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The 335,000-barrel-per-day Isla refinery operated by Venezuela’s state-run PDVSA in Curacao is working at minimum capacity while awaiting new crude shipments and as a tanker backlog in the country’s ports began to ease, four sources close to the facility told Reuters. PDVSA’s operations this year have been mired by problems ranging from fast-declining crude production and poor refining due to a lack of equipment, to obstacles for exporting oil amid port congestion and financial sanctions. Only a few units at the Curacao refinery have been operating during U.S. producer ConocoPhillips’ moves to seize PDVSA’s inventories, cargoes and facilities following a $2 billion arbitration award by the International Chamber of Commerce in April.

Ponant's latest expedition cruise ship LE LAPEROUSE, first one of a series of six, started her maiden voyage around Iceland. http://cruisedeck.de/le-laperouse-auf-jungfernfahrt/

Operations at the Manila International Container Terminal are set to be fast-tracked soon following the delivery of two new giant cranes, according to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA). A report on GMA News’ “Balitanghali” on Sunday said that each crane is capable of unloading as much as 14,000 container units from a ship. Eight more rubber tire gantry cranes are expected to arrive in November, and two more quay cranes are set to arrive next year. Source: GMA News

The decommissioning of a significant part of the tanker fleet is about to alleviate the current oversupply issues, as evidenced by the record-breaking pace of demolition activity this year. In its latest weekly report, Clarkson Platou Hellas commented that “with the end of an eventful week in Athens for the bi-annual Posidonia, Owners, Cash Buyers and other industry players were able to come together and discuss what has been an active first half of the year in the recycling market. With the main topic of discussion still being tanker units, it currently looks to be a record year for tanker recycling and many questions and discussions were being raised for this sector which should ensure the supply for these types of units to continue and interestingly, the topic of ‘green recycling’ was evident.

A scrubber technology that saves on fuel costs while at the same time complying with the IMO 2020 0.5% sulfur emission regulations. Van Oord, also active in dredging and the construction of wind farms at sea, sees benefits in this solution. Marine scrubber-technology leader Ionada BV signed, during the PortXL event ‘Shakedown’, a pilot-agreement with Van Oord for the testing of Ionada’s Semi-Dry-Scrubbing-technology aboard the Van Oord vessel Lelystad, a hopper dredger. Ionada is one of the fourteen start-ups/scale-ups that signed contracts/pilot-agreements at Shakedown yesterday with well-known corporates.

GAC - Wednesday, June 13, 2018, Panama Canal, Panama The recent rainfall in the Canal watershed has increased the levels of Gatun and Alhajuela Lakes considerably in the past few days. Therefore, effective immediately, the maximum authorized draft for vessels transiting the Neopanamax locks will be 14.94 meters (49.0 feet) Tropical Fresh Water (TFW). Vessels arriving with drafts over 14.94 meters (49.0 feet) TFW may be allowed to transit depending on the actual level of Gatun Lake at the time of the transit. Otherwise, they will be required to trim or off-load cargo in order to be allowed to transit. The maximum authorized transit draft is the deepest point of immersion in TFW permitted for a particular vessel in Gatun Lake. Water density of Gatun Lake is 0.9954 at 29.4 deg. C (85 deg. F). Vessels shall arrive at Canal waters with no list.

Following a very successful 2017 financial year, today the Annual General Meeting of Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) resolved to increase the dividend per listed Class A share to € 0.67. This is 13.6 percent more than in the previous year. As such, € 46.9 million is being distributed to the shareholders of the Port Logistics subgroup for the 2017 financial year. The payout ratio has increased by one percentage point year-on-year to 66 percent of the profit after tax and minority interests. As in the last few years, this ratio is at the upper end of the dividend payout range of 50 to 70 percent. The dividend proposal made by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board was ratified by 99.9 percent of the votes cast. In her speech at the Annual General Meeting, Chairwoman of HHLA’s Executive Board, Angela Titzrath, explained: “HHLA rests on solid foundations. Notwithstanding changing parameters, we therefore believe there is a good chance that we will further strengthen the company’s future viability and creative power.”

Railport Antwerp, a joint initiative by Antwerp Port Authority, the Left Bank Development Corporation and the industry associations Essenscia Vlaanderen and VOKA-Alfaport, is to expand its activities. The company will actively serve rail transport in the port, including intermodal container transport, with the aim of doubling the proportion of rail transport in the port of Antwerp over the next few years. An important step in this process is the appointment of Nils van Vliet as CEO.

he Port of Cork marked a major milestone for the company today with the launch of the new Cork Container Terminal development in Ringaskiddy. The Cork Container Terminal will initially offer a 360-metre quay with 13-metre depth alongside and will enable larger ships to berth in Ringaskiddy. The development also includes the construction of a 13.5 hectare terminal and associated buildings as well as two ship to shore gantry cranes and container handling equipment. The requirement for the development of new container handling facilities at Ringaskiddy was identified in the Port of Cork’s Strategic Development plan in 2010.

(TheLoadstar) The UK’s major container gateway of Felixstowe is expected to continue experiencing severe congestion after the troubled implementation of a new IT system. An advisory issued by MSC said all carriers calling at the port were still experiencing “significant delays”. “MSC expects these delays to continue, which will affect vessel arrival times and collection and delivery slots. “We continue to work very closely with the port of Felixstowe to mitigate this situation and we are working hard to minimise the impact on our customers.” Its 2M partner, Maersk, also advised customers it was working with the port to resolve the issues, and Cosco issued a notification citing “severe delays”, which it said were leading to “serious service failures”. One source told The Loadstar the delays had resulted in the port suspending rail import services, although a spokesperson for the port denied this.

Thousands of containers containing recyclable and used materials are piling up at seaports in the localities of Hải Phòng, HCM City and Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, reducing the productivity and efficiency of ports’ operations and negatively affecting the import-export activities of Vietnamese enterprises. According to the report issued by the Việt Nam Maritime Administration, by the end of May, nearly 28,000 containers were stuck at seaports, including nearly 6,800 containers in Hải Phòng City ports, 14,600 in HCM City and about 6,500 in Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu Province. The main causes, the administration supposes, are changes in international trade policies which create uncertainties in the market forecast. China, for example, announced to stop importing 24 types of used and recyclable materials from January, 2018. The huge amount of those goods has to find its own way to other Asian countries including Việt Nam.

The stalled mechanical dredging of the Azhikkal Port channel here has resumed nearly a year after the much-awaited dredging work formally got under way in August last year when Ports Minister Kadannappally Ramachandran flagged off the operation of the cutter-suction dredger, CSD Chandragiri. The operation of the dredger was to have begun after its formal inauguration nearly two years after it was brought here with much fanfare. It took another 10 months for the actual dredging to increase the depth of the basin and the channel to begin. The plan is to increase the depth of the channel by six metres for the full-fledged launch of coastal shipping services and cargo shipping to Lakshwadweep from here.

he Kingdom’s only deep-sea port, operated by state-owned Sihanoukville Autonomous Port (PAS), will launch a new multipurpose terminal on June 25, to accommodate larger vessels with heavy loads, it said on Wednesday. PAS Chairman and CEO Lou Kim Chhun said the inauguration of the multipurpose terminal will be presided over by Prime Minister Hun Sen. Once in operation, the new facility will be able to load shipments weighing in the range of 40,000-50,000 tonnes. This is more than twice the limit of existing terminals. “As the terminal at the sea-port is deeper and can handle bigger vessels with heavier loads, sea transportation costs will become cheaper,” Kim Chhun said. He said construction of the new terminal began in early 2015 using a soft loan from the Japanese development agency JICA. The final cost will be more than $70 million. Cambodia Freight Forwarders Association (CFFA) President Sin Chanthy said that PAS’s new facility will contribute to a greater level of competitiveness in exporting goods and will simplify the work of freight forwarders. Without the new terminal, Chanthy said PAS could not handle large vessels. This led to fewer customers and congestion while at port. “With the new terminal becoming operational, large vessels will make up a larger part of the traffic. Goods will be delivered on time in a shorter period which will strengthen the business’s competitiveness,” he said.

Shipping lines are looking at moving some business from the UK’s biggest container port, which has been hit by delays caused by IT problems. Tilbury port said it had been contacted by companies looking for an alternatives to Felixstowe. The Port of Felixstowe said talk of diverting ships was not unusual. While the Felixstowe Port Users’ Association told the BBC that the situation was improving with 60% of containers being loaded within an hour. On Wednesday, lorry drivers complained of tailbacks of up to 16 hours after the IT system was introduced on Sunday. One shipping line, that did not wish to be named, told the BBC cranes that normally handled 24 containers an hour, were at present only handling about eight an hour. A spokesman from London Container Terminal in Tilbury said: “We have been approached by a number of shipping lines seeking alternative options to Felixstowe.”

The Port of Virginia is one of the most significant ports in the United States. It facilitates $242 million worth of commerce a day, and a full 9 percent — or 343,000 — of Virginia’s jobs are port-related. But there’s a problem. It’s not big enough. Not when cargo ships have gotten bigger, which threatens both business and safety. Experts say deepening and widening of the port at its channel is crucial. Rick Wester, captain of the Port of Virginia, notes the channel isn’t wide enough with ships double or triple the size they were a decade ago. “About three of four times a week, whenever [the biggest ships] enter or leave port, I have to impose one-way traffic because it’s just too narrow for them to meet any other ships,” he said. Furthermore, the channel is only 50 feet deep, which means many of the larger ships would run aground if fully loaded. Wester explains, “These ships draw 55 feet [so] we don’t allow them to come into port… they can only partially load both coming in and leaving—they’ve not using their capacity.” Over 114,000 U.S. businesses rely on goods from the Port of Virginia, but the channel is limiting its ability to expand. Thus there’s a plan to dredge and widen the waterway — it’s even caught the attention of President Trump, who stated the port “could be one of the best in the world if they invested not that much money, relatively speaking.” How much is that? Around a billion dollars. Virginia has already secured $695 million in private and state investment, and the state is asking for $300 million more from the federal government.

In a contentious move, an expert appraisal committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has recommended granting of Environmental Clearance and CRZ clearance for the Phase-III expansion of the Kamarajar Port Ltd (KPL) in Ennore. In a meeting last month, the EAC had recommended the clearance based on the draft Coastal Zone Management Plan (CZMP) 2018. However, environmental activists termed it illegal as a writ petition against the draft CZMP was pending in the Madras High Court.

(Reuters) – A fire in the hold of a bulker ship on Monday briefly closed Australia’s Port Kembla, the second-largest coal export port in New South Wales state, stopping shipping for eight hours. The port was shut soon after the blaze began before dawn on the MV Iron Chieftain as it unloaded dolomite, a mineral used in steelmaking which was destined for BlueScope Steel Ltd’s nearby blast furnace. No injuries were reported. “Shipping recommenced and the port reopened at 1130 (0130 GMT) and is expected to be back on schedule by around 1700,” harbor master Kell Dillon said in an emailed statement. More than 100 firefighters were working to put fire out, a job likely to take all day, a spokesman for Fire and Rescue NSW told Reuters. Pictures showed water being sprayed from tugboats and fire engines into the ship’s hold.

DP World, the fourth biggest port operator globally, will not consider alternative legal options outside a court settlement in a dispute with the Djibouti government over the Doraleh Container Terminal. The Nasdaq-listed company is awaiting a ruling by the International Arbitration Court in London, a DP World spokesman said in a statement Saturday, in response to media reports that it is considering settling the matter outside the court. “We await the outcome of this process,” a DP World spokesperson said. “We remain committed to operating Doraleh port as per the original agreement of the concession, and we will not consider any other alternative settlement option.” In February, the Djibouti authorities abruptly cancelled DP World’s contract to run the Doraleh terminal. DP World said the move to take control of the port was illegal and began court proceedings.

APL unveiled the new weekly China Australia Service 6 (CA6) that will connect the central and southern China ports of Shanghai, Ningbo and Yantian to the largest eastern Australian cities of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.Designed to provide the industry's fastest transit times, CA6 promises to deliver shipments from Yantian and Shanghai to Sydney in 11 and 14 days respectively. With CA6 complementing APL's China Australia Service 3 (CA3), China Australia Service 2 (CA2) and China Australia Service (CAS) that provide weekly coverage between China and Australia, APL shippers can expect to benefit from yet another shipping cut-off time from Shanghai and Shenzhen to eastern Australia each week.

The number of ships waiting to berth at Brazilian ports to load soybeans and its byproducts is currently almost 60 percent larger than in the same period last year, according to data from shipping agency Williams compiled by Reuters. At the same time, the amount of ships that are berthed and currently loading is 42 percent smaller than seen at this time last year. Associations representing soy processors and grain exporters said the situation is caused by slower transportation of grains from producing regions to the ports, mainly due to lack of definition of truck freight prices following a nationwide truckers strike last month. A source at a shipping operator, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak to press, said another cause for the slow loading and large number of ships at bay was still the truckers protests for 11 days in May that paralyzed grain transportation in the country. According to Williams, there were 46 vessels at bay in Brazilian ports waiting to berth and load soybeans, soymeal and other grains. One year ago at the same period, there were only 29 ships at bay.