News

Hapag-Lloyd, the market leader in Canada, is expanding its local network. On April 21, the “YM Masculinity” called at a new destination, the Port of Prince Rupert, for the first time. The ship, which operates on the ‘PS8’ service of THE Alliance, was sailing from Asia to North America offering leading transit times and new options for customers.

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has sought permission to withdraw a proposal it put forward to create a second container terminal in the Port of Montevideo in Uruguay. A committee set up by the Administración Nacional de Puertos, or National Ports Administration (ANP), to analyse the project is now having to decide whether the representative of MSC that wants to discontinue is legally the same person that submitted it in the first place, and whether they have the power to withdraw the original request. The formal submission was made to the ANP on January 17 this year, for what would be a multipurpose container terminal. A technical commission composed of officials from the commercial, legal and operational areas of ANP was then set up to prepare a feasibility study within 90 days, allowing them to say in mid-May whether the project made financial sense or not. The original move was seen by some as a means for MSC to put pressure on Katoen Natie to sell its existing container terminal at a discount, since the Belgian operator had earlier announced it wished to withdraw from the Port of Montevideo. Source: Port Strategy

Shanghai was the world’s busiest container port in 2017, according to a report by shipping consultancy service Alphaliner. Shanghai handled a total of 40 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) last year, an 8.3 percent increase from the previous year. Singapore took second place, followed by Shenzhen, which ranked third on the list with 25 million TEU. Ningbo and Hong Kong were another two ports in China that made it into the top 10. The Alphaliner report also says that, thanks to the recovery in the global economy, the world’s busiest container ports enjoyed a 5 percent increase and recorded a total volume of 600 million TEU in 2017. Source: ECNS

UK ports operator Peel Ports Group and autonomous vessel firm ASV Global recently tested an autonomous shallow-draft survey boat at the Port of Liverpool. According to Peel Ports, it represents the first step in a partnership to explore the use of the technology at its other sites in the UK. For the first test, the ASV-built autonomous boat C-Cat 3 carried out a multibeam echosounder survey near Brocklebank Dock, a terminal on the River Mersey north of Liverpool. The demonstration was successful, and Peel Ports is exploring the possibility of further uses for the survey technology. It has signed a formal MOU with ASV that will give the autonomous systems developer access to other Peel Ports facilities for further testing.

German container terminal operator Eurogate reported positive earnings last year, despite increased throughput volatility because of the liner alliance reshuffle in 2017.

The Port of Felixstowe has taken delivery of its first two remote control ship-to-shore gantry cranes. The two new cranes, the 32nd and 33rd at the UK’s largest container port, were delivered on the Zhen Hua 23 from ZPMC in Shanghai. Commenting on the new cranes, Clemence Cheng, CEO of the Port of Felixstowe and Executive Director, Hutchison Ports, said: “These new cranes are the latest acquisition in our ongoing investment programme to provide the best equipment, infrastructure and systems for our customers. They will further enhance our capability to work multiple mega-vessels simultaneously.

Turkey’s Oyak Group - owner of the country’s biggest steel producer, Erdemir Group - is to invest in a car logistics terminal in Yarimca port near Istanbul in partnership with Japan’s Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK Line). According to a Reuters report, the investment will be $110 million.

Environmentalists found high concentrations of pollutants in air samples taken at the weekend at the Mediterranean port of Gibraltar. The samples, which were taken next to cruise vessels moored in Campo de Gibraltar [an area between the port proper and the mainland], showed "high concentrations of ultrafine particles", according to international environmentalist groups Ecologistas en Acción from Spain and Nature and Biodiversity Union (NABU) from Germany. "Air pollution levels [were] up to 140 times higher than in areas with clean air" from samples taken on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when different cruise ships visited the port, a statement from NABU said. NABU policy officer Malte Siegert called for the Mediterranean Sea region to be designated a emission control area (ECA) as is already the case in the North and Baltic Seas.

New European-built vehicles will be delivered and processed into Canada at a facility being prepared on Nanaimo Port Authority land, in partnership with Western Stevedoring. “The project has the potential to transform Canada’s import automobile supply chain,” said Ewan Moir, president and chief executive of the port authority. Instead of loading European vehicles on a train in Eastern Canada for a cross-country trip to the western provinces, ships will carry vehicles through the Panama Canal to Nanaimo. From there, they will be barged across the water to the Lower Mainland or sent to dealerships on Vancouver Island. “For the first time ever, we will actually deliver European vehicles to Vancouver Island directly,” Moir said Wednesday. The $18 million project will tackle existing transportation bottlenecks and congestion and is designed to make it easier to deliver vehicles to the west coast. Nanaimo was chosen because automobile processing centres in the Lower Mainland are already at capacity, Moir said.

The lineup of vessels to load sugar in Brazil currently is around 60 percent smaller than seen in the same period a year earlier because of lower output and tepid foreign demand, midway through the first month of the country’s new cane crop. Ten vessels were at Brazilian ports in the first week of April to load 393,500 tonnes of sugar, according to data from shipping agency Williams. At this time last year, 23 ships were at port to take on 950,400 tonnes. “The main reason for that is the smaller production in Brazil,” said Julio Maria Borges, a sugar analyst at consultancy JOB Economia e Planejamento. “We are going to see lineups smaller than last year during the crop.” Brazilian mills have been producing much more ethanol as this year’s cane crop begins than seen last year, as the fuel is currently more profitable than sugar and demand for ethanol in Brazil is strong. Source: Reuters

Five days after a fire broke out aboard the fishing vessel Dong Won 701 at the port of Timaru, South Canterbury, responders are still working to extinguish the last of the flames. The Korean-owned Dong Won caught fire at a pier in Timaru on Monday night. All 60 crewmembers on board managed to escape the vessel safely, though several instances of smoke inhalation were reported. As of Tuesday, burning nets and fuel continued to hamper firefighting efforts, and rather than risk impairing the vessel's stability by flooding her with firefighting water, responders opted to let the blaze burn itself out while providing boundary cooling of the hull. One of the harbor's two tugs assisted this effort with its firefighting monitor.

According to WSA all traffic at Brunsbüttel Canal locks is suspended due to strike until abt. 24.00 hrs today - April 12, 2018

Kiel opens this year’s cruise shipping season on April 6th with the arrival of Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ “Boudicca”, the company said in its press release. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) said: “We are well prepared and expect record passenger figures as well as ship visits.” According to registrations currently to hand, 32 different cruise ships with some 600,000 passengers will make a total of 166 calls in the port. The 205 m long “Boudicca”, of 28,388 GT, sailed through the Kiel Canal during the night and arrived on the Kiel Fiord in the morning. There it was welcomed with a water fountain tribute from one of the port’s tugs and escorted to its berth at the Ostseekai Cruise Terminal. During an onboard reception following its arrival, Kiel City President Hans-Werner Tovar welcomed Captain Juha Sartela and presented him with the port’s traditional maiden visit plaque.

Through the use of NOAA’s Physical Oceanographic Real-Time System (PORTS®), super-sized ships coming through the recently expanded Panama Canal can now more safely and efficiently enter the Miami seaport. In addition to the improved vessel safety, past NOAA studies have shown that a PORTS system, like the one dedicated by NOAA and PortMiami officials today, can provide considerable economic benefit to the local community. Already one of the busiest ports in the world, Miami’s harbour supports over a hundred thousand jobs while providing billions to the national economy.

ATHENS, April 18 (Reuters) – Greek ferries remained docked at the country’s ports on Wednesday as seamen, marine engineers and ship cooks walked off the job to protest against planned government reforms which they say will further hurt their labor rights. The 24-hour strike was organized by Greece’s seamen federation (PNO), which said the leftist-led government was preparing a reform allowing non-European flagged transport ships to sail in Greece, leading to job losses for Greek crews. The reform is coming on top of pension cuts, rising unregistered labor and work without any insurance, PNO said. PNO said later on Wednesday that the strike would be extended until Friday morning. “No more blows against our sector,” it said in a statement. Passenger traffic was slow at Piraeus port on Wednesday morning. Traffic has been picking up as the summer, the top tourism season for the Mediterranean country, approaches. Marine unions have strongly resisted reforms liberalizing the shipping sector, which along with tourism is a pivotal industry for Greece, a country of proud seafarers and shipowners.

A leading global shipping line, Hapag – Llyod which is a multi-national German based transportation company, has began its operations to the port of Mombasa. Hapag Llyod is the world’s sixth largest container carrier in terms of vessel capacity. MV Spero Majura, which is a ship operated by Hapag – Llyod made its maiden trip to the East African region by calling at the port of Mombasa on Thursday 4:00am carrying 1,770 Total Equivalent Units (TEUs). Captain James Kagaoan, steered the vessel from the port of Jedda, which is the largest and busiest port in the Middle East, to Mombasa before heading to Dar-es- Salaam in Tanzania. At the port of Mombasa, the vessel discharged 154 TEUs.

The Panama Canal Authority launched a process to sanction certain tug captains that refused to transit ships through the expanded canal, thus impacting the traffic through the Neopanamax locks, the authority said. “The decision is based on the fact that these tugboat captains refused to fulfill their duty of assisting the transit of vessels through the Neopanamax locks, which affected the regular operation and caused a negative economic impact on the country as it affected the confidence of our clients and the image of the Panama Canal,” the authority said in a statement. Source: The Medi Telegraph

The Port of Rotterdam Authority is calling on the Dutch Government to form a coalition with countries in northwest Europe to create a new carbon tax. The port authority’s CEO Allard Castelein has also this week revealed Europe’s largest port is making EUR5m in incentives available to shipowners and charterers who are willing to experiment with low-carbon or zero-carbon fuels.

According to WSA all traffic at Kiel-Holtenau is suspended due to strike until abt. 24.00 hrs today - April 12, 2018

Yilport Holding will invest in facilities and equipment upgrades at the Port of Gulfport, Mississippi as part of a lease agreement with the Mississippi State Port Authority.