Blogs

The New Year had started with a bang and the January month still continues to be filled with a string of events in the shipping world. With the onset of February, some new developments have been highlighted by the media in some of the recent press releases. Let us have a look at the significant news that is bound to grab the reader’s attention. The Paradip Port Trust Sets a New Record for High Monthly Volume – India In January 2018, the Paradip Port Trust (PPT) has reportedly handled a high monthly volume of 10.18 MMT of cargo. This has surpassed the previous month’s volume of 9.5 MMT of cargo, as recorded in December of the previous year. The Chairman of the Paradip Port Trust, Mr. Rinkesh Roy, has recently appreciated the all-round performance of the officials and employees of the Marine Department, Traffic Department, IOHP Division and MCHP Division in India. The Chairman addressed an audience of Port users and stakeholders and is of the opinion that soon the Port Trust will be able to go beyond the commendable 100 MT mark in the current fiscal. According to a press release, the Marine Department has conducted 467 successful shipping movements during the same period in the maritime industry. Also in the same month, the MCHP Division handled 570 rakes (its highest number yet) and around 116 rakes were conducted by the IOHP Division. Peter Dohle and Costamere Jointly Creates a Huge Boxship – Greece/Germany Costamere and Peter Dohle, the two renowned companies in the field of containership shipping business, have combined their resources to construct a colossal boxship chartering vessel. Supposedly, this European boxship is going to compete with Seaspan as a mammoth charter vessel. This German-Greek venture has decided that its headquarters will be located at Hamburg and this business agreement has been named as the Blue Net Chartering. As a team, the two shipping companies are in charge of around 220 vessels equating to an approx. size of 1.1m teu . The merger Blue Net Chartering has been advertising its best features and advantages to its clients and has pledged to offer “best-in-class employment opportunities for container shipowners”. Independently, Peter Dohle handles around 300 shipping vessels and Costamere controls 71 vessels and both have a longstanding good reputation in the marine industry. Containership MOL Prestige Caught on Fire Off the Canadian Coast Unfortunately, the MOL Prestige vessel owned by Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. lines, suffered from a fire hazard in its engine while it was on its journey from Vancouver to Tokyo. The ship lost its normally functioning propulsion somewhere near the Haida Gwaii (a Canadian island) area and immediately sent out a distress call. The Victoria Joint Rescue Coordination Centre (JRCC), acted on the distress call and sent out a helicopter and an aircraft to rush to its rescue. Luckily, it has been possible to save two crew members who have been admitted to the Queen Charlotte City to undergo urgent medical treatment for their injuries. The MOL Prestige is currently adrift in a southwest direction of the Canadian island after the terrible fire mishap, along with the remaining 21 crew members (who were unharmed). JRCC is now in charge of tracking the containership, as per the reports. The Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals Started its Operations - India The first phase of the PSA’s Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals (BMCT), which is the fourth terminal at JN Port, has begun its operations on 2 nd February 2018. The terminal commenced its functioning with the first vessel being CMA CGM Centaurus that is a part of the Swax service, linked with East Africa. There is a total of 5 containership vessels in the service (4 from CMA CGM and 1 from the Emirates) and the port rotation includes Nhava Sheva, Mundra, Khorfakkan, Jebel Ali, Mombasa, Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Djibouti, Nhava Sheva. The weekly service conducted by the Bharat Mumbai Container Terminal has a 35-day rotation routine and deals with vessels that have a capacity limit of 4,000 teu , according to sources. The necessary launch and the constant development of the BMCT will ensure the economic transactions and various business-related activities between India and other countries. There is a huge demand for expanding the container handling capacity, which the BMCT will handle efficiently. Moreover, it will promote the growth of export-import trading as it well-connected through a widespread network of railways and highways to the major markets located in Maharashtra, Gujarat and also, the National Capital Region. Hapag-Llyod Extends its Current Time Charter with Diana Containerships Hapag-Llyod, a German company, has extended its panamax charter due to an agreement with the Diana Containerships, a Greek company. The panamax containership called ‘Sagitta’ weighs around 3,426 teu and will fetch a sum of $8,400 each day for a period of 3-5 months. The records state that the new charter period is going to start from 15 th February, this year. --- Want to know more news Around the World ? Stay tuned every Monday to ODeX and get the latest in shipping.