TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS
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- First View : SAINT DIMITRIOS
- DP World warns against violation of concession for Doraleh terminal, Djibouti
- Safety highlighted at fishing indaba held at Cape Town
- Liftboat Milaha Explorer deploys to West Africa
- Shippers’ Council and NPA help bring truck owners’ strike at Lagos to an end
- For the record — Article headed ‘New Transnet Appointments…’
- MSC Orchestra to make her way to South Africa for 2019/20 season
- International — At last the Brexit White Paper
- Expected Ship Arrivals and Ships in Port
- Cruise News and Naval Activities
- Pics of the Day : AFRIC STAR
- The port in the masthead today (Tuesday) is Port of Mombasa
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The Greek bulk carrier SAINT DIMITRIOS (IMO 9486398) seen arriving in Durban during late June this year. The 33,788-dwt vessel, registered in the Marshall Islands, was built in 2011 at the 21st Century Shipbuilding yard in Tongyoung, South Korea for her Greek owners, the Zefxis Maritime Corp and managed by Transman Shipmanagers SA of Athens. The ship, which briefly carried the name TRITON during 2011, has an overall length of 181 metres and a width of 30m. This picture is by Ken Malcolm
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DP WORLD WARNS AGAINST VIOLATION OF CONCESSION FOR DORALEH TERMINAL, DJIBOUTI
DP World reiterates Validity of Doraleh Container Terminal Concession and Exclusivity Rights – Warns against violation and threatens legal action
DP World has reiterated that its concession agreement for the Doraleh Container Terminal (DTC) in Djibouti remains in force, warning that the government’s illegal seizure of the facility doesn’t give the right to any third party to violate the terms of the concession agreement.
DP World statement came in the wake of news reports…[restrict] on the opening of the first phase of the Chinese-built International Free Trade Zone, in violation of DP World’s exclusive management rights.
“This is yet another clear example by the Djiboutian Government of violating its contractual obligations and the rights of foreign investors,” said a DP World spokesperson.
He warned that DP World reserves the right to take all available legal actions, including claims for damages against any third parties that interfere or otherwise violate its contractual rights.
On 22 February 2018, the Government of Djibouti seized control of the Terminal – unlawfully according to DP World – forced DP World employees to leave the country and purported to terminate the Concession Agreement. DP World responded by commencing arbitration against the Government of Djibouti before the London Court of International Arbitration and is awaiting the outcome of this process.[/restrict]
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SAFETY HIGHLIGHTED AT FISHING INDABA HELD IN CAPE TOWN
Safety on board South Africa’s fishing industry sea going vessels is among key operations aspects of the sector that can never be left to chance, delegates to the South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) hosted ‘Fishing Safety Indaba‘ heard on Wednesday.
The Fishing Safety Indaba, which was held at an hotel in Milnerton, Cape Town, is a part of…[restrict] a series of engagements by SAMSA with its core stakeholders.
The event last week was the 6th in the series and was hosted by SAMSA’s dedicated Centre for Fishing whose aim is ‘to promote the updated fishing safety legislative, technical, operational and financial issues and engage the fishing industry on development issues and growing the blue economy.’
Ms Nondumiso Mfenyana (pictured), a manager in the SAMSA Centre for Fishing, said the Cape Town Indaba was a continuation of SAMSA’s aim of engaging with all sectors of the fishing industry to mainly address issues such as safe fishing.
“The fishing industry is SAMSA’s largest commercial customer, a major employer and contributes both to export earnings and to the GDP of the country. It is important that we ensure regular sittings of this nature in order to keep the industry abreast of developments,” she said.
The SAMSA Centre for Fishing is also the secretariat of the National Fishing Forum (NFF) which was established in 2011.
The NFF was initiated to create a platform for stakeholders to share knowledge on common areas of interest, improve collaborations and decision making to avoiding duplication. The forum’s mission is to grow, develop and ensure a competitive South African Fishing industry.
Provisional members were nominated to partake in the steering committee, which was later endorsed at a fully-fledged forum at the South African Maritime Industry Conference (SAMIC 2012).
[/restrict]
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LIFTBOAT MILAHA EXPLORER DEPLOYS TO WEST AFRICA
The offshore liftboat, MILAHA EXPLORER (IMO 9727819) has been deployed to West Africa on a long-term charter with a major international oil company.
On Sunday Milaha Explorer was in the Gulf of Guinea south of Calabar.
Milaha Explorer is the largest of its kind to be owned by a Qatari company, and has a large deck area, a variable load capacity, and the ability to accommodate 300 persons on board. The vessel was taken into service in 2016 from the Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industries shipyard in Liaoning Province in China and had been designed by the China-based…[restrict] Tianjin De-Sail Machinery Equipment.
The vessel has a length overall of 85 metres and a width of 40m and a gross tonnage of 7945t.
“Over the past few months, we have been significantly ramping up our operations, and I am pleased to announce further growth in our geographic footprint and operational portfolio with this long-term deployment, which marks our entry into Africa,” said Milaha’s President and CEO Mr Abdulrahman Essa Al-Mannai. “Milaha Explorer is a new and modern vessel, and we wish its captain and crew safe and successful operations.”
The liftboat is managed by Milaha’s subsidiary Halul Offshore.
Milaha’s offshore fleet consists of 47 vessels, including anchor handling towing vessels, platform support vessels, dive and construction support vessels, and other vessel types supporting the offshore oil and gas industry.[/restrict]
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SHIPPERS’ COUNCIL AND NPA HELP BRING TRUCK OWNERS’ STRIKE AT LAGOS TO AN END
As a result of an intervention by the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the six day old strike at the Lagos ports has ended.
The strike was called by the road transport operators and owners, who had become fed up with chronic congestion and delays that had led to alleged extortion and brutality by military personnel brought in to manage the road congestion.
The strike action took the form of truck operators dumping containers to…[restrict] block the roads leading to the port entrances. Following the agreement reached the truck operators have begun removing the obstacles while the NPA says that it has launched an investigation into the grievances of the workers.
The strike brought disruption to operations at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports and a build-up of cargo that will now have to be cleared.
Chief Executive Officer of the NSC, Hassan Bello, said that a well-structured engagement with the authorities could bring about solutions to the ongoing problems outside the ports. He called on representatives of the road truck operators to come to a roundtable meeting for a win-win solution.
The NPA meanwhile said that it was investigating allegations of extortion by officials of the Nigerian Navy, the Nigeria Police Force, and NPA security personnel. These allegations had been made by the truck drivers.
The NPA has issued assurances that culprits will be brought to justice by facing the laws of the country and appealed to all stakeholders to be patient and to work towards a peaceful resolution of the issues.
The Assistant General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, NPA, Isah Suwaid, said the investigation is to determine the level of compliance or non-compliance to agreements reached between the Authority, Shipping Companies, and Terminal Operators on the immediate use of holding bays for trucks and containers until such trucks were called into the ports through the call-up system adopted in November 2017. “Any company found to have contravened this agreement will be sanctioned.”[/restrict]
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FOR THE RECORD : ARTICLE HEADED ‘NEW TRANSNET APPOINTMENTS…..’
In our article of 5 July we stated that “At Durban, David Goliath has been appointed as Acting Executive Manager for Operations, taking over the role most recently filled by Nokuzola Nkowane who is currently serving as Acting Port Manager at the Port of Durban.”
David Goliath in his new capacity as Acting Executive Manager for Operations is based at TNPA head office in Johannesburg, not at Durban.
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MSC Cruises South Africa has announced that MSC MUSICA’S sister ship, MSC ORCHESTRA will be arriving in South African waters for the 2019-20 cruise season.
The ship will embark on her Southbound Grand Voyage, departing from Genoa on 18 October 2019 for a journey of 29 nights. MSC Orchestra will make her way down to Durban and will be stopping at some of the most exciting ports along the way.
MSC Orchestra Southbound departure is available for bookings now. All 2019-20 local departures and 2020 Northbound departure will become available for bookings from approximately mid-September 2018.
The itinerary for this journey is:
Genoa, Civitavecchia (Rome), Chania, Suez Canal, Eilat, Aqaba, Salalah, Male, Port Victoria, Port Louis, Pointe des Galets, Durban, total 29 nights.
The cost of this voyage ranges from R 41,534 per person (inside bella), which includes: port and service fees but excludes insurance fee.
Reservations can be made via MSC Cruises South Africa.
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The United Kingdom will leave the European Union on 29 March 2019 and begin to chart a new course in the world, it has been said. At that date the Westminster Government will have delivered on the result of the 2016 referendum.
Last Friday (6 July) the Cabinet went off to Chequers (the PM’s country residence) to be briefed by herself and to produce a consensus from which would be prepared a working document of needs to achieve an orderly departure from the EU.
There was the desired accord and yet on the Monday following (9 July) two Cabinet members resigned before the document could be presented to the Conservative Party in a meeting at the end of a day which turned out to be very stormy.
To continue, on 12 July the Department for Exiting the European Union issued a document entitled: The Future Relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union, otherwise known as The Brexit White Paper, the longed for set of pages outlining the wants of the Government.
This document can be found by CLICKING HERE.
In this 104 page paper there is much. It was available on the Government’s web news service and yet it had not arrived at the House of Commons at the time the (new) Brexit Minister Dominic Raab was attempting its introduction.
It is subject, of course, to EU acceptance. Negotiators will soon get aboard this as we wait to see what the outlook will be for business in general and the shipping, transport and fisheries sectors in particular.
In the White Paper road freight is dealt with in Section 1.7.2; maritime affairs in 1.7.3; space, particularly the Galileo satellite navigation and Copernicus earth observation projects will be found in 3.4.2. Section 3.5 introduces the outlook for fisheries.
This morning (13 July) the business pages had mixed views. See www.cityam.com, a piece by Catherine Neilan. In the words of David Dingle, Chairman of MaritimeUK ( (www.maritimeuk.org): “Despite the progress, there are areas where further clarity is needed. This includes EU VAT and services.
“We need to be able to continue serving customers in the EU. The UK is the world’s premier centre for maritime services, and we’ve long called for mutual recognition as part of the UK’s future relationship.”
Responding to yesterday’s White Paper Robert Keen, Director General of the British International Freight Association (BIFA) expressed mixed feelings about its contents. He said: “The White Paper addresses some of the issues that BIFA has highlighted over the past two years, including retaining something as close to the Single Market and Customs Union as is possible, with positive ideas on future Customs matters and international trading arrangements.
“But we have to remember that nothing in the White Paper is cast in stone. The proposals on Customs, where the UK is proposing to apply EU tariffs to EU goods passing through the UK, while having the freedom to set different tariffs on goods entering the UK, look complex and untested, something that has already seen negative comment from the EU. Other than a facilitated customs arrangement, I suspect that there will be other areas where there will be differences of opinion between the UK and EU.
“Notwithstanding the above, it is the most comprehensive and cogent proposal put forward by the UK Government to date and is a useful basis for negotiation with the EU. However, we need to be realistic. It still has to get through parliament, even before the negotiations in Brussels.”
Reported by Paul Ridgway
London
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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.
The reefer vessel AFRIC STAR (IMO 8713562) made an appearance in Durban harbour earlier in July to load citrus fruit. The 12,519-dwt ship was built in Spain in 1990 by the Navantia Carenas Puerto Real shipyard in Purto Real and has also operated with the names DEL MONTE CONSUMER (until January 2000) and TUNDRA CONSUMER (until 2004). The Star Reefers vessel is 158 metres long and 24m wide and flies the flag of Bahamas. These pictures are by Keith Betts
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK
“If the entire world sought to make itself worthy of happiness rather than make itself happy, then the entire world would be happy”
― Criss Jami
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