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Join us as we report through 2021

‘You learn with Africa Ports & Ships’ 

Today, 20 August, is World Mosquito Day – find out why in our first article

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TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS

“When everything stopped, seafarers didn’t.” – Stella Maris

These news reports are updated on an ongoing basis. Check back regularly for the latest news as it develops – where necessary refresh your page at www.africaports.co.za

Click on headline to go direct to story : use the BACK key to return  

FIRST VIEW:   DUNCAN ISLAND

• IN CONVERSATION: Three things you should know about mosquitoes
• WHARF TALK: Unusual and unexpected – COMBI DOCK 1
• UECC’s second LNG battery hybrid car carrier – on the water
• Maersk secures new e-methanol facility to provide green fuel for container ship
• Mozambique: Rwanda confirms it will guard gas zone
• New collaboration on satellite-based VDES: Sierra Leone aims for maritime digitalisation
• WHARF TALK: MR2 tanker arrives in Cape Town – KAIFAN
• Two container ships make their maiden calls at Port of Walvis Bay
• Western Indian Ocean no longer seen as a high risk area for piracy
• Agility sells its Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) business to DSV Panalpina
• IATA and UNCTAD e-commerce accord
• IN CONVERSATION: We examined 20 years of US-Kenya trade: Some lessons for Africa
• WHARF TALK: number ten – FEGULUS
• IMO 2000: Sierra Leone introduces penalties for non-compliant fuel
• IN CONVERSATION: The coal price has skyrocketed in 2021 – what does it mean for net zero?
• SAA begins rebuilding its fleet with two Airbus A320s
• Master Plan calls for R100 billion investments into expanding Port of Durban
• WHARF TALK: Vintage MSC ship still going strong – MSC ADELE
• Mozambique Cabo Delgado Update, part 1
• Mozambique Cabo Delgado Update, part 2
• Stella Maris: Life at Sea Report 2020 – a world in lockdown
• VIEWPOINT: The ongoing challenge of Covid in the ports
• WHARF TALK: First South African call for LR1 tanker DIYYINAH 1
• Citrus Exports: Less trucks arrive permitting Durban and Eastern Cape ports to decongest
• Richards Bay unplanned power outage impacts rail operations
• WHARF TALK: Maiden visit to Durban and Cape Town – SCHWYZ
• Australia’s carbon capture and utilisation opportunity
• Naval Exercise Cutlass Express concludes off East African coast
• IMO supports Djibouti to prevent pollution from ships
• Fire on livestock carrier Elbeik off coast of Spain
• Sri Lanka Ports Authority at 42

EARLIER NEWS CAN BE FOUND HERE AT NEWS CATEGORIES…….

The Monday masthead shows the Port of Ngqura Container Terminal
The Tuesday masthead shows the Port of Mombasa
The Wednesday masthead shows the Port of Apapa, Lagos in Nigeria
The Thursday masthead shows the Port of East London
The Friday masthead shows the Port of Durban Sugar Terminal
The Saturday masthead shows the Port of Durban T-Jetty
The Sunday masthead shows the Port of Durban Container Terminal North Quay

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FIRST VIEW:   DUNCAN ISLAND

The Danish-built reefer DUNCAN ISLAND (IMO 9059638) which called at Durban during July and early August this year to load citrus fruit. Built in 1993 she is one of the Ecuadorian Line managed reefers, with the Belgian Trireme Vessel Management NV company shown as her ISM manager. Since 2003 Inagua Shipping Ltd has been listed as the owner of Duncan Island which remains managed by Ecuadorian Line Inc, of Blue Lagoon Drive, Miami, Florida.

As reefers go, Duncan Island is quite a large ship, with an overall length of 178.5 metres and beam of 25.24m. The four-hold reefer capacity is 17,637 and a container capacity of 436 TEU, including 148 reefer plugs.

She is powered by a single B&W diesel two stroke main engine, model 8S60MC, producing 16,320 kW or 22,189 HP with the propulsion being a single fixed pitch propeller and producing a speed of 21.5 knots.

After a stay in Durban port of almost 6 days she sailed on 4 August for Port Elizabeth to continue loading fruit. Three days six hours after arrival she departed PE for Cape Town to continue filling her holds, arriving on 11 August, departing the following day after one day and 17 hours in port. Duncan Island is now in the South Atlantic bearing northwards along the West African coast with Rotterdam shown as her destination on 27 August.

Picture is by Trevor Jones

Added 15 August 2021

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Photographs of shipping and other maritime scenes involving any of the ports of South Africa or from the rest of the African continent, together with a short description, name of ship/s, ports etc are welome.

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IN CONVERSATION: Three things you should know about mosquitoes

Shüné Oliver, National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Jaishree Raman, National Institute for Communicable Diseases

For thousands of years malaria was a mysterious illness affecting people across the globe. Even the name of the disease, ‘malaria’, derived from two Italian words meaning ‘bad air’, highlights the confusion around the transmission of this disease. It was only following the discovery of malaria parasites in the gut of Anopheles mosquitoes in India by Sir Ronald Ross on 20 August 1897 that a clearer picture of the role of the mosquito in the malaria transmission cycle emerged.

Ross was awarded a Nobel prize for this discovery, and since 1930 World Mosquito Day has been observed on 20 August to commemorate this important finding and highlight the role of mosquitoes in the health and well-being of humans.

Mosquitoes are among the deadliest animals in the world. Half of the deaths attributed to these insects are associated with malaria. But mosquitoes are carriers of a number of other parasites, viruses and nematodes (roundworms) that threaten the health of humans. It’s surprising, then, that the general public tends to be ill-informed about mosquitoes in general.

There are still many things scientists don’t understand either. For example, how do mosquitoes find us? What do they like about us? And why are some mosquitoes just a biting pest while others are deadly? In addition, new mosquito species are still being described and discovered. Species previously not thought of as vectors are now being implicated in the transmission of malaria.

As malaria research scientists we have chosen some interesting facts about mosquitoes to share with you. We also highlight what they mean for public health.

1. Not all mosquitoes are created equal

Mosquitoes are generally thought of as the noisy nuisance that pesters you at night. But they differ greatly in their biology and distribution. There are around 3,500 mosquito species belonging to five genera.

The whiny mosquito that instantly comes to mind is most likely a member of the Culex genus, which is active at night. These mosquitoes lay their eggs as egg rafts in a range of different water bodies (breeding sites). They are associated with diseases like West Nile virus and Japanese encephalitis in some regions, but not in South Africa.

In contrast, Aedes mosquitoes are mostly encountered during the day. These mosquitoes are black with distinctive white or silvery markings and breed in containers such as tyres and tree holes. They lay single eggs on the damp sides of a water body rather than directly onto water. These mosquitoes are capable of transmitting a range of deadly viruses including dengue, yellow fever and Zika.

Unlike Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, Anopheles mosquitoes make only a soft buzzing sound and hence are often referred to as the “silent killers”. Of the approximately 460 Anopheles species, at least 70 have been implicated in malaria transmission. Adult Anopheles mosquitoes are brown or black with dappled wings and are generally most active between dusk and dawn. They also have a very distinctive resting posture, with their abdomens pointing away from a surface at an angle of about 45 degrees as opposed to resting parallel to the surface they are resting on. Female anopheline mosquitoes also lay single eggs on the surface of water bodies and hatched larvae lie parallel to the surface of the water.

2. Some mosquitoes do not bite at all

Female anopheline mosquitoes interact with you when in search of a blood meal. They use the proteins in blood to assist with egg production. In her search for essential proteins, the female malaria mosquito bites – she doesn’t sting. Male malaria mosquitoes are harmless and play a critical role in the pollination of plants.

Toxorhynchites mosquitoes, also known as elephant mosquitoes, do not have biting mouth parts. Their larvae are, however, actively carnivorous and eat other mosquito larvae. In certain conditions they have been used for biological control.

It is also worth noting some mosquito look-alikes, notably crane flies. These large flies cannot bite, but are commonly mistaken for gigantic mosquitoes.

3. Mosquitoes transmit only certain diseases

Despite being associated with a wide range of diseases, mosquitoes are not capable of transmitting viruses such as HIV, Ebola or thenovel coronavirus.

How to protect yourself

Mosquito-borne diseases are often preventable. But they are unfortunately associated with high levels of poverty and weak health systems. This makes controlling and preventing these diseases very challenging.

It is therefore very important to protect yourself from mosquito bites when in an area with a high risk of exposure to mosquito-borne diseases. Consider covering exposed areas of skin with repellents and sleeping under a mosquito net.

There are drugs which offer protection for travellers who haven’t been exposed to malaria before (which is most of South African population) and, despite urban legend, they do not mask symptoms of the disease. If you develop a fever after travelling to a malaria endemic area, you should tell your healthcare provider where you have been.

Vaccines for yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis are available and several more are in development. There has been promising malaria vaccine news but meanwhile it’s wise to take precautions.

Shüné Oliver, medical scientist , National Institute for Communicable Diseases and Jaishree Raman, Laboratory for Antimalarial Resistance Monitoring and Malaria Operational Research, National Institute for Communicable Diseases

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Added 19 July 2021

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WHARF TALK: Unusual and unexpected – COMBI DOCK 1

Story by Jay Gates
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’

The diversity of shipping entering, and departing, South African ports is a boon for the serious maritime observer. From multi-purpose cargo vessels, geared container vessels, heavylift vessels, Ro-Ro vessels and even semi-submersible vessels. Occasionally, you get the full set of all these types of vessel arriving, and contained in just one hull, as there are a few vessels that are able to undertake all of these roles with ease.

On 17th August at 14h00 the COMBI DOCK 1 (IMO 9400473) arrived at the Table Bay anchorage and remained there for a short seven hours, before entering Cape Town harbour and berthing at the Eastern Mole, a sure sign of a vessel in for stores and bunkers only.

She had arrived at Cape Town from Abidjan and San Pedro, both in the Ivory Coast. Unusually, for bunkers, she was serviced by both Cape Town based, and competing, bunker tankers. Initially she took bunkers from Southern Valour during the day on the 18th August, and then Al Safa continued with the bunkering operation into the evening and night.

Built in 2008, initially by Crist SA shipyard at Gdynia in Poland, and towed to Lloyd Werft at Bremerhaven in Germany for completion, Combi Dock 1 is 169 metres in length and has a deadweight of 10,480 tons. She is powered by two MAN-B&W 9L32/40CD 9 cylinder 4 stroke main engines, producing 6,035 bhp (4,500 kW) each, driving two controllable pitch propellers, each with its own rudder, to give a service speed of 16 knots.

Her auxiliary machinery includes two MAN 5L32/30H generators providing a total of 1,300 kW, and a MAN D2866-LXE20 emergency generator providing 272 kW. She has an Alfa Laval Aalborg Mission XS-7V CHR exhaust gas boiler, and an Alfa Laval Aalborg Mission OS CHO oil fired boiler.

With her accommodation all forward, Combi Dock 1 has a single box shaped hold, with dimensions of 132 metres by 25 metres, which allows for both Flo-Flo cargoes and heavylift, or outsized cargoes, to be carried below decks, and the ability to voyage with both open hatch and open stern ramp, if required. The hold capacity is 21,934 m3. With hatchtops closed and stern ramp closed, she has the container carrying capacity of 1,347 TEU.

She really is a versatile vessel, as described, as she is capable of taking lift on-lift off (Lo-Lo), Roll on-Roll off (Ro-Ro), Float on-Float off (Flo-Flo) and can handle any cargo from heavylift through to containers. Her Lo-Lo capability is provided by three Liebherr electro-hydraulic deck cranes, one of 200 tons capacity, and two of 350 tons capacity, and able to work in tandem for a 700 ton heavylift. Her Ro-Ro capability is provided by a stern ramp with dimensions of 18 by 11 metres, capable of taking 800 tons, and her Flo-Flo capability allows her to submerge to 11 metres in depth, giving her a 5.5 metres draft inside her single hold.

Owned by Harren and Partner Schiffahrts GmbH of Bremen in Germany, Combi Dock 1 is managed by Harren Ship Management GmbH and operated by SAL Heavy Lift GmbH of Hamburg, which is a subsidiary of the Harren and Partner Group. SAL Heavy Lift is a joint venture partner in the SAL-RollDock pool, which specialises in provision of semi-submersible dock vessels.

Combi Dock 1 sailed from Cape Town on Thursday 19 August at 10h00, bound for Hong Kong.

Added 19 August 2021

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UECC’s second LNG battery hybrid car carrier – on the water

UECC (United European Car Carriers) has launched this week its second in a series of three LNG battery hybrid newbuilds at a Chinese shipyard, thus keeping on track the car carrier’s ambitious effort of upgrading its fleet with low-carbon vessels.

The latest newbuild pure car and truck carrier (PCTC) was launched at Jiangnan Shipyard just over a year after the first steel was cut at the yard. Both the shipyard and shipowner had to overcome manpower and logistical challenges in maintaining the delivery schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hull number H2664 hit the water in a launch ceremony at the Shanghai yard on Monday 16 August and is due for final delivery along with the third vessel in the first half of 2022, while the first unit launched earlier this year is set to be delivered later this third quarter after final commissioning.

Front-runner

UECC has been a front-runner in adapting hybrid technology for the car carrier shipping segment in pursuit of lower CO2 emissions, building on a pair of pioneering dual-fuel LNG-powered PCTCs that have now been in commercial operation for the past four years.

“The intention was to further improve on these two E-class vessels, AUTO ECO and AUTO ENERGY, by rationalising fuel consumption through the use of hybrid battery power,” said head of ship management and newbuilding, Jan Thore Foss.

He said the yard “responded to the challenge” by employing Jiangnan Shipyard Group’s internal design firm to carry out engineering work to adapt the hybrid technology, supplied by WE Tech of Finland, for the ground-breaking newbuild project.

Technical challenges

“There have been a number of technical challenges to overcome, such as streamlining the shaft generator for a dual-fuel engine and determining whether the bow thruster could run on battery power when entering and leaving port,” Foss said.

The shaft generator enables the vessel to recharge its batteries while at sea so it can run the bow thruster in/out of port solely on battery power, contributing to reduced emissions in line with port authority requirements.

Battery power on the new vessels will improve operational efficiency and further reduce emissions through peak shaving, in addition to handling partial accommodation load and driving auxiliary equipment.

The use of a battery hybrid solution will enable UECC to exceed the IMO target to reduce carbon intensity by 40% from 2008 levels within 2030.

Emissions of carbon dioxide will be reduced by around 25%, SOx and particulate matter by 90% and NOx by 85% from the use of LNG, while the newbuilds will also meet the IMO’s Tier 3 NOx emissions limitations for the North Sea and Baltic Sea.

Pandemic issues

Foss says the newbuild programme remains on schedule despite significant logistical hurdles due to lockdown and travel restrictions that have led to difficulties in procuring equipment from global suppliers and hit manpower capacity for construction work, which requires hundreds of workers.

“The newbuilds were contracted in 2019 just before the pandemic broke out so fortunately we had equipment vendors in place, but the main challenge has been getting service engineers into China,” he said.

“We were initially forced to set up a temporary site team comprising solely Chinese nationals to get the newbuild project moving as flights into the country were cancelled. It has also been necessary to use digital tools such as conferencing apps to supervise the project remotely.

“The yard has though performed exceptionally well to re-allocate labour resources to maintain progress on the project.”

Once delivered, the newbuild trio will give UECC five eco-friendly PCTCs out of its 17-vessel fleet as its focus on sustainable operations is set to give the leading shortsea carrier a commercial edge in a green shipping future.

Added 19 August 2021

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Infograph of methodology of producing e-Methanol
Maersk secures new e-methanol facility to provide green fuel for container ship

A.P. Moller – Maersk has identified its partners to produce green fuel for its first vessel to operate on carbon neutral methanol: REintegrate, a subsidiary of the Danish renewable energy company European Energy.

Announcing this on Thursday (19 August) it was reported that REintegrate and European Energy will establish a new Danish facility to produce the approximately 10,000 tonnes of carbon neutral e-methanol that Maersk’s first vessel with the ability to operate on green e-methanol will consume annually.

Maersk will work closely with REintegrate and European Energy on the development of the facility.

“This type of partnership could become a blueprint for how to scale green fuel production through collaboration with partners across the industry ecosystem, and it will provide us with valuable experiences as we are progressing on our journey to decarbonise our customers’ supply chains,” says Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Fleet & Strategic Brands at A.P. Moller – Maersk.

“Sourcing the fuels of the future is a significant challenge, and we need to be able to scale production in time. This agreement with European Energy/REintegrate brings us on track to deliver on our ambition to have the world’s first container vessel operated on carbon neutral methanol on the water by 2023,” she said.

The methanol facility will use renewable energy and biogenic CO2 to produce the e-methanol. The fuel production is expected to start in 2023.

The energy needed for the power-to-methanol production will be provided by a solar farm in Kassø, Southern Denmark.

REintegrate has a proven track record for producing green e-methanol in its test laboratory in Aalborg. The new facility will be its third e-methanol facility, as they are also constructing an e-methanol facility in Skive with startup in 2022.

“We’re proud to be a part of the first large scale e-methanol production in Denmark. While renewable energy is becoming more and more common in the energy mix of electricity consumption, this is one of the first steps in heavy transportation towards using 100% renewable energy,” Knud Erik Andersen, CEO, European Energy said.

He added that the agreement marks a milestone in the journey towards green transition in the shipping industry.

While the renewable energy will be produced in Southern Jutland it is yet to be decided where in Denmark the power-to-methanol facility will be located.

Maersk announced the dual fuel vessel, an industry first, in February 2021. In June, Maersk announced that Hyundai Mipo Dockyards will be building the 2100 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent) feeder.

The world’s first methanol feeder will be 172 metres long and it is expected to join the Maersk fleet in mid-2023. It will sail in the network of Sealand Europe, a Maersk subsidiary, on the Baltic shipping route between Northern Europe and the Bay of Bothnia. The ship will fly the Danish flag.

Added 19 August 2021

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Mozambique: Rwanda confirms it will guard gas zone

Report by Joseph Hanlon
Mozambique News Reports and Clippings

“We will be focusing on Palma, and Mocimboa de Praia as the major districts of our attention,” Rwanda Defence Force (RDF) spokesperson Col. Ronald Rwivanga told New Times (Rwanda, 17 Aug) “According to the arrangement, each of the forces deployed in Mozambique have designated sectors of responsibility. SADC currently is the southern districts of Pemba, [and] they will go to Mueda,” he added, effectively keeping SADC far from the fighting.

Asked if the insurgents might adopt guerrilla warfare and use the dense forests, Rwivanga replied: “Yeah, why not. We have forests here [in Rwanda], we operate in forests every other day, so we are ready for that.”

MediaFax (18 Aug) reports that Rwandan forces are moving south toward the forest base of Mbau, and are facing “intense combat”. The BBC (17 Aug) reports “aerial bombardment of the region which is thickly wooded and hard to access”.

The Southern African Development Community’s (SADC) Standby Force Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) will operate in Macomia, Muidumbe, Mueda, Nangade, and Quissanga districts, but they have not started yet and are still setting up their bases, said Defence Minister Jaime Neto, on 17 Aug. (AIM 18 Aug). “I believe that very soon the SADC offensive will start.”

Neto also suggested that the official three month timescale for the SADC mission is much too short. The need for outside support will only end after serious investment in re-equipping, training and modernising the armed forces, which he said had not received any relevant investment in the last 20 years. (MediaFax 19 Aug)

Evidence of breaking into small groups

The publication Cabo Ligado, working with Zitamar and MediaFax, provides the best detailed reporting of the Mozambique war. The map above is for 1-30 July. Orange dots are battles, black dots are violence against civilians. Larger circles indicate more than one incident.

The cluster of battles in the centre is the Rwandans retaking the Awasse road junction. The move east to take Mocimboa da Praia is not on the map as it happened in the first week of August.

What is notable is the wide spread of incidents, which indicates that the insurgents were already working in smaller groups. Notable were battles and attacks in Muidumbe and Macomia districts, and along the coast of Macomia and Ibo.

Added 19 August 2021

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New collaboration on satellite-based VDES
Sierra Leone aims for maritime digitalisation
Danish lead

Sierra Leone with one of Africa’s busiest territorial waters wants to improve its capabilities for digital implementation of key IMO instruments for navigation and safety at sea.

VHF Data Exchange System (VDES) is an extension of the mandatory AIS technology and has been developed as a means for maritime digitalisation as specified in the IMO e-Navigation Strategy Implementation Plan.

In mid-June an online ceremony was held in which the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration signed a Letter of Intent with Sternula for the use of its VDES capacity.

According to Acting Executive Director of the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration, Sama Gamanga: “There is a great potential in implementing this satellite-based e-Navigation technology to boost the entire country’s maritime sector. The new relationship will help the country gain a better and more accurate picture of the traffic in our waters, which in these time of maritime insecurity is an urgent necessity.”

CEO at Sternula, Lars Moltsen commented: “We are very pleased to start this second collaboration in West Africa in just a few months. At Sternula, we are currently building a satellite network for VDES, which is going to be a shared infrastructure for all nations in the World who wants to be part of it. In parallel, we are working closely with the first-movers, like Sierra Leone, to implement our systems and capacity to best meet your needs, and I am looking much forward to meeting you soon in Sierra Leone to discuss these needs in more detail.”

Increased collaboration and harmonisation

A significant proportion of ships in Sierra Leone waters are sailing under Danish flag. Denmark has always been a strong maritime nation and is working for increased global collaboration on the maritime sector.

Tom Nørring, the Danish Ambassador to Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Conakry, and Togo, who took part in the signing ceremony reflected: “At the Danish Embassy in West Africa, we are very pleased with this new collaboration between a local maritime administration and a Danish tech company, and we congratulate both sides. We would like to invite the Sierra Leone government to collaborate with Denmark on a zero-emission strategy for the maritime sector, which is a top priority for the Danish government.”

Development of the VDES technology into an ITU and IMO standard has been underway in IALA for the past decade.

Omar Frits Eriksson, Deputy Secretary General at IALA added: “IALA is working with the goals of international harmonisation of marine aids to navigation and supporting systems and capacity building. We congratulate the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration and Sternula with this collaboration which is great step towards harmonisation and capacity building on top of the new VDES standard.”

The Result of Years of Research and Development

The VDES technology is an extension to the popular AIS system which is today installed in more than 200,000 vessels worldwide. VDES adds more than thirty times extra data capacity than AIS, much better security, and two-way communication via satellite.

Jens Dalsgaard Nielsen, Associate Professor at Aalborg University remarked: “At Aalborg University, we have been working on space technology and AIS for the past 25 years. It is very exciting for me to be part of this development towards VDES, which is the future standard for maritime digital communication, in particular as a cost-effective tool for the maritime authorities globally.”

Lars Moltsen concluded with: “In Sternula, we know that we stand on the shoulders of those who have built the existing standards and communication systems. We are proud to take a leading role in working towards new and better standards that enables maritime administration to implement effective systems for a higher level of safety at sea. Sternula will be offering its VDE-SAT infrastructure enabling VDES on a global scale from 2023.”

Sternula

Sternula is Denmark’s first commercial satellite operator. The company offers global VDE-SAT connectivity for maritime authorities and industries using its own fleet of advanced micro-satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) which will be operational from 2022.

At Sternula an active role is taken with global maritime stakeholders to standardise VDES under IALA, IMO, and ITU.

 

 

 

Reported by Paul Ridgway
London

Added 18 August 2021

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WHARF TALK: MR2 tanker arrives in Cape Town – KAIFAN

Story by Jay Gates
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’

The major international oil companies are usually independents, i.e. they are not government owned, or government controlled. Not so in the Middle East, where most Gulf states have a state owned oil company. In almost every case, the state owned oil company usually also owns the oil tanker company.

Recently the Abu Dhabi state oil company (ADNOC) sent one of their own tankers (ADNATCO) down to South Africa to deliver much needed refined fuel products to the Cape. It was only a matter of time before observers got to see another Gulf state send in one of their own tankers.

On 13th August at 09h00 the MR2 tanker KAIFAN (IMO 9656046) arrived at the Table Bay anchorage as the fourth of five tankers to arrive in the space of one week. She had arrived from Durban, where she had discharged a parcel of refined products for KZN, and she remained in the anchorage for just under a day when she proceeded into the tanker berth in the Duncan Dock on 14th August at 08h00.

She had loaded her products at Sohar in Oman, and her second parcel was safely delivered at the Cape, before she sailed once more, this time for Mossel Bay where she was to complete her discharge of her third parcel at the offshore Single Point Mooring (SPM). The harbour at Mossel Bay is simply not big enough to allow the berthing alongside of an MR2 sized tanker, hence the delivery of fuel products at the port is via an offshore SPM out in the bay.

Built in 2014, as one of three sisterships, at the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard at Ulsan in South Korea, Kaifan is 186 metres in length and has a deadweight of 46,327 tons. She is powered by a single HHI Wärtsilä 7RT-Flex50-D 7 cylinder 2 stroke main engine, producing 11,935 bhp (8,900 kW) to drive a fixed pitch propeller for a service speed of 14 knots.

Her auxiliary machinery includes four generators producing a total of 5,938 kW. She has an Alfa Laval Aalborg oil fired boiler, and a Mitsubishi exhaust gas boiler. She has 14 cargo tanks with a cargo carrying capacity of 52,002 m3.

Owned and managed by the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company (KOTC), she is operated by the state owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (Q8) of Kuwait City, and she is named after an upmarket suburb of Kuwait City.

KOTC have invested a lot in training and development on local Kuwaitis as Officers on their own vessels. In my time at Fleetwood Nautical College, in the UK back in the late 1970s, KOTC had a number of both Navigation Cadets, and Radio Officer Cadets, studying for their tickets at the college.

This is not the first visit of Kaifan to African waters this year, as she visited Djibouti in January, and a first visit of the year to Durban in February.

Her regular passages across the dangerous waters of the Gulf of Oman, and the waters offshore Somalia, mean that she carries permanent anti-piracy measures, and like so many others before her it comes in the guise of a set of mannequins, strategically placed on the aft of the accommodation block, with the appearance of lookouts to deter would-be pirates.

Added 18 August 2021

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Two container ships make their maiden calls at Port of Walvis Bay

The Namibian Ports Authority (Namport) rolled out the metaphorical red carpet on Saturday and Sunday, 14 & 15 August 2021, to welcome two large container ships from two companies that were making their maiden calls at the port of Walvis Bay.

The French-operated, Cypriot-flagged CMA CGM NABUCCO (IMO 9299630) has a length of 334 metres and width of 42.8 metres and is capable of carrying up to 8,488-container TEUs (twenty-foot container equivalents). The ship was built in 2006 and her call at Walvis Bay involved a total of 492 container moves (both off and on).

Like a number of similar vessels in service either now or earlier with CMA CGM, she carries the name of a well-known European opera, in this instance Verdi’s Nabucco.

CMA CGM Nabucco has a deadweight of 101,879 tons. She sailed from Walvis Bay on Sunday 15 August at 01h05 with Singapore as her next port of call, where she is due on 30 August. She will return to Walvis Bay later in September.

Preceding the CMA CGM ship was MSC ULSAN (IMO 9243306), an older and smaller ship of 52,785-dwt and a length and breadth of 257 metres x 32m. She was built in 2002 and is registered in Hong Kong.

Prior to arriving in Walvis Bay the ship made calls at Pointe Noire in the Congo and Luanda in Angola.

MSC Ulsan arrived at the anchorage outside Walvis Bay on Saturday 14 August at 03h23, entering port the following day after 20 hours 36 minutes at the anchorage. On entering the port, she went directly to the container terminal where a total of 1,000 container TEUs was made over a period of 1 day and five hours.

On Monday 16 August MSC Ulsan sailed for Cape Town at 06h55, arriving at 13h17 on Wednesday 18 August where she went to anchor opposite Milnerton.

The new container terminal at Walvis Bay is proving an attraction to several shipping lines who are now able to send larger vessels to the port. According to Namport, in the past four months ending 31 July the ports authority recorded 265 ships docking at Walvis Bay, compared with 239 for the same period in 2020.

With excellent infrastructure and equipment including four new ship-to-shore (STS) cranes, there is no reason why the number of vessel calls, in particular container ships, will not increase even further.

The Namibian Ports Authority says it remains committed to its promise of providing world-class port services to all seaborne trade by offering excellent customer service to its clientele.

–  trh

Added 18 August 2021

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Western Indian Ocean no longer seen as a high risk area for piracy

The downward trend in Somali piracy has prompted leading shipping organisations to reduce the geographic boundaries of the ‘High Risk Area’ (HRA) for piracy in the Indian Ocean. The reduction comes into effect from 1 September 2021.

The changes agreed by BIMCO, ICS, INTERCARGO, INTERTANKO, and OCIMF*, representing the global shipping and oil industries, will reduce the HRA boundaries to the Yemeni and Somali Territorial Seas and Exclusive Economic Zones in its eastern and southern reaches.

The organisations, in consultation with international partners, will also take a comprehensive new approach to assessing international maritime security threats to allow shipowners and operators to fully gauge the risk of voyages worldwide. This second step is expected to be completed by 31 December.

The HRA was created at the height of the Somali piracy threat in 2010 to show shipowners, operators, and seafarers where pirates operated and where extra vigilance was required to avoid attacks.

 

Subsequent updates to the HRA have reflected the changing nature of threats in the region, including the successful suppression of Somali pirate action. Somali pirate groups have not attacked a merchant vessel since 2017, while new asymmetric threats from local conflicts and insurgents have emerged as well as the existence of more severe security threats, such as piracy off West Africa, necessitating a change in how industry assesses such dangers to shipping.

“The security landscape is constantly evolving, and as new security threats have emerged or intensified outside the Indian Ocean it has become clear the HRA is outdated and misleading,” said Guy Platten, ICS Secretary General.

“At the height of the crisis the HRA was essential in raising awareness of the Somali Pirate threat and the need to apply mitigation measures, but it has essentially served its purpose in protecting crews and vessels in the region,” Platten added.

“Now our attention must shift to ensure we cover all maritime security threats around the globe so we continue to protect the lives of our seafarers and keep global trade moving.”

David Loosley, BIMCO Secretary General and CEO said the current form of the HRA is no longer the best way to guide maritime security risk management processes. “As demonstrated with the recent security incidents in the waters around the Arabian Peninsula, we need a more granular approach to the concepts of threat and risk,” he said.

“The next logical step is to develop a global, threat-based concept which captures how ships of various type, size, nationality, ownership etc face different risk levels.”

Katherina Stanzel, INTERTANKO Managing Director described the new designation as an interim measure to allow for the continued application of BMP 5 whilst the Co-Authors undertake substantive work to address maritime security threats in a global context.

Meanwhile, Robert Drysdale, OCIMF Managing Director said the adjustment to the HRA better reflected the reality of the piracy threat “but given the breadth of maritime security threats faced by seafarers, a more intuitive and dynamic system for highlighting threats will be most welcome,” he said.

Voluntary Reporting Area (VRA)

The area previously classified as ‘high risk’ forms only a part of the area called the Voluntary Reporting Area (VRA). Ships entering the VRA are encouraged to report to the UKMTO to be monitored during transit and to be registered with the Maritime Security Centre for the Horn of Africa (MSCHOA). It is recommended that pre-transit risk assessments should take into account the latest information from both the VRA and High Risk Area.

The new coordinates of the HRA are:

From position A (Latitude of 01 30’S on the Somali coast), a line to
o Position B (01° 30’ S – 046° 00’ E), a line to
o Position C (01° 00’ N – 049° 30’ E), a line to
o Position D (09° 00’ N – 055° 00’ E), a line to
o Position E (14° 20’ N – 057° 30’ E), a line to
o Position F (the Yemen coast at longitude 053° 00’ E), then
o Follow the Yemeni coast westwards and northwards, to
o Position G (the Yemeni Red Sea coast at latitude 15° 00’ N), then a line to
o Position H (the Eritrea territorial sea border at latitude 15° 00’ N), then
o Follow southwards first Eritrea’s and then Djibouti’s territorial sea borders, to
o Position I (the coastal border point between Djibouti and Somalia), then
o Follow the Somali coast eastwards and then southwards, to
o Position A.

Organisations

Click on acronyms to go to websites

ICS : The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) is the principal international trade association for merchant shipowners and operators, representing all sectors and trades and over 80% of the world merchant fleet.

BIMCO : The Baltic and International Maritime Council is the world’s largest international shipping association, with around 1,900 members in more than 120 countries, representing 59% of the world’s tonnage. Its global membership includes shipowners, operators, managers, brokers and agents. BIMCO is a non-profit organisation.

INTERCARGO : The International Association of Dry Cargo Shipowners unites and promotes quality dry bulk shipping, bringing together some 220 forward thinking companies from 30 countries and representing close to 25% by deadweight of the global dry bulk fleet.

INTERTANKO : is the International Association of Independent Tanker Owners, a forum where the industry meets, policies are discussed and best practices developed. INTERTANKO has been the voice of independent tanker owners since 1970, ensuring that the liquid energy that keeps the world turning is shipped safely, responsibly and competitively.

OCIMF : The Oil Companies International Marine Forum focuses on promoting best practice in the design, construction and operation of tankers, barges and offshore vessels and their interfaces with terminals inshore, onshore and offshore. It does so by providing an independent forum for bringing together its members and external stakeholders to leverage their expertise in the creation of publications and programmes that enhance the safety and environmental performance of the marine industry.

UKMTO : United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations is a Royal Navy capability with the principal purpose of providing an information conduit between military which (includes/security forces) and the wider international maritime trade. UKMTO delivers timely maritime security information,often acting as the primary point of contact for merchant vessels involved in maritime incidents or travelling within an area of high risk (HRA).

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Agility sells its Global Integrated Logistics (GIL) business to DSV Panalpina

The all-shares transaction gives Agility 19,304,348 DSV shares upon full completion of the deal in all jurisdictions, representing approximately 8% of all post-transaction shares of DSV.

The enterprise value of the transaction is USD 4.775 billion and the equity value is USD 4.675 billion.

“We’ve shown that Agility knows how to build and scale successful businesses. This deal affirms Agility’s global strategy and execution, and positions us for a new era of growth,” said Tarek Sultan, Agility Vice Chairman and CEO.

“We’re moving forward with a strategic investment in DSV, one of the world’s best-performing logistics providers. We will accelerate growth in the businesses we continue to operate, which historically account for around 80% of our EBIT. And we will continue investing in businesses that are driving sustainable innovation in supply chain and transportation.

He said Agility’s future will be built around businesses, technology and investment that expand access to global trade and make supply chains faster, smarter, greener, fairer and more efficient and resilient.

Sultan said Agility’s next phase of growth will create additional shareholder value. “In the last decade, Agility created almost $7 billion in value for shareholders, increasing it five fold since 2011. We are determined to sustain this momentum going forward.”

In addition to its stake in DSV, Agility receives a seat on the DSV board of directors. “This is a chance for us to share ideas and find areas where we can collaborate with a visionary DSV leadership team that, like us, is determined to shape the supply chains of the future,” Sultan said.

Following the acquisition of GIL, DSV becomes a global top-three player in the freight forwarding industry with an expected combined revenue of roughly $26 billion and 75,000 employees worldwide.

Agility is one of the largest private owners and developers of warehousing and light industrial parks in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. The group’s subsidiary companies offer fuel logistics, airport services, commercial real estate and facilities management, customs digitisation, remote infrastructure services, and digital and ecommerce logistics.

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IATA and UNCTAD e-commerce accord

World Cargo Symposium, Istanbul, 12-14 October 2021

The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced from Geneva on 14 August that they would extend their partnership to facilitate global trade. The two organizations will leverage their leadership in their respective fields to boost e-commerce in developing countries through improved exchanges of trade data.

It is understood that the extended partnership will enrich their history of working together. This includes the successful integration of air cargo messaging standards (Cargo-XML) into UNCTAD’s automated customs management system, ASYCUDAWorld.

For the 100 counties choosing to deploy the latest version of ASYCUDAWorld, this enables more efficient processing of air cargo shipments.

In the words of Shamika N Sirimanne UNCTAD’s Technology and Logistics Director: ‘Through this extended partnership, we look forward to leveraging the leadership of UNCTAD and IATA in their respective fields to boost e-commerce in developing countries through improved exchanges of trade data.’

The next stage of the collaboration will focus on enabling ASYCUDAWorld to manage e-commerce shipments more efficiently. It will include adding a risk assessment for mail shipments and facilitating access to the IATA enhanced partner identification and connectivity (EPIC) platform (for more information CLICK HERE

This will enable customs authorities to share advance cargo/mail information requirements across the digitized supply chain (airlines, freight forwarders, ground handlers and third-party messaging service providers).

Collaboration will also include the potential exchange of additional operational electronic information such as air cargo rules, flight schedules and others that can assist customs officials in their risk assessments.

Nick Careen, IATA’s Senior Vice President for Operations, Safety and Security ‘UNCTAD and IATA are working together to support the economic opportunities of e-commerce by modernising the data exchange needed for customs clearance,” said.

‘Global standards enable accurate information and effective risk-assessments. This in turn promotes stronger compliance and will contribute to a safe supply chain, which should give the authorities the confidence to modernize processes,’

About IATA: Serving the airline industry

IATA represents some 290 airlines comprising 82% of global air traffic. For over 70 years IATA has developed global commercial standards upon which the air transport industry is built. Its aim is to assist airlines by simplifying processes and increasing passenger convenience while reducing costs and improving efficiency.

IATA helps airlines to operate safely, securely, efficiently, and economically under clearly defined rules. Professional support is provided to all industry stakeholders with a wide range of products and expert services.

World Cargo Symposium, Istanbul, 12 – 14 October 2021

The World Cargo Symposium (WCS) is the largest and most prestigious annual event of its kind and the only one to bring together key stakeholders from the entire air cargo supply chain. This year it will be held at the Hilton Bomonti, Istanbul.

WCS 2021 is the 14th event in a series and will feature plenary sessions, specialised tracks, workshops and executive summits, tackling aspects of technology and innovation, security and Customs, cargo operations and sustainability.

This event is expected to be attended by over 1,000 representatives in the air cargo business with more than 40 exhibitors; World Cargo Symposium, is to be hosted by Turkish Cargo.

For more details SEE HERE

 

 

 

Reported by Paul Ridgway
London

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IN CONVERSATION: We examined 20 years of US-Kenya trade: Some lessons for Africa

 

Francis Owusu, Iowa State University and Kefa M. Otiso, Bowling Green State University

Kenya is one of the top five beneficiaries of the US-Africa trade initiative, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). It also had the second-highest utilisation rate in 2018 with over 70% of its US exports covered by the programme.

Launched in 2000, the trade pact gives sub-Saharan Africa the most liberal access to the huge US market available to any country or region with which Washington does not have a free trade agreement. The initiative has had a significant impact on stimulating Africa-US trade. Exports to the US from eligible African countries grew by over 272%, from US$22 billion in 2000 to US$82 billion in 2008.

Probably due to COVID-19 disruptions, exports declined to US$18.4 billion in 2020. Despite these fluctuations, Africa maintained a positive balance of trade with the US in the 2000-2020 period, thanks to AGOA eligible products. As of 2017, the trade initiative had created over 300,000 jobs in sub-Saharan Africa, many of which were in the apparel sector.

We recently carried out a Kenya country case study on the implementation of AGOA in the 2000 to 2016 period. We found that in this period, Kenya’s total exports to the US grew by $443.2 million (or 405%) from $109.4 million to $552.6 million. By 2020, the figure had risen to $569 million, with most of the country’s exports coming from eligible products.

Looked at differently, in the nine years before the trade programme (1992 to 2000), Kenya’s average annual exports to the US were $101 million. In the nine years after (2002 to 2010), average annual exports to the US rose to $305 million. They rose further on average to $557 million in the 2012 to 2020 period.

Moreover, in contrast with the 1990s, Kenya had a positive balance of trade with the US, averaging $158 million per year since 2016.

Kenya’s exports to the US under this programme have enabled the country to build a sizeable textile and apparel export sector. As of 2016, Kenya had 111 firms in its export processing zones that produced most of its $634 million worth of exports. Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger are some of the US brands that buy Kenyan apparel and clothing products.

The sector employed 52,000 workers, used over $250 million in local resources and attracted in excess of $710 million in total investments. But Kenya’s apparel export sector is overwhelmingly dependent on the US market. This over-reliance on the US market should worry Kenya because it makes its apparel sector susceptible to unpredictable swings in the US market.

While Kenya’s non-textile exports to the US – mainly coffee, tea, nuts and cut flowers – also grew during the 2000-2016 period, their growth rate was less impressive.

Socially, AGOA has also helped to create jobs for marginalised groups such as women and youth. Nevertheless, we found that working in these apparel firms entailed poor working conditions, low pay, temporary work, and the sexual harassment of female workers.

We also found that Kenya, like many other eligible countries, is under-utilising AGOA with the near neglect of the non-texitle sectors. Whether or not the US-Africa trade programme is renewed when it expires in 2025, Kenya’s experience points to many policy implications for the country and other member countries.

Trade pact objectives

The African Growth and Opportunity Act was signed into law by former US president Bill Clinton. Its main objectives were to diversify the region’s export production, expand trade and investment between the two destinations, and accelerate economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa.

These would be achieved in a number of ways. First, the reduction of tariff and non-tariff barriers. Second, the negotiation of trade agreements. Third, the integration of the region into the global economy. Finally, the expansion of US assistance to Africa’s regional integration.

In many ways, its main aim was to support African economies’ ability to use the textile and apparel sectors as potential engines of industrialisation and economic growth. In this sense this mirrored the similar success in South and Southeast Asia.

Much of the growth in exports to the US from Kenya and other non-oil exporting countries has come from the textile and apparel sector. There is a relatively tepid response from other sectors of the economy. These countries can make better use of the US trade initiative by not so heavily basing their exports on only a few of the thousands of eligible products.

Lessons for Africa

In our study, we found a number of policy gaps in Kenya that are relevant for other African countries. For example, the trade opportunities are largely driven by US trade policy rather than by the region’s competitive advantage. Also, the US dominates the terms and conditions of the pact’s renewal. In our view, eligible countries like Kenya should look beyond US-Africa programme and diversify their markets accordingly.

Second, to make the most of their apparel exports to the US and to capture new global markets, the African countries should ensure that their apparel industries are globally competitive. They should have a good supply of the inputs and infrastructure they need to thrive. Improvements in transport infrastructure, for instance, would speed up and reduce costs of moving inputs in and finished goods out.

Third, the vast majority of Kenya’s export processing zone investments are foreign-owned. There is also a huge pay gap between Kenyan and foreign workers due to the cadre of jobs and skills possessed by these two types of workers. Thus, there is a need for capacity building to produce a critical mass of professionals who can lead the country’s textile and agro-processing industries to maximise their gains from current and future trade opportunities.

Countries in the sub-Saharan Africa region should also strengthen their regulatory frameworks. These include mechanisms for enforcement of laws regarding labour and other forms of human rights protections envisaged under the US-Africa trade pact. This would ensure that women and youth workers in Kenya’s export-led enterprises are protected and enabled to benefit from this trade programme.

These countries should also create a favourable export policy environment which is globally competitive to attract substantial manufacturing investments to the region. In Kenya, this is currently undermined by high levels of corruption and mismanagement. There is also a fair amount of political instability mostly driven by the country’s ethnic-driven and hyper-competitive elections especially at the presidential level.

The country now has a new devolved government structure that promises to contribute to a more tranquil national political environment. But Kenya needs to do more to hold credible elections, and, perhaps, dilute its presidential powers which drive its overly competitive, acrimonious, and perennially destabilising elections.

Finally, Kenya and other African countries should strengthen their trade negotiation ability to make the most of new international trade deals. In today’s world, the difference between winning and losing in trade substantially comes down to one’s ability to negotiate good trade deals. Therefore, African countries must not only invest in high quality capacity building training for their trade negotiators, but they must also hire, keep, and empower the right people for these roles.

Kenya is in the middle of negotiating a free trade agreement with the US, the first such agreement between the US and a sub-Saharan African economy. If it succeeds, it would be the most important trade development in the region since the enactment of the AGOA in 2000.

Francis Owusu, Professor and the Chair of the Department of Community and Regional Planning, Iowa State University and Kefa M. Otiso, Professor of Geography, Bowling Green State University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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WHARF TALK: number ten – FEGULUS

Story by Jay Gates
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’

Ten is a metric number, it is also a nice round number, easy to count up to using fingers and thumbs, it is the time taken to get to a knockout in boxing, and it is the number of the next reefer, in the stream of almost weekly callers, to take South African Citrus fruits to the markets of the USA and Canada.

On 12th August at 09h00 the reefer FEGULUS (IMO 9055709) arrived at the Table Bay anchorage, from La Guairá in Venezuela. She remained for just over six hours at anchor, before being brought into Cape Town harbour at 16h00, where she berthed at D berth, alongside the FPT in the Duncan Dock. Whilst alongside she also took on bunkers from the bunker tanker Al Safa. The arrival of Fegulus brought the tenth reefer of the season on the Cape-US citrus export run, to take a full load of South African fruits to the Gloucester Marine Terminal in New Jersey.

Built in 1993 by Shikoku Dockyard at Takamatsu in Japan, Fegulus is 150 metres in length and has a deadweight of 10,545 tons. She is powered by a Mitsui MAN-B&W 6S60MC-C 6 cylinder 2 stroke main engine, producing 15,090 bhp (11,253 kW), to drive a fixed pitch propeller for a service speed of 20 knots.

Her auxiliary machinery includes five generator sets providing 3,080 kVA, and she has a single vertical Tortoise boiler. Her container capacity is 242 TEU, for which she provides 46 reefer plugs. Her four holds have a refrigerated capacity of 526,141 ft3, equivalent to a deck space of 5,849 m2 and a carrying capacity of 5,351 pallets.

Owned by Fegulus Shipping of Riga in Latvia, Fegulus is managed by SIA Regulus of Riga and operated by Seatrade of Groningen in Holland. She is no stranger to South African ports and in November 2015 she was the last reefer of the long SA-European season to discharge 5,181 pallets of South African Citrus fruits at St Petersburg in Russia. This is not her first African port call this year, as she called into Oran, in Algiers, back in early July.

In October 2018 Fegulus was listed by US Homeland Security as being prohibited from carrying any US government-impelled cargoes. What cargo this might have been is a mystery. American law requires that certain percentages of cargo must be carried on vessels registered in the United States, when the cargo is supported by US Federal funding.

Such cargo is commonly referred to as ‘government-impelled’, and is typically cargo being shipped as a direct result of US Federal Government involvement, such as military transportation of supplies by sea, or indirectly through financial sponsorship of a US Federal program, such as USAID supported food aid etc. or in connection with a loan, grant, loan guarantee, or other financing provided by the US Federal Government.

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IMO 2000: Sierra Leone introduces penalties for non-compliant fuel

Ship owners and operators take note. As from 1 September vessels calling at Sierra Leone in West Africa face penalties if their ships are carrying fuel with a sulphur content exceeding 0.5 percent.

The implementation of IMO 2000 received wide publicity in late 2019 and the start of 2020 but with the world’s attention turning to the onset of Covid-19 and the declaration soon after of a worldwide pandemic, the focus on these measures was lost in a large number of countries.

Sierra Leone was one of the countries that failed to implement this international rule or law, but is now introducing measures to belatedly enforce compliance and monitoring of the IMO 2020 sulphur limit ruling that falls under Regulations to Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

This states that nations that have ratified MARPOL and acceded to Annex VI are obliged to give effect to and enforce the provisions of the regulation.

It’s expected therefore that port states must enforce the provisions of MARPOL by monitoring vessels within their territorial waters and reporting non-compliance to the relevant flag state. This reporting ensures that adequate amounts of compliant low-sulphur fuel are available within their jurisdiction and provides shore-based facilities for the receipt and removal of scrubber waste.

BIMCO made an appeal on its website that ships or members experiencing problems related to enforcement of MARPOL Annex V or unavailability of compliant fuel are encouraged to inform BIMCO via email hsse@bimco.org with ‘IMO 2020’ in the subject field.

The Sierra Leone Ports Authority said that in consultation with the Ministry of Transport and Aviation, it has consented to implement the important international member state mandate in July 2021.

It said it is also important to note that Sierra Leone is 18 months behind the global mandate to implement the IMO 2020 statutory instrument. “In view of the above, the Sierra Leone Ports Authority will serve as the consulting government agency to implement IMO 2020. Furthermore, the Port Authority will undertake a joint implementation of the regulation, together with a competent institution for efficiency and standardisation.

“The Port of Freetown in Sierra Leone will extend a grace period spanning from 15 July 2021 to 31 August 2021 for vessels that are non-compliant. Penalties will not be instituted against defaulting or non-compliant vessels on or before 31 August 2021. However, a non-compliance report together with a warning letter will be issued to non-compliant vessels for corrective action to be taken prior their next call at the port and within this grace period as stipulated.”

The announcement said the Port Authority will take appropriate measures to ensure compliance by initial inspections based on documents and other methods, including remote sensing and portable devices. If there are clear grounds to conduct a more detailed inspection, sample analyses and other detailed inspections may be undertaken.

The samples to be analysed may be the representative samples provided with the Bunker Delivery Note. From 1 September 2021, ship owners and operators risk penalties of up to US$15,000 should they continue to carry fuel with a sulphur content exceeding 0.5 percent.

The IMO 2020 service charge will be implemented even for ships with an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) installed. It is also important to note that tariffs and fines are subject to periodic reviews based on prevailing circumstances.

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IN CONVERSATION: The coal price has skyrocketed in 2021 – what does it mean for net zero?

 

Michael Tamvakis, City, University of London

It is only a few days since the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) signalled the dire consequences of human-induced climate change. At the heart of this stark warning by UN Secretary General António Guterres and the scientists behind the report was the urgent need to heavily reduce coal in the energy mix.

Yet in the run-up to publication, and absent from mainstream news headlines, was the steady ascent of coal prices, past US$100 (£72) per metric tonne in June and then past US$130 in mid-July to over US$170 today. This is almost four times the price last September.

The rise in prices can be attributed squarely to a resurgence of demand after the depths of the pandemic – especially in emerging Asian markets such as China and India, but also in Japan, South Korea, Europe and the US. Electricity demand, which remains closely linked to coal, is expected to have increased by 5% across 2021 and a further 4% in 2022.

On the supply side, there are also some issues such as China being unable to acquire coal from Australia due to an import ban, and smaller disruptions in the export output of major producers Indonesia, South Africa and Russia. But there are no long-term supply issues, as the main producing countries have not curtailed their production or export capacity. Prices should not therefore stay high for very long.

The coal price (US$/metric tonne)

The revival of world demand for energy hopefully means the world economy is recovering from the pandemic, but the surge in coal prices is a reminder of how energy still relies on fossil fuels. Global energy consumption totalled 556 exajoules in 2020, and oil, coal and natural gas accounting for 31%, 27% and 25% of the total respectively. That adds up to more than four-fifths of the total.

Stubborn coal

Coal has two main uses, electricity generation and steel manufacturing, with the former responsible for about two-thirds of what is consumed. The faster we can remove coal from electricity generation, the higher the likelihood of achieving the Paris Agreement targets.

Yet coal seems to be resilient, if not stubborn, when it comes to its elimination. Since 2010, the percentage share of natural gas in total global electricity generation has stayed the same at 23% even though the world’s power consumption has risen by about a quarter. The percentage share of renewables, excluding hydroelectricity, has tripled and its actual generation in terawatt hours (TWh) has quadrupled. Meanwhile, coal has lost share, down to 35% from 40%, but it remains way ahead of natural gas, its closest competitor, and the amount of coal that we burn for electricity has gone up overall.

Global electricity mix 2020 vs 2010

BP Statistical Review of World Energy

The reality is that coal makes good business sense. Coal-fired power plants have long been big enough to make the building costs economically viable, with the largest plants boasting a capacity of 5GW. The fuel is relatively cheap most of the time, and the biggest consumers, China, the US and India, all enjoy politically safe supplies.

Coal-fired generation is steady and predictable, making it suitable for ensuring the minimum level of electricity a country continually needs – known as the baseload. This guarantees that the proportion of the fuel converted into electricity, known as capacity utilisation, is typically over 70%. This has been affected by the continuous drive to replace coal with renewables and natural gas, taking it as low as 53% in 2019, but given the current levels of demand, we should expect it to be higher for 2021.

This all translates into steady income flows from selling coal-fired electricity to the grid in many countries, which makes this power source attractive to investors. When it comes to the triptych of supply security, affordability and sustainability, coal serves the first two with ease, even as it leaves a big dirty smudge on the third one.

The biggest users

The spectacular Chinese economic growth of the last 20 years, and the considerable expansion of electrification of the Indian economy, were largely based on coal. Thanks to them, the world has doubled its coal-fired capacity since 2000 to over 2,000GW.

In 2020, coal generated 63% of electricity in China and 72% in India. In the same year, China produced half of the world’s coal, nearly 4 billion tonnes, while India came a distant second with around 750 million tonnes. Between them, the two countries accounted for two-thirds of global consumption and were also the two largest importers. The figures truly boggle the mind.

Electricity generation in China

Electricity generation in India

Elsewhere, coal is on the back foot. In the US, the second-largest electricity generator after China, coal has retreated in favour of natural gas. It fired 20% of US electricity in 2020 compared to 43% in 2010, while natural gas has risen over the same period from 24% to 40%.

In Germany, coal generation has been equalled by wind, while in the UK coal is used only as a backup. Similarly, Japan and South Korea are expanding their natural gas, nuclear and renewables in an effort to reduce the carbon impact of their electricity generation. Even China has joined the efforts by adding new solar and wind capacity.

Nonetheless, it clearly remains difficult from a business perspective to eliminate coal worldwide: the west has essentially exported the problem to China because so much of the world’s heavy manufacturing has moved there. Coal-fired plants are long-term investments, often 40 to 50 years long. A plant built in 2000 is only halfway through its life, so shutting it down now, however desirable, would wreck the economics for the investors.

Unless coal prices remain permanently high (unlikely), or the cost of carbon emissions is more prohibitive due to taxes or carbon trading schemes (possible, but perhaps not everywhere), or there is direct government intervention to decommission plants, coal may yet surprise us all and persist for longer than we expect. For the sake of the next and following generations, let us hope it will not.

Michael Tamvakis, Professor of Commodity Economics and Finance, City, University of London

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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SAA begins rebuilding its fleet with two Airbus A320s

South African Airways (SAA) has commenced rebuilding its fleet of suitable aircraft as it claws its way back into the air.

Two Airbus A320 aircraft that have been in storage in Abu Dhabi where they underwent 6-year maintenance ‘C-Checks’ during the period when the state-owned airline remained in business rescue, have arrived back in Johannesburg on Thursday last week (12 August 2021).

SAA said that over that period both aircraft underwent rigorous technical checks and have been fully cleared for passenger flights.

“This is another noteworthy milestone towards full operational readiness,” said Interim CEO Thomas Kgokolo.

“The image of two SAA aircraft landing and taxiing to their parking bays is a tangible manifestation of the hard work the airline’s staff are putting in.”

The aircraft arrived displaying SAA livery and will undergo minimum routine maintenance and re-installation of mandatory SAA equipment. The Airbus A320 is licensed to carry 138 passengers. Kgokolo says work continues in readying staff and fine-tuning logistics ahead of SAA’s return to the skies on a date to be announced.

“Along with my executive team, we are aware there is high-expectation in the market and before opening the curtain we have to make sure everything is in place to ensure and maintain our reputation for exemplary safety standards and high service quality,” he said.

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Master Plan calls for R100 billion private investments into expanding Port of Durban

The Department of Public Enterprises on Monday 16 August revealed further details of a master plan for the Port of Durban which will seek potential private investments of R100 billion into the port over at least the next ten years.

According to Public Enterprises Minister, Pravin Gordhan, the master plan for the Port of Durban is currently undergoing consultation processes.

“The Port Master Plan…will serve as a basis for investment in the port both in respect of the port infrastructure – now governed by the Transnet National Ports Authority – but also in respect of the terminals and the freight infrastructure that services these ports as well,” Gordhan said.

The announcement forms part of the broader transformation of Transnet, which the Minister described as a “recovery, reconstruction and reform” plan.

Minister Gordhan said the first reform to establish Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) as an independent subsidiary is moving ahead.

“Significant progress has been made in establishing the infrastructure of the subsidiary and the kind of role it would play in relation to investments in each of the ports in order to facilitate the efficiency of the ports themselves.

“It is hoped that by October this year, a further Request for Information would be issued by TNPA to establish market appetite for the building of the Point terminal at the Durban port and that will be a huge infrastructure investment,” Gordhan said.

Ports of Durban and Ngqura

The second reform is to explore the potential for investment in the Port of Durban and the Port of Ngqura in the Eastern Cape.

“These reforms are in line with the structural reforms that the President and government have indicated will be forthcoming from Transnet but from other entities as well. It is a further demonstration of government’s commitment to continuing with the structural reforms in improving the efficiency of its logistics infrastructure,” he said.

The Public Enterprises Minister said the requests for information from private business will allow government to create partnerships with both local and international business which will bring the expertise and cash investment required for the upgrading of infrastructure and equipment at the country’s ports.

In respect of the Port of Durban Master Plan, Gordhan said a clear and proper process has been established to sound out potential investors.

The first round of requests for information kicked off in July and are ongoing.

Further engagements with interested businesses will see a round of requests for quotations open between August and September.

Following that process, requests for proposals will be entertained between November and January 2022.

Bid evaluation processes will be held in February 2022.

Finally, the finalisation and approval of bids will be done between March and June 2022.

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WHARF TALK: Vintage MSC ship still going strong – MSC ADELE

Story by Jay Gates
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’

For those who remember the start up and development period of MSC, it was a time when they bought up good second hand tonnage and worked it hard. The age of the ship played no part in the decision to replace it on any port rotation.

Today, over 40 years further on, MSC are both industry leaders, with newbuild tonnage now a part of their makeup, and loyal to their past as they still have good second hand tonnage that is being worked hard, despite its age.

On 15th August at 15h00 the geared container vessel MSC ADELE (IMO 8512906) arrived in Cape Town from Durban, on her regular Angola Service for MSC, and proceeded direct to 604 berth, at the Cape Town Container Terminal, in the Ben Schoeman Dock.

Built in 1986 by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW), at Kiel in the then West Germany, and delivered to her then owner on 30th May 1986, MSC Adele cost Deutsche Mark 33 million (EUR16.9 million or ZAR293.5 million) when built, and is now over 35 years of age and still going strong. She is still operating on the MSC Angola Service more than four years since first being placed on the service.

MSC Adele is 188 metres in length and has a deadweight of 30,950 tons. She has a container carrying capacity of 1,879 TEU, for which 100 reefer plugs are provided, and has three 40 ton deck cranes to allow for cargo working in ports that do not provide shore gantry, or shore crane loading and unloading facilities.

The ship is powered by a single Sulzer 6RTA-62 6 cylinder 2 stroke main engine producing 13,700 bhp (9,250 kW), driving a fixed pitch propeller to give her a service speed of 16.9 knots. Her auxiliary machinery includes three generator sets providing 450 kW each, and an emergency generator providing 80 kW. She has two HDW boilers, one powered by exhaust gases and one oil fired.

One of ten sisterships built for original service with Norasia Shipping GmbH, MSC Adele is one of six of the sisters that are still operating. Since 1994 she has been owned and operated by MSC of Geneva, as are all her working sisterships, and she is managed by MSC Ship Management of Limassol in Cyprus.

Her 36 year old longevity is a true mark of the quality of her builders, the skill of her crews to keep a ship of this age very much operational, and a testament to her owners to be still working her hard, on a difficult port schedule rotation, more than 27 years after they purchased her.

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Mozambique Cabo Delgado Update, Part 1

Report by Joseph Hanlon
Mozambique News Reports and Clippings

The latest report from Joseph Hanlon provides an update on the situation in Cabo Delgado since the eviction of Islamist insurgents by mainly Rwandan armed forces from the harbour areas of Palma and Mocimboa da Praia. The report also provides an indication of Mozambican intentions regarding the development of the Total gasification plant at Afungi near Palma, which has been stalled since the insurgents overran Palma.

Rwandans will create Total’s security zone

Government has confirmed expectations that the Rwandan army will create the security zone for the TotalEnergies gas project. A map shown at the 9 August ceremony of the launch of the SADC military mission showed the divisions of the operational areas; the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) will maintain control of Palma and Mocimboa da Praia, the two most important districts for the development of the gas project. (Zitamar)

Speaking at the ceremony, President Filipe Nyusi stressed the importance of the return of circulation between Palma and Mocimboa, which suggests that entire 50 km long zone along the coast will be TotalEnergies security zone.

But Nyusi also said it has become obvious that it will be a “complex challenge” to maintain and consolidate those areas recaptured by the Rwandan soldiers, and this requires “more attention and rigour.” (Lusa)

Next: Targeting forest bases

Next on the agenda are two related tasks. Army commander Cristovao Chume announced on 10 August the preparation of what he considered to be the “most important mission” to be carried out in the next few days, the assault on the biggest insurgent bases, Mbau and Siri I and II. (Siri means “secret” in Swahili.) Chume said the Mozambican police would take control of Mocimboa to allow government and Rwandan troops to move south. (MediaFax)

Along the Messalo River 35 km south of Mocimboa da Praia is a strip of very dense forest. The map shown here is from Global Forest Watch. The green shows zones with more than 75% forest cover, which is largely impenetrable and makes aerial surveillance extremely difficult. People being held in those bases talk of needing lights even during the day. Main bases cited by commander Chume are in the forest along the river. A base used to attack Muidumbe district is in the forest to the west of Chinde. Such bases will be hard to find and harder to clear.

The second task is to clear the N380 road. Awasse had been occupied by the insurgents for a year and it took heavy fighting for the Rwandans to capture it on 27 July. And it took the Rwandans a week to fight their way the 40 km from Awasse to Mocimboa da Praia. The N380 runs thought good sniper country, and in places close to dense forest.

South African Army

MediaFax on 12 August reported that 30 military vehicles, said to be carrying South African troops, and four helicopters have arrived in Macomia. Chume said two bases were being established, one in Litamanda, just south of the river on the N380, and in Macomia itself, 40 km south.

But the bridge over the Messalo River was washed out so the equipment cannot be moved north, and repairs were impossible due to the war. A team from Portuguese construction company Conduril has been sent under military escort to build a temporary dry season bypass.

Foreign troops are also arriving in Quissanga, which had been largely abandoned after its capture by insurgents. Some residents are returning to both Macomia and Quissanga, and rehabilitation is beginning in both towns of infrastructure destroyed by insurgents. (Zitamar)

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Mozambique Cabo Delgado Update, part 2

Report by Joseph Hanlon
Mozambique News Reports and Clippings

Insurgents abandoned Mocimboa

Insurgents abandoned Mocimboa da Praia so it was recaptured on 8 August largely without fighting, according to Rwanda’s Brigadier General Pascal Muhizi. (New Times, Kigali, 9 Aug). There were no major military confrontations, which indicates that there was an early withdrawal of the insurgents, and only a few shots were fired in some peripheral areas, said Army Commander Cristovao Chume in a 10 August interview on TVM.

Thus here were no deaths, injuries and captives. That there were no major military confrontations indicates that there was an early withdrawal of the insurgents, taking their weapons with them, and only a few shots were fired in some peripheral areas, Chume said. (Noticias de Defesa, O Pais, MediaFax 11 Aug; Savana 13 Aug).

However the insurgents put up a big fight as Rwandans moved east the 40 km from Awasse toward Mocimboa, delaying the Rwandas by at least a week. The map below, from Jasmine Opperman, shows the battles along the road.

Mozambique Interceptor Vessels

CaboLigado (10 Aug) reports that on 2 August, Mozambican interceptor ships were seen leaving Pemba carrying Rwandan and Mozambican troops, which came ashore on the eastern edge of Mocimboa da Praia. There was “a significant battle” with Mozambican helicopters supporting the amphibious assault. Heavy fighting continued on 3 August. On 5 August, Rwanda’s army spokesman, Ronald Rwivanga, estimated they had killed 70 insurgents in all fighting to that date – a relatively small number considering the scale of the fighting.

It seems likely that, in a standard military tactic, insurgents were successfully delaying the Rwandans in order to rapidly evacuate Mocimboa da Praia town. They had captured heavy equipment and many vehicles in Palma and the extra week would have given them time to move their base and all of their equipment into the dense forest to the south.

It also seems likely that some insurgents are breaking into small groups or even returning home to await instructions. Others retreated toward Tanzania on motorbikes.

Insurgents did leave in some haste and abandoned some documents and arms. As well as weapons manuals and religious books, there was also a hand-drawn map of the town of Palma. It had clear indication of the bases and advance posts of the Mozambican defence forces, and the precise location of public institutions, hotels, churches and other significant buildings. Mozambican officers believe that this map was used in planning the attack against Palma on 24 March (AIM 12 Aug).

Huge damage means no return to Mocimboa

Residents cannot return to Mocimboa da Praia, Cabo Delgado governor Valige Tauabo said during a visit to the town on 12 August. Everywhere Tauabo went he witnessed destruction – port, airport terminal, district hospital, secondary school, mobile phone company TMcel – all had been reduced to ashes or tangled metal.

Tauabo said that, under current circumstances it is impossible to provide medical care, and there are no schools for the children. Furthermore, security is not yet fully guaranteed. Residents will only be allowed to return when essential public services are functioning (O Pais 13 Aug).

State-owned airport operator Aeroportos de Mocambique (ADM) says that it has no estimate of when it can restart operations at Mocimboa da Praia airfield. Much of the equipment has been destroyed or damaged, but light aircraft are able to land.

Initially it will be repaired to the extent that it can be used by military aircraft. However, it will later be a crucial logistics hub for the development of the gas projects. The airstrip length is 2000 metres. During the colonial period Boeing 737 planes used to land there (Carta de Mocambique 10 Aug).

Residents of Quituda are relieved at arrival of Rwandans because when the Mozambican Defence and Security Forces took over, they were often seen as predators of those who had lost everything. Mozambican troops constantly took away people’s possessions, which always created an atmosphere of tension.

“Here in Quitunda we are well in the presence of the Rwandans. Some of the FDS [Mozambican] soldiers tried to seize the population’s goods, but when we alerted the Rwandans, they intervened and we were safe. The Rwandans are bringing peace” – said one resident (MediaFax 13 Aug).

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Stella Maris: Life at Sea Report 2020 – a world in lockdown

Early in August the seafarers’ charity Stella Maris published its Life at Sea Report to demonstrate seafarers’ need for human contact. This timely document highlights the vital need for personal, human contact for seafarers in a world operating amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the words of Stella Maris CEO Martin Foley: “Our latest Life at Sea Report observes that, in a maritime world of increased digitalisation and automation, smaller crews and faster port turnaround times, the need for basic human contact remains paramount.

“In the face of the world’s collective failure to provide timely repatriation for seafarers, and the continued absence of a global vaccination or keyworker policy for seafarers, hundreds of thousands of seafarers remain in need of many kinds of support.”

Life at Sea: a world in lockdown at 16 pages examines the response by Stella Maris to many of the enduring crises faced by seafarers and shows how the charity has adapted its services during the pandemic to ensure that seafarers continue to be supported.

Case studies included in the report cover:

(i)The growing pace of abandonment of ships;
(ii)Continued human rights abuses and modern slavery;
(iii)Death and increasing cases of suicide at sea;
(iv)Contractual issues of wages, shore leave and repatriation;
(v)Piracy; and
(vi)Impact of all these issues, allied to the added privations, pressures and challenges of the pandemic, upon the worsening mental health of many seafarers.

The strength of the Stella Maris global network of 1,000 chaplains and volunteers in 334 ports across 60 countries gives it an unparalleled ability to provide continuous care to those who need it.

“We cannot do it alone,” said Ian Stokes, the charity’s Head of Corporate Engagement and Partnerships. He continued: “The increasing contributions by, and partnerships with, industry, allied to the steadfast donations of individual supporters and the strategic support of several trusts and foundations, have enabled Stella Maris, in its centenary year, to maintain and increase its crucial service to the people of the sea.”

A memorable phrase here from the Stella Maris website: “When everything stopped, seafarers didn’t.”

The report is available at no charge HERE

 

 

 

Reported by Paul Ridgway
London

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VIEWPOINT: The ongoing challenge of Covid in the ports

South Africa remains in a semi-lockdown state of Covid Stage 3 (Stage 5 being the highest or most severe of lockdowns), and is experiencing an unacceptably high number of daily new infections that on average exceeds 10,000. It is commonly accepted that the delta variant, which is now the dominant form in the country, entered through our ports, either through the port of PE or that of Durban, which had ships arrive in late April or early May with positive cases of the virus on board each vessel.

At the same time South Africa’s ports are struggling with congestion compounded by a recent cyber-attack that all but crippled port terminal operations, adding to the congestion arising from the unrest in KZN and parts of Gauteng that saw the ports of Durban and Richards Bay forced into a different form of lockdown.

As the local ports, and Durban in particular, move hesitantly towards some form of recovery and normality, we are reminded that the whole world is learning to deal with its own variation of ‘new normal’ in which many ports and logistics networks remain affected or even crippled by congestion brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic directly or indirectly.

And yet, as the world’s major economies stage surprising comebacks, container shipping companies are reporting, in a totally unembarrassed manner, of profits exceeding all previous records. We learn of mid-sized container ships being chartered at unheard of rates of up to $150,000 and more per day, and we see shipping companies placing orders for ever larger fleets consisting of ever larger ships – the latest record being set in July with Evergreen’s EVER ACE, the world’s current largest container ship capable of carrying 23,992 TEU. And there’s talk of going even bigger.

As Covid-19 continues with new variants posing new challenges, in Russia we observe that deaths from the virus are spiking, as they are in certain other parts of the world, while in China, where it all began less than two years ago, one of its largest and busiest of port terminals, Meishan at the port of Ningbo, has been shut down on account of a single worker contracting the coronavirus!

Ningbo is located in Hangzhou Bay on the East China Sea, opposite the city of Shanghai.

The infected worker was discovered to have the Covid-19 virus on Tuesday 10 August. He lives in one of the terminal’s dormitories and had tested negative two days earlier.

The following day, Wednesday 11 August, the city government issued a statement that said that because of a ‘system disruption’ all inbound and outbound container services at Meishan terminal had been halted with immediate effect and until further notice. Why can’t port authorities ever speak in plain English…. or Chinese as the case may be?

The ‘system disruption’ also meant that nearly 2,000 workers at the Ningbo-Zhoushan port have been placed under ‘closed management’ meaning they are unable to leave the port.

The Meishan terminal is the world’s third largest and busiest container terminal.

The drastic action taken by Chinese authorities raises fears that other ports around the world may face similar outbreaks leading to similar restrictions that in turn will slow the distribution of commodities ranging from perishable foods to automobiles, manufactured goods, electronics, all of which can cause further harm to economies across the globe already reeling from previous waves of the virus.

Ningbo-Zhoushan Port, which ranks as the biggest in the world in terms of cargo tonnage, issued a statement on Thursday (12 August 2021) informing that all other port terminals were operating normally and that it was negotiating with affected shipping companies and directing them to the other terminals.

It said it was adjusting the operating time of other terminals to enable customers to clear their shipments.

Nevertheless, according to AIS observations no less than 40 container ships were at anchor outside the port on Thursday 12 August, up from 30 on the previous day when the port authority began turning ships away.

The port authorities stated that the operating systems will remain down until Ningbo Municipal Health Commission can determine the extent of the outbreak, which as far as we are led to believe, consists of a single person.

In May this year the Yantian port in Shenzhen was closed for about a month after an outbreak of the virus. Most Chinese ports have introduced compulsory testing for the entire crew of ships that must first go to anchor until all seafarers on board have proven negative.

There are strict quarantine rules for ships arriving from India and for those vessels that have undergone any crew exchanges within the previous 14 days.

The outbreak (of one) is reported to have forced the cancellation of all flights to and from Ningbo and Beijing.

Back in South Africa, three ships, one in Durban and two at Port Elizabeth, were able to enter port at around the end of April and beginning of May, each with positive cases of Covid-19 reported among the seafarers. On the Durban ship, the Eaubonne, the ship’s engineer died at about the time of the vessel’s arrival, and only in the coming days 14 of the Filipino crew of 21 were tested and found to be positive with the coronavirus.

The ship’s officer was said to have died from a heart attack.

Why the ship, which was arriving from India, a country where the delta variant was rife at the time, was able to enter port and begin cargo working at Maydon Wharf, was a mystery that has not, to our knowledge, been satisfactorily answered.

At Port Elizabeth, one of the two ships, the Consolidator, arriving from Mombasa, had 13 of its crew of 22 test positive for Covid-19.

Once again it was only because four of its crew were due to disembark and fly home that they were subjected to testing and found to be positive. This caused the remainder of the crew to be tested which revealed another nine to be positive.

All of this serves to remind us how our ports remain vulnerable to infectious diseases and that strict protocols, long established to ensure that infectious diseases do not enter the country through the harbours, need to be strictly enforced. It can only be through strict adherence to the protocols that there can be any confidence in their effectiveness.

– trh

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WHARF TALK: First South African call for LR1 tanker DIYYINAH 1

Story by Jay Gates
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’

The pandemic is running its course and slowly, but surely, the international air carriers are beginning to fly back into Cape Town International Airport once more. Added to that, there has been a recent run of extreme cold weather, the sort that always gets the heating turned up. The result is that winter fuel stocks must be running low in the Cape, as four tankers have arrived off Cape Town in the last week and, two by two, they have been brought into port to discharge their much needed, and precious cargo.

One of these four was the LR1 tanker DIYYINAH 1 (IMO 9487251), which arrived at the Table Bay anchorage on 9th August at 20h00, and remained there overnight before entering the port on 10th August at 09h00, berthing at the long tanker berth in the Duncan Dock. Her cargo had been loaded at the Refinery Marine Terminal at Al Ruwais in the UAE. On completion of her cargo she sailed on 13th August at 11h00 bound for Fujairah in the UAE.

Built in 2011 by STX Shipbuilding at Jinhae in South Korea, Diyyinah 1 is 228 metres in length and has a deadweight of 74,954 tons. She is powered by a single STX MAN-B&W 7S50MC-C 7 cylinder 2 stroke main engine producing 15,037 bhp (11,060 kW), and driving a fixed pitch propeller for a service speed of 15 knots. She has 14 cargo tanks and a cargo carrying capacity of 82,925 m3.

Owned by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Diyyinah 1 is operated by the Abu Dhabi National Tanker Company (ADNATCO) and managed by ADNOC Logistics and Services, all naturally based in the same offices in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Everything about the voyage was kept within the ADNOC orbit as the refinery at Al Ruwais, where Diyyinah 1 loaded her cargo for Cape Town, is also operated by ADNOC.

One of six LR tankers in the ADNATCO fleet, Diyyinah 1 is operated on the spot market, and this voyage would appear to be her first ever visit to South African waters, as the bulk of her ten year career, thus far, has had her trading mainly between the UAE and the Far East and Australia. She is the third ADNATCO LR1 tanker to call in at Cape Town in the last three months.

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Citrus Exports: Less trucks arrive permitting Durban and Eastern Cape ports to decongest

Following a call by the Citrus Growers’ Association (CGA) for the country’s northern citrus growers to suspend packing for a week, the number of trucks arriving in Durban decreased sufficiently for congestion at the port of Durban to ease.

An agreement had been reached in a virtual meeting involving the Perishable Products Export Control Board (PPECB) and the national Department of Agriculture that called on citrus growers to suspend packing for a week from Friday 6 August.

In the advisory sent to growers in the affected areas, it was stated, “Unfortunately, no viable alternative plans were identified and consensus was reached that any additional fruit being sent to Durban would simply aggravate an already unmanageable port environment.”

The advisory became necessary as a result of the unrest in large parts of KZN, which impacted on port operations and also on the destruction of a number of cold store warehouses in the Durban area, which was followed by the cyber-attack that severely impacted Transnet operations for the best part of a week.

It appeared that some citrus packhouses had already stopped production a day earlier on Thursday 5 August, which was confirmed when most confirmed they would accede to the request.

In his latest message on Friday 13 August to citrus growers, the CGA’s chief executive, Justin Chadwick, thanked them for having responded to the plea to stop packing.

“The havoc wrought by the insurrection, followed closely by the Transnet cyber-attack, meant that South African ports were extremely congested,” he wrote. “Cold stores were blocked out and the movement of containers and cargo in and out of the port was constrained. Reefer plug-in points capacity was also constrained. As a result, a call was made to growers in the north to consider a temporary hold on harvesting, packing and transporting fruit to Durban from Friday 6/8 to Thursday 12/8.

“One does not just turn the ‘sausage machine’ off – there was still considerable fruit to be moved, and hence the trucks carried on arriving into this week.”

Chadwick said that from figures obtained of trucks on route to Durban, and those already in Durban, growers clearly heeded the call. “This allowed the cold stores to load out, and the port environment to normalise. Industry and Transnet are holding regular virtual meetings with all stakeholders (over 170 participants attended) to monitor the situation and keep all appraised of the latest situation,” he wrote.

“A similar call was made to Eastern Cape growers as the ports in that region also faced congestion issues. This voluntary action from growers illustrates how united the industry is in facing joint challenges – and industry taking the responsibility without needing regulation or enforcement.”

The following graph indicates the situation as it was in Durban this past week ending Friday 13 August 2021. Acknowledgements to the CGA.

A week earlier Chadwick indicated that the 2021 citrus export prediction for southern Africa was now 155 million cartons, 5% off the original estimate. “The big variable in play now is the port’s ability to ship the remaining 53 million cartons,” he then wrote.

South Africa exports citrus mainly to Europe and China but also exports to Russia, the Middle East, as well as some Southeast Asian countries.

– trh

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Richards Bay unplanned power outage impacts rail operations

The offloading of coal trains at the Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) in the port of Richards Bay was affected by a 10-hour unplanned power outage late last week, Transnet said on Friday (13 August).

According to Transnet the power outage occurred in the City of uMhlathuze (Richards Bay/Empangeni) between the afternoon of Thursday 12 August 2021 and the early hours of Friday morning.

This, said Transnet, impacted its service in that area.

Particularly affected was the Richards Bay Coal Terminal and Transnet Freight Rail, as it meant that RBCT was unable to to offload trains for approximately 10 hours.

This resulted in a 50% wagon capacity for Friday’s production plan.

On Thursday, Exxaro Resources, South Africa’s biggest coal miner, was reported as saying its exports would remain subdued in 2021 due to rail logistics problems, including derailments and cable theft.

Transnet said it has introduced a catch-up will be executed over several days, and that a revised plan has been communicated to impacted customers.

Up to 70 million tons of coal is exported annually through the Richards Bay port, with almost all of this arriving at the port by rail.

The heavy-haul railway from Mpumalanga province and further afield has been affected by a number of derailments so far this year, in some cases cutting off rail deliveries to RBCT and other terminals in the Richards Bay port for up to and exceeding a week at a time.

– trh

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WHARF TALK: Maiden visit to Durban and Cape Town – SCHWYZ

Story by Jay Gates
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’

How many vessel’s names can you think of that do not have any vowels in them? Not that many I would wager? How many vessels make a maiden call at a South African port within 60 days of completion and being handed over to their owners by the shipyard? Again, not that many I would wager? The answer to both could be just one, and it might be this one!

On 10th August at 12h00 the small MR1 tanker SCHWYZ (IMO 9905605) arrived at Cape Town, from Durban, and proceeded directly to the tanker berth in the Duncan Dock. Her voyage to South Africa had begun in Malaysia, where she had loaded products at the oil storage terminals at both Tanjung Langsat and Port Klang.

A brand new vessel, built this year by the Hyundai Mipo Dockyard, at Ulsan in South Korea, Schwyz was only handed over to her new owners on 3 June. Her arrival at Durban was only her second voyage since entering service. She is 184 metres in length and has a deadweight of 37,764 tons.

She is powered by a single HHI MAN-B&W 6G50ME-C9 6 cylinder 2 stroke main engine producing 10,205 bhp (7,610 kW) and driving a fixed pitch propeller to give a service speed of 14.5 knots. She has twelve cargo tanks and has a cargo carrying capacity of 42,250 m3.

Owned by a combination of Houyoshi Ocean Corporation (80%) and Komenaka Kaiun Company (20%), strangely via an Athens address, Schwyz is operated by Proman Shipping of Wollerau of Switzerland and managed by Executive Ship Management of Singapore. On completion she was immediately chartered to Stena Bulk, and is the only ‘handy’ MR1 tanker on the Stena fleet list.

Whilst the obvious thought is that Schwyz is named after one of the many derivations of the name for Switzerland, she is actually named after the canton of Schwyz, which is one of the founding cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy that formed in the 14th century.

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Australia’s carbon capture and utilisation opportunity

We hear and read so much on any industry’s reduction of greenhouse gases, the use of fuels other than hydrocarbons and disposal of the components of the combustion process.

Over recent months we have seen reports of vessels burning ammonia, LPG and even hydrogen as well as those with solar-powered or hybrid power sources.

Many of the new methods have concerned ships, trucks and railway locomotives in trial or in routine service and man’s ingenuity never ceases to amaze. Even the lofty ship exhaust scrubber, although looking like an ad hoc grain silo, is being more and more seen in vessels using Africa’s ports.

Australia and carbon capture

On 13 August it was reported by Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) that it could turn carbon dioxide waste into a valuable revenue stream.

Australia’s carbon capture and utilisation opportunities are now highlighted in a new report with the title The CO₂ Utilisation Roadmap. This publication explores the opportunities presented by emerging carbon capture and utilisation (CCU) technologies for Australia to support new industries and reduce carbon emissions.

CSIRO Chief Executive Dr Larry Marshall said CCU technologies can help transition Australia towards a lower emissions future while creating economic growth.

He commented: “No single technology will take us to net zero – the scale of our challenge in adapting to climate change and decarbonising our industries requires us to draw on every available tool.

“The development and demonstration of high abatement technologies like CCU has the potential to have a significant impact, as part of our broader efforts to both reduce emissions and lift the competitiveness of our industries.”

Currently, industries such as cement, steel, plastics as well as heavy transport still rely on fossil fuels or have inherent emissions in their processes and are traditionally ‘hard to abate.’

These industries are unable to rely on renewable technologies alone and account for about a sixth of Australia’s emissions and around a third of global emissions.

CCU technologies capture CO₂ from the waste streams of industrial processes, or directly from the atmosphere, and convert it into useful new products, ranging from synthetic fuels to food and beverages, chemicals, and building materials.

We at Africa PORTS & SHIPS look forward to reporting progress on these exciting advances.

By acting as a potential major user of hydrogen and helping to reduce CO₂ emissions, CCU complements CSIRO’s investment in Australia’s hydrogen and emissions reduction research through the Hydrogen Industry and Towards Net Zero Emissions Missions.

Readers may download the CO₂ Utilisation Roadmap

 

 

 

Reported by Paul Ridgway
London

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Naval Exercise Cutlass Express concludes off East African coast

This year’s Exercise Cutlass Express 2021 has taken place in the East African coastal regions of the Western Indian Ocean from 26 June to 6 August 2021 in the vicinity of Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles.  Cutlass Express is sponsored by the U.S. Africa Command and led by U.S. Naval Forces Africa.

The exercise is designed to improve regional cooperation in support of the Djibouti Code of Conduct, maritime domain awareness, information sharing between maritime operation centres, maritime interdiction, adherence to the rule of law, and counter-proliferation interdiction capabilities in order to disrupt illicit maritime activity and strengthen safety and security in East Africa.

Cutlass Express commenced with an in-port training period followed by at-sea scenarios and concluded with a senior leadership symposium.

The at-sea portion of the exercise tested the ships’ abilities to conduct maritime interdiction operations by boarding teams against simulated suspect vessels, detecting illicit activity, and follow-on evidence collection procedures.

The 18 nations that took part were Canada, Comoros, Djibouti, France, Georgia, India, Japan, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, United Kingdom, and the United States.

“Cutlass Express represents a shared commitment by East Africa and West Indian Ocean nations which has grown in significance and importance for maritime cooperation in the Western Indian Ocean and East Africa,” said Rear Adm. Jeffrey Spivey, Vice Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet (C6F) and Director, Maritime Partnership Program, U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa.

“Our key purpose is to enhance the information exchange and regional information-sharing with our maritime partners and to improve our collective effectiveness at sea and address our primary challenges,” Admiral Spivey said.

– trh

Added 15 August 2021

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IMO supports Djibouti to prevent pollution from ships

Djibouti is the latest country to benefit from a national training workshop* (held from 2-5 August, 2021) on implementation and enforcement of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL).

The workshop particularly emphasised the importance of MARPOL Annexe V, which focuses on prevention of pollution by garbage from ships and prohibits disposal of plastics and restricts disposal of other ship-generated solid wastes at sea.

Held in Djibouti City and delivered in French the workshop also underscored the importance of ratification of Annex VI regulations to prevent air pollution from ships. Full and effective ratification and implementation of the convention could help improve the air quality in and around the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea.

An IMO representative from the Marine Environment Division gave a presentation on implementation of MARPOL Annex VI and recent developments within the IMO.

A representative from The Regional Organization for the Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea & Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) updated participants on continuing efforts to designate the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as a Special Area under MARPOL Annex I and Annex V.

Officials responsible for the prevention and control of pollution from ships were trained on the management and operations of ship-generated waste reception facilities at Djiboutian ports. Delegates were provided with information about port reception facilities around the world under the Global Integrated Shipping Information System (GISIS).

In addition to encouraging Port State Control to implement and enforce MARPOL more consistently, the workshop laboured to improve the overall knowledge of participants about the MARPOL Convention and its current requirements as well as recent developments.

Participants took part in active discussion regarding factors affecting full implementation of MARPOL, including incomplete transposition of the convention and its amendments into national legislation.

Recommendations to address the existing barriers and the need for activating the Special Areas status of the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden were also on the agenda.

* The workshop was organised by PERSGA, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development of Djibouti, through IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation programme (ITCP). The States represented at PERSGA are: Djibouti, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Somaliland, Sudan and Yemen.

 

 

 

Reported by Paul Ridgway
London

Added 15 August 2021

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Fire on livestock carrier Elbeik off coast of Spain

There has been a fire on board another livestock carrier, the previously reported Togo-registered ELBEIK (IMO 6718427).

The livestock carrier, which was waiting to load a cargo of cattle for the Middle East, was lying off the port of Tarragona in Spain when a fire was reported on the ship.

All 18 of the crew were safely evacuated from the ship without injury or death. The fire was later extinguished.

Port of Tarragona authorities arranged for a barge to be taken alongside after the fire had been extinguished to pump out the water that had been sprayed onto the ship to help put out the fire.

The Lebanese owned and managed vessel has recently carried out a number of livestock loadings in Tarragona, which were taken for slaughter in various Mediterranean ports in Algeria, Lebanon and Turkey.

In March this year the Elbeik was in the news for having been under suspicion of carrying a load of cattle that were suspected of carrying the bovine disease ‘bluetongue’. The ship was initially refused entry to any Spanish port, causing it to remain at sea for almost three months with the animals on board.

There were reports of almost 180 bulls having died on board before the Elbeik was ordered into the port at Cartagena to discharge the animals. See that report in Africa PORTS & SHIPS by CLICKNG HERE

– trh

Added 15 August 2021  

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Sri Lanka Ports Authority at 42

From 1918, the Port of Colombo had been administered by the Colombo Port Commission responsible for the supply and maintenance of cargo-handling equipment and other infrastructure, pilotage services, docking and slipping. The government had funded all its activities. Stevedoring and shore handling were in the hands of several private wharfage companies. In 1948 Ceylon as a British Crown Colony achieved independence after 133 years of imperial rule. The change of name to Sri Lanka came in 1972.

In 1958, the Port Cargo Corporation was set up to take over these activities performed by a multiplicity of operators. The Port Tally and Protective Services Corporation was formed in 1967 in order to perform on-board tallying and watchmen services on behalf of Agents.

The Sri Lanka Ports Authority was constituted under the provisions of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority Act 1979 effecting the merger of the Colombo Port Commission Department and the two existing statutory Corporations. This resulted in a unified organisation with a streamlined structure. The Ports Authority does not receive financial allocations from the government but operates on its own revenue and resources.

42nd anniversary celebration

On 2 August this year the Hon. Rohitha Abeygunawardena, Minister of Ports and Shipping and Captain Nihal Keppetipola, Chairman of the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) were key speakers on the anniversary occasion attended with due religious ceremony.

Addressing the event Minister Abeygunawardena stated that on the occasion of the 42nd Anniversary, all plans should be made with a good understanding of the past, future and present activities of the institution. It was stated that from this day onwards all public servants were required to report for work with regard to the Covid-19 pandemic. In accordance with these guidelines SLPA stated that it is in the national interest to continue its operations as it did on the Covid-19 outbreak.

Container terminal development

The Minister also said that it is required to implement projects such as the East Container Terminal (ECT) and the West Container Terminal (WCT) of the Port of Colombo as well as the future plans of the SLPA.

Speaking on the occasion Captain Keppetipola said that although the current pandemic situation was a challenge to everyone, on the 42nd anniversary he was confident that SLPA would always be able to overcome all challenges with the able potential of the human resources in all sectors of the institution.

He would take all necessary steps to improve welfare and infrastructure facilities of the SLPA and commented: “Since port operation is a global activity, we need to be competitive and work closely with the international maritime activities, paving way to making Sri Lanka the Maritime Hub of South Asia.”

Relations with India

A greater synergy between India and Sri Lanka, pivotal to handling future container volume growth, was outlined by Chairman Keppetipola He recently paid a courtesy visit to the Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka HE Gopal Baglay. Speaking at that meeting, the Indian High Commissioner said that the development of bilateral trade between India and Sri Lanka would enhance socio-economic stability between the two friendly nations and India would always like to cordially work with Sri Lanka and the SLPA to improve the container trade and shipping connectivity.

Captain Keppetipola said that considering the forecast growth of population, industrial production and an increase in the world’s ultra large container ship fleet it is important for the Indian Government to take action with regard to Indian Prime Minister Sri Narendra Modi’s huge Sagaramala Project* parallel to Sri Lanka’s port development projects. Captain Keppitopola said: “We would then create a synergy between the countries to handle this huge container volume growth in the Indian Sub-Continent (ISC).”

Further discussions took place on the commencement of a regional cruise liner operation in the ISC region. In conclusion the Indian High Commissioner proposed to commence a joint discussion with BIMSTEC countries (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation) in this regard.

A useful film of 05.33 duration made to celebrate the SLPA’s 40th anniversary is available on the Authority’s website home page.

* As part of Sagarmala Programme of port led prosperity, more than 574 projects have been identified for implementation, during 2015-2035, across the areas of port modernisation & new port development, port connectivity enhancement, port-linked industrialisation and coastal community development. For more SEE HERE.

 

 

 

Reported by Paul Ridgway
London

Added 15 August 2021

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GENERAL NEWS REPORTS – UPDATED THROUGH THE DAY

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THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

 A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.  – Muhammad Ali

 

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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

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