TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS
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- First View : SILVER SPIRIT
- South African Port Statistics for the Calendar Year 2017
- Namport and Namibia Training Authority to work together
- Nigerian Inland Dry Port at Kaduna inaugurated
- Two Transmaritima vessels reported abandoned in Port of Quelimane
- Drill ship Maersk Venturer arrives off Ghana to commence contract
- INTERNATIONAL-Evergreen confirms orders for 20 new container ships
- INTERNATIONAL-Containership trio highlight Gibdock upturn
- Maersk and IBM in Blockchain Joint Venture
- Expected Ship Arrivals and Ships in Port
- Cruise News and Naval Activities
- Pic of the Day : CHENG KAI
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Another of the cruise ships in South African waters at this time of year is Silverseas SILVER SPIRIT, which has made several cruises along the coast with passengers of whom the majority have flown out from Europe to join the ship, before taking a vacation in South Africa to add to their experience. Silver Spirit will be entering the Fincantieri Palermo shipyard in April this year to be lengthened with a pre-built section and the next time we will see this ship she will have a longer look about her. Here she is in Cape Town earlier this month. The picture is by Ian Shiffman
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SOUTH AFRICAN PORT STATISTICS FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2017
Statistics for the calendar year 2017, which are available courtesy TNPA, reveal that the eight ports under the control of the TNPA increased the volume of cargo handled for the year compared with that of 2016 by 2.473 percent. The combined ports handled a total of 290.43 million tonnes of all cargoes, including containers by averaged weight – this compared with 283mt in 2016 and 297mt in 2015.
In 2015 the increase by the eight ports was 5.3% as against the year 2014, and on this broad basis the country may be considered to be moving slowly forward. How this impacts on capital expenditure by Transnet as the governing body of the nation’s ports, remains to be seen but it is likely that a conservative approach will remain in place.
In our figures given below you will be able to compare each port’s progress over a four year period.[restrict]
Whilst Transnet professes to be pleased with the progress at the transhipment port of Ngqura, it cannot really be said that the Eastern Cape port has made any great strides as the transhipment centre for the wider region. Certainly the port has found its ‘space’ along the Southern African coast and has proven beneficial in reducing pressure on the other container ports but until it begins serving a much wider geographic range Ngqura will remain a uniquely South African regional port that is set to be gradually absorbing much of the traffic from its near neighbour, Port Elizabeth.
The latest information from Transnet is that the manganese terminal will be transferred from PE to Ngqura now only in 2023, while the liquid bulk terminal which is being privatised will relocate much sooner in 2019.
Port tonnages in this report include a calculation made for container weights where applicable, based on an average of 13.5 tonnes per TEU. Africa PORTS & SHIPS is unique in presenting these figures this way, which present a more accurate and historically comparable picture of how each port is performing.
Containers
In terms of containers, in 2017 the combined ports had a throughput of 4.635 million TEU (2016: 4.355 million TEU; 2015: 4.597 million TEU; 2014: 4.588 million TEU), which reflects an increase in container volumes of 280,000 TEU for the year or 6.43%. Durban remains the busiest container port for 2017 having handled 2.670 million TEUs (2016: 2.620m TEU; 2015: 2.770m TEU; 2014: 2.664m TEU), a 50,000 TEU decrease on 2016. The next busiest container port was Cape Town which handled 881,913 TEU (2016: 926,611m TEU; 2015: 888,976 TEU; 2014: 892,557 TEU). Close behind Cape Town was Ngqura where 806,090 TEU was handled.
The other major container port was Port Elizabeth which handled a total of 168,283 TEU. Full details including other ports follow below. The final figure for Ngqura is being queried and may be adjusted.
Details of volumes by individual port are set out below.
Figures for the respective ports during the calendar years 2017, 2016, 2015, and 2014:
CARGO HANDLED BY TONNES
| PORT | 2017 mt | 2016 mt | 2015 mt | 2014 mt |
| Richards Bay | 99.984 | 99.588 | 102.657 | 94.783 |
| Durban | 78.106 | 76.828 | 79.840 | 81.188 |
| Saldanha Bay | 69.946 | 66.527 | 71.820 | 64.729 |
| Cape Town | 15.900 | 16.733 | 16.721 | 15.587 |
| Port Elizabeth | 11.676 | 11.229 | 11.538 | 12.217 |
| Ngqura | 11.022 | 7.789 | 8.649 | 9.588 |
| Mossel Bay | 1.744 | 1.832 | 2.518 | 2.029 |
| East London | 2.050 | 2.531 | 2.946 | 2.211 |
| Total all ports | 290.428mt | 283.058mt | 296.689mt | 282.342mt |
CONTAINERS (measured by TEUs)
(TEUs include Deepsea, Coastal, Transship and empty containers all subject to being invoiced by TNPA.
Please note there is a query regarding the Ngqura container figures which may have to be adjusted.
| PORT | 2017 TEUs | 2016 TEUs | 2015 TEUs | 2014 TEUs |
| Durban | 2,699,978 | 2,620,026 | 2,770,335 | 2,664,330 |
| Cape Town | 881,913 | 926,611 | 888,976 | 892,557 |
| Port Elizabeth | 168,283 | 152,455 | 216,629 | 259,917 |
| Ngqura | 806,090 | 572,021 | 636,663 | 705,377 |
| East London | 63,324 | 71,901 | 66,293 | 41,957 |
| Richards Bay | 15,241 | 12,302 | 19,011 | 24,189 |
| Total all ports | 4,634,829 TEUs | 4,355,320 TEUs | 4,597,922 TEUs | 4,588,419 TEUs |
SHIP CALLS MADE IN 2017
| PORT | 2017 vessels | gross tons | ||
| Durban | 3323 | 121,429,871 | ||
| Cape Town | 2031 | 49,866,339 | ||
| Richards Bay | 1850 | 72,207,967 | ||
| Port Elizabeth | 937 | 29,453,538 | ||
| Saldanha Bay | 533 | 35,818,157 | ||
| Ngqura | 485 | 31,032,920 | ||
| East London | 312 | 10,303,627 | ||
| Mossel Bay | 350 | 2,600,807 | ||
| Total ship calls | 9,821 |
352,713,226
|
– source TNPA, but with adjustments made by Ports & Ships to include container tonnages
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NAMPORT AND NAMIBIA TRAINING AUTHORITY TO WORK TOGETHER
The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) and Namibia Training Authority (NTA) have signed an agreement that will see Namibian citizens who receive training from the NTA being attached to Namport for practical exposure in fields that are business related to Namport.
Announcing this yesterday, Mr Bisey Uirab, Namport CEO indicated that as a medium player in the transport and logistics industry not only in Namibia but throughout the entire SADC region and indeed in Africa, Namport needs to ensure that skills are sharpened at all levels hence the importance of such partnerships with TPA.
Uirab thanked NTA and its management for reviving practices where Namport and other similar entities can benefit from those who have undergone training at NTA.
As an institution, Namport over the past few years has embarked on developing its own resource in different specialisations such as the fields of maritime law, piloting, and marine engineering, etc.
CEO of NTA Jerry Beukes said that the agreement aims at supporting the current efforts of the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation and for the NTA to establish a viable and sustainable well integrated policy of its VET.
Beukes added that the signing of the agreement will yield tremendous results for both Namport and NTA.
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NIGERIAN INLAND DRY PORT AT KADUNA INAUGURATED
Earlier this month Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated the Inland Dry Port in Kaduna.
Speaking at the inauguration, President Buhari took issue with the Nigerian customs service and Port officials by warning them not to frustrate normal legitimate business activities at the country’s inland dry ports.
He said customs and port officials must make the facilities work and not hinder the business, commercial and industrial enterprises with…[restrict] unnecessary bureaucracy and delays. These, he said, defeat the objective of the whole exercise as they have in the past.
Buhari said that apart from the Kaduna Inland Dry Port, six other dry ports located in Ibadan, Aba, Kano, Jos, Funtua and Maiduguri were at various stages of completion.
Kaduna has 4,000 square metres of warehousing and will handle all kinds of cargo including containers and agricultural products and is served by both rail and road.
The Federal administration was committed to linking all major commercial and production centres as well as state capitals with railway system to bring about rapid socio-economic development, the president further added.[/restrict]
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TWO TRANSMARITIMA VESSELS REPORTED ABANDONED IN PORT OF QUELIMANE
Two landing craft, INDICO I and INDICO II (690-gt, built 2011) are reported to have been abandoned by their owners or operators at the central Mozambique port of Quelimane.
The landing craft are owned by Transmaritima, a state-owned company and are registered in Mozambique. They have been on charter to a company by name of Safetrade Mozambique who located them at Quelimane pending the start-up of transhipping titanium-bearing heavy mineral sands in the Zambezia district of Chinde, where a Chinese firm Africa Great Wall Mining is…[restrict] said to be operating.
According to reports the operation involving the two landing craft never got off the ground and the two vessels have remained idle alongside a jetty at Quelimane for the past three years, where they are said to be obstructing fishing vessels.
Transmaritima is an incorporated company in which the state is the main shareholder. The firm operates a fleet of vessels carrying both passengers and cargo in some of the less accessible areas of Mozambique, hence the use of landing craft type vessels.
A local independent television station, STV, reported having approached Transmaritima for an explanation but failed to obtain anything useful. A spokesman for the shipping company said the two craft were supposed to have been returned to Maputo but couldn’t explain why this had not happened.
A skeleton crew remaining on board the vessels in Quelimane said the vessels had initially each been crewed by 12 men but this had now reduced to six. Two engineers had died while in Quelimane and other crew had simply given up and returned to Maputo by their own means.
Those remaining had received no wages and approaches to the Transport Ministry had been fruitless. The Ministry says it is not their responsibility and advise the remaining crew to abandon the vessels and return home. With no maintenance being done the condition of the two landing craft is said to be deteriorating. source: AIM[/restrict]
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DRILL SHIP MAERSK VENTURER ARRIVES OFF GHANA TO COMMENCE CONTRACT
The drill ship MAERSK VENTURER (59,557-dwt) has arrived in position off the coast of Takoradi, Ghana to commence its contract involving development drilling for Tullow’s two fields off Ghana, the Jubilee and TEN fields.
Built in 2014 the 228-metre long, 42m wide drill ship is due to commence operations next month.
Maersk Drilling has been awarded a four year contract for the deep-water drillship Maersk Venturer by Tullow Ghana Ltd. The contract was…[restrict] signed in December 2017.
“I am very pleased that Maersk Drilling will be mobilising another deepwater rig for this significant job in a strategically important region. It is our first contract with Tullow Ghana and it is a testament to our successful operational track record in Ghana. We are firmly committed to supporting Tullow Ghana’s business through safe and efficient drilling operations,” said Lars Ostergaard, Chief Commercial Officer of Maersk Drilling.
Maersk Rigworld Ghana, Maersk Drilling’s joint venture with Rigworld International Services, will be providing local services in connection with the operation and thereby drive local job creation and competency development. The joint venture has expanded the range of locally available goods and services significantly since the partnership was founded in 2015, and will further expand its network of local suppliers over the course of the new contract.
“Local growth and local resource development are key elements in our business activities in Ghana. After more than 2.5 years of operation in Ghana with Maersk Voyager, Maersk Drilling now operates with over 50 percent local staff and a wide network of local suppliers. We are very proud to work in Ghana and appreciate the opportunity to make use of the ever increasing capabilities within the Ghanaian indigenous sector,” Østergaard said.
“Maersk Drilling is a highly valuable partner for Rigworld, and we’re excited that they are expanding their footprint in Ghana with the new contract with Tullow Ghana. The contract marks yet another step in a successful collaboration that enables us to utilize each other’s capabilities and add mutual value,” said Kofi Abban, founder and CEO of Rigworld Group.
About Maersk Drilling
Maersk Drilling operates a modern fleet of 24 drilling rigs including drillships, deepwater semi-submersibles and high-end jack-up rigs and employs an international staff of 3,000 people. In 2016 the company generated an underlying profit of US$ 743 million.[/restrict]
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INTERNATIONAL NEWS
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EVERGREEN CONFIRMS ORDERS FOR 20 NEW CONTAINER SHIPS
Taiwanese shipping line Evergreen has confirmed that it has placed orders for 20 new container ships each with a capacity of 11,000 TEU.
The ships are to be built by Japan’s largest shipbuilder, Imabari Shipbuilding.
Eight of the ships will be purchased outright, with the other 12 on a long-term bareboat charter.
According to Evergreen it has shortlisted Taiwanese shipyard the CSBC Corp, Japan’s Imabari Shipbuilding, Japan Marine United, as well as South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries and Samsung Heavy Industries, from which just one would be chosen to build the ships.
The arrival of these ships will mean that Evergreen will operate with a fleet of about the same size as Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd.
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CONTAINERSHIP TRIO HIGHLIGHT GIBDOCK UPTURN
In Gibraltar Gibdock’s success in attracting German shipowners to its facilities for ship repair work continues to grow, with three German containerships docking at the yard within a six-week period during the last quarter of 2017. The Peter Döhle-owned, 2,785 TEU Rita, Ahrenkiel Steamship’s 1,300 TEU AS Fatima and the 3,091 TEU Louis S, owned by Schepers Rudolf Reederei, all spent time in drydock in the fourth quarter for varying maintenance and repair programmes.
Rita, 206 metres loa, was docked for 14 days in October, for a drydocking schedule that included a total of 11,000m2 of hull treatment, with blasting over…[restrict]an area of 5000m2; repairs to the sea chests, tailshaft and liferaft cradles; and the removal of the vessel’s propellers and bow thrusters for overhauling in Gibdock’s well-equipped workshops.
Ship repair manager for the project, Philip Tsankov, says such extensive hull treatment work alongside other repairs needed careful planning: “The owner required a lot of work in a fairly short time scale and this was a challenge; we knew from the start there was no scope for delay. We planned the work around the hull treatment and the vessel was redelivered as agreed on time.”
AS Fatima, 166 metres loa, arrived in Gibraltar in late October and was primarily docked for work to address a stern tube issue. This required the yard to dismantle and remove the tailshaft and transport it to the workshop, where the propeller blades and blade carriers, as well as the propeller hub itself, were completely overhauled. During AS Fatima’s 21 day stay at the yard Gibdock also conducted a complete overhaul of the vessel’s main engines.
Schepers’ 220 metres loa, Louis S, was drydocked in the yard’s dock No 1 for around a week. The container vessel also came in with a stern tube issue, requiring the propeller unit to be dismantled. Ship manager, Juan Pinero, commented: “Gibdock needed to manufacture the specific tooling required for the dismantling work so the repairs could be undertaken.”
Inside the workshop the Gibdock team worked on the propeller and overhauled the seals, and then re-fitted components before reinstallation onboard. The yard also washed and painted the vessel’s underwater hull.
The visit of these three German-owned containerships has been part of an encouraging general upturn in activity at the Gibraltar yard in recent weeks. John Taylor, Gibdock operations director reflected: “Business has been picking up and container vessel owners and operators have been attracted to the yard by our location, close to key trade lanes, as well as by our reputation for quality work and on-time delivery. Our regular ferry refit season starts soon, and we are getting more enquiries from the offshore market, so the first quarter of 2018 is already looking promising.”
Gibdock can accommodate most vessel types trading in the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions. Facilities include three drydocks, with lengths of 154 metres x 29 metres, 184 metres x 29 metres and 272 metres x 38 metres. These are equipped with a total of ten dock cranes with lift capacities up to 45 tonnes. The yard can also utilise its 300 metre long Main Wharf quay and the 435 metre long South Mole for alongside repairs. Its purpose-built fabrication area, Pad 1, is also in demand for retrofit scrubber installations, ballast water treatment retrofits and vessel modifications.[/restrict]
Reported by Paul Ridgway
London
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Maersk and IBM in Blockchain Joint Venture
Traditional cross-border shipping processes usually involve manually transporting and verifying paper documents for each shipment. IBM and Maersk are forming a joint venture to use blockchain technology to make global trade more efficient, transparent and secure. Picture courtesy: Maersk.
Applying Blockchain to Improve Global Trade and Digitize Supply Chains
AP Moller–Maersk and IBM yesterday announced their intent to establish a joint venture to provide more efficient and secure methods for conducting global trade using blockchain technology.
The aim of the new company will be to offer a jointly developed global trade digitization platform built on open standards and designed for use by the entire global shipping ecosystem. It will address the need to provide more transparency and simplicity in the movement of goods across borders and trading zones.
The cost and size of the world’s trading ecosystems continues to grow in complexity. More than US$4 trillion in goods are shipped each year, and more than 80 percent of the goods consumers use daily are carried by the ocean shipping industry. The maximum cost of the required trade documentation to process and administer many of these goods is estimated to reach one-fifth of the actual physical transportation costs. According to The World Economic Forum, by reducing barriers within the international supply chain, global trade could increase by nearly 15 percent, boosting economies and creating jobs.
The attributes of blockchain technology are ideally suited to large networks of disparate partners. A distributed ledger technology, blockchain establishes a shared, immutable record of all the transactions that take place within a network and then enables permissioned parties access to trusted data in real time. By applying the technology to digitize global trade processes, a new form of command and consent can be introduced into the flow of information, empowering multiple trading partners to collaborate and establishing a single shared view of a transaction without compromising details, privacy or confidentiality.
Maersk, a global leader in container logistics, and IBM, a leading provider of blockchain, supply chain visibility and interoperability solutions for the enterprise, will use blockchain technology to power the new platform, as well as employ other cloud-based open source technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), IoT and analytics, delivered via IBM Services, in order to help companies move and track goods digitally across international borders. Manufacturers, shipping lines, freight forwarders, port and terminal operators and customs authorities can all benefit from these new technologies –and ultimately consumers.
“This new company marks a milestone in our strategic efforts to drive the digitization of global trade. The potential from offering a neutral, open digital platform for safe and easy ways of exchanging information is huge, and all players across the supply chain stand to benefit,” said Vincent Clerc, chief commercial officer at Maersk and future chairman of the board of the new joint venture. “By joining our knowledge of trade with IBM’s capabilities in blockchain and enterprise technology, we are confident this new company can make a real difference in shaping the future of global trade.”
IBM’s blockchain platform is enabling hundreds of clients and thousands of developers to build and scale active networks across complex use cases, including cross border payments, supply chains, and digital identification.
“The major advances IBM has made in blockchain have shown that the technology can foster new business models and play an important role in how the world works by building smarter businesses,” said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Industries, Solutions and Blockchain. “Our joint venture with Maersk means we can now speed adoption of this exciting technology with the millions of organizations who play vital roles in one of the most complex and important networks in the world, the global supply chain. We believe blockchain will now emerge in this market as the leading way companies seize new untapped economic opportunities.”
IBM and Maersk began a collaboration in June 2016 to build new blockchain and cloud-based technologies. Since then, multiple parties have piloted the platform including DuPont, Dow Chemical, Tetra Pak, Port Houston, Rotterdam Port Community System Portbase, the Customs Administration of the Netherlands, US Customs and Border Protection.
The joint venture will now enable IBM and Maersk to commercialise and scale their solutions to a broader group of global corporations, many of whom have already expressed interest in the capabilities and are exploring ways to use the new platform, including: General Motors and Procter and Gamble to streamline the complex supply chains they operate; and freight forwarder and logistic company, Agility Logistics, to provide improved customer services including customs clearance brokerage.
Additional customs and government authorities, including Singapore Customs and Peruvian Customs, will explore collaborating with the platform to facilitate trade flows and enhance supply chain security. The global terminal operators APM Terminals and PSA International will use the platform to enrich port collaboration and improve terminal planning. With support from Guangdong Inspection and Quarantine Bureau by connecting to its Global Quality Traceability System for import and export goods, the platform can also link users to important trade corridors in and out of China.
To address the specific needs of the industry, Maersk and IBM are establishing an advisory board of industry experts to help further shape the platform and services, provide guidance and feedback on important industry factors, and drive open standards.
Maersk and IBM have named Michael J White, former president of Maersk Line in North America, as CEO of the new company. He commented, “Today, a vast amount of resources are wasted due to inefficient and error-prone manual processes. The pilots confirmed our expectations that, across the industry, there is considerable demand for efficiency gains and opportunities coming from streamlining and standardizing information flows using digital solutions. Our ambition is to apply these learnings to establish a fully open platform whereby all players in the global supply chain can participate and extract significant value. We look forward to further expanding our ecosystem of partners as we progress toward a global solution.”
The new company initially plans to commercialise two core capabilities aimed at digitizing the global supply chain from end-to-end:
* A shipping information pipeline will provide end-to-end supply chain visibility to enable all actors involved in managing a supply chain to securely and seamlessly exchange information about shipment events in real time.
* Paperless Trade will digitize and automate paperwork filings by enabling end-users to securely submit, validate and approve documents across organizational boundaries, ultimately helping to reduce the time and cost for clearance and cargo movement. Blockchain-based smart contracts ensure all required approvals are in place, helping speed up approvals and reducing mistakes.
Upon regulatory clearance, solutions from the joint venture are expected to become available within six months.
The new company will be headquartered in the New York metropolitan area.
The platform is built on IBM Blockchain technology, which is provided through the IBM Cloud and powered by Hyperledger Fabric 1.0, a blockchain framework and one of the Hyperledger projects hosted by the Linux Foundation.
The establishment of the joint venture remains subject to receipt of regulatory approvals.
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GENERAL NEWS REPORTS – UPDATED THROUGH THE DAY
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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.
You can access this information, including the list of ports covered, by going HERE remember to use your BACKSPACE to return to this page.
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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.
With an interesting array of deck cargo including earth moving equipment, trucks etc, one can only guess at the contents of her holds. The 50,327-dwt bulk carrier has an equally diverse history spanning the years since she was built in 1999. During that time the Panama-flagged ship, which is currently owned by Chinese interests and managed for them by Zhangjiagang Oceanicwit Shipping Co of Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, China, has carried the names Honesty, Parvathy, Equator Honesty and originally Desert Hawk under other owners and operators. Cheng Kai is 190 metres in length and has a width of 32 metres and despite her advancing years looks good for quite a few more. She was built at the Mitsui Engineering & Shipbuilding Co, Ltd Tamano Works shipyard as hull number 1478. This picture taken as the bulker arrived in Durban from Singapore and China, is by Keith Betts
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“A Happy New Year! There is a glow of cheer and optimism in the very words ‘New Year.’ The old year, with its anxieties and worries, is over. It too brought happy days and sunshine, and in memory we must cherish the bright places.
– May Louise Crane
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