monolopy Transneft said on Thursday. Oil loadings at the port were suspended on Tuesday due a storm. Source: Reuters (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin; Writing by Tom Balmforth; Editing by Mark Potter)

Holland America Line’s Volendam made history on 23 May 2018 when she brought the 25 millionth cruise passenger to the Port of Vancouver in Canada. To mark the milestone, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority hosted a celebration at Canada Place, which honoured both the 25 millionth passenger and the collaborative efforts companies in Vancouver’s cruise and tourism industries have made to grow cruise traffic. “We are thrilled this year to welcome the 25 millionth cruise passenger through the Port of Vancouver and to celebrate this achievement with our destination, cruise line and industry partners,” said Robin Silvester, president and CEO of Vancouver Fraser Port Authority.

Construction of P&O's 5,200 passenger cruise ship started on Meyer Werft Papenburg. The name of the ship was revealed, too...http://cruisedeck.de/brennstart-fuer-die-neue-iona-fuer-po/

Canada’s Port of Baie-Comeau is to welcome 18,875 passengers and crew during 21 calls from a record 11 cruise ships in 2018. For the fifth consecutive year, Baie-Comeau’s cruise season will open with a call from Pearl Sea Cruises’ Pearl Mist, this time on 27 May. The port will welcome maiden calls from CTMA Cruises’ CTMA Vacancier on 19 September, Cruise and Maritime Voyages’ Marco Polo on 23 September, Disney Cruise Line’s Disney Magic on 25 September, Silversea’s Silver Wind on 7 October and Silver Spiritt on 9 October. The latter three ships will also make return calls during the 2018 season.

The keel was laid for UK cross-Solent ferry operator Red Funnel’s first ever freight-only ferry today, 31 May, at the British shipbuilder Cammell Laird’s shipyard at Birkenhead. The double-ended vessel will be named RED KESTREL and enter service on the company’s Southampton-East Cowes route in the spring of 2019.

Chennai Port, located strategically between Singapore and Fujairah, the world’s first and second largest bunker fuel suppliers, has plans to make the south Indian city a bunker capital on the East coast. Efforts are underway to construct a dedicated bunker berth inside the port to accommodate bunker tankers, a move which is expected to swell the port’s revenues. Fuel used to run a ship is referred as bunker fuel and world over, supply of bunker fuel is one of the major revenue sources for ports. While ships require heavy oil to run their engines, diesel oil is used to run generators and smaller machinery. A senior official at the Chennai Port Trust told TOI that a final agreement is to be signed in the coming week to construct a 181m long berth at a cost of ?44 crore at Bharati dock to accommodate bunker ships. “The port has been supplying bunker fuels to ships in the anchorage area outside the port for the past two years, a practice which wasn’t of the port’s 136-year-old history,” a port official said. The port will be able to meet a target bunker sales of up to 1MTPA (metric ton per annum), an official said. “Singapore and Fujairah have bunker sales of 45MTPA and 25MTPA respectively. Low prices of crude oil and better infrastructure are an advantage for them,” the official added.

Terminal operators at Latin America’s largest port Santos said in a statement on Wednesday that the flow of goods by trucks on the site has not resumed even as a trucker protest against high fuel prices that lasted more than a week began to unwind. Sopesp, which represents operators including sugar trading group Copersucar SA and grain handler Archer Daniels Midland , said truckers are “refusing” to conduct their vehicles to the port’s loading and unloading areas. “Truckers are parked at many points, apparently awaiting orders or better conditions to continue their journeys.” Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ana Mano)

Port of Salalah announced the resumption of gradual operations in the cargo terminal after completion of the assessment of damages caused by Cyclone Mekunu in Dhofar. Mohammed bin Ofait al Ma’shani, director general, corporate affairs, Port of Salalah said the first container ship is expected to arrive on Friday. He added that the port management is working to ensure that all facilities are in place to start normal services. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that a hydrographic survey of the port area was conducted by the Royal Navy of Oman’s Diving Team. “This was done to facilitate the movement of vessels in the port area. It was held as part of the efforts and services provided by us and the Sultan’s Armed Forces to support other sectors in the Governorate of Dhofar,” MoD said. Source: Muscat Daily

Norwegian Cruise Line’s 4,000-passenger Norwegian Bliss made her maiden call at the Port of Los Angeles in California, US on 25 May becoming the largest cruise ship to visit to date. The 168,000gt Norwegian Bliss was too large to use the port’s main turning basin so she reversed down the main channel before docking at the World Cruise Centre. Norwegian Bliss departed for Seattle, where she will begin her Alaska season. Norwegian Bliss will make seven more calls in Los Angeles this year and eight in 2019.

Finnlines is reshuffling its services between Denmark and Finland and provides as of 28 May, 2018 direct service between Helsinki and Aarhus, the company said in its press release. There will also be a direct connection between Aarhus and Uusikaupunki, which offers new possibilities for cargoes between Denmark and Western Finland. Turku will be available via transhipment in Travemünde The new weekly service between Travemünde and Aarhus is especially suitable for all kinds of rolling cargo, particularly for high and heavy cargo unable to cross the Kiel Canal bridge due to weight limitations. The transit times will be shorter with direct departures, please see attached schedule.