Arab Gulf News

The city of Haifa is set to become an increasingly significant east Mediterranean shipping hub, with Chinese and Indian firms buying into its ports as Israel normalizes ties with its Gulf Arab neighbors under a U.S. diplomatic push.Earlier this month, as U.S. President Joe Biden visited the Middle East, India's largest port developer Adani Ports and Israeli minority partner Gadot agreed to buy Haifa Port for 4.1 billion shekels ($1.18 billion).Its founder, Asia's richest man Gautam Adani…

Oil tanker rates are soaring globally as traders scramble to cope with jitters over possible disruption in Russian supplies, as well as war risk premiums for ships plying the Mediterranean region following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.Shipowners are also grappling with higher fuel costs after oil prices soared nearly $2 per barrel on Friday, with Brent back above $100. The global energy sector is concerned that Europe and the United States may impose sanctions on Russian exports and severely disrupt supplies.

CMA CGM Group announced the launch of two new weekly services, EPIC 1 and EPIC 2, between the Arab Gulf, Pakistan, North West India and North Europe. The current Epic service will make room for the two new weekly services. EPIC 1 offering a direct connection between North Europe and Pakistan – North West India. • EPIC 2 offering a direct connection beetween North Europe and United Arab Emirates, Pakistan and North West India. The ship operators on both services allow CMA CGM to increase its departure frequency between the Indian subcontinent and North Europe, and enrich its ports coverage. In India with the addition of a weekly call in HAZIRA. In the United Kingdom with three weekly calls ( Southampton and Felixstowe on EPIC 1, London Gateway on EPIC 2).

The Port of Salalah, a major Arab Gulf regional gateway port and transshipment hub on the Arabian Sea, has inaugurated a new deep-water General Cargo and Liquid Bulk Terminal, adding 20 million tons of dry cargo and six million tons of liquid bulk cargo annual handling capacity. The 1266 meter  quay offers two 320 meter-long General Cargo berths, two 300 meter-long liquid bulk berths and a depth of 18 meters. “The new facility is able to handle a wide range of vessels, ranging from naval ships, to vessels handling limestone, cement, livestock, project cargo and other dry bulk commodities as Salalah continues to grow as a key center of trade and logistics for the region” said Port of Salalah CEO David Gledhill.

The Port of Salalah, a major Arab Gulf region gateway port and transshipment hub on the Arabian Sea, has announced that French-based CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container shipping line, will add two new weekly services to East Africa, and Europe, beginning the first week of December: the Noura Express and the EPIC service. The Noura Express service, on the East Africa trade lane operates four vessels of up to 2,755 TEU capacity, linking the ports of Jebel Ali (UAE), Khor al Fakkan (UAE), Mombasa (Kenya), Mogadishu (Somalia) and Salalah. At Salalah, transshipment is available to CMA CGM’s Europe Pakistan India Consortium (EPIC) Service, which links ports in South Asia, the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, and North Europe.

A traffic jam of oil tankers has emerged along the U.S. Texas coast this month, a snarl that some traders see as the latest sign of an unyielding global supply glut. More than 50 commercial vessels were anchored outside ports in the Houston area at the end of last week, of which 41 were tankers, according to the Houston Pilots, an organization that assists in the navigation of larger vessels in and around port areas. Normally there are between 30 to 40 vessels anchored offshore, of which two-thirds are tankers, according to the pilots. Although the channel has been shut intermittently due to fog or flooding in recent weeks, pilots said those issues were not significant enough to create the backlog.

The CMA CGM Group upgrades its Lebanese service by adding a call in Beirut on its EPIC line, joining North Europe to Indian sub-continent, and on its MEX line, joining the Mediterranean to Asia. "We are pleased to announce that starting July 27th the Port of Beirut will be called each week by two of its most emblematic lines. Those lines complete the Group's offer in Lebanon," says the release. The CMA CGM Group provides producers new solutions for imports and fruit and vegetable exports to the Arab Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian sub-continent. By adding weekly calls in Beirut to its EPIC service, joining North Europe to the Indian sub-continent, and to its MEX service, joining the Mediterranean to Asia, the CMA CGM Group adapts its offer to the Lebanese companies' demand.

CMA CGM Group is pleased to announce that its EPIC service is now calling Piraeus on its way from North Europe to Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. CMA CGM Group will also be able to meet, via Piraeus, the growing demand of its Turkish customers to markets in the Indian subcontinent and the Middle East. Loaded from the Turkish ports of Hayderpasa Gebze Avcilar and Gemlik, containerized goods will reach Jebel Ali via Piraeus between17 and 19 days. The first vessel to start the rotation from North Europe is the CMA CGM ROSSINI, planned to call Piraeus on May 31st.

The International Conference and Exhibition on Maritime Security and Defence Hamburg at the Hamburg Fair site, June 15-17 2011, will feature the changing mission of navies toward a focus on global crisis management. “The special value of MS&D is that it puts the researchers and government officials in contact with practitioners of the merchant fleet and navy, to exchange views with them,” said Vice Admiral Axel Schimpf, Chief of Staff German Navy, in an exclusive interview in the run-up to MS&D 2011…