
TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS
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- First View : MSC HIMANSHI
- Boost for Seafarer Training
- Another top award for Ghana’s Port Authority
- Tanzania’s standard gauge railway to the hinterland gets underway
- Indian Ocean Security: UK & India agree closer co-operation
- Alphaliner: Major shipping lines in the red
- Organised crime targets Rotterdam port workers
- PRESS RELEASES
- Expected Ship Arrivals and Ships in Port
- Cruise News and Naval Activities
- Pics of the Day : KOTA APL
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Mediterranean Shipping Company’s 2064-TEU maximum capacity container ship MSC HIMANSHI (34,100-dwt) makes her entrance into Durban harbour during March this year, accompanied by the harbour tug LOTHENI. With a length of 210 metres and a width of 30 metres, she is one of the older ships in service with this company, having been built 20 years ago in 1997. Her builder was the Stocznia Gdynia S.A. shipyard in Poland, where she became hull number 8143/01. In her 20 years the ship has had a number of different operators and has sailed under several different names, including MAERSK CORDOBA (1998), WESTEREMS (1998), LYKES VOYAGER (2001), WESTEREMS (again, 2002), ANL ADDAX (2003), and WESTEREMS once more (2005), and then MAERSK NOVAZZANO (2010). Her owner was registered as Schiffahrtskontor Rendsburg but is currently listed as Himanshi Maritime Ltd, c/o MSC Shipmanagement in Limassol, Cyprus. This picture is by Trevor Jones
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Seafarer training for South Africa and the rest of Africa has been given a further boost following to the signing of a historical memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI) and Global On Board – an International Maritime Organization (IMO) recognized institution in Port Elizabeth recently, reports SAMSA.
The signing took place on the third last day of the South African Maritime Industry Conference 2017 (SAMIC) held at the Boardwalk Conference Centre from Wednesday to Friday just over a week ago.
The MoU will enable South Africa and other African countries to work with the Global On-Board Training Centre in the identification and placement of cadets on trade vessels globally. SAIMI, based on Port Elizabeth is now responsible for the country’s cadet training management as part of its future objectives that also include research and related matters pertaining to the country’s maritime sector.
With the collaboration established between SAIMI and Global On Board Training Centre, the institution will be joining several institutions in countries including the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy and the Admiral G.I. Nevelskoy Maritime University both of Russia, the Dalian Maritime University (China), the Istanbul Technical University Maritime Faculty (Turkey), the John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University (Philippines), and the Korea Maritime University (Republic of Korea).
In the video link below, the parties to the MoU, Dr Yamamoto and SAIMI chief executive officer, Professor Malek Pourzanjani, along with the witnesses – SAMSA acting CEO, Mr Sobantu Tilayi and African Shipowners Association secretary-general, Ms Olufunmilayo Folorunso, explained the rationale behind the MoU: source: SAMSA
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ANOTHER TOP AWARD FOR GHANA’S PORT AUTHORITY

The Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority (GPHA) has been adjudged the best port in Management Information System within the West and Central Regions at the 2017 African Ports awards ceremony held in Dakar.
Ghana’s Port Authority was also adjudged the best port that regularly updates its website with news and accurate data among all Ports in the West and Central Africa Coast (Africa PORTS & SHIPS will agree on that).
This recognition follows efforts…[restrict] by the Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority’s to make available on its website adequate information on vessel calls, vessel schedules, statistical data and news updates among others.
IT Manager of GPHA, David Boison said the online vessel booking system introduced by the Port Authority has led to improved communication and customer satisfaction as the cost and time shipping lines spend to get berthing space for their vessels has significantly reduced.
Touching on some other IT initiatives introduced by the port recently that have improved port processes, David Boison said the implementation of the Terminal Operating System, which is a key part of the supply chain and primarily aims to control the movement and storage of various types of Cargo in and around a container terminal or port will improve service delivery to clients.
He added that the port authority has also taken some initiatives to tighten the security at the port to minimise pilfering and theft.
It will be recalled that, Ghana’s Ports was adjudged the best in West and Central Africa while Meridian Port Services was adjudged the Best Container Terminal at the 2016 African Ports awards held in Abidjan. source: GPHA[/restrict]
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TANZANIA’S STANDARD GAUGE RAILWAY TO THE HINTERLAND GETS UNDERWAY

Another railway infrastructure project costing billions of dollars but with the promise of revolutionising the movement of cargo and passengers to Tanzania’s large hinterland and to neighbouring countries, has commenced construction.
The standard gauge railway (SGR) will run from the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam inland through Tanzania’s inland regions to connect with the Lake Victoria port of Mwanza and with that to provide a shipping connection to Uganda.
Other countries to benefit from…[restrict] direct connections include Rwanda, Burundi and the Eastern DRC.
The railway will be constructed in five phases, rivalling a similar SGR under construction in Tanzania’s northern neighbour, Kenya. This particular SGR, which has a head start on that of Tanzania, will stretch from the port of Mombasa to the Kenyan capital Nairobi and then on towards the Ugandan border, where it will connect with a similar venture promised by Uganda.
The Kenyan SGR will commence operations within months as far as Nairobi.
As a result of the Tanzanian railway venture, Uganda has promised to re-develop the run-down Port Bell on the northern shores of Lake Victoria as well as re-developing the inland port at Bukasa in the District of Wakiso.
The new railway venture was officially launched last Wednesday by Tanzania’s President John Magafuli who is fast gaining a reputation for his strong focus on infrastructure. Also present was the Charge d’Affaires at Uganda’s High Commission, Mr Oscar Edule, who is currently holding the office pending the arrival of a new High Commissioner, Richard Kabonero.
“Our main focus is to improve the infrastructure sector, something which will in turn improve other sectors,” President Magufuli said at the ceremony which was held at Pugu Railway Station in Dar-es-Salaam.
The SGR is to be electrified at least for part of the section and is designed to support a maximum speed of 160km/h for passenger trains and 120km/h for freight. It is expected to be complete within 30 months. The first phase of the project costing $1.215 billion has been awarded to a consortium consisting of Turkey’s Yapi Merkez Insaat Ve Sanayi and Portugal’s Mota-Engil, Engenharia and Construção Africa, SA. This will extend from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro.
According to Tanzania’s Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, Prof Makame Mbarawa, the government has already invited bidders for the construction of the remaining stretch from Morogoro to Mwanza, costing of $7.6 billion.
“The work include design and construction of 336 kilometre stretch of the SGR from Morogoro to Makutopora, a 294 kilometre stretch from Makutopora to Tabora, 133 kilometre long Tabora to Isaka and 294 kilometre stretch from Isaka to Mwanza,” he said.
The SGR when completed to the lake port of Mwanza is expected to handle 17 million tonnes of cargo per annum. It will run parallel to the existing metre-gauge central railway line built 112 years ago by the German colonialists. sources: The Monitor, Tanzania Daily News[/restrict]
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INDIAN OCEAN SECURITY: UK & INDIA AGREE CLOSER CO-OPERATION

During the week commencing 9 April Sir Michael Fallon, Defence Secretary, visited India to strengthen UK-Indian defence and security ties.
On 13 April Sir Michael attended the first meeting, part of the 2015 Defence and International Security Partnership (DISP), with his Indian counterpart Arun Jaitley.
Among topics discussed were: UK-Indian defence industries, forthcoming exercises and global security, the defence counterparts jointly set out…[restrict] their ambitions to design, make, exercise, transform, train and co-operate together. They reaffirmed their intent for a stronger, deeper, wider relationship that delivers growth and jobs in the UK and India at the same time as improving regional security and supporting both nations’ interests globally.
Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon said: “As Britain steps up globally, we continue to develop our close security partnership with India. Our countries are recognised globally as leaders in defence and we remain steadfast in our commitment to regional security, growing our defence industries and supporting our mutual interests.

“Our nations face the same threats and we will work closely together to harness British expertise and Indian brain power to develop cutting edge technologies and equipment that benefit both of our armed forces.”
Sir Michael visited Mumbai and Delhi over three days. During his visit he laid a wreath at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai to commemorate the 2008 terror attacks. Furthermore, he visited an Indian Navy ship, delivered speeches at two think-tank events and laid a wreath at Delhi’s India Gate to honour Indians who fought and died in the First World War.
On 13 April the meeting between the defence ministers marked the inaugural annual UK-India Strategic Defence Dialogue, as laid out in the DISP and here it was agreed that capability partnerships would help collaborate with Indian industry under the Make in India agenda. On an earlier ministerial visit (UK) Defence Minister Harriet Baldwin addressed the Make in India Conference in February this year.
Over the past decade, the UK has exported £2.15 billion of defence equipment and services to India. From learning from each other on joint aircraft carrier operations to collaboration on defence science and technology projects, the UK and India are elevating their partnership, bringing greater opportunities for their respective defence industries and armed forces, it has been reported.[/restrict]
Paul Ridgway
London
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ALPHALINER: MAJOR SHIPPING LINES IN THE RED

According to the shipping analyst Alphaliner, the average operating margins of 13 main container lines remained negative for the second half of 2016.
This was in spite of an improvement in freight rates following the bankruptcy of South Korea’s Hanjin Shipping during late August, Alphaliner reported.
Of the 13 shipping companies in the report, only three…[restrict] – Hapag-Lloyd, CMA CGM and Wan Hai were able to record positive operating results for the full year. The balance of 10 lines all ended in the red, it said.
They were K Line, MOL, EMC, NYK, OOCL, Zim, Maersk, Yang Ming, HMM and COSCO.
The worst performing line in this report was Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM), which suffered operating losses of US$595 million for a full year operating margin of -18.5%.
HMM is continuing to rely on state support, including a government program to acquire and charter back HMM’s ships with the loss from the sale to be recovered by HMM through capital injections by the Korean government.
Privately-owned and family shipping companies such a MSC were not included in this analysis. source: Alphaliner and PTI[/restrict]
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ORGANISED CRIME TARGETS ROTTERDAM PORT WORKERS

About one of seven port workers at the Port of Rotterdam have been approached by criminals on at least one occasion, reports the police chief of Zeehaven, Jan Janse, according to the newspaper NL Times
The report said the criminals are looking to port workers to perform such tasks as approaching customs officers about not checking certain containers, or asking others to assist with the collection of containers carrying drugs.
This first ever study…[restrict] of port workers as being involved after being approached by criminals came about from a major drug trafficking problem currently facing the Port of Rotterdam. The amount of cocaine that has been intercepted at the port has increased significantly over the past five years and in 2016 more cocaine was intercepted than in the previous two years together.
“To understand the magnitude of this problem we conducted a survey of over 200 truck drivers and terminal workers,” Janse told the newspaper. “The results confirmed our suspicion that a lot of workers are approached by criminals.”
He said this involved about one in seven port workers and one in ten truck drivers.
Janse acknowledges that the survey has been done on a small scale. “But it is the first time that we hear about this from the port workers themselves. Given the percentage, we are dealing with a serious problem.”
He said the police arrested over 60 people sent to pick up drugs at the port over the past three years. Even more were arrested on suspicion that they were there to collect drugs.
Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, the police and the Public Prosecutor in Rotterdam are very concerned about drug trafficking at the port and the corruption that goes with it. This problem is now also given higher priority at national level. “All information about corruption is going to a central point for further analysis and action,” Janse said. source NLTimes[/restrict]
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EXPECTED SHIP ARRIVALS and SHIPS IN PORT
Port Louis – Indian Ocean gateway port
Ports & Ships publishes regularly updated SHIP MOVEMENT reports including ETAs for ports extending from West Africa to South Africa to East Africa and including Port Louis in Mauritius.
In the case of South Africa’s container ports of Durban, Ngqura, Ports Elizabeth and Cape Town links to container Stack Dates are also available.
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CRUISE NEWS AND NAVAL ACTIVITIES
QM2 in Cape Town. Picture by Ian Shiffman
We publish news about the cruise industry here in the general news section.
Naval News
Similarly you can read our regular Naval News reports and stories here in the general news section.

Here’s an interesting scene. The container ship KOTA APL (50,600-dwt) is departing the New Zealand port of Lyttelton. Note that her funnel shows her to be a ship of the Pacific International Lines (PIL) – a line whose ships call here in Africa on a frequent basis – PIL ships being among the most regularly seen in Durban. The additional interest n this case comes with her name which is that of another Singapore-based shipping company, APL or American President Line, which last year was absorbed into the French container carrier, CMA CGM. These things can become convoluted at times. Kota APL is a gearless cellular ship with a container capacity of 4,335 TEUs. She was built in 2013 and is 266 metres long and 32 metres wide and is owned and managed by Pacific International Lines of Singapore, where she is also registered. Why the name? We simply don’t know.
These pictures are by Alan Calvert
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
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– Isak Dinesen
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