AIRBRIDGECARGO Airlines (ABC), part of the Volga-Dnepr Group, has clinched the Wings of Russia national aviation prize for the fourth consecutive year.
Russia's largest international scheduled cargo airline was presented with the award for Cargo Airline of the Year on Domestic and International Routes at a Moscow awards ceremony that drew 600, including top managers from Russian airlines and government officials.
ABC president Tatyana Arslanova said the award reflects the successful realisation of its "cargo supermarket" strategy, based on the development and synergy of the two main businesses of Volga-Dnepr Group for charter and scheduled cargo operations.
"In 2011, ABC's growth was attributed to the introduction of new markets in the USA and China and the successful development of our route network in Russia to incorporate Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg," said Ms Arslanova. "This victory is the result of effective cooperation with our partners and participants of the Russian cargo industry, notably airports, service providers and national authorities."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
IN a move to boost the overseas sales of US-made business aircraft and helicopters, the US Export-Import Bank has announced a new process to assess credit risks and expedite foreign buyer financing, reports American Shipper.
"Ex-Im Bank understands that business-aircraft transactions require specialised knowledge and experience but has limited resources to meet the growing demand for export financing in this industry," said chairman Fred Hochberg in a statement.
"By leveraging private-sector expertise to assist and support our evaluation of these credits, we will be able to expand Ex-Im Bank's support for US business-aircraft exports and the manufacturing jobs that they sustain."
The bank will expedite these applications, the approval and closing process for foreign borrowers of Ex-Im-supported financing in business aircraft transactions. Using qualified advisors is also expected to provide enhanced credit structures, resulting in additional credit protections for Ex-Im Bank.
"The process is designed to benefit manufacturers that do not have a captive financing company, but which can now designate one or more advisors to work with their foreign buyers," the bank said.
Ex-Im Bank said it developed the process following on the successful model of its US$500 million loan facility approved in 2009 that provided funds to assist Textron Inc in financing exports of two of its companies, Cessna Aircraft and Bell Helicopter Textron. The loan allowed Textron to provide competitive terms and interest rates to finance the export of more than 100 Cessna aircraft exports and six Bell helicopters.
Last week, Ex-Im Bank's board approved a second facility for Textron, providing a guarantee of a $350 million loan from PNC Bank to a Textron subsidiary to finance the export of additional Cessna aircraft and Bell helicopters. The repayment term is 12 years.
"We anticipate that this facility will add to the success of the first such financing for Textron, which has helped to support hundreds of manufacturing jobs in Kansas, Georgia and Texas," Mr Hochberg said.
In fiscal year 2011, Ex-Im Bank authorised more than $12.6 billion in financing to support the export of US-manufactured aircraft of all types, including about $90 million for 10 business aircraft and helicopters exports to four countries - Brazil, Mexico, Panama and Switzerland.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
Kazakhstan plans to produce railway products worth of 300 billion tenge by 2015, Vice President of JSC NC "Kazakhstan Temir Zholy" Erik Sultanov told at the extended session of the Social Council of National Welfare Fund "Samruk-Kazyna", Gazeta.kz reported citing Kazinform agency.
According to Sultanov, railway industry produced products worth KZT 100 billion in 2011. This year the industry wants to hit the mark of KZT 155 billion.
By 2015, Kazakh railway producers are believed to produce 5,200 items of railway products. Today the analogous figure stands at 3,563 items, Sultanov added.
Central Asian News Service, en.ca-news.org
Montreal - The International Air Transport Association (IATA) Ground Handling Conference (IGHC) set priorities for improving safety and reducing aircraft damage in ground operations. These are: Establishment of a Ground Handling Council (GHC): IATA endorsed the establishment of the Ground Handling Council (GHC) to promote cooperation across the ground handling safety chain. The GHC will address all aspects of ground operations including load control, airside safety, ground support equipment, ground services agreements, as well as ground handling processes and procedures. The GHC will comprise 20 high-level representatives from airlines and ground service providers (GSPs) and report to the IATA Operations Committee.
Data-driven Analysis: IATA will link several key data sources and statistical information to facilitate data driven decisions to improve safety performance and reduce ground damage. The sources to be linked include:
* The Ground Damage Database (GDDB)
* Risk Management (RM)
* IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) and
* IATA Ground Operations standards and procedures, specifically the Airport Handling Manual (AHM) and the IATA Ground Operations Manual (IGOM).
Regulatory Engagement: IATA will promote greater regulatory acceptance and utilization of ISAGO and IGOM at the national level. The European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) already has endorsed these initiatives to which airlines and GSPs have committed. The goal is to achieve worldwide recognition of these programs by national regulators to initiate and implement oversight on ground operations.
"Ground handling is core to airline operations. Through renewed commitment to working together, taking a risk-based and data-driven approach, aviation stakeholders and regulators can improve safety and reduce the cost of ground damage, which is estimated in the billions of dollars annually. This will also increase reliability and improve operational performance," said Guenther Matschnigg, IATA Senior Vice President Safety, Operations and Infrastructure.
Matschnigg was speaking at the 25th annual meeting of the IGHC which met in Prague from 6-9 May 2012.
Source IATA
2012-05-18
AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE: AER) (the "Company") today announced that AerCap Aviation Solutions B.V. (the "Issuer"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, priced its previously announced offering of $300 million in aggregate principal amount of senior unsecured notes (the "notes"). The notes will bear interest at a rate of 6.375% per year and will mature on May 30, 2017. The transaction is expected to close on May 22, 2012, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions. The notes will be guaranteed by the Company. The Issuer intends to on-lend the net proceeds from the sale of the notes to the Company and its subsidiaries, to enable the Company and its subsidiaries to acquire, invest in, finance or refinance aircraft assets and for other general corporate purposes, which will include the repayment of outstanding indebtedness.
The notes and related guarantee will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to any U.S. persons absent registration under the Securities Act, or pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act and applicable state securities laws. The notes will be offered only to "qualified institutional buyers" under Rule 144A of the Securities Act or, outside the United States, to persons other than "U.S. persons" in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act.
This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy the notes, nor shall there be any offer, solicitation or sale of any notes in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.
Huginonline
STATISTICS released by the Port of Los Angeles show that box throughput in April surged 14.5 per cent to a total of 707,182 TEU compared to the same month last year.
"April was a very, very strong month with double-digit increases on both the import and export side. It was our best month of 2012 and also the busiest April ever in terms of overall volumes. We were pleasantly surprised with the import numbers, and that could reflect increased consumer confidence," said port spokesman Phillip Sanfield.
Factoring in empties, which increased 13.3 per cent year on year, the overall volume reflects the busiest April in the port's history, surpassing April 2007 volumes of 679,575 TEU, reported American Shipper.
At the same time, import volume rose 16.7 per cent to 364,555 TEU from 312,359 TEU in April 2011, while exports increased 11.5 per cent, from 167,448 TEU to 186,838 TEU in April 2012. Combined, total loaded imports and exports for April increased 14.9 per cent from 479,808 TEU last April to 551,393 TEU in April 2012.
For the first four months of 2012, overall container volumes have increased 6.1 per cent (2,582,003 TEU) compared to the same period in 2011 (2,433,499 TEU).
Said Mr Sanfield: "The increase in empty containers returning to Asia bodes well because it's an indication that shippers are repositioning containers for the return-to-school season. Those goods traditionally start coming toward the end of June and into July. After that, we're hopeful that our late summer volumes will move into a more traditional holiday peak season pattern."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
NEW YORK listed Seaspan, with major offices in Hong Kong and Vancouver, but registered in the Marshall Islands, posted a first quarter 1.4 per cent net profit increase to US$51.25 million year on year, drawn on revenues of 152.08 million, up 25 per cent.
"During the first quarter, Seaspan continued to generate strong, stable operational and financial results for shareholders," said Seaspan CEO Gerry Wang.
The company achieved 99.1 per cent in vessel utilisation. "We also took delivery of two newbuildings during the quarter, increasing our fleet to 67 vessels," said Mr Wang.
Both 13,100-TEU ships, named Cosco Excellence and Cosco Faith have started operations under 12-year, fixed-rate time charter with China's flag carrier Cosco.
On April 18 and 27, Seaspan received the delivery of Cosco Hope and the Cosco Fortune, bringing its operating fleet to 69 vessels. Both 13,100-TEU ships are also on charter to Cosco under 12-year, fixed-rate time charter contracts.
Besides, it fixed the ship CSCL Ningbo on a six-month time charter with CSCL on April 24 at a charter rate of $8,450 per day, with an additional six-month extension option at a charter rate of $12,250 per day.
But it said CSCL did not exercise its option in March to extend the time charter for the CSCL Dalian. So the company plans to re-charter the ship when it is redelivered to Seaspan in July.
Also, the company said it was notified in March that the time charter for the UASC Madinah will not be extended, so the ship will be returned to Seaspan in June.
Said Mr Wang: "We remain committed to drawing upon our strong and flexible capital structure to further grow our high-quality fleet in a disciplined manner. In achieving this important goal, we intend to continue to emphasize our SAVER vessel design, which we believe provides customers with improved efficiency and operational savings."
The company will now pursue its plan on building three 10,000-TEU vessels. On May 12, three of its subsidiaries signed a deal of $224 million loan with a leading Chinese bank for these newbuildings.
The company said it expects the agreement to be implemented by early June. "These vessels are scheduled to be delivered in 2014 when they will commence operations under charters with Hanjin Shipping for a period of 10 years, plus an additional two years at the option of Hanjin."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
TAIWAN's Evergreen Line will join Hanjin Shipping and UASC to start a West Africa Service (WAF), presenting transshipment opportunities through Algeciras from the end of May.
Four ships with capacities of 2,800-3,000 TEU will be deployed on the joint service which will provide an efficient transshipment link to the Far East and Europe via Algeciras and extend Evergreen's global service network to West Africa, the company said.
Evergreen Line and UASC will deploy one vessel each and the other two ships will be operated by Hanjin. The first sailing is planned from Algeciras on May 30, and the port rotation for the 28-day voyage is as follows: Algeciras, Lagos, Tema, Abidjan and back to Algeciras.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
KUWAIT's big forwarder, Agility, has posted a first quarter year-on-year eight per cent net profit decline to KWD7.1 million (US$25.4 million), drawn on revenues of KWD321.8 million, down one per cent.
But the company said that after a one off adjustment, EBITDA grew 41 per cent from KWD10.9 million to KWD15.4 million during the period.
"2011 was the first year that we began reporting our numbers excluding defence and government contracts. Relative to this baseline, 2012 has started off on the right track," said Agility chairman and managing director Tarek Sultan.
"We are pushing forward with the initiatives already started last year. We have worked hard to restructure the business in the last two years, and as a result, we are today a strong and stable company - more streamlined, efficient and competitive. Although we still have work ahead to complete the turnaround in our commercial business, I am confident that we are focusing on the right priorities," he said.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
CHINA Shipping Container Lines' new 4,738-TEU Xin Qin Zhou vessel, the first ship named after south western China's Qinzhou port, was launched at Qinzhou Bonded Port Area International Container Terminal, Xinhua reports.
The 255.1-metre long and 37.3-metre wide ship has a draught of 13 metres. It has a dead weight tonnage of 66,903 tonnes. It was built in August 2010 and delivered in April this year.
The ship is deployed on CSCL's domestic trade lane from Qinzhou to Tianjin. CSCL domestic trade manager Song Tao said south-western China's fast economic growth will provide abundant cargo for the shipping line and that CSCL plans to launch more routes from Qinzhou in the future.
During the first four months this year, port of Qinzhou handled 136,400 TEU, 68.9 per cent more than in the same period last year.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
FROM January to April this year, port of Chongqing lifted 241,000 TEU, up 23 per cent year on year, Xinhua reports.
The port's throughput tonnage increased 12.4 per cent to 37.58 million tonnes. Foreign trade cargo grew 29.1 per cent to 1.31 million tonnes.
In the same period, Chongqing's waterway container increased 25.9 per cent to 201,000 TEU. Waterway cargo tonnage climbed 7.8 per cent to 35.12 million tonnes. Waterway cargo traffic turnover grew 5.7 per cent to 436 billion tonnes per kilometre.
In April, Chongqing port's box throughput grew 25.3 per cent year on year and 7.5 per cent month on month to 59,000 TEU. Throughput tonnage increased 9.91 per cent year on year but dropped 0.6 per cent over March to 8.53 million tonnes. Foreign trade cargo throughput surged 44 per cent year on year and 17.8 per cent month on month to 340,000 tonnes.
In April, the city's waterborne container grew 19 per cent year on year and 11.5 per cent month on month to 55,000 TEU. Waterway cargo tonnage increased 1.9 per cent year on year but decreased one per cent month on month to 8.97 million tonnes. Waterway cargo turnover dropped 13 per cent year on year and 10.3 per cent over March to 99.77 billion tonnes per kilometre.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
CROATIA's Adriatic Gate Container Terminal (AGCT), a unit of Manila's International Container Terminal Services Inc (ICTSI), has ordered two post-panamax quay cranes, eight rubber tyre gantries and rail mounted gantries from with Shanghai's Zhenhua Heavy Industries Company (ZPMC).
ZPMC (its initials retained from the company's former name, the Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company, will deliver all the equipment to the Port of Rijeka next May when the new quay extension will be complete with 14.5 metres alongside and an 80,000-square metre yard.
The new equipment will allow full access to post-panamax vessels for handling when fully loaded. The deliveries will also coincide with the start of intermodal connection inland with scheduled trains operating between Rijeka, Belgrade and Budapest.
In 2011, ICTSI signed an agreement with Luka Rijeka for a 30-year partnership for the operation, management and development of AGCT. The terminal is being primed to become the gateway to central and south eastern Europe, serving Hungary, the former Czechoslovakia and the former Yugoslavia and well as southern Poland.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
AP MOLLER MAERSK chief executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen, 53, was clearly back at work with the announcement of Danish shipping giant's quarterly results after he spent more than four months on medical leave following heart surgery.
Mr Andersen was hospitalised during a skiing holiday in Switzerland in December, reported Dow Jones. After surgery to replace a cardiac valve in Switzerland for two weeks, he returned to Denmark in mid-January.
He was initially expected to resume work at the beginning of February, but suffered a setback and further surgery in late March, said the report.
"Having participated in a number of meetings and having been updated on our activities during the last couple of weeks, I am now ready to return to work," Mr Andersen said.
During his absence, the company has been led by members of the executive board, reporting to supervisory board chairman Michael Pram Rasmussen.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
GLOBAL logistics provider Kuehne + Nagel Japan has been granted the medical device manufacturing licence (packaging, labelling and storage) for its logistics facility in Ichikawa by the Chiba Prefecture Government.
"The licence is a huge step forward for Kuehne + Nagel to expand its position as a leading logistics provider to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry," said Kuehne + Nagel Japan president Tadhg Meaney.
The newly obtained licence enables the company to undertake three aspects of manufacturing processes of medical devices, namely the packaging, labelling and storing of medical devices, before distributing the tools to the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry in Japan.
The company has also appointed a dedicated on-site technical specialist for medical device manufacturing at its Ichikawa logistics facility to comply with the licensing requirements.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has appointed the International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) as one of two organisations to give an enhanced bunkering course for cargo officers in a bid to upgrade professionalism and competence.
From July 1, all new cargo officers will be required to not only be familiar with the requirements of the Singapore Standard on Bunkering (SS 600), but also to have successfully completed the Enhanced Bunkering Course, before working independently on board bunker tankers. Existing cargo officers will be required to attend and successfully complete the course by June 30 2013.
IBIA, along with the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA), has run a cargo officers' course since 2009, to enhance cargo officers' technical knowledge on bunkering related shipboard operations as well as to raise general awareness of maritime security and personal safety.
Trevor Harrison, IBIA's acting chief executive said: "Credit must go to the regional manager of IBIA Asia, Kwok Fook Sing, who has invested a great deal of time and effort in devising the course structure and producing its content, as well as liaising with the MPA to ensure that the course fulfils its objectives and meets the MPA's high standards."
Kwok Fook Sing said: "We are pleased to be able to have worked with the MPA in developing this course to members of the bunkering community and we look forward to working with them to achieve their targets for quality standards through the delivery of these courses."
As well as the enhanced course, IBIA is also providing a one-day Basic Bunkering Course on SS600, which is recognised by MPA, and both courses are currently run at monthly intervals.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
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