Deep Well Services News

The CMA CGM Group has introduced Rhine Valley Rail, a new rail service connecting the Port of Rotterdam with the German hinterland. The train connections are aligned with CMA CGM’s deep-sea services.Operated in cooperation with TFG, the Rhine Valley Rail service will officially start with its first train departure in Dortmund on 18 October. A total of six departures per week between the Port of Rotterdam and the German inland hubs of Dortmund, Duisburg and Ludwigshafen will be offered.Rhine Valley Rail service will officially start with its first train departure in Dortmund on October 18th.A total of six departures per week between the Port of Rotterdam and the German inland hubs of Dortmund…

Maersk Master and Maersk Mariner, Maersk Supply Service’s two first Starfish-class anchor handling vessels built in 2017, will be on contract with Quadrant Energy in Western Australia, commencing March 2018. Both vessels will support Quadrant Energy’s Phoenix South and Van Gogh drilling campaign which will initially cover three wells for a duration of 150 to 200 days. The highly modern and efficient vessels will be supporting Transocean’s semi-submersible rig DD1 with supply and anchor handling duties throughout the campaign. “Quadrant Energy is an important customer. We are excited about having our two new-built Starfish vessels, Maersk Master and Maersk Mariner, operating together on this programme.

CMA CGM has increased the capacity on its West Coast Feeder service via Liverpool to 2200 TEU from 900 TEU. M.V. Nicolas Delmas began calling at the port in April. The service begins in Antwerp and also calls at Greenock, Belfast, Dublin and Le Havre. Patrick Walters, Group Commercial Director at Peel Ports, said: “This is yet another encouraging step as we build up to the opening of Liverpool2 in the summer. The message about the cost, congestion and carbon emission benefits to cargo owners of shipping via Liverpool is really taking hold and the lines are responding to the market opportunity. Rob Waterman, Chief Executive of CMA CGM UK, said: “This is further evidence of our commitment to providing shippers with an attractive range of services to meet their supply chain needs.

Hapag-Lloyd has informed that for all import cargo to be discharged at the German ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven the carrier is responsible to send a complete import manifest (“Summarische Anmeldung”) to German Customs Authorities latest 24 working hours prior vessel arrival at the ports of Hamburg and Bremerhaven. This manifest transmission has to include all laden containers with complete Bill of Lading details without fail. German Customs Authorities have announced that with effect of March 1, 2015 any cargo which is being discharged without proper customs transmission will be considered as an illegal import transport. As a consequence such containers will be stopped and confiscated by German Customs.

During the past five years, trade between Indonesia and the rest of Asia has mushroomed, particularly when compared to trade with North America and Europe (see the graph shown here). How much of this is due to proximity, or Indonesian goods being re-labelled by another Asian country, is beyond the scope of this analysis, but the lack of deep-sea services to the main consumer markets of Europe and North America must play a part, considers the analysis. Although Indonesia is the world’s fourth most populous nation and South East Asia’s largest economy, ocean carriers currently offer no direct mainline services to either Europe or the US due to port capacity shortages.

Following Evergreen’s recent consolidation of its U.K. cargo handling needs at Felixstowe, the news that Hapag-Lloyd, OOCL and NYK intend to switch their transatlantic services to Southampton will leave Thamesport with no deep sea services. Whilst a return of some deep sea traffic might occur, Thamesport appears to be the first casualty of the impending shake up in U.K. deep sea container ports brought about by the combination of bigger ships, larger alliances – and the new London Gateway terminal. U.K.

Modified EBITDA increases 86% to $1.4 million
 in latest Deep Down Inc. financial report. Deep Down, Inc., an oilfield services company specializing in products and services for the deepwater and ultra-deepwater oil and gas industry, report net income of $639 thousand for the second quarter of 2012, an improvement of $685 thousand over the same period in 2011. Ronald E. Smith, Chief Executive Officer stated, "This was the Company's strongest second quarter performance since 2007. We are extremely satisfied with what our subsea solutions business was able to achieve in the second quarter of 2012. We added approximately $6.3 million to backlog bringing total current backlog to approximately $17.7 million. Deep Down, Inc.

The North European container port market bounced back strongly from the economic downturn. Total demand reached 57.9m TEU in 2011, representing an increase of 22 per cent since 2009. The eastern Baltic is seeing particularly strong growth. Transshipment demand is increasing. Inland transport costs are increasing rapidly and this – together with increasing environmental pressures – is highlighting the need for intermodal transport solutions. Much larger vessels have entered the Europe-Far East trades, and more are. The container shipping market is in crisis, with severe overcapacity resulting in lines recording huge losses. The position of the lines as customers and as users of North European container terminals is generating considerable uncertainty.

Douglas-Westwood forecasts strong recovery in vessel demand. The World Subsea Vessel Operations Market 2011-2015 details expenditure set to grow 52%, totaling $72bn between 2011 and 2015. Lead author, Simon Robb, commented, “Project timetables are accelerating as confidence returns to the industry, with a shift to larger and more complex deep water projects. Projects are increasingly capital intensive, which is benefitting offshore contractors with the capability and expertise to provide deep water services. “Global vessel demand for Subsea Vessels is expected to climb beyond 310,000 days for the forecast period 2011-2015 – a 28% increase on the previous five years.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. (Tokyo) and Höegh Autoliners AS (Oslo) have set up a 50/50 joint venture in Europe, integrating the existing European short sea and logistics activities of both shareholders and of Euro Marine Carrier BV. The new company, named Euro Marine Logistics NV (EML), was registered in March 2011 and has its offices in Meise (Brussels), Belgium. EML is a common carrier and started trading in the second week of June. From the third quarter 2011, EML will operate 13 vessels in European waters, and will be among the top three vehicle short sea operators in Europe. EML's sea fleet includes small (750 cars), medium (1500 cars) and large (>3000 cars) vessels with the support and the backup of the parent companies’ deep sea services when using common ports or routes.