China Harbour News

Nigeria opened a billion-dollar Chinese-built deep seaport in Lagos on Monday, which is expected to ease congestion at the country's ports and help it become an African hub for transshipment, handling cargoes in transit for other destinations.President Muhammadu Buhari has made building infrastructure a key pillar of his government's economic policy, and hopes that this will help his ruling party win votes during next month's presidential election.The new Lekki Deep Sea Port is 75% owned by the China Harbour Engineering Company and Tolaram group…

Thai power producer Gulf Energy Development Pcl on Thursday said its consortium had signed a deal worth 30.9 billion baht ($927 million) with the country's port authority for construction and operation of container terminals.The firm, among the country's largest private power producers, is owned by Thai billionaire Sarath Ratanavadi and has been investing billions of dollars to expand its infrastructure business."Gulf will use accumulated experience in developing and managing large-scale infrastructure projects in Thailand and overseas to develop the port…

The government of Panama gave a US$1.4 billion contract to build a bridge over the Panama Canal to Panama Cuarto Puente, a Chinese consortium.Panama Cuarto Puente consortium or so-called Panama Fourth Bridge Consortium,  composed of China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) and its unit China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), will design and build a bridge over the Panama Canal.According to a report in Reuters, the 6.5-km (4-mile) bridge will have six car lanes and a two-way metro line. The Chinese companies initially won the contract in June but the award was postponed after rival bidders appealed the decision.Now that the consortium outbid companies from Spain…

Ghana's liquefied natural gas (LNG) import project is finally under construction, years after its original inception, with two vessels contracted to store and regasify the fuel by the second quarter of 2020, a project partner said on Wednesday.China Harbour Engineering Company has already begun construction work on a marina with a Floating Regasification unit (FRU) to be provided by the CSSC Jiangnan shipyard and a Floating Storage Unit by Gasfin, Gasfin's chief executive Roland Fisher said.Ghana has been trying to get an LNG import project off the ground for years…

Saudi Arabian oil giant Saudi Aramco has awarded a contract to China Harbour Engineering Arabia for the construction of two  drilling islands under the company’s Berri Increment Program (BIP).The objective of the BIP is to produce an additional 250,000 barrels per day of Arabian Light crude oil from the Berri Oil Field to reach 500,000 barrels per day to maintain Saudi Aramco’s maximum sustained capacity by early 2023.A signing ceremony to mark the contract award was held in Dhahran. Signing on behalf of Saudi Aramco was its Vice President of Project Management, Fahad Al-Helal while China Harbour Engineering was represented by Wu Yuansheng…

China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) began the main phase of the construction of a new terminal basin in Sokhna Port south of the Suez Canal northeast of Egypt, said he state media Xinhua.According to the report, the project was assigned to CHEC by the Sokhna branch of the Emirati corporation DP World, the main investor and container operator in the port located at the Gulf of Suez.CHEC sources said it will deliver the "Basin 2" project in fewer than 12 months ahead of the deadline.The report quoted Chen Shuang, deputy director of CHEC marketing department as saying that the launching ceremony event held on Tuesday (August 29) wass to show their determination to finish the project quickly and with high quality.Sokhna Port is located within the Suez Canal Economic Zone (SCZone)…

Operadura Portuaria Centroamericana SA de CV (OPC) has signed a contract with China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) for the first phase of the expansion of the Specialized Container and Cargo Terminal in Puerto Cortes, Honduras. The first phase covers the construction of a 350-meter long berth with a controlling depth of 15.5 meters, two trestles that will be connected to the existing yard, and dredging of the bay up to 14 meters deep. The new berth will be equipped with two super post-Panamax quay cranes, bringing OPC’s total number of quay cranes to six. Scheduled for completion by mid-2018, the terminal expansion will position Puerto Cortes as the most competitive port in the Caribbean.

Ivory Coast began construction on Tuesday of a four-year, 560 billion CFA franc ($962 million) project to build a second container terminal and widen the canal leading to its main port in the commercial capital Abidjan. Among the busiest in sub-Saharan Africa, the port serves Ivory Coast, French-speaking West Africa's largest economy and the world's top cocoa producer, and is also a gateway for landlocked nations to the north. China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd was awarded the construction contracts for both projects with the bulk of the cost covered by a loan from China's Eximbank. Construction of the new container terminal, which will be managed by consortium led by France's Bollore, will last 48 months and cost 409 billion CFA francs.

French shipping giant CMA CGM, reported a 66.7% jump in net profit to $156m in the second quarter of 2015. The result compared to a $94m net profit in the same period a year earlier. The world’s third largest container line says that its unit costs fell 10.9 percent year on year, thanks to falling oil prices, reporting operating expenses during Q2 at $3.7 billion compared to $3.9 billion during the same period last year. Volumes carried during the second quarter increased 6.2 per cent year on year to 3.3 million TEU, compared to global market volume growth of one to two per cent. The improved profitability came despite a 2.1% fall in revenues to $4.11bn in Q2 2015, compared to $4.2bn in the same period a year earlier.

The consortium formed by CMA CGM, Bolloré and CHEC won the bid process initiated by the Cameroonian government Following the bidding procedure initiated by the Cameroonian government, the consortium formed by the French companies - CMA CGM and Bolloré - and the Chinese CHEC (China Harbour Engineering Company) won the 25 years concession. The Cameroonian government has chosen a French-Chinese consortium offering all the technical and financial guarantees. It is composed of CMA CGM - a worldwide leading shipping group and international port operator - Bolloré Africa Logistics - a reference logistics operator in Africa – and the Chinese company CHECH - one of the first civil engineering and building company in the world.

Members of the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) Board of Directors and Administration returned to Panama after having traveled to Asia for the 24th joint meeting of its Advisory Board. The delegation met in Japan with the group of distinguished advisers to discuss Canal operations and performance, progress on the Expansion Program, training programs and future projects that will enhance the reliable service offered by the expanded Canal. The Board of Directors were encouraged by the discussions held and the Canal’s progress-to-date. Currently, all eight gates on the Atlantic side have been installed, and the Expansion Program is now 88 percent complete.

As it enters the final stretch of a massive expansion, the Panama Canal Authority is setting its sights on an even more ambitious project worth up to $17 billion that would allow it to handle the world's biggest ships. Workers are now installing giant, 22-story lock gates to accommodate larger "Post-Panamax" ships through the Canal, one of the world's busiest maritime routes. The project involves building a third set of locks on the Canal. It is being headed by Italy's Salini Impregilo  and Spain's Sacyr, and should open on April 1, 2016.

French maritime transporter CMA CGM has opened a logistics complex, between the port and city of Douala, Cameroon, and set up a new firm to handle inland transportation in West African markets. Christened 3CTC (CMA CGM Cameroon Container Terminal), the terminal covers a surface area of 2 hectares. Douala port is Cameroon's largest port. Located between the ring road of Douala and the port area, this "dry port" will enable CMA CGM customers to store containers, empty or full, in a secure area of 1200 m2. The new logistics platform also serves as a transportation hub for goods by land, Cameroon and to Chad and the Central African Republic. 3CTC was given to CMA CGM as a part of a 25-year deal. "3CTC opening demonstrates our commitment to strengthen our presence in Africa.

A Chinese construction firm began work on a new Mediterranean port in Israel on Tuesday, prompting a strike at Haifa docks further up the coast where the workers oppose the new competition. Israel's government, looking to break up the monopoly of two state-owned ports in Haifa and Ashdod through which nearly all exports and imports pass, recently approved creating private ports adjacent to the current ones. The move, it says, will bring down the cost of goods across the board. A subsidiary of China Harbour Engineering Co is building the 3.3 billion shekel ($876 million) port in Ashdod, which is due to be completed in 2020. The port's operator has not been chosen and the contract for Haifa has yet to be awarded.

Two of China's largest port operators and engineering firms have agreed to invest in a $601 million terminal in Sri Lanka's Hambantota port, part of a series of deals signed during a visit by President Xi Jinping to the island nation. Keen to establish its presence in the Indian Ocean, China has spent millions of dollars building ports and roads across the region in a strategy dubbed the String of Pearls. China Merchants Holdings said in a statement late on Tuesday that it and China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC), a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Group , had entered a joint venture with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority to develop and operate a container terminal for the Hambantota Port Development.

Israel said on Monday it has selected a subsidiary of China Harbour Engineering Company to build a $950 million (3.3 billion shekel) port in southern Ashdod on Israel's Mediterranean coast. Under the terms of the tender, the company, Pan-Mediterranean Engineering Ltd., will build new docks, warehouses and jetties, extending deep-water berthing capacities at the site, the Israel Ports Company said in a statement. Israel also plans a second port further north in the city of Haifa but has not yet awarded the contract to build it. Nearly all of Israel's trade is handled via sea, and the government hopes the two new ports will turn it into a shipping hub for the eastern Mediterranean. (Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Susan Fenton)

Six companies submitted bids June 1 to dredge an area of the Panama Canal’s manmade body of water, Gatun Lake. The ACP will now analyze the technical and financial submissions and award the contract to the firm with the lowest-priced bid that meets the requirements stated in the request for proposal. The primary element within the scope of work for this contract is to widen and deepen the existing navigational channel by dredging approximately 4.6 million cubic meters in the northern most reaches of the Lake. This contract is one component within the ACP’s Fresh Water Dredging and Excavation Project for the Canal Expansion, which includes the dredging and/or excavation of about 30 million cubic meters in Gatun Lake and the Gaillard Cut (the narrowest stretch of the Panama Canal).

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was informed in late October of this year that the new Gwadar Port would be completed ahead of schedule with the first phase of the port to be opened in the first quarter of 2005. As reported in Pakistan Daily Times, Mr Aziz praised the work done by Chinese engineers in completing the work ahead of schedule and thanked the Chinese government for helping the Pakistani government in the port construction. Central to this success has been the role of the China Harbour Engineering Company. A part of their work was the supply of a pair of 2600 HP azimuthing drive docking tugs for the new port. The keels for these boats were laid at China’s PengLai BoHai Shipbuilding Company on January 8 this year.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was informed in late October of this year that the new Gwadar Port would be completed ahead of schedule with the first phase of the port to be opened in the first quarter of 2005. As reported in Pakistan Daily Times, Mr Aziz praised the work done by Chinese engineers in completing the work ahead of schedule and thanked the Chinese government for helping the Pakistani government in the port construction. Central to this success has been the role of the China Harbour Engineering Company.

Sri Lanka's new pounds Sterling 226 million deep sea port at Magampura harbor, Hambantota, on the south coast of the island has been officially opened with the ceremonial docking of the first vessel to use the port facilities. In a ceremony presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa as part of the week-long festivities surrounding his official inauguration for his second term in office, a traditional sailing yacht, Pradeepa 2, dropped anchor in Hambantota's Magampura harbor. She received a traditionally warm and colorful Sri Lankan welcome from the huge crowds gathered on the waterfront and quaysides. Pradeepa 2 was chosen in recognition of Sri Lanka's age old role as a key stopping point on the ancient east-west silk trading route.

PANAMA CITY, Panama, April 27, 2011 - The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) has awarded a $43 million contract to Dutch company IHC Engineering Business Ltd., a part of IHC Merwede Group, for the design and construction of a new backhoe dredge. The addition of this new dredge to the ACP’s existing fleet in December 2012 will increase the ACP’s ability to effectively dredge as part of the Expansion Program and future maintenance projects. IHC Engineering Business Ltd. will be responsible for the design, construction, tests and delivery of the hydraulic backhoe dredge.

The Steering Committee of the New Doha Port Project is set to sign a QR4.5 billion contract for dredging the main channel after it had awarded its bid to Middle East Dredging Company. It is the second construction contract to be inked after Phase 1 of the New Port Project to construct Port Basin and Inner Breakwaters was awarded to China Harbour Engineering Company in January last year. The contract, which will be signed shortly, includes dredging and construction of the 15-meter deep approach channel. The New Port Project is scheduled to be operational in 2016.

The Maritime Administration (MarAd) has approved a vessel sale and transfer under section 9 of the Shipping Act, of 1916, as amended. MarAd has given approval to Dewey Seymore & Associates, of Folsom, California, to sale the deck barge EM1005, to China Harbour - Costain Mexico S. de. R.L .de. C.V., Mexico and transfer of said Vessel to Mexican registry and flag. The deck barge was built by Bollinger Marine Fabricators and has a gross tonnage of 1072.