Weekly Edition 20th of August 2009

Breaking point

SHIPPING Australia (SAL) has sought to raise a hue and cry over the shabby treatment of breakbulk shipping with a critical report released this week.

POTA, Gutnick seal phosphate transport deal

P&O TRANS Australia (POTA) is on the verge of sealing one of its most lucrative deals ever.

LNG plant site secured

AUSTRALIA Pacific LNG has secured the Laird Point site on Curtis Island for its Gladstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant, Origin Energy announced on Tuesday.

PB Towage turned around and now pulling strongly

HONG KONG’S Pacific Basin Shipping has reported explosive growth in its Australian-based PB Towage subsidiary, including a substantial turnaround in profitability.

Asciano shares rally before retreating

PRICES for Australian transport and mining stocks had steadied this week after last week leading a market rally on the Australian Securities Exchange.

Rio scorns ore price play

RIO TINTO has rubbished claims that Fortescue Metals Group’s acceptance of a 35% iron ore price cut this week will establish an industry precedent.

Port Hedland floats future with big plans for one-tide sailings

PORT Hedland Port Authority (PHPA) was planning for a raft of initiatives as it built towards 470m tonnes-a-year throughput in the next three to five years, chief executive Andre Bush told Lloyd’s List DCN.

FedEx Express boosts freight cover

FEDEX Express has expanded its international packages and freight shipping portfolio, the FedEx Corp subsidiary said last week.

Tauranga, stevedore dispute goes to court

PORT OF Tauranga is taking New Zealand’s NZL Group to the country’s High Court to resolve a dispute over the transport and logistics firm’s efforts to re-establish container stevedoring operations at the port.

Two remain in market bid process

THE LONG-awaited project which will see Melbourne’s new horticulture logistics centre established on the city’s northern outskirts has come down to two proposals.

Centennial is confident on coal capacity

DESPITE a court finding that it should give up port capacity to fellow miner Xstrata, Centennial Coal was confident of its coal export allocations through Newcastle, the company said last week.

Hay Point protest hold up raises security concerns

THE QUEENSLAND Resources Council (QRC) is calling for prompt action on port security measures following the Greenpeace protest that brought coal operations at Hay Point Coal Terminal to a standstill earlier this month.

Townsville still open to ocean terminal

PORT OF Townsville was still open to the prospect of having an ocean terminal complex built in the future after existing plans were scrapped this month.

Report probes coal port option for Barry Beach

THE MAJOR proponent of the use of Barry Beach as a clean-coal export terminal hopes a report on the project will get the planning process moving.

Watchdog’s pay penalty

THE FAIR Work Ombudsman (FWO) is seeking to prosecute the operators and director of Melbourne’s Exclusive Food Houses for allegedly underpaying a delivery truck driver more than $32,000.

Rail body to support proposed ‘user pays’ system for road taxes

THE AUSTRALASIAN Railway Association (ARA) has backed “user pays” road-pricing options contained in a paper to the Australia’s Future Tax System Review Panel.

The last POST for breakbulk’s troubled trader

LONG-STANDING Asia-Australia breakbulk operator Pacific Orient Sea Transport (POST) has succumbed to the economic downturn and ceased trading.

Final tick for Magellan lead to go through Fremantle

IVERNIA will spend up to six months exporting its Magellan mine lead carbonate concentrate stockpile after gaining Western Australian Government clearance to use the port of Fremantle as an outlet.

Australia seeks spill liability increase

AUSTRALIA is seeking international support to raise shipowner liability limits for bunker spills, a spokeswoman for federal transport minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed.

Petronet sources Australian LNG

PETRONET LNG has become the first Indian customer to buy Australian liquefied natural gas under a long-term deal, and is also keen to import the fuel from a project in Papua New Guinea.

Anxious eyes on Asian piracy

Piracy attacks are on the rise in Asia for the first time in five years, reports Marcus Hand

Maritime sector keeps growing despite crisis

Lion State licks its wounds as it comes to terms with its deepest ever downturn but analysts say the recovery has begun, writes KEITH WALLIS

Singapore box volumes slowly creeping up

 

Golden Ocean back in black

NEWBUILDING delivery delays and Chinese demand for commodities and have helped bring restructured Golden Ocean Group back from the brink of bankruptcy.

Piracy portal takes risk initiative

SHIPOWNERS will have access to a comprehensive, web-based threat assessment portal from this autumn, in a joint venture between trade association BIMCO and private security specialist Aegis with input from the International Maritime Bureau.

Suez Canal revenues plunge

REVENUES from Egypt’s state-owned Suez Canal reached US$382.9m in July, a 22% fall on the corresponding month in 2008.

QR east-west performance hampered by state of assets

The performance of QR’s east-west intermodal logistics operation between Melbourne and Perth was being hampered by poor quality assets, chief executive Lance Hockridge told Lloyd’s List DCN.

Survey snapshots the industry

 

Wine chain efficiencies through collaboration

 

Hamburg down by over a fifth

THE PORT of Hamburg reported total turnover of 54.2m tonnes in the first half of the year, a drop of 23.7% compared with the same period in the previous year.

Panama Canal results are buoyed by toll increases

THE PANAMA Canal Authority has posted higher than expected revenues in the first nine months of its financial year, reflecting the resilience of the waterway in the face of the global downturn.

STX Pan Ocean drops into red

STX Pan Ocean plunged US$112m into the red in the first half of the year as the dry bulk shipping collapse took its toll.

High winds big blow to ports

Terminals need to prepare for storms which cost the global economy US$72bn in 2008, writes JERRY FRANK

Europe may bar strike cargoes

CARGOES loaded by strikebreaking workers at Ireland’s largest container facility could be blocked elsewhere in Europe.

Hutchison is upbeat despite lower result

THE GLOBAL recession has started to ease but a global recovery is not yet a certainty, according to Hong Kong ports giant Hutchison Whampoa chairman Li Ka-shing.

Thune Andersen quits Maersk

AP MOLLER-Maersk high-flyer Thomas Thune Andersen has resigned as chief executive of Maersk Oil and is stepping down as partner in the governing firm of shipowners.

Sinotrans to rejuvenate fleet

SINOTRANS Shipping, one of China’s largest shipping companies, is set to almost double the size of its fleet from 1.7m dwt to 3.1m dwt by 2011.

Hapag-Lloyd cuts more jobs and pay

SEVERE internal cost-cutting measures being put in place by struggling container line Hapag-Lloyd include salary cuts of between 10% and 20%, while “further headcount adjustments” are being considered.

Glimmer of hope as rates on key routes start to rise

FREIGHT rates are finally heading in an upwards direction on the world’s two biggest trade routes as container lines keep capacity under tight control.

Panama flag sees 10% growth

PANAMA’s flag register increased to 8,644 vessels at the end of July, rising from 8,605 in December 2008.

Port of London in gateway plea

PORT of London Authority’s (PLA) chief executive has called for the UK government to take a “sensible” approach to the economics of London Gateway, DP World’s 3.5m teu hub which is “under review” because of the global downturn.

Sharp fall in volumes for PLA as recession bites

PORT of London Authority saw volumes fall 16% to 23m tonnes in the first half of this year, compared with the same period in 2008.

Young achievers surprise, delight

AFTER three days of competition, the winners of the FedEx Young Achievement award have finally been announced in Singapore.

The unsung ships that built the modern world

 

Chinese steel demand bodes well for bulk sector growth

DESPITE recent rate softening, China’s increasing demand for commodities will drive a positive trend in the dry bulk market, US investment bank Dahlman Rose predicts.

BHP Billiton profit drop in line with its prices

RESOURCES giant BHP Billiton has reported a 62% plunge in full-year profit following a massive fall in commodity prices.

US LNG imports set to rise

US IMPORTS of liquefied natural gas are now forecast to be more than 40% higher this year than in 2008, but are still expected to be comfortably below the record level of 2007.

Chinese coal set to slow in second half

US coal miner Peabody Energy sees slowing Chinese demand for thermal and metallurgical coal after a strong first six months of the year.

Star Bulk predicts 35% increase in ore demand

NASDAQ-listed Star Bulk Carriers says China’s “insatiable” hunger for iron ore could push up imports to 600m tonnes in 2009, up 35% on last year.

Toxic chemicals fall into the Yangtze

A CHINESE official says salvage work is still ongoing after 12 containers filled with toxic chemicals fell into the Yangtze River last week.

Tonga ferry was ‘unseaworthy’

A SURVEYOR who checked the Tongan ferry Princess Ashika prior to its departure has told reporters in New Zealand that he knew the vessel was unseaworthy.

Sightings of vanished Russian ship wide of mark

RUSSIA’S navy was continuing its search for missing Russian general cargoship Arctic Sea last week, after two reported sightings proved unfounded.

Mystery over? Missing Arctic Sea found

RUSSIA’S navy has found missing general cargoship Arctic Sea near the Cape Verde islands with the crew seemingly safe, according to the country’s defence minister, Anatoly Serdyukov.

Fleet Management fined US$10m over Cosco Busan

The damaged Cosco Busan: US prosecutors said the guilty plea would send a warning signal.

Casualty Briefs - 20th August 2009

 

Pirates attack idle ship off Malaysia

PIRATES have again attempted to attack a vessel in an area popular with owners who want to idle their ships close to Singapore, writes Marcus Hand .

Detective casts doubt on Arctic Sea hijacking

A SENIOR Finnish policeman involved in the Arctic Sea case has cast doubt on the Russian ministry of defence line that the general cargoship was the victim of a hijack.

The Arctic Sea and the search for truth

While few observers seriously believe the missing vessel was a victim of piracy, its disappearance raises wider security issues for all shipowners, writes David Osler

Liberian register offers anti-piracy training

THE Liberian register has introduced a computer-based package designed to train seafarers and company security officers in anti-piracy techniques, writes David Osler .

Arctic Sea crew and suspected hijackers returned to Moscow

ELEVEN seafarers and the eight men suspected of hijacking Arctic Sea — the missing Russian general cargoship that sparked a frantic search of the Atlantic earlier this month — arrived in Moscow yesterday onboard three Russian air force planes, writes David Osler.