Tag: Port

Continuing with its efforts to cash in on the immense potential of minor ports Continuing with its efforts to cash in on the immense potential of minor ports across the state, the government has come up with a slew of measures. Focusing on industrial development of 17 minor ports in the state, the budget proposes to bring in a comprehensive shipping policy.The new policy is aimed at increasing coastal shipping activities, attracting more goods transport through vessels, creating more employment opportunities and reducing atmospheric pollution. It has been declared that the ports at Neendakara, Thalassery, Beypore, Kayamkulam, Vadakara, Kannur, Cheruvathoor, Neeleswaram, Kasargod, Manjeswaram, Azheekal, Vizhinjam, Thankassery, Kodungalloor and Munambam will be developed with infrastructure facilities.An amount of '247 crore has been allocated for the Ports Department for various initiatives. In a clear indication that the Port Department is also stepping into tourism promotion, the Finance Minister proposes to launch tourist transport services to Alappuzha. Tourist services will be operated from Fort Kochi in Ernakulam and Valiyathura in Thiruvananthapuram. There are proposals for developing marinas in Alappuzha and Thankassery ports. The budget has allocated ' 22 crore for Harbour Engineering Department.Source: Express News Service

Two British cruise ships that visited the Falkland Islands were refused entry to an Argentine port Two British cruise ships that visited the Falkland Islands were refused entry to an Argentine port, amid tension over the disputed archipelago.The Adonia, owned by P&O cruises, and the Princess Cruises vessel Star Princess were both blocked from entering Ushuaia in southern Argentina yesterday after both ships stopped at the Falklands on Saturday."We are very concerned to hear the Adonia and Star Princess have been refused access to the port of Ushuaia," a spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office said in London."There can be no justification for interference in free and legitimate commerce."British diplomats in Argentina are urgently seeking to clarify the circumstances surrounding this incident, and we are in contact with the company concerned."Tensions are running high between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands, which London controls but Buenos Aires claims, ahead of the 30th anniversary in April of the start of the war between the two nations over the South Atlantic islands.Argentina has also reacted angrily to the deployment of Prince William to the Falklands as part of his job as a Royal Air Force search and rescue pilot, and to a planned ...

Hoping to create a win-win situation for both sides A delegation led by visiting Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu forged sisterhood ties with the Port of Miami with a view to promoting personnel exchanges, information sharing and technological cooperation between both ports, reported Central News Agency.Chen and Chang Kuo-ming, chief secretary of the Kaohsiung Harbour Bureau, signed the sisterhood pact with Kevin Lynskey, assistant port director of the Port of Miami."We hope to create a win-win situation for both sides through the pact," Chang said. Kaohsiung and Miami are sister cities.The Port of Miami is the world's largest cruise ship port, while Kaohsiung Harbour is a leading container port, which has recently developed itself into a tourism venue.The visit of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado to Kaohsiung last May helped bring about the signing of sisterhood tie between the two ports.Source: Focus Taiwan

Cruise operators, shipowners and industry groups are opposed to the Victorian government's decision Cruise operators, shipowners and industry groups are opposed to the Victorian government's decision to impose a US$81 million licence fee on the Port of Melbourne, claiming it will hurt competitiveness, reported The Australian Financial Review.The charge, announced in December, replaces the freight infrastructure charge on trucks and is expected to be passed in state Parliament this week.Shipping Australia chairman Ken Fitzpatrick said the fee was a "severe imposition" and could be the "nail in the coffin" for an already struggling shipping industry being hit by the high Australian dollar. "Why apply it only to the Port of Melbourne?" Fitzpatrick said."Why single it out?"It's a substantial increase, up to 50 per cent for wharfage charges."There is also a channel fee increase and lines don't know how they will recover that yet." Fitzpatrick said the fee would not drive big business away from the port but it would make it harder to do business and less attractive to use."It will be the people who need the port for trade who will wear the cost, but those in industries like the grain industry might decide to look to Geelong or ...

Maersk Line was the first ocean carrier to have its fleet carbon emissions independently verified On 24 January Edith Maersk, one of the world's largest container vessels, will perform her first call to Gothenburg with low sulphur fuel. This will reduce sulphur emissions close to Gothenburg by 90 percent within the port control area. The fuel switch program will be implemented on all Maersk Line vessels calling Gothenburg in line with the "Improved fuel quality program" introduced by port of Gothenburg.With this Maersk Line also becomes the first container carrier to join Port of Gothenburg Fuel Switch Program. As a major player in the shipping industry, Maersk Line contributes significantly to total air emissions from vessels. Fuel switch programs near city centres are one of the measures that are taken to lead the way towards more sustainable transportation. Maersk Line vessels, calling port of Gothenburg on a weekly basis will switch to low sulphur marine diesel oil containing less than 0.1 percent sulphur from January 2012 before entering the fairways into Gothenburg. The vessels are sailing in direct service to Asian ports such as Malaysia and China."Sulphur is a major problem for our industry. We are concerned with the impact ...

A new collaborative research project has been launched this month A new collaborative research project called Green EFFORTS has been launched this month tasked with the mission of improving strategic energy management in ports.Green EFFORTs - orGreen andEffectiveOperations at Terminals and in Ports, is co-funded by the European Commission and has been furnished with a total budget of 2m.The project aims to raise awareness of energy consumption and its environmental and economic effects on ports - as well as present the importance and possibilities to save, reduce and manage energy consumption and minimise CO2 emissions.Therefore, it will not focus on energy saving measures alone - but also on how to implement external supplies of regenerative energy production on site, exploitation of liquefied natural gas (LNG), or other gases, and shore-based power.Professor Jens Froese, project coordinator, said toPort Strategy: "The main goals of the Green EFFORTS project must be based on detailed knowledge of terminal and port processes. Therefore, our first step is to identify relevant port and terminal domains and processes, by developing a process map to capture and control the energy consumption and carbon footprint in port and terminal, known as Port and Terminal Knowledge Landscape (PTKL)."He pointed out ...

Total cargo throughput of JSC Sea Port St. Petersburg (MP St. Pb) in 2011 rose 9 percent Total cargo throughput of JSC Sea Port St. Petersburg (MP St. Pb) in 2011 rose 9 percent year-on-year to 7.4 million tons of different cargoes, the company said Thursday. The growth was driven by last year's reorganization, a merger of Sea Port St. Pb, First, Second and Third stevedore companies.In the reporting period, the combined company handled 5.5 million tons of general cargo, up 5% from 2010's numbers.Shipments of rolling cargo at Sea Port St. Pb's Ro-Ro terminal soared 40 percent to 1 million tons. The stevedore handled 47,166 imported vehicles, a threefold growth year-on-year.Handling of dry bulk cargoes increased by 12% to 887,000 tons.The volume of outbound cargo climbed by 2 percent to 5.7 million tons with a 40-percent surge in the segment of inbound cargo, to 1.7 million tons.SC "Sea Port of Saint-Petersburg" (included in UCL Port - part of subholding, consolidating stevedoring assets of the International transportation group UCL Holding) - is the largest operator, rendering services on handling of all types of dry cargoes in the Greater Port of Saint-Petersburg. It operates by modern specialized terminals for handling of ...

Port Burgas has seen an increase of its general cargo One of Bulgaria's three Black Sea ports, Port Burgas, saw its revenues grow by 37.5% in 2011 year-on-year, the port authority announced.Thus, in 2011, Port Burgas Jsc had total revenues of BGN 33 M, up by BGN 9 M compared with its revenues in 2010.Port Burgas's total profit before taxes amounted to BGN 8 M; in 2011, the Black Sea port processed a total of 3.5 million metric tons of cargo, which is an increase of about half a million metric tons compared with the total freight amount it got in 2010.Port Burgas has seen an increase of its general cargo by 475 000 metric tons, most of that - 291 000 tons - coming from the transportation of processed metals. The bulk of the other goods and materials that passed through Port Burgas in 2011 is made up of oil, coal, sugar, grain, fertilizers, construction materials, lumber.In 2011, the port processed 108 000 tons more in terms of container traffic than it did in 2010.The port authority said Sunday that the "good rate of work" is persisting into the new year; on January 16, for example, the port expects ...

COAL exports through the Port of Newcastle increased by about 10per cent last year COAL exports through the Port of Newcastle increased by about 10per cent last year, reaching about 114million tonnes.But income from the industry might not be a record, with ''spot'' or one-off sale prices well down on historic highs, and lower-quality export coal reportedly selling for less than $100 a tonne.Newcastle has three coal-loaders. Terminals at Carrington and Kooragang Island are operated by the Rio Tinto and Xstrata-backed Port Waratah Coal Services.A second Kooragang loader owned by the BHP Billiton-backed Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group began shipping in 2010.Port Waratah publishes its exports but the infrastructure group does not, meaning that the annual Newcastle exports are an estimate, based on the amount of coal arriving at the port from the mines.In its latest monthly report, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Co-ordinator, which oversees the industry, said 113.9million tonnes of coal arrived at the port in the year to December 31.If as much coal left the port as came into it, the infrastructure group's share of the total would be about 16million tonnes for the year.The group could only use smaller ''handy'' or ''panamax'' class ships until October, when ...

Vessels will be rewarded in accordance with the newly introduced Environmental Ship Index (ESI) The French Port of Le Havre will join a growing number of European ports, including Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, by rewarding shipping companies operating the cleanest ocean-going vessels.From the start of next year, France's largest port will reward the ten cleanest container or Ro-Ro shipping lines with a discount of up to 10 percent on their port dues, subject to the conditions set up in Le Havre.Vessels will be rewarded in accordance with the newly introduced Environmental Ship Index (ESI), an international benchmark for ship air emissions that awards points to those ships performing better than the statutory norm.Last year, the World Port Climate Initiative introduced the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), under the auspices of the International Association of Ports and Harbors, in London.A total of 375 sea ships have now been recorded in the ESI, each scoring better than what is required under international law.The Port of Le Havre was one of the 55 ports that signed the World Port Climate Initiative's international charter in July 2008. The charter was established to help promote the mitigation of emissions throughout the shipping industry.Source: Port Technology