News

The construction of the first onshore power supply plant for commercial vessels in the port of Kiel has begun. Taking part in the official first-cut-of-the-spade-ceremony marking the start of the construction works at the Norwegenkai Terminal were the Economics Minister of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Dr Bernd Buchholz, Kiel’s Lord Mayor Dr Ulf Kämpfer, Port Director Dr Dirk Claus und Color Line GmbH Managing Director Dirk Hundertmark along with Lars Nürnberger, head of Kiel’s Siemens AG branch office. As of spring 2019, it will be possible to supply big cruise ferries with all the electrical power they need during the time they are berthed in Kiel.

Hundreds of affected dock workers of Port Qasim continued their sit-in on 33rd consecutive day of their protest. The sit-in camp was established by the Workers Union of Port Qasim CBA to protest against a Chinese loading company and non-payment of salaries. Responding to their protest, Chinese company Huaneng Fuyun Port & Shipping (Pvt) Ltd paid the workers six months’ worth of salaries but the company still owes four months’ worth of compensation. Labourers protested and chanted slogans against Chinese company and port officials during the protest on Saturday. An elderly labourer Shah Jahan fainted in camp but his colleagues refused to take him hospital until their demands were met.

Kiel closed its latest cruise shipping season on Oct 28, 2018, with the visit of the “AIDAbella”. This year the port has been visited 166 times by 33 different cruise ships with a combined gross tonnage of more than 11 million. For the first time close to 600,000 cruise ship passengers, 16.4% more than last year, have passed through the port’s terminal facilities to end or embark on cruises. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) declared: “We have posted a good result and continue to invest in the expansion of our infrastructures for passenger and baggage handling as well as in the protection of the environment.” Already this season a new hall for baggage handling has been completed in the Ostuferhafen and work is now in full swing at the Ostseekai Terminal on the construction of a second passenger handling terminal. Kiel has set itself an ambitious time-table and will take the new nine million Euro terminal building into operation as early as 2019. Following that, construction will begin on the first DIN-certified, shore-based power supply facility for cruise ships. The investment, totalling more than 20 million Euros overall, will further increase the attractiveness of the Port of Kiel. “We will continue to grow”, said Dirk Claus.”Cruises in northern Europe are in much demand and always attract top passenger numbers.” The 2018 cruise shipping season in Kiel was marked by numerous highlights. One of them was the visit of TUI Cruises’ latest new building the “Mein Schiff 1”, which visited the fiord and ended her maiden voyage at the Ostseekai Terminal. The biggest ship to call was the 139,000 GT “MSC Preziosa”, which undertook 20 Baltic and Nordic cruises from Kiel. The Fiord’s most frequent visitors were the ships of AIDA Cruises, five of which were based in Kiel for the first time. Unique to date were this season’s nine maiden visits – seven of them by ships which were visiting Kiel as part of ongoing cruises. Dirk Claus said: “In addition to its function as a base port, Kiel is also being increasingly utilised as a stepping off point for day trips ashore. International cruise ship travellers have this year discovered Schleswig-Holstein as a holiday destination.” Among visitors to Kiel have been the shipping companies Cunard, Fred. Olsen, Holland America Line, Ponant, P&O and Saga, as well as new customers Pullmantur and Viking Ocean Cruises. From a port operations point of view, attention was focussed particularly on the twelve occasions when three, sometimes even more, ocean-going cruise ships were berthed in the port in additiion to the regular Baltic ferries. The high point of the season was on August 11th when five ocean-going ships - “AIDAaura”, “AIDAluna”, “Astor”, “Costa Pacifica” and the “MSC Preziosa” - all berthed. As far as the coming season is concerned, further growth in the size of ships is expected. AIDA Cruises’ 124,000 GT “AIDAprima” will be stationed in Kiel and can now be supplied with environmentally friendly LNG fuel during her berth time. An even bigger ship is the 171,600 GT “MSC Meraviglia” which has accommodation for up to 5,700 passengers and will set a new tonnage record for Kiel. “We are entering a new dimension as far as size is concerned”, said Dirk Claus “and we will expand our position as the leading turn-around port on the German Baltic coast”. Next year’s season will be inaugurated on March 31st by the “Viking Sky”. The most frequent callers will once again be the ships of AIDA, TUI Cruises, MSC and Costa – with the latter’s “Costa Pacifica” doubling the number of cruises from Kiel. New to Kiel among others will be the “Nieuw Statendam” of Holland America Line. The complete list of callers in 2019 will be published by the PORT OF KIEL at the turn of the year.

As part of its modernization and expansion project, YILPORT Puerto Bolívar has ordered 6 ship-to-shore (STS) cranes and 18 electrified rubber-tired gantry (E-RTG) cranes from Mitsui E&S Machinery Co. to boost capabilities of the terminal and meet customer expectations by YILPORT Holding’s global standards. The cranes will be delivered in three shipments to support increasing volumes and modernization plans of YILPORT Puerto Bolívar. In the first phase, 2 STS cranes and 6 RTG cranes are expected to be delivered in the last quarter of 2019. The second and third deliveries to include 4 STS and 12 RTG cranes will be shipped in the first half of 2020. The first 2 STS cranes will have 62 meters 22 rows out-reach capacity, designed to serve 14,000 TEU vessels. Remaining 4 STS cranes will have 67 meters 24 rows out-reach capacity

The long-awaited newbuilding contract for what will become the largest ro-pax ever in the history of Naviera Armas has now been officially signed with Hijos de J. Barreras, the Vigo-based shipbuilder with whom the Canaries-headquartered ferry operator has a longstanding relationship.

Production has now started with the first steel cut of the first two Norled double-enders at Poland’s Remontowa Shipbuilding (yard number 619/1 and 619/2). The two diesel-electric hybrid double-enders will be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Egypt will reduce the tariffs on container ships and ferries coming from foreign ports to East Port Said for a period of one year, the Suez Canal Authority said in a statement. A 30 percent discount on port, docking and guiding fees will apply for vessels carrying less than 80,000 tonnes while those carrying more than that will receive a 40 percent discount, the statement said. Vessels carrying more than 50 containers will be eligible for a discount of up to 60 percent, but both rates cannot be applied at the same time, it said. The Suez Canal is the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia and one of the Egyptian government’s main sources of foreign currency. Source: Reuters

The Kenya Ports Authority has welcomed one of the world’s largest cargo ships which docked in Mombasa on Thursday. KPA received the 300-meter long Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) MAXINE loaded with over 4,500 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUS). The ship, in its maiden voyage, beat the previous record of container carrier Livorno of 1,265 moves registered late June. “The Port of Mombasa has registered a new performance record of 1,450 moves within an eight-hour shift in the container operations,” KPA said in a statement. MSC Maxine, with a container capacity of 9,411 TEUs, the largest container carrier to dock at the Port, also recorded an average of 181 gross moves per hour to break Liberian registered Livorno’s record of 140 gross moves per hour.

India and Bangladesh on Thursday signed an agreement to use the Chattogram and Mongla ports in Bangladesh for movement of goods to and from India. The countries also decided to initiate Kolkata-Dhaka-Guwahati-Jorhat river cruise services. The agreements were signed during the 19th edition of the standing committee meeting under the Protocol on Inland Water Transit and Trade in New Delhi. The two-day secretary-level talks between India and Bangladesh concluded on Thursday, Oct. 18.

Hurtigruten AS have ordered a further expedition cruise ship with Kleven yard at Ulsteinvik, which is owned by Hurtigruten AS. http://cruisedeck.de/neue-order-noch-ein-expeditionsschiff-fuer-hurtigruten-as/

The Jacksonville Port Authority (JAXPORT) recently welcomed the ZIM Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. (ZIM) 10,070-TEU (container) Tianjin vessel on its maiden call to the port’s Blount Island Marine Terminal, the company said in its press release. JAXPORT offers worldwide cargo service from more than 40 ocean carriers and with the addition of ZIM, one of the world’s largest container shipping lines, ten of the world’s top 11 global carriers now offer service through the port.

With no Moroccan operator interested in serving the route between Almeria and Nador, it would appear that the Moroccan ‘Marine Marchande’ authorities have authorised Baleària to continue operating on the route, competing with Trasmediterranea.

The Regional Government of Sardinia has selected Moby to operate the winter ferry service between Santa Teresa di Gallura (Sardinia) and Bonifacio (Corsica).

Piraeus Port Authority (PPA), operator of Greece’s largest port, wants the Greek government to speed up the approval of an investment plan that aims to attract more business to one of Europe’s largest harbours, executives said. PPA, majority owned by China’sCOSCO Shipping, is awaiting the green light from Greece’s shipping ministry to proceed with mandatory investments based on its concession agreement with the Greek state.

A bulk cargo handling terminal at Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) run by an Indo-French joint venture has been allowed to handle 10 more cargo items than the four it was originally built to serve, triggering demands for similar treatment from others. The Tariff Authority for Major Ports or TAMP has notified the rates for handling the 10 extra cargo items at the West Quay Multiport Private Limited run by Mumbai-listed Starlog Enterprises Ltd and French shipping firm Louis Dreyfus Armateurs S.A. at the WQ-6 berth of VPT. The terminal operator’s request to set rates for handling the extra cargo was cleared by TAMP on an application filed by VPT.

Norway’s Kleven Verft shipyard has signed a memorandum of understanding to build a third hybrid-powered expedition cruise ship for Norwegian operator Hurtigruten. Set to debut in the second quarter of 2021, the newbuild will be based on Hurtigurten’s first two hybrids expedition ships – Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen – which are currently under construction at Kleven. The 530-guest ship will have an ice-strengthened hull and advanced technologies that enable her to sail in extreme weather and sea conditions in remote regions of the world. The newbuild will also have some innovative features, such as substantially larger battery packs. “This groundbreaking vessel will take our guests to some of the most spectacular areas of our planet, in a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way than ever seen before,” said Daniel Skjeldam, Hurtigruten CEO.

In September 2018, Ports of Auckland Limited (POAL) in New Zealand signed a software service level agreement (SLA) with Konecranes for the new automated straddle carriers soon to arrive at their terminal. The SLA includes 24/7 software technical support once the new equipment goes live. The equipment covered by the software service level agreement was ordered in 2017. The order included 27 new Konecranes Noell Automated Straddle Carriers (A-STRADs) and 21 retrofits to manually operated Konecranes Noell straddle carriers that would make them fully automated.

New cruise ship visitors and longer homeporting seasons from operators who regularly call at PortMiami helped the Florida port break passenger records in 2018. Almost 5.6 million cruise passengers passed through PortMiami this year – a 4.7% rise from 2017. The growth has been largely attributed to the fact that Oceania Cruises and Disney Cruise Line both extended their winter seasons, while Royal Caribbean International added extra sailings Empress of the Seas’ schedule and also began offering Miami departures on Mariner of the Seas. Three operators – Viking Ocean Cruises, Victory Cruise Lines and Seabourn – also called at the port for the first time.

Fosen Yard, together with the investment group around Deutsche Industrieanlagen and Patrick Hennings-Huep, the previous owner of Nordseewerke Emden Shipyard, has entered into an agreement to establish Fosen Nordseewerke GmbH and jointly take over the ongoing business in Emden.

Chinese gas distributor ENN Energy Holdings has begun operations at the first phase of its Zhoushan liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal, Vice President Ma Shenyuan said, speaking at a commencement ceremony for the terminal on Friday. As ENN aims to ramp up winter supplies in eastern China, the tanker ‘Asia Integrity’ docked at the Zhoushan terminal on the same day, bringing 145,000 cubic meters of LNG from Australia supplies to mark the launch of China’s first privately-owned LNG facility. ENN has signed long-term deals including sales and purchase agreements with Chevron Corp and Australia’s Origin Energy and also has an agreement to buy LNG from Total . The deals total about 1.5 million tonnes per year of LNG.