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“Seven Seas Splendor” was launched today at the Ancona shipyard., She is the second super luxury cruise ship that Fincantieri is building for Regent Seven Seas Cruises, brand of the Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd (NCLH). The delivery is scheduled for 2020, the company said in its release.

(Bloomberg) — A small port city near Hamburg is the leading choice of Angela Merkel’s government for the first liquefied natural gas terminal in Germany, according to people familiar with the thinking of senior ministers. The town on the Elbe River, Brunsbuettel, is competing with rival bids from the city of Stade and the North Sea port of Wilhelmshaven for federal aid that’s key to unlocking investment in the terminal. The Economy and Energy Ministry in Berlin is backing the bid of Brunsbuettel partly due to its proximity to Hamburg, said two people familiar with the government’s thinking.

Since September 2016 Jan De Nul Group, as part of the Joint Venture Sas van Vreeswijk, has been working on the construction of the third Princess Beatrix lock near Utrecht in the Netherlands, the company said in its release. On 6 February 2019 the Dutch Princess Beatrix officially inaugurated the lock in the presence of the Dutch Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management, Cora van Nieuwenhuizen. The Princess rang a ship’s bell, giving the go-ahead for the first official passage of ships through the new lock. The official opening of the lock closes a construction period of 2.5 years. The two lock heads are each 30 x 60 meters. Each lock head contains two lock gates, each weighing 490,000 kilos and measuring 28 meters wide, 14 meters high and 6.25 meters thick. In total, 44,875 m³ of concrete and 17,900 tons of reinforcement were used to build this new lock. Sas van Vreeswijk was also responsible for the excavation of 2 million m³ in order to widen the access to the locks.

The Freeport of Riga says it held a ceremony at the beginning of the year to commission two piers, ZO-1 and ZO-2, after the redevelopment, which took almost two years. The project included extension of both piers. ZO-1 received two newly built mooring posts and new lighting. For the extension of the ZO-2 pier, a new underwater sheet pile was built and dredging to 12 m depth mark was done. For the needs of the new extended pier, soil excavation was performed in the area of 3,710 m2 and about 7,746 m2 of the water area were dredged. Storm sewer with local water treatment units and output to the water area was built.

In cooperation with Svitzer, Sohar Port and Freezone, recently signed a charter agreement for five new tugboat vessels to replace the existing tugboat fleet and provide 24/7 operational support for vessel movements in and around the rapidly expanding port. The marine service agreement was signed at the annual business reception on January 23, between Dr Mohammed Nasser Ali Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Board at Sohar Port and Freezone, and Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Svitzer.

Fluxys and Titan LNG have joined forces to build the FlexFueler 002, a bunkering pontoon to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) more widely available as shipping fuel in the Antwerp port and region. The pontoon will be commissioned by mid-2020 and support the shipping industry in its switch to cleaner operations.

LUKOIL says it is interested in construction of a dry cargo terminal for transshipment of coke, coal and pellets in Vysotsk, says press center of the Leningrad Region Government. The terminal design has been discussed at the meeting of Leningrad Region Governor Aleksand Drozdenko and LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov. The first turn of SPK Vysotsk terminal able to handle up to 7 million tonnes of cargo per year is to be completed by 2021. When fully operational the terminal will handle up to 15 million tonnes per year. The project foresees generation of about 160 jobs.

More than US$300m in infrastructure improvements is being considered as part of a drive to grow international marine cargo to the Port of Seattle. To prepare for ever-larger container vessels, the port commissions of Seattle and Tacoma met at the Northwest Seaport Alliance (NWSA) managing member meeting to discuss recommendations for significant new investments, which also include a new tenant at Seattle’s Terminal 5. “With the largest marine cargo vessels entering the trans-Pacific trade, our Terminal 5 investments are critical for Washington state exports to Asian markets, in addition to growing cargo volumes and maritime jobs in the Puget Sound region,” said the NWSA.

Feb 9 (Reuters) – The British government has terminated a contract with Seaborne Freight to provide extra ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit that would see Britain leave the European Union on March 29 without a transition period to minimise economic disruption. The government’s decision to award the 14 million pound ($18.1 million) contract in December even though Seaborne Freight did not have any ships had been heavily criticised by opposition politicians and others. A Department for Transport spokeswoman said on Saturday the contract was terminated after Seaborne Freight’s backer, Irish firm Arklow Shipping, decided to step back from the deal.

Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd (PBPL) has announced the principal contractors for its $158 million Brisbane International Cruise Terminal, paving the way for construction to begin in the coming months. Wharf construction will be undertaken by Brady Marine & Civil, a specialist marine infrastructure and engineering contractor headquartered in Brisbane, the company said in its release. The civil works and terminal building will be delivered by Hindmarsh, a leading Australian construction company.

Skids, jacks, booms and a big helping of smart thinking from some of the best minds in the crane upgrades business – that’s been the recipe for success at MSC Terminal Valencia. When the terminal was planning an ambitious project to upgrade all eight of its ship-to-shore (STS) cranes ready for handling today’s new generation of super-sized vessels, there was only one partner who could deliver the goods.

A new marine terminal will be built in the Poti, due to which the port will be able to receive 2.5 million tons more cargo per year. This was announced on February 4 by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mamuka Bakhtadze, during the signing of the relevant agreement. The relevant agreement was signed between the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Georgian-American transport company PACE Group in Tbilisi.

APM Terminals has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sahathai Terminal PLC (PORT) and Mitr Phol Sugar to develop a 345,000 TEU capacity greenfield container terminal in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok River Terminal Limited (BRT) will accommodate Thailand’s rapidly-growing containerized import and export trade. Sahathai Terminal PLC (PORT), Thailand’s leading container terminal and logistics company formed a Joint Venture with Mitr Phol Sugar to develop this Container Terminal in October 2018. With over 35-years’ experience in Thailand with container operations in Lat Krabang and Laem Chabang, APM Terminals’ participation will further strengthen the joint venture. Completion of the transaction is subject to receiving applicable regulatory approvals and licenses.

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has further increased performance at its largest container terminal in the Port of Hamburg with a comprehensive expansion of its rail terminal. Two extra tracks and two new rail gantry cranes have been added to the rail terminal at the Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB).

According to preliminary unaudited figures, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) increased its Group revenue by 3 percent to € 1.29 billion in the 2018 financial year (previous year: € 1.25 billion). The Group’s operating result (EBIT) of € 204 million (previous year: € 173 million) represents an increase of 18 percent. The listed Port Logistics subgroup generated revenue of € 1.26 billion (previous year: € 1.22 billion) and an operating result (EBIT) of € 188 million (previous year: € 157 million, that include one-off expenses of approximately € 25 million for organisational restructuring and for the harmonisation of the existing pension schemes). In total, 7.3 million standard containers (TEU) were handled at HHLA’s container terminals in the 2018 financial year. Compared to 7.2 million TEU in the previous year, this equates to an increase of 1.9 percent. Container throughput at the three container terminals in Hamburg remained at the high level achieved in the previous year, while throughput at the international HHLA container terminals in Odessa (Ukraine) and Tallinn (Estonia) increased. Estonia’s largest terminal operator, TK Estonia, has been successfully integrated into the HHLA Group following its acquisition last year.

Global Ports Holdings (GPH) is to manage all cruise port operations in Antigua for the next 30 years after signing a concession agreement with the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. As part of the contract, GPH will be responsible for running the cruise operations at the island’s main cruise port in capital St John’s, as well as ships that anchor near Falmouth Harbour.

Chairwoman of the Executive Board of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA), Angela Titzrath, comments on the company’s preliminary unaudited fig-ures for the 2018 financial year: “HHLA has performed very successfully over the past financial year, despite the deterioration of the market environment in the second half. The challenging targets we set for ourselves one year ago have been achieved and partially exceeded. These results confirm our strategy of strengthening the creative power and future viability of HHLA. We will continue to follow this path going forward. HHLA aims to be the gateway to the future.” According to preliminary unaudited figures, Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) increased its Group revenue by 3 percent to € 1.29 billion in the 2018 financial year (previous year: € 1.25 billion). The Group’s operating result (EBIT) of € 204 million (previous year: € 173 million) represents an increase of 18 percent. The listed Port Logistics subgroup generated revenue of € 1.26 billion (previous year: € 1.22 billion) and an operating result (EBIT) of € 188 million (previous year: € 157 million, that include one-off expenses of approximately € 25 million for organisational restructuring and for the harmoni-sation of the existing pension schemes).

The Meridian Ports and Services Limited (MPS) on February 1, 2019, received the second batch of gantry cranes ordered for the Tema Port Expansion project. The delivery follows the purchase agreement signed in August 2017 between Shanghai Shenhua Heavy Industry Co. (ZPMC) and MPS led by Mr Kweku Ofori Asiamah, Minister of Transport, for the total of 27 gantry cranes; seven Ship-To-Shore gantry cranes (STS) on the water front and 20 electric Rubber Tyre Gantry cranes (eRTG) in the yard. The STS cranes are Super Post Panamax with 65 meter outreach capable of handling containers on board vessels up to 23 rows and 10 on deck while the eRTGs are capable of stacking containers seven wide and one over five high in the container yards.

At the Georgia Foreign Trade Conference, Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch unveiled GPA’s Big Berth/Big Ship program that will allow the Port of Savannah to simultaneously handle six 14,000 TEU vessels by 2024. “No other single container terminal in North America has the ability to expand berth capacity at this rate,” said Lynch. Currently, Savannah’s Garden City Terminal is equipped to handle two of these vessels and by April of this year that number will increase to three. During his presentation titled “2019: The Triple Crown?” Lynch told an audience of 350 logistics professionals that the Port of Savannah had just last week achieved the busiest month ever in its history, moving 433,975 TEUs, a whopping 28 percent jump over the previous year.

New energy-saving, low-emission technology at the Port of Hamburg: two straddle carriers with environmentally friendly hybrid engines are now transporting containers between the ship, the yard, the rail terminal and the truck gate at the HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). The two prototypes are expected to use at least 15 percent less diesel than their predecessors. This will significantly reduce emissions of CO2, nitric oxide and particulate matter, the company said in its release.