Service Port News

Swedish power firm Vattenfall has chosen Hvide Sande Harbour in Denmark as its service port for Vesterhav Syd and Nord wind farms in the Danish part of the North Sea. The move will create around 50 new jobs.Danish Energy Agency has approved Vattenfall's environmental assessment and construction plans for 350 MW offshore wind farms Vesterhav Syd and Nord in December 2020. "Hvide Sande will to be the service hub for Vattenfall’s Danish offshore wind operations in the northern part of the North Sea and benefit from the creation of about 50 jobs…

Sri Lanka’s government on Saturday signed a long-delayed agreement to sell a 70% stake in a USD 1.5-billion port to China in a bid to recover from the heavy burden of repaying a Chinese loan obtained to build the facility, report local media. After 10 years of negotiations, China Merchants Port Holdings has signed the agreement with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to develop the Hambantota Port in southern Sri Lanka. According to the agreement, which is described as "a win-win situation for both countries". the Chinese firm will run the workings of the newly constructed port over a 99-year lease. The Port of Hambantota is located on the…

Plaquemines and American Patriot Holdings plan new container port-vessel system. Plans are underway for a new 4,200-acre intermodal container terminal within the Port of Plaquemines Harbor and Terminal District. The project, a partnership (Exclusivity Agreement) between the Port and American Patriot Holdings (APH) calls for the development of a logistics system for “vessel operations comprised of deep-water docking at the Pointe Celeste Container Terminal and multiple upriver terminals.” That’s the Mississippi River, of course, and initial upriver terminals could be sited in Memphis and St.

Plans have been put in motion to develop a new intermodal container terminal on the lower Mississippi River. Designed to service the largest ocean carriers, the new 1,000 acre container terminal will be capable of docking vessels up to 20,000 TEU with deep-water access and 21,600 linear feet of waterfront allow for multiple ocean and APCT vessels to be accommodated simultaneously. The container port, located between mile 50 and 55 on the Mississippi River, will be the southern-most full service port complex on the river…

APL today announced that its West Coast Service (WCS) will be serving an additional port in Callao, Peru, expanding the service’s port coverage in South America West Coast. “The Port of Callao is the chief seaport of Peru, handling a sizeable volume of its ocean-borne cargo. With the WCS service calling Callao, we are excited about offering shippers access to and from this major gateway for imports and exports,” said Efrain Osorio, APL Regional Director of Latin America & the Caribbean. The first sailing of the enhanced WCS service will commence from Balboa on 5 February 2017, calling the ports of Balboa, Callao, Paita and Guayaquil every week.

Starting December 16th, 2016, CMA CGM has chosen to revamp its feeder network to Indian Ocean to reinforce its quality, reliability and frequency. The offering of two separate products dedicated to Comoros/Mozambique market and North Madagascar will strengthen our competitiveness. "We are pleased to inform you that the new Indian Ocean Feeder Loop 3 service, deploying 1 vessel of 618 TEU, will be exclusively dedicated to Comoros and Nacala, Mozambique, via Longoni hub (Mayotte)," says a statement from the company. Main features will be the following: Improved frequency to Moroni and Mutsamudu, offering fortnightly calls with a gain of 7 days transit time. Moroni will be reached in 33 days from Fos, 36 days from Le Havre and 39 days from Antwerp.

In a continued effort to provide increased reliability and quality service in a challenging environment, CMA CGM Group is strengthening its coverage of Europe to West Africa with the addition of the direct call in Cameroon on its EURAF 5 service and the EURAF 4 service upgrade connecting Europe to West Africa strategic markets. Direct service from North Europe to Douala with a fortnightly frequency combined with a shortened transit time by 7 days. Therefore, it is one of the best transit time on the market with Douala from Antwerp in 28 days and from Le Havre in 29 days. Our exporters in Douala will benefit from a very fast and direct transit time to North Europe: Northern France will be reached in 16 days, Antwerp in 17 days.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) provides a range of shipping services between France and the world’s major trade hubs. Since its foundation in 1993, MSC France has scaled up into a 675,000 TEU per annum business. MSC France now has a team of more than 500 employees across its offices in Paris, Bordeaux, Brest, Dunkerque, Lyon, Marseille, Montoir, Rouen and Le Havre. MSC has operated out of Le Havre since 1993, where the port’s geographical strategic importance for customers has fuelled significant phases of growth and investment from MSC.

The Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) said it has adjusted coverage on its South Africa service with the introduction of a weekly direct call at Hazira, in addition to Nhava and Mundra. MSC’s updated India-South Africa service port rotation is as follows: Salalah - Jebel Ali - Bin Qasim - Mundra - Nhava Sheva - HAZIRA - Colombo - Port Louis - Durban - Coega - Salalah. The South Africa service operates with six vessels with vessel capacity of up to 5,400 TEU. The first MSC vessel to call Hazira will be MSC Valencia IZ 611, expected to arrive April 9, 2016.

Geneva-based Mediterranean Shipping Co SA has expanded the port rotation of its India-South Africa service by introducing a direct call at Hazira, a privately-operated cargo complex on India’s west coast, in an attempt to pick up additional hinterland cargo. Hazira Port, which is about 120 nautical miles north of JNPT, is operated by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, India’s biggest port infrastructure developer. "MSC would like to inform customers that we have strengthened our coverage on our South Africa service with the introduction of a weekly direct call at Hazira in addition to Nhava and Mundra," says a statement from the company. The South Africa service, operates with six vessels with vessel capacity of up to 5,400 TEU.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL, President & CEO: Junichiro Ikeda) today announced the enhancement of its Asia and East Coast South America trade by merging existing CSW and SW2 services to form a new CSW service. The existing CSW and SW2 services, which are operated jointly by MOL, Maersk Line (ML) and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), will be merged into a new enhanced CSW service to strengthen the coverage between the major trading hub of Asia and key ports in the east coast of South America. The upgraded CSW service will further provide wider connectivity with the current network over the key transshipment ports and will integrate the SW2 coverage in some key ports in China to east coast of South America ports.

“RECAB is a provider of rugged computers; we are a hardware company,” said Bjørn Espen Aase, Managing Director, RECAB Norway. We met with RECAB at the recent Norshipping in Oslo to catch up with this fast-growing computer integrator, a company which sees its business spread across many industries that demand high-performance rugged computing. “We are a typical subcontractor for the big players like Kongsberg and Rolls-Royce, for example. We are enabling world-class applications so they can put their software on top and integrate with the sensors.

Port Manatee has added operations of Manatee Ship Repair and Fabrication LLC, enhancing its full-service port offerings at the entrance to Tampa Bay. “The services offered by Manatee Ship Repair and Fabrication are an ideal complement to the extensive operations at our full-service port,” said Carlos Buqueras, Port Manatee’s executive director. Manatee Ship Repair and Fabrication’s leadership offers more than 80 years of combined experience in vessel repair and fabrication, including in at-berth topside ship repairs of all kinds, ballast water treatment systems, structural fabrication, and pipe fabrication and repairs. Port Manatee’s strategically convenient location…

Spliethoff Group, one of the largest ship management companies in the Netherlands, has awarded Imtech Marine a three-year extension contract for the supply of a broad-ranging Ship to Shore Communications service on the global VSAT network of Radio Holland. Radio Holland is Imtech Marine’s solution brand for Nav/Com and maintenance. Amsterdam-based Spliethoff Bevrachtingskantoor BV and Radio Holland have worked together for decades and 27 vessels are already connected. Following the agreement made on February 17th, a further 22 vessels will be added.

Maritime services provider Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) is celebrating the further expansion of its global footprint, following the opening of a new office in Map Ta Phut, Thailand. This new opening takes the ISS worldwide network to over 300 offices, a significant achievement in the company’s 160 year history. It follows other recent openings on the Adriatic and the West Coast of Africa, and demonstrates ISS’ commitment and alignment to its customers, by strategically expanding where and when required. The new office, ISS Thailand’s second, is based in the country’s largest industrial port in the Gulf of Thailand, 150 miles from Bangkok which is part of the region’s Eastern Seaboard Development plan…

The Coast Guard, Port Arthur Fire Department and Jefferson County Sheriff's Department are searching for a 56-year-old man after a collision occurred between the tug and barge Father Seelos and the missing man's pleasure craft about 500 feet west of Goat Island in Sabine Lake, Sunday. Missing is John Tran of Bridge City, Texas. The captain of tug Father Seelos contacted Vessel Traffic Service Port Arthur at approximately 2:30 p.m. notifying them of the collision. Coast Guard crewmembers are currently searching for the man aboard a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from Air Station Houston…

APL introduce a new weekly service to enhance its network coverage in East Asia, with connections to APL’s global network. The new Japan Thailand 2 (JT2) service is operated through a vessel sharing agreement with Hanjin Shipping with three vessels of 1700 TEU nominal capacity each. The new service port rotation is: Osaka – Kobe - Hibiki – Hakata – Kaohsiung – Chiwan – Laem Chabang – Hong Kong – Kaohsiung – Osaka. The first northbound sailing will begin on 21st December 2012 from Laem Chabang. The first southbound sailing will begin on 24th December 2012 from Osaka. APL is a global container shipping business offering more than 80 weekly services and more than 500 calls at more than 140 ports worldwide. It combines world-class intermodal operations with leading-edge IT and e-commerce.

The third meeting of the Navigation Safety Advisory Group (NSAG) recently met to consider safety of navigation concerns in Australian waters. (NSAG is the peak consultative body for matters relating to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's (AMSA) responsibilities for the safety of navigation in Australian waters). The meeting attracted 24 navigation practitioners and representatives from the Australian Hydrographic Service, port and state marine authorities, industry peak bodies, shipping companies and marine pilots.

A new contract to supply ships services to one of the world’s largest chemical transportation fleets, Jo Tankers, has strengthened Wilhelmsen Ships Service’s port coverage for the customer in the USA. Wilhelmsen Ships Service (WSS) has been contracted to provide services in the ports of Houston, Freeport and New York by Jo Tankers, which is in addition to the current port calls handled in New Orleans and Philadelphia. The additional ports will bring Wilhelmsen Ships Service nearly 100 new port calls per year for the region. Jo Tankers is a leading provider of deep-sea transportation services, not just for chemicals, but also for other high-value liquids such as petroleum products and edible oils.

Terminal Muelle Norte at Peru’s largest port is the latest of three expansions into new areas won by APM Terminals this year. Lima, Peru- The new 30-year concession contract for the development and operation of Terminal Muelle Norte at the Port of Callao was signed today by Peruvian President Alan Garcia and representatives of APM Terminals and local partner Central Portuária S.A.C. in the Presidential Palace in Peru’s Capital City of Lima. “Our vision is to transform Terminal…

Evergreen Line will adjust its weekly transit times on its Far East - Panama service (FPS), to improve the service it offers to its customers in Central America, the Caribbean and the West Coast of South America.   The company has reduced the transit time from its Taiwanese hub, Kaohsiung to the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas from 23 to 16 days. The transit time from Shanghai to the Caribbean hub, Colon Container Terminal, is now 25 days.   The FPS service port rotation is now: Ningbao – Shanghai – Yangtian – Kaohsiung – Lazaro Cardenas – Colon Container Terminal - Ningbao   The first sailing operating with the revised schedule will be served by the 2,824 TEU ‘Irenes Remedy 0046-036’, which is due to start loading in Shanghai on 16 April 2009.

Kirkenes is becoming an important port for vessels conducting seismic surveys in the Arctic search for fossil fuels. Geographical proximity to the oil and gas fields and developed infrastructure draws companies to this North Norwegian town. One of the companies making a profit on the increased activity in the Arctic is Henriksen Shipping. Since the Agreement on Delimitation of the Barents Sea and Arctic Ocean came into force, Henriksen Shipping has had an enormous increase in the number of calls by vessels heading to Arctic waters for seismological surveys.

The Coast Guard and agency partners have formed a Unified Command in response to an oil spill in the Port of Port Arthur, on Jan. 23. Vessel Traffic Service Port Arthur received notification at 9:30 a.m. reporting a collision between the towing vessel Dixie Vengeance and the two barges it was pushing, and the 807-ft tank ship Eagle Otome. As a result of the collision, the Eagle Otome sustained damage in the vicinity of the number one starboard tank, which was reported to be loaded with crude oil. The initial estimate of spilled oil is 450,000 gallons.