News

Bintulu Port Holdings Bhd (BPHB) plans capacity expansion of its Bintulu International Container Terminal (BICT) to cope with rising demand as it has recorded double-digit growth in container throughput for three consecutive years. A feasibility study on the BICT’s expansion is currently under way and the plan will involve infrastructure development and procuring container handling equipment. The BICT handled 349,792 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent unit) last year, representing 13.1% growth over 2017 and the the highest ever volume, according to BPHB group chief executive officer Datuk Mohammad Medan Abdullah.

Arriva Danmark has ordered two additional passenger ferries from Damen Shipyards Group, extending its original order for five passenger ferries to cover seven vessels so it can provide longer ferry routes in Copenhagen, Denmark. In July 2018, Arriva contracted Damen to deliver five fully electric Damen 2306 E3 vessels for cover passenger routes in the central area of Copenhagen. Since then, Danish public transport agency Movia has extended the intended routes of its ferry service to the port area by roughly 50%. The two new will also be designed in line with Damen’s E-Cross range of electric vessels, which are more efficient and economically viable than traditionally powered ferries. These vessels will also produce zero emissions, provide enhanced manoeuvrability and will have low maintenance requirements.

Denmark’s Port of Skagen is to welcome 44 cruise ships carrying around 73,000 guests in 2019 – an increase of almost 10,000 people from 2018. Marking the third consecutive year that Skagen has hosted record numbers of cruise guests, the 2019 season will see nine vessels making maiden calls. They include ships from lines such as Cruise & Maritime Voyages, Marella Cruises, Phoenix Reisen, Saga Cruises and Viking Cruises. This year is also the 20th anniversary of Cruise Skagen Denmark, which was formed to promote Skagen as a cruise destination in 2009.

On Thursday, March 28, 2019, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) voted to approve the purchase of two new 100-foot gauge container gantry cranes to be used at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal, the Port NOLA press release said. “These new cranes are vital to our success and growth here at Port NOLA,” said President and CEO Brandy D. Christian. “They will increase our efficiency so we can accommodate larger and wider ships more quickly and meet the growing needs of our carriers and shippers.” The Board approved a $23.4 million contract to Shanghai, China-based Shanghai Zenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd., for the construction and delivery of the cranes. There are no domestic manufacturers of container gantry cranes.

Morotai, a container ship owned by CMA CGM Group Agencies (Australia) Pty Ltd., docked at the SP-ITC International Container Terminal in District 9, Ho Chi Minh City, on March 15, following the route from the city to Australia and vice versa. Weighing 40,000 tonnes and measuring 222 metres long, Morotai is the vessel with the largest deadweight tonnage having anchored at the SP-ITC port thus far.

Meyer Turku has floated Costa Cruises’ first LNG-powered cruise ship, Costa Smeralda, out of her building dock at its yard in Turku, Finland. Following a traditional ceremony to mark the construction milestone, the 180,000gt ship was moved to Meyer Turku’s outfitting pier where she will remain until her delivery in October 2019. Once complete, the ship will offer a three-level area in the middle of the ship that will host entertainment, Italy-inspired piazzas, 11 restaurants, 19 bars, a water park with slides, a multi-sport field, four swimming pools, theatre, disco, casino, jazz club piano bar, a games room and a spa, which has a beauty salon, hammam, thalasso therapy pool and 16 treatment rooms. The vessel will also have her own onboard museum called CoDe - Costa Design Museum, which will be curated by Matteo Vercelloni and showcase the “excellence of Italian design” by featuring many of the people who have contributed to the ship's construction.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) has drawn up plans to replicate its success at Mundra port in terms of cargo handling, at the Kattupalli port as well. On an average, Mundra port had handled over 100 million tonnes of cargo for three years in a row since 2016. “Our vision is to have 30 berths at Adani Kattupalli port to handle all types of commodities including coal, liquefied natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, including chemicals,” said Ennarasu Karunesan, CEO — Southern Ports, APSEZ. APSEZ acquired Kattupalli port from L&T in June 2018 and renamed it as Adani Kattupalli Port Pvt. Ltd (AKPPL). It has capacity to handle nearly 25 million tonnes of cargo, which is to be enhanced soon. Currently, the port has two berths that handle containers, bulk and break-bulk cargoes, and automotive vehicles. A third berth is under construction.

Last week, the Gothenburg Port Authority launched a digital solution designed to make bunkering at the Energy Port easier and more efficient. The new ‘Bunkering App’ is one of the first in the world to offer this range of functionality. The Port of Gothenburg Energy Port is the largest open access energy port in the Nordic region, handling over 2,500 calls and more than 23 million tonnes of energy products each year. The Energy Port is also one of the world’s larger bunkering hubs. In an effort to make the bunkering procedures easier and more efficient, the Gothenburg Port Authority has developed the new ‘Bunkering App’.

Costa Cruises has scheduled 37 cruise calls in Valletta, Malta in 2020 – just over double the number of visits it will make this year. In 2019, Costa will call in Valletta 18 times as part of its Malta-to-Malta itineraries, generating around 38,000 passenger movements. Next year, the cruise line will generate circa 110,000 passenger movements. “We are pleased that after an absence of four years, Costa will be reintroducing calls in quarter three of 2020,” said Stephen Xuereb, CEO of Valletta Cruise Port and COO of Global Ports Holding. Valletta Cruise Port expects to host more than 800,000 passenger movements in 2019.

Virgin Voyages has officially finalised its contract to sail to Cuba. The cruise line’s excursion programme on the Caribbean island, Shore Things, will provide guests with a range of experiences. “Our sailors are eager to sail to Cuba and we are incredibly proud to celebrate our plans to visit Havana, which is without a doubt, one of the Caribbean’s most authentic and enriching destinations,” said Tom McAlpin, Virgin Voyages’ president and CEO. “This fantastic place offers the chance for our sailors to experience a vibrant city and artistic haven, where they can meet locals and discover the heritage and culture of this beautiful destination.”

A new $1bn VLCC-sized crude export site is moving ahead in Texas. Commissioners with the Port of Corpus Christi Authority yesterday approved a 50-year lease for a Carlyle Group-backed project. Lone Star Ports, a Carlyle vehicle, has got the go ahead to build a tanker terminal on Harbor Isand near Port Aransas subject to an environmental review as the new port will require extensive dredging. The project is one of two proposed for the Corpus Christi area and among eight deepwater ports planned along the US Gulf Coast.

DP World said it is likely to start using the fourth terminal at its flagship Jebel Ali port in the second half of 2019, after utilisation of the terminal was delayed due to a softening market. The ports operator said the terminal is essentially ready for operations and has more cost efficiencies than Terminal 1.

No fewer than sixteen Liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessels are expected to berth in Onne Port Complex this week in Rivers State Ten of the vessels would discharge imported cargo – containers, general cargo, drilling fluid and inballast, while six vessels would export 364,000 tons of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and Butane to other countries of the world. The development was contained in a shipping position issued by the port. The 360000 tons of LNG/Butane would be shipped by these following vessels – LNG Methane Allison Victoria (65000 ton), LNG Maran Gas Hector (70000 ton), LNG Bonny II (77000 ton), LPG Innovator (10000 ton of Butane), LNG Bayelsa (65000 ton) and LNG Lagos II (77000 ton).

The economic importance of nautical tourism for Schleswig-Holstein is continuing to increase. More than 2.2 million passengers are expected in the port of Kiel alone this year, forecasting record numbers like 600,000 cruise passengers and 1.6 million ferry travellers, the company said in its release. Last year, passengers generated a turnover of about 68 million Euros in Kiel. The consumer spending of the port's ferry passengers amounts to more than 53 million Euros. These are complemented by another 15 million Euros spent by cruise passengers and the crews. Out of the total amount, 10 million Euros were spent by passengers for hotel accommodation in Schleswig-Holstein directly before or after their cruise. In 2018, Kiel was visited on 169 separate occasions (143 in 2017) by 34 different cruise ships with a total gross tonnage of more than 11.5 million - an increase of 15.3 % over the previous year. 598,000 cruise passengers boarded or left a cruise ship at the different terminals, an increase of 16.5 %. To date 179 visits to Kiel by 33 different cruise ships have been registered.

April 8 (Reuters) – Ships were moving inbound and outbound on Monday morning through an area of the Houston Ship Channel that had been contaminated by a March chemical spill, the U.S. Coast Guard said, further loosening restrictions on the waterway. A total of 49 ships – 28 inbound, 21 outbound – were waiting to transit the 53-mile (85-km) waterway between the busiest U.S. petrochemical port and the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, the Coast Guard said. Monday’s queue of ships is about normal for the channel, but a third of the backlog that built up within days following a March 22 spill of chemicals when a dam failed at Mitsui & Co Intercontinental Terminals Deer Park, Texas, facility, where a massive March 17-20 blaze consumed 11 giant storage tanks.

Galataport Istanbul is to showcase the features of its new cruise port and the surrounding recreational area at Seatrade Cruise Global, which will take place in Miami, Florida from 8-11 April 2019. Exhibiting in the Destination Area at Booth 731, Galataport Istanbul’s team will share plans for Galataport Istanbul Cruise Port, which is designed to accommodate three ships at the same time and handle an average of 15,000 cruise passengers per day. The port will have an underground cruise terminal for domestic and international tourists – a first for the cruise industry.

Essential maintenance dredging at the Port of Hay Point is scheduled to commence this weekend. The works will be undertaken by specialist vessel the TSHD Brisbane, on behalf of North Queensland Bulk Ports Corporation (NQBP) and the port’s terminal operators. NQBP Chief Executive Officer Nicolas Fertin said the Port of Hay Point primarily exports metallurgical coal, a key resource in steel-making.

The Port of Antwerp aims to open a hydrogen bunkering station later this year, its CEO Jacques Vandermeiren revealed earlier this week at Petrospot’s Marine Energy Transition Forum. The news comes as Antwerp, Europe’s largest petrochemical complex, brings online a swathe of alternate fuels for shipping, including LNG and methanol. While social media posts suggested the hydrogen bunkering could happen within the next couple of months, a spokesperson for the port told Splash that Antwerp was still working on the logistics of the venture, a world first, and no timeline could be confirmed yet.

Contship Italia S.p.A. has entered into negotiations with MSC for the sale of its 50% shares in CSM Italia Gate S.p.A, the company that controls MCT – Medcenter Container Terminal S.p.A. MCT is the concessionaire of the container terminal activities in the port of Gioia Tauro where MSC is already a partner and the main customer. In order to speed up the deal, Contship Italia has appointed the law firm that will assist the process as well as an independent financial advisor, who has been given the task of expressing the correct value of the terminal activity and assets. During the negotiations, Medcenter Container Terminal will continue to be fully operational.

Hutchison Ports Pakistan received three new remote-controlled quay cranes to mark the beginning of the terminal’s second phase in Karachi. The development will make Pakistan the first country in the South Asia region to install semi-automated, cabin-less cranes. Pakistan’s first and only deep-water container port received the first installment of these high-tech cranes, under their agreement signed with Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Co. Ltd, China (ZPMC) recently, for the purchase of 8 new cabin-less remote-controlled quay cranes, and 24 remote-controlled rubber-tired gantry cranes (RTGCs). This incoming equipment will be the first of its kind in the country.