The Gazette News

For centuries, riverside communities, including the "quilombola" descendants of enslaved Africans who escaped from plantations and ranches, have shared Xingu Island in Brazil's Amazon Basin.Its inhabitants live in brightly painted wooden houses overlooking rivers where small boats crisscross between islands and Abaetetuba city on the mainland to trade fish, seeds and fruits gathered from the Amazon forest in their backyard.In 2016, however, strangers docked on Xingu Island, in Para state…

Israel on Thursday criticised Brazil's decision to grant berth to two Iranian warships in the face of U.S. pressure, and urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government to send them away.The vessels docked in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Reuters reported that Brazil had declined to admit them in January, in a goodwill gesture from Lula as he flew to Washington to meet U.S. President Joe Biden.Israel and Iran have been locked in a Cold War-style conflict for decades, which has included mutual accusations of maritime sabotage…

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…

The government of Argentina on Monday declared a 180-day “water emergency” for the Parana River, which is suffering a historic bout of shallowness that has affected the amount of grains that can be shipped from the country’s key ports hub of Rosario.The country is a major international food supplier. The Parana, which originates in a drought-hit part of Brazil, carries about 80% of Argentina’s agricultural shipments, which are the country’s main source of export dollars.The river is at its lowest level in 77 years.

Spain will allow cruise ships to dock in its ports from June 7, the transport ministry said on Saturday, hoping to salvage the country's battered tourism sector in time for the summer season.Spain's maritime authorities approved the reopening because of falling COVID-19 incidence rates and an increase in vaccinations, according to an order in Spain's state gazette published on Saturday.Spain banned cruise ships from docking in its ports in June 2020 as the pandemic ripped through Europe.

Spain is to uphold a ban on cruise liners from docking at its ports to stop the spread of COVID-19, according to a ministerial order published on Saturday.Cruise liners carrying thousands of passengers regularly stop off at ports in the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Barcelona and Malaga, but were prohibited when Spain went into lockdown on March 14.With their crowds of often elderly passengers, cruise ships have been especially vulnerable to outbreaks of the virus and…

Venezuela's state-run oil company Petroleos de Venezuela has created a new unit to run its oil terminals, according to a copy of the government's official gazette seen by Reuters and a person with knowledge of the matter.The launch of the new unit, PDV Puertos S.A., comes after socialist President Nicolas Maduro last month named a new PDVSA president and oil minister to try to revive the once-prosperous OPEC nation's crude output, which has fallen to decades-lows due to years of underinvestment and mismanagement as well as U.S.

At least 38 workers from Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela’s, including the president of maritime subsidiary PDV Marina, were detained on accusations of trafficking fuel, Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said on Saturday, describing the accusations as "treason."The move comes just days after other state officials were detained and amid a shakeup at PDVSA after President Nicolas Maduro last month named a committee to restructure the OPEC nation’s oil industry, which is struggling under U.S. sanctions designed to force Maduro’s ouster, as well as years of mismanagement, corruption, and declining cash flow.On Friday…

Venezuela has changed the formulas for calculating royalties energy companies pay the government to remove references to fuel oil and some crude grades, driven by stricter rules governing marine fuel emissions, according to a document seen by Reuters.A ban by the United Nations shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), on the use of fuels with a sulfur content above 0.5%, aimed at reducing pollution, has roiled oil markets and caused price volatility for…

Mexico will impose tariffs of 15 percent to 25 percent on U.S. steel products and on some agricultural goods, the Mexican economy ministry said on Tuesday, after pledging to retaliate against U.S. President Donald Trump's metals tariffs.The ministry published a list of new tariffs in the government's official gazette, which included a 20 percent tariff on U.S.

Mexico's economy ministry said on Thursday it formally imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of carbon steel pipe from China after completing an investigation into "unfair" trade practices. The action came the same day U.S. President Donald Trump was set to announce tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to the United States in a bid to counter cheap imports, especially from China. Mexico's investigation of Chinese steel pipes predated Trump's tariff plan, beginning in December 2016 at the request of three companies and covering an analysis of the period from May 2013 to April 2016…

An Agreement was signed between the Cyprus Republic and the Russian Federation on Commercial Shipping, the provisions of which were transposed to Law 19 (VII)/2017, which was published in the Government Gazette of the Republic on 15/12/17. The purpose of this Agreement is the setting up and development of relations between the two State-Parties in the maritime transport sector, ensuring effective cooperation in the shipping sector, and its contribution to the overall development of trade and economic relations between the two State-Parties through the further strengthening of their cooperation in the maritime transport sector, said a press release from Michael Kyprianou.

Hapag-Lloyd AG will now carry out the capital increase that was agreed upon as part of the merger of Hapag-Lloyd and UASC. The gross proceeds are expected to amount to approx. EUR 352 million (approx. USD 414 million). The official merger of the two companies occurred on 24 May 2017. At the Annual General Meeting on 29 May 2017, the shareholders approved new authorised share capital for a capital increase. The capital increase is backstopped by the primary shareholders CSAV Germany Container Holding GmbH, Kuehne Maritime GmbH, Qatar Holding Germany GmbH and The Public Investment Fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for a total of approx. EUR 352 million. They have committed to exercise their subscription rights and to acquire new shares that are not acquired by other shareholders.

Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA has been authorized to export idle liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the spot market, according to the Wednesday issue of the official gazette. According to the text, Petrobras has been given the green light to export up to 6.6 million cubic meters, assuming this would not result in supply problems for the domestic market. As a state-controlled company, some of Petrobras' commercial strategies require energy ministry authorization. Petrobras operates three regasification terminals in Brazil, which were built in a time when the country was seeing high economic growth rates and natural gas consumption was strong. But demand fell in the last two years while Brazil went through its deepest recession on record, and local production continued to grow.

At the 33rd ordinary meeting on Thursday, 1 December, the Board of Directors of the Merchant Marine Fund (CDFMM), at the Ministry of Transport, Ports and Civil Aviation in Brasilia (DF), approved to finance basis 2.15 billion reais for the construction of a new ship repair facility in Brazil as part of a 9.15 billion reais program for new and existing projects. Company (BBDC). The yard will be located in the municipality of Lucena, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Paraíba. Banco da Amazônia. depending on a number of project parameters. relevant authorities in Brazil in July of this year and clears the way to support funding efforts for the project.

As part of its Coastal Community Development Program under Sagarmala, the Ministry of Shipping has sanctioned Rupees 10 Crore ($1.5 mln) as part of the first instalment to the Gujarat Maritime Board for capacity building and safety training of 20,000 workers involved in the ship recycling activities at Alanag- Sosiya recycling yard in Bhavnagar district in Gujarat. The total project cost is estimated to be Rupees 30 Crore over a period of 3 years. The initiative has been identified in the National Perspective Plan (NPP) of Sagarmala for the upliftment of the coastal community and aims to provide health and safety training to the skilled and semi-skilled workers which is required while performing their work at ship recycling yards.

Turkey imposed a tax this week on imports of thermal coal from Colombia, Russia and other major exporters, for use in power generation, to support domestic coal production. The Turkish cabinet decided to impose the tax of $15/tonne on imports from the United States, Colombia, Russia and South Africa on July 18 and announced it in the Official Gazette this week. The tax hits the biggest exporters of thermal coal but does not apply to imports from the European Union, Israel, Macedonia, Bosnia, Morocco, West Bank, Tunisia, Egypt, Georgia, Albania, Jordan, Chile, Serbia, Kosovo, South Korea, Mauritius and Malaysia, the government said. The levy is equal to around a quarter of the current month's physical South African coal price of around $63.65 a tonne.

Oil companies operating in Mexico's deep waters must use national suppliers for 8 percent of the projects by 2025, the government said on Tuesday, a relatively low rate meant to encourage foreign and private firms to bid on contracts. Mexico's oil regulator has scheduled its first-ever deep water auction in early December for 10 blocks in the Gulf of Mexico, after constitutional amendments in 2013 ended a nearly eight-decade monopoly by state oil firm Pemex. The low rate would allow companies to rely less on Mexican suppliers, which have limited expertise in the country's largely unexplored deep waters. The rule set a 3 percent minimum in 2015…

The Cyprus government managed to push through parliament legislation finalizing the privatization of commercial operations at the island's primary Limassol port despite lacking a majority in parliament, reports Famagusta Gazette. 27 deputies voted in favor of regulations detailing the privatization and 20 voted against during a stormy session of the 56-member chamber. Strong opposition by socialist and left wing parties, fanned by an electoral campaign for parliamentary elections in May, had threatened the deals between the government and three international consortium which had obtained the concessions at the port. The Cyprus Transport…

King Abdullah Port (KAP), the first privately developed and managed port in the Saudi Kingdom and the region, has announced the port’s success in handling 1,307,017 TEUs, says a repot in the Saudi Gazette. Engineer Abdullah bin Muhammad Hameedaddin, managing director of the Ports Development Company, owners, developers and managers, of KAP, said that the company also opened its fourth berth in May 2015, increasing its capacity to over 2.7 million TEUs as per its Masterplan. Hameedaddin showcased KAP's most notable achievements during 2015 which is the port's second year of operation. He pointed out the significant role of the advanced capabilities available at KAP such as the 18-meter deep berths as well as the massive storage spaces and the latest state-of-the-art equipment.

India's Ministry of Shipping has decided to rescind thirteen rules under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (as amended), having found them to be obsolete and unnecessary. This in turn will declutter the legislative framework governing merchant shipping sector in India and streamline the processes and procedures in the shipping sector. “The Ministry of Shipping has decided to rescind thirteen rules under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958 (as amended), having found them to be obsolete and unnecessary,” an official statement said. Thirteen separate notifications for rescinding the above rules have been sent for publication in the Gazette of India Extraordinary.

The entry into force of new regulations to strengthen the prevention of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in Canadian waters was announced today by Canada’s Minister of Fisheries and Oceans, Gail Shea. The Government of Canada, which spends more than $14 million on AIS issues annually, worked with provincial and territorial governments to develop the Aquatic Invasive Species Regulations. The regulations provide tools for both the Department and provinces to prevent the introduction and spread of AIS…

Reviving glorious memories of historic bonds and trade relations between Saudi Arabia and India that date back to the time of Prophet Muhammad  and beyond, an Indian sailing ship docked at Jeddah Islamic Port, reports Saudi Gazette. Relations between India and Saudi Arabia are going from strength to strength, said Hemant Kotalwar, charge d’affaires at the Indian Embassy in Riyadh. He was speaking at a press conference on board the Indian Navy ship, Tarangini, which is on a good will visit to Saudi Arabia and is docked at Jeddah Islamic Port. “The favorable winds that have blown since centuries, helping to dock sailing ships of indian traders on the Arabian coast in the past are still blowing in a highly positive note,” Col.