Private Operator News

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, India's largest private operator of ports, reported a 69% surge in quarterly profit on Tuesday, driven by strong cargo volumes. The company's consolidated profit for the quarter-ended Sept. 30 rose to 16.77 billion Indian rupees ($203 million). It had reported a profit of 9.95 bln rupees a year ago. Revenue from operations surged 33% to 52.11 billion rupees from a year ago. Adani Ports is part of the cooking oil-to-coal mining conglomerate Adani Group, which is run by Asia's richest person Gautam Adani.

The ferry business, unlike more industrial parts of the shipping business, touches wide swaths of the world’s population across continents. The membership of Interferry, the leading trade group for the industry, with non-Governmental organization (NGO) status at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) includes 200+ members from all parts of the ferry spectrum. These include passenger ferries (including fast ferries), Ro/Pax and cruise ferries operating globally. In selecting “the best” we looked beyond the league tables of “the most” (passengers) and “the biggest” (fleet size).

The fund management firm for the maritime Tufton Oceanic Assets has agreed to acquire a container ship for $13mln.The London-listed specialist fund said that the containership is designed to haul fresh fruit all over the globe. "The ship is being lent on a two year charter to a leading private operator of containerships in the fresh fruit transportation sector," it said.According to a stock exchange annoucement, the yield is in line with the targets expressed in the Company’s C Share prospectus.This is the second investment made from the C Share proceeds announced on 11 October 2018. This acquisition will take the Company’s fleet to eight vessels…

French firm Necotrans and the Philippines' International Container Terminal Services submitted bids on Monday to operate Guinea Bissau's main port, the transport minister said, as the government looks to cede control to a private operator. The main port in the capital Bissau, which is small and can only be serviced at high tide by some cargoes, has been operated by a state agency ever since the government stripped Portugal-based operator Tertir of the concession rights in 1999. "The French company Necotrans and the Philippines' ICTSI are neck-and-neck to exploit the commercial port of Bissau," Transport Minister Fidelis Forbes told reporters in Bissau. The government will select the operator next month, he said.

India's Essar Ports has won a contract to build the first liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in West Bengal  under the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) at an investment of Rs 450 crore (USD 70 million). A Press Trust of India report said that the LNG project is expected to be commissioned in two years. The facility will come up at the Haldia port with a capacity to store one million tonne of the clean fuel. Haldia Dock Complex under Kolkata Port Trust had earlier this year invited bids for setting up an LNG terminal with storage and distribution facilities. Essar Ports, in consortium with Ultra LNG and Essar Shipping, had participated in the tender and emerged as the highest bidder for the project, beating state-owned Petronet and private operator V Energy.

The hallmarks of a successful vessel operator are the same whether they are carrying liquid, physical or human cargo: A laser focus on safety, a twin commitment to customers and crew, and the vision to embrace and invest in the future. However obvious the bar, it is not easy to meet. “I don’t think there is any magic formula,” says Rob Grune, senior vice president and general manager, petroleum services, Crowley Marine Solutions. “The difference is that everything we work on regards providing a high quality of service to customers, pays off. In a rising market, it’s easy to do well.

The tracks for a new, faster railway linking the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to Kenya's capital will be laid by the end of 2016 and will open for commercial traffic on target in June 2017, the chairman of Kenya Railways said on Friday. The Chinese-financed project is the first stage in a scheme that aims to extend to Uganda and other land-locked states. The goal is to cut the cost of transport and boost trade, by replacing a narrow-gauge line that has slower top speeds. "We're ahead of schedule," Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina said in Nairobi. Kenya had aimed to complete 40 percent of civil works, ranging from laying track to fixing bridges, by the end of 2015. It is now on track to complete half the by year end.

Iran’s largest shipping company NITC, the privatized Iranian shipping company, is in talks for permission to sail in Western waters, says a report in WSJ. NITC has amassed the world’s largest fleet of super tankers and is in talks to sail back into western waters should the Islamic Republic strike a nuclear deal. Managing director of NITC Ali Akbar Safaei confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that the company is in discussions with London’s Protection & Indemnity pool of insurers. NITC Captain Nasrollah Sardashti also told the Journal that the company has purchased 20 very large crude carriers (VLCCs) from Chinese shipbuilders in the past two-and-a-half years. This brings the company’s VLCC count to 42, making it the largest fleet of the super-sized oil tankers in the world, Sardashti said.

WSDOT Ferries Division (WSF) is adding two 149-passenger foot ferries to the one auto ferry service between Seattle and Bremerton for the Monday afternoon commute and until further notice. WSF is contracting with private operator Victoria Express to provide this service. Pending fog delays, passenger-only service will begin Monday, Aug. 31, with one 149-passenger ferry leaving Bremerton at 3 p.m. and leaving Seattle at 4 p.m. A second 149-passenger-only ferry is expected to begin service leaving Seattle at 4:20 p.m. •    5:00 p.m. •    5:40 p.m. •    6:20 p.m. •    6:45 p.m. •    7:15 p.m. •    7:55 p.m. •    9:05 p.m. Auto ferry service was reduced on the Bremerton route because the Wenatchee has been removed from service following a hard landing Sunday morning, Aug. 30.

WSDOT will reduce Seattle/Bremerton ferry service to one 144-auto ferry and supplemental passenger-only service at the beginning of the service day on Tuesday morning, Oct. 7. This will allow WSDOT to restore two-boat service on the Edmonds/Kingston route. The 188-car that was operating on the Edmonds/Kingston route had to be removed from service on Monday for repairs. WSDOT has no spare vessels because several vessels are out of service for regularly scheduled maintenance and inspections. To fill in for the , WSDOT will move the 144-car Hyak to the Edmonds/Kingston route, along with the 188-car . The 144-car Kaleetan will continue to serve the Seattle/Bremerton route.

The Queen of Victoria has been sold to a private operator in the Dominican Republic, BC Ferries' president and CEO Bob Lingwood announced. A total of six bids were received for the 38-year-old ferry and evaluated during the public bid process. "We've accepted an offer of $550,000 Canadian for the Queen of Victoria, which has become surplus to our needs," said Lingwood. R & G Importadora & Exportadora, the new owner, is expected to take possession of the vessel by the end of the year. The Queen of Victoria was built at the Victoria Machinery Depot in 1962 and provided ferry service on BC Ferries' Tsawwassen - Swartz Bay route until 1998. Since then, the vessel has been used for storage at the corporation's Deas Dock refit complex in Richmond.

The Passenger Vessel Association announced that it is time again to apply for Federal Ferry Boat Discretionary Grants The program helps with the capital costs of new ferry vessels and terminals. The Federal Highway Administration has announced that it is accepting funding proposals for the current round of grants. The deadline is July 15, 2001, but since the application must first be funneled through state transportation officials, an applicant needs to get to work right away. A private operator working in partnership with a public entity is eligible to apply, as is a publicly funded operator. For a copy of the full announcement with additional information on how to apply, go to PVA's web page (www.passengervessel.com ) and click on the "Ferry Grants 2001" icon.

Kitsap Transit will pile sand and gravel on a few beaches in early fall to see how much a passenger-only ferry boat will take away. It’s part of the agency’s attempt to bring back the half-hour commuter run between Bremerton and Seattle. The study, which could begin in late September, is designed to measure the impact of ferry wakes left by a newly designed ferry. It also would determine whether renourishing an affected area is a viable way to repair ongoing beach damage from vessel wakes. For the study, sand and gravel approximating what’s already on each beach will be loaded onto the shores from barges during high tide, then graded at low tide. Most of the property owners affected by the new material already have given their approval for the test, Hayes said.