Dry bulk and liquid cargo handling capacities will be increased to a combined 20 million tons per year; multi-purpose quay will be extended 1,200 meters as the “Salalah Hub” establishes itself in the region.
Salalah, Oman- Oman’s Ministry of Transport and Communications has awarded a commercial bid representing investment of OMR 55 million ($143 million USD) to more than double the Port of Salalah’s general cargo handling capacity. The project will increase dry bulk cargo handling capacity to 20 million tons and liquid cargo to over six million tons annually. The current annual general cargo handling capacity is 5.5 million tons.
“The general cargo business has been growing rapidly here, and this new expansion will play a significant role in serving the continued development of businesses in Oman and the surrounding region” stated Port of Salalah’s CEO, Peter Ford.
The Port of Salalah, astride the major global shipping lane between Europe and Asia on the Gulf of Oman in the Arabian Sea, holds a strategic position for transit cargoes to the upper Arabian Gulf, Indian sub-continent, Red Sea and East African markets. Salalah was the 2rd-largest containerport in the Middle East Region in 2011 with volume of 3.2 million TEUs. In its 14th year of operation, the Port of Salalah will handle its 30 millionth TEU this month with the first eastbound call of the G6 Far East/Europe string.
“We are very grateful to the government of Oman and particularly the Ministry of Transport and Communication for their vision, insight and support in helping the Port of Salalah achieve this tremendous milestone of 30 million TEUs” said APM Terminals Africa-Middle East Regional CEO Peder Sondergaard.
The Port of Salalah is part of the APM Terminals Global Port, Terminal and Inland Services Network, with APM Terminals holding a 30% share in the Port, 20% held by the Government of Oman, and the remaining 50% held by institutional and private investors.
The planned expansion of the general cargo terminal includes the construction of an additional 1,200 meters of multi-purpose berth with 18 meter draft and liquid commodity loading facilities. The new liquids terminal will significantly expand Salalah’s role in handling such key industrial commodities as fuel, methanol, Monoethylene glycol, and caustic soda. Major dry bulk commodities handled at Salalah include limestone, gypsum and cement as well as plastics.
“We are committed to making the resources available to enable Salalah to assume a major role as a regional hub for liquid and general bulk cargoes, in addition to containers, as we meet the growing demands for increased economic activity in the Dhofar region and the growing international investment projects in Oman” said Mr. Ford.
Source Port of Salalah
KOREAN AIR has posted a first quarter year-on-year operating loss of KRW114.7 billion (US$101.4 million) drawn revenues of KRW2.88 trillion, which increased 5.9 per cent.
The loss was attributed to the rising price of jet fuel."Compared to the same period last year, there was increased traffic across all routes, including Oceania (up 23 per cent), south east Asia (up 18 per cent) and China (up 14 per cent). While Korea outbound traffic maintained at last year's level, overseas outbound reported an increase of 16 per cent," said the statement accompanying the results.
Cargo volume fell 9.6 per cent to 2,059 million freight tonne kilometres (FTK) as it decreaseD 12 per cent in domestic service and nine per cent. A decrease in outbound cargo was also reported.
"As many China-based airlines have been drastically stepping up cargo capacity, the airline is facing increasingly intense competition in China market," said a company statement accompanying the results.
"As global economy recovers, Korea outbound is expected to show gradual increase. Looking onward, the airline strives to stabilise the business against high and surging fuel price through capacity control and fleet redeployment," said the statement.
In addition, with the introduction of new routes (Incheon-Gatwick and Incheon-Nairobi) and stepping up frequency on selected routes, such as Incheon-Ulaanbaatar, Incheon-Danang, Incheon-Tianjin, Incheon-Vancouver, Busan-Beijing and etc, the airline sees potential growth in passenger traffic.
With the Free Trade Agreement between US and Korea and London Olympics, the outlook for potential growth in cargo traffic in the remaining quarters of the year remains positive, said the statement. "The airline will also strengthen profitability through route operation plan, and will continue to seek sustainable growth in the existing network as well as expanding into new markets.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
UPS PILOTS have petitioned the US Court of Appeals against the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) exemption for cargo pilots from new rules stipulating passenger pilot rest requirements.
The cargo pilots said the FAA decision was based on wrong "cost-benefit" analysis that treats cargo differently from passenger operations under the new rules.
The court has ordered the FAA to respond by May 24.
Independent Pilots Association (IPA) lawyer William Trent said he hoped the court would "order the FAA to reconsider the inclusion of cargo operation rules consistent with its mandate from Congress and laws requiring adequate notice and opportunity for public comment.
"The FAA acted contrary to Congress' mandate when the agency published new pilot duty and rest rules in December excluding a vast and growing segment of US commercial aviation - cargo," said Mr Trend.
"Congress specifically directed the FAA to address the problem of pilot fatigue by issuing new rules based on the best available science.
"The FAA initially agreed, stating that the old rules 'are inadequate to guard against fatigue and present an unacceptable risk to the public.' Yet the same agency, under intense cargo industry pressure, abruptly made a 180 degree turn and left cargo pilots under the same set of flawed rules that the FAA and Congress found lacking."
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DUTCH quick delivery company TNT Express, being taken over by UPS, says it has experienced poor conditions in Europe, and a continued weakness on the Asia-Europe trade lane.
TNT Express' Asian operations, as a whole, performed well, supported by a good performance in Australia and on-plan performance for its domestic services in China, reports the UK' s Transport Intelligence. Its other previous problem area, Brazil, was also strengthened.
The company's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) division saw first quarter revenues fall 0.5 per cent to EUR1.1 billion (US$1.4 billion) year on year. Average kilorammes per day increased for international economy, but declined for both domestic and international express.
Asia Pacific revenues increased 2.6 per cent to EUR430 million and Americas revenues by 5.4 per cent to EUR118 million. EMEA profits plunged 34 per cent to EUR68 million as a result of negative yield and cost inflation. Although Asia Pacific remained in loss at EUR7 million, it improved marginally. The Americas' losses were reduced to EUR23 million from EUR152 million in the same quarter in 2011.
Said TNT chief executive Marie-Christine Lombard: "As announced at the beginning of the year, the first quarter of 2012 has been challenging, given the ongoing sluggish business environment. In Europe, cost savings and commercial initiatives are being pursued to mitigate revenue pressure. Profitability in Asia Pacific improved, despite weak inter-continental demand. Americas also improved, with better results in Brazil."
Management also stated that in the short term these weak conditions were likely to persist.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
According to the data of Main Dispatcher Service of the port 2.3 mil tones of cargoes were handled in April 2012, and 9.02 mil tones in total during 4 months of 2012. Specialty of the first 4 months of 2012 is stable growth of dry cargoes handling.By the end of April this rate amounted 5.9 mil tones, which is 1.1 mil tones more (+23.3%) than in January-April 2011. It became possible due to increase of handling of grain - 2.03 mil tones (+1.5 mil tones compared to January-April 2011) and ferrous materials – 1.5 mil tones (+223.7 thousand tones compared to January-April 2011).
Source The port of Odessa press-service
London / UK, May 3, 2012 – A new airside service at Heathrow airport has been launched by Kuehne + Nagel to enhance its critical spare parts logistics offering to the aerospace industry.
The new solution means Kuehne + Nagel is even better positioned to meet the unique challenges an Aircraft on Ground (AOG) situation presents. It allows engineers to remain on stand with the grounded aircraft while Kuehne + Nagel experts deliver parts directly to them in a matter of minutes, increasing their productivity and helping to reduce aircraft downtime.
A new facility located at Heathrow’s Terminal 3 supports this service. Storage of critical spare parts at the airport itself allows deliveries to be made to stand at any of the currently operating airport terminals within a 15 minute lead time. Supply to the airside facility is managed by Kuehne + Nagel’s 5,000m2 airfreight hub at Uxbridge, Middlesex, with seamless access through airport security controls, thanks to Kuehne + Nagel’s status as a regulated agent.
As part of its global ‘Supply the Sky’ offering, Kuehne + Nagel has spent many years developing services to meet the critical issue of spare parts availability, including the provision of dedicated handcarried deliveries for AOG situations. Many of Kuehne + Nagel’s customers have come to rely on this service, and welcome the new development at Heathrow.
Daniel Lerch, Manager AOG Management for SR Technics commented, “Delivering material directly on stand during an AOG situation is crucial for an efficient recovering of an aircraft. Very often the last mile of the handover to the customer is the most difficult part in the whole supply chain if it comes to airside delivery. Handling agents are out of their service hours and nobody can be reached to bring the part to the engineers. Kuehne + Nagel is closing an important gap by providing this new service at LHR and we are hoping that they will be able to expand their service to other stations.”
Chris Edwards, Senior Vice-President Airfreight for Kuehne + Nagel North-West Europe said, “By working in close cooperation with our aerospace customers we have gained a deep understanding of their business and challenges. Based on their feedback, we have responded with a new service that is tailored to meet their requirements and also perfectly complements our market-leading Supply the Sky portfolio of products.”
Source Kuehne + Nagel
2012-05-04
Member Only advantages make travel more affordable to families
Wizz Air, the largest low-fare, low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, announced today that it has lowered the yearly membership fee of the Wizz Xclusive Club to just €29.99. The Wizz Xclusive Club was launched in 2011 and already reached over 200,000 members. All club members have access to special low fares on each booking made. The members’ benefit can also be extended to family members at no cost and Wizz Air believes its investment in growing the Xclusive Club benefits small groups and families travelling together since they have access to even lower Wizz Air fares through the club’s membership.
To celebrate the lower Xclusive Club annual membership fee of just €29.99 Wizz Air has launched a one day 20% off campaign for all bookings made tomorrow (Fri 6 May) by Xclusive Club members.
“Wizz Air’s Xclusive Club is our way to show families how to beat the recession and book their holidays on wizzair.com with savings up to €10 per flight, per passenger. Wizz Air has lowered the membership fee to €29.99 and club members can book discounted fares for themselves and up to 9 fellow travellers. On top of the year around discounts only available to Xclusive Club members, tomorrow (Fri 6 May) all club members can book Wizz Air flights with an additional 20% off all fares. Families who want to beat the recession should join the Xclusive Club today”, said Daniel de Carvalho, Corporate Communications Manager at Wizz Air.
Source Wizz Air Group
Kongsberg Maritime completes delivery of advanced offshore operations simulator
Superior Energy Services of Houston, Texas, took delivery of one of the most advanced maritime training simulators ever developed, in April 2012. The next-generation simulator from Kongsberg Maritime will be used to provide integrated, real-time training for Superior’s offshore marine personnel at its new facility in Anchorage, Alaska. Under the terms of the contract, signed September 2011, Kongsberg Maritime supplied Superior Energy Marine Technical Services with a full mission trainer in support of critical operations including ship bridge maneuvering and navigation, anchor handling, ROV operations, crane operations, process control, containment, and controlled pumping and flaring of hydrocarbons.
The system supports the full spectrum of offshore Simultaneous Operations (SIMOPS) activities in support of developing best practices for both surface and sub-sea marine practices – all conducted in real time and in the safety of a simulated environment. The simulator features two full offshore service vessel bridges, with 360 degree field of view, an offshore crane simulator, supplied by KONGSBERG company, GlobalSim, a DeepWorks ROV simulator, supplied to KONGSBERG by Fugro Subsea Services Ltd and a separate Process Simulator, for operator training and control system checkout in addition to multiphase flow simulation, supplied by Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies.
Superior’s working relationship with Shell Offshore was a primary motivator in establishing this state-of-the-art facility. Superior is committed to achieving a safe work environment and these core objectives were incorporated in the system design: “At Superior Energy Services, we believe in ensuring our people are as prepared and properly trained as possible. It makes sense from a safety perspective, from an environmental perspective and from a business perspective – it is simply the right thing to do,” said Captain Scott Powell.
“Partnering with Kongsberg Maritime provided a depth of engineering capability that allowed us to mirror a physical model-based simulation solution. This is the closest we can come to creating realistic scenarios without facing these circumstances first hand. Our people will be the best prepared in the industry and will have full confidence in the critical skills they will learn with this state-of-the-art simulator. This multi-team training capability will have a net positive effect on our preparedness and our commitment to health, safety and the environment,” continues Powell.
The KONGSBERG Offshore Vessel Simulator allows companies to train employees for the highly technical and often hazardous operations they will encounter in the offshore environment. Kongsberg Maritime simulators are designed to provide realistic scenarios for a wide variety of environmental applications.
Source Kongsberg Maritime
- Order intake at prior-year level
- Revenue up slightly
- Commercial Vehicles: Weaker core markets of Europe and Brazil offset by other regions
- Operating profit impacted by increased competition in stagnating markets
- Power Engineering remains stable earnings driver
- Free cash flow dominated by acquisition in India and divestment of Ferrostaal
- Outlook for full-year 2012 confirmed: Slight decline in revenue, return on sales roughly in line with long-term target average
Following its strong performance in 2011, MAN's business continued at a similar level in Q1/2012. Headwinds came from the increased competition in stagnating markets. However, the slump in commercial vehicle demand that had been widely feared failed to materialize.
Order intake in the Commercial Vehicles business area actually rose slightly by 1% compared with the prior-year quarter, to €3.4 billion. MAN Truck & Bus recorded a rise of 2% to €2.5 billion, whereas orders at MAN Latin America declined by 2% to €0.8 billion due to the introduction of the Euro V emission standard. Orders in the Power Engineering business area amounted to €1.0 billion (previous year: €1.1 billion), €0.9 billion of which was attributable to MAN Diesel & Turbo. The Engines & Marine Systems strategic business unit in particular was weaker.
MAN increased its Q1 revenue by 3% year-on-year to €3.8 billion. MAN Truck & Bus was particularly successful, climbing 6% to €2.1 billion, despite the slight overall decline in the European commercial vehicles market. However, MAN benefited from growth in Russia and in other, non-European regions. Revenue at MAN Latin America declined slightly by 2% to €0.8 billion. Q1 revenue in the Power Engineering business area rose 5% to €1.0 billion. MAN Diesel & Turbo increased by 3% to €0.9 billion, while Renk jumped 25% to €105 million.
The MAN Group recorded an operating profit of €253 million in the first quarter (previous year: €325 million). The 22% decline is due above all to increasing competition in the stagnating markets in the Commercial Vehicles business area. As a result, the operating profit at MAN Truck & Bus amounted to only €67 million (previous year: €97 million), while that at MAN Latin America was €80 million (previous year: €99 million). MAN will combat this with measures to increase its profitability and efficiency. By contrast, earnings at MAN Diesel & Turbo and Renk remained stable at prior-year levels.
Overall, the MAN Group's return on sales (ROS) amounted to 6.6%. The ROS in the Commercial Vehicles business area declined to 5.0% (6.9%), while Power Engineering remained at a high 12.9% (13.3%).
One of the MAN Group's critical success factors is its uncompromising focus on the areas of transportation and energy, which continue to offer excellent growth potential. Demand in these sectors is constantly growing in the emerging markets in particular. Our BRIC strategy addresses precisely this topic and has allowed us to secure timely access to these key markets of the future. In many cases, our operations in these promising markets have already reached a stage that others are still aiming for. MAN will continue to exploit this head start.
The joint projects within the Volkswagen Group will also assist in this. Volkswagen AG notified MAN SE on April 13, 2012, that it held 73.00% of the voting rights as of the April 12, 2012, trading date. The new opportunities to work together with Volkswagen and Scania offer MAN additional momentum. By cooperating in the areas of procurement, development, and manufacturing, we can leverage the synergies needed for a full-scale competitive push.
Although MAN is expecting solid growth on the global transportation and energy markets in the long term, we continue to see global economic growth weakening in 2012. Against this backdrop, we are confirming the outlook we gave at the beginning of the year: We expect full-year revenue in the Commercial Vehicles business area to decline slightly by up to 5%, whereas Power Engineering revenue should increase by 5%. Given the overall predominance of the Commercial Vehicles business area, we expect revenue for the MAN Group as a whole to decline slightly, which will also lead to a drop in operating profit. Return on sales will correspond roughly to the long-term target average of 8.5%.
Source MAN SE
FREIGHTGATE-8, dnata's newest terminal located at Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC), has announced that air cargo volume rose 700 per cent during the last financial year, reports Dubai's Arabian Business.com .
Air cargo throughout at the dnata-operated air cargo terminal, which opened in June 2010, amounted to 127,665 tonnes while the total number of active cargo flights handled by the dnata team was 2,832 for the financial year, a 600 per cent growth compared to the previous period. The new facility currently handles local and sea-air export and import cargo as well as transit cargo at DWC.
One of the most recent highlights included flying a purpose-built gas turbine to Nigeria. With a total weight of 95 tonnes, it was the heaviest single piece of cargo ever handled by any of the dnata FreightGate terminals.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
RUSSIA's Volga-Dnepr Airlines, one of the two air cargo companies of Volga-Dnepr Group specialising in chartered freight services, has delivered two hydrant dispensers for aircraft refuelling from Ankona, Italy, to Nairobi, Kenya, said the company statement.
"Hydrant dispensers are mobile stations designed for aircraft refuelling and each weighs five tons and is more than seven metres long. The loading operation was assisted by aircraft winches as the fuel hydrants were driven onto the aircraft under their own power," said the airline.
The delivery was carried out by using one of the airline's IL-76TD-90VD aircraft for its long-term partner, the UK charter specialist Chartersphere.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
HAWAII's environmental freight fee tax has been quashed by a US District Judge David Ezra in a permanent injunction denying the state the right to collect money for invasive species inspection, or levy quarantine and eradication fees from customers who import cargo.
Air Transport Association of America (ATA) filed a lawsuit in 2010 to rule that the Hawaiian Freight Fee Law, as applied to air carriers, is pre-empted and prohibited by the Anti-Head Tax Act and the Airline Deregulation Act.
According to a report from Pacific Business News, carriers Hawaiian Airlines, Pacific Air Cargo and Aloha Cargo Agency Services did not participate in the lawsuit but collected the fee.
Source Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
2012-05-03
The New Zealand Southern blue whiting trawl fishery has been certified as sustainable against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard for a sustainable and well managed fishery, and its products can now bear the blue MSC ecolabel.
The fishery has demonstrated - through the rigorous, independent assessment process conducted by Intertek Moody Marine – the fish stocks being targeted are healthy, the fishing practices have minimal impact on the marine eco-system and overall the fishery is well managed.
About the fishery
The certification covers the vessels nominated by Deepwater Group operating in the Bounty Platform, Campbell Island Rise and Pukaki Rise management areas within the New Zealand Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ).
Catches of Southern blue whiting are taken mostly by semi-pelagic trawling methods.
The volume of whiting taken in these management areas varies depending on the allowable catch set annually by the NZ Ministry for Primary Industries (formerly the Ministry of Fisheries). This is determined through a quota management system (QMS) with the goal being to maintain stock levels to support maximum sustainable yields.
In 2010/11 the total allowable commercial catch (TACC) set by Government under the QMS was 44,848 tonnes and in that period approximately 39,000 tonnes was landed.
The certified vessels use mitigation devices (i.e. bird bafflers and tori lines) and manage fish waste discards to reduce interactions with seabirds. A Marine Mammal Operating Procedure has also been implemented to minimise marine mammal captures among the deepwater fleet. Trawling operations in the fishery occur over a relatively small area that does not change substantially from year to year, resulting in a low level of impact on seabed habitats.
Deepwater Group and the NZ Ministry for Primary Industries has taken a partnership approach to fisheries management, underpinned by a Memorandum of Understanding outlining the prime fishing areas and a work plan to better manage deepwater fisheries.
Processed on board factory vessels, the majority of the whiting caught is exported to markets in Europe, Japan, Russia and Spain. Southern blue whiting makes a high quality surimi product with one third of the catch being sent to Japan and the USA in this form. Whiting fillets are also exported to Australia.
What the fishery operators say
“We’re very pleased that the fishery has met the Marine Stewardship Council’s rigorous environmental standards,” said the group’s chief executive George Clement.
“The endorsement has confirmed for our customers what we already know – that a co-operative approach to fisheries management, backed up by excellent science and New Zealand’s world leading quota management system, gets results.”
What the MSC says
MSC Manager, Pat Caleo, says: “The certification of the NZ Southern blue whiting fishery is a great result and is a tribute to the effective management of the fishery by the Ministry for Primary Industries and the NZ fishing industry itself.”
“Deepwater Group should be commended for undertaking, and meeting, such a scientifically rigorous and transparent assessment of their fishing practices. This is the first Southern blue whiting fishery in the world to gain MSC certification, and we expect demand for these products to be high in key export markets.”
Source MSC
Sephora, the leading retail beauty chain and member of the luxury products group LVMH, has extended its logistics partnership with Kuehne + Nagel for a further three years.
Kuehne + Nagel has been managing Sephora’s national distribution centre in Italy since 2005. With the newly signed agreement, Kuehne + Nagel will expand its services to supply the customer’s outlets in various European countries including Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Poland and Turkey as well as in the Middle East and in Asia. In total, over 300 stores, 112 of them in Italy, will be served according to the new agreement. As a result, Kuehne + Nagel expects to handle up to 40 million pieces of fragrances, make-ups, skin care and other beauty care products per year for the customer.
The Sephora logistics operations will be provided on a dedicated basis, in a newly built 12,900 sqm facility, fully compliant with the latest security and “green building” standards and equipped with large photovoltaic solar
power installations.
Located in the Logistics Park of Santa Cristina e Bissone in the Lombardy region – some 50 kilometers southeast of Milan - the new facility ideally complements the existing 90,000 sqm area Kuehne + Nagel already operates in the Park.
Maurizio Stroppa, Supply Chain Manager of Sephora, explained: “The development of Sephora is greatly supported by its logistics choices. In this context, the new international logistics centre is a key element for our present and future growth in Eastern Europe, Far East and South East
Asia.”
"We are delighted that the customer has extended the contract and thus demonstrated its confidence in Kuehne + Nagel’s expertise, capabilities and staff”, said Ruggero Poli, Managing Director of Kuehne + Nagel Italy. “Even more so as it concerns the internationalisation of the logistics operation”, he added.
Source Kuehne + Nagel
Stockholm, Sweden - At the conference "Future Ports" held in Stockholm 25th-26th April, APM Terminals’ Head of Project Implementation, Soren Sjostrand Jakobsen, told delegates that increasing productivity to meet customer demand is critical for container terminals. "Our customers are building bigger and bigger ships and it is imperative that we are able to increase our delivered productivity at minimum the same pace as the ships grow - but preferably much more" Mr. Jakobsen said.
Close to 80% of the new container vessel capacity coming in the next couple of years are super post-panamax vessels. Shipping lines need these big vessels to compete but clearly cannot afford these to remain in port for days. "The container transportation market is expected to continue growing in the years to come and terminal operators have to find ways to increase productivity. APM Terminals has a range of initiatives to improve processes as well as applying new and innovative solutions and technology to lift productivity" Mr. Jakobsen stated. "We - and other terminals operators I'm sure - have terminals in their portfolio where a 40-50 % productivity improvement is not an unrealistic goal and even for high performing terminals it is possible to improve further".
Mr. Jakobsen also told delegates that though all these initiatives require a lot of investment it actually makes good financial sense for the terminal operator. "Improving productivity gets you free capacity, reduces cost, improves your product and you get happy customers. If we can improve productivity by 50% in a one million TEU capacity terminal we create a game-changer in the industry for our customers through better economics, reliability and capacity availability”.
"Productivity will be the battleground for terminal operators and those who are able to meet our customers’ requirements will be the winners", Mr. Jakobsen predicted.
Source APM Terminals
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