Sri Lanka offers discount for Myanmar Transshipments, threat from Vizhinjam Lanka Business Online Sri Lanka Ports Authority has decided to grant a 10 percent discount on transshipment handling charges of the ship companies who comply to carry out Myanmar transshipment operations through the Colombo port. The decision aims to attract fast growing transshipment industry in Eastern India, Bangladesh and Myanmar, to the Colombo port. Ports Authority said the transshipment volumes at East Indian ports and Bangladesh ports have been increased during last two decades though Singapore still claims the biggest portion. The Authority said the transshipment activities of several deepest ports namely Mundra, JNPT, Hazira and Kochin in Western coastal of India have now divided among several ports. The Authority however says the port of Vizhinjam has a high potential to obtain a significant portion from the transshipment handling market of Western India, Pakistan and in Gulf region.

Ports see growth via car cargo route Business Standard This virtually unlocks a huge potential for coastal shipping in India, especially for automobiles cargo, said port authorities. Hyundai Motor India Ltd recently shipped 800 cars made at its Chennai plant to its markets in western India using a roll on-roll off vessel. The cargo was loaded at Chennai Port and it reached Pipavav Port in Gujarat last week. India has already established itself as a major automobile manufacturing hub, with most vehicles sold in the country being made domestically. This necessitates huge cargo movement (by rail and road networks) from the manufacturing clusters (in and around Chennai, Pune, Gujarat and the National Capital Region) to the consumption centres spread across the country. Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) recently shipped 800 cars made at its Chennai plant to its markets in western India using a Roll on-Roll off (Ro-Ro) vessel called MV IDM Symex. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Port sector to get benefit from several governments initiatives Live Mint Indian ports sector plays vital role in fastening the country’s trade and economic growth as Indian ports handles around 95% of nation’s merchandised export-import trade and stands at 16th spot among the maritime countries. Increased import of energy, containerization of export and import cargo and fertilizer agro commodities will continue to grow the cargo volumes at Indian ports. There are 12 Major Ports & 187 Minor/Intermediate ports along the 7,517 kms long coast line of the country. The major ports in the country are Kolkata, Haldia, Paradip, Vishakapatnam, Chennai, Ennore, KandlaTuticorin, Cochin, V.O.Chidambaranar, New Mangalore, Mormugao, Jawaharlal Nehru at Nhava and Mumbai. Between FY07- FY15, cargo traffic grew at CAGR 2.9 per cent Over FY07-15. Cargo traffic during FY15 for solid, liquid, and container cargo was 273, 188.9, and 119.4 MMT, respectively.

Vallarpadam transshipment terminal on pace for record year JOC Despite the downturn in global trade, International Container Transshipment Terminal, or Vallarpadam, at India’s Port of Cochin remains well on track to complete a record-setting fiscal 2015-16, which ends March 31, according to the newest port figures. The private terminal, India’s first full-fledged transshipment facility, handled 372,941 twenty-foot-equivalent units from April 2015 through Feb. 22, up 12.6 percent from 331,344 TEUs during the corresponding period the prior fiscal year. An analysis of the data shows January was the most productive month for Vallarpadam during the year, processing 37,692 TEUs, a gain of 28 percent year-over-year.Ship calls reached 579 during the current fiscal year until now, compared with a total of 474 calls at this point of time last fiscal year. As a result, Vallarpadam has already surpassed its annual 2014-15 throughput of 366,376 TEUs and looks to go past 400,000 TEUs for the first time ever. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Govt. studying proposed TPP agreement The Hindu Union Ministry of Commerce is studying the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement and the impact that it would have on Indian trade. The Centre of WTO Studies is also analysing the possible impact of the agreement on India, according to Ravi Capoor, Joint Secretary of Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He was speaking at an outreach programme on Free Trade Agreements signed by FIEO here on Tuesday. The TPP would cover 12 countries and about 35 per cent of the global trade was controlled by these countries. The agreement was expected to be signed in the next one or two years. The Ministry was looking at the possible impact it would have. India had so far signed 16 trade agreements and most of them were with South Asian and African countries. However, only 10 per cent to 12 per cent of the entire trade from the country happened under these agreements. Exporters should make use of these agreements, he said.

State refiners join forces in bid for better Opec oil deals Live Mint Indian state refiners are jointly negotiating oil purchase deals with OPEC producers for the first time, as the world’s third biggest consumer seizes on low prices to wrest better terms in a market awash with crude. In a sign of the shift in power from oil sellers to buyers, India is reviewing its import policy at a time when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) members are focused more on protecting market share than boosting prices that are down some 70% in the last 20 months. While producers have shown no sign yet of willingness to discount long-term price benchmarks, or official selling prices (OSPs), they have discussed concessions on loan terms and shipping that would reduce costs, said Indian industry and government officials familiar with the talks. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Call for clarity on reforms, GST Bill Business Line For the infrastructure sector, the first and foremost expectation from the Budget is clarity in policies and reforms. Implementation of the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill and consistency in the taxation regime also top the charts. These were among the wishlist of the top representatives of the core infrastructure sector who converged at the pre-Budget roundtable organised jointly by BusinessLine and Bloomberg TV. Michael Thiemann, Chief Executive Officer of the Indian operations at Thyssenkrupp, said: “We are living in the VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) environment and you have to be fast and flexible. “You should have a strategy, but you should be prepared to change that.” There should be ease of doing business, Thiemann said, adding his humble wish was “don’t make too many changes”.

PIL to enhance service covering Africa, Middle East and India Seatrade Maritime Pacific International Lines (PIL) will enhance its Africa-Middle East-India (AMI) trade from March, a service to be jointly operated with CMA CGM under a new vessel sharing agreement. The enhanced AMI service will start from Jebel Ali on 4 March, deploying a fleet of eleven 3,500 teu container vessels. “The enhanced AMI service is designed as a market-leading product with wider port coverage, increased frequency and improved transit time for our customers. AMI will provide new direct routing from Middle East and India to Pointe des Galets, Walvis Bay, Luanda, Pointe Noire and Tincan,” PIL said in a statement. The weekly service will have a port rotation in 77 days. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Container Liner Shipping Companies Committed to Change Future Price Announcements Hellenic Shipping News On 16 February 2016, fifteen container liner shipping companies offered commitments to the European Commission (the “Commission”), including changes of their price announcements, as the Commission considered that the previous practices could enable those carriers to second-guess each other’s prices and facilitate coordination among them. Suspecting a breach of antitrust rules, Commission officials undertook unannounced inspections on 17 May 2011 at the premises of fifteen active companies in the container liner shipping in several Member States. On 21 November 2013, the Commission opened formal antitrust proceedings against those carriers in order to investigate the practice of publishing General Rate Increase (“GRI”) announcements. Since 2009, the carriers made “regular public announcements of price increase intentions through press releases on their websites and in the specialised trade press.”

Exporters told to make use of preferential duty tariff under free trade pacts Business Line Preferential duty tariff that exporters can claim under the FTAs (free trade agreements) is not being fully utilised. Data shows that only 10 to 12 per cent of the entire trade is happening under the FTAs, said Ravi Capoor, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry. Capoor said “FTAs are the least understood. India has signed 16 trade agreements so far out of the 200 inked by various countries across the world between 2000 and 2015. Most of the agreements signed by India are with countries in the South-East Asian region.” “While the partnering country to the agreement can avail itself of the preferential tariff agreed to by the group (of countries) amongst its members, it is not being utilised either due to lack of awareness or because of the exporter’s dependence on the clearing agent,” Capoor said. He urged the participants to look up the indiantradeportal and avail the concessional tariff. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Container ship MV Olf arrested in Malaysia for hit and run accident Maritime News The container ship MV Olf was arrested by Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency for accident in Singapore Strait a few days ago. The vessel was detained by patrol boat of local authorities and escorted to anchorage on 2.7 nautical miles off the coast. The vessel was suspected by hit and run accident in Singapore Strait off Batu Ayam in Malaysia, making collision with two tankers Tina 7 and Straits 3. The container ship left the scene of the accident without reporting about collision and didn’t stop or contacted damaged ships. During the accident the both tankers suffered sufficient damages of the boards, but remained afloat. Fortunately according to police investigation, there were no injured people and no water pollution after collision.

Gujarat to get India's first roll on-roll off passenger ferry service by April 2017 Business Standard Gujarat's Dahej is all set to get India's first roll on-roll off (Ro-Ro) vessel passenger ferry services around April 2017. The Rs 550 crore project being executed by the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB) is expected to bring down travel time between Saurashtra region in Gujarat with its Southern parts significantly. At present travelling from Ghoga in Saurashtra to Dahej in South Gujarat takes around 10-12 hours for trucks and buses, and even by cars it is not less than 6-8 hours. Once the Ro-Ro ferry service commences, this time would be dramatically shortened to one and a half hours. Speaking about the project A K Rakesh, vice chairman and managing director of GMB said, "Ro-Ro passenger ferries are common in European countries, however, this is the first such project in India, or for that matter South Asia." Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com

Shippers have fewer Africa liner service options JOC Shippers face fewer delays due to less congestion and more reliability at African ports and connecting liner services, but they have less services to choose from and the delays of critical port projects may cause the continent’s port productivity gains to slip, according to two new reports. Consolidation via CMA CGM’s absorption of Europe-Africa carrier Delmas, the exit of Asian carriers from the Asia-Africa trade, and the reorganization of Safmarine representation created less choice for beneficial cargo owners, according to Port Overview Africa, a website that evaluates African port performance. Meanwhile, the World Bank has said that the privatization of container terminals in West Africa has limited shipper choice and not provided the gains it was thought would be created.

Asia Pacific to Emerge as Major Bunker Fuel Market: Strategic Location of Ports, Rising Consumerism Driving Growth. Industry Today In marine fleet operations, the fuel that is loaded into a ship’s bunker and powers its engines is bunker fuel. Bunker fuel can be obtained as a distillate or residue of crude oil, with the latter accounting for a share of close to 75% in the global bunker fuel market in 2013. Intermediate fuel oils of grades IFO 180 and IFO 380, which are residual fuel oil types, are the most preferred due to their low cost and easy combustibility. Fuel oil, as bunker fuel is also known, is used in thermal plants, gas turbines, marine engines for transportation, electrical power applications etc. Over a period of time, due to the development of high-power diesel engines that run on fuel oil, today commercial shipping has become a major industry. The occupation has enabled trade between distantly located regions across the world for economic development. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com