THE Department for Transport (DfT) in the United Kingdom has certified Morpho Detection's (MDI) Itemiser DX desktop explosives trace detection system for airfreight screening.
The certification allows deployment of the device throughout the country at air cargo facilities. A company statement said it will help air cargo operators and facilities improve the return on investments made in security infrastructure. The deployment of the device will also help improve efficiency.
The device is a portable, desktop instrument that is based on ITMS trace technology that allows it to analyse ions, both positive and negative, simultaneously from the sample. It can perform this analysis on a single sample.
Morpho Detection is the narcotics, explosives, biological, radiological, chemical and nuclear detection business of Morpho, which is a security unit of the Safran group.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
The respected German transport trade magazines Verkehrsrundschau and Trucker have given Scania the "Green Truck 2012” award. In a compilation of the extensive tests they carried out, Scania's R 480 Euro 6 tractor model came out on top in terms of environmental performance.
Scania's top ranking is a result of the truck's low fuel consumption and good load capacity, combined with the fact that Scania was alone in being able to deliver trucks with Euro 6 engines when the tests were conducted during 2011.
"The good results achieved by the Scania R 480 Euro 6 in these press tests confirm that Scania's engineers have done an excellent job in developing the Euro 6 engines by focusing on customer needs for efficient transport solutions," says Scania Deutschland's Sales Director Christian Teichmann.
More information about the tests and detailed results may be found on the magazine Verkehrsrundschau's home page: www.verkehrsrundschau.de/umweltranking
The new Euro 6 emission standard for heavy vehicles enters into force in the EU and in certain neighbouring countries starting on 31 December 2012 for new vehicle models and one year later for all vehicles. As early as March 2011, Scania unveiled trucks that comply with emission standards under the new regulations.
Source Cision
The sides need to achieve compromise concerning the gauge width of China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, Kyrgyzstan's Minister of Transport and Communications Kalykbek Sultanov told Tazabek after the meeting of the special working group held in China in early May discussing this railway construction project.
The outcomes of the 3 previous meetings of the special working group and previously carried out work were summed up at the last meeting and the sides reached the consensus concerning several important issues, the Transport Minister said.
“As you know China proposes 1,435 mm gauge for construction of the Chinese and Kyrgyz sections of the railway. This proposal takes into account the prospective plans of construction of the trans-Asian railway from China to Iran through Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Afghanistan with 1,435 mm gauge width. We insist on use of our technical standards – 1,520 mm. Kyrgyzstan is in the 1,520 space comprising CIS countries and Baltic states, Mongolia and is bound with several international agreements,” the Minister explained.
Central Asian News Service, en.ca-news.org
Port operator remains focused on creating a regional port hub through investments to boost logistics chain efficiency, reduce costs and attract bigger vessels to its 12 ports
Jakarta, May 28, 2012 – IPC (Indonesia Port Corporation II) recorded approximately US$138.3 million (IDR1,269 billion) revenue in the first quarter of 2012, a 42% increase from US$97.4 (IDR894 billion) in the same period last year. Net profit rose by a significant 45.9% to US$54.3 million (IDR513 billion) the first quarter of 2011, reflecting continued growth for the port operator in the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region due to an increase in traffic at the 12 ports it manages across Indonesia.
Revenue was derived from shipping services, goods services, tools provision, terminal services, container terminal services, land-building-water-electricity provision, miscellaneous facilities and partnerships with business associates.
IPC continues to focus on long-term sustainable growth by investing US$38.9 million (IDR357 billion) in the first quarter of 2012, accounting for 8.32% of the company’s total investment budget of US$468.7 million (IDR4.3 trillion) for the year.
“IPC is and will continue to invest significantly to improve port facilities and services, attracting bigger vessels to our ports and reducing Indonesia’s logistics costs. In doing so, we will create a regional port hub to serve a growing economy in Indonesia, Asia and the world,” said RJ. Lino, President Director of IPC.
Enhanced Port Services and Capacity
Investments include the installation of more gantry luffing cranes and development of a container terminal area in Tanjung Priok Port (Tanjung Priok), North Jakarta which is now able to harbour ships with throughput capacity of up to 5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units (TEUs) of containers. Tanjung Priok is currently handling 1.4 million TEUs, a 13.6% increase from last year.
IPC is also kick-starting the development of Kalibaru Port (New Priok), an extension of the Tanjung Priok after receiving the presidential decree in April 2012. New Priok will be the largest port development in Indonesia, tripling the capacity of Tanjung Priok to over 18 million TEUs when fully completed in 2023. The first phase of development, which will provide an additional capacity of approximately 4.5 million TEUs, will begin operations of its first terminal by 2014.
Investments in other ports include large-scale improvements of Pontianak Port in West Kalimantan and Banten Port in West Java, as well as the construction of stock pile coal in Jambi Port and channel dredging of Bengkulu Port in Sumatra.
Increased Efficiency
IPC is extending the application of its comprehensive Information and Communications Technology (ICT) which centralizes and streamlines processes at its ports. The car terminal in Tanjung Priok and Teluk Bayur Container Terminal in Padang, West Sumatra are the fifth and sixth IPC subsidiary and port branch to incorporate these systems.
27 cranes have also been added across five ports to shorten the loading and unloaded process, along with eight additional boats to support operations in IPC’s two port branches of Tanjung Priok as well as Port of Panjang in Lampung, Sumatra.
Human Capital Development
As part of its ongoing human capital development programme, IPC has also allocated US$62.79 million (IDR576.05 billion) in 2012 for employees to pursue master’s degrees and training programmes in relevant disciplines worldwide including Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden and China. This accounts for 13.4% of its total investment budget for the year.
Ensuring Sustainable Growth
IPC continues building its refreshed vision with the development of a strategic roadmap and implementation of corporate restructuring to boost overall operations and services.
The port operator also initiated a study to establish nine subsidiaries which will be incorporated systematically based on IPC’s five priorities namely; PT Car Terminal Indonesia, PT Terminal Peti Kemas Indonesia, PT Terminal Tanjung Priok, PT Marine Services Indonesia and PT Indonesia Logistic Community Service.
*US$1 = IDR9,174
Source Ogilvy Public Relations
Condite Spółka z o.o. has been chosen as the General Contractor to build a Hampton by Hilton hotel in the vicinity of Warsaw Chopin Airport, following over a year of formal preparations. The hotel will open its doors to the first guests in mid-2013.
Condite Spółka z o.o. met all requirements set out in the tender documents and offered the lowest price, beating nine other bidders for the work. “We are very happy with the outcome of the tender. This is a huge challenge for us, but we will ensure the highest quality of work and excellent attention to detail,” said Wiesław Milcarz, chairman of the board at Condite Sp. z o.o.
The economy Hampton by Hilton Warsaw Airport hotel will be erected approx. 800m from Chopin Airport’s Terminal A, at the junction of 17 Stycznia St and Żwirki i Wigury St. It will offer 116 comfortable double rooms on four floors and will be targeted at tourists and business travellers. The ground floor will contain the main hall, a 24-hour snack bar, breakfast room, comfortable working and meeting area with Internet access, as well as a conference room and fitness club. Breakfast will be included in the price.
The hotel will be funded and operated by PPL’s subsidiary, Port-Hotel. “I am sure the Hampton by Hilton brand will live up to the expectations of customers travelling both on business and for pleasure. It will do well in the Polish market,” said Mirosław Moczarski, President of Port-Hotel sp. z o.o.
The construction comes at the same time as work on another hotel under the brand, Hampton by Hilton Gdańsk Airport, which will be located in front of the new terminal of Gdańsk-Rębiechowo Lech Wałęsa Airport.
Warsaw Chopin Airport
KUEHNE + Nagel's (KN) information management system, KN Login, is now available in simplified Chinese, in addition to English, German, French, Italian and Spanish to meet the increasing demand of its Chinese customers for supply chain visibility and monitoring.
Through a single web-based interface, KN Login enables customers to know where all their shipments are. It links all the company's business units across the globe, offering trades and industries the detailed information they need, in the way they want to see it. The access to near real-time data drives improvements in productivity and efficiency by offering enhanced monitoring and accurate shipment progress.
Key features of KN Login include: dashboard, direct access, EDI, global standards, images, interactive delivery planner, monitoring and alert tools, statistics, booking as well as order management solutions.
In Asia Pacific, Kuehne + Nagel operates at 165 locations and employs around 7,300 people.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
A WHOLLY-owned subsidiary of SinOceanic Shipping ASA, SinOceanic III AS (Sino III), has taken delivery of the MSC Regulus with a capacity of 13,100 TEU and placed her on a 15-year bareboat charter party with Mediterranean Shipping Company, Geneva, at a daily rate of US$46,650.
The vessel was purchased for $156 million and the initial working capital requirements of Sino III have been financed by a $100 million secured first priority loan which carries an interest of 12 per cent per annum the first year, and 11 per cent in the second optional year.
In addition, the company has arranged for a $20 million secured second priority mezzanine loan which also carries an interest of 12 per cent a year, and a $44 million secured third priority loan which carries an interest of 19 per cent p.a and a back-end fee in the amount of $1 million, payable at maturity. Also these loans have a tenor of one option one year.
The latter loan has been provided by Oceanus International Investment, the largest shareholder in the company, and is without recourse to the company. The loan is re-financeable, and it is the company's intention to seek to refinance this loan once the equity markets normalise.
It is also the objective of Sino III to refinance the senior and mezzanine loans with bank financing in China, or elsewhere, as soon as possible and in accordance with the terms of the loans. The work to refinance these loans is already in progress.
With the delivery of the MSC Regulus, the company has completed its present vessel acquisition programme.
The company now operates four container vessels with a total container carrying capacity of 44,000 TEU consisting of YM Portland (4,440 TEU), MSC Vega, MSC Altair and MSC Regulus, which are three Very Large Container Ships (VLCS) each of 13,100 TEU carrying capacity. The fleet makes the company a top tier container ship provider in Europe.
Total aggregated fixed freight income from the vessels in the fleet is projected to be $1 billion over the charter party periods, and the annual EBITDA is estimated to be $60 million.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
SINGAPORE tops latest edition of the World Bank's Logistic Performance Index (LPI) from 155 countries, followed by Hong Kong, Finland, Germany dropping from top spot, the Netherlands with the US making the biggest leap from ninth rank from 15th two years ago, and UK slipping to tenth.
The logistics gap is widening between those in the bottom 10, all low-income countries with eight in Africa, and the top 10 high-income countries since 2010 following three years of improvement by lower performing countries to improve LP scores. This trend was attributed to logistics reform being assigned less importance in favour of global events like the recession, and the European debt crisis.
For these bottom 10 ranked African countries, all are hindered by conflict and natural disasters affecting access to markets outside of those of independent republic Djibouti and Burundi in central Africa, said the World Bank report.
The impact of this on developing countries, and particularly those that are land-locked and poor, means that the cost of transport and logistics bumps up food prices between 20 and 60 per cent. US imported corn to Nicaragua is marked up by as much as 48 per cent, said the World Bank's logistics survey 'Connecting to Compete 2012'.
"Transport and logistics directly affect the price and local availability of food through the performance and resilience of food chains, especially in African and Middle Eastern countries that depend heavily on food imports," the bank said, cited American Shipper.
But Morocco, which was able to implement a comprehensive strategy to its logistics and connectivity to nearby Europe, has since jumped from 113 in 2007 to 50 in 2012. Other countries improving performance included BRIC nations of China and India with Chile, South Africa, Turkey and the US succeeding ahead of others.
Infrastructure is key to progress for those top performers with logistics services, and customs and border management coming close second and third, said World Bank's International Trade manager Mona Haddad: "All top performers show strong cooperation between the public and private sectors, and a comprehensive approach in the development of services, infrastructure and efficient logistics."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
VIETNAM National Shipping Lines, Vinalines, has wasted billions of dollars with foreign partners on running three ineffective ports, namely the Cai Mep Port (CMIT), SP-SSA Port (SSIT) and the Saigon Container International Port (SP-PSA), in the Cai Mep - Thi Vai area.
SP-PSA is the joint venture among Vinalines, the Saigon Port Company and Singaporean PSA International, while CMIT is the joint venture between Vinalines and Danish APM Terminals.
In the period 2007-2010, the three ports suffered a huge total loss of VND252 billion (US$0.01 billion) from an initial investment of VND1,807.82 billion. In 2011, SP-PSA and CMIT reported a loss as high as VND460 billion.
Despite the ports' ability to receive ships of tonnage up to 100,000 DWT and the slashing of fees, the volumes have not materialised. Ships over 50,000 DWT at international transit ports in Vietnam enjoy a maritime security charge discount of 40 per cent and a pilotage fee slashed by half. Container handling fee is at an all-time low of $49 per TEU lower than the regional average of $40 per TEU.
Regardless of the size of vessels docking, the ship owners can only get some hundreds of TEUs rather than full capacity of a 51,000 DWT at 4,500 TEU due to the low volumes in both exports and imports, said Hanjin Shipping Vietnam general director Park Hoon.
CMIT deputy general director Nguyen Xuan Ky said the unexpected drop in volume against the money invested into the ports has investors "worried stiff". The ports will be in the red for at least 12-13 years, according to analysts, cited a report from VietnamNetBridge.
The projects were made under the leadership of former chairman Duong Chi Dung, now under arrest warrant for his mismanagement of Vinalines.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
EUROTUNNEL's rail freight arm Europorte Channel has completed a trial run of unaccompanied semi-trailers from Antwerp, Belgium to Russell Railfreight Terminal, Barking of East London in seven hours.
The freight train's test run carried megatrailers from Dutch carrier's Ewals Cargo Care with automotive components for Vauxhall on High Speed 1 to London.
Europorte Channel commercial director Neil Crossland said he hopes for a daily service which would operate over HS1 at night, return the following night, leaving roughly 20 hours for trailers to be delivered and reloaded, cited a report from Surrey-based Railway Gazette.
It has already had interest in extending the network to the Midlands and the North-West with Network Rail. If the service allows shippers to migrate from trucks to road, supporting environmental strategies, it must compete on price, he added.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
HONG KONG-based Dragonair has announced plans to commence service to Kolkata, its second destination in India after launching flights to Bangalore in 2008.
Subject to government approval and the date on which the new airport terminal is opened, the service to Kolkata will commence in winter 2012 with four flights a week operated by Airbus A320 aircraft, a company statement said.
The service will link the carrier's Hong Kong hub and its Mainland China network to destinations in North America and Australia through connections to the global network of sister airline Cathay Pacific.
"The launch of a new service to Kolkata marks an important step in building Dragonair's presence in the Indian market," said chief executive officer Patrick Yeung. "India is one of the major economies in Asia and the country has an increasing influence on the world stage."
Kolkata will be the seventh destination to be launched or resumed by the airline this year that includes flights to Xi'an, Guilin, Jeju and Taichung since April. It will launch scheduled services to Clark in the Philippines towards the end of May and to Chiang Mai, Thailand in July.
"Brazil is an important market for Cargolux," Mr Reimen said. "It is the economic engine of the region. The presence of multinational companies has stimulated demand for fast and reliable air cargo transport, which is precisely what we offer our customers."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
DESPITE reporting a net loss of US$18.3 million last year, Luxembourg-based freight carrier Cargolux is expanding its network with the launch of two new weekly routes to Chongqing, China, in mid-May and has commenced weekly cargo service to Manaus, Brazil.
A company release said Cargolux will fly from Luxembourg to Manaus via Sao Paulo, and then route through Quito, Ecuador; Bogata; and Maastricht, Netherlands, before returning to Luxembourg.
On Cargolux's first route to Chongqing, it will depart from Luxembourg, route through Doha, Qatar, and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, and then arrive at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport the next evening. The carrier will then return to Luxembourg via Singapore; Kuala Lumpur; and Baku, Azerbaijan, one day later.
Cargolux's second service to Chongqing will route through Tbilisi, Georgia; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Singapore and then return to Luxembourg via Baku, according to the press release.
The decision to launch two weekly flights to Chongqing was based on the region's immense airfreight growth, added Mr Reimen. "We see a lot of potential in Chongqing, not least because of the planned expansion of the airport's cargo facilities to accommodate the region's burgeoning export market."
Cargolux expects to see large volumes of electronics, automotive parts and pharmaceuticals out of Chongqing. On the carrier's new Brazil route, transport equipment, footwear, cars and iron ore are projected to be the key exports, while machinery, chemical products, oil, electronics and automotive spare parts will likely comprise the main imports into Manaus' Eduardo Gomes International Airport.
"Brazil is an important market for Cargolux," Mr Reimen said. "It is the economic engine of the region. The presence of multinational companies has stimulated demand for fast and reliable air cargo transport, which is precisely what we offer our customers."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
RUSSIA's AirBridgeCargo Airlines has inaugurated a new service from Moscow to Chongqing, Zhengzhou and back to Moscow, raising the number of Chongqing's international freighter service to 17, Xinhua reports.
The new service offers two flights per week on Tuesday and Friday, using Boeing 747-400 freighter. The flight arrives at Chongqing at 0015 hrs and leaves at 0315 hrs.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
Sintana Energy (TSXV:SNN) recently announced the closing of an exciting business combination with ColCan, a private Canadian company, to acquire their oil and gas assets in Colombia.
InvestmentPitch.com has produced a "video news alert" summarizing these projects. If this link is not enabled, please visit www.InvestmentPitch.com and enter "Sintana" in the search box.
Sintana is currently partnered with Petrodorado in the Talora block and with Canacol in the COR-39 and COR 11 blocks - all located in the Upper Magdalena Basin.
Under the terms of the agreement, ColCan contributed its interests in the VMM-15, 37 and 4 Blocks in Middle Magdalena Basin and the LLA-18 Block in the prolific Llanos Basin.
Sintana's CEO, Doug Manner stated, "The four new assets involved in this transaction provide Sintana with a significant advancement towards our strategic goals in the area. They enhance our prospect inventory and add tremendous reserve potential, both conventional and unconventional. The 25% carried interests in three of the blocks, as well as the 100% working interest in VMM-37, which could be farmed out for additional capital carries, allows Sintana to significantly increase its drilling inventory with minimal additional capital required."
The Magdalena is the oldest producing basin in Columbia. Major players such as Shell Oil, Ecopetrol, Lewis Energy, Canacol and others are also positioned in the region due to its huge, unconventional shale oil potential.
Two of the new blocks, the VMM-37 and VMM-4, are ideally located in this unconventional fairway.
Recently, Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil and gas company acquired interests in the VMM-2 right next to Sintana's VMM-4 property. The attraction to this area is the fact that the shale is potentially 3 to 4 times thicker than the Eagle Ford Shale found in Texas.
The conventional and unconventional resource estimates in the Middle Magdalena are considerable - ranging from several billion to almost 40 billion barrels of oil.
The Sintana business combination was conditional upon a minimum 11 million dollar financing being completed by ColCan prior to closing. To complete the financing, ColCan entered into a bought deal financing with a syndicate of agents co-led by Canaccord Genuity and Cormark Securities which also includes Casimir, GMP and Clarus.
In other news, Sintana recently began its exploration program on the 175,000 acre Bayovar Block in Peru with 10 wells already permitted. Details on this program can be found on the company's website.
Sintana Energy has offices in Toronto, Dallas and Bogota and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol SNN.
Sintana currently trades at $0.15, and with approximately 114 million shares outstanding, is capitalized at $17 million.
Hugin Online
The United Arab Shipping Company (UASC) names 13,500 TEU containership in Hamburg on 25 May.
The AIN SNAN was delivered after a nine-month building phase in January of this year. The UMM SALAL, the first of nine UASC new builds in this size class already went into service in June 2011. During the course of the first five months of this year all nine vessels have been delivered from the builder Samsung Heavy Industries Shipyard in Korea, with whom the order was placed in July 2008.
The 366-metre-long and 48 metre-wide ultra large container ship (ULCS) has a loading capacity of over 145,000 DWT (dead weight tonnage), providing a capacity of more than 800 slots for refrigerated containers.
The ship is deployed on the AEC8 Far East – Red Sea – Europe Service in which CMA CGM and CSCL shipping lines are also partners which they market as FAL 2 / AEX 7.
In addition, Yang Ming, Hanjin, COSCO, have booked slots on this service. The port rotation is: Hamburg, Zeebrügge, Jeddah, Port Klang, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Hong Kong, Yantian, Port Klang, Jeddah, Le Havre, Rotterdam, Hamburg.
UASC invited around 100 customers, shipping company representatives, as well as the terminal operator Eurogate to the naming ceremony. During the reception it was possible to visit the containership. The Deputy Harbour Master, Andreas Brummermann personally on board for the ship’s naming ceremony, welcomed the Captain, Nazr Ul Islam and presented him with a plaque bearing the Admiralty Coat of Arms of the Port of Hamburg.
In the presence of UASC Vice President Europe, Bjarne Ehlig-Jensen, the naming ceremony was carried out by Emanuel Schiffer (Eurogate Management). The AIN SNAN was named with water from Zamzam spring in Mecca, Saudi-Arabia. These waters are said to rise from Paradise and have healing powers.
Being on her maiden voyage 13,500 TEU vessel MALIK AL ASHTAR, a sister ship of the AIN SNAN, moored at HHLA Container Terminal Burchardkai at the same time and therefore joined the ceremony from over there.
Hafen Hamburg Marketing e.V.
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