ruben.maritime

MUMBAI 15 January – Star Cruises has posted a loss on its first Indian season and warns of an expected shortfall in its current season. The operator launched a series of cruises on the 42,000-gt, 1,800-berth Superstar Libra from Mumbai in September 2005. However, a combination of factors including heavy taxation and occupancy that averaged about 50% led to a loss for the period October 2005 to March 2006 of Rs750M ($17M). Star’s vice president sales and marketing Jean Teo has warned that the current season (October 2006-March 2007) will also show a deficit. The company has urged the Indian government to waive excise duty and some other taxes, as happened in Singapore, Star’s home port. To raise occupancy, Star is pulling the long trips to Lakshadweep and Goa and introducing short cruises that have proved popular among Indian tourists. The government has set up a powerful steering group led by shipping minister TR Baalu to draft a cruise policy to encourage foreign investment in the Indian cruise sector.

Etiquetas: Asia, cruise market, cruises

SINGAPORE 11 January – Singapore’s maritime sector continued to power ahead with container volumes, bunker sales and the ship registry maintaining the momentum of recent years. PSA's terminals and Jurong port in the west of the island together handled 24.8M teu in 2006, nearly 7% more than in 2005, transport minister Raymond Lim disclosed yesterday. Separately PSA announced today that its Singapore terminals had handled 23.9M teu in 2006, a growth of 7.6% over the 2005 throughput. The numbers place Singapore well ahead of Hong Kong, stamping its status as the world’s biggest container port in terms of volumes handled. Fairplay understands that Hong Kong, which conceded top place to Singapore in 2005, handled 23.4M teu in 2006. Bunker sales rose by 11% to 28.4M tonnes while the ship registry grew 5.6% to 34.8Mgt. Citing Singapore’s progress as a base for shipping in Asia, Lim noted that the UNCTAD report for 2006 placed Singapore as the “10th most important maritime nation” in terms of vessel tonnage controlled. The government will continue to support shipping, the minister affirmed.

Etiquetas: Asia, international maritime affairs, shipping business

TOYKO 11 January – The Japanese government has called for a full investigation into how a US nuclear-powered submarine managed to hit a VLCC on Monday night in the Strait of Hormuz. The ‘K’ Line tanker Mogamigawa sustained damage to a ballast tank about 70m from its stern, but there were no injuries to seafarers on either vessel. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki was quoted yesterday as saying that the cause of the collision was still under investigation and it was too early to place the blame. Shiozaki said Japan was informed that US Central Command was engaged in operations for maritime security in the area when the incident occurred and that the bow of the USS Newport News had been damaged. Divers inspected the tanker’s ballast tank No.5 while the ship was at Khor Fakkan yesterday and confirmed there was one dent 10m long x 3.5m wide with two holes, about 20cm x 10cm and 40cm x 20cm; another dent 4m long x 2m wide with three holes, about 10cm x 5cm, 10cm x 5cm and 20cm x 10cm; a third dent measuring 10m x 2m. The holes have been plugged and flooding of the ballast tank stopped. ClassNK has recommended that permanent repairs should be carried out by 9 February after cargo has been unloaded. Mogamigawa departed from Khor Fakkan last night and is expected to arrive in Singapore on 20 January. No repair yard has yet been selected.

Etiquetas: Asia, maritime incident

MOSCOW 10 January – Russian officials have told a delegation from Belarus there can be no resumption of crude oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline unless the Minsk government withdraws its transit fee hike. Belarus had been charging a nominal transit fee to Russian pipeline operator Transneft until last week, when it raised the fee substantially. Minsk officials did this in retaliation for the Moscow decision to end the duty-free regime for oil crossing the border, and impose a $180.70 per tonne export duty on crude from Russian producers. The duty-free regime originated in 1995, when the export duty was to be charged at Belarus’s western border, and the proceeds divided between the Belarus and Russian government budgets, 15% to the former, 85% to the latter. In 2001, Belarus abandoned the scheme, Russian officials claim, adding that more than $3.5Bn in revenues have been foregone by the Russian treasury, amounting to a subsidy to Belarus refining and export of petroleum products. Of the 1.3M barrels a day of crude Transneft piped across Belarus, about 400,000 barrels went to the Belarus refineries, and almost 1M barrels went on to Germany, Poland and other central European destinations. Russian producers may divert about half of this to domestic Russian refineries, and route another 200,000 barrels for export through the Black Sea or Baltic, where unseasonably warm weather currently allows an increase in tanker loadings.

 

Etiquetas: Asia, crude oil, European Union, international maritime affairs

SINGAPORE 10 January – Singapore Maritime Foundation, a private sector initiative to promote Singapore as an International Maritime Centre, has appointed trade and industry veteran David Chin as its new executive director. Chin, who replaces Teh Kong Leong, had retired recently as Director-General in the trade and industry ministry. “He [Chin] is the architect of the Approved International Shipping scheme and is eminently suitable to carry the IMC vision forward,” SMF chairman SS Teo told Fairplay. The scheme, which involves tax breaks over a specified time frame, has proved to be popular. Chin was also employed with shipyard group Keppel. Teo added Teh had resigned to pursue other interests. “We are parting ways,” Teh told without elaborating. Teh, 54, who had served in senior positions in Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority and shipping company NOL, joined SMF as executive director in January 2005. SMF is backed and partly funded by the Maritime and Port Authority, which has been designated as the “champion” agency to promote the government’s IMC objective.

Etiquetas: Asia, international maritime affairs

DELHI 12 December – India and Pakistan will sign a revised shipping protocol on Thursday in New Delhi that will enable vessels registered in one or other country to carry third-party cargo from ports in both states. Pakistan’s port and shipping minister Babar Khan Ghauri will sign the amended shipping protocol. The protocol will restore direct shipping links between the two neighbours after a lapse of 35 years. It is expected to give an impetus to ship owning in Pakistan and help it to win a share of the 4.5M-tonnes of cargo handled each year by Indian ports. Both countries initiated moves to amend the protocol in 2003. The Indian cabinet last month approved the proposed amendments to the protocol whereas Islamabad gave its approval about eight months ago. Shipping sources consider the amendment as an important move as it will increase the volume of trade and eventually bring down shipping rates. Recently Pakistan added 200 more items to the list of imports from India, and trade sources believe that once shipping links are restored the bilateral trade volume will soar from $1.2Bn to $2Bn, besides accelerating private sector participation in the shipping sector.

 

Etiquetas: Asia, international maritime affairs, shipping business

 TEHRAN 16 October – Iranian politicians are pushing for an investment fund to promote the country's shipbuilding industry. According to reported details, about fifty members of the Iranian Majlis (parliament) have agreed to table the Maritime Industry Development bill on priority basis to get it passed by the parliament without further delay. The bill calls for the creation of a High Maritime Industry Council and investment of IR400Bn ($43M) in Iranian investment fund to boost the local shipyards. It is said once the bill is passed, potential ship customers would be able to get 90% of the required credits for purchasing ships made in Iran. Moreover, those ships which meet international standards would be exempt from value added tax for 10 years; there would also be subsidised repair and maintenance facilities available.

Via Fairplay.co.uk

Etiquetas: Asia, international, shipbuilding, shipyards