Pioneering ship loan deal struck VLCC owner Golden Ocean has become the first shipowner to finance a vessel using ship mortgage indemnity.
Stranded A port officer in Dili, East Timor, assists a group of Chinese boat people who were stranded when their vessel experienced engine failure and they ran out of fuel, food and medicine. Local Chinese helped replenish the supplies and repaired the boat so the 57 boat people could restart their voyage, believed to be to New Zealand, yesterday.
Optimistic signs that boxship decline may bottom out CHARTERING activity by a new Chinese entrant into the international container shipping trades, coupled with resolve by some owners to hold out for higher rates, has lent a rare air of optimism to the boxship markets.
Wartsila NSD posts $1.22m annual loss ALTHOUGH sales of Wartsila NSD marine engines reached record levels in 1998, poor returns from the power plant sector saw the Finnish-owned engine designer and manufacturer post a heavy operating loss of Fm644m ($122m) for 1998.
Concordia will cut rates to gain charters for older ships CONCORDIA president Lars Carlsson will take freight rates as low as necessary to secure charters for his fleet of U/VLCCs when they sail past 25 years of age and adopt hydrostatic balanced loading.
Hvide fourth quarter profits hit FOURTH quarter 1998 net profits for Port Everglades-based marine support and transport services firm Hvide Marine plunged more than 80%, to $1.9m ($0.12 per share) from $9.8m ($0.56 per share) for the year-earlier period.
Seascope looks to break the mould SEASCOPE is breaking the shipbroking mould. As the broking community is buffeted by an unforgiving depression in the dry cargo market and ship values, the London-listed company is like others seeking to insulate itself from swings and roundabouts.
The Basle convention and an outburst of morality OH dear! The one thing that shipowners and their bankers have been able to count on since the dugout canoe - namely that, if you cannot find anything at all to do with your ship, you can at least sell her for breaking up - now seems to be at risk, thanks to the Basle Convention.
Le Havre ouvert à toute formule de terminaux dédiés? Si tout se déroule comme prévu, le Port autonome du Havre pourrait disposer de deux postes à quai pour trafics containérisés dans son nouvel avant-port dès le mois de janvier 2003. Ce quai serait équipé de cinq portiques super-postpanamax. Ainsi serait réalisée la première phase du projet "Port 2000", qui serait immédiatement suivie de la seconde, portant sur deux postes supplémentaires, si l'évolution du trafic le justifie. Reste à savoir à qui les concessions seront accordées et par qui les futurs terminaux seront exploités? "Nous n'avons aucune idée préconçue à ce sujet. Nous ferons ce qu'il faut pour être bons et efficaces, nous agirons en fonction de la valeur des projets présentés", nous a dit André Graillot, directeur général du PA, lors d'une réunion de presse tenue jeudi dernier à Paris.
Synchrony Logistique conclut un accord de collaboration avec Penske Logistics La société américaine Penske Logistics Europe et la société française Synchrony Logistique ont conclu un accord de collaboration visant à échanger leurs activités de logistique. Penske confie ses opérations logistiques en France à Synchrony, tandis que cette dernière va bénéficier des prestations de Penske en Europe. La nouvelle a en tout cas été bien accueillie par la Bourse de Paris: les actions de Synchrony y ont augmenté de 7,56% à 20,33 EUR.
Suppression de l'harmonisation des tarifs de pilotage Rotterdam-Anvers La coopération entre la Flandre et les Pays-Bas sera encore plus développée dans le cadre d'une meilleure gestion du trafic maritime sur l'Escaut (la soi-disante gestion nautique). C'est ce que le ministre flamand des Travaux publics Steve Stevaert et son homologue néerlandais Netelenbos ont décidé.
Les écluses de Kembs enfin rénovées Après quatre ans de travaux, le complexe éclusier de Kembs, sur le Grand Canal d'Alsace, fait peau neuve. Un programme lourd de rénovation et de modernisation y a été réalisé. Le sas est a vu doubler sa longueur.
Unions want fleet guarantees BHP Transport is expected to come under pressure to provide guarantees on tonnage levels at this week's meetings of rank and file seafarers affected by the company's decision to pull out of the trans-Tasman trade. Seventy-two jobs will go as a result of this decision. Today, members of the Australian Institute of Marine and Power Engineers will meet to discuss the situation which many view as alarming. The company's fleet has been reduced to 17 ships with nine exits over the past two years and more rumored.
Stronger FESCO plans renewal The far Eastern Shipping Company is set to retonnage its FESCO Australia Line service within two years. And it does not rule out cooperation with other lines in the North American trade, in the light of the stalled deal with Contship. FESCO's president Captain Viktor Miskov, in Melbourne last week for senior management meetings, said that while the company had a good name it realised it could not indefinitely provide the level of service the market required with the aged ships it employed in FAL.
Troubled Oceanfast seeks lifelife Financially embattled shipbuilder, Oceanfast Ltd will announce today whether it has succeeded in its quest to find much-needed funds to revitalise its Henderson shipyard. The company, which for some time has suffered from the under capitalisation that has led to the demise of other shipbuilders around the nation, sought a trading halt on the Australian Stock Exchange on Thursday. ASX regulations require the company to make an announcement on its future within two trading days after the trading halt. There has been wide speculation that Austal Ships may be involved in a bail out of Oceanfast, however Austal executives could not be contacted to confirm or deny this.
Swire has big plans for Darwin The Hong Kong-based Swire Group is delivering the luxury of greater choice to Northern Territory shippers following the introduction of a new liner service between Darwin and South-East Asia. The service, which is an alternative to that offered by NT-based company Perkins Shipping, represents part of a long-term strategy to play a role in expanding trade between northern Australia and Asia. The north-bound service started on 24 January with the 895 TEU Chekiang, after Swire extended its New Guinea Pacific Line's trade routes.
New $1.5 million pilot boat for PPSP Port Phillip Sea Pilots this week placed an order for a new $1.5 million pilot launch with Chivers Marine in Western Australia. PPSP's managing director Captain Charles Griffiths said: "The vessel is similar in appearance to our other 16.5-metre launch but is stronger and faster." He said the pilots had worked with Chivers Marine to ensure the new craft was "bullet proof" to enable it to easily withstand the continual pounding it will get once it starts operating in Port Phillip heads.
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