Tag: Australia

Incidences of pirates have been an ongoing concern Australia's home affairs minister raised concerns about the rising threats of piracy that is affecting key shipping lanes in various parts of the world.Piracy challenges the "maritime and port security arrangements as legitimate shipping lines seek to defend their crews and cargo," said Brendan O'Connor at a port and maritime security conference held in Melbourne.He added that the approval of the use of private armed guards on merchant vessels "raises a range of regulatory challenges for our government agencies and for our port and maritime operators should such vessels seek to enter Australian waters and ports."Incidences of pirates attacking vessels in Somalia waters and other north Africa countries have been an ongoing concern. The concern is amplified as pirate boats are travelling further east out into the Indian Ocean.Source: Seatrade Asia

Australia to increase penalties for shipping companies involved in oil spills in that area The Australian Government says it wants to increase penalties for shipping companies involved in oil spills in the Great Barrier Reef.The Bill introduced into Parliament seeks to increase the $1 million fine that's already in place, to $11 million.The Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese, says there's been an average of 250 reported oil spills a year in Australian waters over the past decade."While the majority of these oil spills are relatively minor the potential impact of these spills on the maritime industry, the environment, the tourist and fishing industries and the broader economy needs to be recognised," he said.Source: Radio Australia News

More than 85% of all containers shipped to Australia's biggest ports were discharged More than 85% of all containers shipped to Australia's biggest ports were discharged within their respective states, a newest of figures compiled by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) shows.About 90% of all containers imported to Sydney Ports in 2009-10 were distributed to suburbs in New South Wales or ACT.88% of all containers arriving in Melbourne were delivered to areas within Victoria and 90% of Adelaide's containers were sent to postcodes in South Australia.92% percent of all containers shipped to Fremantle Port and Brisbane Port were distributed within their respective states.Sydney suburbs of Smithfield, Wetherill Park and Woodpark were among the top destinations (20%) for all containers arriving in Sydney, the postcodes of 3175 (which include Dandenong, and Duneran) received a fifth of all Melbourne's containers while 18% of Brisbane's volumes were delivered to postcodes including Wynnum and Lytton.About 30% of all containers at Adelaide's port were delivered to postcode 5013, which includes the suburbs of Rosewater and Ottaway and 19% of all Fremantle's load were distributed to suburbs including Cloverdale and Kewdale.Source: MUA

Anti-terrorism and anti-piracy training exercises The NYK Group conducts accident-response training exercises regularly and, to prepare for unforeseeable circumstances, the group cooperates with anti-terrorism and anti-piracy training exercises conducted in various countries to enhance the crisis-response capability of group employees. NYK Venus1. Anti-terrorism training exercise with the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF)On July 26, NYK conducted a joint anti-terrorism exercise with the HKPF based on a scenario in which an NYK-owned containership, NYK Venus, is taken over by a terrorist group. From 2005, a similar joint-exercise has been conducted regularly for years by NYK and the HKPF.The exercise scenario called for the Special Duties Unit of the HKPF to dispatch high-speed boats and helicopters to the vessel, and to search for, find, and subdue the terrorists. Through the exercise, employees at NYK's head office in Tokyo, NYK Line (Hong Kong) Ltd., and NYK Shipmanagement Pte. Ltd. were able to reconfirm their roles for rapid response in dealing with acts of terrorism, including information exchanges with the HKPF and other related organizations. ACX Diamond2. Anti-piracy training exercise with the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) On August 15, an NYK-owned containership, ACX Diamond, participated in an escort training exercise with a RAN frigate ...

Part Two

Australia's oil production will reach 620,000 b/d in 2012 The Aframax market in Southeast Asia and in the Fast East can expect some support as Australia's crude and natural gas liquids output makes modest gains, shipbroker Poten & Partners said in a report published over the weekend."It is estimated that Australia's oil production will increase to reach 620,000 b/d over the course of 2012 . Some of this gain will come from incremental output at Australia's existing fields and developments planned to come on stream in the next two years," the shipbroker said."Additionally, the continued development of Australia's LNG sector is anticipated to produce steady increases in condensate production from wet gas fields." According to Poten, Australia's condensate production is expected to add over 250,000 b/d by 2015."Australian oil production steadily decreased over the past decade, and new crude oil production has not been able to compensate fully for the natural decline in volumes from the country's maturing fields," the report said. "However, the past few years have seen significant increases in reported spot fixture volumes for Australian oil along with modest gains in production."Meanwhile, if all new condensate production from Australia is exported, the report said, this could create ...

Part One

The new contract includes additional proforma 190,000 containers per annum Australian Ascianos ports division, Patrick has signed a new five-year container terminals contract with Maersk Line, Cargonewsasia reports. The new contract encompasses the movement of existing volume (about 503,000 containers) combined with an additional proforma 190,000 containers per annum.Asciano chief executive officer, John Mullen said, The successful execution of this contract with Maersk Line is a significant achievement for our business and is testament to the strength of Patricks Container Terminal operations. The agreement celebrates a new stage of a long-standing national partnership between Maersk Line and Patrick.Our renewed partnership will see Maersk Line Boomerang Service vessels delivering an additional estimated 190,000 containers at our Fremantle, Melbourne, and Brisbane terminals ensuring that Patrick retains its strong position within the Australian market.To assist in improving service for all Patrick customers, the company has ordered a total of five new cranes for its container terminals to be delivered over the next 18 months.Source: Portnews

Aims to keep pace with growth in Australia's trade STATE governments should curb profit raids on their cargo ports so funds can instead be invested in expansion to capitalise on growing demand for commodities, new research finds.A paper by ANZ Research says governments should consider privatising ports or minimising political intervention in them as they "urgently" need reform after struggling to keep pace with growth in Australia's trade.Several bulk cargo ports, such as those in the mining states of Western Australia and Queensland, are not generating enough return on their assets to cover the cost of their capital, meaning they need to borrow to fund expansion, the report says.WA's parliament has been told that miners were paying just 7c a tonne to use Port Hedland, compared with 25c at nearby Port Dampier. "Moreover, even with these balance-sheet pressures, many ports continue to pay government a dividend," the report says."This capital would be better used within the business to either invest or pay back debt."The bulk ports are used to ship iron ore and coal, with exports of these forecast to more than double over the next 25 years.On top of that, the bulk cargo ports had shown "exceptionally strong growth" ...

Ports of Australia and AMSA support the union's push for radiation testing The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) will this week screen cars arriving in Port Kembla from Japan.This batch test for radiation follows months of campaigning by the MUA to ensure Japanese cargo and cars were screened for radiation upon arrival in Australia."This is a win for workers, and also a win for the Australian public," said Assistant National Secretary Warren Smith."Any risk of radiation is too big a risk to take. Workers and consumers come into direct contact with these cars - the Government watchdog must ensure there is no health and safety risk."The Australian public has a right to know if there is a radiation threat."In early May, cars arriving in Chile from Japan were found to be contaminated with radiation. Despite this, ARPANSA refused to commit to scanning cargo until today, after long-running talks with Maritime Union officials."We know from the tragedy in Japan that people are feeling the effects of radiation hundreds of kilometers away from the destroyed nuclear plant. We can't take the risk of contaminating workers," said Mr Smith."All we have been asking is for cargo to be tested before ...