Marine Link
Friday, March 29, 2024
SUBSCRIBE

Ana News

07 Jan 2024

War, Weather Put Ocean Shippers on Notice for Rough Seas in 2024

© Daniel / Adobe Stock

Recent hostilities in the Red Sea have thrown global shippers of vital goods for a loop - but it is hardly the only issue that big carriers are facing as 2024 kicks off.Giants like Maersk say the industry, which handles 90% of global trade, faces the possibility of significant disruptions, from ongoing wars to droughts affecting key routes like the Panama Canal. Complex vessel schedules are likely to be knocked out of sync for giant container ships, fuel tankers and other commodity haulers throughout the year.That will increase delays and raise costs for retailers like Walmart…

27 Nov 2023

ASGARD: Developing an Anti-Spoofing Weapon

Image courtesy ASGARD

Saab and GMV are collaborating in ASGARD, an EU-funded project that aims to improve maritime security when using GNSS and OSNMA. The project addresses the growing threat of GNSS spoofing and other cyberattacks on navigation systems used in the maritime industry.The ASGARD project, run by Saab and GMV, is an ambitious European Union (EU) initiative that aims to develop advanced technologies to improve Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) and Open Service Navigation Message Authentication (OSNMA) security in maritime environments.

31 Oct 2023

Fire-hit Paranagua Port Berth to Resume Ops Nov. 4

© Lucia / Adobe Stock

Shipping agent Cargonave said on Tuesday Berth 201 on the West Corridor of Brazil's port of Paranagua would tentatively resume operations on Saturday, according to a note to clients based on information it said it received from the local port authority.The port authority did not have an immediate comment on Cargonove's new note to clients.Previously, Cargonave had said operations would resume on Thursday, a decision that the port authority "revoked," according to an updated statement from the shipping agent.Paranagua…

11 Oct 2023

Vessels Run Aground in the Rivers of the Drought-hit Amazon Region

© juerginho / Adobe Stock

A barge carrying three trucks and 2,000 empty cooking gas cylinders lies stranded on the vast sand banks of a diminished Rio Negro river after running aground last month, highlighting the plight of river transport in the Amazon region hit by severe drought.Officials warned that low river levels risk disrupting grains exports from nearby farm states. On the Madeira, they said barge routes used by grain firms such as Cargill, Bunge and Amaggi, are open but loads are being reduced as a precaution.Shipping and logistics group A.P.

10 Oct 2023

Amazon Drought Chokes River Traffic, Threatens Exports

© Pulsar Imagens / Adobe Stock

A severe drought choking major rivers in the Amazon rainforest has disrupted ship traffic near the region's biggest city and pushed up costs for northern shipping routes, raising risks for corn exports in coming months.The unusual heat and dryness, linked to the mass deaths of fish and river dolphins, has already limited local communities'access to food and drinking water, leading the federal government to set up a humanitarian task force. Officials are now warning the thinning rivers could disrupt grains exports in the region."There is concern about shipping part of the corn harvest…

08 Jul 2023

VIDEO: Two Dead, One Missing after Fire Tears through Pemex Offshore Oil Platform

Credit: Pemex

Two workers died and another remained missing after a raging fire broke out early on Friday morning at an offshore platform run by Mexican state oil company Pemex just off the southern edge of the Gulf of Mexico.In posts on Twitter, Pemex said it had accounted for all other workers and said oil production had taken a major hit from the blaze.Video circulating on social media showed the massive platform and its tangle of pipelines engulfed in flames as nearby boats sought to douse the fire with hoses.The platform operates in the company's Cantarell Field…

13 Apr 2023

Bunge Port Deal in Southern Brazil Ends, Opening Door to Rivals

© jorgealberto / Adobe Stock

The end of a contract between a Bunge agent and a state-run port company in southern Brazil could make room for rivals interested in the public grains terminal, documents and court filings showed.The contract between Bunge port agent Litoral and the Sao Francisco do Sul port authority ended on April 11 and does not foresee an extension.Bunge declined to comment. Litoral did not reply to a request for comment.The port authority did not answer questions about whether it is preparing…

27 Feb 2023

Brazil's FTS Group Wins Auction for Paranagua Port Terminal

© Amarinj / Adobe Stock

FTS Group won an auction on Friday to operate a terminal at the port of Paranagua, one of the main ports in Brazil for grains and sugar, amid an uptick in shipping activity in the country.The group will have to invest at least 338.2 million reais ($64.91 million) in expansion works at the port's terminal called PAR50, which deals with transport and storage of bulk liquids, said Portos do Parana, which manages ports in the southern Brazilian state of Parana.Luring private investors to logistics projects is crucial for Brazil…

22 Dec 2022

Brazil Will Halt Santos Port Privatization

© Cifotart / Adobe Stock

Brazil's government will not proceed with the privatization of the port of Santos, the largest in Latin America, the incoming minister of ports and airports was quoted as saying on Thursday by a Brazilian newspaper.Marcio Franca, tapped to head the ministry in President-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government, told O Estado de S. Paulo's online edition that the decision had been made not to privatize the port, located just southeast of Sao Paulo and a key gateway for exports of agricultural commodities including soybeans and sugar.Franca could not be reached for comment on the decision…

30 Nov 2022

Landslides Block Access to Brazil's Paranagua Port

Paranagua port - ©CLAITON LUIS MORAES/Wikimedia Commons - CC BY-SA 4.0

Brazil's Paranagua port authority said on Tuesday that landslides caused by heavy rainfall blocked road and rail access to the port, the second busiest for grain exports in the country. In a statement, the authority said other port operations are normal as ships continue to unload and load products stored at the port's warehouses. Landslides have totally blocked the main access road to Parana's ports of Paranagua and Antonina, disrupting the flow of trucks headed to the coast, according to the statement.

01 Nov 2022

Main Road to Brazil's Paranagua Port, Major Grain Export Hub, Still Blocked

©Portos do Parana

The main access road to Brazil's Paranagua port, the country's second busiest for grain exports, remained blocked by political protesters on Tuesday, according to a statement from the port authority, hobbling shipping from one of the world's top food producers. Blockades in the area were first reported Monday afternoon after similar demonstrations erupted throughout the country as supporters of outgoing Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro protested against his narrow election loss to leftist Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

07 Oct 2022

Shippers Focus on LNG, Biofuels, Methanol to Meet Emissions Targets

Credit: A.P. Moller - Maersk

Shipping and commodities firms will commission more ships partly powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG) next year while ramping up trials for biofuel bunkering as they seek to cut emissions from ship operations, senior executives said this week.The shipping industry is seeking to reduce its reliance on oil as it tries to meet carbon emission reduction targets set out by the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization.These include the shipping industry cutting carbon emissions by 40% from 2008 levels by 2030…

05 Oct 2022

New Project Aims to Capture Carbon Emissions Onboard Oil Tanker

A consortium made up of global energy and shipping organisations announced on Wednesday that they will start a project to build and test a carbon capture system onboard an oil tanker for the next two years.The project onboard a medium-range tanker owned by shipping firm Stena Bulk is targetting at least 30% absolute carbon dioxide capture, or about 1,000 kilogramme per hour, the companies said in a joint press release on the sidelines of the Singapore International Bunkering Conference and Exhibition (SIBCON) 2022.It is being carried out by the Global Centre for Maritime Decarbonisation (GCMD) in Singapore, the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI)…

19 Apr 2022

Brazil's Parana ports face unusually busy fertilizer import season

© alphards / Adobe Stock

Ports in one of Brazil's biggest farming states are handling an unusual amount of fertilizer after importers rushed to secure supplies amid fears that sanctions on Belarus and Russia would curtail trade, the Parana port authority said.Brazilian importers are keen to secure crop nutrient supplies even if they have nowhere to store them as Brazil relies on imports for 85% of its fertilizer needs.Paranagua, one of the South American country's busiest ports, has 18 vessels awaiting to unload nearly 600…

18 Apr 2022

Ships Carrying Russian Fertilizers Find Way to Brazil Despite Sanctions

Despite concern that sanctions against Russia would cause a shortfall of fertilizer in Brazil, preliminary shipping data shows orders being fulfilled and vessels heading for Brazil, potentially allowing a normal grain planting season.At least 24 vessels carrying almost 678,000 tonnes of Russian fertilizers from ports in the country are expected to reach Brazil in the next weeks, according to preliminary shipping data compiled by Agrinvest Commodities and seen by Reuters on Monday.Despite sanctions against Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, the data show 11 of the 24 vessels left ports including Saint Petersburg and Murmansk after Feb. 24, when the war started.

17 Jan 2022

Vale, Other Brazil Miners Ramp Up Production as Rains Subside

© A.Paes / Adobe Stock

Brazilian miners including Vale SA are resuming production in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais after being forced to halt some operations due to heavy rains that increased the risk of accidents and caused logistics disruptions.Vale said in a securities filing on Monday that the Brucutu and Mariana mines are gradually ramping up production as part of its Vitoria-Minas railway was cleared, allowing the iron ore to be moved.According to Vale, the stoppages affected production of about 1.5 million tonnes of iron ore.

03 Jan 2022

Brazil Health Agency Warns Against Cruise Ships Amid COVID-19 Outbreaks

© Stefano Garau / Adobe Stock

Brazilian health agency Anvisa on Sunday warned passengers against boarding cruise ships operating along the Brazilian coast after outbreaks of COVID-19 affecting crew and customers, according to a statement on its website.The move follows a call for the "immediate temporary interruption of the cruise ship season in Brazil" as they pose a risk to public health."In view of recent events, Anvisa does not recommend the embarkation of passengers who have trips scheduled on cruise ships for the next few days…

14 Sep 2021

Brazil Port Regulator Targets Bunge, Two Port Agencies in Probe

© Jair / Adobe Stock

Brazil's port regulator targeted the local unit of global grains merchant Bunge and two port agents in an investigation announced on Tuesday, threatening the trader's dominant position at a key export hub in the south of the country.The probe, ordered by port regulator Antaq via regulatory decision in the official government gazette, centers on alleged irregularities in a contract to move grain cargos at public terminals in the port of São Francisco do Sul.A regional branch of Antaq in Santa Catarina state will conduct the probe…

30 Sep 2021

Singapore Convicts Nine in Southernpec Bunker Fuel Theft Case

Nine people have been sentenced in Singapore to up to three years in jail for cheating buyers out of $337,000 worth of shipping fuel, authorities said in a joint statement on Thursday.The group was found guilty of using industrial strength magnets to tamper with measuring equipment known as Mass Flow Meter (MFM) on board bunker tankers owned by a unit of marine fuel services provider Southernpec (Singapore) Pte Ltd, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), the Singapore Police Force and the Attorney-General’s Chambers.The tampering on board bunker tankers Southernpec 6 and Southernpec 7 allowed the group to record a higher volume of sales than what was actually delivered.Investigations revealed that between December 2018 and April 2019…

22 Nov 2021

Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Suspension Could be Short-lived

Credit: Nord Stream 2

The suspension of the approval process for the Russian Nord Stream 2 pipeline by a German regulator could be short-lived as Europe is hungry for more gas, an analyst said on Monday after meeting officials of Russian state gas giant Gazprom.Last week, Germany's energy regulator temporarily halted the certification process for the new pipeline that will carry Russian gas into Europe, throwing up a new roadblock to the contentious project and driving up regional gas prices.German…

02 Dec 2021

Singapore's Temasek Working with Portfolio Firms in Green Transition

Conglomerate Keppel Corp and Sembcorp Marine are considering combining their loss-making offshore and marine (O&M) businesses, with Temasek set to become the largest shareholder in the combined company. - File Photo: Keppel

Singapore state investor Temasek is working with its portfolio companies to help them become more green as advancing sustainability goals becomes the new normal, the firm's chief sustainability officer said on Thursday.Temasek, with a portfolio valued at S$381 billion ($278.81 billion) as of March, has committed more than S$2 billion this year to the decarbonization sector alone, Steve Howard told the Reuters Next conference."We want to work with those companies and help make sure that they are supported in having transition plans," Howard added.

08 Sep 2021

Asian Crop Importers Brace for Delays After Ida Hits US Export Hub

© Tom / Adobe Stock

Asia’s grain and oilseed buyers are set to face shipping delays of at least one month after Hurricane Ida damaged key export terminals around the U.S. Gulf Coast, two traders and one miller said. The slowdown in supplies is likely to stoke food inflation fears for price-sensitive consumers in Asia, where many importers have already drawn down crop inventories after having been forced to curb purchases amid volatile crop prices and COVID-related supply disruptions this year.Importers led by top soybean buyer China…

24 Aug 2021

Five Dead, Six Injured in Pemex Offshore Platform Fire

Illustration only -  A platform in the Gulf of Mexico - Credit: Quimey/AdobeStock

Five workers were killed and six injured in Sunday's fire on an offshore platform in the southern Gulf of Mexico operated by Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) that cut about a quarter of Mexico's oil production, the company said on Monday.The fire broke out as crews were performing maintenance on the platform, and a search for missing workers continues, Pemex Chief Executive Octavio Romero told a news conference.The platform remains out of operation, with about 421,000 barrels per day of oil lost and 125 wells offline, he said.