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TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS
These news reprts 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
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FIRST VIEW: MSC AINO
- BREAKING NEWS: Ten Companies shortlisted to operate Pier 2 DCT; four for Ngqura CT
- Surprise: SA citrus exports up 7% mid-season despite global industry challenges
- WHARF TALK: impressive pipelay crane vessel SAPURA 3500
- Thais withdraw, Macuse rail and port project now appears unlikely
- Nacala to become a significant modern Southern African port
- Dar es Salaam-Morogoro Standard Gauge Railway to commence operations in January 2023
- Eswatini Railway doubles daily coal trains to port of Maputo via Goba corridor
- Transnet and SIU obtain preservation order freezing assets of former Transnet executives
- WHARF TALK: tanker with a basic scrubber HAFNIA EXPERIENCE
- Maritime Value Chain Task Force to meet in Durban tomorrow
- IMO and Mauritius: port facility security assessment in Port Louis
- Nigeria’s deepwater Lekki port receives second shipment of harbour cranes
- Mozambique’s CFM to rehabilitate harbour infrastructure at Mocímboa da Praia
- Chinese land port of Erenhot logs 10,000 100-wagon freight trains for Europe
- Transnet agrees to provide Botswana with access to South African ports, in particular Richards Bay & Durban
- WHARF TALK: offshore construction vessel – DEEP ORIENT
- UN on oil and gas profits
- Eni acquires Tango FLNG for the Republic of Congo
- Talk of a second FLNG for Mozambique to join Coral Sul
- Kisumu shipyard and ferry Uhuru II inaugurated on Lake Victoria
- WTO and Cotton: Part 2
- EARLIER NEWS CAN BE FOUND HERE AT NEWS CATEGORIES…….
The week’s mastheads:
Tuesday: Port of Richards Bay
Wednesday: Richards Bay Coal Terminal
Thursday: Port Harcourt
Friday: Port Elizabeth Manganese Terminal
Saturday: Port Elizabeth Car & Cointainer Terminals
Sunday: Port of Walvis Bay
Monday: Port of Ngqura
Tuesday: Port of Ngqura Container Terminal
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In our Front Page photo this week the 11,500-TEU container ship MSC AINO (IMO 9770751) is shown entering the port of Durban on 28 July with cargo for discharge from Northern Europe and to load exports in return. The Liberian-flagged ship is owned and managed by MSC – registered (nominal) owner is FPG Shipholding Liberia, care of MSC Ship Management at the MSC Ship Management’s Cypress office.
MSC Aino was built and entered service in 2019 as hull number J0237 at the Jinhai Intelligent Manufacturing Co., Ltd. located in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China (don’t you just love some of these compelling names). Her sister ship among the MSC fleet is MSC Bianca. With a deadweight of 122,416 tons, the box ship is 314 metres in length and 48m wide. She has 700 plugs for reefer containers among her 11,500 container capacity.
The ship is powered by a single 2-stroke diesel MAN B&W engine, model 9S90ME-C10 producing 47,600 KW (64,717 HP) to drive a fixed pitch propeller that gives the vessel a speed of 22.2 knots. MSC Aino also makes use of a single B-1-3500 thruster for added in-port manoeuvring.
MSC Aino sailed from Durban at 01h00 on 3 August, bound for the port of Ngqura, where she arrived on 4 August at 14h00, departing later on 6 August at 04h00 and arriving at Cape Town the following day at around 06h00, where at the time of writing she remains in port working her cargo for northern Europe.
The picture is by Keith Betts
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BREAKING NEWS: Ten Companies shortlisted to operate Pier 2 DCT; four for Ngqura CT
Transnet SOC Limited has reached a significant milestone in its programme to upgrade two of South Africa’s key ports, with the shortlisting of respondents for private sector participation in the Durban Pier 2 and Ngqura Container Terminals (DCT2 and NCT).
The intention is to create a 25-year special purpose vehicle (SPV) between Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) and the winning bidders, and therefore no disposal or sale of the asset. After 25 years the terminals would revert fully to TPT.
Transnet will issue Request for Proposals (RFPs) to the shortlisted respondents from the Request for Qualifications process, which is the third phase in the process to upgrade the two terminals. The process started with the issuing of Requests for Information (RFI) to the market in 2021.
The RFI process was initiated to establish appetite from industry to partner with Transnet in the port improvement plans intended to increase throughput and efficiencies at the ports, and to ensure full utilisation of the capacity in Ngqura in particular, and thus contribute positively to South Africa’s competitiveness.
The improvement in port efficiencies will support South Africa’s competitiveness and its ability to grow jobs in the manufacturing and export economy. Partnering with global port terminal operators and shipping lines offers the opportunity to attract much-needed investment, instil best-practice management and enhanced technological capability to rapidly improve the performance and volume throughput at the Ports of Durban and Ngqura.
Unfortunately it has taken 20 years for Transnet to come back to this conclusion. In the early 2000s TPT was structured for the sole purpose of preparing the container (and other) terminals for concessioning, until this was cancelled following intense union pressure and consequent influence by Transnet’s shareholder.
Transnet is now repositioning Durban as a gateway hub port, and plans for significant growth in container capacity over the coming years. As part of the port masterplans, Transnet aims to improve commercial performance and throughput at DCT Pier 2 by bringing in a partner with international terminal operations experience.
NCT, located at the Port of Ngqura in the Eastern Cape, serves as a transshipment port serving East and West coast African traffic and traffic from South America to Asia. The terminal has been loss-making for a number of years. The preferred bidder will be expected to bring in additional transshipment volumes and improve terminal performance.
The shortlisted companies – ten (10) for Durban Pier 2 and four (4) for Ngqura – will have until December 2022 to submit their proposals for adjudication. The shortlisting is subject to a due diligence process to be undertaken by Transnet.
For DCT Pier 2, the following ten (10) respondents have been shortlisted and will be invited to proceed to the RFP process:
1. APM Terminals AMI Management DMCEST
2. China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd and Guangzhou Port Co. Ltd
3. COSCO Shipping Ports Limited
4. DP World Limited
5. Global Ports Services Pty. Ltd
6. Grindrod Freight Services (Pty) Ltd and Hamburger Hafen Und Logistik Aktiengesellschaft
7. International Container Terminal Services, Inc.
8. Red Sea Gateway Terminal and MMC Port Holdings Sdn Bhd
9. Star Classic Investments Limited and Abu Dhabi Ports
10. Terminal Investment Limited and REMGRO Limited
For NCT, the following four (4) respondents have been shortlisted and will be invited to proceed to the RFP process:
1. APM Terminals AMI Management DMCEST
2. Red Sea Gateway Terminal and MMC Port Holdings Sdn Bhd
3. Star Classic Investments Limited and Abu Dhabi Ports
4. Terminal Investment Limited and REMGRO Limited
The preferred bidders for each terminal are expected to be appointed by February 2023.
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Added 12 August 2022
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Surprise: SA citrus exports up 7% mid-season despite global industry challenges
In what is a pleasant surprise, South African citrus exports are 7% higher across all terminals combined when compared to prior year volumes mid-season, despite global challenges facing the industry.
That’s the word from Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) which reports it has handled over 77,376 forty foot equivalent units (154,752 TEU) in the first half of the season across its container terminals in Durban, Ngqura and Gqeberha.
Actual citrus export volumes were 36% higher than the prior year at the Port Elizabeth Container Terminal; 13.1% higher at the Durban Container Terminal Pier 1; 6.1% higher at the Durban Container Terminal Pier 2; and 2.3% higher at the Ngqura Container Terminal.
The Cape Town Container Terminal which plays a supporting role during this season, also recorded a 6% increase in refrigerated container volumes which include citrus exports.
“Our citrus readiness plans have focused on employee resourcing, maximum stack capacity, industry compliance with the truck appointment system and increased terminal plug points for refrigerated containers,” says Michelle van Buren Schele, TPT General Manager: Commercial and Planning.
She adds that while the proposal of railing refrigerated containers was still sitting with logistics service providers for consideration, a mass rail evacuation system would contribute considerably to truck traffic. This is however, heavily reliant on industry uptake.
The recent enforcement of the European Union’s new protectionist regulations in citrus imports from Southern Africa remains a major challenge. This combined with increased shipping rates, input costs and the late production of lemons and grapefruit, poses many uncertainties for the industry. As such, the Citrus Growers Association (CGA) has since revised its annual volumes down from 170.5 million to 165.9 million cartons for the year 2022.
Meanwhile, in continuing efforts to improve terminal stack fluidity, the Durban Container Terminals (DCT) have updated the current free import storage procedure. While cargo owners will still have 78 hours of free import storage, the start of the free storage period will begin from the date actual the container is offloaded from the vessel and placed in the stacking area to be collected.
Previously, the free 78 hours commenced only after all containers on a vessel had been offloaded. “It’s important to keep the yard fluid as it benefits both the customer and improves container handling efficiencies at the terminal,” says Van Buren Schele.
South Africa’s peak citrus season is between April and September annually, where both Durban and the Eastern Cape move export volumes to over 100 countries mainly within the European Union (EU), Far East, and United States of America.
Meanwhile, the SA Government by way of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) has confirmed that it was able to negotiate a settlement that enables the clearing of citrus containers stuck in ports of entry in the European Union.
By Thursday more than half of the 509 containers caught up in the new EU legislation have been cleared with the remaining containers being processed.
At the instigation of Spain, the EU introduced sudden new measures to regulate risk associated with False Codling Moth (FCM) on citrus fruit. The new measures include amended additional phytosanitary declarations for grapefruit and soft citrus and revised cold treatment regime for oranges.
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Added 12 August 2022
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WHARF TALK: impressive pipelay crane vessel SAPURA 3500
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’
Story by Jay Gates
The arrival of offshore vessels is always head turner, and the biggest head turns are usually reserved for the biggest of the offshore vessels. These are always either the huge Construction Crane barges, or the unseemingly large Pipelay Crane vessels. The one piece of engineering that takes the breath away on both of these vessels is the crane, as it dwarfs everything around it.
On July 28th at 16h00 the Pipelay Crane vessel SAPURA 3500 (IMO 9651204) arrived in the Table Bay anchorage, after a positioning voyage from the Pasir Gudong anchorage in Malaysia. She remained in the anchorage for just over 6 hours, and at 23h00 she entered Cape Town harbour, and the Duncan Dock, proceeding to E berth, and the Cape Town Passenger Terminal, which in itself indicates that the vessel may have had a large contingent of personnel that required to clear customs and immigration on arrival.
Built in 2014 by Nantong Heavy Industries at Nantong in China, ‘Sapura 3500’ is 156 metres in length and has a deadweight of 14,055 tons. As with most offshore vessels, she has diesel electric propulsion and she has two engine rooms, one forward and one aft. She is powered by six MAN 9L32-440 CRDI 9 cylinder 4 stroke engines, each producing 6,759 bhp (5,040 kW), giving her a total of 40,554 bhp (30,240 kW). She also has an emergency generator providing 1,000 kW.
The engines provide power to Siemens Motors that drive two Rolls Royce, azimuth stern thrusters producing 4,500 kW each, giving her a service speed of 12.5 knots. She also has no less than five, Rolls Royce, retractable azimuth thrusters of 2,300 kW each, and a single bow, Rolls Royce, transverse thruster providing 1,500 kW. All of this manoeuvrability gives ‘Sapura 3500’ the highest category of dynamic positioning, with a DP3 classification.
Her bridge controlled DP system receives inputs from two DGPS systems, two Radius reference systems, one HIPAP system, and one Taut Wire reference system. Her DP system is utilised with a ten point mooring system, allowing ‘Sapura 3500’ to work in shallow waters of 200 metres or less, and in full thruster mode when she is operating in deepwater, where she can work in waters up to 2,000 metres in depth. Her offshore ten point mooring system fairleads are very prominent around her bow area, set below her harbour mooring fairleads.
As a pipelayer, ‘Sapura 3500’ uses an S-Lay system, provided by a stern A-Frame and Stinger arrangement. On her visit to Cape Town, the Stinger unit, which comes is 95 metres in length, and comes in three sections, was carried on her working deck. She is able to lay pipes with diameters as small as 6 inches, and in any size going up to a maximum of 60 inches in diameter.
She is able to produce a continuous pipe, for laying by the Stinger, by having a full pipe manufacturing facility on board. The pipelay deck has six welding stations, one non-destructive testing (NDT) station, and two concrete pipe coating sections. The completed pipe sections are fed out of the pipedeck, onto the stinger, in a continuous length for deployment on the seabed.
Her main piece of deck equipment is her unmissable, gigantic, Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC) heavylift crane, which is able to lift 3,500 tons on a 35 metres outreach. She also carries two ZPMC deck cranes, capable of lifting 50 tons each, which are used to move pipes lengths, and other deck cargo, around her working deck.
ZPMC are the same Shanghai based company that manufacture the container gantry quay cranes seen operating at the Durban Container Terminal, and the same company that manufactures the Rubber Tyre Gantry (RTG) straddle carriers to be seen moving around the container terminals in both Durban and Cape Town harbours.
Nominally owned by Sapura 3500 Ltd. of Selangor in Malaysia, ‘Sapura 3500’ is operated by Sapura Energy Bhd., also of Selangor, and is managed by Sapura Offshore Sdn. Bhd., of Selangor. She is a DLV3500 design by Ulstein Design and Solutions BV, of Rotterdam in Holland.
She has accommodation for 300 personnel, and her facilities include a 150 person dining saloon, two recreation lounges, one training room, a gymnasium, a prayer room (to cater for her Malaysian religious origins), a helicopter lounge and a three bed hospital. Her helideck is capable of handling the largest offshore helicopters currently in use, and is capable of handling a helicopter up to a weight of 14.6 tonnes.
Prior to entering a short layup period at Pasir Gudong, which is located in the waterway that separates Singapore from Malaysia, ‘Sapura 3500’ was contracted to start installing the first phase of monopile wind turbines on the Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm, located 4.3 nautical miles off the west coast of the Republic of China (Taiwan), in the Taiwan Strait.
Once completed, the Yunlin Offshore Wind Farm will have 80 monopile wind turbines, all provided by Siemens. Each turbine is a Siemens SG 8.0-167 DD model, with a 167 metre blade diameter, and rated for an output of 8 MW each. The Yunlin field will provide 640 MW of power for Taiwan when the field is completed in September 2023.
After over a week alongside at E berth, ‘Sapura 3500’ moved across the Duncan Dock to the Eastern Mole, which is a sure sign she was getting ready to sail, and required to uplift bunkers. She finally sailed from Cape Town on 8th August at 17h00, with her destination set for Chaguaramas, located in the Caribbean Sea and off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago.
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Added 12 August 2022
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Thais withdraw, Macuse rail and port project now appears unlikely
Following the withdrawal of the Thai group of investors, construction of a new Cape gauge railway from Chitima in Mozambique’s Tete province to a new port north of the Zambezi River mouth at Macuse, is once again looking unlikely.
The Thai group is one of two majority partners in Thai Moçambique Logística, which holds the concession to build both the rail and port.
The project has remained an on-off venture since early 2016, when the proposal was agreed upon in order to deliver coal from the coalfields in Tete province along a new route on the north bank of the Zambezi to what would become the future Deep Water Port of Macuse.
Since then however, all attempts at starting up suffered delays, with the latest delay looking likely to kill off the project once and for all.
One of the challenges that developers face is the question of where the coal will come from. When large scale coal mining got underway near Moatize the Sena Railway into Tete was reopened and upgraded to haul coal from the area and other nearby coal mines, including those owned by Vale and Rio Tinto, to the port at Beira.
Then Vale and its partners constructed a section of railway that connected Moatize with the Malawi rail services, which in turn is part of the Nacala Corridor, enabling Vale to transport export coal to a new deep water coal terminal at Nacala-a-Velha.
Indian coal mines in Tete province continued using the Sena Railway to Beira, despite its several disadvantages – a restricted volume capacity on the Sena Railway, and the necessity of transshipping coal from the port in Beira via lighters to large bulk carriers waiting outside the relatively shallow Beira port.
This included coal from the Rio Tinto mine at Benga which was subsequently sold to an Indian consortium known as International Coal Ventures Limited (ICVL) for the sum of a US dollar.
More recent developments saw Vale selling its interests at Moatize to India’s Jindal group. The Indian group also acquired an interest in Nacala Logistics which operates the Moatize-Nacala railway, resulting in Jindal’s production heading for Nacala-a-Velha instead of Beira.
With ICVL coal production also using the Nacala Corridor to the large Nacala coal terminal, even less traffic remains to use the Sena Railway and the question has to be asked, who will use a new railway to Macuse should that projected port and railway ever be completed?
Indian interests now have almost full control of the Tete province coalfields, as well as full access to the Nacala Corridor, making the need for a new railway and port questionable and providing a possible reason why the Thai group has withdrawn.
Nevertheless, a representative of one of the shareholders in the project said negotiations between the Indians and the Thai Group was ongoing, saying the Indians were interested in owning the whole 500km corridor. It was a question of how much the Indians were prepared to pay the Thais, he said.
He was confident the project including the new port would go ahead but that it must have cargo, he said.
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Nacala to become a significant modern Southern African port
Reconstruction of the port of Nacala in northern Mozambique is resulting in the port emerging as a significant modern Southern African port.
Thanks to a total investment of around US$ 277.5 million by the Japanese Development Agency (JICA), the port is being transformed by way of three rehabilitated terminals to handle general cargo and dry bulk cargo, liquid bulk cargo, and containers.
All work on this rehabilitation project is expected to be completed in April 2023.
As a result, the port of Nacala, which is being managed and administered by Mozambique’s state-owned port and rail company, CFM, will be able to increase cargo handling capacity from 100,000 TEUs in the container terminal to 250,000 TEUs, and container storage capacity increasing from 5,000 to 8,000 TEUs.
Nacala is an extremely deep water port capable of accepting the very largest ships in the huge bay in which the port is situated, though the general port remains limited to ships of up to 80,000 tons – an improvement on the 60,000 tons before dredging alongside took place.
On the opposite side to the general cargo port is Nacala-a-Velha, where a modern coal export terminal has been built, connecting to the Mozambican coalfields in Tete province by a 960-km railway.
The port at Nacala-a-Velha is capable of taking Capesize vessels.
For more details about the ports at Nacala, please CLICK HERE
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Added 11 August 2022
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Dar es Salaam-Morogoro Standard Gauge Railway to commence operations in January 2023
The much talked about standard gauge railway (SGR) under construction between the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam and Morogoro will have its first train operating along the stretch in January, according to the Tanzania Railway Corporation.
This is the first major section to be opened for railway operations along the wider 1,435 mm (4ft 8+1⁄2 ins) ‘standard gauge’ as compared with the existing Tanzanian railway of a metre gauge that dates back to colonial days.
It was announced that the older metre gauge railway will be retained as it has branches connecting to important towns and districts in Tanzania.
As a result much of the metre-gauge infrastructure is receiving attention while locomotives, passenger coaches and goods wagons are being refurbished.
In addition to the metre and standard gauge railways, Tanzania operates a Cape gauge railway (3ft 6ins) that links Dar es Salaam with the main Cape gauge line in Zambia, and from there with the DRC and Angola and countries to the south including South Africa.
The wider gauge SGR will allow trains to operate at a faster speed (up to 160 kilometres per hour) than is possible on the narrow metre gauge. Longer and heavier trains will also be possible.
The standard gauge, or SGR as it is referred to in Africa, will eventually extend to Lakes Victoria and Tanganyika, with other extensions planned to Burundi and probably Rwanda and Uganda. If the line reached Uganda it will provide direct competition with the Kenyan railway network and therefore with the port at Mombasa.
The 300-km section to Morogoro has reached the 97 per cent complete state, according to Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) Director General, Masanja Kadogosa. A trial train has already successfully run the route which will require operational approval from the Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra) before official services can commence.
He disclosed that the evaluation of the line, referred to as the trial run, will be overseen by Latra, and will commence in September and will take approximately three months before approval can be given, hence the expected January start-up date.
The new train service will be electrified with the system connected to the national grid. This requires full testing and approval as well.
The section nearing completion is being built by the Turkish company Yapi Merkezi Co.
YouTube video [4:38] of an elevated section while under construction at Dar es Salaam, together with sections of the metre-gauge railway.
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Eswatini Railway doubles daily coal trains to port of Maputo via Goba corridor
Mozambique port and rail company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) and Eswatini Railway (formerly Swaziland) have signed a Memorandum of Agreement for the ‘ double train connections’ which aims at strengthening the movement of goods, particularly coal, along the Goba rail corridor connecting Eswatini with the port of Maputo.
Announcing the MoU this week, Mozambique’s minister of transport and communications, Mateus Magala, said an immediate impact of the agreement would be the doubling of the daily number of coal trains from two to four.
Quoted in the daily newspaper Notícias, Magala said the movement of trains crossing the border at Goba would be performed without the mandatory stop for border crossing protocols.
He said the volume of coal transported will increase from 3,600 tons to 7,200 tons a day, in an understanding that represents the “completion of the African Free Trade Area.”
Magala added that a total of 190,000 tons of cargo from Eswatini was transported over the Goba railway corridor in 2021. He said this year the figure was expected to increase to 788,000 tons by rail. source: Lusa and Notícias
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Transnet and SIU obtain preservation order freezing assets of former Transnet executives
Order freezes luxury properties and pension benefits
Transnet SOC Limited said on Monday that together with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) they have obtained a preservation order from the Special Tribunal. The order freezes five luxury properties in gated estates, and pension benefits valued at approximately R1.8 million, which are linked to two Transnet executives and their spouses.
The freezing of assets is pending the final determination of civil proceedings for recovery of damages or losses and disgorgement of secret profits, said Transnet.
The Special Tribunal order dated 8 August 2022 prohibits Zakhele Lebelo, his wife Alletta Mokgoro Mabitsi, and Phathutshedzo Brighton Mashamba and his wife, Matlhodi Phillicia Mashamba, from selling, leasing, donating or transferring title on their luxury properties in Rosebank and Deinfern.
The SIU investigation has revealed that the acquisition of the properties was allegedly funded by money received from service providers contracted by Transnet.
As a result, it is alleged, the luxury properties constitute proceeds of unlawful activities. The luxury properties are now under the care of a curator.
In addition, the Special Tribunal order interdicts and restrains the Transnet Retirement Fund from paying out or transferring any benefits it holds and standing to the credit of Zakhele Lebelo, who was employed by Transnet as Group Executive: Transnet Property. Lebelo subsequently resigned on 28 November 2018, pending a disciplinary enquiry.
On 16 May 2022, Transnet suspended Phathutshedzo Mashamba from his position as Regional Manager: Coastal Region pending the SIU’s investigation.
The SIU and Transnet approached the Special Tribunal after an investigation by the SIU revealed that the two Transnet executives received unlawful financial benefits worth approximately R10 million from Transnet service providers Superfecta and BBDM Bros Advertising Agency (BBDM).
The executives allegedly used unlawful financial benefits to acquire luxury properties on behalf of Trusts administered by themselves and their spouses.
Superfecta has been a supplier of electrical and maintenance services to Transnet Property from 2016, while BBDM obtained a long term lease of Transnet Property’s Carlton Skyrink Building in 2015.
Between February 2016 to August 2018, Superfecta earned over R64 million in payments from Transnet, as a result of its business with Transnet Property. BBDM was paid tenant installation allowances totaling over R73 million from March 2015 to June 2018.
“The order is a continuation of the implementation of the SIU investigation outcomes and consequence management to recover assets and financial losses suffered by State institutions and/or to prevent further losses,” said SIU Head Advocate Andy Mothibi.
Transnet said it welcomed the outcome of the investigation, adding that it will continue to work with the SIU and other law enforcement agencies to ensure that those that are found guilty of wrongdoing face the full might of the law.
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Added 10 August 2022
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WHARF TALK: tanker with a basic scrubber HAFNIA EXPERIENCE
Pictures by ‘Dockrat’
Story by Jay Gates
As always, there are no end of ways in which retrofitted scrubber units on vessels can be placed on a vessel. Shipowners go from perfectly blended units that maintain the balance of the vessel, to offset units which form part of an enlarged funnel but have the vessel looking lopsided, to units plonked as independent units abaft the funnel but encasing it and, at least, maintaining some element of balance, and to simply slapping it down on deck to one side of the funnel and making absolutely no attempt to disguise the fact that it is a commercial retrofit, and good looks matter not.
Back on 28th July the LR1 Panamax tanker HAFNIA EXPERIENCE (IMO 9735610) arrived at the Table Bay anchorage, from Sohar in Oman, and went to anchor where she remained for a full week. Finally, at 1500 on 5th July, she entered Cape Town harbour and into the Duncan Dock where she berthed at the long berth in the tanker basin.
Built in 2016 by STX Shipbuilding at Jinhae in South Korea, ‘Hafnia Experience’ is 219 metres in length and has a deadweight of 74,669 tons. She is powered by a single STX MAN-B&W 6S60ME-C8.2 6 cylinder 2 stroke main engine producing 12,955 bhp (9,660 kW), to drive a fixed pitch propeller for a service speed of 12 knots.
Her auxiliary machinery includes three MAN-B&W 6L23/30H generators providing 1,050 kW each, and a Cummins NT855DMGE emergency generator providing 200 kW. She has a Kangrim Composite exhaust gas boiler, and a Kangrim oil fired boiler. She has 12 epoxy coated cargo tanks with a cargo carrying capacity of 84,026 m3.
One of eight sisterships, she is owned by Hai Kuo Shipping Pte. Ltd. of Singapore, operated by Hafnia Pools Pte. Ltd. also of Singapore, and managed by BW Fleet Management Pte. Ltd. of Singapore. Hafnia are part of the great BW Group, which is a merger of the Bergesen Tankers Group of Norway, and the Worldwide Shipping Group of Hong Kong. Hafnia operate a fleet of 250 tankers, of which 123 are fully owned and, of these, 81 are LR1 class tankers.
In January 2022, Hafnia purchased 12 tankers from Scorpio Tankers Incorporated, of Monaco, which include all 8 of the sisterships, of which ‘Hafnia Experience’ was one. The block purchase of the group of tankers was US$413.8 million (ZAR6.88 billion), of which the unit purchase price of ‘Hafnia Experience’ was US$33.57 million (ZAR558.15 million).
She entered the Hafnia fleet in June 2022, and this is her first full voyage under the ownership of Hafnia. Her hull colour is not yet the traditional royal blue of the Hafnia fleet, but rather the vermillion red colour of Scorpio Tankers, her previous owners, where she carried the name ‘STI Experience’. One of the conditions of sale was that all of the Scorpio Tankers had to be retrofitted with scrubber units prior to entering service with Hafnia.
The result was the, evidently, the quickest, cheapest and easiest retrofit that was on offer, as the new scrubber unit has found a home, out in the open on the starboard side of the funnel, and connected to the engine room trunking, via a connection into the funnel itself. Such a siting naturally obliterated the Hafnia houseflag on the starboard side of her funnel, and so a plate painted with a small Hafnia logo has been bolted onto the scrubber unit housing.
With ‘Hafnia Experience’ being the sixth Hafnia tanker to call into Cape Town in the past year, it has become ever more apparent that a specific anti-piracy measure has been adopted across the whole of the Hafnia fleet, and one that is not been seen on tankers of other large fleets. The anti-piracy measure in question are interlocking rows of orange, recurved, high plastic blocks that ring the stern of the tanker, to prevent any boarding attempt over the stern.
Despite ‘Hafnia Experience’ being considered a Hafnia owned vessel, her ownership is actually vested in the Hai Kuo Shipping Company. The purchase of the tankers from Scorpio was financed by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), who are Chinese state owned, headquartered in Beijing, and who are funded by the Government Ministry of Finance. Hai Kuo are a subsidiary company of ICBC, and ICBC Leasing concluded a sale and leaseback arrangement with Hafnia, with an obligation that Hafnia will purchase all of the tankers at the end of the 10 year charter period.
ICBC was only founded in 1984 by the Chinese Government, and for the last decade they have been ranked as the largest bank in the world, and the fourth most profitable company in the world. The assets of ICBC are valued at US$4.33 trillion (ZAR71.87 trillion). In rand terms, that figure is actually a mind boggling ZAR71,826,656,936,000. To put that in perspective, the GDP of the whole of South Africa in 2021 was US$435.55 billion (ZAR7.25 trillion), i.e. only 10% of the assets of ICBC.
ICBC have set up a leasing division who own vessels, such as ‘Hafnia Experience’, and each vessel is held by what is, effectively, a ‘shell’ one ship company. Each Hai Kuo shipping company name is followed by a number, to represent the individual vessel, and ‘Hafnia Experience’ is listed as actually owned by Hai Kuo 2212T Shipping Pte. Ltd. The result is that ICBC, through their Hai Kuo Shipping subsidiary, are actually one of the largest, if not the largest, shipowners in the world.
The departure port of ‘Hafnia Experience’ was the port of Sohar, located in the far north of Oman at 24°20 North 056°43’ East. The port was only developed in 2002, and it is also the location of one of only three refineries in Oman. The refinery was into service in 2003, it currently processes 187,000 barrels of oil per day, producing petroleum, fuel oil, gasoil, kerosene, naphtha and LPG. The refinery exports its production through a ten year agreement with BP.
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Maritime Value Chain Task Force to meet in Durban tomorrow
The key purpose of the meeting is to define and unpack the South African Maritime Value Chain and to create opportunities for participation and to facilitate inclusion and cross sectoral and inter-company collaboration by interested bodies within the wider sector.
Six Task Forces have been identified and are:
Space Solutions for the Maritime Sector Task Force
Ship Repair Hub Positioning Task Force
Maritime Human Resource Task Force
Maritime Scaling up through industry-wide collaborations Task Force
Maritime Decarbonisation through Renewable Energy Task Force
Maritime Communications Forum
Each task force will be represented by no more than seven members recruited from the industry and will meet as often and by whatever means is necessary. The champion of each task force will be required to call such meetings as necessary for its proper functioning.
The Department will host all quarterly meetings at the appropriate provinces.
For further information please contact Mr Dumisani Ntuli, Dept of Transport, 012 309 3331 or 083 444 6553, email ntulid@dot.gov.za
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IMO and Mauritius: port facility security assessment in Port Louis
A port facility security assessment was held in Port Louis, Mauritius from 1-5 August led by a team of IMO experts.
This assessment was carried out under IMO’s EU-funded Port Security Project* with a view to preparing port facility security plans.
It is understood that during the five-day mission, staff of the Port Authority – specifically, Port Facility Security Officers of Mauritius – were assisted in the assessment of the port’s compliance with IMO’s ISPS Code** requirements.
Officers were supported in conducting ISPS Code port facility security assessments and in the reviewing of current assessment approaches. In addition they received expert advice on necessary improvements encountered.
Mauritius Ports Authority news
On 26 July Port Louis saw the return of the Pacific International Lines (PIL) through the maiden call of the mv Kota Nanhai. The Mauritius Ports Authority’s Acting Director General, Mrs Aruna Bunwaree-Ramsaha (pictured) presented a shield to Sulaiman Khan, the Master of Kota Nanhai, welcoming the prospects that this additional service and line will offer to the Mauritian economy.
Annual report 2020-2021
The latest annual report of Mauritius Ports Authority, for 2020 – 2021 is now available: CLICK HERE
Reported by Paul Ridgway
London
** SEE HERE
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Nigeria’s deepwater Lekki port receives second shipment of harbour cranes
The Lekki deepwater port under construction in Nigeria has taken delivery of its second consignment of container handling cranes in the past week.
A first shipment of three Ship-to-Shore (STS) cranes and 10 RTGs (Rubber Tyre Gantries) arrived on 1 July 2022 – See that report here Nigeria’s Lekki deepwater port receives next generation STS and RTG cranes
On Friday 5 August a second heavylift ship, Zhen Hua 35, arrived at the developing port to discharge a further two STS cranes and another five RTGs together with over a hundred associated parts and spares.
Container handling equipment for the terminal yard is expected to be shipped shortly before the terminal opens for business.
A spokesman for management of the new port said that construction work at Lekki was now more than 95 per cent complete and that construction work should be fully completed by September 2022.
The container terminal at Lekki port will be operated by the Lekki Freeport Terminal, a subsidiary of the CMA CGM Group.
Lekki will become Nigeria’s first really deep water port with the potential of becoming one of the more important hub ports in West Africa.
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Mozambique’s CFM to rehabilitate harbour infrastructure at Mocímboa da Praia
According to the Portuguese-language Notícias news media, Mozambique’s state-owned port and railway company CFM has given instructions for the rehabilitation of harbour infrastructure damaged or destroyed by Islamist terrorists at the little town and harbour of Mocimboa da Praia.
The town was overrun by the terrorists who then made it their ‘capital’ for a considerable period, before departing in the face of approaching Rwandan soldiers sent to Mozambique to stiffen local armed forces. Much of the population estimated at around 60,000, had meanwhile fled to safety elsewhere but have since begin to return.
Mocimboa da Praia was going to be one of the key logistics centres for the then under construction gas liquefaction production plant about 70kms to the north near Palma. Facilities for landing craft type ocean going vessels to deliver large amounts of cargo and equipment were in the process of development at Mocimboa da Praia.
The report in Notícias said that instructions were given to the executive directorate of the Cabo Delgado province northern region that it must have restored conditions for a resumption of activities at the ‘port’ this year.
It is said that attention will also be given to urban development across the province in order to improve the lives of local people and to improve regional security.
It helps that TotalEnergies, the French company leading the consortium that was building the liquefaction site on the Afungi peninsula, has indicated it won’t resume operations unless there is stability including security across the region.
Pemba expansion
It is also confirmed that CFM has committed to expanding and improving the infrastructure at the port of Pemba, to the south of Mocimboa da Praia and the principal port of Cabo Delgado province.
Pemba’s port (Porto Amelia and a passenger ship port of call in colonial times) is built within the giant deepwater bay, sheltered by a lowish lying peninsula slightly reminiscent of Durban’s Bluff though on a much larger scale. The town and airfield are situated on this piece of land separating the bay from the northern Mozambique Channel, with the port facing into the bay.
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Chinese land port of Erenhot logs 10,000 100-wagon freight trains for Europe
The land port of Erenhot on the Chinese-Mongolian border has logged its 10,000th freight train in ten years, as well as import and export cargo volumes exceeding 10 million tonnes for five consecutive years, according to China Railway Hohhot Bureau Group Co Ltd.
By last week Wednesday the cargo volumes this year had reached 10.02 million tons, up 2.8 per cent year-on-year, while 1,497 China-Europe freight trains had passed through the port since the beginning of the year, an increase of 20.5 per cent year-on-year.
On 6 August the 10,000th train passing through the port left for Malaszewicze in Poland, fully loaded with 50 40-foot containers.
“It took over eight years for the number of China-Europe freight trains handled by the port to reach 5,000, and only less than two years for it to grow from 5,000 to 10,000,” said a spokesperson for the China Railway Hohhot Group at Erenhot.
Freight trains for 58 different European destinations pass through Erenhot.
Erenhot is just one of several border land ports serving the China-Europe and Asia routes.
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Transnet agrees to provide Botswana with access to South African ports, in particular Richards Bay & Durban
Following on from a high-level business roundtable involving South Africa and Botswana, the two countries have agreed in principle on joint development initiatives to be implemented by Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) and Botswana Rail (BR). This is aimed at improving inter-trade between the two countries.
Of specific interest, the initiatives will allow landlocked Botswana to access South African ports in a more efficient manner.
TFR and BR will collaborate to fix sections of the 126 km rail line between Swartruggens and Mafikeng, which will enable heavy haul trains travelling from Botswana to connect to the ports of Richards Bay and Durban for export markets.
This will be funded jointly by the two governments, with TFR and BR given the responsibility to implement the initiative.
The objective is to have the project running in the next 24 months. The two railway companies will also build a connecting line from Mamabula in Botswana to Lephalale in Limpopo, currently running export coal to Richards Bay.
In addition, TFR and BR will further collaborate on security interventions to curb the scourge of cable theft and infrastructure vandalism. This is a rising problem in Botswana and is rampant in South Africa, which impacts the efficient running of trains.
Recently, Botswana Rail commenced running coal trains to the Mozambique port of Maputo, via Zimbabwe. This was partly a result of frustration over TFR’s inability to handle much coal traffic from Botswana to Richards Bay.
See that report Second coal train from Botswana reaches Port Maputo by CLICKING HERE
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WHARF TALK: offshore construction vessel – DEEP ORIENT
Deep Orient arrived from India to undergo repairs at the Dormac quay. Picture by Trevor Jones
Pictures by Trevor Jones
Story by Jay Gates
Cape Town might get to see the better part of the total of offshore vessels that call into South African ports, either purely on positioning voyages for bunkers and stores, or for more serious reasons such as heavy maintenance, engineering support or refit. However, Durban also gets to see its fair share of offshore vessels, and especially when in need of engineering support.
On 5th August at 11h00 the multi-purpose offshore construction vessel DEEP ORIENT (IMO 9644330) arrived off Durban harbour from Kakinada in India. She immediately entered Durban Harbour and proceeded down the complete length of the Maydon Channel, going alongside the quay at the Dormac Marine and Engineering facility at the Bayhead. This is a clear indicator that some post contract TLC is required for ‘Deep Orient’.
Built in 2013 by Metalships & Docks at Vigo in Spain, ‘Deep Orient’ is 133 metres in length and has a deadweight of 8,900 tons. She is a SAW2042 class construction vessel, designed by Sawicon AS ship design and engineering company, of Bergen in Norway.
She is diesel-electric powered, with four Wärtsilä 8L32 8 cylinder 4 stroke main engines of 5,150 bhp (3,840 kW) each. These provide power to Alconza motors which drive two Rolls Royce AZP-120 stern azipull azimuth thrusters providing 3,500 kW each, giving a service speed of 13 knots. Her auxiliary machinery includes a Mitsubishi S-12A2 generator providing 828 kW.
For added manoeuvrability ‘Deep Orient’ has two bow Rolls Royce TT-2400 transverse thrusters providing 1,500 kW each, and a bow, Rolls Royce TCNS 92/62 retractable, azimuth thruster providing 1,500 kW. Her total of five thrusters gives her a dynamic positioning classification of DP2, all controlled by a Kongsberg K-Pos DP21 system.
The Kongsberg bridge system receives its position keeping references from two HIPAP 500 systems, three Digital GPS systems, a taut wire system, and a Fan Beam system. To assist with position keeping when undertaking heavy overside construction work, ‘Deep Orient’ has a Framo RBP250 anti-heeling system, capable of 600m3 per hour.
She has a large working deck area of 1,900 m3, capable of carrying 3,500 tons of equipment and cargo, and her aft deck mounted National Oilwell OC4475KSCE TTS crane is capable of lifts of 250 tons. The crane is a heave compensated, constant tension, knuckle boom crane with a maximum working depth of 3,000 metres.
She has a 7.2 x 7.2 metre moonpool for subsea pipelay operations, and is fitted with a J-Lay, heave compensated, tower. Subsea operations are monitored by two, rail launched, Triton XLX 150 Remote Operating Vehicles (ROV), each housed in individual hangars, one located on the port side, and one located on the starboard side.
She has accommodation for 120 persons, and for offshore crew change requirements, and logistical needs, she is equipped with a raised bow, 21 metre, helideck capable of operating the largest offshore helicopters, such as the Sikorsky S-92A, or Airbus EC225 helicopters. For offshore emergency towage requirements ‘Deep Orient’ has a handy bollard pull of 94 tons.
Owned by Technip Ships (Netherlands) BV of Amsterdam, ‘Deep Orient’ is operated by Technip-FMC of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England, and managed by Technip UK Ltd. of Westhill, in Aberdeen, Scotland.
Her arrival from Kakinada in India was at the completion of her six month contract with Reliance Industries Ltd. of Mumbai in India. The contract was a Subsea Umbilicals, Risers, Flowline (SURF) project to install flexible risers, flexible flowlines, rigid flowlines and umbilicals in the MJ1 gas field, located at Block KG D6, in the Krishna Godavari basin, offshore Andhra Pradesh state, on the east coast of India. The port of Kakinada was the service port, closest to the MJ1 field, where ‘Deep Orient’ had an operational storage base.
The MJ1 field work is one of three projects underway in the block to develop the field, which is estimated to hold 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and when it comes onstream it is expected to deliver 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day. The gas field is high temperature, high pressure, and will be connected to a new Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit. The use of an FPSO is due to the fact that the field lies in water depths ranging from 1,000 to 1,200 metres.
The field is expected to reduce India’s reliance on imported gas, and the output from the MJ1 field will amount to a projected 10% of India’s demand. The importance of the field is especially so with the current issues arising from gas supplies being manipulated by Russia, as a result of it’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The next destination of ‘Deep Orient’ is not yet known. However, the possibilities are the nearby ongoing offshore development of the ENI Coral Sur FLNG field in Northern Mozambique, of which Technip was a part of the initial field development, and Technip’s part in the development of the Anadarko Golfinho and Atum field development in Northern Mozambique.
A second possibility is that she may head to Brazil, once she has completed her engineering support requirements in Durban. Technip have been awarded major contracts for the subsea Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation (EPCI) development of the Búzios 6 field, located in the Santos Basin, off the coast of Brazil.
The Búzios field is the largest, deepwater, field in the world and is expected to have a daily production of 2 million barrels of oil a day when it is brought onstream. Technip will be responsible for the EPCI requirements of flexible pipe, rigid pipe, umbilicals and subsea structures. The contract was issued to Technip by Petrobras, the Brazilian state owned oil company.
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As the war in Ukraine continues to rage, skyrocketing energy prices are compounding an observed cost-of-living crisis for hundreds of millions of people, warned the UN Secretary-General’s Global Crisis Response Group (GCRG) on Food, Energy and Finance. SEE HERE
Earlier, in March this year UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced the establishment of the Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy and Finance to coordinate the global response to the widespread impacts of the war in Ukraine.
The GCRG ensures high-level political leadership to get ahead of the immense inter-connected challenges of food security, energy and financing, and put in place a coordinated global response to the ongoing crises.
Despite this alarming current situation, major oil and gas companies recently reported record profits. UN Secretary-General António Guterres made a statement on 3 August simultaneously in New York and Geneva, calling their action immoral.
“The combined profits of the largest energy companies in the first quarter of this year are close to $100 billion,” he said. “I urge governments to tax these excessive profits, and use the funds to support the most vulnerable people through these difficult times.”
The GCRG, in a brief, recommended that governments find the most effective ways to fund energy solutions, such as publicly funded cash transfers and rebate policies, to protect vulnerable communities everywhere, including through windfall taxes on the largest oil and gas companies. At the same time, the brief urged a transition to renewables.
The brief came on the heels of the landmark Black Sea Grain Initiative which was agreed between Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, under the auspices of the UN, on 22 July, paving the way for the first shipment of grains from Ukraine to leave the port of Odesa on 1 August.
Major setbacks on access to energy
There is increasing fear that the rising costs of energy may price out many developing countries, especially the most vulnerable communities, from energy markets. These countries are already bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis, having experienced major setbacks on access to energy and progress on sustainable development since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Secretary-General Guterres added: “Developing countries do not lack reasons to invest in renewables. Many of them are living with the severe impacts of the climate crisis including storms, wildfires, floods and droughts. What they lack are concrete, workable options.”
Energy resilience
The brief makes it clear that the war in Ukraine and the global energy crisis that it has caused is a stark reminder of the need for energy resilience and stronger push for the transition to renewable energy.
Here I quote Rebeca Grynspan, the Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), who coordinates and leads on the development of the GCRG’s briefs: “Renewable energy is often the cheapest, and most quick to deploy source of electricity for many countries.
“But this is only true if we ensure that supply chains work well and without bottlenecks; that the workforce has the right skills and that enough funds will be made available for the initial investments.
“To meet these conditions we have to scale up financing and technology transfer for the developing countries and the energy poor of the world.”
According to the brief, an ambitious renewable energy transition, that includes skills training, could create an additional 85 million jobs in renewable energy sources, efficiency, and other energy transition-related sectors by 2030.
Moreover, renewable energy production is often the least-cost energy production source with the shortest installation times, and provides countries with energy security, reducing future exposure to the volatility of oil, gas and coal prices.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed leads the Steering Committee of the GCRG, providing strategic coordination of the UN System and partners.
Reported by Paul Ridgway
London
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Eni acquires Tango FLNG for the Republic of Congo
Italian multinational oil and gas company Eni has acquired the company that owns the Tango FLNG floating liquefaction facility from the Exmar Group and will relocate it to the Republic of Congo where it will go into production in the Marine XII block.
This will be as part of the activities of the natural gas development project in the Marine XII block, in line with Eni’s strategy to leverage gas equity resources.
The Tango FLNG, which was built in 2017, has a treatment capacity of approximately 3 million standard cubic metres a day and an LNG production capacity of approximately 0.6 million tons per year (about 1 billion standard cubic metres per year).
The acquisition of this facility allows the development of a fast-track model capable of seizing the rising opportunities of the LNG market. In addition, the high flexibility and mobility characteristics of the Tango FLNG will favour the development and enhancement of Eni’s equity gas by accelerating production start-up time.
Tango FLNG will begin its activity in Congo in the second half of 2023, following the completion of mooring and connection works necessary to tie with the Marine XII network and infrastructure.
LNG production from Marine XII is expected to begin in 2023, and when fully operational it will provide volumes in excess of 3 million tons per year (over 4.5 billion cubic metres a year).
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Talk of a second FLNG for Mozambique to join Coral Sul
It was reported by Bloomberg last week that Eni is planning a second LNG platform off the Mozambique Cabo Delgado coast to meet the increasing demand coming out of Europe.
With Europe in a hurry to find alternate sources of gas other than from Russia, Eni sees this as an opportunity that will require a second FLNG in production over the Rovuma Basin.
The newly-built FLNG Coral Sul arrived off the coast and is gearing up towards commencing production before the end of this year.
The Coral Sul is on station more than 30 miles off the coast – opposite the region where French oil and gas company TotalEnergies and its partners were constructing an onshore liquefaction facility on the Afungi Peninsula, close to the small harbour town of Palma.
Terrorist activity across much of Cabo Delgado, including the capture of Palma and another nearby harbour town of Mocimboa da Praia, saw the closure of the construction site and departure of all personnel for safety reasons, setting back TotalEnergies plans for bringing the facility into production.
There is talk of the French company returning to the site later this year though no decision has been announced. Soldiers from Rwanda and the SADC together with Mozambican forces are attemting to stamp out terrorist activity though with mixed fortunes, as the will-o’-the-wisp jihadists are proving difficult to control.
Were the onshore liquefaction facility to be completed and go into production, it will have about four times the capacity of the offshore Coral Sul vessel.
A second onshore facility, under ExxonMobil together with Eni and other partners, has remained stillborn due to the insurgency that has brought havoc to the region since October 2017.
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Kisumu shipyard and ferry Uhuru II inaugurated on Lake Victoria
A project to provide Kenya with the means of once again becoming a major roleplayer on the waters of Lake Victoria were enhanced with the inauguration of a shipyard at the port of Kisumu and the launching of a new ferry that will operate on the lake.
The new ferry was built at the port by Kenya Shipyards Limited (KSL) with the assistance of Dutch-based international shipbuilder, Damen Shipyards who provided a consultancy service throughout the preparation and construction of the vessel.
The US$20 million, 1,800 tonne wagon ferry, which was named UHURU II, will be commissioned into service later this year.
The inauguration ceremony had as its guest of honour President Kenyatta who said the key sub-sectors of the Blue Economy, that include maritime transport and logistics, fisheries and shipbuilding and ship repair, represent low-hanging fruits that must be exploited.
“The ferry is a flagship project aimed at positioning Kenya as a regional ship-building hub and unlocking Kenya’s immense blue economy potential,” President Kenyatta said.
Uhuru II is the first ship to be assembled locally in Kenya for nearly 70 years.
At this stage the main cargo that Uhuru II will carry appears to be petroleum and petroleum projects between the railhead at Kisumu and neighbouring Port Bell in Uganda.
She will join another wagon ferry, UKURU which is currently in service carrying petroleum and petroleum products in addition to general cargo mainly to Uganda. The 1,260-tonne Uhuru was built in 1966.
The ceremony was one of President Kenyatta’s final duties as he is due to step down following Kenya’s general election on Tuesday (9 August) that will see a new president elected.
During his visit to Kisumu the president commissioned the Kisumu Railway Station that is returning to service with the rehabilitation of the metre-gauge railway to Nakuru and Naivasha. Kenya’s standard gauge railway terminates at Naivasha, thus making a rail connection between Mombasa and Kisumu a reality.
Kenyatta expressed his confidence in the ability of the return of the railway and the lake ferry service towards boosting Kisumu’s status as an important economic hub connecting not only Uganda and Tanzania but other countries such as Burundi, Rwanda, Eastern DRC and South Sudan.
It was announced that the two shipyards at Kisumu and Mombasa, under the management of KSL, a state-owned limited liability parastatal company, under the Kenya Ministry of Defence. KSL is understood to have order books for six lake ferries from Tanzania and Uganda as well as 11 other orders from local firms. Some of the local orders are for the Kenya Navy.
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Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic:
WTO Annual Report
Afreximbank launches trade and investment Council
Part 1 is Published HERE
We continue here with observations following the WTO / UNCTAD / ITC Partners Conference of 27 July and issue of the document:
Impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on cotton and its value chains: The case of the C-4 and other LDCs
It is available CLICK HERE
Comment from ministers
Chad’s Trade Minister and Cotton-4 Coordinator, Ali Djadda Kampard, told the meeting that development partners play an essential role in enabling the country to develop its cotton production, improve its quality and ensure that raw production is transformed into finished products with higher added value for export.
Mali’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Ould Mohamed, said that adequate financing for cotton development projects would greatly contribute to improving the incomes and living conditions of the most vulnerable populations in cotton-producing and exporting LDCs.
Of transport
This is an African economic story. With businesses being so dependent on trucking and the port of Lomé in Benin and other ports in West Africa relative to Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali, transport is, of course, a key component in the economies referred to in the WTO report.
During the period under review ports recorded significant decreases in container vessel calls from 2019 to 2020. These showed Mozambique (-28%), Mauritius (-14%), Kenya (-11%), Senegal (-10%), South Africa (-9%), Nigeria (-9%) and Egypt (-8%). In addition, overall freight rates more than doubled for the route Shanghai-West Africa in the course of 2020.
With economic activity increasing across the globe it was reported that shipping companies had to redirect their fleets and containers to the most active flows. All countries, and particularly those in West Africa, were to be significantly affected by steep increases in freight rates. Furthermore, the majority of shipping lines ceased calling at some African ports. Cotton companies and traders could do little but wait until the shipping lines decided to resume such traffic and this position persisted for several months.
Much of the world’s cotton production crosses international borders to be processed into completed products.
Cotton is second only to soybeans in terms of the percentage of production that is exported annually, ahead of wheat, maize, and rice.
Indeed, over 150 countries are involved in exports or imports of cotton every year. The global cotton area accounts for only 2.5% of the world’s arable land, yet the annual value of world cotton production in 2021 was estimated at US$ 50.6 billion.
In a typical year Africa produces in the region of 6% of the world’s cotton lint, it exports more than 90% of its annual production, making cotton a vital cash crop in more than 30 African countries. Most of these are classified by the UN as Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
WTO Annual Report
At the end of July the WTO published the latest edition of its Annual Report, providing a comprehensive account of the organisation’s activities in 2021 and early 2022. The report also covers the successful conclusion of the twelfth Ministerial Conference (MC12), which was originally scheduled for end-2021 but postponed until June 2022.
A copy can be downloaded HERE
Afreximbank launch trade and investment Council
Earlier in the month, on 21 July, it was announced from its HQ in Cairo that Afreximbank and the East Africa Business Council (EABC) had launched the EABC – Africa Trade and Investment Council, with the goal of creating a platform for engagement and investment between the East Africa Community (EAC) and the rest of Africa, to unlock investment opportunities, private sector development and business growth. Afreximbank has branches in Abidjan, Abuja, and Harare.
Launched in Rwanda, the Council will help the private sector in EAC to engage with the rest of Africa with a view towards increasing access to intra-African investment as well as trade and market information through trade fairs and investment forums, while increasing knowledge and awareness.
Through this arrangement, Afreximbank will provide a range of its financing instruments and trade facilitation initiatives to facilitate intra-African trade and investment under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
Reported by Paul Ridgway
London
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– Antos Parrish
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Ports & Ships publishes regularly updated SHIP MOVEMENT reports including ETAs for ports extending from West Africa to South Africa to East Africa and including Port Louis in Mauritius.
In the case of South Africa’s container ports of Durban, Ngqura, Ports Elizabeth and Cape Town links to container Stack Dates are also available.
You can access this information, including the list of ports covered, by CLICKING HERE remember to use your BACKSPACE to return to this page.
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CRUISE NEWS AND NAVAL ACTIVITIES
QM2 in Cape Town. Picture by Ian Shiffman
We publish news about the cruise industry here in the general news section.
Naval News
Similarly you can read our regular Naval News reports and stories here in the general news section.
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ADVERTISING
For a Rate Card please contact us at info@africaports.co.za
Don’t forget to send us your news and press releases for inclusion in the News Bulletins. Shipping related pictures submitted by readers are always welcome. Email to info@africaports.co.za
SHIP PHOTOGRAPHERS Colour photographs and slides for sale of a variety of ships.Thousands of items listed featuring famous passenger liners of the past to cruise ships of today, freighters, container vessels, tankers, bulkers, naval and research vessels.P O BOX 809, CAPE TOWN, 8000, SOUTH AFRICA snai@worldonline.co.za http://home.worldonline.co.za/~snai |
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