The Shipping News - Maritime News, Transport News, Logistic News, Port News, Trade News

Kolkata port has competition for share of JNPT cargo

2011-06-07T18:45:00.000+05:30

As Kolkata Port hopes to grab a share of exim cargo from the JN Port, Mumbai, it is more likely to face competition from other newer ports on the Western coast-Pipavav and Mundra.Kolkata Port has been trying to promote itself as the favourable port gateway from India to such countries as China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and South Asia. Kolkata Port handled 5.26 lakh TEU containers a year in 2010-11, against JN Port's 4.27 million TEU a year. In this context, Kolkata Port Chairman Read More>>

Kolkata port to soon invite bids for box terminal at Diamond Harbour

2011-05-30T16:39:00.000+05:30

Kolkata Port plans to invite qualifying bids for the development of container terminal at Diamond Harbour within a few days. The proposed terminal will handle up to 1 million twenty footequivalent unit (TEU) containers annually. At present, Kolkata port handles 5.26 lakh TEU containers a year.Mr M.L .Meena, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust, was speaking at a trade meet here. He urged traders to use Kolkata Port for their export import (EXIM) cargo to countries like China, Japan, Korea, Australia, Read More>>

Steel imports dry into India amidst sagging demand and old stocks

2011-05-30T16:38:00.001+05:30

The steel import market in India has become baron off late with barely any demand for HRC coming from any quarter.Although there has been a marginal improvementin international HRC levels by USD 10 per tonne from Black Sea and China it has not caused any ripples in the Indian waters.The main reasons for this inactivity are as follows Read More>>

Indian steel prices have peaked

2011-05-30T16:35:00.000+05:30

Indian domestic steel transaction prices recorded marginal increases in May. However, there is growing resistance amongst consumers regarding any additional advances in selling values.Purchasing activity Read More>>

India calls for joint effort to combat maritime piracy

2011-05-30T16:34:00.000+05:30

2010, the economic cost of maritime piracy on the supply chain was estimated to be $7-12 billion, said the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) quoting the One Earth Foundation.Piracy is a concern to any industry having to navigate through the Gulf of Aden to deliver goods by water, said the ICC, a global representative body that speaks on behalf of enterprises from all sectors in every part of the world.For India, piracy is a serious issue Read More>>

Iron ore exports from Goa highest in 2010-11

2011-05-30T11:42:00.000+05:30

The mining industry in Goa may have had a bad patch in the past year with agitations by locals and transporters and a ban on transportation of ore by Karnataka, but iron oreexports from Goa were the highest ever at over 54 million tonnes. "In the financial year 2010-11, Goa's export of iron ore has been the highest so far," Goa mineral ore exporters' association (GMOEA) executive director S Sridhar told TOI. The final figures are still being tabulated but Read More>>

2011-05-19T18:18:00.002+05:30

The Shipping Corporation of India Selects Stratos to Deploy FleetBroadband on 156-Ship Fleet

2011-05-19T18:10:00.002+05:30

Stratos Global, the leading global provider of advanced mobile and fixed-site remote communications solutions, yesterday announced it has been selected byThe Shipping Corporation of India Ltd. (SCI) to deploy the Inmarsat FleetBroadband satellite communications service as part of an integrated maritime communications solution that will help the operator increase productivity and control costs. Stratos was selected by SCI through Stratos Channel Partner Station Satcom. Based in Mumbai, SCI is India's largest shipping company, with an expansive fleet that operates globally and includes tankers, bulk carriers, Read More>>

India Needs to Curb Inflation to Boost Growth, RBI Governor Subbarao Says

2011-05-19T18:05:00.000+05:30

India’s inflation rate, which has remained above 8 percent for 16 months, is high and needs to be curbed to boost economic growth, Reserve Bank of India GovernorDuvvuri Subbarao said today. “Inflation is high and we need to bring it down,” Subbarao told reporters in northeastern city of Agartala. Lower prices are needed “to see that growth accelerates.” India’s inflation was faster than estimated in April and is expected to rise further after the government raised gasoline prices last week. The central bank has pledged to continue the fight against inflation after Read More>>

MP to import 8 lakh tonne of coal to run power plants

2011-05-17T16:51:00.000+05:30

To overcome the hurdles in power generation in the state due to coal shortage, the Madhya Pradesh government has decided to import 8 lakh metric tonne of fossil fuelfor its thermal power stations this fiscal.The power generating capacity Read More>>

China recognises Indian effort in saving sailors

2011-05-10T18:57:00.000+05:30

Acknowledging Indian Navy's effort in rescuing 24 Chinese sailors from a ship hijacked by Somali pirates, China on Monday said it was working out a new security plan to protectits vessels and crew members from such attacks. The Chinese vessel MV Fu Cheng (Full City), registered in Panama, faced a pirate attack 450 nautical miles off the Karwar Coast (of Karnataka) while it was on its way from Jeddah to Tuticorin port on May 6. The Indian Navy swung into action and Read More>>

More Freight Vessels And Pirates Both Captured Or Released This Month

2011-05-09T11:19:00.000+05:30

The past month has seen the usual assortment of pirate stories relevant to those with an interest in freight matters and ocean cargo transport in particular. The situation has onceagain highlighted the woeful lack of consistency when dealing with those suspected of buccaneering activities, particularly in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Firstly there are again mixed reports since Portuguese Commodore Alberto Correia took over the command of Task Force 465 as the new European Union Naval Force Headquarters – Operation Atalanta Force Commander less than a month ago. EU Navfor is charged with providing escorts vessels for the World Food Program and the African Union Mission for Somalia (AMISOM), as their primary mission, a fact often forgotten by the owners of other vessels transiting the danger area. The big news this week is the fact that Read More>>

Rickmers Upgrades India-Europe Service

2011-05-05T11:32:00.000+05:30

Project and heavy-lift specialist Rickmers-Linie said it is adding four ships to its India-Europe service to take advantage of an expanding market.Rickmers said it will operatethe Linde and the Martin, both built in 2005, under long-term charter. Each ship has capacity of 12,800 deadweight tons and has two 120-ton cranes that can be twinned to lift 240 tons. The Linde's first eastbound sailing was in March.The Rickmers Yokohama and Rickmers Tianjin, will be delivered from Xinshun Shipyard Group in China in May and July. The 17,000-dwt Read More>>

India to take up to 2 mln T Russian coal in 2011

2011-05-05T11:23:00.000+05:30

India's surging demand for thermal coal will draw in 1-2 million tonnes of Russian supply for the first time in 2011 to compete with South African and Indonesian coal,Indian importers and Russian exporters said.Although Russian coal is likely to remain a minor part of India's projected 140 million tonnes of imports for 2011/2012, India has become a key growth market and has started to import Russian material for the first time this year, Russian exporters said.So far this year India's biggest trader importer, Adani Group, has bought two capesize cargoes of Russian coal, a few smaller traders have booked several panamax cargoes and others are in talks for 2011 supply with Russian sellers."Around 1-1.2 million tonnes of Russian coal could go to India this year," one major Russian exporter said.Other Asian buyers such as South Korea Read More>>

Govt says Posco should not export iron ore from Orissa project

2011-05-03T11:27:00.000+05:30

South Korean steelmaker POSCO , which wants to build a $12 billion steel plant in eastern India, should not export raw materials, including iron ore, from the proposed project,India's environment minister said on Monday.POSCO signed an agreement with the Orissa state government in 2005 and it was scheduled to begin production by the end of 2011. But protests, environmental worries and litigation over a related mining concession have delayed what is India's Read More>>

Shippers fret over slump in dry bulk, tanker freight

2011-05-03T11:26:00.000+05:30

The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), which tracks global international shipping prices of various dry bulk cargoes, has fallen almost 50% in the past six months due to vessel oversupply.While the BDI represents a more global picture, the Indian scenario is not much different with most local shipping companies seeing dry-bulk and tanker rates staying distressed.Among Indian ship firms, Essar Shipping, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), Mercator Lines and GE Shipping have presence both in the tanker Read More>>

SCI set to buy 8 large vessels: Government

2011-03-25T10:38:00.001+05:30

Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) is in the process of acquiring eight very large vessels to augment its capacity, besides buying second-hand vessels on offer at a low costin the aftermath of the global economic crisis, a parliamentary panel was informed.The state-owned firm plans to acquire 110 vessels by 2020 to augment its fleet at an estimated cost of Rs 27,668 crore. “SCI has already Read More>>

Indias iron ore exports seen less than 100 mln T-Sesa Goa

2011-03-25T10:36:00.001+05:30

Iron ore exports from India, the world's third-largest supplier of the steelmaking material, will be less than 100 million tonnes in the next fiscal year starting April if prices stay at current levels,a top executive at Sesa Goa said on Wednesday. India usually exports about half of its annual iron ore output of around 200 million tonnes, most of them going to China. "Iron ore exports from Read More>>

Thai ship-owner re-sells three ABG ships on delivery delay

2011-03-25T10:34:00.000+05:30

Thailand-based dry bulk cargo specialist Precious Shipping Public Co. Ltd has sold three small dry bulk ships ordered at ABG Shipyard Ltd in 2007 to a third-party buyer after the Indian shipbuilder slipped on delivery schedules.The three ships were part of the 18 ordered by Bangkok-based Precious Shipping at ABG at a total cost of $518 million (Rs2,331 crore today) with deliveries starting from March 2010 and running through to December 2013.The first two ships with a cargo carrying capacity of 34,000 tones each were slated for delivery on 15 March and 31 July 2010, while the Read More>>

India NMDC expects to renew Japan iron ore

2011-03-23T11:03:00.001+05:30

India's top iron ore miner NMDC Ltd expects to renew soon a five-year iron ore contract with Japanese customers which expires at the end of March, the company's top executive said."India and Japan will have to renew the contract which they had for the last five years. I am sure there will be an agreement signing," state-run NMDC Chairman Rana Som told the Reuters Global Mining and Steel Summit.NMDC supplies to a consortium of Japanese steels companies called Japan Steel Mills and to POSCO in South Korea.He added that despite power shortages from the earthquake Read More>>

CMA CGM reinforces its EPIC service between India, Pakistan, the Middle East and Europe

2011-03-23T10:56:00.002+05:30

CMA CGM is pleased to announce the upgrading of its EPIC service between India, Pakistan, the Middle East and North Europe (5 ports served directly) thanks to the following enhancements:• A new westbound call at Port Said Read More>>

Bharati Shipyard Delays Fundraising, New Units

2011-03-18T10:51:00.000+05:30

Bharati Shipyard Ltd. has put on hold plans to build two manufacturing facilities, and delayed plans to raise $200 million to expand a partly owned units. The shipyards in eastern India,part of an equal joint venture with Apeejay Shipping Ltd., won't be built for the next two to three years due to weak demand for big ships, said P.C. Kapoor, Bharati's managing director. "The facilities were planned for super-sized vessels, and will be revived only if... there is demand," he said. Bharati, in 2007, formed Read More>>

Shipping Corp sees adverse impact on sector from Japan quake

2011-03-16T15:35:00.000+05:30

Last week's devastating earthquake in Japan is expected to have a negative impact on India's local shipping industry, the country's largest shipping services firm told Reuters.Japan, the world's third largest consumer of commodities, is battling to avert a nuclear catastrophe Read More>>

Indian Govt. mulling idea of having armed guards on merchant ships

2011-03-16T15:34:00.000+05:30

The Indian Government is mulling over the idea of having armed escorts on merchant ships akin to those appointed in airlines in the wake of an increase in the number of attacks by Somali pirates.The decision is under consideration after Indian ship owners sought the government's permission to have guards on ships as a defensive mechanism.The hijacking of ships near the coast of Somalia has cost the shipping industry millions of dollars. Pirates have continued to Read More>>

India Container Traffic Grows 11 Percent

2011-03-16T15:31:00.000+05:30

The volume of containers handled by major ports in India grew 11 percent year-over-year in the April-February period, the Indian Ports Association said in a statement.Total volume for the first 11 months of fiscal 2010-11 totaled 6.9 million 20-foot equivalent units, compared with 6.2 million Read More>>