Sethusamudaram project – good or bad

Studies have found that the Sethusamundaram canal will bring in more havoc than making revenue for the country.

Studies conducted by Jacob John in Economic and Political Weekly reveals that it will be highly disturbing to the environmental conditions of the region. Sethusamundaram will be a channel dredged in the sea-bed of the Palk Straits, deep enough to accommodate ships of 20,000 DWT, there by saving ships both distance and time. So, it should be able to charge ships for passage, bringing in revenue to make the project economic.

Project documents claim that the canal will save ships 36 hours of time and 570 nautical miles of distance. But a recent study exposes these claims as highly exaggerated as time saving from Europe to Kolkata will be only eight hours, and the distance saving 215 nautical miles. From Africa to Kolkata, the time taken will actually increase by 3.5 hours (being piloted through the canal is a slow process), and distance reduced will be only 70 nautical miles. Thus ships could lose up to $4,992 per passage if they are charged the tariff laid down in project documents. In which case, ships will find it cheaper to go round Sri Lanka. It is also expected that the project will also suffer cost overruns in capital and maintenance dredging, and hence be in the red.

Moreover, Sethusamundaram will be at the constant mercy of currents bearing sand. Hence it’s not the project that will ruin the environment, but the environment will ruin the project. The project envisages maintenance dredging of two million cubic metres per year, infinitely more than required by the Suez and Panama canals. Also global shipping is shifting to ever-larger vessels. Bulk carriers and tankers often exceed 200,000 DWT, and those under 60,000 DWT are being phased out as uneconomic. So, Sethusamundaram will be unsuitable for the large vessels of the 21st century, making it a project of capital wastage.

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Dubai World to build $4.7 billion project

Dubai World has signed an agreement with Malaysia's diversified group MMC Corporation to jointly develop a Dh17 billion maritime centre in the southern state of Johor, marking the company's most significant venture in Southeast Asia.

The proposed plan comprises oil terminal activities, drydocks, shipyard, conventional cargo handling facilities, logistic parks and property developments. The projects will be developed in locations in Johor, including on a landbank of 2,255 acres at Tanjung Bin, which has been earmarked for industrial development. Work is planned to start later this year and the projects are expected to become operational in the second half of 2010, MMC said.

MMC is an investment holding company with interests in transport, logistics, energy, utilities, engineering and construction. The Malaysian project will be Dubai World's most high-profile venture in Southeast Asia.

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Star Clipper to build biggest Clipper

Star Clippers, have announced that they will build their largest sailing ship so far, 158 metres long.

The company has been in discussions with shipyards to build the new five mast vessel for delivery in 2010. Set to be the largest, most expensive sailing vessel ever constructed, the 7,400 tonne barque is modeled on France II, which at 5,000 tonnes was the world's largest sailing ship when it was launched in 1912. The ship will be 18.6 metres at the beam with a draft of 6 metres. It will carry 37 sails for a total of 20,730 square metres of sail surface area. The ship has been designed to make it capable of operating independently of any port infrastructure.

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CNOOC starts gas project in Indonesia

China National Offshore Oil Company Limited (CNOOC Limited) announced the phase two of the Southeast Sumatra (SES) gas project has started production.

CNOOC SES Ltd, a CNOOC Ltd subsidiary, was the operator, said CNOOC Ltd. The contractual gas delivery rate of the phase two of the project would be 78.4 million cubic feet per day. The project is located about 120 kilometers offshore West Java in Indonesia, with an average water depth of 30 meters. The development facilities in phase two include a production and processing platform, a gas plant, a gas compression and processing platform and three sub-sea pipelines. Phase one of the project commenced production in 2006.

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Dubai to host first oil technology summit

The Arab Gulf emirate of Dubai will host on November 19th 2007 a summit on Oil Technology (OT), which examines the role of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in advancing the oil and gas sector in the Middle East.

The OT Summit is the first summit in the Middle East developed exclusively for senior decision-makers from the Middle East oil and gas sector. The event, entitled ‘OT Summit – Middle East’, is a strategic platform to meet with the industry peers and leading technology providers to discuss IT strategies and to bring the latest technologies for an in depth explanation, examination and to facilitate the transformation.

Dependence of oil and gas industries on communication and information technology has become an essential tool for production in our recent time, commented Khalid Eid, Managing Director of the Dubai – based World Development Forum (WDF), the organizer of the three-day event. It is worth noting that the OT summit will be co-located with the Government Technology Summit (GT Summit), which brings together the elite of ICT in Arab Governments to discuss how Technology can help Arab Governments to improve services offered to Citizens, Business and Government.

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