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With plenty of rain finally falling over the past week in Panama, the authorities have postponed a sixth draft restriction of 2019. The maximum authorised draft of 13.11 m for vessels transiting the new neopanamax locks and 11.73 m for vessels transiting the old panamax locks will become effective June 12 instead of May 28. The current maximum authorised draft stands at 13.41 m. “We will continue to monitor the level of Gatun Lake and announce future draft adjustments in a timely manner,” the Panama Canal Authority stated in a note to shipping lines.

Hong Kong-based international port operator Cosco Shipping Ports has completed the equity transaction of project company responsible for its greenfield subsidiary at the Port of Chancay, Peru. With the equitytransaction of the Project Company was officially completed on 10 May 2019, Port of Chancay became the company’s first greenfield subsidiary in South America and COSCO Shipping Ports plans to developing the port to an important gateway port in South America.

The port of Kiel’s first shore-based power supply plant for shipping was officially inaugurated at the Norwegenkai on May 9, 2019. The facility was declared open jointly by the Minister-President of the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein, Daniel Günther, the German Federal Government’s Coordinator for the Maritime Industry, Norbert Brackmann, and the Lord Mayor of Kiel Dr Ulf Kämpfer along with Dr Dirk Claus, the Managing Director of the PORT OF KIEL (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) and Trond Kleivdal, Board Chairman of the Color Line. With immediate effect, the Color Line’s big cruise-ferries can now be supplied with emission-free electric power from on shore. The building contractor for the shore-based power plant, which was built by Siemens, is the Port of Kiel. Investment in the plant totalled €1.2 million, of which €400,000 was funded by the state of Schleswig-Holstein. The Siemens on-shore power plant at the Norwegenkai is specifically tailored to the needs of shipping companies and the port. It has a maximum connection capacity of 4.5 Magawatts (MW) at 10 Kilovolt (KV) and a mains frequency of 50 Hertz.

(Reuters) – U.S. energy company Sempra Energy said on Tuesday the first liquefaction train at its $10 billion Cameron liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Louisiana started producing LNG. Cameron is the fourth big LNG export facility to enter service in the Lower 48 U.S. states, keeping the United States on track to become the third biggest LNG exporter in the world in 2019, behind Qatar and Australia.

Transocean Cruises’ Astor arrived at Columbus Cruise Center Wismar, Germany on 5 May, marking the city’s first-ever turnaround call. The 578-passenger ship, which sails as part of the Cruise & Maritime Voyages’ fleet, arrived after a voyage through the Baltic Sea, allowing 334 passengers to disembark and 396 new passengers to embark before setting off on her next trip. The Columbus Cruise Center Wismar was well-prepared for its first turnaround call, handling all passengers according to International Ship and Port Facility Security standards.

Singapore’s PSA International, one of the world’s largest terminal operators, has won its first concessions on the eastern seaboard of North America. The company has finalised an agreement to acquire Halterm Container Terminal in the Port of Halifax, Canada, and Penn Terminals in Pennsylvania, US from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners, a fund managed by Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets. The transaction is in the process of securing regulatory approvals from the respective USA and Canadian authorities. PSA beat out stiff competition from Canadian National Railway and CMA CGM for the Halifax terminal.

The Port of Kiel welcomes cruise ship “Aidaprima” for its maiden call. Coming from Dubai, the vessel concluded its transfer voyage and berthed at the Ostseekai Terminal in the early Friday morning. At the on-board reception, the PORT OF KIEL’s Managing Director, Dr. Dirk Claus, welcomed the President of AIDA Cruises, Felix Eichhorn, as well as Captain Marc-Dominique Tidow in Kiel and presented them with the official plaque for the vessel’s inaugural call. Dirk Claus: “We are pleased that AIDA Cruises also bases a ship of the Hyperion Class in Kiel for the summer season. Hence we are continuing to strengthen the sound part-nership between the shipping company and the port.” Starting next year, AIDA Cruises will also be the port’s first customer to be supplied with on-shore power at the Ostseekai Terminal. Dirk Claus: “In doing so, AIDA Cruises and the PORT OF KIEL significantly contribute to the climate protection in Kiel. We will start constructions of the shore power station this summer so that we can take the plant into operation for the season 2020.” With a total of 60 calls by four different vessels („AIDAprima“, „AIDAbella“, „AIDAluna“ and “AIDAcara“) the shipping company of AIDA offers the most cruises starting from Kiel this year.

For providing better security, preventing wrong declaration and smuggling in concealed form, the Union government will install a container scanner at the Visakhapatnam Port by June-end. Though it has been decided to make it mandatory in all the major ports, the implementation in Visakhapatnam has been delayed due to certain problems. The scanner, which has reached the city sometime ago, will be installed on the compound of the Visakha Container Terminal Private Ltd, a BOT operator of Visakhapatnam Port. “It will be a non-intrusive method and the scanning will be done by our officials without stoppage of vehicles. The drive through scanning will save lot of time,” Principal Commissioner of Customs D.K. Srinivas told The Hindu.

Foss Maritime departed the Port of Everett enroute to the Port of Los Angeles to pick up two gantry cranes for use at the Port’s modernized South Terminal. The $57 million South Terminal Modernization project will ensure the Port’s facilities are ready to support the next generation of over-dimensional cargo, including aerospace parts for the new 777X. The two cranes are a critical piece in this loading and unloading efficiency.

Shanghai Shipping Maritime Technology, a subsidiary of Cosco Shipping, has inaugurated a new ship repair yard in Zhoushan. The new yard, located on Liuhengdao of Zhoushan, will be an addition to Cosco Shipping Heavy Industry’s existing ship repair business in Dalian, Nantong, Zhoushan and Guangzhou. The yard is expected to serve the growing demand for drydocking, especially due to upcoming IMO sulphur and BWTS regulations.

(Reuters) – The Houston Ship Channel was reopened with restrictions to shipping on Sunday as emergency officials worked to clear the channel following a collision between a tanker and two barges containing gasoline. About 9,000 gallons of gasoline spilled into the Houston Ship Channel near Bayport, Texas, following a collision on Friday between Genesis River, a 755-foot (230-m) tanker, and a Kirby Inland Marine tug boat towing two barges, each containing about 25,000 gallons of gasoline

The German port of Kiel has installed an emission-free onshore energy supply at its Norwegenkai pier. The new facility will provide Color Line’s cruise ferries with electric power on their daily trips between the German city and Oslo, Norway. “Together we are making an important contribution to keeping the air clean,” said Daniel Günther, Minister-President of the state of Schleswig-Holstein. “By using onshore power, we are reducing the emission of harmful substances and greenhouse gases while ships are berthed in the port to zero. The state of Schleswig-Holstein supports this trend-setting project and will encourage further facilities of this type.” The Norwegenkai facility, built by Siemens, cost around US$1.4 million, of which around US$450,000 was funded by Schleswig-Holstein. “In future we want to be in a position to use shore-based electricity to cover 60% of the power requirements of ships calling at Kiel,” said Dirk Claus, managing director of the Port of Kiel.

Indian conglomerate Adani Group has won a 50-year concession to develop an 800,000 teu a year box terminal in the southwest of Yangon. Ahlone International Port Terminal (2) (AIPT) will be situated 50 km up the Yangon river from the Andaman Sea where the depths are 9 m quayside allowing ships of up to 1,500 teu to call. The $290m facility will be spread across 50 ha. Its first phase, due for completion late next year, will have an initial 150,000 teu annual capacity. Phase two, which will take an additional six months to construct, is expected to take the port’s total capacity to a maximum of 800,000 teu.

The West Africa Container Terminal (WACT) located in Onne Port, has invested in two new Mobile Harbor Cranes. This is in addition to an investment of approximately USD2.5 million already made this year, APM Terminals said in its release. The two Liebherr LHM 550 Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHCs) are due for deployment in July this year and will further boost the efficiency and cargo handling operation of the terminal, improving service delivery and reducing vessel waiting time.

The Saint Lucia Tourism Authority, Ministry of Tourism, Invest Saint Lucia, and the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority have joined forces to train cruise service providers and enhance the cruise visitor experience in Saint Lucia. Following a record 760,306 cruise passenger visits in 2018 and an even greater number forecast to arrive in 2019, the tourism partners aim to ensure that onshore businesses deliver cruise passenger services that meet international standards. This May, 240 representatives from businesses providing services to cruise visitors participated in Tour Operator Excellence, Tour Guide Excellence, and Port Excellence training sessions run by Aquila’s Center for Cruise Excellence. All those who successfully participated became certified experts in customer service.

A dockworker died on May 15 morning and another suffered severe injuries in an accident involving a top loader container handler at Pier 300 in the Port of Los Angeles. “My heart goes out to the families of the victims of this tragic accident and to all the brothers and sisters of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union,” said Port of Los Angeles executive director Gene Seroka. “It’s particularly tragic that this accident occurred on the day of the ILWU’s annual ‘First Blood’ event, which honours those who have lost their lives working on the waterfront.” Rachel Campbell, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Port Police, said the top loader was “faulty”. Investigations into the accident continue.

China’s Zhuhai Port has announced a plan to issue 140m new shares to a group of specific investors to raise around RMB1bn ($145m). The proceeds from the share issue will be mostly used to support Zhuhai Port Shipping’s fleet expansion program which includes the acquisition of forty 3,500 dwt multipurpose cargo vessels, three 12,000 dwt bulkers, four 22,500 dwt bulkers, two 45,000 dwt bulkers and six tugboats. The remainder of the funds will be used for port facility upgrade. The vessels will be used for Zhuhai Port’s river-ocean shipping services.

Liebherr, a provider of cargo handling solutions, has announced its delivery of two LHM 550 mobile harbour cranes to East African port operator Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC). The Port of Maputo, located in the capital city of Mozambique, is one of the most important transhipment hubs in the region, handling all types of goods passing through East Africa. In order to support the significant growth of the facility, central port operator MPDC has decided to invest further in Liebherr’s LHM 550 cranes, following an initial order for two units in 2015.

During 2018, Haifa Port welcomed around 120,000 passengers. In 2019, it is expecting double this figure. This dramatic growth is on par with the overall tourism boom in Israel due in large part to daily flights from many destinations in Europe, North America and Asia. That said, according to Zohar Rom, Haifa Port spokesman and cruise manager, the number of tourists arriving by sea is still falling far short of the port’s potential.