Wanda News

For the first time a vessel from Turkish ARKAS Line is expected in the Port of Hamburg on April 20. The WANDA A is deployed in the West Africa Express Service (WAX) operated by ARKAS and Hapag-Lloyd and will be cleared at HHLA Container Terminal Altenwerder. Since December ARKAS has already been booking slots on Hapag-Lloyd’s WAX service. The demand is running so well that now, with the WANDA A, one of ARKAS’ own ships is being taken into the service. The weekly liner service operates from Hamburg via Algeciras, Dakar, Lagos/Apapa, Tincan Island, Tema, Abidjan and Tangiers, then back via Antwerp to Hamburg. Hapag-Lloyd deploys five 1,700 TEU vessels in the service.

After two previous successful motorcycling and boating events in 2013 and 2015, organizers of the Boaterz N’ Bikerz of America Hull of a Tour are back this summer for “Pacific Coast Rush,” a nine-day escorted motorcycle ride from Seattle to San Francisco, including a two-day swing down to Big Sur and Monterey. This summer’s Hull of a Tour 3 event runs July 22 – 30 and is sponsored for the second year by Freedom Boat Club, along with marine media sponsor Soundings Trade Only, platinum sponsor Regal Boats, event, producer/publicist Kenton Smith Marketing, and boating host/marine retailer Alexander Marine USA, with locations in Seattle and Newport Beach, Calif.

Marine Marketers of America (MMA) is presenting a free seminar for members of the boating industry attending the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show. Slated for Friday November 6 from 8:30 - 10 am at Bahia Mar's Grandview Room, the event includes a membership mixer, brief association meeting, and the seminar entitled, "Collaborative Consumption Strategies for Growing Boating: How Four Companies are Engaging Former Boaters and Attracting Newcomers to the Boating Lifestyle... The seminar will be facilitated by NMMA's Chief Marketing Officer Carl Blackwell who originally organized and moderated this panel event for IBEX. Based on the positive feedback to the IBEX event…

The Boaterz ‘n Bikerz Hull of a Tour² launch of “The Freedom Ride” throttled forward yesterday from Freedom Boat Club’s Marina Jack location in downtown Sarasota, FL. The nine-day, 2000-mile motorcycle and boating tour attracted 30 members of the boating industry including their friends, and travels up the east coast to Washington D.C., concluding with participation in the 100,000-bike rally, Rolling Thunder, which honors war veterans, POWs and MIA on Memorial Day weekend. “This ride is a celebration of freedom and the great outdoors,” said tour organizer and marine industry marketing veteran Wanda Kenton Smith. “Our tour is unique in that we combine the best of the open roads with the open seas in an adventure that promotes both motorcycling and boating activity.

The US Navy is developing a duck-like drone, the Flimmer (Flying Swimmer), that can both fly and swim. The drone, it says, can reach operational areas more quickly by flying over the surface of the water. In addition to both a rear-facing propeller and wings, its latest incarnation has four fins that adapt to what the robotic craft is doing. In flight, they serve as stabilizers and canard wings; in the sea, they flap to give the machine a speed boost. After successfully examining the performance of a “Test Sub” that combined a traditional submarine shape with a traditional aircraft shape, scientists  applied their findings to a flying version of the  Naval Research Laboratory (NRL)’s WANDA (Wrasse-inspired Agile Near-shore Deformable-fin Automaton ) drone.

The Port of Los Angeles Small Business Enterprise (SBE) Program awarded $97.6 million in contracts to small businesses during the 2012/2013 fiscal year of the $405.9 million that was awarded in construction and professional service contracts by the Port during the period. “Small businesses represent an important and valuable resource in our community,” said Los Angeles City Councilman Joe Buscaino, whose 15th District includes the Port. The Port's SBE Program was created in 2007…

The Dalian Wanda Group, one of the largest Chinese property and cinema groups, will acquire almost 92 percent stake in the leading global luxury yacht company, Sunseeker International Limited, for about GBPDS 320-million. Although the private yachting market is in its early stages in China, this industry is growing rapidly. Wanda's Chairman Wang Jianling states that "China's consumption is growing, especially in the market for high-end luxury products. We have noticed the growth in consumption of luxury yachts…

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced the signing of an agreement with Yang Ming, a marine transport company, to extend its lease at the Port of Los Angeles for an additional nine years. Yang Ming’s current lease at the West Basin Container Terminal ends in 2021; with this agreement, it extends to 2030 and represents additional port revenues of between $365 and $525 million, depending on cargo volumes. In conjunction with the lease extension, Mayor Villaraigosa signed a Memorandum of Understanding Tuesday in Beijing to expand and modernize the Yang Ming terminal facilities at the port.

On Nov. 24 the Federal Maritime Commission summarized compromise agreements reached with various ocean transportation intermediaries with respect to alleged violations of the Shipping Act of 1984. Civil penalties in the amount of $242,500 were recovered. The agreements were reached with licensed and unlicensed ocean transportation intermediaries ("OTIs"), both non-vessel-operating common carriers ("NVOCCs") and ocean freight forwarders. Caribbean Freight Systems Inc. Caribbean Freight Systems Inc. ("Caribbean Freight") is a licensed OTI located in Miami, Florida. It was alleged that Caribbean Freight obtained and allowed others to obtain…