Massive Infrastructure News

All 7 ship-to-shore and 20 RTG ultra-modern gantry cranes have arrived for installation in the Port of Tema, Ghana, said APM Terminals, international container terminal operating company headquartered in The Hague.These are one of the final pieces of a $1.0bn investment by APM Terminals and its partners in Meridian Port Services (MPS), Bolloré Africa Logistics and Ghana Ports & Harbours Authority.With crane commissioning and operator training now taking place, the Port is on schedule to open on June 28 this year.The breakwater and access channel, able to accommodate the world's largest container ships, and the first 2 deep-water berths…

China unveiled its ambitions to develop a "Polar Silk Road" through the Arctic, joining a multinational race to exploit opportunities in the resource-rich region, as the shipping lanes opened up by global warming. China said it would encourage enterprises to build infrastructure and conduct commercial trial voyages, paving the way for Arctic shipping routes, in its first official Arctic policy white paper. "China hopes to work with all parties to build a 'Polar Silk Road' through developing the Arctic shipping routes," the paper, issued by the State Council Information Office, said. According to various media reports,  China would work with Russia and other Arctic countries to develop the polar route.

Expanded use of converged security and information management platform will support physical and IT security program at DP World London Gateway. London Gateway, one of the U.K.’s major ports owned and operated by DP World, has implemented converged security and information management (CSIM) software port-wide to increase security and provide overall situational awareness capability. Situated on the north bank of the River Thames, the deep-sea container port is located next to Europe’s largest logistics park, providing shipping access to key U.K. consumer markets.

China and Vietnam will manage and properly control their maritime disputes, avoiding actions to complicate or widen them, so as to maintain peace in the South China Sea, the two nations said in a joint communique China released on Monday. Vietnam is the Southeast Asian country most openly at odds with China over the waterway since the Philippines pulled back from confrontation under President Rodrigo Duterte. After what China said were "positive" talks on the South China Sea last week between President Xi Jinping and Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang, the joint statement stressed the need to control differences. Both countries agreed to "manage and properly control maritime disputes…

President of Indonesia Joko Widodo, commonly known as Jokowi,  has vowed to transform Indonesia, which includes 17,000 islands into a ‘maritime power’, and also includes plans to improve port infrastructure, as well as plans to fund a massive infrastructure programme, according to Bloomberg. Indonesia announced on Wednesday evening that it will seek to change the name of the South China Sea to the Natuna Sea in the area within 200 miles of its Natuna Islands, reports SCMP. Ahmad Santosa, the Chief of Task Force 115, an agency combating illegal fishing, said the proposal will “be given to the United Nations”, adding that “if no one objects ... then it will be officially the Natuna Sea”.

One of India’s leading maritime businesses has unveiled plans for a new $10 million maritime training college in the Patna district of Bihar State in India. Capt. Nalin Pandey, chairman and managing director of Mumbai-based Pentagon Marine Services, made the announcement as he collected an award for services to the Indian and international maritime community at the Link India U.K. Business Awards in London. The award was presented by the Indian Deputy High Commissioner to the U.K. Dr. Virander Paul. Capt.

Water will start rushing into the newly expanded Panama Canal on Thursday (local time) in one area that was widened, ahead of the waterway's April 2016 re-inauguration. The area around the new Agua Fria locks in Gatun, on the Atlantic coast, will be the site of the preliminary tests, the Panama Canal Authority said. Completely filling up the first lock will take three to five months, according to the builders consortium Grupo Unidos Por el Canal (GUPC). The third set of locks is 85 % complete and the project is now focused on electro-mechanical installations laying the groundwork for finishing touches to ensue. GUPC says it will open five valves on the Atlantic side this week that will begin the flow of water into the new lock chambers.

President Dilma Rousseff unveiled a concession program on Tuesday to draw 198.4 billion reais ($64 billion) in private investment over five years to upgrade and operate Brazilian roads, railways, airports and harbor terminals. The logistics plan includes 4,371 kilometers of new highways, the extension of existing railway concessions and the private operation of airports in the cities of Porto Alegre, Fortaleza, Salvador and Florianopolis, according to a government presentation. The new concessions will have access to less state bank financing in the midst of Brazil's current drive to cut spending and reduce a bulging fiscal deficit. Bidders will be expected to partially fund projects with private financing.

Nicaragua on Monday broke ground on its Chinese-led $50 billion shipping canal, a massive infrastructure project that aims to rival Panama's waterway and revitalize the economy of the second-poorest country in the Americas. Nicaragua's government says the proposed 172-mile (278-km) canal, due to be operational by around 2020, would raise annual growth to over 10 percent and help put an end to endemic poverty in the country of 6 million people. It could also give China a major foothold in Central America, a region that for years has been dominated by the United States, which completed the Panama Canal a century ago. Construction of the new waterway will be run by Hong Kong-based HK Nicaragua Canal Development Investment Co Ltd (HKND Group)…

Mandatory carriage of automatic identification systems (AIS) throughout the country, as it is currently envisioned by the Coast Guard, will not result in increased safety or security, AWO told the agency in comments filed on December 31, 2003. The Coast Guard was soliciting comments on whether and how to expand AIS carriage requirements beyond the nine Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) zones to other waterways. While AWO has been a long-time proponent of the AIS concept as a navigational safety tool, AWO has questions about the technical aspects of AIS and its implementation, as well as the potential negative impact on safety when AIS is required for some types of vessels while not for others.