Hub Agency News

US-based Chevron Shipping Company (CSC) has awarded  the Dubai-based GAC Group a global three-year ship agency contract for both crude and LNG vessels. The new agreement secures the provider of shipping, logistics and marine services GAC’s status as Chevron’s exclusive global agent in a partnership that spans more than 20 years, more than 15 of which have seen GAC as its sole global agent. Operations will be overseen by GAC Hub Agency offices in Dubai, Houston and Singapore with support from GAC’s network of offices and approved agents worldwide. GAC’s dedicated CSC Alliance Representative in Houston will continue to supervise and drive the relationship between the two companies.

Maritime and logistics service provider Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) has officially opened its new head office in London. Based in Fenchurch Street in the heart of the City, the new office for ISS’ leadership team has been opened to bring it closer to key customers’ London offices and more accessible for customers and staff visiting from overseas. Other core functions now based in London include Innovation, Marketing, Sales Support and Accounts. Guests joining ISS at the official opening celebrations represented a number of ISS’ key customers, trade journalists and other industry contacts. Chris Whiteside, Chief Executive Officer, ISS said, “Our focus on customer engagement highlighted a need to be located closer to our key principals and London is a key maritime market.

Interests in southern portions of the Baja California peninsula have been advised to monitor the progress of Sandra, as Tropical Storm or Hurricane Watches may be required for portions of this area later today (25 November). According to the Hurricane Sandra Advisory No.7 issued at 0900 UTC today by the USA’s National Hurricane Center in Miami Fl, the center of Hurricane Sandra was near latitude 12.5 North, longitude 109.0 West. Sandra is moving toward the west-northwest near 10 mph (17 km/h) and a turn toward the northwest is expected later today, with a turn toward the north on Thursday. Maximum sustained winds have increased to near 85mph (140 km/h) with higher gusts.

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.

Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS) announced it has won a new hub agency contract for the Asia-Pacific with LNG energy giant, Cheniere Energy.  Under the two-year contract, ISS will manage approximately 100 port calls annually for Cheniere Energy across the Asia-Pacific, with the first already completed in China.  Cheniere Energy is developing LNG export terminals along the Gulf of Mexico. Through its subsidiary, Cheniere Marketing, it has sold a portion of the production from these facilities under delivered ex-ship (DES) contracts whereby Cheniere Marketing will deliver such LNG to the customers’ terminals. ISS said its services will facilitate these deliveries as well as other deliveries arranged by Cheniere Marketing.

The navigation channel at km 287 of the Parana River is obstructed after a bulk vessel went aground on the right margin during the early hours of 13 May during her navigation to San Nicolas. The Coast Guard has allowed navigation for vessels with max draft of 7.40m only through the secondary channel. (For information about operations in Argentina, and elsewhere in the Americas, contact the GAC Houston Hub Agency Center at [email protected]) Source: AMI Argentina - GAC agent

Effective from 27 May 2015, German Authorities will implement the reporting requirements for vessels according to EC-directive 2010/65/EU (national single window reporting formalities). This directive is designed to achieve harmonization and simplification of reporting formalities in all European ports and the Kiel-Canal, based on the mandatory electronic data exchange of relevant information between the maritime transport sector and authorities. The responsible reporting party has to report the relevant information via "National Single Window" only once. The "National Single Window" passes this data to the competent authorities for the respective port visit or for the transit of a vessel through the Kiel Canal. Please visit www.national-single-window.de/index.html for further information.

Following news that a cargo ship was yesterday (28 April) intercepted by an Iranian Revolutionary Guard naval patrol in the Strait of Hormuz, GAC is recommending vessel owners to stay in close contact with already established security centers whilst in the area. Even though the Strait of Hormuz is in Iranian territorial waters, "innocent passage" is applied and vessels are authorised to transit so long as they abide by all the rules of the sea, as it is an internationally recognised shipping lane. The U.S. Navy is reported to have sent a maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft to observe and monitor the situation. No military action expected at this point.

River levels in Argentina are currently decreasing and they are expected to continue over the coming week. The bottleneck remains in the River Plate access channel, where the maximum recommended sailing draft us 10.51 metres fw. Shippers are advised to check river levels and weather conditions before fixing and loading cargo to ensure that they sail with the maximum cargo/achievable draft. (For details of current drafts at the country's port and information about operations in Argentina, and elsewhere in the Americas, contact the GAC Houston Hub Agency Center at [email protected]) Source: AMI Argentina – GAC agent

Delays can be expected in the Kiel Canal following a collision this yesterday, 23 January, with the small north lock gate at Brunsbuettel. Only the big north lock chamber and the small south lock chamber at Brunsbuettel are currently available for transits. (For information about operations in Germany contact the GAC UK Hub Agency Centre at [email protected]) Source: Sartori & Berger – GAC agent

Vessels with LOA over 125m and/or draft over 6.5m planning to transit the Kiel Canal are facing waiting times of about 14 hours at Kiel-Holtenau. The waiting time at Brunsbuttel, however, has decreased to about 4 hours. (For information about operations in Germany contact the GAC UK Hub Agency Centre at [email protected])

The International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) has issued the following general advice related to the outbreak of Ebola. Vessels that have recently called in an affected country should contact their local agents prior to arrival at the next ports of call for the latest country specific advice regarding measures taken to avoid the spread of Ebola. ARGENTINA: Pilot companies rendering pilotage services in the River Plate have decided that their pilots will not board any vessel coming from the infected areas (Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone) until thirty days since the vessel sailed from last port of the infected areas. BENIN (Port of Cotonou): Vessels must notify the harbour master of the 10 previous ports of call 3 days before ETA.

All vessels must now submit their Health Maritime Declaration prior to arrival at Spanish ports. Health Authorities will take all necessary precautions (inspections, shore leave prohibition, etc.) only for vessels coming from affected countries (Guinea Konacry, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria) or that have visited any of these countries lately. Every Master must report any illness symptoms amongst his crew. Any ill crew member must complete a form indicating (among other information) the last countries he has visited. Vessels should complete and deliver the Maritime Declaration of Health. Measures taken on board should also be noted on the ship sanitation control certificate.

The Kiel-Canal Authorities advise that the New Big South Lock Chamber at Brunsbuettel will be out of service for maintenance during the hours between 0700 and 1600 from 8 September to about 11 September. (For information about operations in Germany contact the GAC UK Hub Agency Centre at [email protected]) Source: Sartori & Berger - GAC agent

The SIOT/TAL Terminal at Trieste has advised that the TAL Pre-Mooring Safety Inspection program will be modified from 1 September. - Any ship at her first call at S.I.O.T. - Any ship in TAL Refusal List, on trial voyage. In case of reduced Terminal berth capability (for example with a pier unavailable), any ship the Terminal should judge advisable to be checked in order to reduce the risk of prolonged berthing time (for example in case of overcrowd Trieste road, in case of vessels with heated cargo onboard, subjected recently to incident, that exceed the max. allowable berthing time at the previous call and so on).

A strike has been announced at Argentina's Customs houses between the hours of 1100 and 2400 tomorrow (31 July) and on Friday (1 August). For operations on Friday 1 August from 0000 to 0600 hours, overtime must be ordered before 0800 hours local time on Thursday. For operations from 0000 hours on Saturday 2 August until 0600 hours on Monday (4 August), overtime should be ordered before 0600 hours on Friday. For information about operations in Argentina, and elsewhere in the Americas, contact the GAC USA Hub Agency Centre at [email protected]

Discharge/loading operations at Timbues, San Martin and San Lorenzo are are affected by the indefinite strike declared by CGT San Lorenzo starting at 18:00 hours local time yesterday (16 July). Meanwhile, the Customs Union S.U.P.A.R.A. has announced a strike on from 13:00 to 06:00 (next day) on July 24 and 25, and from 11:00 t0 06:00 hours (next day) on July 31 and August 1. No overtime work will be available during these periods. Ports affected to date so far are Bahia Blanca, Necochea and upriver ports: Timbues, San Martin and San Lorenzo. Further information about operations in Argentina, and elsewhere in the Americas, contact the GAC Houston Hub Agency Center at [email protected]

The Argentinean Coast Guard has restricted entry/departure of vessels with LOA over than 80m at the Port of Necochea, due to an extraordinary downstream current of the Quequen River of 4 knots and winds exceeding 25 km per hour. For information about operations in Argentina or elewhere in the Americas contact the GAC Houston Hub Agency Centre at [email protected]

Following discussions at Vancouver the tug company Seaspan has announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the GUILD union, agreeing to enter federal ediation/arbitration with regards to collective agreement negotiation. As per the MOA, Seaspan will defer implementation of their own Term of Agreement and the union, whose members will meet today to discuss a strike vote have agreed not to go on strike. The Federal Labour Minister will remain engaged in discussions with Seaspan’s other labour union, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in regards to the collective agreement negotiation with Seaspan. GAC Houston Hub Agency Center

GAC Marine Logistics (GML) has established a new company in Hamburg as the latest addition to its growing network of offices coordinating ship spares logistics around the world. The new company GAC Marine Logistics GmbH, which starts trading on February 1, further develops GML’s door-to-deck delivery and warehousing products and builds on existing strong relationships in key markets such as West Africa, South America and the Middle East, the company said. Jan Kielmann, Director of Global Marine Logistics…

GAC Singapore is marking the 30th anniversary of its establishment by relocating to a new head office to enable future expansion of its operations. The company, which has expanded its portfolio of services since its establishment as a ship agent in 1981, now employs 145 staff at four locations in Singapore, and is looking to expand further in 2012. An increase in business is expected as a result of a number of major infrastructural improvements in the pipeline for Singapore. These include a new LNG terminal on Jurong Island due to begin commercial operations in 2013, and the opening of Singapore's International Cruise Terminal (ICT) later this year.

Port-on-Demand took care of training tall ship at every port of call. Port-on-Demand (POD), the newest service package offered by the global GAC network, has handled the tall ship STS Pallada at every port of call of her voyage to mark the 270th anniversary of Russia’s first settlements in North America and the 50th anniversary of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight. The impressive 358-foot Russian frigate, owned by the Far Eastern State Technical Fisheries University and used to train navy cadets…

Major energy group Statoil has appointed GAC to provide hub agency services covering all ports outside of Norway effective from 2010. The contract extends GAC’s long-standing relationship with Statoil through GAC Norway since the 1980s. Another key contributing factor was GAC’s ability to cover the IT-related demands made by Statoil. This was achieved through the company’s core business tool GACShip – GAC Global Hub Services’ IT system that supports the entire port call process. The application is continually enhanced by experienced in-house developers in close cooperation with GAC’s Global Hub Services’ customers, agents and personnel.