Blogs

The August month has rolled in pretty well with important updates in the shipping industry. Come on, let us take a look at the ones that created an impact all over the world. 4000 th Neopanamax Vessel Passed Through the Panama Canal As a recent development, the Panama Canal has recorded the transit of the 4,000 th Panamax vessel through its Extended Canal area. It has been discovered that containerships constitute about half of the 4,000 vessels that has ever passed through the Canal. This monumental occurrence was registered on 29 th July, when the LNG carrier called the ‘Maria Energy’ traveled southwards during its journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the particular LNG carrier was followed in quick succession by the ‘Maran Gas Alexandria’, which was another LNG tanker that had passed in the southwards direction through the Panama Canal on the same day. With reference to the significant facts obtained regarding this transit, the ‘Maria Energy’ LNG carrier was loaded in Louisiana, in the Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility to be precise. Whereas, the second vessel or the ‘Maran Gas Alexandria’ had been loaded at the Dominion Cove Point terminal in Maryland. As revealed in an earlier announcement in June, the Canal is all set to lift the natural daylight restrictions for LNG transits in the coming October. As a direct consequence, the LNG carrier vessels will have full access to move through the Gatun Lake and this step will also work in favour of increasing the capacity in shipping lines. Read More MCC Transport is Introducing a New Service to Connect East Malaysia with Both Korea and China MCC Transport is renowned as the intra-Asia and feeder arm of the parent company – Maersk Line, which seriously needs no introduction. The new service is to be launched soon by the MCC Transport and it is definitely going to improve East Malaysia’s connectivity to China and Korea. The IA6 service will successfully connect Bintulu and Kota Kinabalu with the ports of Pyong Taek, Hong Kong, Xingang, Dalian, and Busan. It is believed that the IA6 service will enhance the overall trade growth in Malaysia by a great percentage. The southbound service will begin its operations on 30 th July from Dalian, while the northbound service will begin from 9 th August, respectively. Read More Maersk Line Moves Longest Special Cargo from Krishnapatnam to Tianjin Maersk Line is the global containerized division of the Maersk Group and it believes in providing its clients with easy, customized solutions. Lately, Maersk has cooperated a lot with the Indian shipping industry and has achieved a milestone of transferring the longest break bulk shipment from Krishnapatnam (South India) to China. This break bulk cargo contained a large windmill blade that was around 103 feet in height and weighed over 16 tons. Reportedly, the company’s special cargo team had utilized 13 flat racks to carry out this stressful operation. This cargo was moved via the weekly service called the Chennai Express. The windmill blade was designed for wind farms and was a time-bound cargo that needed some delicate yet careful handling. The Managing Director of the Maersk Line, Mr. Steve Felder, is of the opinion that the company is proud to have carried out the transfer of special cargo for the first time in India. The brilliant coordination shown by the Maersk team, the terminal operator and of course, the client, is worthy of praise. The delivery of this expensive shipment all the way to China was indeed a difficult task but the company aced it without any hurdles. Read More The Shipping Corporation of India Deployed Its Container Vessel at Haldia Port The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has successfully deployed its first container vessel the Haldia and Kolkata ports in Eastern India. The flagship vessel is called the ‘m .v. Lal Bahadur Shastri’ and it was docked at Haldia on 20 th July. In fact, this container vessel is one its biggest type to have anchored at the Haldia port. The vessel has carried out an exchange of 1,048 TEUs on her first voyage. Owned by the J.M. Baxi Group, the Haldia International Container Terminal is well-equipped to handle large container vessels with the help of skilled professional staff, top-notch machinery and integrated vessel and yard operations. Read More Japanese Shipping Companies Are Exploring the Possibilities of Auto Berthing Technology A few of the Japanese shipping organizations, like the Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL), has teamed up to plan and aid the development of auto berthing technology, as funded by the Japanese Government. If all goes well, this project will boost the creation of an autonomous vessel in the near future. In fact, Tokyo is targeting to launch the fully operational, autonomous vessels as early as 2025. MOL highlights the fact the overall elimination of human error in the automated vessels can reduce marine accidents by a great percentage. Plus, it will also lessen the work pressure for the mariners and will redefine the concept of ocean transport for a better future. Read More Want to know more news Around the World ? Stay tuned every Monday to ODeX and get the latest in shipping.