
TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS
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- First View : ROK MUNMU THE GREAT
- South Africa’s Cabinet approves African tripartite free trade zone pact
- Sanctions loom as US withdraws from Iran nuclear deal
- South Africa to have new oil refinery
- Port Elizabeth manganese terminal completes annual maintenance shutdown
- Walvis Bay handles large 400-vehicle shipment off car carrier Grand Orion
- NSRI Richards Bay in offshore med-vacuation from Medi Hong Kong
- US Navy and Exercise Joint Warrior
- Climate change, cleantech and energy efficiency in ports under the spotlight at TOC Europe 2018
- Expected Ship Arrivals and Ships in Port
- Cruise News and Naval Activities
- Pics of the Day : OGS EXPLORA
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FIRST VIEW: ROK MUNMU THE GREAT

The South Korean Chungmugong Yi Sun-sin-class destroyer MUNMU THE GREAT (DDH-976, – Mun Mu Daewang) called at Cape Town last week and went on berth at the port’s cruise terminal. The destroyer is returning to South Korea from a deployment off Ghana in which the ship was to be available if necessary with a hostage drama rescue mission involving South Korean fishermen who were kidnapped at sea off Ghana on 26 March this year. See our report in Africa PORTS & SHIPS West African pirates strike once more, fishermen abducted and the subsequent short [0:35] video clip regarding the kidnapped seamen’s later release.
The South Korean ship is carrying a group of the country’s Special Warfare Brigade who were available for any possible rescue mission. Munmu the Great, which is named after the Korean king Munmu of Silla, displaces 5,430 tons when fully loaded – the ship is 150 metres in length with a 17.4m beam and a draught of 9.5m. With combined diesel and gas turbine engines she is capable of 30 knots and carries a complement of 200 personnel (besides the special forces). The destroyer was built at the Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard at Ulsan in South Korea and launched in April 2003, being commissioned the following year in September. These pictures are by Ian Shiffman.
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SOUTH AFRICA’S CABINET APPROVES AFRICAN TRIPARTITE FREE TRADE ZONE PACT
The South African Cabinet last week Thursday (10 May) approved the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement which will be tabled in Parliament for ratification.
The agreement establishes a Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, the East African Community and Southern African Development Community.
Communications Minister Nomvula Mokonyane said the TFTA is an important initiative in accelerating regional integration efforts to ensure that African countries trade with each other.
“This TFTA is a key Africa-led project that marks a decisive step to overcome the continent’s colonial heritage of small fragmented markets, by promoting intra-African investments and attracting more foreign investment into the free trade area.”
Addressing the media on Thursday during a post Cabinet briefing, the Minister said as a result of regional integration efforts and stable economies, there has been strong growth in intra-African investments.
Once the agreement enters into force, it will reduce the tariffs on goods traded between the tripartite countries and create new opportunities for exports as well as regional value chains.
Readers will recall that although South Africa did not sign the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) at the AU summit in Kigali in March this year, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who led a delegation to the summit, said South Africa was committed to its establishment, adding that it will boost intra-Africa trade in accordance with the aspirations of the African Union’s Agenda 2063. In some respects the TFTA is seen as a stepping-stone towards this ideal.
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SANCTIONS LOOM AS US WITHDRAWS FROM IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT
Sanctions that will affect most if not all African countries, including South Africa, will take effect from within the next three to six months, following the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that has been in effect since 2015 when economic sanctions were lifted against Iran following that country’s agreement to end its nuclear weapons programme.
Shipping lines that stepped in and began doing business with Iran now have six months to cease those operations, or else face a response from the United States. The US will impose a 90 day and 180 day wind-down period, with the shipping industry falling under the 180-day window.
Any shipping line suspected of sanctions-busting is…[restrict] likely to face a ban from calling at US ports.
The US president Donald Trump announced last week that he was ending the US participation in the JCPOA, which he described as part of the worst deal ever made. In this he broke with European, UK, Russian, Chinese and other partners that helped bring about the agreement that lifted the previous range of sanctions.
Although the other signatories to the agreement have indicated they may continue with JCPOA, when it comes to companies and shipping lines that have business connections with the United States, they will face having to withdraw or place their US dealings at risk.
Effectively this means an avoidance of Iranian ports by most international shipping. The Iranian state-owned shipping line IRISL in particular will be singled out for sanctions.
A South African spokesman, Deputy Director General at the Department of Energy, Tseliso Maqubela, said South Africa currently has no crude oil imports from the Middle Eastern country. Prior to the original sanctions South Africa imported a large percentage of its oil requirements from Iran and since 2015 has reopened many business interests with that country.
The US ban will also specifically target banking establishments that have business interests or connections with Iran.
How the other former partners in the JCPOA will handle the intricacies of continuing with the JCPOA and by definition continuing doing normal business with that country, all in the face of the threat of US reprisals, will be closely monitored. The reality of the matter suggests that they too will probably have to fall in line with sanctions against the Iranian country.
South Africa’s President Ramaphosa called the JCPOA a major achievement in nuclear non-proliferation and diplomacy, which he said has contributed to regional and international peace and security.
“It is important that the progress made over many years of negotiation should not be lost. Since its adoption, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action has contributed significantly to the reduction of tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme and still has an important role to play in promoting peace, stability and the normalisation of relations.”
In the interest of regional and international peace and security, President Ramaphosa said the South African government called on the other parties of the JCPOA to continue to honour their commitments under the agreement.
“The decision of the United States should not prevent the remaining parties from honouring their commitments, nor should it impact negatively on the relevant structures and mechanisms created by the JCPOA,” President Ramaphosa said.[/restrict]
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SOUTH AFRICA TO HAVE NEW OIL REFINERY

South Africa is to have a new oil refinery, says the Minister of Energy, Jeff Radebe.
According to Minister Radebe this was necessary as part of ensuring the country’s energy supply.
“It’s our intention as well to ensure that we build a refinery. We cannot just sit by and observe processes going on in the world, and we need to do something as well for our own energy security of supply,” the Minister said.
The Department of Energy (DoE) is intent on developing a new oil refinery implementation framework that will…[restrict] assist the country to start looking at having its own oil refinery. The country’s other refineries are run by oil companies.
During the DoE Budget Vote speech in 2017, government said that South Africa was ready for a new refinery investment.
DoE Deputy Director General Tseliso Maqubela said South Africa is not meeting the demand for petroleum products and is currently importing more than a quarter of its petroleum products.
“It’s about the growth of demand which outstrips what the refineries can supply in South Africa. The economy has grown and so has demand for petroleum products,” said Maqubela.
South Africa has no crude oil reserves of its own and about 60% of its crude oil requirements are met by imports from the Middle East and Africa. Crude oil is refined at South Africa’s four crude oil refineries.
The country imports crude oil from three countries mainly Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Angola.
“We’ve reached a stage in South Africa where we import more than a quarter of our petroleum products requirement, hence the need to look into the refinery framework.”
He added that geopolitical developments in the Middle East will cost consumers at the pumps going into the future.
“Developments particularly in the middle East are not going to bring good news for our petroleum products prices,” Maqubela said.
Some of these observations were made at a media engagement session last Thursday which coincided with a time when the department marks Energy Month. The month is observed every year in May where the DoE makes citizens aware of issues relating to energy efficiency. source: SAnews.gov.za[/restrict]
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PORT ELIZABETH MANGANESE TERMINAL COMPLETES ANNUAL MAINTENANCE SHUTDOWN

The manganese terminal at Port Elizabeth has been on annual shutdown for maintenance purposes as from 6 May until 12 May.
Costing an approximate R7.6 million the work focused on mechanical, electrical and structural maintenance to ensure that Transnet continues to provide a quality service to their manganese customers.
According to Velile Dube, TPT’s GM: Cape Channel, the amount of planning, dedication and collaboration between the team, customers and…[restrict] all role-players ahead of the shutdown assured that the shutdown would be a success.
“This will be of great benefit for the business with the plant’s overall increased reliability and availability kept above set targets. These shutdowns form part of our vision for 2018 to manage equipment and operations whilst optimising the assets within TPT to ensure demand is always catered for not only through planned maintenance projects, but also through redeployment of equipment where necessary as well as efficiency and productivity improvements. Asset Optimisation and Capital Spend Optimisation will always be satisfied to ensure value,” he said.
The shutdown also offered an opportunity to transfer skills amongst the team members, where eight apprentices were exposed to different activities with the intention of gaining more responsibility and experience ahead of their trade test. The objective of this shutdown was focused on utilising this maintenance window to inspect, repair, and ensure availability and reliability of equipment and infrastructure.
Over 269 activities were executed on the shipping side during the shutdown that includes 840 metres of conveyor belting being replaced and intensive maintenance on all reclaimers, transfer points and ship loaders. Part of the Phase 2 Bulk Refurbishment project work was also executed during this outage which included sand blasting and painting of A and B Ship Loaders.
According to Dube, clear deliverables were deemed as essential for this shutdown to ensure that there were zero safety incidences, 100% of the work required was to be completed and that everything undertaken and executed was of the highest standard.
TPT’s COO, Themba Gwala (pictured left), said that capacity requirements for all of Transnet’s Ports are always proactively monitored and matched with demand and growth strategies.
“TPT is committed to continue improvement of our operational best practices to ensure our members of staff as well as surrounding environments are not adversely impacted. We are cognizant and grateful to our customers and stakeholders for their patience and assistance in allowing us to conduct these key shutdowns, which they are notified of well in advance to assist with their own planning. The benefits of undertaking these shutdowns annually ahead of the scheduled time is that it provides us with sufficient time to commission and make necessary adjustments that are always part of the commissioning process,” said Gwala.
TPT’s Port Elizabeth terminal is the largest manganese export facility in Africa. Over the past five years this terminal has introduced a number of innovative handling methods to facilitate the growth of emerging miners and to improve capacities including the successful handling of skiptainer vessels.[/restrict]
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WALVIS BAY HANDLES LARGE 400-VEHICLE SHIPMENT OFF CAR CARRIER GRAND ORION

The Japanese car carrier GRAND ORION (IMO 9303194) last week called at the Namibian port of Walvis Bay where 401 motor vehicles were discharged.
This is one of the larger motor vehicle consignments for this port and an indication of the growing value of the transport corridors leading to neighbouring countries. Eight of these…[restrict] vehicles are for the local market whilst the rest are destined for neighbouring countries, like Zambia (89 units), Zimbabwe (257 units), Botswana (16 units), Malawi (42 units), and Congo (6 units). The vehicles arrived from Europe.
Ms Taná Pesat, Acting Commercial Executive of Namport said that consignments going to these countries cement the efforts of Namport to enhance intercontinental trades. She said these ventures are always welcome.
The vehicles were loaded in Sheerness and Killingholme (UK ports) and at Antwerp in Belgium. Prior to calling at Walvis Bay Grand Orion’s last call was at Tema in Ghana.
The 12-deck, 59,217-gt Grand Orion was built in 2006 at the Shin Kurushima Toyohashi Shipbuilding yard in Toyohashi, Japan. The ship is 199 metres in length and 32m wide.[/restrict]
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NSRI RICHARDS BAY IN OFFSHORE MEDI-VACUATION FROM MEDI HONG KONG

The National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) Richards Bay Station was activated at the weekend to bring ashore a sick seafarer on board the bulk carrier MEDI HONG KONG (IMO 9301043), a 229 metre long, 82,790-dwt bulk carrier sailing from the United Arab Emirates.
According to NSRI Richards Bay coxwain, Jacque Kruger, the NSRI duty crew was activated by the Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) at 05h00 on Saturday, 12 May, to rendezvous with the Medi Hong Kong, in order to medivac ashore a 27 year old Indian sailor suffering with suspected malaria.
The sea rescue craft Spirit of Round Table II was launched accompanied by a KZN Government Health EMS rescue paramedic and rendezvoused with the ship 25 nautical miles off-shore. Communication assistance was received from Telkom Maritime Radio Services.
On arrival at the rendezvous the EMS rescue paramedic was taken onboard the ship to medically assess he patient who, in a stable condition, was transferred onto the sea rescue craft and taken to the NSRI sea rescue station from where he was transported to hospital in an EMS ambulance.
Kruger said the NSRI had first been alerted on Wednesday last week and that MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) and a Government Health EMS duty doctor had monitored the patient’s medical condition pending a patient evacuation while the ship was deep sea. On approaching Richards Bay in the early hours of Saturday morning the patient evacuation was authorised and TNPA activated the NSRI Richards Bay duty crew.

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On 8 May the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely DDG 107, (illustrated here with her ship’s company lining the rail) arrived in Ponta Delgada, Portugal, after participating in exercise Joint Warrior 18-1, an eleven-day, semi-annual training exercise conducted in the coastal waters of the United Kingdom.
This exercise has been designed to…[restrict] provide NATO and Allied forces with the opportunity to train in a multinational, multiplatform, and multi-warfare environment.
In the words of Commander Justin R Hodges, CO of Gravely: “As allies with Portugal, we share a commitment to promote peace and stability throughout the region and actively seek opportunities to strengthen our maritime partnership. This port visit will not only build and strengthen the relationship between the US and Portugal, but allows my crew to enjoy the rich history and culture of Ponta Delgada.”
During the port visit, crew members were expected to participate in a garden clean-up project at a local home for handicapped youth.
US 6th Fleet, with HQ in Naples, conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allied and interagency partners, in order to advance US national interests, security, and stability in Europe and Africa.
While Gravely was in Ponta Delgada US Ambassador George E Glass (illustrated) made a visit to the warship with his wife Mary.
Glass and his wife were accompanied during their visit by Jason Chue, principal officer of US Consulate Ponta Delgada, as well as various members of local press.
Commander Michael O’Reilly, Executive Officer of Gravely commented: “It was an honour to host Ambassador Glass aboard Gravely. He shared recommendations with the crew on how to best experience the rich culture, history and sights of Sao Miguel Island, which we will certainly take advantage of while we are here.[/restrict]
Edited by Paul Ridgway
London
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CLIMATE CHANGE, CLEANTECH AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN PORTS UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT AT TOC EUROPE 2018
In April 2018, the United Nations’ International Maritime Organisation (IMO) adopted a landmark climate change strategy that calls for greenhouse gate (GHG) emissions from international shipping to peak “as soon as possible” and to reduce by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008.
The move is the latest in a series of regulatory and corporate moves at global, regional and local level to ‘decarbonise’ freight transport and logistics, spurred on most recently by the 2016 global UN Paris Agreement on Climate Change.
At the interface between sea and land, ports are increasingly impacted by regulatory, business and societal demands to reduce their environmental impact. While decarbonisation and air quality are high on the list, reducing noise, light and dust pollution are also key.
IMO is of course a maritime regulator, but its environmental legislation certainly impacts ports, for instance in the need to install shore power facilities that reduce vessel emissions while berthed, provide reception facilities for ships’ waste that were previously disposed of at sea and develop bunkering facilities for LNG and other alternative low carbon fuels.
Decarbonising shipping and ports
Recognising the growing need to ‘close the gap between ship and shore’ across a number of issues, including decarbonisation, automation and digitalisation, this April saw the International Association of Ports and Harbors (IAPH) launch the World Ports Sustainability Program (WPSP) and IAPH Secretary General Patrick Verhoeven joins this year’s Shipping & PortWatch session during the Container Supply Chain conference at TOC Europe 2018 in Rotterdam, 12-14 June, to discuss next steps for port authorities, cargo handlers and regulators.
For port and container terminal operators with a ‘people, planet and profit’ motivation, creating a cleaner environment also goes hand-in-glove with the drive for better energy economy, as increasing ship size and handling volumes place greater power demands on operations. This year’s free-to-attend TECH TOC seminars include a June 14 session on Clean Technologies, where speakers will provide updates on latest advances in cleantech, eco-efficiency and energy economy strategies for ports and terminals.
Port equipment and the circular economy
“Only together as an industry we can strengthen the efficient use of materials, eco-efficiency and create value for our customers,” says Satu Kaivonen, Environmental Specialist at Konecranes and one of this year’s speakers.
“The circular economy is a hot topic in all industries: we have a major influence in the material handling value chain and need to start thinking about how we support the Paris Agreement in real life. Port products can be designed to enable their reuse and recycling or be replaced with services and, when possible, using innovating energy sources such as solar power.” Another way to avoid excessive environmental impacts, he adds, is “by applying improvements and retrofits to existing equipment to expand their life span and to digitalize the existing equipment.”
Managing greater grid demands
Managing the cost, supply and eco-credentials of underlying power infrastructure – including use of renewables and self-generated energy – is a growing focus to meet greater electricity demands on terminals, including electrification of handling equipment, refrigerated container operations and increased provision of shore power for vessels. This issue will be addressed by a variety of speakers at TECH TOC this year.
New power infrastructure concept for greener container terminals is the focus for Roberto Bernacchi, Global Product Manager – Ship-to-Shore Power & Smart Ports at ABB, while Chris Pretorius, Head of BD Energy Management at Siemens Electric will look at electrification of terminals and the impact on grid stability and power bills.
“Electrification of equipment is an ongoing process – first the quay cranes then the yard cranes followed by an ever increasing amount of reefers slots and then the introduction of battery-driven vehicles and shore-side power supply for berthed vessels,” says Pretorius.
“Total power demand is increasing, power factors are distorted and peaks create overload on the power grid. Plus, terminal operators are seeing big changes in their power bills.” His presentation will address proper dimensioning of power infrastructure to cope with increased demand and how terminals can reduce their monthly power bills.
“Electrification of ports is placing new demands on electricity grids and the electricity grid is also changing with more intermittent renewable sources and increasing demands from other electricity users. But new opportunities are also arising globally for major industrial consumers to secure cost savings by reducing their peak loads on the electrical network,” adds Richard Bradshaw, CEO of recent market entrant Cress Systems.
Working with the UK University of Reading, Cress studied the energy flows of container handling equipment at a global top 50 ports during a period when it was increasingly electrifying its large fleet of yard cranes, placing pressures on the main grid supply and raising concerns that peaks in demand would lead to excess charges and potentially exceed supply. Cress’s paper at TECH TOC will present data from the study, discuss the peak load challenge presented by electrification and outline the potential for energy storage to manage the issues.
Alternative power for mobile plant
Alternative power options for mobile handling equipment including lift trucks, reach stackers, terminal tractors and mobile cranes are also on the agenda this year.
“Hybrid and fully electric lift trucks are products about to debut in the market, yet their pros and cons are largely unknown,” says Davide Bertozzi, Director of Business Development & Member of the Board at CVS Ferrari, which will launch a fully electric container lift truck during the show. The new technologies have a “massively lower total cost of ownership” than conventionally-powered lift trucks, asserts Bertozzi, whose presentation will analyse the economic and non-economics factors influencing the future power options for lift trucks.
Jan-Willem van den Brand, Director – Big Truck Products, Strategy & Solutions and Willem Nieuwland, Project Leader for Hyster will also explore alternative energy sources for mobile plant, looking at the adoption of li-ion batteries and fuel cells in large vehicles and where and how these technologies can be deployed, including charging and power supply in the port. “Zero emissions is an important focus point for the future and by electrifying ports and port equipment we can contribute to a better environment,” says Hyster. The company adds that standardisation of chargers used on large electric vehicles is currently “non-existent” and that this issue needs to be addressed to enable future wide-scale adoption.
Volvo Penta also joins the line-up to discuss learnings from its proof-of-concept project to develop a terminal tractor equipped with a hybrid bus powertrain. “The Volvo Group has in the past decade introduced several innovative electromobility solutions for commercial vehicles and is now expanding its offer of full electric trucks and buses. Our presentation will explore the benefits of sharing this powertrain technology in off-road segments such as material handling and which product features this enables,” says Niklas Thulin, Director – Electromobility, Volvo Penta.
At the top end of the mobile scale, designers of heavy diesel-driven mobile harbour cranes are also researching how to improve eco-efficiency. Dr. Jörg Müller, Director Technology, Business Unit Mobile Harbour Cranes for Konecranes will discuss a recent project to create a new drive system standard combining hybrid technology with a single downsized diesel engine across the company’s whole range, combing one or two engines and packs of high-performance ultra-capacitors for energy storage.
TECH TOC seminars are free to attend for registered visitors
TOC Europe
12 to 14 June 2018
Ahoy Rotterdam, The Netherlands
www.tocevents-europe.com
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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.
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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.

A little ship that has been attracting more than enough attention from concerned and curious onlookers along the KZN South Coast, convinced that she might be engaged in illegal ‘close-in’ fishing, is the oceanographic research and survey vessel OGS EXPLORA (IMO 7310868), seen here arriving in port at Durban in the last week to take bunkers and supplies. Operated by the Italian Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale, otherwise known as OGS, she has in recent times been engaged in geophysical and oceanographic research in the Indian Ocean, which has now brought her to South Africa and Durban in particular. Her surveys have included the exploration of hydrocarbons and the deployment of telecommunication cables, i.e. some ad-hoc commercial work, but mostly involves scientific study of the oceans. The ship is 72.62 metres in length and 11.80 metres wide with a draught of 4.8 metres. These pictures are by Keith Betts
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise. Seek what they sought.”
– Matsuo Basho
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