Updates 17th December 2015 Thursday

Government nod to increasing cooperation with Spain in ports sector Economic Times The government today approved a proposal for inking a pact with Spain to strengthen ties in the ports sector. "The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its approval for signing of a MoU between India and Spain on cooperation in port matters," an official statement said. Recognising the significant benefits that can be derived from ties in the port matters between the two countries, it has been decided to sign the agreement with a view to strengthen cooperation and render sustained mutual assistance and advice on port matters and other related maritime issues, it said. "Signing of the MoU will help both countries in encouraging and facilitating the development of ports and provide a cooperation platform for enhancing and stimulating steady growth of maritime traffic, exchange and training of staff and students from various maritime establishments, exchange of information necessary for accelerating and facilitating the flow of commercial goods at sea and at ports," it said.

India To Build Sea Bridge, Tunnel To Connect With Sri Lanka: Government NDTV Keen on promoting connectivity in the South Asian region, India is set to build a sea-bridge and tunnel connecting Sri Lanka while a pact has been inked with Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal for seamless flow of traffic and passenger vehicles, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today. "The Asian Development Bank is ready to fully finance a bridge building project connecting Rameshwaram to Sri Lanka. The project was also discussed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his counterpart during the latter's recent visit," Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said in a statement in the Lok Sabha. The India-Sri Lanka connectivity project cost is pegged at about Rs. 24,000 crore. "The Government, right from the day it assumed office, has been focussed on enhancing regional cooperation. Subsequent to PM Modi's announcement of 'Act East policy', India pro-actively engaged in building effective and credible links between South Asia and South East Asia through enhanced regional connectivity," he said.

APL Vascor calls for implementing fuel adjustment mechanism of railways Business Line APL Logistics, which is present in India’s rail segment through APL Vascor, wants a level playing field for the rail segment. APL Logistics Global Vertical Head-Automotive William Villalon says rail is losing out to road in India on account of the Indian Railways doing away with fuel adjustment component (FAC) due to falling diesel prices, and lack of implementation of road regulations with regards to truck dimensions. In 2012-13, the Indian Railways had introduced FAC policy to move tariffs along with movement in fuel prices, but it has not lowered freight tariffs, despite diesel prices going down. APL Vascor — a private investor in the Railways as an automobile freight operator — has four train sets and the fifth one will be delivered this month. Villalon is visiting India to “evaluate” the path ahead for the company. APL Vascor is a joint venture between APL Logistics and Fujitrans Corporation.

Trade facilitation for ‘Make in India’ Financial Express The ‘Make in India’ initiative to push manufacturing sector growth can only become successful if local firms are part of the global value chain, which will lead to increase in manufacturing exports and technology upgrading. However, much of it depends on trade competitiveness, and trade facilitation is the most crucial one. More so given that India’s exports experienced zero growth last year and domestic demand remains subdued. Several committees and the vision document of the CBEC have identified problems of trade facilitation framework in India and suggested remedies. Trade policies, over the years, have come up with cost-reducing procedures like use of IT for filing applications and making online payments, self-assessment of customs, single-window schemes in customs, etc. Some latest measures include reduction in the number of compulsory documents required for exports and imports to just three, introduction of prior filing of shipping bills, facility of common bond against authorisations under various export promotion schemes, etc.

Gadkari reviews NMPT performance Business Line Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari has asked New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) to take up the LNG terminal project at the port in fast track mode. Reviewing the performance of NMPT in Mangaluru on Tuesday, he asked NMPT and MRPL to commission the project by June 2017. He said the terminal would make LNG available to fertilizer plants. This will help reduce the cost of urea, and farmers will benefit. He also asked NMPT to award the work on mechanization of coal handling facility by January. Gadkari urged the port authorities to follow up with the Railways and the State government on the development of Ankola-Hubballi railway line and a satellite port at Belekeri in Uttara Kannada district. These developments would help the industries located in Ballari, Hospet, Raichur and Dharwad regions, he said. The Minister instructed the port authorities to implement the recommendations of the Boston Consultancy Group to improve the efficiency and productivity at the port.

GST rate likely to be under 18%: Arun Jaitley Financial Express Finance minister Arun Jaitley on Wednesday hinted the standard goods and services tax rate could be lower than 18%. An expert panel headed by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian had recently recommended the rate to be 17-18%, in view of the estimated revenue-neutral rate of 15%. The minister added that the government was open to dropping the plan to impose a 1% origin-based tax on interstate movement of goods, one of the main demands of the Congress party, which is blocking the passage of the GST Constitutional Bill in the Rajya Sabha. “The issue (of 1% tax) is eminently resolvable,” he said. However, during an interaction with industry leaders on GST here, the minister said the other demand of constitutionalising a tax rate could not be accommodated as tariffs are never specified in the Constitution. Also, the Congress’ demand to have a dispute resolution mechanism within the proposed GST Council comprising central and state finance ministers can be accepted to the extent that the council could decide the modalities of dispute resolution but not actually adjudicate.

India and Iran trying to seal Chabahar port deal by January Economic Times India and Iran are trying to iron out irritants and conclude contract for the expansion project of strategically-located Chabahar port by January, over six months after Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari had concluded an MoU for this project- a proposed gateway to landlocked Afghanistan. Official of both sides are negotiating terms of the contract with a hope to conclude the contract by next month for an Indian investment of $85 million to construct two berths at the Chabahar port. The MoU in this regard was signed last May when Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari visited Tehran weeks before Iran's landmark nuclear deal with the Western countries. An Indian team was in Tehran this week to discuss contract of the project. But experts in Iran affairs point out that negotiations with Iran are easier said than done. It's understood that the Chabahar contract is being negotiated clause by clause. Earlier differences developed after Iranian port authorities told India that the port building contract had been awarded to an Iranian company Aria Badaner even after the MoU was signed with Delhi.

ClassNK issues compliance statements to two Indian ship recycling yards Seatrade Maritime Classification society ClassNK has issued Statements of Compliance (SoC) to two ship recycling facilities in Gujarat, India, verifying that they are in line with the Hong Kong International Convention for the Safe and Environmentally Sound Recycling of Ships, 2009. (HKC). The two Indian ship recycling yards are Shree Ram Vessel Scrap and Leela Ship Recycling. Japan’s ClassNK noted that although the HKC has yet to enter into force, Shree Ram and Leela have both carried out substantial improvements to their facilities in a bid toward safer and greener ship recycling as well as developed the Ship Recycling Facility Plans (SRFPs) required for a competent authority’s certification according to the HKC. The SoC are issued based on purely technical verifications of the facilities by ClassNK, which has so far done the same for ship recycling facilities around the world. “ClassNK will continue encouraging safe and environmentally sound ship recycling in accordance with the HKC through its issuance of SoC to facilities that meet the HKC standards,” ClassNK said.

Swire Shipping Bolsters North Asia-Pacific Liner Service World Maritime News Swire Shipping, the liner shipping division of The China Navigation Company (CNCo), is enhancing its North Asia-Pacific multipurpose liner service. The improvements will see additions of direct calls to Qingdao and Nuku’alofa along with connecting Qingdao, Busan and Yokohama to the South Pacific. According to Swire Shipping the upgraded service is set to start from January 2016. Jeremy Sutton, Swire Shipping’s General Manager for Liner Trades, said, “The Pacific Rim is a key market to Swire Shipping. With the additional port calls, we are now the only multipurpose liner operator connecting China to the South Pacific. We will be boosting our services by increasing our carrying capacity for both breakbulk and containerised cargo.” The upgraded service connects mainland China to the South Pacific with direct port calls to Suva and Lautoka. In addition, it offers fast transit times to the South Pacific ports of Majuro, Tarawa, Pago Pago, Apia, Nuku’alofa and Santo.

UASC announces record breaking load on board M.V. Al Muraykh Hellenic Shipping News United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) announced today a record breaking load of 18,601 TEUs on board M.V. Al Muraykh, one of the world’s three greenest vessels currently operated by UASC. The ultra-large container vessel departed Port Klang in Malaysia bound for Felixstowe – UK as part of AEC1 service carrying 18,601 TEUs. The vessel will be sailing for two weeks. This unprecedented westbound shipment is also UASC’s highest utilization to date of this very eco-efficient class, meaning the CO2 output per TEU on this journey is set to be more than 60% lower if the same containers were shipped on board a 13,500 TEU ship. Containers on board were loaded by UASC and its partners in the Ocean Three alliance. M.V. Al Muraykh was delivered in August 2015; the same vessel was celebrated across different Asian and European ports while on its maiden voyage earlier this year.

WWL to strengthen Europe-US Service Break Bulk Global shipping firm Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics said it will increase the frequency and capacity of sailings on its service from Europe to the U.S. West Coast. The firm will increase sailings between Europe and Baltimore from fortnightly to weekly from January 2016. The full route links the ports of Bremerhaven, Germany; Zeebrugge, the Netherlands; Southampton, UK; Baltimore; Manzanillo, Panama; and Port Hueneme, California. The increase in sailings is expected to increase opportunities for transshipment to Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia via WWL’s port hub in Manzanillo, Panama. “Doubling the frequency and capacity for its Europe to U.S. West Coast service allows WWL to lead the market – by offering an unmatched frequency and reliability to effectively accommodate the growing needs of heavy equipment and breakbulk shippers and, in particular, demand by car manufacturers,” said Flavio Batista, WWL head of commercial for EMEA.

Ship owners ramp up newbuilding orders as year nears close Hellenic Shipping News Ship owners have increased their newbuilding ordering activity looking to ramp up their investment plans as the 2015 years nears the end. In its latest weekly report, shipbroker Allied Shipbroking noted that it was “a very busy week in terms of the volume of new contracts reported, especially when taking into account the typical weekly volume that we have become accustomed to during the majority of 2015”. Allied said that “the focus is still hard set on the tanker market, with a number of VLCC orders having been placed by China Merchants in three separate CSSC group shipyards. At the same time Greek owners are still showing keen interest in the product tankers, finding a good oppor-tunity to take on the price arbitrage between the opposing trends of freight rates against newbuilding prices on offer by shipbuilders. Similarly so there are a number of European owners taking an active presence on the LPG front, primarily focusing on the VLGC size range though some are keen to look at some of the smaller size seg-ments as well. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com