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Taking into account the current ice situation, ice forecast and long period of temperatures below 15 centigrade degrees in the water area of port Vyborg (Leningrad Region) and at the approaches to it, restrictions on navigation in the port’s waters come into effect on 6 February 2019. According to the order signed by the Port Harbour Master Igor Malafeyev, navigation of ATB units and non-ice-class ships is not allowed in ice waters; vessels of Ice1 category are allowed to sail in ice waters only with the assistance of icebreakers; vessels of Ice2 category and above are allowed to sail independently or with the assistance of icebreakers.

On Monday, Jan. 10, 2019 the liquefied natural gas (LNG) feeder and bunker vessel “Kairos” starts its first reload operation in Klaipėda. Next to the German LNG supplier Nauticor one of the ship’s charterers is oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal operator Klaipėdos Nafta (KN). “Kairos” being the world’s largest LNG bunker vessel will enhance the LNG logistic chain for KN in the Baltic Sea region. Built at the “Hyundai Mipo” shipyard in South Korea, the ship has started its voyage to Europe in October 2018 and reached Klaipeda at the middle of December.

State-run PetroChina’s two subsidiaries on Wednesday signed contracts with state-owned Yantai Port Group to jointly build a new LNG receiving terminal and expand a crude oil terminal at Yantai port in eastern Shandong province, PetroChina said on its website Thursday. Kunlun Energy, a Hong Kong-listed subsidiary of PetroChina, and Yantai Port Group will jointly invest a total of around Yuan 7 billion ($1 billion) to build an LNG receiving terminal comprising four LNG storage tanks each 200,000 cu m in size, at the west Yantai port, and a dock capable of receiving 266,000 cu m LNG vessels, PetroChina noted.

The Port Authority today announced that the first all-electric straddle carrier in the United States is coming to the Port of New York and New Jersey by the end of this year, the agency’s most recent initiative to meet aggressive targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions set forth in the Paris Climate Agreement. A straddle carrier is a piece of terminal yard handling equipment that is used to move cargo containers by first straddling the container and then lifting it up and driving over the back of a truck to place the container on the chassis, in contrast to loading a container on the back of a truck from the side. Under a partnership with the Port Authority, Maher Terminals has agreed to pilot test the all-electric straddle carrier for a year on its container terminal at the Elizabeth Port Authority Marine Terminal to determine its operational and environmental benefits. It will be the first test of an all-electric straddle carrier anywhere in a United States port.

Chinese company Huaneng Fuyun Port and Shipping (HFPS), which operates berths three and four at Port Qasim , Karachi, has paid five months salary (from July 18 to November 18) to Pakistani dock workers in the port through two cheques of a total amount of Rs20.547 million. Sources in the Ports and Shipping told The Nation on Sunday that a deal was brokered at a meeting on the weekend between representatives of Huaneng Fuyun Port and Shipping (HFPS) and representatives of 1,751 dockers, social workers, human rights activists and trade unionists that brought to end the 109-day workers’ agitation. Hundreds of dockers staged sit-in outside the Karachi Press Club following a protest rally staged a day earlier the agreement.

The Russian icebreaker "Viktor Chernomyrdin", 22000 gt (IMO-No.: 9658630), which was actually being under construction at the Admiralty Shipyard in St. Petersburg and which initially was scheduled to be delivered before the end of the year, was hit by a fire raging on 3,200 square meters on decks 3 and 4 in the evening of Nov 27, 2018. The fire was very powerful and two firefighters were injured during the extinguishing work which involved 140 firemen and 39 vehicles. The "Viktor Chernomyrdin"was to be the largest diesel electric icebreaker in the world.The completion of the ice breaker has been delayed several times. The ship had already been delayed for three years when the fire broke out. What consequences the fire will have for commissioning was not known yet known. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C02SCWtFdBY

PaxOcean has delivered a 26,000m3 floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to Indonesia-based Jaya Samudra Karunia (JSK). The Karunia Dewata is the largest FSRU to be built in China and the first to feature Type C cargo tanks. The unit was built at PaxOcean’s Zhoushan Shipyard to Lloyd's Register’s (LR) Rules for the Classification of Ships and Provisional Rules for LNG Ships and Barges Equipped with Regasification Systems.

Restrictions on navigation in the port of Arkhangelsk coming into effect on 15 February 2019 are applicable to vessels covered by icebreaker assistance. According to the order signed by the Port Harbour Master Dmitry Sarapunin, icebreaker assistance will be only provided to vessels with ice class Ice3 and above; vessels with ice class Arc4 and above can sail independently within the water area of port Arkhangelsk, along the canal fairway; vessels of Ice2 category and above are allowed to sail along the canal with the assistance of icebreakers between Chizhovsky anchorage and Rosneft berths and up to the berths higher off the Krasnoflotsky bridge.

APM Terminals Poti and Poti New Terminals Consortium have submitted a conceptual design for a first stage construction permit for the expansion of the Poti Sea Port, Georgia. The plans were received by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The project plan entails a 14.5-meter water depth at the 700-meter quay wall and 25 hectares of dedicated land for the bulk operation for yard and covered storage facilities for various cargo types, including grain, ore, and minerals.

Listed Asian Terminals Inc. deployed additional modern equipment at the Batangas Container Terminal as it continuously expands the port’s role as trade facilitator and smart logistics option for Calabarzon. BCT recently welcomed two new ship-to-shore cranes and four more rubber-tired gantry cranes, manufactured by Shanghai-based ZPMC, effectively doubling the port’s STS and RTG fleet to four and eight, respectively. The new STS cranes can reach up to 16 container rows, lift two 20-foot containers simultaneously and handle loads of up to 70 tons. The RTGs, meanwhile, can stack up to six containers high.

The Norwegian shipping company Color Line operates the additional freight ferry “Color Carrier“ on the route Kiel – Oslo as of 11th January to increase its freight-carrying capability. On the occasion of its inaugural call, the Lord Mayor of Kiel, Dr Ulf Kämpfer, PORT OF KIEL Managing Director Dr Dirk Claus and the Executive Manager of Sartori & Berger, Jens Broder Knudsen, welcomed the captain of the “Color Carrier”, Nils Sivertsen”, to the capital city of Schleswig-Holstein and handed over the traditional inaugural plaques during the onboard reception. Lord Mayor Kämpfer: “I am very happy about Color Line expanding its capacity on the only direct ferry route between Germany and Norway. It strengthens Kiel as a port location and also facilitates the eco-friendly hinterland transport by rail.” As of now, the additional freight ferry offers three roundtrips a week complementing the daily departures of the large passenger ferries. Hence, there are 10 departures per week and direction to choose from on this route. Jens Broder Knudsen: “Color Line expands the eco-friendly cargo transport between Germany and Norway. Shifting traffic from road to sea is considered a high priority in Norway as well as in the EU.”

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, has signed an agreement with Exolgan S.A. to supply a total of four rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) with hybrid drivelines for its container terminal in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Qinhuangdao Port, China’s largest coal port in terms of handling volume, has announced a plan to replenish RMB818.8m ($118m) into Cangzhou Huanghua Mineral Port Company, a bulk terminal operator at Huanghua Port. Following the capital injection, Qinhuangdao Port’s shareholding in the terminal will be increased to 98.9%

OOCL introduced its new product called the West Africa Service 2 (WAF2) and will be effective from November 30. The WAF2 will be complementary to OOCL's Asia to West and South Africa product mix by providing customers with a comprehensive, competitive and reliable service network with direct calls to strategic ports including Cape Town, Apapa, Tincan, Onne. WAF2 Port Rotation: Dalian - Xingang - Qingdao - Inchon - Ningbo - Nansha - Singapore - Cape Town - Apapa - Tincan - Onne - Singapore – Dalian

DCT Gdansk says it is expanding its fleet of STS and RTG cranes. Five new fully electric RTG cranes, which came by sea to DCT Gdansk terminal at the beginning of December, are being assembled on the yards. One of them has already reached vertical dimension. Five RTGs were bought as part of T2b project. They will be started and tested in the second half of February 2019. A the beginning of May they will be fully operational. From then on DCT Gdansk will have forty RTG cranes to handle containers at the yard of the terminal. Twenty eRTG cranes for T2 yards and 20 RTG cranes for T1 yards. Two new STS cranes which are already at T2 berth are being tested. The tests should last around two weeks.

As MPs restarted the Brexit debate, Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox claims Southampton could benefit majorly from new trade agreements. Dr Fox said that when the UK leaves the EU on March 29, it will begin to negotiate new deals with the US, Australia, New Zealand and could also do a deal with countries in the Pacific Rim. He said that UK was considering joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which covers 11 countries around the Pacific Rim, including Australia, Canada and Japan, as well as some of the world’s fastest growing economies like Malaysia and Vietnam. Trade with the US, Australia, New Zealand and the 11 CPTPP countries was worth more than £7 billion to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight last year, with more than £20 billion worth of goods passing through the Solent in 2017, 13 per cent of the UK’s total trade with these countries. In recent years Southampton has become the UK’s main port for car exports and vehicles to the 14 priority markets was worth just under £6bn in 2017.

CMA CGM Marco Polo vessel yesterday docked at Cai Mep International Terminal (CMIT) in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, becoming the biggest container ship ever to dock in Vietnam. It is a container ship owned by the CMA CGM group with a designed weight of 187,000 tons and loading capacity of 17,000 TEUs which directly transport Vietnam’s import and export goods to the Northern European market. On the occasion, the Cai Mep International Terminal has officially exploited as well as received weekly the other container ships as CMA CGM Marco Polo. Cai Mep – Thi Vai deep-water port is one of the biggest sized terminals in the Southeast Asian region and is considered as a cargo transit hub.

International Container Terminal Services, Inc.’s (ICTSI) flagship Manila International Container Terminal (MICT) recently received four of 16 new hybrid rubber-tired gantries (RTG) as part of the Company’s long-term investment in capacity enhancement and environmental efficiency. A first in the country and Manufactured by Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co. Ltd. (MES) of Japan, the Mitsui Li-ion Hybrid RTG is equipped with a 200kVA Li-ion battery and a smaller diesel engine that dramatically improves the carbon footprint of the terminal.

SCA Logistics moved its activities to the Ostuferhafen in Kiel 2 ¼ years ago, after the company had started its German operations in Hamburg 52 years ago and most recently continued them in Lübeck. The third terminal outside Sweden, alongside Rotterdam and London, has now firmly and successfully established itself in Kiel. SCA welcomes from the perspective as an industrial company as well as a shipowners that the capacities of the canal shall be rapidly be extended by the ongoing reconstruction projects, so that the canal becomes a reliably partner to shipping companies in the future again. An efficient canal is urgently needed for further growth. SCA is the largest European forest owner. The basis for SCA's activities is the 2. 6 million hectare forest land in northern Sweden. Around this unique resource, SCA has built a well-developed value chain based on renewable resources from its own and other forests. SCA offers paper for packaging and printing, pulp, wood products, renewable energy, services for forest owners and efficient transport solutions. SCA Logistics carries out extensive sea and land transport in Eu-rope and overseas. The activity is supported by a network of 5 terminals at strategic locations in Europe. SCA Logistics operates with 400 employees, beside the terminals, 3 RoRo ships and 2 container ships with a capacity of 1.100 TEU each and a fleet of conventional charter ships in various European liner Services. German report with photos and video: https://www.portofkiel.com/news/sca-logistics-fest-in-kiel-etabliert.html

After two years of negotiations DFDS signed a sale and purchase agreement with the Port of Rotterdam for the acquisition of the 92,000m² capacity Rotterdam Bulk Terminal in Vlaardingen, Rotterdam – thereby increasing the trailer marshalling space by 60% from May 2020.