Transportation Problems News

The Cochin Shipyard Limited in India delivered two RoRo vessels to the Kochi Municipal Corporation (KMC), Press Trust of India reported. The vessels with modern equipment are expected to provide a great relief to the transportation problems in Kochi, the report said quoting company officials. With a length of 27 metres and 8.25 metres breadth, the vessels can achieve speeds of six knots, it said. The vessels are provided with ramps on either side, both in the forward and aft, eliminating the need for reverse parking of the vehicles on the ferry. The diagonally placed azimuth thrusters of these vessels eliminates the need for turning of the vessels at the jetty and also allows for better manoeuvrability, especially during high tidal currents.

Brazil is still attracting cruise lines, such as Norwegian Cruise Line, which is bringing a ship to Brazil for the first time in the 2016/2017 season. However, hard numbers do not bode well for the industry as the number of cruises dropped by more than half in four years, with a staggering 54 percent decrease in the number of regular cruise ships on the Brazilian coast. In 2012, the season had 15 regular ships, while this year there will be only seven, and the number of passengers boarding at Santos port will be 42 percent lower. The 2010/2011 season of cruises hit the record for ships on the Brazilian coast: 20. Since then, this number has fallen year on year…

The Minister of Shipping and Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari has said that the efficiency of Indian ports has improved greatly over the last two years and the performance of government ports in the country has been better than private ports this year. He said, the Ministry has taken various steps to improve the efficiency of ports. Old rules have been weeded out, port mechanization and modernization is being done on war footing and projects for improving connectivity of ports are being implemented in right earnest. He further stressed upon the importance of e governance for ensuring good governance The Minister released a report titled “Next Generation Port Infrastructure - Technology Transformation for Integrated Port Operations” in New Delhi.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Fox today announced 40 awards totaling nearly $500 million in funding for the  FY 2016 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) grants. Of the 585 applications submitted totaling $9.3 billion in requests, six awards totaling $61.8 million – or about 12.36 percent of the total funding – are going to commercial seaports or projects that directly aid the efficient movement of goods to and from America’s ports. Port applications totaled 9 percent, or 53, of the total 585 submitted. In his written statement, Sec. Foxx said, “For the eighth year running, TIGER will inject critical infrastructure dollars into communities across the country.

The keel of the first double-ended RoRo ferry being built for the Corporation of Cochin was laid by V.R. Raju, secretary of the Corporation here on Monday at a ceremony at the Cochin Shipyard. The vessels, equipped with two nos of azimuth thrusters for easy manoeuvring and other modern equipment are expected to provide a great  relief to the water transportation problems in the  city. The contractual delivery  date of the first vessel is in June 2016 and the second vessel will follow three  months thereafter. The design of the two ferries has been developed in house. The vessel is designed to meet the requirements of Indian Register of Shipping and KIV Act. The length of the vessel is 27m with a breadth of 8.25m and depth of 2.5m.

U.S. Rep. John Mica To Accept AAPA ‘Port Person Of Year’ Award At March 20 Event Luncheon. AAPA Centennial ‘Spring Conference’ Speakers Will Focus On Raising Priorities For Freight Infrastructure. U.S. Congressman John Mica (R-FL) will be honored on March 20 as the American Association of Port Authorities’ (AAPA) “Port Person of the Year” during the association’s 100th anniversary Spring Conference event, March 19-20, at The Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel. Celebrating its first century as the Western Hemisphere’s leading trade association representing port authorities…

Chairman Mica's vision for reauthorizing the nation's surface transportation legislation goes beyond the traditional "highway bill" approach and is expected to address road, rail, transit and maritime for a comprehensive solution to many of the transportation problems the nation faces. The American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) has urged the committee to include a maritime title in the transportation bill to address the harbor maintenance tax problem and navigation project development inefficiencies.

Liebherr-Werk Nenzin GmbH, which sells and produces ship, offshore and harbor mobile cranes, as well as rope excavators and crawler cranes for markets worldwide has achieved an average growth in turnover of 12 percent per annum over the last 5 years. Own companies of Liebherr-Werk Nenzing GmbH in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany and Hong Kong make an important contribution to the total success with exports of more than 95 percent. In order to be able to further extend the position in the international market, especially in the maritime sector, an additional production location in the harbor area in Rostock Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is planned.

Meeting national transportation needs during the current decade should involve a surfeit of new contracts for our domestic shipbuilders. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) mandates double hulls for all vessels engaged in U.S. petroleum carriage. In our non-contiguous trades, renewal programs are needed for the replacement aging container and RoRo fleets. Moving freight containers and trailers on RoRo barges and vessels, and moving people on passenger and passenger-vehicle high speed ferries, provide the obvious solutions to traffic congestion in the population corridors served by at least two of our Interstate highways. Some of these vessel needs are now immediate because of private sector decisions to postpone projects.