Abu Dhabi Ports, one of the UAE’s leading proponents of regional trade and investment, today revealed robust operational performance with significant volume growth in the first half of 2019. The company, which operates ports and terminals across the UAE, as well as Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi (KIZAD), said its success was driven in part by concession agreements signed with leading maritime firms, such as Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) and COSCO SHIPPING Ports (CSP). The agreements have seen an increase in the number of vessels taking advantage of Khalifa Port’s ...

DP World, the world’s largest port operator, is eyeing more investment opportunities to boost growth after acquiring oil services company Topaz Energy and Marine for an enterprise value of $1.08 billion (Dh3.96bn), a top executive said. “Our company has always been active and very proactive in terms of looking at investments, which builds up the concept, which we called enabling the trade,” Mohammed Al Muallem, chief executive and managing director of DP World, UAE told The National on the sidelines of Dubai Maritime Agenda conference on Sunday. “We did that ...

The more popular it becomes to ship Asian containerized exports to the U.S. East Coast versus the West Coast – whether via the Panama or Suez Canal – the more hinterland transport demand shifts in favor of trucks hauling cargo westward at the expense of rail moving boxes eastward. Evidence of the East Coast’s rising importance continues to build up on multiple fronts. In terms of shipping rates, the price to transport a container from China to the East Coast has held up better year-on-year than pricing to California. Consequently, ...

The shadow of economic slowdown loomed over coal cargo movement through major ports. Between April and August, the cargo throughput growth at major ports was muted at 1.9 per cent as coal volumes slid four per cent year-on-year. In the corresponding period of FY19, coal cargo had risen by 11 per cent. Apart from decline in coal shipments compared with last year, some fall was also observed in fertiliser and liquid cargo. K Ravichandran, senior vice president and Group Head – Corporate Ratings, ICRA said, “The decline in imports is ...

The Chief Executive of the British Ports Association calls for the UK to provide pro-investment transport strategies after Brexit. Since the UK’s referendum on EU membership in 2016, ports have been the focus of much strategic consideration. Discussions have spanned from cross border customs and trading arrangements for HGVs and the impact at UK and EU ‘Roll-on Roll-off’ ports, to new global trade deals; as well as new ‘Free Port’ designations and bumper fish landings in Britain due to relaxed quotas. Big political decisions are now required as the UK ...

The Port of Dover — through which a sixth of the U.K.’s trade in goods flows — can cope with any disruption thrown up by a no-deal Brexit, Chief Executive Officer Doug Bannister said, suggesting some of the direr predictions of chaos are wide of the mark. “The Port of Dover is 100% ready,” he said in an interview in his harbor-side office with views of the town’s castle, its famous white cliffs, its all-important port, and — across the English Channel — France. “Ferry operators: 100% ready. Calais, Dunkirk: ...

Pakistan has given the go-ahead to five consortiums, including Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Mitsubishi, to progress with their liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal plans, a minister told Reuters on Friday. The move comes on the heels of the arrests of two Pakistan business executives involved in building the country’s previous LNG terminals, cooling sentiment in the industry. Pakistan is seen as a big growth market for the global LNG industry as domestic gas production slips in tandem with a growing industrial economy hungry for gas. But an anti-corruption ...

The Chennai Port Trust (ChPT) along with Southern Railway and Concor Ltd came to the rescue of the trade by evacuating containers from the port during the week-long strike by trailer operators. The strike was called off today after CFS operators agreed to pay the trailer operators an additional ₹1,000 per twenty-foot container on existing rates. This was agreed during a meeting between the Trailer Owners Association and CFS operators in the presence of the Tasildhar, said industry sources The trailer operators were seeking rate increase from Container Freight Stations ...

The Cochin Port Joint Trade Union Forum has come out against all forms of concessions to vessels, including coastal and cruise, saying they make the port’s finances vulnerable. It is said that the port is granting huge concessions on vessel-related charges to ensure cost-effectiveness and to successfully compete with other container hubs in the region and neighbouring ports. CD Nandakumar, General Convenor of the Forum, urged the government to reconsider giving concession of up to 85 per cent to cruise vessels and to levy the lowest charges on coastal vessels. ...

In a U-turn, the Committee of Creditors (CoC) led by Bank of India has backed the resolution plan placed by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) to buy the debt-laden Dighi Port Ltd under the bankruptcy and insolvency law. The decision of the lender’s panel was conveyed by its counsel to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) during a hearing on September 19 on a batch of appeals filed by different parties. APSEZ, India’s biggest private port operator, is now positioned to buy Dighi Port, which will ...

Kenya’s port of Mombasa is expected to handle a container traffic of 1.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) in 2019, surpassing the 1.3 million mark reached in 2018, an official said on Friday. Daniel Manduku, managing director of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) told journalists in Mombasa that the facility has already handled one million TEUs with four months remaining in the year. “We expect the port of Mombasa to handle an estimated 1.4 million TEUs of cargo by the end of the year,” Manduku said. Kenya’s largest port handles cargo ...

The sub-Committee of the Senate Standing Committee on Maritime Affairs was told on Friday that the China Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC) had given a grant of US$1.2 billion to carry out the development work in the area of Gwadar Port. “The China desires to see Pakistan as a prosperous state,” Chairman COPHC Zang Baozhong said while briefing the sub-committee about the issues faced by the company for the area’s development. The panel, which met here with Senator Kauda Babar in chair, called for expediting the work in Gwadar Port ...

The federal government has been urged to compel the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to provide scanners at the nation’s sea ports so as to facilitate trade and enhance the ease of doing business. Speaking at maritime stakeholders’ forum in Lagos, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, appealed to the federal government to urgently intervene on the need for the NCS to acquire scanners to facilitate cargo clearance at the nation’s ports. She lamented that lack of cargo scanners at the ports was one of the major ...

Pilots resumed steering vessels along the ship channel to Beaumont, Texas, one day after they stopped guiding vessels through the waterway connecting the Beaumont and Port Arthur refining hubs with the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said. Ship movements continued along the Houston Ship Channel with some restrictions along a portion of the 53-mile (85-km) waterway connecting the Port of Houston to the Gulf. The restrictions are because of strong currents from the San Jacinto River, which feeds into the channel. Ships in the 4-5 knot current flowing ...

Pakistan has selected groups that include Exxon Mobil Corp and Royal Dutch Shell to build five liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals as it aims to triple imports and ease gas shortages. The terminals could be in operation within two to three years, Omar Ayub Khan, Pakistan’s minister of power and petroleum, said in an interview on Friday. Pakistan is chronically short of gas for power production and to supply manufacturers such as fertilizer makers, hobbling the country’s economy. “It will make a significant dent in the gas shortage,” Khan said. ...