India Service News

Taiwan's global shipping company Wan Hai Lines has announced the launch of China – India Service III “CI3 service” on 23 January 2018. This new service will help to expand Wan Hai Lines network by providing direct service from East China to East India. A press release from the company said that the service will also help to complement Wan Hai Lines existing two other East India services with better port coverage and frequency. This service will be jointly operated with COSCO, IAL, OOCL and X-Press Feeders by using 5 vessels with nominal capacity of 4,250 TEU. Wan Hai Lines will deploy 2 vessels, while COSCO and IAL will operate 1 vessel each, OOCL and X-Press Feeders will operate 1 vessel jointly.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) announced launch of the new China/West Coast India service (CIS). This new service is in addition to MOL’s existing Nhava Sheva Karachi Express (NKX) service which together will enhance coverage between ports in India and China, Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.  Port Rotation (Turn Around: 42 days) Qingdao – Shanghai – Ningbo – Shekou – Singapore – Port Kelang – Nhava Sheva (JNPCT) – Mundra – Colombo – Penang – Port Kelang – Hong Kong – Qingdao  Commencement: West Bound: MV WAN HAI 507 ETA Qingdao February 27, 2016 East Bound: MV WAN HAI 507 ETA Nhava Sheva March 16, 2016  Vessel Deployment: 4,000 - 4,500 TEU container vessels, total six vessels

Singapore-based liner trade division of The China Navigation Company (CNC) Swire Shipping has upgraded its multipurpose liner service coverage in the Asia Pacific region. The company’s dedicated Trans-Tasman service operating between New Zealand and Australia will be enhanced to provide a 15-day frequency. Swire will also start providing 12 additional Brisbane calls by a direct service from New Zealand. Swire Shipping’s weekly liner service from Brisbane to Lae, Papua New Guinea (PNG) will be further improved with two additional sailings per month with four-day transit times. The upgraded service will provide six direct sailings per month. A regular service connecting Brisbane to ports in Southeast Asia will be reintroduced to Swire Shipping’s network coverage.

Connecting more than 12 ports, monthly multipurpose service with lifting capacity of up to 120 metric tons. Swire Shipping and Rickmers-Linie has announced the launch of a connecting carrier partnership. Under this partnership, Swire Shipping will be able to connect its breakbulk and project cargoes in India and the Middle East, through Rickmers-Linie’s Middle East and India Service, to its network in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific, via Singapore. The first voyage is scheduled to depart Mumbai already on 9 June 2015, the first voyage from Jebel Ali being on 28 June 2015. The load ports are Jebel Ali, Mumbai, Chennai, Dammam, Kolkata (other ports on inducement).

Milaha Maritime & Logistics, a subsidiary of the Qatar based Milaha Group which delivers integrated transport and supply chain solutions in the GCC, has announced the launch of the first direct container service between Qatar and India. The non-stop service will connect Qatar’s Doha port with India’s largest port Nhava Sheva, also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port, located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The move will further facilitate the thriving trade activities between the two countries that have witnessed a phenomenal growth in the recent years. Unlike existing services in the market, the new weekly service by Milaha will enable direct shipments between Nhava Sheva and Doha without the need for transshipment in Jebel Ali or elsewhere…

Milaha Maritime and Logistics, a subsidiary of Milaha Group, launched its first direct container service, known as the Nhava Sheva Doha Express (NDX), between Qatar’s Doha port and India’s port Nhava Sheva in Mumbai. The new service will facilitate the growing trade activities between the two countries by enabling direct shipments without the need for transshipment in Jebel Ali or elsewhere, thus reducing costs. The non-stop service will connect Qatar’s Doha port with India’s largest port Nhava Sheva, also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port, located in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Trade between Qatar and India has seen impressive growth in recent years, with Qatari imports from India nearing a billion dollars in 2014, and this new service is likely to drive that further.

Components for industrial plants are regularly shipped on board Rickmers-Linie’s heavy lift multipurpose vessels, supporting supply chains for a wide range of industries. In November, Rickmers-Linie carried two coldboxes, which had been manufactured by Linde AG, from Bremen to Jubail in Saudi Arabia. Loading onto the ocean vessel Rickmers Chennai took place in Bremen in November. The two 31.44m x 14m x 9.5m coldboxes, weighing 359 metric tons each, were lifted onboard by the ship’s own cranes.

Bibby Ship Management Group Ltd. announced the acquisition of Murray Fenton (India) Surveyors Limited. The acquisition was made via Bibby Ship Management India Pvt. Ltd., and will see India’s service offering expand into marine, cargo and offshore surveying including marine audit services. Operations will be based in Mumbai and Gujarat, with geographic expansion into other areas of India planned for the future. Bibby Ship Management welcomed Capt. Kapil Dev Bahl. With 17 years at sea, including five years in command, followed by 25 years in marine surveying and ship vetting, Capt.

Emirates Shipping Line (ESL) has received the first of two 4,770-TEU vessels ordered by Hamburg's Hammonia Shipping & constructed by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang shipyard. The Hammonia Istria will be chartered to Emirates Shipping Line and remamed Emirates Pearl for deployment on its CIS China-India service to replace the 4,250-TEU Jpo Vela. ESL runs the service in partnership with OOCL and APL, which markets the loop as CIX. Emirates Shipping Line  provides one of the six vessels on this service. The new containership is 255.10 m in length with a breadth of 37.3 m and has reefer plugs for 600 containers.

The Tognum Group company MTU India opened a new engine test cell facility at its MTU India Service Center in Tathawade, Pune (India). The test cell’s dynamometer system is capable of testing all MTU engines up to Series 4000 engines in the range from 300 to 4,300kW, as per MTU test protocol, and for all applications. In February 2010, MTU India opened its new head office for sales and service operations in Pune. The addition of the new engine test cell facility to the MTU India Service Centre brings a new phase in MTU India’s ability to meet its Indian customers’ needs in the region.

As part of its upgrading program for its Europe India service, Rickmers-Linie, has added the 17,000dwt newbuilding Rickmers Tianjin to the schedule. The base ports served are Hamburg, Antwerp, Genoa, Mumbai and Chennai but the service is capable of serving a wide variety of additional ports on inducement. Rickmers Tianjin joins her sistership Rickmers Yokohama and the charter ships Linde, Martin and Baltic Winter on the Indian service. On her maiden voyage from Europe, Rickmers Tianjin was named in the Port of Mumbai on 9 January.

Within the EU the Port of Hamburg is one of India’s most important commercial partners in seaborne foreign trade. In November the Hamburg Joint Representative Office in Mumbai was officially opened. This is designed to strengthen economic, but also cultural and academic links between the two countries. Supported by Port of Hamburg Marketing, the Hamburg Senate and the Hamburg Chamber of Commerce and already functioning since the beginning of this year, the Representative Office is regarded as the contact point for representatives of the worlds of politics, commerce and culture from Hamburg and India. Thanks to the exchange of information and various events…

Rickmers-Linie, Hamburg, signed a long-term chartering agreement with Samudera Indonesia, Jakarta, securing additional modern capacity to complement its existing fleet deployed on its Middle East and India service. The two multipurpose vessels chartered by Rickmers are the 8,900 dwt Sinar Kudus and 9,100 dwt Ardhianto, built in Japan in 1994 and 1999 respectively. Both ships have box-shaped holds and ‘tweendecks. Shipboard cranes enable Sinar Kudus to lift individual pieces of cargo weighing up to 60 tonnes and Ardhianto 50 tonnes. The first vessel to load for Rickmers under this new charter agreement will be Sinar Kudus in late August. Schedule details for the Middle East/India service and company information are available on the Rickmers-Linie website: www.rickmers-linie.com.