Worldwide Container Shipping news - Archive 2008, January

News was prepared under the information
support of Online Daily Newspaper
on Hellenic and international
Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

TBS International Limited Takes Delivery of a Handysize Bulk Carrier Expanding Its Operational Fleet to 37 Vessels

TBS International Limited announced that it has taken delivery of the M.V. Zuni Princess, formally the M.V. Ypermachos, a 1984 built, 28,166 dwt handysize bulk carrier. TBS had agreed to acquire this vessel charter free for $26.0 million in October 2 ... »

31 Jan 2008

Ukraine decreases oil export by 97.2% in 2007 to 4,300 tonnes

In 2007, Ukraine decreased oil export by 97.2%, year-on-year, to 4,341 tonnes (from 152,771 tonnes in 2006), the Government reports according to RBC. In monetary terms it means the fall from $58.05 million to $2.377 million. Average value of oil expo ... »

31 Jan 2008

Bad weather closes all Israeli ports

Israeli ports, including Haifa oil jetty, are currently closed due to bad weather in the vicinity. There are currently a strong south-west to west winds of 25-35 knots, with wave height 5.00-09.00 meters. The same conditions are expected to prev ... »

31 Jan 2008

Repaired U.S. coal terminal to resume exports - exec

CONSOL Energy expects to resume operation this weekend of its Baltimore, Maryland, coal export terminal, which was shut down Jan. 3 to repair a pier, a spokesman said Tuesday. They expect to load a vessel either Saturday or Sunday," said Tom Hoffman, ... »

31 Jan 2008

Trans - Flot acquires 18.5% of Commercial Seaport Primorsk OJSC

Trans-Flot CJSC has purchased 18.5% of Commercial Seaport Primorsk OJSC from the Leningrad region Government, DP.ru reports. In 2006, regional government sold Trans-Flot 74% of the port's shares. As of today, the state share in the port makes only 7. ... »

31 Jan 2008

Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd to Acquire Quintana Maritime Limited for $2.45 billion

Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd (Excel) and Quintana Maritime Limited (Quintana) jointly announced yesterday that Excel has agreed to acquire Quintana pursuant to a definitive merger agreement whereby Quintana would become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ex ... »

31 Jan 2008

IUMI doubts over new Chinese yards

Leading members of the International Union of Marine Insurance told journalists at a meeting London yesterday that they becoming concerend about potential quality problems with newbuildings constructed at some yards in China. IUMI's executive committ ... »

31 Jan 2008

Ship and cargo premiums set to fall

The marine sector can expect ship and cargo premiums to fall by up to 10% during 2008, despite the fact that overall, risks in the sector are increasing.According to Aon's 2008 Marine Insurance Market Review, ship and cargo owners are paying less in ... »

31 Jan 2008

Sharjah's port throughput passes 2m TEU mark

2007 volumes at the Gulftainer UAE container terminals in Khorfakkan and Sharjah finished an incredibly buoyant year at a record 2,173,867 TEU, an increase of 8% on 2006 business. The Sharjah terminal in Khorfakkan is undergoing a multi-million dolla ... »

31 Jan 2008

US Savannah port handled 2.6 million containers in 2007

The Georgia Port Authority announced that the Port of Savannah handled a record of 2.6 million 20-foot containers in 2007, up 20 percent up from 2006. With increasing volume at Savannah, the fourth largest port in the U.S., the GPA has earmarked $1.2 ... »

31 Jan 2008

RZD approves financing of three transport infrastructure projects at Far Eastern ports

The management of Russian Railways (RZD OJSC) has approved financing of three projects on development of transport infrastructure adjacent to large ports of the Far East, RIA Novosti quotes Denis Tripelets, head of the PR department of Far Eastern Ra ... »

31 Jan 2008

Maersk official blasts port productivity

A senior Maersk executive says the shipping industry is losing $615 million a year due to port inefficiencies and poor management.Speaking at a conference in Dubai, Maersk Line operations manager, Middle East Area, Poul Woodall, said his analysis too ... »

31 Jan 2008

Hanjin Shipping launches China-India service

Hanjin Shipping announced today the launch of its new CIS (China-India Service) that will start from the middle of February. Hanjin Shipping's CIS, also joined by KMTC (Korea Marine Transport Inc) and CNC (Cheng Lie Navigation), mainly targets the In ... »

31 Jan 2008

CSAV NORASIA starts NAS service from Asia to Mideast and North Africa

CSAV NORASIA has launched a new container shipping service from Asia to Algeria, Tunisia and Libya called the North Africa Service (NAS).One containership, the 1,036-TEU CSAV, Atlas built in 2007 is being deployed on the twice-weekly service, which w ... »

31 Jan 2008

Concor invites global bids from shipping companies

In an effort to include shipping companies as part of its value chain, the state-owned Container Corporation of India (Concor) has invited global bids from freight forwarding companies and feeder vessel operators. The public sector logistics company ... »

31 Jan 2008

K Line's 10-year charter

KAWASAKI Kisen Kaisha says it has fixed a capesize bulker on a 10-year consecutive voyage charter (CVC) agreement with Korea Western Power (KOWEPO).The charter period starts in the second half of 2011 and is for ''transportation of bituminous coal fo ... »

31 Jan 2008

VLCC's and the expensive oil

Worldscale points are a percentage of a nominal rate, or flat rate, for more than 320,000 specific routes. Flat rates for every voyage, quoted in U.S. dollars a ton, are revised annually by the Worldscale Association in London to reflect changing fue ... »

31 Jan 2008

Panama Canal notes slight decline in transits

Slightly fewer vessels used the Panama Canal in the three months to the end of December, the first quarter of the Panama Canal Authority's fiscal year. Although Canal Waters Time (CWT), the average time it takes a vessel to transit the Canal (includi ... »

31 Jan 2008

Hoegh Autoliners welcomes A.P. Moller - Maersk as shareholder

Hoegh Autoliners and A.P. Moller - Mærsk A/S have announced their agreement for A.P. Moller - Maersk A/S to become a shareholder in Hoegh Autoliners holding 37.5 per cent of the shares effective from 1 January 2008. Leif Hoegh & Co Limited will r ... »

31 Jan 2008

All-water ship capacity back to normal by May

Shipping lines that have pulled capacity out of the China-United States all-water trade because of both the season downturn and the general state of the US economy, are expected to start filtering tonnage back into the trade towards the end of the se ... »

31 Jan 2008

Ship classifiers raided by competition watchdogs

Five European ship classification societies have been raided by European competition watchdogs on suspicion of anti-competitive collusion through a sector cooperation body, Norwegian classifier DNV said on Wednesday. The probe extends to DNV and four ... »

31 Jan 2008

Ocean shipping: Hamburg Sud optimises southern European-Med route

Shippers doing business in the resurgent northern European market are being given more ocean carrier capacity to key destinations in the Mediterranean by Hamburg Sud. The recent acquisition of Costa Container Lines also figures prominently in this an ... »

31 Jan 2008

Euroseas Ltd. Announces One Year Time Charter Agreements for Two of its Container Ships

Euroseas Ltd., an owner and operator of drybulk carriers, container ship and multipurpose vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for dry bulk and containerized cargoes, announced today that subsidiaries of the Company have entered into one y ... »

31 Jan 2008

Restis to enter ferry sector through Sea Star Capital

The Restis Group of companies, mainly focused in shipping investments and through entities like Golden Energy and E.S.T. (Enterprises Shipping and Trading) has confirmed its participation in the share capital increase by Sea Star Capital, the Cyprus- ... »

31 Jan 2008

Persian Gulf Tanker Rates May Gain as Mid-February Demand Gains

The cost of shipping Middle East crude to Asia, the world's busiest route for supertankers, may gain for a third day as refineries seek ships to load around mid-February, swinging vessel-supply in owners' favor. The number of very large crude carrier ... »

30 Jan 2008

India Cements buys bulk cargo carrier

India Cements Ltd said on Tuesday it has acquired a bulk cargo carrier from Cyprus' Markbright Marine Ltd. India cements did not disclose the financial details involved in acquiring the 41,824 dry weight tonnage ship. ... »

30 Jan 2008

Singapore's NOL 2007 freight volumes up 12 pct; average rate up 4 pct

Neptune Orient Lines Ltd said Monday it transported 2.36 million forty-foot equivalent units (FEUs) of cargo containers in 2007, up 12 percent from the year before. Average freight rates in 2007 rose 4 percent to 2,740 US dollars per FEU, it sa ... »

30 Jan 2008

Jebel Ali's container capacity to grow 27%

Port operator DP World said container handling capacity at its flagship facility in Jebel Ali will increase by 27 per cent in February 2009 under the ongoing expansion that will satisfy annual double digit growth. The port of Jebel Ali achieved a thr ... »

30 Jan 2008

DP World upgrades berthing in Chennai port

India's Chennai Container Terminal, operated by Dubai's DP World, will reinstate window-based berthing of vessels, effective today. The move comes after feeder operators serving Chennai threatened to reintroduce a congestion surcharge if there were n ... »

30 Jan 2008

Fall in Dry Shipping Index Threatens to Cast Commodity Market Onto the Rocks

WITH commodity prices surging, it is a brave investor who sticks his neck out and calls a top to this booming market. China's rapid growth, and its seemingly insatiable hunger for imported raw materials - a major driver behind the recent boom in comm ... »

30 Jan 2008

Kingston top Caribbean box port

Containerization International 2006 has ranked Jamaica's Kingston Container Terminal (KCT) as the number one facility among the Caribbean's top 23 container terminals. The rankings were based on total container throughput in TEUs per year. Reports ha ... »

30 Jan 2008

Bay dredge to net Dutch firm $500-million

Port of Melbourne officials have defended the level of financial disclosure surrounding channel deepening in Port Phillip Bay.It has emerged today that the contract is worth $500-million to the Dutch company Boskalis. The figure was announced in Euro ... »

30 Jan 2008

Work starts on US$586 million Cape Town container terminal

Transnet Port Terminals (TPT), formerly South African Port Operations, has started work on its ZAR4.2 billion (US$586.7 million) expansion of its Cape Town container terminal as part of a five-year plan to increase capacity.The upgrade of the country ... »

30 Jan 2008

HPH in $530m deal with Port of Brisbane

The world's biggest port developer Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH) has entered into a $530 million deal to develop two new container berths at the Port of Brisbane.Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said the two berths would boost container handling at the ... »

30 Jan 2008

KGL will set up $500m fund for port projects

KGL Investment Company, a private equity unit of Kuwaiti logistics group KGL, said it is looking to invest in port projects in emerging markets through a $500 million special fund.The company has already raised $250 million and hopes to collect the e ... »

30 Jan 2008

Containerized cargo in Panamanian ports grew by 32.2% in 2007

Panama Maritime Authority (AMP) Administrator Fernando Solorzano says that containerized cargo moved in Panamanian ports grew by 32.2% in 2007 to 4,003,731 TEU. It was the first time that cargo volume passed the record figure of 4m TEU.Colon Containe ... »

30 Jan 2008

New Russian supertanker on Pacific trip

A new supertanker built in South Korea for a Russian company has set off on its debut voyage to the Pacific Coast of the United States, a spokesman for a Russian shipping company said on Tuesday. The Zaliv America is one of several supertankers that ... »

30 Jan 2008

Sovkomflot proposes three independent appointees to Novoship BOD

Sovkomflot OJSC has nominated three independent appointees to the BoD of Novorossiysk Shipping Company, a source at Sovkomflot told Interfax, RZD-Partner reports. These appointees include UBS Securities CEO Marlen Manasov, ex-board member of European ... »

30 Jan 2008

MOL Steps up Efforts to Adopt New Corrosion-Resistant Steel

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. yesterday announced that the company and JFE Steel Corporation (JFE) have developed an advanced new corrosion-resistant steel plate called JFE-Steel for Ship Inside Protection - for Oil Tankers (JFE-SIPTM-OT). A five-year re ... »

30 Jan 2008

Japan's NYK Lines April-Dec net profit up 91 pct

Japan's largest shipping company, Nippon Yusen KK (NYK Lines), said Tuesday its net profit nearly doubled in the first nine months of the fiscal year, buoyed by higher freight rates and an increase in the volume of cargo handled.In consequence, the c ... »

30 Jan 2008

GE Shipping net soars 77% for Dec '07 qtr

Mumbai-based Great Eastern Shipping Company (GE Shipping) reported 77.01% increase in net profit to Rs 2,935.70 million for the quarter ended December 2007 as compared with Rs 1,658.50 million in the corresponding quarter, last fiscal.Net sales for t ... »

30 Jan 2008

CMA CGM plans entry into shipping market in China

CMA CGM, a French shipping company, prepares to invest in a container terminal at phase three of North Basin of Tianjin Port in China. The group plans to set up three container berths at phase three through a joint venture formed with Tianjin Port an ... »

30 Jan 2008

Rotterdam port sees India expansion this year

The Dutch port of Rotterdam expects to expand into India this year, a senior executive said on Tuesday, but he denied media reports that the port was close to a tie-up with Indian builder Larsen and Toubro Ltd. "We are investigating several possibili ... »

30 Jan 2008

Capital Product Partners L.P. Announces Successful Delivery of Its Fourteenth Product Tanker, M/T 'Alexandros II'

Capital Product Partners L.P. announced yesterday that it has taken successful delivery of its fourteenth product tanker, M/T ''Alexandros II'', from STX Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., a Korean shipyard, on January 29, 2008.M/T ''Alexandros II'' has a carry ... »

30 Jan 2008

EU, China to share port info

The European Union and China announced plans in Beijing for a joint network to share information among their ports as they fight piracy and counterfeiting.The move came after months of heavy EU pressure over the rampant piracy of music and movies in ... »

30 Jan 2008

Nippon Yusen Raises Profit Forecast Shares Surge

Nippon Yusen K.K., Japan's largest shipping line by sales, raised its profit forecast to a record after third-quarter earnings almost doubled on higher rates. Shares surged the most in three months.Nippon Yusen expects full-year net income of 120 bil ... »

30 Jan 2008

Australia's Newcastle Coal Shipments Dropped 4.5% Last Week

Coal shipments from Australia's Newcastle port, the world's largest export harbor for the fuel, fell last week. Loadings declined 4.5 percent to about 1.99 million metric tons in the week ended 7 a.m. local time Jan. 28 from 2.09 million tons the pre ... »

30 Jan 2008

Marseille Port Employees Stop Work for Union-Led Meetings

Employees at the Port of Marseille stopped work for a union meeting yesterday on a government plan to overhaul cargo-handling at the country's harbors. Similar talks are planned in two days at the nearby Fos-Lavera oil terminals. ''The meetings are t ... »

29 Jan 2008

Challenging hot spots: Reliable fatigue assessment of marine structures

Fatigue assessment in shipping is vital in order to predict the structural durability of welded joints. Progress made during the past decade regarding different approaches was presented at the seminar ''Local Approaches for Fatigue Assessment of Mari ... »

29 Jan 2008

India ahead of IMO on ship recycling norms

International Maritime Organisation (IMO) appears to be following the Indian course in fixing norms for the regulation of the ship recycling industry. Dr Nikos Mikelis, secretary of IMO, made this observation while addressing a large gathering of per ... »

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