News

Among a string of new eco-friendly initiatives, the Marseille Fos port authority is to spend €20 million over the next six years to extend shoreside electrical connections for berthed vessels to every ferry, cruiseship and repair quay within the Marseille eastern harbour, the company said in its release. Already available on the Corsica ferry quays, the network will be expanded in two phases to cover North Africa ferry quays and the shiprepair hub by 2022 and the cruise terminal between 2022 and 2025. The zero-emissions investment - backed by national and regional government – recognises the need to maintain the port’s value to the economy while improving the city’s waterside air quality.

Affiliates of Qatar Petroleum and the Belgian independent natural gas transport company Fluxys Belgium signed a long-term agreement for LNG unloading services at the Zeebrugge LNG Terminal. Under the agreement, Qatar Terminal Limited (QTL) -a subsidiary of Qatar Petroleum- will subscribe to the full capacity at the terminal from the expiry of the existing long-term unloading contracts and up to 2044. The transaction follows a competitive evaluation process as well as the approval of the Belgian regulators. QTL is already a party to an existing agreement under which approximately 50% of the terminal’s capacity is utilized for delivery of Qatari LNG into Belgium under long-term LNG agreements.

The first berth of the Lamu Port is now 98 per cent complete and is set to be unveiled next month. The construction has been ongoing for three years. Stakeholders are optimistic that it will have a socio-economic transformation of the region through trade. It will open up the corridor counties to the rest of the country and neighbouring states. At least 33 shipping companies have shown interest and their representatives have either toured the site or will do so before the opening date. Lamu Port will be actively involved in the transhipment business as its depth can accommodate big ships from which cargo can be loaded to smaller ships bound for Mombasa, according to Abdullahi Samatar, Kenya Ports Authority general manager in charge of Infrastructure development.

Two workers were killed and three others injured after a cable attached to a ship collapsed on them at a shipbreaking yard at Sitakunda in Bangladesh on Saturday evening. The accident happened at the Ziri Subedar shipbreaking yard and is the latest in a series of deaths at Bangladeshi yards this year. On July 31, three workers died after inhaling toxic fumes from a gas leak while dismantling a tanker in the same shipbreaking yard.

The implementation of a range of simple measures to streamline shift changes at APM Terminals Pipavav has reduced vessel idle times, added capacity and reduced impact on crane moves per hour due to shift change by around 16%. At the same time, it has also improved trailer driver and crane operator safety. The Pipavav team has introduced clearly marked parking bays for terminal trailers, which provide a safe distance between each trailer. This provides drivers with a safe area to conduct pre-operation checks and protects them from other vehicles when exiting their trailers.

Global Ports Holdings (GPH) is to operate Prince George Wharf and related areas at Nassau Cruise Port in The Bahamas for the next 25 years. According to an agreement with the Government of The Bahamas, GPH has joined forces with the Bahamas Investment Fund and the Yes Foundation to create the Nassau Cruise Port Ltd. (NCP) consortium. GPH will use its global expertise and operating model to manage Nassau Cruise Port. “I am delighted that NCP has signed a port operation and lease agreement for Prince George Wharf at Nassau Cruise Port,” said Mehmet Kutman, chairman and co-founder of GPH.

Kudos Trucking Company has ordered two Konecranes Noell Rubber Tired Gantry (RTG) cranes and two Konecranes Gottwald Model 5 Mobile Harbor Cranes (MHCs) for their terminal in Davao City, the Philippines. Konecranes booked the order in June 2019.

Last month, an investment of USD 31 million in asset replacement and capacity improvements over the past year at the Port of Salalah paid off. The Port recorded the highest productivity ever achieved in the region, APM Terminals said in its release. The Port of Salalah is Oman’s major regional gateway port and transshipment hub, located on the Arabian Sea. With an annual capacity of around 5 million TEU, the port set a new productivity record this month, delivering 412.97 Port Moves per Hour (PMPH) on vessel Cap San Tainaro. The Port handled 3,820 moves in a port stay of 9.25 hours.

The commercial port in Libya’s second city Benghazi is working round the clock three years after reopening, attempting to raise revenues for its restoration and expansion. The port was caught in the crossfire as rival factions battled for control of Benghazi from 2014 in a conflict that left parts of the eastern Libyan city in ruins. It suspended operations as the main gate and some buildings were destroyed and the roads strewn with shells. Forces led by Khalifa Haftar eventually declared victory in Benghazi in 2017. Repairs and reconstruction have been limited — two out of three damaged tug boats are still out of service. But the port is now doing brisk business and trucks loaded with cars and containers carrying foodstuffs, motor oils and other goods can be seen streaming out of the main gate near the city center. Port manager Yzaid Bozraida said monthly revenues stood at more than seven million Libyan dinars ($4.9 million) before the war, though the income had not been used to develop the port.

NSW Ports and Patrick Terminals have commenced work on a A$190 million project to double on-dock rail infrastructure capacity at Port Botany’s Patrick Terminals - Sydney AutoStrad in Australia. The project includes investment of A$120 million from NSW Ports to deliver on-dock rail infrastructure and A$70 million from Patrick Terminals to deliver automated rail operating equipment at the container terminal. The project will deliver capacity to handle one million TEUs on rail and improve train turn-around times by 33 percent. It will be opened in stages to allow existing rail operations at the terminal to continue throughout the construction period. Once fully operational in 2023, the project will increase rail capacity of the Patrick Terminals – Sydney AutoStrad from 250,000 to one million TEU. It is anticipated to reduce the truck kilometers travelled in Sydney by at least 10 million per year, saving over two million liters of diesel per year – the equivalent of a net reduction of more than 5,400 in CO2 emissions tonnes per year.

The Sri Lankan government on Friday said it has begun a massive development project to further modernize its ports across the country in order to transform Sri Lanka into a maritime hub in the region. The government information department said in a statement that under this mega development project, the Port of Colombo will continue to develop its facilities for container handling by continuous addition of capacity, advanced handling and processing technology. “The development of the East Container Terminal (ECT) at the Port of Colombo will be followed by the West Container Terminal (WCT 1 and 2) ahead of demand. The ECT and the South Asia Gateway Terminal will be expanded to create an ultra large container terminal, expanding the total capacity to 35 million TEUs in the coming years,” Sirimevan Ranasinghe, Secretary to the Ministry of Ports and Shipping and Western Development said. Last year, the Port of Colombo handled a record breaking seven million TEUs(twenty-foot equivalent units).

Saras announces that from 1st September 2019 it will starts direct supply of shipping fuels (bunkering) at specific dedicated areas of the ports of Sarroch and Cagliari. Saras will be able to offer the complete range of marine fuels: in addition to MDO (marine diesel oil) and traditional fuel oils, in fact, it will be supplied the new ecological fuel oil with a very low sulfur content (max 0.5% as per the latest specifications IMO 2020). All products are produced locally at the Sarlux refinery. The service is offered to meet the needs of ships arriving and departing from the above mentioned ports as well as to offer further supply options to the several ships that pass along the Sicilian Channel and the Tyrrhenian Sea. Refueling will be offered with a modern ship, the “M/T Atlantic”, equipped with all the most advanced safety tools and with a specifically trained crew, in order to offer the maximum guarantees to operate in full respect of the environment.

Fincantieri floated Silversea’s new ultra-luxury cruise ship, Silver Moon, out of the building dock at its yard in Ancona, Italy on 29 August. Representatives from Fincantieri and Silversea and other invited guests watched as the 596-guest ship touched water for the first time during a traditional coin ceremony. Fincantieri will now work with its partners to outfit the vessel’s interiors ahead of her sea trials and delivery in 2020. “Today, with the float out of Silver Moon, we draw ever-closer to achieving my father’s dream of a 12-ship fleet,” said Manfredi Lefebvre, Silversea’s executive chairman.

The Koper port placed 80th on this year’s list of 900 best connected container ports in the world, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad). The port has been listed the highest among all Adriatic Sea container ports since the first such ranking in 2006. The first place went to the Shanghai port, while the port of Antwerp was the best in Europe, having been placed 6th in the world.

Due to Hurricane Dorian, the South Carolina Ports Authority’s marine terminals in Charleston and Georgetown will be closed Wednesday and Thursday. All terminals are open and operating normal hours Tuesday, South Carolina Ports reported early Tuesday. Charleston and Georgetown terminals will reopen Friday at 9 am EDT. The Wando Welch Terminal (WWT) and the North Charleston Terminal (NCT) will operate normally on September 7. WWT and NCT will also be open September 8. The South Carolina Ports Authority’s inland ports will be open and operating under normal hours throughout the week.

Freeport LNG on Sept. 03 announced that it has shipped the first LNG commissioning cargo for Train 1 from its liquefaction facility located on Quintana Island in Freeport, Texas. Approximately 150,000 cubic meters of LNG were loaded aboard the LNG Jurojin, which departed from the Freeport LNG terminal on September 3. “This first cargo loading is another significant step that gets us one step closer towards our start of commercial operations which is anticipated later this month,” said Michael Smith, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Freeport LNG. “We are very pleased that it took less than 45 days to load our first cargo since gas was first introduced to our liquefaction facilities.” Freeport’s Train 2 is advancing pre-commissioning to support an in service date of January 2020. Train 3 is nearing completion to support an in service date of May 2020. Source: Freeport LNG

Singapore-based port operator PSA International has completed the acquisition of Penn Terminals, located on the Delaware River in the US, from Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. According to PSA, Penn Terminals is one of the best equipped, privately owned multipurpose marine terminals on the Eastern Coast of the US. The deal marks PSA’s first acquisition in the US. Penn has recently undergone a significant capacity upgrade with the addition of two new post-panamax ship-to-shore (STS) cranes in late 2018.

The Aqaba Container Terminal (ACT) is the only container port in Jordan and the primary trade gateway for the Jordanian market, bordering five countries and three continents. The port handles capacities of 1.2 million TEUs and 1km of berthing. Under a joint Development Agreement between APM Terminals and the Aqaba Development Corporation (ADC), BAM International, a subsidiary of the European BAM Group, built the container terminal in 2013 and the Aqaba New Port in 2014. APM Terminals has invested USD 284 million in developing the terminal’s infrastructure and expanding its capacity.

Celebrity Cruises will offer new and longer European voyages onboard the new Celebrity Apex when she launches in 2020. Passengers onboard the Edge Class ship will visit Greece, Turkey, Italy, Portugal, Spain and more when she launches next year.

Konecranes Port Services will retrofit electrification to a Model 2 Konecranes Gottwald Mobile Harbor crane in DP World’s Liège Container Terminal in Belgium, lowering the terminal’s local emissions and noise. Strategically located along the Meuse river in eastern Belgium, the Port of Liège is the third-largest river port in Europe, directly linked to both Antwerp and Rotterdam. The DP World Liège Container Terminal (DPW LCT) is the only trimodal terminal in Wallonia, operating four barges to Antwerp every week.