Weekly Edition 25th February 2010

BIMCO calls for police on anti-piracy patrol vessels

LAW ENFORCEMENT officers should join warships deployed as part of anti-piracy efforts as riding squads, thus getting round Interpol’s self-imposed ban on sharing information with any military force, BIMCO has demanded.

High Court clarifies legality of ransom payments

AN ENGLISH High Court ruling has provided the shipping industry with an unambiguous confirmation that ransom payments to pirates are not illegal or contrary to public policy.

Ships face greater attack risk in Indian Ocean

TARGET: Suspected pirates with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher close alongside the Dubai Princess about 100 miles south of Yemen in the Gulf of Aden last May.

Philippines coastguard given powers to detain unsafe vessels

THE PHILIPPINES coastguard has finally been given tougher powers to detain and stop unsafe vessels putting to sea, eight years after the plans were first put forward.

Casualty Briefs - 25th February 2010

 

MAERSK SHIFTS FOCUS

HE WORLD’S largest shipping line has signalled a shift in its focus away from protecting its market share towards customer satisfaction and service improvement

No appetite for acquisitions – for now

AP MOLLER Maersk chief executive Nils Andersen has ruled out a plan to acquire any of its ailing rivals as a way to capitalise in what remains an over-tonnaged and uncertain global container market.

Corrigan’s Qube poised for big moves in logistics game

CHRIS Corrigan, the Kaplan Funds advisor and one of the brains behind what is now known as Qube Logistics, is looking hard at intra-city distribution as the next step for the operation that owns P&O Automotive and General Stevedoring and the P&O Trans Australia.

Colombia in coal price win

THE INCREASED price of Australian thermal coal has boosted the popularity of sourcing alternative supplies from Colombia.

Shipping is to pay the price for Pacific Adventurer spill

SHIPPING companies will pick up part of the tab for the Pacific Adventurer oil spill off the Queensland coast almost a year ago.

Shipbuilders covet promise of new spirit for Tasmania

AUSTRALIA’S major shipbuilders are circling, just in case Tasmanian Labor premier David Bartlett is re-elected and holds good on his pre-election pledge to replace TT-Line’s Spirit of Tasmania I and II in 2014.

New blow for Bell Bay as Patrick seeks to cut jobs

THE MARITIME Union of Australia (MUA) will meet with stevedore Patrick this week to discuss the possibility of job cuts in Tasmania.

Devonport Airport sale process now well underway

THE TASMANIAN Ports Corporation (Tasports) will begin the due diligence for the sale of Devonport Airport within two weeks.

Coal rail sell-off flawed – QRC

THE QUEENSLAND Resources Council (QRC) has reiterated its call to allow mining interests to invest in Queensland Rail’s coal operations.

Top ship repair facility opens in SA

A MAJOR common-user shipbuilding and repair precinct worth almost $400m was opened in Adelaide, South Australia last week.

Delta airborne down under and boasting maximum capacity

DELTA Cargo, a subsidiary of the world’s biggest airline, said it is gradually building its presence in Australia through consistency.

Cruiseship to call Sydney home and service fast expanding local market

ROYAL Caribbean Cruises will double the number of luxury cruise vessels based in Australia with the introduction of Radiance of the Seas next year.

Qantas Freight still battling in the economic headwinds

QANTAS Freight is still struggling with the global economic malaise.

First coal to Newcastle’s new terminal

A LONE QR bulk freight train delivered about 7,000 tonnes of coal to the port of Newcastle’s newest export terminal last week, more than two months out from the expected first export shipment.

ARA backs national level crossing safety approach

THE RAIL industry has backed calls for a national approach to addressing the number of deaths in level crossing incidents each year.

Auckland lifts profit despite box decline

THE GLOBAL economic recession saw container volumes at Ports of Auckland drop 3.7% in the first half of the financial year.

Victorian rail freight investment booming

PRIVATE sector spending on Victoria’s rail freight has more than doubled federal and state investment, according to the Victorian Freight and Logistics Council (VFLC).

Maersk comes to terms with lay-up’s new form

When Maersk Line decided to anchor six boxships on Scotland’s Loch Striven there was little practical advice available on lay-up procedures. JANET PORTER visited the site and spoke to senior company officials about the challenges of shutting down modern vessels

Containership shuffle – NYK revamps newbuilding plans

JAPAN’S NYK Line has scaled back its already modest containership newbuilding program by switching several orders to other ship types.

Box lines get US go-ahead for slow steaming talks

FIFTEEN of the world’s top container lines have been granted permission to exchange ideas on strategies such as slow steaming.

LME courts Baltic in bid to form new exchange

THE LONDON Metal Exchange (LME) has written to the Baltic Exchange with a controversial proposal that the two companies establish a joint venture exchange to trade forward freight agreements.

Dockwise hit with costs

DUTCH heavy transport shipowner Dockwise will bring forward its plans for vessel maintenance and drydockings in the face of a tough market in the first quarter of this year.

Bangladesh breaker protest condemned as a set up

BANGLADESH shipbreaking yards staged a protest this week against a new national import policy that requires all vessels destined for recycling in Chittagong to carry a pre-cleaning certificate.

Car carriers set to shift gear

Production hubs, the rise of India and China and electric vehicles will complicate trade, reports JULIAN MACQUEEN

Used-car trade is ready for growth spurt

THE REGULATED Japanese car market has meant that, historically, the country was a major supplier of used vehicles globally. For example, Japan would ship used vehicles to New Zealand, taking advantage of the empty reeferships which had brought chilled cargoes for the Japanese market.

Pulling in two directions

For a major Australian towing player it’s both feast and famine with the resources boom opening a new chapter of opportunity while the global financial crisis continues to impact regular trade. Rob McKay reports

Tough years the right time to build strength and focus on efficiency

HARBOUR towage market leader Svitzer Australia has been through a tough year but managing director Anders Egehus insists it has become stronger and more focused as a result.

OCEAN TOWING AND THE WARRANTY SURVEYOR

Once less common, the onset of the resources boom and port redevelopments has seen ocean towing now becoming commonplace in Australian waters, writes Kent Stewart*

May rate rise could see box lines bounce back in 2010

HANJIN Shipping and other trans-Pacific container lines could return to profit this year if a May rate increase on the trade goes through as planned, the head of the South Korean carrier said last week.

MAN Diesel braced for sales downturn

MAN DIESEL expects sales to fall considerably this year due to the collapse of newbuilding orders. However, the engine manufacturer still expects return on sales to remain above the MAN group target of 8.5%.

Japan’s big three raise new funds as recovery beckons

THE NEWS that Japan just about managed to retain its second ranking ahead of China with a 1.1% growth in gross domestic product for the final quarter of 2009 brought some optimism that the country is finally on a path to economic recovery.

Haiti quake highlights fears over coast guard

SERIOUS maintenance issues on ageing cutters that affected the US Coast Guard’s (USCG) ability to launch a swift seaborne response to the Haiti earthquake have underlined the need for the US Congress not to starve the agency of modernisation funding, USCG Commandant Admiral Thad Allen has said.

US west coast ports reveal mixed January

BELLWETHER container ports on the US west coast have had a mixed start to 2010, with Long Beach recording a 7.4% increase in January container volumes, compared with a 2.4% decline reported at its neighbour Los Angeles.

Rates rescued from slide by lift in coal sentiment

FIRMING sentiment arrested a month-long slide and lifted supramax rates on all but one of the 10 major trading lanes last week.

Oil companies urged to step up development

OIL companies should accelerate their offshore development projects or face an increase in costs, as the industry expects a flood of new orders to reduce the availability of service vessels from next year.

Ships delivery data for 2009

DRY BULK carriers led a 25% growth in new capacity last year, according to a report by SSY Consultancy & Research. Shipyards delivered 77.6m gt of new vessels, a record in output terms and 14.1% higher than a year earlier, the London broker said. Cargo-carrying capacity rose to 117.4m dwt from 94.1m dwt in 2008.

Rio Tinto volumes rise

RIO Tinto, the second-largest iron ore producer, shipped 150m tonnes of bulk commodities in the year ending 2009.

some Quick thinking on slow steaming

The cost and environmental benefits of slowing down containerships are obvious. But with modern vessels’ engines designed for fast speeds, engineers are coming up with some innovative ways to improve engine reliability reports STEVE MATTHEWS

Smooth Sailing

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The nuts and bolts of carrying heavy metal

FULL marks to the Standard P&I Club, which has produced the first of a number of concise publications, which will focus upon the carriage of certain cargoes.

QR is the big ticket for 2010

DESPITE some big issues on the agenda as we move into 2010, the year’s biggest story will be the Queensland Government’s sale of its freight business and the below-rail infrastructure serving the coal industry.