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Tuesday, 12 April 2016

UPDATED DAILY SHIPPING NEWS FOR TUESDAY APRIL 12, 2016

India keen to develop Pyara port in Bangladesh: Nitin Gadkari

Live Mint
Union shipping minister Nitin Gadkari on Monday said India is keen to develop the Pyara port in Patuakhali district of Bangladesh. The external affairs ministries of both countries have already held a preliminary round of talks in this aspect, Gadkari said. A shipping ministry delegation led by a joint secretary will visit Bangladesh next week to study the site and prepare a detailed project report. Since the government came to power, India has started focusing a lot on the port sector and by 26 May, contracts worth Rs.60,000 crore would be awarded in the shipping and ports sector, Gadkari said. In 2015, Indian ports had handling capacity of 1,500 MTPA. By 2035, the capacity would be doubled with planned government investments, he said. Besides, industrial clusters will be created along the coast and fisheries promoted. He said a Port Rail Connectivity Corp. had been created with the responsibility of connecting industrial hubs to various ports by rail lines.

‘Inefficient ports, outdated systems adding to costs’

Business Line
With India slated to become a major importer of liquid bulk commodities such as biofuels (ethanol and biodiesel), the All India Liquid Bulk Importers and Exporters Association (AILBIEA) has called for modernisation of ports and removal of antiquated policies and systems. Jayyannt Lapsiaa, President, AILBIEA, said high transaction cost due to inadequate and inefficient infrastructure, delays and hassles due to antiquated procedures are the major hurdles that is blocking the country from attaining its full growth potential despite progress on other front. Connectivity is still the soft underbelly of the port sector and efficient infrastructure, combined with quality and expeditious clearance procedures, will help reduce costs and sharpen the competitive edge, he said, addressing the members at a recent event to confer lifetime achievement award on Nadir B Godrej, Managing Director, Godrej Industries.

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Government to plug holes in online payment of customs duty to boost exports

Economic Times
The government plans to boost exports by plugging loopholes in online payment of customs duty and ensuring round-the-clock customs clearance at ports and airports. This will also help India fulfil its commitments under the World Trade Organisation's Trade Facilitation Agreement, officials said. "We want to reduce transaction costs because exports have been declining. One such way is to streamline existing procedures through better coordination between various agencies...we have to think out of the box," said one of the officials, who did not wish to be named. "We should use the Trade Facilitation Agreement to promote exports," he said. The commerce department plans to extend the timings of customs clearance at ports and airports so as to reduce congestion during peak hours of 2-6 pm. "Even though there is 24x7 customs clearance, it has not completely taken off because of lack of coordination between customs and CISF.

India's coastline is 7,500 km, and that's where the focus should be: Keld Pedersen

IIFL
Keld Pedersen, Managing Director of Gujarat Pipavav Port, spoke about the company's endeavours during an interview session with ET Now. The director stated that the government's decision with the shipping segment has resulted in some steps in the right direction and there has been more focus on higher standards. He described it as an interesting environment considering that the global economy is currently volatile. Either way, there is a spill over effect in India. However, the country possesses a lot of potential and the numbers demonstrate some positive growth. The country's coastline is 7,500 km and the country should be placing its focus on the coastline. Since Gujarat Pipavav is a port operator, it will be a significant part of the project. He also spoke about the annual terminal capacity expansion plans where he noted that the expansion phase was almost complete. The Port business had planned to complete the project in the first quarter of the current year.

Gopalpur port resumes full scale ops

Business Standard
After battered by two back to back tropical cyclones, Gopalpur port off Ganjam coast in south Odisha has resumed full scale operations. The port's operations had grounded to a halt after Phailin and Hud Hud struck the port in 2013 and 2014 respectively. The port reopened in December last year for normal commercial transactions. Post its repair, the port has now an enhanced cargo handling capacity and can handle vessels up to 50,000 tonne compared to 15,000 tonne earlier. Within three months of its re-commissioning, the port has handled more than 0.1 million tonne of cargo. Ilmenite, a rare earth mineral and industrial salt constitutes the bulk of the cargo volume. The port caters to industries like Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL), Jayashree Chemicals and Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Ltd (Iffco).

India-Sri Lanka Bridge On Cards: Nitin Gadkari

NDTV
India and Sri Lanka could soon finalise an agreement for building a bridge connecting both the countries, union Road Transport, Highways and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday. "The project is under consideration, it is under discussion. But nothing has been finalised," Mr Gadkari told journalists at the Foreign Correspondents Club in New Delhi. He said discussions have been held on the issue with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe. The Sri Lankan side is also "interested" in the project, he said, adding that even the Asian Development Bank has made a recommendation to that effect. Wickremasinghe said in Colombo on March 23 that no formal talks between India and Sri Lanka have started yet on the project. The issue had figured in Sri Lankan parliament as well.

Maersk Krishnapatnam Service from April 17th

Marine Link
Maersk starts its Krishnapatnam Service from April 17th and Kattupalli on April 19th, 2016. Both these calls are strategic and are aimed at supporting the growth of local businesses in the hinterland covering Andhra Pradesh, Northern Tamil Nadu and Eastern Karnataka. Commenting on this announcement, Mr. Franck Dedenis, Managing Director, Maersk Line (India and Bangladesh Cluster) said, “Our decision to call on these ports reiterates Maersk Line’s commitment in bringing value to our customers. Both these calls will enable us to be closer to our customers. We are here for the long haul and want to grow profitably with the market. These calls will result in faster transit times for our customers in these areas, thus reaching out to a global market place in a cost-effective manner.” These calls to Krishnapatnam and Kattupalli will help Maersk Line leverage port efficiencies and reduced transportation time.

GE Shipping to acquire Japan-built very large gas carrier

Business Line
India’s largest private ship liner Great Eastern Shipping Company Ltd (GE Shipping) today said it has contracted to buy a Japan-built second hand vessel which will be delivered to it in the current quarter. The company now owns a fleet of 32 vessels. “The GE Shipping has contracted to buy a second hand very large gas carrier (1996 built) of about 76,931 cbm. The Japan-built vessel will be delivered to the company in Q1 FY 2016-17,” the company said in a statement. Earlier this month, the company acquired a tanker with 49,700 DWT, built in Korea. The company had contracted to buy the ship in December, 2012. With the inclusion of the Japan-built vessel, the company’s fleet would stand at 33 vessels. It includes 23 tankers (8 crude carriers, 14 product tankers, 1 LPG carrier) and 9 dry bulk carriers (1 capsize, 3 kamsarmax, 5 supremax).

Freight Forwarding Market Conditions: The Asia / Europe trade lane

Hellenic Shipping News
So, what does 2016 hold for the shipping industry? A very challenging outlook would be the best synopsis. 2015 was difficult but carriers were able to take some solace from a positive 1st quarter, coupled with a significant drop in bunker prices. Had this not been the case, then the dismal results for the 4th quarter would have had an even bigger impact on overall operating profits. The starting point for 2016 has not been anywhere near as strong on the key Asia / Europe trade and, as we move towards the end of the 1st quarter, rates on the trade have already dropped to near all-time lows. Even the slight spike in demand for Chinese New Year could do nothing to prevent rates dropping like the proverbial stone. New tonnage being introduced to the market, coupled with a considerable drop in demand ex China, has seen carriers left with no option but to slash rates as they look to attract bookings to fill their new vessels (many of which have capacity in excess of 18,000 TEU.)

Container weight compliance to boost costs for shippers

JOC
Shippers will have to pay more to ship their products around the world when the International Maritime Organization’s new container weight verification requirements take effect on July 1. Under an amendment to the IMO’s Safety of Life at Sea convention approved in 2014, the shipper on the bill of lading has two options to certify the verified gross mass of their containers, but both will incur additional expense. Someone in a shipper’s global supply chain will have to provide to an ocean carrier a verified gross mass for every container in advance of sailing or it won’t get loaded. Whether a shipper chooses to have a container and its contents weighed as a single unit under Method 1 or weighs every item and packaging in the container and adds it to the tare weight of the box stenciled on the door, under Method 2, there will be additional cost, although Method 2 will probably cost less than under Method 1.

Sagarmala will employ 40,000 people: Gadkari

Times of India
The minister of shipping, road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari said that the Union government will launch one of its ambitious projects Sagarmala on April 14 at the hands of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai. Speaking after commissioning Indian Coast Guard ship Shoor at Goa Shipyard Limited at Vasco on Monday, Gadkari said that under the ambitious project, the country's 7,500km-long seashore's harbours will be developed. Gadkari said, the project which will have an investment of 400 lakh crore, will provide direct employment to 40,000 people. He said that through the medium of this project, 27 new industrial clusters will come up. The Union minister said that over 450 delegates from 30 countries will participate in the maritime summit beginning April 14 in Mumbai. Gadkari said that under the Sagarmala project, 150 new projects are identified.

Hapag-Lloyd first ocean carrier to ditch GRIs and go FAK in bid to stop falling box rates

The Loadstar
Hapag-Lloyd is to abandon general rate increases (GRIs) and next month will set minimum FAK [freight all kinds] rates for containers on its vessels from Asia to North Europe and the Mediterranean. However, a spokesman for the line said that the move was an internal decision to change the way that it quotes rates to customers, rather than an official reaction to an EC probe into the way carriers publically quote rate levels. Hapag-Lloyd told customers that from 1 May its westbound FAK rates would be $925 per 20ft, $1,750 per 40ft and $1,850 per 40ft high-cube. It said volatility on the Asia-Europe trades had resulted in freight rates falling to “unsustainable levels”, and said the rate restoration was necessary “to avoid service disruptions in the supply chain or services being withdrawn”. Last week, the G6 alliance, of which Hapag-Lloyd is a member, extended the withdrawal of its Loop 6 Asia-North Europe service until July “due to changes in market demand”.

CMA CGM Compromising to Get EU’s Nod on NOL Takeover

World Maritime News
French liner giant CMA CGM submitted on Thursday a filing to the European Commission that is said to contain concessions expected to ensure the antitrust approval of its USD 2.4 billion takeover of Singaporean counterpart Neptune Orient Lines, data on the European Commission website shows. Under the proposal, the French company is expected to withdraw NOL’s APL from competing shipping alliances, Reuters reports citing people familiar with the matter. APL is currently a member of the G6 Alliance, but a notice of termination of APL’s participation in the G6 Alliance is to be issued immediately upon closing of the acquisition. CMA CGM in February revealed its plans to form a new mega alliance with the Chinese shipping company China COSCO, which was linked to APL being pulled out of the G6 Alliance after the approval from antitrust bodies, expected by mid-2016.

Friday, 8 April 2016

UPDATED DAILY SHIPPING NEWS FOR FRIDAY APRIL 08, 2016

Kandla port rises to the occasion, reaches 100-mt mark in cargo handling

Live Mint
India’s state-owned Kandla Port Trust created history by handling 100 million tonnes (mt) of cargo in the year ended March, becoming the first government-run port in India (there are 12 of them) to achieve this feat. It is only the second Indian port to hit the three-figure mark after privately-run Mundra port, located just 60km away on the Gulf of Kutch. Mundra, India’s biggest commercial port by volume, clocked 100 mt two years ago. So, what makes Kandla, located in the western state of Gujarat, tick? At a water depth of 12.5 metres, Kandla can hardly lay claim to be a deep-water port where bigger ships can call. Private firms have largely stayed away from investing money to set up cargo-handling berths through the so-called public-private partnership (PPP) route at the port.

Railways set to lower freight tariffs soon

Business Line
Facing consistent loss of freight traffic due to lack of demand, the Indian Railways plans a slew of measures to win back cargo from road transport by lowering tariff in the short-distance segment as well as port congestion charges. “To generate more volumes, we will be rationalising port congestion charges and tariffs in the short-distance segment shortly,” Mohammed Jamshed, Member-Traffic, Railway Board, told, adding that this will be for incremental traffic. The measures are being planned in the wake of difficulties in meeting the freight target for the last fiscal due to lack of demand. In 2015-16, the Railways moved 1,105.5 million tonnes of freight, as per initial estimates, which is 1.5 million tonnes lower than the revised estimates of 1,107 million tonnes, and 84.5 million tonnes lower than the budget target of 1,190 million tonnes.

Direct Chennai-Yangon service gets underway

JOC
Singapore-based carrier Continental Shipping Line has introduced a direct container service between Chennai, India, and Yangon, Myanmar, to capture expected trade growth on the route. The intra-Asia service began with the call of the Pathein Star at DP World-operated Chennai Container Terminal on Thursday. The 167-meter (548 feet) Pathein Star has a capacity to load 1,468 twenty-foot-equivalent units, DP World Chennai said in a trade announcement. The port rotation is as follows: Yangon, Myanmar; Chennai, India; Colombo, Sri Lanka and back to Yangon. “The highlight of this service would be the direct link created between South India to Yangon, thus boosting the trade between the two regions,” DP World Chennai CEO K.K. Krishnadas said in a statement.

Chennai port offers discount in wharfage for edible oil

Business Line
Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) is offering volume-based discount on wharfage charges to bulk edible oil importers/exporters for foreign vessel on a trial basis in the current financial year. This is based on a recommendation from Boston Consulting Group, which said that edible oil handled at the port declined during the last five years from 2011. The consultants recommended that the ChPT reduce its charges to attract additional volume to the port, according to a source. The discount in wharfage charges ranging from 15 to 25 per cent is based on volume of cargo over a threshold based on the total volume handled during the past three financial years. The threshold level was taken as 80 per cent of the average cargo volume handled in the last three years with a minimum of 20,000 tonnes a year.

WTO trims world trade growth forecasts for 2016

Financial Express
The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday trimmed its 2016 global trade growth forecast by 1.1 percentage points, saying a slowdown in China and broad market volatility continued to weigh on growth. The multilateral trade body has now predicted that global trade would rise by 2.8% in 2016, lower than its previous forecast of a 3.9% expansion announced in September last year. This will be the fifth straight year of trade growth below 3%, which is also much lower than the average annual expansion of 5% since 1990, showed the WTO data. “Risks to this forecast are mostly on the downside, including a sharper-than-expected slowing of the Chinese economy, worsening financial market volatility, and exposure of countries with large foreign debts to sharp exchange rate movements,” the trade body said.

VOC port cargo handling touches new high

Business Line
VO Chidambaranar port in Tuticorin handled record cargo volume of 36.85 million tonnes (MT) in the financial year 2015-16. It surpassed the previous year’s 32.41 MT by 13.70 per cent. The port also surpassed the Shipping Ministry’s target of 36.80 MT by 0.14 per cent, says a press release. The increase in cargo handling was possible due to growth in volume of import cargo like coal, fertiliser, copper concentrate, containerised cargo, lime stone, liquid ammonia and POL products. On the export front, there was increased handling of construction materials, containerised cargoes, caustic soda lye, machinery and fly ash. Out of the total handling, imports accounted for 27.37 MT, a 14.09 per cent increase over the previous year’s 23.99 MT. Exports were 9.48 MT (8.42 MT), an increase of 12.59 per cent. The release said that the port handled 14.80 MT of coal, a growth of 7.25 per cent.

New IBIA Chairman Talks Better Bunker Practices, Ethics, Enforcement of Bunker Regs, Membership Growth

Ship&Bunker
Improved global bunkering practices, the fair enforcement of bunker regulations, and growing its membership are some of the key areas of focus for the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) this coming year, IBIA's new Chairman Robin Meech has told Ship & Bunker. He officially replaced outgoing chairman Jens Maul Jorgensen effective April 1, 2016. Meech said the role and value of IBIA is constantly changing, reflecting the industry it represents; "It provides a balanced view taking into account the feedback from its membership which represents all facets of bunkering, not only buyers and sellers but also the multitude of support sectors. "This adds value to what the Association has to offer to its membership whether it is lobbying on bunker issues at IMO, providing input into improving bunkering guidelines for adoption by ports or making concrete input to ISO committees."

India needs wide-ranging reform for export performance to turn robust

Economic Times
Trade minister Nirmala Sitharaman knows her onions when it comes to trade. But that does not mean that she can do much about the steady fall in India’s exports for one year and a quarter. Weakness in the global economy is not something an Indian trade minister can remedy. Nor are the problems in infrastructure, inverted duties for components and finished goods in several sectors and afragmented domestic market that creates long delays at state boundaries when a container wends its way from factory to port amenable to solution at her end. India needs wide-ranging reform across several sectors for export performance to turn robust. The impact of declining exports can be exaggerated. Both petroleum and gems and jewellery, two big sectors of Indian exports, have a large import component, which also has come down sharply.

Adani-operated Hazira Terminal in India doubles annual throughput

JOC
The volume of containers handled by Adani Hazira Container Terminal, a privately-operated alternative gateway on India’s west coast, nearly doubled in fiscal year 2015-16, which ended March 31, driven by new service additions. Port statistics released by the company show throughput jumped 96 percent from 154,374 20-foot-equivalent units in fiscal 2014-15 to 302,755 TEUs. “This is a remarkable achievement by the AHCT team,” the private operator said in a written statement. AHCT is owned and operated by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, which has a clutch of cargo facilities across India, including its flagship Mundra. Hazira Port, which is about 120 nautical miles north of Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, began container handling in early 2013.

S Balaji Arunkumar new Kolkata Port Trust deputy chairman

Economic Times
S Balaji Arunkumar, An IRTS officer of 1997 batch, has taken over as deputy chairman of Kolkata Dock System under Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) with effect from April 4. He was senior general manager of Container Corporation of India, Chennai, before assuming his new charge. R P S Kahlon lost his job as chairman of KoPT after he was arrested on alleged graft charges on March 9 from a hotel in the city. He had allegedly received bribe from a private firm that handles containers at Kolkata Dock System ( KDS). M T Krishna Babu, the chairman of Visakhapatnam Port Trust, has taken over as the new chairman of KoPT as an additional charge.

Shifting allegiances in the container sector

Lloyds List
Alliances are an everyday part of container shipping, and the shuffling of relationships brought on by mergers within the sector will have real world implications. China Cosco Container Shipping Lines is in a novel position straddling two of the industry’s mega-alliances, a situation expected to continue until the end of the year. The double alliance arrangement is a consequence of the China Shipping and Cosco merger; the acquisition of NOL by CMA CGM brings further impetus to change the ties that currently bind competitors. In this month’s Containerisation International, SeaIntel chief executive Alan Murphy ran a few possible line combinations to see how the changes could affect market shares on main trade routes. China Cosco stated it is looking to grow through the alliances it chooses, its general manager said last week, “The future box liner industry is not only a competition among individual players but also one among alliances.”

OSC’s New Feeder Service Links Oman to UAE

Marine Link
Oman Shipping Company (OSC) is launching a new freight service linking all Omani ports to the United Arab Emirates by mid-April, 2016, in a move that aims to boost trade links. OSC’s new fortnightly Oman Express Service will be the first freight feeder operator to connect all Omani ports. It will be run by OSC subsidiary Oman Container Lines (OCL). OSC chief executive Tarik Mohamed Al Junaidi said the new service will be cheaper and faster than the road transport which currently handles all freight to the interiors. The main objective of OSC, one of the Gulf’s biggest ship operators, is to connect Oman with the rest of the world with a regular service linking the Omani ports of Salalah, Duqm and Sohar, with the UAE. The state-owned company will be the focal point for all customers and the Oman Express Service will use its own multipurpose vessel to carry containers,

India’s future is sea-facing

Gateway House
For centuries, the psyche of India has been that of a landlocked country. This is partly due to its history, recent wars and the resultant political thought and defence structures. But now, India has to face the truth: turn to the sea or face a very constricted future. The reason is simple and known to most people through this statistic: two-thirds of planet earth is water and 90% of the world’s trade flows through the ocean. What lies beneath IS becoming increasingly contested. This contest is sharpening thanks to multiple shifts in the world, both economic and political. The biggest of these is the ascent of China simultaneous with the U.S.’s turning inwards and the consequent shifts in the world’s geopolitical architecture – a structure that has largely remained unchanged since the end of the second world war, and which has entrenched western interests.

Maersk continues to grow operations

Business times
For the Maersk Group, a conglomerate of worldwide businesses focusing on the shipping and energy industries, Singapore is the only place outside Denmark where all its business units are represented. The group operates in some 130 countries and is headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark. Maersk has been established in Singapore since 1975 and has grown its operations here substantially in tandem with Singapore's growth as an international maritime centre. It is the top Singapore Registry of Ships (SRS) client with about 140 vessels and the Singapore office operates over 100 of its vessels. Significantly, despite the current gloom and doom in the global shipping industry, the number of Maersk employees in Singapore remains stable at around 650.

Ships and shipbuilding in India through a Sino-Indian prism

CIMSEC
The year 2022 arrived as a harried harbinger of tidings of war and woe in the Indo-Pacific — a geo-strategic region central to the security calculus of both, regional and extra-regional players. From the United States of America to Japan, strategic advisers and military practitioners began reading-up their several carefully-prepared contingency plans, each focused upon the increasingly violent writhing of the Chinese dragon. Although the danger-signs of a precipitous economic decline within the People’s Republic had appeared even before 2015, the sheer speed of contraction of the Chinese economy took the world completely by surprise. The internal repercussions within China were so extreme that news of the violent unrest within the Middle Kingdom easily transcended the efforts made by the CCP to keep matters under wraps.

Asia Dry Bulk-Capesize Rates Likely to Stay High

Marine Link
Freight rates for large capesize dry cargo ships on key Asian routes are likely to hold steady next week near four-month highs if owners continue to reactivate idle tonnage on upbeat cargo demand, ship brokers said on Thursday. "If more idled ships are put back into the market there may not be the support from cargo demand to push rates up any further," said a Shanghai-based capesize ship broker. "Rates from Western Australia to China are still below $4 per tonne. Owners are offering $7 per tonne for Brazil to China, while charterers are bidding $6.50 per tonne," the Shanghai broker said. That followed a flurry of cargo fixtures by miners, including BHP Billiton and Vale, that pushed rates to the highest level since mid-December. That prompted some shipowners, ship brokers highlighted Zodiac Maritime Agencies, to put idled tonnage back into the market this week.

Monday, 4 April 2016

UPDATED DAILY SHIPPING NEWS FOR MONDAY APRIL 04, 2016

Imported chocolates, medicines, textiles to see 'swift' custom clearance at Indian ports

Economic Times
Imported chocolates, medicines, textiles and plant products will now see 'swift' passage to India, with the country joining the league of select nations to launch 24x7 Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade at customs ports. Importers and exporters will now have to file just one form at customs ports for clearance from all agencies including the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Drug Controller General of India, Plant Quarantine and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau. Imports will be subject only to risk-based checks by all these agencies instead of compulsory 100% testing. This will bring down paper work at customs to one form from nine earlier and clearance time of cargo to two-three days, significantly reducing transaction costs for traders. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced single-window customs clearance in his budget speech.

Ro-Ro Service Removes 2.2 L Trailers from Kochi Roads

New Indian Express
The Ro-Ro (Roll-on Roll-off) barge service between Willingdon and Bolgatty islands has successfully reduced 2.2 lakh container trailers from the Kochi roads, ever since it was launched around five years ago. The Ro-Ro service was introduced in February 2011 with the goal of reducing movement of trucks to the Vallarpadam International Container Transshipment Terminal (ICCT). Each barge has the capacity to carry 20 container trucks, which prevents movement of trucks from South Kerala during day-time. The Ro-Ro service has significantly reduced movement of container trucks to Vallarpadam through the Kundannoor junction, along the busy roads of Vyttila, Palarivattom and Edappally. Since container trucks are not permitted on the city roads during day time, truckers need to take the alternate route to Vallarpadam, which is 45 km long.

GST to roll out soon; retrospective taxation thing of past: PM Modi

Zee News
Promising easier business environment for global investors, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said retrospective taxation has been relegated to history, but he is "not able to do anything" on two pending cases from the previous government as "they are sub-judice". Inviting Saudi businesses to come and invest in India in sectors like railways, defence and energy, Modi also said a common indirect taxation regime in form of GST (Goods and Services Tax) was "about to happen". He, however, refrained from giving any specific timeframe. Addressing Saudi CEOs and Indian business leaders here, Modi said his government has opened up various sectors to foreign investment and India stands out as a "beacon of hope" amidst global economic slowdown.

Rail, road connectivity to top Board of Trade agenda

The Hindu
The issue of better rail and road connectivity from export clusters to ports and airports at the state-level is expected to top the agenda during the April 6 meeting of the Board of Trade (BoT), headed by Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, officials said. The board is meeting to evolve steps to boost India’s exports and will discuss the recent cutback in government aid for export marketing under the Market Access Initiative Scheme and problems faced by exporters in getting refund of duty and taxes from the government. “Earlier the commerce department was looking at bridging the gaps in export-related infrastructure through the Assistance to States for Infrastructure Development of Exports (ASIDE) Scheme. Now the allocation for the ASIDE Scheme is practically nil and subsequent to higher allocation to the States in the Central taxes...

Paradip port plans to raise cargo handling capacity

Business Standard
Buoyed by an all-time record cargo handling of 76.38 million tonnes in 2015-16, Paradip Port Trust (PPT) plans to raise capacity from 118.50 mpta to 325 mpta by 2025 to become the country's biggest port. "The port achieved an all-time cargo record throughput of 76.38 million tonnes during 2015-16 as against the previous year traffic of 71.01 MT, exhibiting a growth of 7.57 per cent," PPT Chairman Rinkesh Roy told reporters here. With this, PPT retains second position in cargo throughout among all major ports consecutively for past three years, he said, adding major cargo handled were thermal coals, crude oils, coking coal, lime stones, rock phsophates, iron ore pellets and oil products. During the year, the berth day output has achieved 21,139 million tonnes as against 17,736 MT which translates to 19.18 per cent.

Adani Ports gets TN nod to buy Kattupalli port from L&T

Live Mint
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ), India’s biggest port developer and operator, has won approval from the Tamil Nadu government to acquire Kattupalli port located at Ennore near Chennai from L&T Shipbuilding Ltd, crossing a hurdle in the plan that was announced in November, at least two people briefed on the development said. “The state government issued an order in early March approving the deal before the model code of conduct for poll-bound Tamil Nadu came into effect,” a government spokesman said. APSEZ has not announced the state government approval for the deal nor has it been communicated to the stock exchanges yet. Clearance from the state is critical because the port is part of a shipyard-cum-port complex that L&T Shipbuilding has constructed at Kattupalli with an investment of Rs.3,989 crore.

JNPT handles largest ship to ever call in India

JOC
DP World-operated Nhava Sheva (India) Gateway Terminals at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust on Friday hosted the MSC Cristina, reportedly the largest container ship ever to call Indian shores. The 2011-built Cristina is about 366 meters (approximately 1,201 feet) long and has a capacity to carry up to 13,102 twenty-foot-equivalent units, the Dubai-based company said in a press statement. That makes the Cristina larger than the 11,000-TEU MSC Francesca serviced by NSIGT on March 18. “Our latest terminal to start operations in India, NSIGT is the only futuristic terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port with essential state-of-the-art facilities to handle vessels of this caliber. This reinforces our position as the leading container terminal operator in India,” DP World Subcontinent Senior Vice President and Managing Director Anil Singh said, speaking at a port event to celebrate the Cristina call.

Govt calls for bids to review relevance of trade regulator DGFT

Live Mint
Twenty-five years after then commerce minister P. Chidambaram did away with quantitative restrictions on limits and replaced the office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports (CCI&E) with the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) as part of the economic liberalization process, the National Democratic Alliance government is now set to review the relevance of the DGFT. The government believes that most of the DGFT’s functions could be automated or delegated to the customs department. The commerce ministry has invited bids from global consulting firms for a “white paper on functions of DGFT” to study global best practices and assess how the structure and scope of DGFT could be made more relevant. Attached to the commerce ministry, the DGFT’s role has evolved into promotion and facilitation of exports and imports from regulation of foreign trade under the erstwhile CCI&E.

Ballast water bringing invasive species to coasts

The Hindu
The expansion of seaports and minor ports could pave the way for the arrival of invasive species in coastal areas. Scientists fear that ballast water carried by ships is providing a vehicle to bring in exotic species. A recent survey by the Department of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, University of Kerala, had recorded the presence of as many as 10 invasive species in the biodiversity-rich intertidal habitats of the Kerala coast. They include one seaweed, one species of bryozoan, one species of mollusc and seven species of ascidian. According to a paper presented by R. Ravinesh and A. Biju Kumar of the department at an international conference on aquatic exotics, the distribution of invasive species reported from the Kerala coast is likely to have been assisted by shipping. The paper says that the expansion of ports in Kerala has opened ways for the introduction of alien species in marine and coastal areas.

CBEC launches ‘SWIFT’ for quick, single-window import clearances

Business Line
To make life easier for millions of importers, the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) has launched ‘SWIFT’, an initiative to speed up clearances for consignments and improve ‘ease of doing business.’ Single Window Interface for Facilitating Trade (SWIFT) provides a single-point interface for clearance and is expected to reduce documentation and costs. It is expected to cover and benefit over 97 per cent of India’s imports. Importers will not need to run around to get approvals from multiple government agencies for their consignments. The single window will connect over 50 offices of six government agencies with the Indian customs department. These are the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI); Department of Plant Protection, Quarantine and Storage; Drug Controller; Animal Quarantine; Wild Life Crime Control Bureau and Textile Committee.

New organisation for trade and industry launched in Salem

The Hindu
Trade and industry in Salem now have a new platform through which they can highlight issues of concern. The Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Salem), registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Act, was launched on Saturday. The new body has been promoted by a group of industrialists, traders, service providers, educational institutions, professionals and intellectuals of the district. Explaining the objectives and action plan of the organisation, the office-bearers said that the Chamber will be a recognised and authorised forum to issue “Certificate of Origin” to the exporters for their various products produced in Salem. So far, exporters were struggling hard to get this certificate and these were obtained through their C and F Agents in the ports of Chennai, Thoothukudi and Kochi and they spent huge amount for it.

Oman Container Lines launches Jebel Ali feeder service

Arabian Supply Chain
Oman Shipping Company’s subsidiary Oman Container Lines has signed an agreement with the Port of Salalah to operate a feeder service to Jebel Ali in the UAE. The agreement will connect the ports of Salalah, Duqm, Sohar and Jebel Ali and will be launched in mid-April. It will be fortnightly to begin with, although Oman Container Lines has indicated it hopes to develop a weekly rotation in time. Tariq bin Mohammad Al Junaidi, chief executive officer of Oman Shipping Company and David Gledhill, chief executive officer of the Port of Salalah signed the agreement. David Gledhill welcomed the new service saying it will provide an additional gateway for Omani imports and exports by linking the northern ports of the Sultanate with a network of international shipping lines operating from the Port of Salalah.

Twin Ingredients Not Good Mixers For Box Freight

Hellenic Shipping News
Amid fairly significant turmoil today in many of the key shipping sectors, there’s one area where extreme conditions have almost become the norm. Container freight rates across a range of trades are currently at rock bottom levels, making liner operations more challenging than ever. What have been the ingredients of this hazardous environment, and is there anything out there that could change the mix? Following the onset of the global economic downturn, many observers noted that container freight rates (the amount paid to move a box from A to B) appeared to have entered an era of increased volatility. As the graph shows, on the mainlane trades box freight rates started to fluctuate more dramatically as liner companies were forced into more active supply management to absorb huge deliveries of ‘mega’-boxship capacity.

Shipping lines keep to slow steaming despite rock bottom oil prices

Sea News
Ocean liners are continuing to slow steam despite bunker fuel prices having fallen below the US$200 per tonne (PMT) mark, according to Alphaliner. Data from the Paris-based analysts released earlier this month, however, showed the opposite that low bunker prices are encouraging shipping lines to "increase average sailing speeds again, further worsening the vessel over-supply situation." The study focused on the China to US west coast trade and found that most containerships still sails at speeds of 19-20 knots eastbound and 14-15 knots westbound. "Service speeds could thus be increased by two to three knots on the headhaul leg and four to five knots on the backhaul, allowing overall transit times to be cut by two to five days in each direction," said Alphaliner. A faster speed and a shorter port rotation on a China to USWC loop from six to five weeks would result in additional daily bunker costs of $18,000-$30,000.