Mumbai, Aug 27: Maersk Line is offering an India-Mideast service to the western Med through a slot swap with United Arab shipping Company.

This will take place on UASC’s  Asia-Med-USA pendulum (MINA) service operated with Hanjin and to be branded ME 2 by Maersk.The ME -2 will cover Valencia- Genoa, Jeddah, Jebel Ali, Port Qasim, Nhava Sheva- Jeddah, Genoa, Barcelona and back to Valencia. The first ME-2 sailing will be the Hanjin Rio de Janeiro from Nhava Sheva on Sept 19. It is not yet know which Maersk service is in the slot exchange through the Danish line covers its side of the Med- Mideast-India route with its ME-3 service.

UASC’s MINA faces other changes with plans to extend it to the Far East. The full MINA rotationis now Nhava Sheva-Jeddah- Port Said- Cagliari- La Spezia- Genoa- Barcelona- Valencia- New York- norfolk- Savannah- Valencia- Genoa- port Said-Jeddah- Khor Fakkan- Jebel Ali - Port Qasim and back to Nhava sheva.

       New Delhi, 25: The Kerala Government is in the process of appointing a consultant for the development of Ponnani port in Malappuram district. The consultant will study the detailed project report being prepared by a Chennai -based company, which proposed the development of the port through Swiss Challenge Method. The State Government had issued an order in July last year approving the development of the port through public-private partnership (PPP) and selection of a private investor through Swiss Challenge Method.

        The proposal is to develop Ponnani into an all-weather facility for handling vessels of up to 50,000 DWT. The construction of the port will be on build-operate-transfer(BOT) basis with a concession period of 30 years, according to officials of the Directorate of Ports. A global tender will be floated to select an investor to develop the port. The final criterion for the selection will be the highest percentage of revenue accruing to the Government once the port commences operation.  

         Japan, Aug 25: NYK Line is predicting its first unprofitable  year in 23 year, forecasting a loss of US $53 million. The shipping line posted a first-quarter loss of US $ 19.9 million in revenue, a decline of 44 percent to US $4 billion.

        The global downturn has choked demand for furniture, building materials and consumer electronics in the US and Europe, driving down shipping rates, said the company. In response, NYK has slashsd its fleet expansion by 15 percent and laid up containerships.

          ” It’s tough all round for the shipping lines,” Osuke Itazaki, an anaylyst in Tokyo at the Credit Suisse Group, told Bloomberg. ”The container segment is suffering and even though the dry-bulk market is rebounding, it’s still below last year’s levels.”    

        Mumbai, Aug 24: Mumbai Port (MBPT) has agreed to extend concessions on empty container storage charges for a further period of one year ending September 2010 in response to appeals from port users and the trade.

        The discounted rates, slated to take effect on Sept. 9, will apply to containers handled at designated yards and container freight stations, and not to units stored at the regular docks. The port authority earlier announced plans to levy lower charges for container stuffing and de-stuffing and allow additional  free storage time. The new incentives are aimed at boosting box traffic moving through the west coast hub that has seen sharp declines in recent years, particularly since the global economic slowdown.    

        While MBPT remains a major gateway for general cargo, having racked up throughput of 17.4 million tons in the April- July period compared with 17.7million tons in the same period last fiscal year, its container volume fell by about 50 percent to 18,903 TEUs from 38,422 TEUs.

         In fiscal 2008-09 ended March 31, container traffic dropped to 92,000 TEUs from 118,000 TEUs the previous year. In a bid to attract more containerized cargo, MBPT is building a $300-million offshore container terminal through privet participation. Expected to be ready in 2010, the project will enable the port to handle 6,000- TEU vessels and compate with the neighboring JN Port, india’s largest box gateway.

           New delhi, Aug 23: Containerized cargo traffic at the Port Of New york and New Jersey fell 18.8 pc in June as an accelerating decline in exports offset slight improvement in imported business, the Port Authority said. Loaded container imports, measured in TEUs, fell 15.6 pc in June compared to     the same month a year ago. But the container imports edged        up 2.5 pc in June from May the third straight month -to- month improvement in imported containers, and the 186,985 loaded TEUs were the most the Port Authority has seen on the import   side so far in 2009.

          But exports fell 22.9 pc compared to last JUNE, The sharpest year-over-year decline sine February and loaded exported containers slipped 4.2 pc from May to june. That       left overall loaded container traffic at the port Authorty’s ocean terminals down 17.1 pc in the first half of 2009 compared to    the same period a year ago. Imports, which make up more than 60 pc of the Port Authority container business, were off 14.4 pc in that period.

   New Delhi, Aug 23: The govt approved an over Rs 755 crore project for Kandla port to enable it to handle additional eight million tonnes of cargo per annum.

   ”The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure gave its approval for the project involving development of four multipurpose cargo berths at Kandla Port Trust, Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs. 755.50 crore, ” Urban Development Minister Jaipal Reddy said. Of the total expansion cost, the operator’s share will be Rs  728.84 crore while the remaining Rs 26.66 crore will be contributed by the port. “The aggregate capacity of the four berths would be eight million tonnes per annum for catering to 75, 000 DWT (Dead Weight Tonnage) parcel size vessels,”Reddy said adding that the project would be completed within 24 months. The capacity addition will boost the export-import trade, industrial economy in the hinterland of the port leading to creation of jobs, Reddy said.  He said the move would also help in decongestion of the port.

       Singapore, Aug 20: Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) has announced that its container shipping arm, APL, carried 11 per cent fewer boxes in the four weeks to July 24 year on year, but earned more per box than in many months.

     “These results provide a small glimmer of hope for liner operators after the dismal past nine months, which have seen freight rates coming down in a free-fall. Rates have not improved despite rising bunker costs since January, “commented the consultancy’s weekly newsletter.

       “Apparently some effects of recent freight rate increases and peak season cargo volumes are beginning to show. Freight rates for the for the four-week period from 27 June to 24 1.3 per cent improvement to US$1,110 per TEU, compared to US$1,095 per TEU in the preceding four weeks in June. During the same period, APL’s liftings improved by 8.8 per cent on a mont-to-month basis to 374,800 TEU, ” said the paris based consultancy.

       NOL said in a statement that during the reporting period, APL handled  187,400 FEU, down from 209,800 FEU a year earlier.

        The average revenue from each container decreased 29 per cent year-on-year to US$2,219. HOW-ever, the revenue per container was, slightly higher than the $2,190 recorded for the preceding four-week period  ended June 26.

      New Delhi, Aug 20: Up-wards of 8,000 cargo ships and river couree connecting Zhejiang province to shanghai, The bottleneck on the Changxing-Huzhou-Shanghai river course, the worst in a decade, extends 40km. Zhou Shiquan, chief of the maritime affairs section of Huzhou ports and Shipping Administration confirmed on Aug 18 that the buildup on the river course, which links Changxing, Huzhou, (both in Zhejiang), and Shangha. It has been closed to shipping for the past 13 dagys because of safety concerns, he said. ‘Se opened spill-ways at Nanxun downstream of the west-east river course at 9am today to lower the water level so that ships and boats could sail again safely, ’said Mr Zhou. Song Qinghua, another senior official with Huzhou Ports and Shipping Administration, said water level fell to 3.8m after an hour of the spillways’ opening.

     As the course is also connected to flooded Taihu Lake, it was very difficlt to say whether the water discharge would be effective long-term, said Mr Song. The lake ’s water level was at 4.2m at 10am yesterday. ‘Shipping  services cannot be resumed until the water levels upstream and downstream have a difference of 30cm, ’said Mr Song The water level course is being closely monitored at Nanxun. The course is 145km long and carries 80 per cent of coal used for generating electricity in Zhejiang, jiangsu and  Shanghai.

    New Delhi, Aug 19: The pre-tax profit of Hutchison Whampoa’s subsidiary, Hutchison Port Holdings, fell 33 pc year on year in the first half to HK$5.76 billion (US$722.4 million) on revenues of HK$141 billion, which  were down 20 pc.

   The world’s largest container terminal operator’s earnings from mainland China and Hong Kong operations dropped 24 pc in the first six months while its European pre-tax prof its fell 40 pc and its terminals in other Asian ports suffered a 22 pc decline.

    HPH, whose parent Hutchison Whampoa is largely owned by chairman Li Ka-shing, accounted for 25 pc of group earnings before interest and taxes.

    “The sharp reduction in global trade that started in the fourth quarter of last year continued into the first quarter of 2009. During the second quarter, volumes generally stabilised, albeit at levels well below 2008, said Mr Li said. “This decline has adversely affected the results of the ports. The division handled a total throughput of 30.3 million TEU in the first six months of 2009, eight pc lower than that of the same period last year, “he said in the statement, “In the first half of 2009, the impact of the decline of the global economy adversely affected several  of the group’s global businesses. However, with the support of central government’s initiatives, the mainland economy maintained healthy domestic demand and the impact of economic factors affecting Hong Kong have been largely mitigated. “The global economy has not regained its strength and in this difficult economic environment, the group will continue to focus on maintaining strict operational and financial discipline. The group’s liquidity remains healthy.”said Mr Li.

    New Delhi, Aug 19: Shipping lines operating half the world’s container vessels plan to raise Asia-US rates, ending a price war that contributed to industrywide losses. Falling demand and a flood of new vessels may  stop them.

   A group of 14 lines, including CMA CMG, Evergreen Marine and Neptune  Orient Lines’ APL, agreed to raise rates by US$500 per 40-foot container starting this week.

  The figure was a ‘voluntary guideline’, the transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA), said last month. The lines, now in the busiest period of the year, may have to settle for less as slumping traffic and empty ships let customers seek discounts.

   ‘Cargo volumes aren’t big enough’ to support the US$500 rise, said Bruce Tseng, a spokesman  for Yang Ming Marine Transport, a TSA member.

   The group wants to renegotiate contracts signed in the past few  months to raise rates after the 10 largest listed container-shipping companies all posted losses. A similar attempt in April failed as lines competed for volumes to avoid costly ship lay-ups amid a roughly 20 pc drop in Asia-US$500 increase would leave rates at unprofitable levels and 30 pc lower than a year earlier, according to CMA CGM. Spot rates for shipping a container to Los Angeles from Hong Kong fell below US$900 last month. Container lines traditionally raise rates around the third quarter as shops stock up for the ‘ back to school’ and holiday shopping seasons.

   This year, cargo-box trade is tumbling as retailers pare orders amid weak demand. US consumer spending fell a 1.2 pc pace in the second quarter. Inbound container volumes at the port of Los Angeles, the busiest in the US, fell 17 pc from a year earlier in june. ‘Discussions to move rates back up again are pretty tough,’said Ron Widdows, CEO, NOL.NYK, isn’t sure how many customers will accept the higher rates, said Suguru Uchida, a spokesman.

    MSC, Evergreen Marine Corp, Asia’s biggest, and Hapag Lloyed AG, Germany’s biggest, declined to comment. The ships were or dered during a trade boom that ended last year. But the world Bank has forecast a 6.1 pc decline in global trade this year. New vessels are entering service even as a shortage of cargo forces lines to mothball existing ships in Singapore, Hong Kong and other ports across Asia. The capacity of the laid-up fleet will likely expand 66 pc by around year’s end to two million 20-foot containers.

      Shipping lines are trying to drive up rates by with-drawing capacity. AP Moeller Maersk, CMA CGM and MSC agreed to combine two Asia-US services into one. A US$500 increase would leave rates ‘below minimum profitability’ because of the need to haul empty containers back to Asia from the US, said Jean-Philippe Thenoz, head of North American lines at CMA CGM. He added that the increase will stick as customers understand that it’s a ‘ necessity’ and because a US economic rebound will trigger an increase in demand. ‘There are already signs of a recovery in US consumption,’he said . ‘We ‘re very optimistic for the end of 2009 and for 2010.’