Antofagasta News

Chilean provider of port, logistics and towage services SAAM ended the first half of 2017 with a net income of USD 43 million, showing a rise of 48.3 percent year-on-year basis. The provider of port, logistics and towage services in 13 countries in the Americas said that this  figure was strongly impacted by a non-recurring gain of US$26.9 million, mainly from the sale of its minority interest in Tramarsa. “Isolating the non-recurring effect, these results reflect the challenges we are facing in an industry experiencing consolidation. For this reason, we are working hard, and with a long-term outlook, to strengthen our current assets and evaluate new opportunities in the region.

Vessel sales for May 2017 (as of June 1) as prepared by Shipping Intelligence, Inc., New York.

Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems, a leading global system supplier for submarines and surface vessels, has received a service order worth around €40 million from the Peruvian naval shipyard SIMA. A key component of the order is the provision of consulting during the planning and realization of extensive modernization work on four HDW 209/1200 class submarines over a period of seven years. Among other things thyssenkrupp Marine Systems will perform engineering and technical services such as cutting and welding on the submarines and will make specialists available to provide local support. Andreas Burmester, CEO of thyssenkrupp Marine Systems: "We are pleased to be continuing our cooperation with the Peruvian navy.

Last month, the second of the two ships recently purchased from the Dutch shipping company NileDutch officially changed hands. The 222-meter-long and 35-meter-wide vessel will now sail for Hapag-Lloyd as the Antofagasta Express under the Chilean flag. The new ship, with a capacity of 3,500 TEU, was rechristened by Hapag-Lloyd and takes its new name from the Chilean port city of Antofagasta. Together with the second new acquisition, the San Antonio Express, and two recently chartered vessels of identical construction…

As an exceptional measure, an extra vessel will be phased in for one cycle until the schedule is fully recovered, which mean to run the service with 8 vessels. These vessels delays are a result of the bad weather in Chile and Brazil, strike in Antofagasta and the situation with MV Barry 169E faced in Bahía Blanca.

Chile's government has declared a state of emergency in the central region struck by Wednesday's earthquake, the biggest to hit the country since 2010 and the most powerful in the world this year. The 8.3-magnitude tremor struck off the coast of Coquimbo, 46km west of Illapel, at 19:54 local time (22:54 GMT) on Wednesday evening. Tsunami waves hit the coast at Coquimbo and further out from the epicentre, with waves half a metre higher than usual as far north as La Punta. Small tsunamis were also reported along the west coast of the USA and Canada, as far away as Alaska. A powerful aftershock estimated to be close to 8 on the Richter scale shook the central part of Chile yesterday afternoon (17 September). All ships were again ordered to leave port ahead of a possible tsunami.

The main dockworkers union in Chile has voted for indefinite strike action at the country’s national ports. A key labor reform act is due to be voted on in Congress sometime over the next few days. In addition, the union is also urging the government to push through better educational reforms. Members of the Port Workers Union of Chile (UPCH) took the step to industrial action in protest at a lack of progress in labour reform talks and to prod the government to do the right thing when a labour rights vote is taken in the Valparaiso congress in a few days. Chilean port workers are demanding modifications to the newly proposed labor legislation including clarification on a clause that would allow the termination of striking workers whom pose an alleged threat to damaging infrastructure…

A tsunami early warning was announced at 18:16 hours on Sunday, in the regions of Arica and Parinacota, Iquique and Antofagasta. According to pointing SHOA, the odds of a minor tsunami occurs between the towns of Arica and Tocopilla in mainland Spain, reports BioBio Chile. Citilng information from The National Seismological Centre, University of Chile, a magnitude 6.7 earthquake was recorded, with epicenter located 75 kilometers Southwest of Pisagua, and a depth of 20.6 kilometers. Meanwhile Onemi reported the following on the Mercalli intensity scale.

The CMA CGM Group announced the reshuffling of its services from Europe and Med to West Africa which will allow the Group to adapt to the market and serve the heart of Africa by Through Bill of lading (TBL) to land lock countries. CMA CGM is pleased to announce the PC Weekly service improvement with the insertion of UK and Nigeria call in the rotation. The first voyage will start on December 14, 2013 with M/V Hammonia Antofagasta vge 8D001S. The first voyage will commence on December 13, 2013 with M/V Spero vge 8E001S.

Hamburg Süd provided the following information about the Chilean ports the company serves, following the Feb. In the north of Chile, the ports of Iquique, Antofagasta and Port Angamos are fully operational. The container terminal used by Hamburg Süd, TPSV, has announced that they are 90% operational with respect to dry and reefer cargoes. Container berths 1, 2, 3 are operational, whilst the older berths 4, 5 and 7 are not operating due to various structural damage. TPSV maintains an emergency berthing programme (i.e., temporarily suspending agreed berthing windows) to ensure efficient port operation, allocating berths on a first come, first served basis.

Due to deteriorating market conditions, the Asia Express Consortium partners CCNI and Hamburg Süd on the one hand and MSC on the other have decided with immediate effect to reduce capacity in the trade between Asia and Mexico and the West Coast of South America. This rationalization will be achieved by combining the current MSC service with sling two of the Asia Express Consortium. Sling one will be operated with ten modern vessels of 4,200 TEU nominal capacity. The revised service structure will have the following rotation: Yokohama - Pusan - Shanghai -  Ningbo - Hong Kong - Manzanillo - Lazaro Cardenas - Puerto Quetzal - Buenaventura - Guayaquil - Iquique - Mejillones - Valparaiso - Lirquen - Lazaro Cardenas - Yokohama.

Utility Suez (NYSE:SZEZY) said its energy division, in conjunction with copper producer Codelco, is to construct a liquefied natural gas (LNG) regasification terminal in Mejillones, in the region of Antofagasta, Northern Chile. The group said investment in the project, to be owned by newly created company GNL Mejillones SA -- 50 per cent owned by each of Suez and Codelco -- will amount to $500m. In a first phase between 2009-2012, the project will see the construction of a jetty and an on-shore LNG regasification terminal with a send-out capacity of 5.5 mln cubic metres of gas, sufficient to produce 1,100 megawatts (MW) of electricity. An LNG vessel, with a storage capacity of approximately 135,000 cubic metres, will be permanently moored and serve as a floating storage.