Essar Bulk Terminal completed work on the Passenger Ferry Terminal that has paved the way for a cruise-based passenger ferry service, commencing today, between Hazira Port in Surat and Bandra-Worli Sea Link in Mumbai. The Hazira-based terminal will also lead to ferry services being offered on other routes in the future.
A Dutch salvaging company called ‘Marine Masters BV’, was chosen to salvage the grounded chemical tanker Nu Shi Nalini. The ship had broken loose from its anchor on October 25, and ran aground off India. The salvage operation, it is expected to last 30 days, while the offloading of the ship’s cargo is forecast to last up to 12 days.
A tanker laden with 2,800 million tonnes naphtha is floating abandoned off the Goan coast, India. There are concerns that the toxic content could spill as a strong cyclone is approaching the Arabian Sea’s Coastline. The ship has already sustained damages due to the cyclonic storm Kyarr.
The Indian Ministry of Shipping announced that a container cargo consignment voyaged on inland waterways from Haldia Dock Complex (HDC) to the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) terminal at Pandu in Guwahati on 4 November 2019, making it the first ever containerised cargo movement on this Inland Water Transport (IWT) route.
India’s second-largest private-sector port and terminal company in terms of capacity and throughput, Essar Ports, announced a record of 20% cargo growth with a throughput of 27.29 MT, in the April to September period of the ongoing financial year, ending in March 31, 2020.
India announced that it will ban the use of single use plastics on board Indian ships and foreign ships, when these ships are at a port or place in India. The ban will take effect from 1 January 2020.
Port of Rotterdam will sign two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with India, appointed an office and also supported the establishment of a maritime university that will partner with Rotterdam’s institutions, marking the port’s joint initiatives with Indian parties.
On a statement, on Tuesday, October 15, the Indian Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, said that the government is planning to put in place a comprehensive ‘Port Grid and Port Development’ plan for 204 minor ports throughout the country aiming to boost coastal shipping and inland waterways in six months, and further bring a Bill in Parliament to provide an uplift to major ports.
The NGO Shipbreaking Platform issued its Q3 2019 results noting that there were a total of 122 ships broken, out of which 73 were sold to the beaches of South Asia for dirty and dangerous breaking. The NGO’s report for Q2 revealed that 193 ships were dismantled and the 146 of these were sold to South Asian scrapping beaches.
ExxonMobil inked a five-year agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras and Bombay to expand its portfolio on research collaboration with India’s universities, focusing on research in biofuels and bio-products, gas transport and conversion, climate and environment, and low-emissions technologies for the power and industrial sectors.
