Kwai Chung News

OOCL Hong Kong, the third largest cargo container ship in the world, docked in the port of Hong Kong for the first time on Thursday.The Hong Kong-based container shipping and logistics service company Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) said in a press note that the vessel was warmly welcomed at Kwai Tsing Container Terminal V by many friends, colleagues, and the community who went to marvel at one of the world’s largest containerships with a carrying capacity of 21,413 TEU.The vessel’s debut to the city of Hong Kong, an entrepôt well known for its long and vibrant history in international trade and commerce, has a very special meaning for OOCL.

A Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd vessel is finishing unloading in California and scheduled to leave port on Monday, shipping industry officials said, as shareholders and executives associated with the South Korean firm pledged funds to help resolve the turmoil created by its collapse. The Hanjin Greece docked in Long Beach on Saturday after a U.S. bankruptcy court granted it protection and terminal operators agreed to take it. Truck drivers probably will begin moving containers from the Greece on Monday while the vessel prepares to leave late in the day for the Port of Oakland, said Teamsters spokeswoman Barbara Maynard and shipping traffic controllers.

Mitsui O.S.K. Lines, Ltd. announced today that effective July 2, its wholly-owned ship management company for dry bulkers, New Asian Shipping Company, Limited is renamed to MOL Ship Management (Hong Kong) Company, Limited. MOL Ship Management (Hong Kong) Company, Limited will continue to strive for further enhancementin safe operations, making the most of its years of valuable experience and stockpile of important know-how. MOL and its group companies provide high-quality services, while forging ahead to become a world leader in safe operations.

Bigger container ships are resulting in much greater peaks in container terminal activity, which together with the ever larger combined volumes of bigger alliances, demands fewer, larger terminals in each port. Terminal operators are reacting by consolidating terminal layouts and ownership – and by working more closely together – but what are the consequences for their customers? Drewry Maritime Research discuss in this extract from their latest 'Container Insight Weekly'. A recent visit to the Eurogate terminal in Hamburg by China Shipping’s post-Panamax vessel CSCL Le Havre involved an exchange of 11,600 teu, illustrating the sheer scale of volumes per call that terminals increasingly have to deal with. The vessel is shared with CMA CGM and UASC.

Dock-worker unions at strike-bound Kwai Chung container port to meet with two contractors under Labour Deptartment's mediation. The breakthrough comes as a strike by workers at the port threatens to enter a third week; however, port operator Hongkong International Terminals, says it will only sit in on the meetings, according to a report on the RTHK News web site. First the unions organising the strike, led by the pro-democracy Confederation of Trade Unions, will meet two contractors in the morning, with HIT sitting in attendance. Then, in the afternoon, unions which are not in dispute with the employers, led by the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Labour Unions, will meet the employers' side. Source: Radio Television Hong Kong

DP World has entered into two transactions to monetise its interests in two container terminals & a logistics centre in Hong Kong. The transactions will see DP World monetise 75% of its interests in CSX World Terminals Hong Kong Limited (CT3), which operates berth 3 of the Kwai Chung Container Terminal (‘CT3’) and ATL Logistics Centre Hong Kong Limited (ATL), a logistics centre located alongside CT3, and 100% of its interest in Asia Container Terminal Ltd (ACT), which operates Asia Container Terminal 8 West (CT8).

The Hong Kong Marine Department announced that the port is ready to handle the next generation of container vessels. Hong Kong port is capable of receiving the next generation of container vessels and Kwai Chung's alongside water depths are currently adequate to meet navigational requirements of large containerships, a spokesman for the Marine Department said. The assessment was reflected in a study, “Yesterday Evening and Tomorrow Morning of Container Fleet” conducted by the Marine Department earlier. The study confirms that Kwai Chung is able to serve not only large containerships currently in service, but also those expected to be in operation within the next few years.