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Lindblad Expeditionswill order a further expedition cruise ship with Ulstein yard. http://cruisedeck.de/x-bow-ship-lindblad-expeditions-ordern-erneut/

Initally, few outside of the Hunter seemed too concerned about the secret lease conditions making it all but impossible for Newcastle to have a container terminal, with the general belief being the idea wouldn’t work anyway, so why worry about a piece of obscure paperwork? Now, however, for a variety of reasons, that line of thinking is being challenged, and the consortium that operates the Port of Newcastle has seen enough in many months of investigations to believe that a container terminal can and will work in Newcastle. To help achieve its aims, it’s hired a former shipping industry manager and government policy expert, Craig Carmody, as the port’s new chief executive, with an explicit brief to try to bring a Newcastle container terminal to fruition. Nobody under-estimates the size of the task. Botany’s operator will want to hold on to its monopoly status for as long as possible. The Port of Newcastle is hoping the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will say that the Botany protection is anti-competitive, but as the ACCC waved the privatisations through in the first place, that is by no means a certainty. At the same time, Newcastle has to convince a global shipping industry that there’s enough business to warrant a stop-over when Botany is virtually next door, a little over 80 nautical miles away. Source: The Herald

SINGAPORE's APL, now a unit of French shipping giant CMA CGM, has unveiled the new Japan Russia Express (JRX) service, the only weekly Japan-Russia ocean freight service to be available in the marketplace A jointly operated service with TG FESCO, the JRX service will be characterised by its unparalleled transit times. Russian-destined cargoes from Yokohama to Vostonchny and Vladivostock will be delivered in as soon as seven and nine days respectively. Shipments from Kobe to the two same Russian ports will arrive in just four and six days respectively, APL said in a statement. From Vostonchny and Vladivostock, cargoes onboard the JRX service may be easily moved via the Trans-Siberian Railway to Central Russia and into the European Union. Meanwhile, shippers from Japan and Russia may also plug into APL's extensive service network for global market access via Busan where the JRX service will make a port stop. APL's JRX will commence sailing from Yokohama on August 24 with the following rotation: Vostochny, Vladivostok, Yokohama, Shimizu, Nagoya, Kobe, Busan and Vostochny. Source : Schednet

Eagle LNG Partners (Eagle LNG) announced the official grand opening of its Maxville LNG Facility. The plant which has been operating since early 2018 has a production capacity of 200,000 liquefied natural gas (LNG) gallons-per-day with a 1 million-gallon storage tank. Maxville is built to supply Eagle LNG’s Marine Fuel Depot – Talleyrand located on the Port of Jacksonville’s (JAXPORT) Talleyrand Marine Terminal. Eagle LNG will fuel Crowley Maritimes’ two new LNG-powered Commitment Class ships for U.S. mainland to Puerto Rico trade from its Talleyrand marine fuel depot in addition to serving growing domestic and Caribbean needs for clean-burning, economical LNG. The Maxville plant currently loads LNG in ISO containers shipped to Puerto Rico for the pharmaceutical industry.

The central city of Da Nang has officially put into operation the second stage of Tien Sa port after two years of construction, bringing its total capacity to 12 million tonnes of cargo per year. General Director of Da Nang Port Joint Stock Company Nguyen Huu Sia said that the second stage at Tien Sa Port had cost more than 1 trillion VND (44.2 million USD), of which 36 percent was funded by the company. He said the second stage, which included two piers, would allow access to 70,000DWT (deadweight tonnage) ships, 4,000TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units) container ships, and 150GT (gross tonnage) cruise ships. Sia said the port was a key hub in central Vietnam and met international logistics standards in the region connecting the East-West Economic Corridor that links Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and Vietnam. According to the latest report, the Tien Sa port, 10km from the city centre, handled four million tonnes of cargo in the first six months this year, a 6.14 percent increase in comparison with the same period last year.

To signify its first day of operations at Damen Shipyards Mangalia in Romania, Damen held a modest ceremony at the yard on Monday, July 23rd. The celebrations mark Damen’s successful completion of the transaction with Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) for the Mangalia shipyard, formerly known as Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI).

Last week Medcenter Container Terminal (MCT), Contship Italia Group’s flagship transshipment hub in the port of Gioia Tauro, witnessed the arrival of two ultra large container ships (ULCS), operated by 2M partners MSC and Maersk Line – MSC Maya and Mayview Maersk. The MSC Maya is an ‘Oscar’ class ship, one of the biggest in the MSC fleet, with a capacity of 19,224 teus and a LOA of 395.4m. The Mayview Maersk is a famous Triple-E class and is the first time such a ship has called MCT, having a capacity of 18,270 teus and a LOA of 399m.

A new rule requiring tankers carrying LPG through the Turkish straits to be accompanied by has been delayed to September 1, according to sources, citing an announcement by the Turkish VTS Traffic Control Center on Friday. The rule had been due to come into force Wednesday. All LPG tankers passing the Dardanelles and Bosporus will be obliged to use an escort tug, according to the announcement. The new rule is expected to affect costs rather than timings, significantly increasing transit fees. The Istanbul port authority was unavailable to comment. Bunkering operations in the are not expected to be affected by the new rule. Source: Platts

Four reachstackers and three empty container handlers (ECH) for container handling operations have arrived at the Sapangar Bay Container Port (SBCP), Tawau Port and Sandakan Port. Sabah Ports Sdn Bhd (SPSB) said in a stab tement yesterday that these equipment, used for transporting and stacking of containers, are essential in yard side operations so as to enhance the operational efficiency at these ports. Two reachstackers and two ECH are each assigned to SBCP. Tawau Port will receive one unit each whilst Sandakan Port will receive one reachstacker to complement the existing equipment at their respective ports. As part of its 30-year master plan to strengthen port performance via improved yard side operations, SPSB conducts periodic reviews of the performance of its cargo handling equipment and procures new equipment that are due for replacement.

Planned new activities are expected to add 9,000 direct jobs as well as 9,000 indirect jobs, besides increasing the economic activity of the drydock to about $500 million. - Duqm: The planned additional drydock activities at Duqm are expected to give the Sultanate’s economy a boost, according to a senior official. Eng. Said bin Hamoud al-Ma’awali, CEO of Oman Drydock Company, said: “We are planning to increase the number of drydock activities in Duqm, one of the best drydocks in the region”. Eng. Al Ma’awali said in an interview published on Sunday in Duqm Economic magazine by the Special Economic Zone Authority in Duqm (SEZAD) for July 2018, “The plan of the company until 2040 includes increasing the number of activities from about 3 to 11, including the construction and repair of offshore platforms for oil production and the manufacture of steel structures used in the oil fields, repairing warships and manufacturing specialised vessels, such as large sea fishing vessels, towing boats, maintenance and repair of large yachts and converting vessels from one use to another and many other activities”.

ArcelorMittal Gent, the Flemish investment company “Participatiemaatschappij Vlaanderen” (“PMV”), Euroports and North Sea Port are collaborating on the first ever roofed loading bay and warehouse in Ghent: the “All Weather Terminal” (AWT). An investment worth more than 50 million euros. The new terminal is being built next to the existing mixed cargo bay of ArcelorMittal Gent and will be used in the first place to store and ship finished steel coils. Twenty percent of the storage capacity can also be used for the handling of other materials such as paper or other mixed cargo. The new “All Weather Terminal” will be owned by AWT GENT NV, a company founded by PMV and EPICo (www.epicofund.eu). AWT GENT NV, who are responsible for the design, construction, financing, maintenance and exploitation of the Terminal. Thanks to “AWT”, AWT GENT NV will be able to provide services to ArcelorMittal Gent and other customers. AWT GENT NV entrusts Euroports with the role of maritime logistics, namely the distribution of flows from, to and in the AWT.

The first of 60 new Konecranes rail-mounted gantry cranes (RMGs) have arrived at Norfolk International Terminals (NIT) as the Port of Virginia begins its $375 million expansion project. NIT will put the cranes into service by the end of September, when the first three of its 30 new container stacks will be ready to use. Once all 60 RMGs are operational, Port of Virginia expects NITs annual capacity to increase by 400,000 TEU by mid-2020. In November 2016, the port finalized a $217 million contract with Konecranes to build and deliver 86 RMGs - the largest one-time RMG order ever.

Romania has finalized the transaction with Dutch group Damen Shipyards which made it majority shareholder in Daewoo Mangalia Heavy Industries (DMHI), the Romanian economy ministry said. With extensive experience in shipbuilding and shipyard management, Damen will take over operational control, the economy ministry said in a statement.

Globally, the cost to ship cargo or freight by a shipping container from the United States to Apapa (Nigeria) is about the highest in the world. This is according to moverdb.com in a 2018 Overseas Cargo and Freight Costs template showing freight costs from United States (Los Angeles & New York) to different port destinations of the world. The rates which are as accurate as of early 2017 shows that the Apapa port from New York is the most expensive destination among the countries included in the template. It costs about $4,982 to ship a 20 feet container from New York to Apapa which is about twice the amount to ship a container of the same size to Cape Town (South Africa) – $2,542. Shipping a 40 feet container from New York to Apapa has a freight cost of about $7,436 almost double the cost of shipping a container of an exact size to Cape Town ($3,795). Although shipping costs from Los Angeles to Apapa is a bit cheaper, the freight costs to Nigeria is the second highest globally which is about $3,027, a little behind the most expensive freight cost of $3,573 to Saudi Arabia for a 20 feet container. https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/apapa-ports-are-most-expensive-globally/

On 24th July, Damen Shipyards Group signed a contract with Cyprus-based VTS Vasiliko Terminal Services, the supplier of marine services to the Port of Vasiliko and the VTTV Oil Terminal Jetty, for a Damen ASD Tug 2310. The new ASD Tug 2310, which is to be named Ayia Marina, is a standardised vessel from the Damen portfolio, but has been enhanced with some specific custom requirements from Vasiliko Terminal Services.

Scotland’s port of Lerwick welcomed its largest-ever cruise ship, MSC Cruises’ MSC Meraviglia, on 31 July 2018. At 316 metres long and 171,598gt, MSC Meraviglia is larger than the previous record-holder, which was Celebrity Cruises’ 122,210gt Celebrity Silhouette. She arrived with 5,092 passengers – the most yet on a single ship at Lerwick – and more than 1,500 crew. The passengers will be transferred ashore by tenders.

Because of the ongoing period of drought, and on the advice of the National Water Coordination Committee, the Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management has switched to the so called KWA scenario (‘Klimaatbestendige Wateraanvoer’). One of the decisions made is that it is necessary to adjust the lock passage regime in IJmuiden to reduce saltwater intrusion from the North Sea Canal into the Amsterdam Rhine Canal. Therefore Port of Amsterdam will start the optimisation of the passage process, from Thursday 26 July 2018 at 06.00 pm. This means that we will strive to carry out each lock passage with as full a lock as possible and restrict the filling of empty locks where possible. To optimise the lock passages, we will apply a maximum waiting time for both the Middensluis and the Noordersluis locks of 1.5 hours as a result of the measure. By taking this measure, we will make a positive contribution to the fragile balance between fresh and salt water in the Amsterdam Rhine Canal.

The soporific seaside town of Berbera is slowly changing as it takes on a major role on the Red Sea shipping route, allowing breakaway Somaliland to dream of prosperity and even recognition. At the Berbera port, dozens of containers are stacked on a sun-scorched platform and a few cranes creakily transfer sacks of sorghum and other goods from a rusting cargo ship. The facilities are far from modern, but Somaliland hopes its position on one of the world’s busiest shipping routes will turn the state into a job-creating dynamo — and encourage international recognition 27-years after it split from Somalia. Somaliland’s ambitions were boosted in March when it struck a deal giving Dubai port giant DP World a 51 per cent stake in the port and Ethiopia 19pc. DP World says it plans to invest $442 million to modernise the port, with a first extension of 400 square metres to begin in October that is expected to take 24 months.

The Port of Felixstowe has started to recover from the delays experienced in early July 2018, caused by the failure of its terminal operating system (TOS). The Hutchison Ports facility’s increased throughput has come after the port made key upgrades to the TOS over the course of last week. It handled 74,000 TEU in the week ending 22 July, a rise of 70,000 TEU from the previous week, although this is still lower than throughput handled in July 2017. Hutchison Ports reported that it had handled 11,600 rail containers during the week commencing June 16, including a 15% increase in the number of containers loaded to trains. https://www.porttechnology.org/news/port_of_felixstowe_starts_recovery

New automated cranes and vehicles are on trial at the Pasir Panjang Terminal and can boost productivity substantially, potentially bolstering Singapore’s status as a port hub. Port and terminal operator, PSA Singapore, introduced details of the automated machines to Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan and the media during a briefing at Pasir Panjang Terminal Building 3 on Monday (July 23). Under the new Automated Quay Crane system, part of the process of moving containers, from a vessel to a prime mover for example, can be done automatically. But a worker still needs to use a joystick to load and unload containers onto the vessels and vehicles for now, though engineers are working to make the whole process automated with only minimal human supervision needed. Mr Eddy Ng, managing director of Singapore Terminals 2, which includes the Pasir Panjang Terminals, said: “Technology has revolutionised and transformed PSA and the broader maritime and ports industry. What used to be a lot more labour-intensive has now been refreshed by automation and digital capabilities and new technologies.”