Outer Harbour News

UAE-based privately-owned port operator Gulftainer has appointed Fred Castonguay its new group chief operating officer to strengthen its growing ports and logistics portfolio globally.Castonguay previously served as the vice president of Operations at Ports America Group and as president and COO for Ports America Outer Harbour in Oakland, California.Peter Richards, Group Chief Executive Officer at Gulftainer, said: “We are pleased to welcome Fred Castonguay on board as Group Chief Operating Officer of Gulftainer. His expertise and strengths in terminal operations and leadership will continue to reinforce our global reputation. A seasoned industry veteran with a keen focus on operational excellence…

Nitin Gadkari, Indian Minister of Shipping will inaugurate five port projects worth INR  1062 Crores (USD 156 mln ) in Vishakhapatnam today (Friday). The projects to be inaugurated include upgradation of existing iron ore handling facility at Outer Harbour of Vizag Port. This would involve modernising and upgrading the 40 year old iron ore handling facility so that it can handle larger vessels of 2 lakh DWT with loading rate of 8000 MT/hour. Capacity enhancement would be to 16.20 MTPA from 12.50 MTPA. The work was awarded to M/s.ESSAR Vizag Terminals Ltd on DBFOT basis with revenue share of 31% on 14.5.2015 is was completed on 31.5.2018. The other projects to be inaugurated include Development Berths at the inner harbour of the port and Post Panamax Quay Cranes.

Ruias-owned Essar Ports Ltd is exploring the possibility of setting up four Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals in joint ventures with other companies, reported Economic Times. Rajiv Agarwal, managing director and chief executive of Essar Ports, told PTI at a company-run facility here. He said the company is looking at a cluster of small ports which will be closer to potential customers, adding that Hazira and Salaya, where it already operates ports, could be the sites where it can set up the LNG terminals. The company has interests in ports and shipping, has identified land on both the coasts and plans to come up with two terminals in the first phase and two in second phase, with capacities ranging from 2.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) to 5 mtpa.

Under India's prestigious Sagarmala Programme,  415 projects, at an estimated investment of approximately  INR 8 Lac Crore (USD 120 Bln) , have been identified across port modernization & new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-linked industrialization and coastal community development for phase wise implementation over the period 2015 to 2035. As per the approved implementation plan of Sagarmala Programme, these projects are to be taken up by the relevant Central Ministries/Agencies and State Governments preferably through private or public-private partnership (PPP) mode. As part of the Sagarmala Programme, 6 new port locations have been identified, namely - Vadhavan, Enayam, Sagar Island, Paradip Outer Harbour, Sirkazhi and Belekeri.

While increasing the capacity of major ports, Ministry of Shipping has been striving to improve the operational efficiencies through mechanization and other measures. As a result key efficiency parameters have improved considerably. The Average Turnaround Time has registered a significant improvement in 2015-16 and was 3.63 days as against 4.00 days in the corresponding preceding year. This has further improved to 3.49 days in the current year (up to October, 2016). The Average Output Per Ship Berthday has increased from 12458 Tonnes in 2014-15 to 13151 Tonnes in 2015-16. This has further increased to 13949 Tonnes during the current year (up to October, 2016).

Expansion, modernization and up-gradation of Major Ports in India is an ongoing process to keep the ports abreast with new technologies and also to promote trade and cargo. 62 Public–private partnership (PPP) Projects with an investment of Rs.49,049 crore ($7.1 bn) are under implementation and operation. For the year 2016-17, 33 projects with an investment of Rs.9,845 crore have been taken up. Port Master Plans for 12 major ports have been prepared keeping in view the requirements for cargo handling till 2035. A total of 142 Port Modernization projects have been identified in the Master Plans. These identified projects will be taken up for implementation in phases.

The Shipping and Road Transport sectors in India have together spent a total of about Rs 4 lakh crores ($60billion) in the past two and a half years as they work towards building world class highways and shipping infrastructure in the country, says the Cabinet Minister Nitin Gadkari. While the Road Transport & Highways Ministry has spent about Rs 3 lakh 17 thousand crores to build a total of 14,594 Km and award 21,247 Km of National Highways, the Shipping Ministry has spent about Rs 80,000 Crores for various projects aimed at modernizing and mechanizing the shipping sector and making it more efficient. Talking about the ambitious Sagarmala programme of the Shipping Ministry Shri Gadkari said that it will bring about a major reduction of  logistics cost for EXIM and domestic trade.

The State Government of Odisha will partner the Ministry of Shipping for taking ahead the ‘port-led development’ agenda under Sagarmala, the flagship program of the Ministry. The State Government has confirmed 10% equity participation in the Special Purpose Venture (SPV) of Indian Port Rail Corporation Ltd (IPRCL) that will be formed for development of a heavy haul rail corridor from Salegaon to Paradip port. This initiative will strengthen supply-side connects from mine to port and will boost coastal movement of 140 MTPA of coal, as envisioned in Sagarmala National Perspective Plan. The rail link will serve as the last mile connectivity to transport bulk cargo of thermal coal from the Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL)…

The Ministry of Shipping has taken many proactive and progressive interventions in the areas of shipbuilding, port development, inland waterways and coastal shipping this year for the development of the maritime sector in the country. The key initiatives includes  Sagarmala Project, Special Purpose Vehicle to provide efficient last mile rail connectivity to Major Ports, Incentive for Shipbuilding and ship-repair Industry,  Jal Marg Vikas Project, Customs and Excise Duty Exempted on the Use of Bunker Fuels for coastal transportation of EXIM and empty container and for domestic containers transported alongwith EXIM and empty containers, Cabotage Relaxed for Special Vessels and Developing 78 lighthouses as tourism centers.

Essar Ports Ltd. (EPL) today announced the taking over of Vishakhapatnam Port Trust’s (VPT) Iron Ore Handling Complex on a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis, for a period of 30 years. Essar Vizag Terminals Ltd. (EVTL), a wholly owned subsidiary of EPL, will comprise three berths (two outer harbour berths and one inner harbour berth) with a combined capacity of 23 Million Tonnes per Annum (MTPA) which will be developed in two phases. “Enhancing the cargo handling capacity and mechanization of port facilities for efficient management is crucial for long term sustenance. We are very sure that Essar will develop the OHC facility with latest state-of art handling facilities and achieve higher loading rate thereby reducing the overall turn around by at least 50%”- M.T.

The first regular container service to Dubai from V.O. Chidambaranar Port in India commenced on Tuesday. Chairman of the VOC Port Trust S. Anantha Chandra Bose inaugurated the service being operated by Dakshin Bharat Gateway Terminal Private Limited on the 8{+t} {+h} berth of the port. VOC Port will in a month run four container services, which would sail from berth 8 at the port run by Dakshin Barath Gateway Terminal Pvt Ltd (DBGT), to Jebel Ali Port in Dubai. MV ‘SSL Gujarat’ with its maiden call hauling general cargo of 507 TEUs –Twenty Foot Equivalent units in 487 containers would reach Jebel Ali Port. The mainline container cargo shipping service…

Two ports on the Eastern Coast of India that suffered extensive damage from the Hudhud cyclone have provided a status update. Yesterday night port declared the impact of cyclone HudHud as  ‘force majeure’. As a very preliminary assessment of the port, “Hudhud” has caused extensive damage to Port infrastructure, including conveyor system, storage sheds, and other storage areas. The extent of damage will only be assessed and estimated in due course. Further, at this preliminary stage, it is apprehended that it may take around four weeks or more for Port operations to begin in a phased manner, though port indicating they will endeavor with best efforts to resume Port operations as early as possible.

Defence Minister Senator David Johnston announced the Defence Materiel Organisation has signed a multi-million dollar contract with ASC Pty Ltd to update the control management and monitoring system for the Royal Australian Navy’s Collins Class submarines. Senator Johnston said the Integrated Ship Control Management and Monitoring System is a highly automated computerised system, which enables the crew of a Collins submarine to control, monitor and manage the large number of diverse and complex systems on board the submarines.

A Macau to Hong Kong jetfoil hit a marker beacon in poor visibility while exiting the Macau Outer Harbour entrance channel. The ferry with 177 passengers and 8 crew on board at the time of the incident was towed back to the terminal with reportedly minor structural damage. Twenty-six injured passengers aged between four and sixty were admitted to the Centro Hospitalar Conde de São Januário for treatment. Ferry services from Macau were suspended for 45 minutes. Shun Tak Holdings, operate the 24-hour ferry service between Hong Kong and Macau under the brand name TurboJet.

The Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT), which is continuing its supremacy over other ports in cargo handling, is attracting a large number of Panamax vessels after the first phase of deepening in Outer Harbour. The VPT, which was handling vessels with 195 metres LOA (length over all) and 10.21 m draft till recently, has attained the capability to handle Panamax vessels of 230 m LOA, 32.5 m beam and 0.7 m. draft with progress in completion of Inner Harbour deepening. The port is catering to Panamax vessels with 11 m draft. It will have night navigation for Suez max tankers calling at Outer Harbour shortly, once it is widened further. The VPT has undertaken work on augmenting its capacity by deepening the channels in the second half of 2005-06.