First vessel arrives at Zuari terminal, Kochi The Hindu Underlining Kochi port’s emerging status as a cement hub, the first vessel with a consignment of 7,612 tonnes of cement arrived at the Zuari Cement bagging terminal here on Tuesday. Cochin Port Trust chairman Paul Antony, deputy chairman G. Senthivel and secretary Gowri S. Nair were among those present when the ship anchored at the port. Cochin Port Trust sources said that two full-fledged cement terminals were in operation at the port and the third one is operational now with the arrival of the cement vessel. The two terminals in operation belong to Ambuja and Ultra Tech Cements and Malabar Cements is in negotiation with the Cochin Port Trust for obtaining six acres for a cement bagging and clinker import facilities. Penna Cements has begun construction work on its cement bagging facility. The three terminals now in operation are capable of scaling up their throughput to five lakh tonnes of cement each year, Port Trust sources said.

Slowdowns hurting shippers at India's biggest container port JOC Long truck lines and gate congestion that flared up off-and-on last year have come back to haunt shippers and ocean carriers using Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s biggest, public container handler, according to trade updates issued by local logistics services providers. The Container Freight Station Association of India, which represents all off-site storage facilities in the harbor, in an advisory on Tuesday said all three terminals in JNPT are facing lengthy truck queues. “Traffic towards the terminal approach way at the JNPT area is spanning over seven miles, and is extremely slow moving,” Continental Warehousing Corporation (Nhava Seva) said in a notice to customers. “We shall not be responsible for delayed movements, if any, on account of traffic or such reasons out of CFS (container freight station) purview.”

Static Cargo Ships Between Europe and North America Show Global Slowdown New Indian Express In yet another indication of a major economic slowdown, trade activity between Europe and North America has literally come to a standstill, with container ships between the two major continents remaining either anchored or in-port. “The North Atlantic has little or no cargo ships traveling in its waters. Instead, they are anchored. Unmoving. Empty,” according to a blog post in The Dollar Vigilante. “For the first time in known history, not one cargo ship is in-transit in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America. All of them (hundreds) are either anchored offshore or in-port. NOTHING is moving,” says New York-based website www.superstation95.com. The Baltic Dry Index, an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea, slid to a fifth consecutive record low on Monday on economic worries over China and a surplus of vessels, reports Reuters.

Madras HC stays apple imports from Nhava Sheva circular Business Standard The Madras High Court has granted a stay against a notification by the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) restricting imports of apple only through Nava Sheva port in Maharashtra. The order was issued on a petition filed by a batch of eight importers in Chennai. Eight importers, including from the South Indian Fresh Fruit Importers Association, have filed the petition alleging the DGFT notification revises the policy condition to restrict import of fresh apples through Nhava Sheva Port in Maharashtra. As a result, the importers in Chennai were not able to import fresh apples, which has been contracted and dispatched, through the Port of Chennai. "Incidentally, some importers in Cochin Port had moved Hon'ble High Court of Kerala challenging the notification wherein the Stay of the notification was granted and pending.

Logistics cost must be brought down: VPT Chairman Business Line The logistics cost in India is too high at 18-19 per cent of the product cost and it has to brought down to the international average of 7-8 per cent for Indian goods to be competitive in the international markets, according to Visakhapatnam port Chairman M.T Krishna Babu. He was speaking at a session on port-led development at the CII Partnership Summit which concluded here on Tuesday. He said the Andhra Pradesh Government was planning to establish a number of new ports along the coast to stimulate economic growth but connectivity with the hinterland should also be improved. Evacuation of cargo from the ports was of the essence, he pointed out. He said Visakhapatnam port had undertaken a number of projects to augment its capacity and efficiency and the PPP projects were under progress satisfactorily, in spite of some initial issues.

Goa proposes jetties to augment inland waterways Times of India Goa government will submit a detailed project on floating jetties in the state to revive the inland waterways, on the lines of its usage during the Portuguese period. "Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari, during his recent visit, had informed the state government that we can submit the proposal for floating jetties which would be cleared with Central government fund. Before March this year, the proposals will be sent," chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar told the Legislative Assembly during Question Hour today. Parsekar was responding to a question by BJP legislator Glenn Ticlo about the use of inland waterways, like during the Portuguese time, to reduce the load of vehicular traffic on the roads.State tourism minister Dilip Parulekar, initially responding to the question by Ticlo, said his department and the river navigation department have already initiated...

CMA CGM improves North Madagascar port coverage Port News CMA CGM Group's Indian Ocean Feeder North will extend its coverage to Nossi Be and Antsiranana (Diego Suarez) in addition to Majunga, the carrier said in a press release. First vessel will be m/v HH SOUTH, calling at Longoni on January 27th, 2016. The Indian Ocean Feeder North will connect with Swahili service at Longoni hub, allowing a faster and easy connection from Europe, Mediterranean, India and Middle East Gulf to Indian Ocean "North Zone". The fortnightly service is operated by CMA CGM with one vessel of 738 TEU nominal capacity. Port coverage is the following: Longoni - Moroni - Mutsamudu - Nossi Be [alternate call] - Antsiranana [alternate call] - Majunga - Longoni. Marseille-headquartered CMA CGM was founded in 1978 by Jacques R. Saadé. Today the French company has become the world’s third largest container shipping group and number one in France operating across the world’s oceans.

Adani to drop anchor in AP Times of India Having established several ports across the country including Gujarat, the Adani Group is now eyeing Andhra Pradesh as its next major destination. According to a senior official of the group, the Adani Group wants to develop ports in Andhra Pradesh with a total capacity of around 100 million tonnes, which is likely to require an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore during the next few years. While the group is yet to sign any specific MoUs with the AP government, it is likely to participate in bids for development of three minor ports planned by the state government. Speaking to TOI, Adani Group director Gudena J Rao said, "The Adani Group wants to develop a capacity of 100 million tonnes in Andhra Pradesh. We are also going to bid for the Bhavanapadu Port being promoted by the AP government." Referring to the investments, he said, "Ports with a capacity of 100 million tonnes translates to an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore."

Broker’s call Business Line As detailed in our recent report, we expect the shift of north-bound volumes of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) to the Gujarat ports to restart soon and possibly accelerate. With increased relevance of inland transportation cost for shipping lines (other costs have declined) and with DFC still some time away, the decision to continue offloading north-bound cargo at JNPT would be contested. The shift of 0.5 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) from JNPT can support 1-3 per cent outperformance of Gujarat ports versus the sector in the next few years. The recent exim line addition of Shipping Corporation of India to Pipavav port is a weekly service to Gulf region (started from December 22). The service involves smaller vessels (half the length and one-fourth the capacity of the typical 6,500 TEU capacity vessels associated with GPPV).

Focus on project exports like advanced nations Times of India Andhra Pradesh industrialists should concentrate on exporting projects, as that is the policy adopted by the advanced countries to make their presence felt in international markets, chairman and managing director of EXIM Bank Yaduvendra Mathur said. Speaking at a plenary session on 'Driving Prosperity Through Port-Led Development' at the three-day 22nd CII Partnership Summit on Monday, Mathur said that India had already advanced USD 19 billion to 65 countries with the condition that they should import 75 per cent of their project needs from India. The Modi government had made available USD 10 billion for advancing to African countries with the same condition, he disclosed. He said the AP government had signed an MoU with the EXIM Bank for such project exports and this should give a boost to the manufacturing sector in the state to go for project exports.

Hasina keen to restore rail connectivity with India: Min Nyoooz Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is keen to restore rail connectivity with India, which was snapped after the 1965 Indo-Pak war, and has agreed to give access to India for use of its Chittagong and Mongla ports, a state minister said today. Tripura Transport and Power Minister Manik Dey, who met the Bangladesh Prime Minister in Dhaka yesterday, said she was keen to restore the rail link and expressed her satisfaction at improvement of trade and business between the two countries through border haats and Land Custom Stations (LCS) through Tripura. "She also assured us that there was no problem in access to Chittagong and Mongla ports and asked officials to cooperate with India in constructing a bridge on river Feni in South Tripura district to connect Chittagong with Southern Tripura," Dey said.

Govt to boost exports of chemicals, plastics The Hans India The Centre is working with manufacturers of chemicals, plastics and allied products to boost their shipments as it expects the segment to play a major role in achieving its vision of $900 billion exports by 2020, a senior official said. "We are working closely with the chemicals, plastics and allied products industry players and implementing strategies to exploit the opportunities for investments and increasing Indian exports," B S Bhalla, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said here. "With the new and simplified Foreign Trade Policy 2015 in place, we are confident of making Indian products as the most competitive globally," he added. Chemicals, plastics and allied products will play a major role in achieving the government's vision of raising exports to $900 billion by 2020, Bhalla said.

Use crane barges seaward of docked ships to ease congestion: expert Sea News One solution to LA-Long Beach container congestion - and perhaps elsewhere - is to bypass the terminal infrastructure using crane barges to load/unload on the seaward side of ships while docked at the quay. That's the view of Dubai container handling consultant Praveen Raveendran, who has helped clients in Australia, India, Russia and UAE with cargo handling problems. Writing in IHS Media, Mr Raveendran said this will ensure containers go directly from a container freight station to the ship using a container crane barges (CCB). "CCBs will pick up containers from a container freight station [CFS], berth along the sea side of a vessel in port and load and unload containers directly to and from the vessel," he said. "All vessels in port could be serviced in this manner. Each CCB is expected to cost around US$20 million, with the cost of the operation around $90 per TEU,

New IMO secretary-general sets out his agenda Seatrade Maritime Kitack Lim of South Korea has issued a message outlining his priorities as incoming secretary -general of the International Maritime Organization, a post he assumed on January 1 following endorsement of his mid-2015 election by member states at the IMO Assembly in November. After paying tribute to his predecessor Koji Sekimizu and fellow IMO senior officials, Lim noted that IMO “currently faces an array of issues” in order for shipping to continue to meet the needs of the world “in a safe, secure and sustainable way.” These challenges could be met through what he called his “vision” of strengthening partnerships – between developing and developed countries, governments and industry, IMO Member States and regions, he said. “I will also endeavour to strengthen communication between the maritime industry and the general public,” he added. Logistics Chennai,International Freight Forwarders in Chennai, Custom Clearance Agents in Chennai , Checkout http://www.jupiterseaair.com