India News

BP and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) today announced the sanctioning of the ‘Satellite cluster’ project in Block KG D6. The companies are moving forward to develop the Block’s discovered deep-water gas fields in an integrated series of projects, bringing new gas production for India. The ‘Satellite cluster’ is the second of three projects in the Block KG D6 integrated development. The first of the projects, development of the ‘R-Series’ deep-water gas fields, was sanctioned in June 2017.

Rolls-Royce said it has reached a deal with Indian naval shipbuilder Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) to cooperate in the local manufacturing of technologically-advanced MTU Series 8000 engines. Under the agreement, which was signed this week at the defense trade show Defexpo in India, the companies will assemble the 16-cylinder and 20-cylinder MTU Series 8000 engines at GSL’s new facility in Goa.The MTU brand produces large diesel and gas engines and complete propulsion systems as…

With India’s high economic growth and the improvement of container market, Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) has been aggressively expanding its sales activities within the region. HMM currently operates seven services and ten vessels between Asia-India, and its export volume from India last year increased almost 70% year-over-year. With the continuous growth of Indian market, HMM – as Korea’s first shipping carrier – has established India’s local subsidiary company in 2005 and has elevated its status as a ‘subsidiary’ to ‘Headquarter’ last September.

GL Garrad Hassan has appointed Mr Rajsekhar Budhavarapu as the new Country Manager of GL Garrad Hassan India. Mr Budhavarapu will be based in Bangalore, India and will develop local services and support for designers, manufacturers, developers and investors of renewable energy projects. Budhavarapu has 19 years of experience providing technical, operational and strategic leadership for the renewable energy industry. Before joining GL Garrad Hassan he worked for TERI, Asian Wind Turbines (NEG-Micon, India), ECN – the Energy research Centre of the Netherlands, Enercon India Power Development Ltd and Acciona Energy India. At ECN, as an Engineering Scientist…

APM Terminals Mumbai, India handled a record 2.3 million TEUs during its 2017-2018 financial year. This is the terminal’s highest volume since the terminal was built in 2006. The terminal received over 633 vessels over the course of the year. The terminal is no stranger to records. In financial year 2014-2015 the terminal already created the Indian National Maritime Record handling 2.01 million TEUs, approximately 20% of India's containerized cargo. Commenting on the achievement…

India signed an MoU with the Republic of Korea (South Korea) on Mutual Recognition of Certificates of Competency of Seafarers. This paves the way for the two governments to mutually recognize  the certificates of  maritime education and training, competency, endorsements and medical fitness of seafarers issued by each other. The agreement was signed by Nitin Gadkari, Ministry of Shipping, Road Transport & Highways and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation and his Korean counterpart Kim Young-choon at a ceremony in Busan.

India is hoping to win Japanese backing for a nuclear energy pact during a visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and lure investment into its $85 billion market while addressing Japan's concern about doing business with a nuclear-armed country. India has been pushing for an agreement with Japan on the lines of a 2008 deal with the United States under which India was allowed to import U.S. nuclear fuel and technology without giving up its military nuclear programme. But Japan wants explicit Indian guarantees not to conduct nuclear tests and more intrusive inspections of its nuclear facilities to ensure that spent fuel is not diverted to make bombs.

Nitin Gadkari, India's Union Minister of Shipping will be on an official visit to the Republic of Korea (South Korea) from today (9 April 2018). During the 4 day visit, Shri Gadkari will focus on taking forward the bilateral cooperation between India andKorea in shipping, ports, inland waterways, highways, river interlinking and infrastructure sectors. An Undertaking on Mutual Recognition of Certificate of Competency of sea-farers will be signed during the visit. Known for maritime technology prowess…

Port and dock workers in India are planning to go on an indefinite strike starting March 16th – they are protesting the government’s move to corporatize major ports. The original decision by workers to go on an indefinite strike from March 9 has been tentatively postponed to March 16, following a meeting called by the chief labour commissioner (CLC). According to S R Apraj, general-secretary, Mumbai Port Trust, on March 9, a meeting is scheduled with the Indian Ports Association; on March 12 with the shipping secretary; and, on March 13 with the CLC.

Several senior staff members have stepped up in the latest round of promotions at Goltens Worldwide. Goltens appointed Pravin Kirolikar to the position of Managing Director of Goltens Dubai. Kirolikar makes the move from Goltens India, where he served as Managing Director for eight years. Starting his career as a professional marine engineer, Kirolikar sailed for 13 years before going ashore to work as a marine surveyor for the Indian Register of Shipping. Prior to joining Goltens, Kirolikar worked in after sales services for Wärtsilä India for 12 years.

India's Reliance Industries Ltd, owner of the world’s biggest refining complex, has bought its first ever crude oil cargoes from the United States, drawn by the oil's economics after the price spread between U.S. crude futures and Brent futures widened, three trade sources said on Tuesday.   Reliance bought 1 million barrels each of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Midland and Eagle Ford crude which are expected to arrive in November, they said.     (Reporting by Nidhi Verma, Florence Tan and Jessica Jaganathan)

India's state-owned GAIL (India) Ltd on Friday said it would be annually receiving about 90 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Sabine Pass and Cove Point LNG terminals in the U.S.   GAIL has long-term deals to annually buy 5.8 million tonnes U.S. LNG. GAIL would be procuring about $2 billion worth of LNG per annum from USA from the fiscal year 2018/19.   GAIL on Saturday received its first consignment of LNG from the U.S. under the long-term deals at Dabhol terminal in western India. Reporting by Nidhi Verma 

In the past one year, Maersk Line, the global containerized division of the Maersk Group has enabled movement of multiple consignments of complex cargo out of India successfully, said a press release. Due to its global presence and network, the exporter network of India has been able to successfully reach out to newer geographies. Commenting on the achievement, recently appointed Managing Director for Maersk Line (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan), Steve Felder said, ”In the past 18 months or so, we have expanded our horizon in various new commodity categories.

Allcargo switches to RTG operation with four Kalmar cranes in India. Cargotec has received an order for four all-electric, Kalmar E-One2 rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) cranes from Allcargo Logistics in India. The RTGs are scheduled to start operations in April next year. The order has been booked in the second quarter of 2011. Rapid growth in container traffic moving through the Indian ports has prompted Allcargo Logistics to convert container handling at its container freight station in Chennai and plan new facility near Mumbai using rubber-tyred gantry crane, each with two RTGs.

Containerized volumes are steadily increasing on the East Coast of India. Keeping pace with the growth, Krishnapatnam Port Co. Ltd. (KPCT) now offers a new service to the Gulf sector. Simatechin association with Evergreen Line recently launched a joint CCG Service.The first sailing of this weekly service commenced at KPCT by the maiden call of M.V. Taroko on May 21, 2015. This 28 day service will utilize four container ships of around 2,000 TEU each; three operated by Simatech…

The International bodies have agreed to India’s efforts to push back the High Risk Area (HRA) from 78 degrees East longitude to the 65 degrees East longitude. This will result in huge savings for India’s EXIM trade and consumers on account of reduced insurance premium and consequently freight costs. Piracy off the coast of Somalia / in the Gulf of Aden / Horn of Africa (East Africa) had surged very significantly from 2008 to 2012, leading to innumerable attacks and hijackings of merchant vessels and their crew.

Maersk Line India announced the introduction of Export and Import service offerings at Kakinada port in Andhra Pradesh. This End to End service (Store Door) will enable customers in the region to reach global touch points. With this first time offering in Kakinada, Maersk Line will be able to containerize cargo at its origin, cut out wastage and complexities of dealing with multiple vendors and help move it to port in a cost-effective manner. This will have a direct bearing on…

India's largest private sector shipping company which mainly transports liquid, gas and solid bulk products Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited (GE Shipping) signed a contract to buy a secondhand Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) of about 81,617 cbm. The 2007 built vessel is expected to join the Company’s fleet in Q1 FY19. This is the second gas carrier in less than a week as GE Shipping looks to tap the rising demand to import liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in India. On March 26, GE Shipping  signed a contract to buy a secondhand Medium Gas Carrier (MGC) of about 36,567 cbm.

The major ports in India have recorded a growth of 4.77 per cent and together handled 679.35 Million Tonnes of cargo during the period April 2017 to March 2018 as against 648.39 Million Tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year. Nine Ports - Kolkata (including Haldia), Visakhapatnam, Paradip, Kamarajar, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, JNPT and Deendayal also registered positive growth in traffic. Cochin Port registered the highest growth of 16.52 per cent, followed by Paradip 14.68 per cent, Kolkata (incl.

The Government of Sri Lanka approved loans to develop both the Kankesanthurai (KKS) Harbour and the northern section of the Colombo Port. For the reconstruction of the KKS harbour, a credit line agreement between the Export-Import Bank of India and the Sri Lankan Government was signed. Accordingly, a $ 45.17 million credit line from India will be used to finance the restoration of the KKS Harbour, which is to be transformed into a self-sustainable, commercial harbour. This project…

Singapore Technologies Engineering Ltd (ST Engineering) announced today that its land systems arm, Singapore Technologies Kinetics Ltd has injected S$4.2m (equivalent to INR200m) into its wholly owned subsidiary, SDG Kinetics Pte Ltd (SDGK), for flowthrough capital injection into LeeBoy India Construction Equipment Private Limited (LeeBoy India) to provide working capital for LeeBoy India’s operations in India. At the same time, SDGK has purchased shares worth INR9.4m (approximately S$0.2m), approximately 1.2% of LeeBoy India’s total share capital, from LeeBoy India’s management staff. The shares were purchased at the subscription price of INR10 (approximately S$0.21) per share in accordance with the terms of the management staff’s employment contracts.

Vietnam has extended an Indian oil concession in the South China Sea and begun drilling in another area it disputes with China in moves that could heighten tensions over who owns what in the vital maritime region. The moves come at a delicate time in Beijing's relations with Vietnam, which claims parts of the sea, and India, which recently sent warships to monitor the Malacca Straits, through which most of China's energy supplies and trade passes. Vietnam granted Indian oil firm ONGC Videsh a two-year extension to explore oil block 128 in a letter that arrived earlier this week, the state-run company's managing director Narendra K. Verma told Reuters.

The German trade hub recently opened the 'Gateway to India' at Hamburg's Port Anniversary, the world's largest port festival. Highlights of the 823th port anniversary included the spectacular christening ceremony of the AIDAmar, turning Hamburg's port into the world's largest baptismal font.. Trade relations between Hamburg and India date back to the 16th century. Hamburg is Germany's gateway to India: each year, 300,000 containers to and from India are handled in Hamburg; the trade volume approximates €1.3 billion. Hamburg and India maintain excellent relations in politics, business, science and culture. At the festival, about two million German visitors to the port festival gain an insight into this year's partner country.