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Scotland’s Lerwick Harbour has closed its record-breaking 2018 cruise season after welcoming 90,336 passengers and 91 vessels – an increase of around 78% from 2017. This year, the Shetlands Islands port has hosted 11 maiden cruise calls and achieved several milestones. Not only did it record its busiest-ever day when Hapag Lloyd’s Europa brought almost 7,500 passengers and crew to Lerwick, but it also welcomed its largest-ever ship when MSC Cruises’ MSC Meraviglia visited in July. “A great team effort by everyone involved in Shetland has meant another very successful cruise season and helped ensure we are on even more itineraries in 2019,” said Victor Sandison, Lerwick Port Authority’s senior commercial executive.

Australia’s competition regulator said on Monday the Port of Newcastle must reduce its charges for ships entering the port to carry coal for Glencore , in a big win for the global miner. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said Port of Newcastle Operations Pty Ltd (PNO) should cut its current rate by about 20 percent to A$0.61 per gross tonne, backdated to 2016. The port said it would contest the decision. “PNO proposed large increases to the current price, but the ACCC found that a reduction in the price for using the shipping channel was appropriate,” ACCC Commissioner Cristina Cifuentes said in a statement. In the course of the arbitration, Newcastle port told the ACCC that the charge for coal ships entering the port should be increased to $1.36 per tonne for this year. Glencore submitted the charge should be reduced to $0.41 per tonne. The port said it was disappointed by the decision.

Palumbo Group has acquired Croatia’s Viktor Lenac Shipyard to expand its reach in the ship repair and conversions market in the Mediterranean. Viktor Lenac has been in operation for the past 122 years and is one of the main shipyards for ship repair and modification in the Mediterranean. The company will now join the Palumbo Group, which already has shipyards in Naples, Ancona, Messina, Savona, Italy; Marseilles, France; Tenerife, Spain; and Malta. “The acquisition of Viktor Lenac offers a great opportunity for Palumbo Group to strengthen its presence in the Adriatic area and enrich its service offering ship repair, docking, refit and newbuild,” said Palumbo Group in a press release.

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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has awarded $3 million to the Port of Hueneme to fund their ship to shore zero emission energy project. This project was a part of a joint application with the Port of Los Angeles for the statewide Zero- and Near Zero- Emission Freight Facilities (ZANZEFF) Grant solicitation funded through the state’s Cap and Trade dollars. Cap and Trade is a statewide initiative that puts billions of dollars to work reducing greenhouse gas emissions, strengthening the economy and improving public health and the environment — particularly in disadvantaged communities. The Port will provide a $200,000 match to the grant funding for a total project cost of $3.2 million.

Dwell times at Vancouver rail facilities are approaching last winter’s levels, when port congestion was the worst in years, but terminal operators say the factors driving the current delays are not a harbinger.

The capacity of the Visakhapatnam port capacity has now risen to 120 million tonnes with 27 berths and several projects are in progress in the port to further enhance the capacity and improve the services to customers, according to Chairman M.T Krishnababu. The port was established in 1933 by the British, with hardly two lakh tonnes capacity. He was reviewing the progress of the port here on Thursday at a media conference on the occasion of the formation day to be celebrated soon. He said the port had handled 63.5 million tonnes of cargo last year (2017-18) and for the current financial year the target had been set at 67 million tonnes. “We are sure we will achieve, and even surpass, the target,” he added.

Namibia’s Port of Walvis Bay will be handling an additional 50,000 tonnes of goods destined for Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo as well as manganese from mines in the Northern Cape to the Port of Lüderitz. The Namibian Port Authority (Namport) has earmarked R4.2 billion for regional development, R3.3 billion of which would be dedicated to Namibian companies to benefit by contracting them on major development projects. This was revealed to The Southern Times by Namport’s Senior Commercial Manager, Tino !Hanabeb, last week. With the new container terminal to be commissioned in 2019, Namport would be able to handle more cargo and also increase the container capacity at the port from 400,000 TEUs to 750,000 TEUs per annum. On average, between 2,000 and 2,250 vessels visit the ports of Walvis Bay and Lüderitz every year, with container vessels accounting for the largest number of visits.

Poland’s pipeline operator PERN plans to more than double the capacity of Gdansk Oil Terminal, the company said on Monday. PERN has launched a tender procedure to extend the terminal, which would see its oil storage capacity increase by more than 2.5 million barrels of crude oil from 2.36 million barrels.

Luxury expedition cruise brand Silversea Cruises has ordered three new ships – two from German shipbuilder Meyer Werft and one from Dutch shipbuilder Shipyard De Hoop. Meyer Werft has signed a memorandum of understanding to construct two new Evolution Class vessels at its yard in Papenburg. The first is expected to be delivered in 2022. “We are very happy to build these new ships for Silversea Cruises,” said Tim Meyer, managing director of Meyer Werft. “Together with Silversea we will create a new generation of environmentally friendly ships in the ultra-luxury cruise market.”

Silversea Cruises and Royal Caribbean Cruises have announced, they signed a memorandum with Meyer for zhe newbuild of two ships as well as with Dutch yard de Hoop for an expedition cruise ship. http://cruisedeck.de/silversea-wollen-drei-neue-schiffe-bestellen/

The cruise ship “Viking Sky” sailed into the Kiel Fiord on her maiden visit to Kiel early on Tuesday morning escorted by a water fountain display from a local tug. The ship’s arrival also marks the ninth and final occasion this season on which a cruise ship has visited the port for the first time. Nicole Claus, Cruise Shipping Director of the PORT OF KIEL said “The high number of maiden calls underscores the fact that Kiel, in addition to its function as a base port for cruise shipping, is also being utilised more and more as a jumping-off point for day trips ashore. International cruise ship travellers are increasingly discovering Schleswig-Holstein as a holiday destination in its own right.” This year Kiel has already been visited by the cruise shipping companies Cunard, Fred Olsen, HAL, Ponant, Pullmantur, P&O and Saga as part of ongoing cruises. Available to the more than 900 mainly English-speaking passengers of “Viking Sky” are trips ranging from city tours in Kiel itself and also in the Hanse city of Lübeck to panorama journeys through the scenic region known as Holstein Switzerland and excursions to the seaside spa resort of Laboe.

It is not a question of whether but when autonomous navigation will be introduced. In order to prepare the Port of Rotterdam Authority for the arrival of autonomous navigation, the Port of Rotterdam Authority has converted a patrol vessel into a floating lab that collects data, including about the vessel’s operation and power. By making these data available to the business community and education, further research can be conducted into the introduction of autonomous navigation and the Port of Rotterdam can make further preparations for this. The first partnership for data exchange from the floating lab has now been signed with Captain AI. They are adding artificial intelligence to the data, which enables computers to be trained as artificial captains to navigate independently through the port.

The Liberian government, through the National Port Authority (NPA), has disclosed the establishment of a tracking system at all seaports of entrances in Liberia to trace goods entering and leaving the country. The Cargo Tracking Note (CTN) or the global system of information on cargo for the protection of ships and port facilities, is a solution of verification and monitoring of international maritime transport in order to prevent any attack and locate the responsibility of each maritime operator in the case of shipping hazardous and dangerous product. According to the NPA, the CTN helps to strengthen the image of ports and countries that have signed, respected and implemented the required plan of the ISPS Code. The aim of the CTN is to contribute to the substantial reduction of risk for maritime security of ships and port facilities by providing accurate and reliable assessments of ships, their owners and managers. In Africa, the process is under way in many countries including Liberia.

Three more quayside gantry cranes, one of the most necessary container handling equipment, arrived at the Chittagong Port last week. Trial operations of another three delivered in August started the same day. The six were procured from Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company Ltd at Tk 344.92 crore. The Chittagong Port Authority is set to get another four from the Chinese company, all for New Mooring Container Terminal. Port users have long been urging for acquiring the cranes to increase container throughput, a measure of the number of containers handled over a period of time. Source: The Daily Star

C-Innovation, LLC (C-I), an affiliate of Edison Chouest Offshore (ECO) and its family of companies, has opened a new dock facility in Port Fourchon, La., to expand the capabilities of its Subsea Services group. With more than 550 ft of open quayside, Bayou Lafourche is a main entrance into the facility, which is supplied with a Manitowoc 777 crane and forklifts for rapid mobilizations of C-I’s subsea construction and inspection, maintenance and repair (IMR) fleet of vessels, including the 525 ft long Island Venture offshore construction vessel. The dock facility, which will be manned 24 hours a day, will serve as the base for C-I’s Fourchon operations and features client offices, conference rooms with full streaming connectivity, bunk houses and parking for offshore crews.

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Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center (HVCC) and tug shipping company Kotug Smit Towage will in future work closely together at the Port of Hamburg in order to coordinate preliminary planning for ship calls and departures, and the associated tug services. This step will further optimise the efficiency and quality of ship handling in the Port of Hamburg. Kotug Smit Towage is the first port service provider that will have access to the Hamburg Vessel Coordination Center’s time-related and geographically extensive planning system. Gerald Hirt, Managing Director of HVCC, comments, “Our cooperation with Kotug Smit marks an important milestone in the continued development of HVCC’s partner portfolio. We believe the comprehensive network and data exchange within the port industry offers enormous potential for increased efficiency in the Port of Hamburg.”

ABP’s Port of Hull continues to boom as it welcomes yet another new container service. The latest service will connect Hull with Antwerp, Belgium’s largest port. Global logistics company, Samskip, has opened up the twice-weekly route which will officially arrive at the Port of Hull for the first time on 14 October, with a vessel holding over 500 twenty-foot containers. Over the year, around 15,000 extra containers are expected to be handled at the Hull Container Terminal.

apan’s bunker market is bracing itself for another storm, Typhoon Kong-rey, shortly after Typhoon Trami made landfall last Sunday. Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to move into the Sea of Japan on Saturday, bringing strong winds and heavy rains. The Japan Meteorological Agency at 0245 GMT Friday reported that Typhoon Kong-rey was moving north at 20 kph with a maximum sustained wind speed of 35 meters/second and maximum wind gusts of 50 m/s. Bunker deliveries are likely to be halted on Saturday in west Japan and on Sunday in Tokyo Bay, market sources said. Barge congestion and loading delays will be worsened, as ports in Japan are still coping with the delays from Typhoon Trami. Japan has seen a spate of typhoons in recent months, including Jebi in early September and Shanshan and Jongdari in August, each causing bunkering delays at ports and barge congestion. Source: Platts