News

The Port of Brownsville is closer to deepening the Brownsville Ship Channel after receiving a key permit June 6 from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to advance the Brazos Island Harbor Channel Improvement Project (BIH) to its construction phase.

A Dutch shipping line will open up Waterford port to new international trade routes when it commences a weekly service on the Waterford to Rotterdam route which will act as a deep-sea feeder for Irish importers and exporters. BG Freight Line, in partnership with global shipping giant Maersk, is to commence the service on July 6th to support industry in the southeast. Effectively the move will allow goods travelling from Waterford to continue through Rotterdam to other ports such as Shanghai, whereas previously goods for destinations beyond Europe would typically have shipped from Dublin.

The US has once again warned Israel to reconsider Chinese investment in the port of Haifa in Israel. This warning, contained within a major spending bill currently passing through the Senate, follows a review late last year into the deal that would see China's state-owned Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) operate the terminal for 25 years.

Texas-based midstreamer Howard Energy Partners (Hep) announced that it’s completed the expansions of its bulk liquid terminal facilities in Port Arthur and Corpus Christi, Texas. The completion of these projects increases HEP’s Gulf Coast terminal storage capacity to 2.6 million barrels with three ship docks, three barge docks, unit train loading capacity for up to two trains per day, and direct pipeline connectivity through wholly-owned pipelines to seven refineries. HEP began operating terminal facilities in mid-2014. “The substantial expansions at our Port Arthur and Corpus Christi facilities signify HEP’s commitment to designing and constructing fully-engineered facilities that are tailored to meet the exact needs of our customers,” said HEP Co-Founder and President Brad Bynum.

Bruges has become the latest European city to limit cruise passenger numbers in a bid to control "over-tourism". The popular Belgian city plans to limit the number of ships moored at any one time and will be encouraging lines to visit on weekdays, rather than weekends. Bruges joins Amsterdam, Barcelona, Palma, Venice and Dubrovnik in either imposing taxes specifically on cruise passengers or limiting the number of ships visiting.

The government of Tanzania said the expansion of the Dar es Salaam port by China Harbor Engineering Company Ltd (CHEC) will enable it to handle large vessels ferrying up to 6,000 containers when the project will be completed.

Egypt's Minister of Transport, Engineer Kamel Al-Wazir, announced the completion of a new multi-purpose terminal in Damietta Port at an investment cost of LE 1.365 billion. The new terminal has been established under the supervision of the Armed Forces Engineering Authority (AFEA) and implemented by a number of Egyptian national companies. The multi-purpose terminal includes a 630 meters long,17 meters deep berth and is equipped with a backyard area of 50,000 square meters with anticipated capacity of about 4 million tons per year.

Matson, Inc., a leading U.S. carrier in the Pacific, and General Dynamics NASSCO shipyard christened the largest combination container/roll-on, roll-off (“con-ro”) ship ever built in the United States in a ceremony at the NASSCO shipyard in San Diego, CA on Saturday, June 15. The new vessel is named ‘Lurline,’ an iconic name in Matson’s long history, dating to the construction of Captain William Matson’s first ship of that name in 1887. Four more ships were given the name in subsequent years; this vessel will be the sixth. The new Lurline is the first of two new ships being built for Honolulu-based Matson by NASSCO at a total cost of approximately $500 million for the pair, and the third of four new vessels that Matson will put into service during 2018, 2019 and 2020. Named in honor of the ocean deity revered in the native Hawaiian culture, Matson’s two “Kanaloa Class” vessels under construction at the NASSCO shipyard are being built on a 3,500 TEU* vessel platform.

Federal authorities have seized approximately 16.5 tons of cocaine from a ship at the Port of Philadelphia, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania tweeted Tuesday. The drugs were seized on a ship at the Packer Marine Terminal on the Delaware River. The U.S. Attorney’s office said the drug bust marks the largest drug seizure in the history of the district. The drugs have an estimated street value of approximately $1 billion the office said. The amount of drugs would rank in among the top drug seizures in U.S. history, including 21 tons of cocaine that was seized in California and 14 tons of cocaine in Texas both in 1989, Reuters reported. At least some crew members on board the ship have been arrested, the Attorney’s office said in another tweet.

June 12: On Wednesday customs officials at the Port of Santos located 506 kg of cocaine in export cargo destined for Antwerp, Belgium. The cocaine was hidden inside five “pallets”, out of a total of ten, which contained flooring stones (white marble and granite). On four granite and marble pallets, the inner stones (below the third layer) were cut so as to make room for the concealment of the narcotics.

MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company, a global leader in transportation and logistics, is improving trade links between Costa Rica and northern Europe by adding a new direct call from the Port of Moin. On 16 June MSC Katya R. will be the largest vessel to call Moin Terminal in Costa Rica, launching a new era in cargo shipping for the port and for exporters using its facilities. MSC’s service will bring larger container ships with more capacity to carry refrigerated produce on transatlantic routes to European and Asian markets.

Port Tampa Bay is marking a major milestone and partnership today with CMA CGM as Port customers, local officials, and business leaders gather to celebrate the inaugural call of the CMA CGM DALILA at 4 pm on June 14 at The Ports America Terminal.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) subsidiary Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT) has announced a major expansion plan at the Port of Rijeka to enable it to be the first terminal in the northern Adriatic able to berth vessels of up to 20,000 teu capacity.

The first vessel has successfully docked at Tema Port’s new MPS Terminal 3, Ghana. The container vessel will be used for training purposes over the coming weeks, to ensure that the terminal runs smoothly from day one, when operations begin later this month on June 28. Chartering the test vessel will cost around 250,000 Dollars. Over the coming weeks it will be used to run a full-scale test of the port and for final staff training. “When it comes to training, the benefits significantly outweigh the cost involved,” explained Chief Executive Officer of Meridian Port Services Ltd, Mohamed Samara.

International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) is poised to further strengthen its position as a global ports operator giant as it looks to add the Port of Kribi in Central Africa in its extensive portfolio. In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, ICTSI said it has been declared by the Port Autonome de Kribi on June 14 as the preferred bidder for the concession of the development, operation, and maintenance of the multi-purpose terminal of the Port of Kribi.

Finnish shipyard Meyer Turku has officially begun constructing Carnival Cruise Line’s Mardi Gras. A traditional coin ceremony took place on 18 June to mark the start of the ship’s hull assembly. Mardi Gras is the second LNG-powered cruise ship being built at Meyer Turku and will have many innovations, including six themed zones and the world’s first roller coaster on a ship . One onboard highlight will be the Grand Central area, which has a floor-to-ceiling glass front. “We have been very excited to design and start assembling Carnival’s Mardi Gras,” said Jan Meyer, CEO of Meyer Turku.

Intermarine UK struck an agreement with a Chinese manufacturer to make the Port of Portland one of the UK’s centers for scrubber installation. Intermarine President Slawomir Kalicki signed the agreement at Norshipping in Oslo with counterpart DB Wang deputy general manager of the Shandong Pure Ocean Technology based in Renhe Town in the Shandong province. The deal will see Intermarine act as an agent to Shandong and offer to install its scrubber systems to a wide variety of vessels to help them meet tough new environmental regulations. This includes bulk, container and cruise ships as well as RoPax and RoRo ferries, tankers, car carriers and fishing vessels.

Carnival Cruise Line has marked its 10-year anniversary of offering year-round cruises from the Port of Baltimore in Maryland, US. Since Carnival launched Baltimore’s first year-round cruise programme in 2009, it has brought more than one million guests to the city. The cruise brand marked the milestone with a ‘Decades of Fun’ celebration onboard Carnival Pride, which included a ceremony where the brand’s president Christine Duffy presented Cruise Maryland’s general manager Cynthia Burman with a ship’s bell. In return, Burman gave Duffy a maritime international clock.

Gulf Stevedoring Contracting Company (GSCCO), part of the Gulftainer group of companies, has signed an agreement with Red Sea Marine Services Company Limited to manage and operate King Fahad Industrial Port in Yanbu. The deal takes GSCCO’s portfolio of terminals in Saudi Arabia up to four, a statement said. GSCCO said it will handle all types of cargo at KFIP, including containers, breakbulk cargo, vehicles and bulk cargo. adding that the company will invest in new equipment. The decision to award the operation of the port to GSCCO, which also operates the Northern Container Terminal in Jeddah and Jubail Commercial Port, was taken by Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani).

Top Chinese grain trader COFCO is in talks about buying a shareholding in a grain export terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk as part of its expansion in Europe, sources said. COFCO is understood to be in talks about buying a shareholding of about 25% in the KSK deep water grain terminal in Novorossiysk