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India Global Ports Limited (IGPL) is committed to investing up to $500m to develop Chabahar Port in southern Iran as part of series of projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a senior official said. Alireza Jahan, the representative of the Iranian partner of IGPL, said the investments will be made over the next 10 years to equip the port of Chabahar with special loading and unloading harbor facilities. IGPL has been tasked with administering and running the terminal of the first phase of ‘Beheshti harbor’ at Chabahar Port. IGPL also officially is in charge of navigation in the port of Chabahar from January with $85 million investment.

In the first quarter of 2019, Turkey-based YILPORT HOLDING, the 12th biggest global container terminal and port operator, ordered four high-performance Model 8 mobile harbor cranes for two terminals in Latin America. Two of the large Konecranes Gottwald cranes will begin operation in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, in mid-2019, followed by two cranes in Puerto Bolivar, Ecuador, just two months later.

Aberdeen Harbour’s £350-million expansion has reached another landmark stage with the first 6,000-tonne caisson beginning its journey to South Harbour on Monday (Feb25). The first caisson measures 50 meters long, 15 meters wide and an incredible 16 meters deep and will be used to form the closed quay section of the development. In order to transport the caisson safely, it will travel the 180-nautical mile journey at two nautical miles per hour, escorted by ‘The Strathdee’ towage vessel.

Current and potential ro-ro operators using the UK’s Port of Tilbury got the news they wanted on 20 February when the Department for Transport gave the green light for the construction of Tilbury2 – the new GBP 200 million satellite port for the Port of Tilbury which will feature a deepwater ro-ro terminal – which will become the UK’s largest ro-ro port for unaccompanied freight units when it enters service in mid-2020.

In response to rapidly growing customer demand, APM Terminals Barcelona, Spain has increased reefer capacity by 31%. The electrical capacity of the terminal has also been improved, leading to a reduction in CO2 emissions of 600 tonnes per annum. An additional 152 reefer plugs have been added at the terminal, raising the total to 677. New reefer racks enable reefers to be stacked up to 4 containers high, compared with 3 on current racks. The modern design also improves safety for employees carrying out repairs and maintenance.

Container shipping firm Hapag-Lloyd said volume growth and a modest recovery in freight rates in the second half of 2018 helped push operating profit 32 percent higher, lifting shares in the German group on Monday.

Forth Ports’ Port of Tilbury has received development consent from the UK Secretary of State for Transport to build a new GB£200m port terminal to include a new rail and road connection, deep water jetty and pontoon. Construction for the privately funded Tilbury2 is scheduled to commence within the next few weeks, with the terminal due to begin operations in spring 2020. The tender process for a contractor to undertake the build, adjacent to the current 930-acre site in Thurrock, Greater London, has been completed and an announcement will be made shortly, confirmed Forth Ports.

According to a VCTPL official, the project construction will begin immediately and is expected to be completed by March 2021. The project is being taken up on Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis duly enhancing the capacity of the existing container terminal to meet the growing business needs. Source: Indian Express

In the first quarter of 2019, Turkey-based YILPORT HOLDING, the 12th biggest global container terminal and port operator, ordered four high-performance Model 8 mobile harbor cranes for two terminals in Latin America. Two of the large Konecranes Gottwald cranes will begin operation in Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala, in mid-2019.

LNG refueling has taken place at Spain’s Port of Ferrol for the first time in an operation which saw two ferries filled with LNG by Repsol in the port’s Mugardos terminal. The refuelling operation was carried out on the outer jetty of the Mugardos terminal operated by Regasificadora del Noroeste, which is owned by natural gas company Reganosa. The tanks were filled with LNG here prior to the operation.

Oiltanking Grindrod Calulo (OTGC) and the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) turned the first sod at the site of the Port of Ngqura’s future liquid bulk tank farm and main access road. This comes ahead of the planned decommissioning and rehabilitation of the existing liquid bulk facilities at the neighbouring Port of Port Elizabeth, which will pave the way for Ngqura’s establishment as a new petroleum trading hub for Southern Africa. The new tank farm is expected to provide storage and marine infrastructure to help meet South Africa’s petroleum demand.

The first phase of the Tema port expansion project by Meridian Ports Services is expected to be operational by end of June this year. So far about 80 per cent of work has been done on the initial phase. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Ports Services, Mohamed Samara, when completed, the Tema port will be the biggest in the Sub-Saharan region. Started in 2007, the Tema port expansion project is a joint venture between the Ghana Ports and Harbour Authority (GPHA) and the meridian ports holding.

Portsmouth International Port has received an £18 million (US$24 million) investment, which will be used to fund upgrade facilities and enable ships carrying up to 2,000 passengers to berth at the port. The funding has been granted to help the port capitalise on significant opportunities to grow its cruise business. In 2018, the city welcomed 48 calls and has plans for over 100 in the coming years.

Customs at China’s northern port of Dalian has banned imports of Australian coal and will cap overall coal imports from all sources to the end of 2019 at 12 million tonnes, an official at Dalian Port Group told Reuters on Thursday. The indefinite ban on imports from top supplier Australia, effective since the start of February, comes as major ports elsewhere in China prolong clearing times for Australian coal to at least 40 days.

Port Waratah Coal Services’ two terminals at Newcastle port in the eastern Australian state of New South Wales had 13 ships waiting offshore on Sunday, down from 17 ships a week earlier, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator said in its weekly report Monday. The queue was expected to comprise less than five ships at the end of March, HVCCC said. A total of 2.2 million mt of coal was shipped out of the PWCS terminals in the week to Sunday, up 111,000 mt from the week before.

The world’s first LNG-fuelled survey vessel, the "Atair", has been floated in Kiel after a building period of 16 months on Feb 28, 2019. The vessel was built on behalf of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) and the vessel’s general contractor is Fassmer shipyard. It’s hull and superstructure, as well as parts of its outfitting, were constructed at German Naval Yards Kiel. The survey vessel is destined to be used for wreck search and underwater surveying. After successfully completing all trials, the new building is due to be delivered to BSH in spring 2020. Reports with photos: https://seanews.co.uk/shipping/tanker/lng-powered-survey-vessel-atair-floated-out-at-german-naval-yards-kiel/ http://www.kn-online.de/Nachrichten/Wirtschaft/Kieler-Werft-bringt-erstes-Forschungsschiff-mit-LNG-Antrieb-zu-Wasser

The inauguration of the delayed APM Terminals Moín yesterday (February 28) will enable products to be shipped on transatlantic routes to European and Asian markets without transhipment, the port operator stated in a release. “Without any doubt, we are inaugurating today a new era in international and intra-regional trade in Central America,” said Morten Engelstoft, CEO of APM Terminals, at the inauguration ceremony yesterday attended by the president of the Central American nation. The $1bn new port is built on a 40 ha artificial island. The terminal has a 650 m long pier and a container yard with the capacity to hold 26,000 teu, including power connection capacity for 3,800 reefers. Refrigeration is essential as Costa Rica is currently the world’s largest exporter of pineapples and third largest exporter of bananas.

The Egyptian Red Sea Ports Authority has announced the re-opening of the Port Tawfiq-Jeddah navigation line between Egypt and Saudi Arabia after a 14-year hiatus. Prior to 2006, Port Tawfiq was a private maritime port for travelers between Suez and Jeddah. The line was suspended in that year, however, after the sinking of the ferry Al-Salam Boccaccio 98. About 1,000 people died in what was described as one of the worst maritime accidents in history.

CLP Power aims to start building Hong Kong’s first offshore liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal at the end of 2019, the utility group’s chief executive said on Monday. “We are still working on some final permits and approvals, but in the meantime we are getting on with the design works and gearing up for the awarding contract aspects,” CLP chief executive Richard Lancaster told a media briefing.

PAO NOVATEK is considering a possibility of arranging LNG bunkering in Sabetta port (Yamal), Maksim Minin, Head of Marine Port Facilities Engineering Division, Engineering and Investments Department, NOVATEK, said.