The 'Lions' of Hong Kong awaken at the official opening of China Maritime 2008

Hong Kong's Secretary for Transport and Housing, Ms Eva Chan JP, awakens Hong Kong's 'Lions' at official opening of China Maritime 2008.

In front of a growing crowd of 100+ people and a well-represented media sector, China Maritime 2008 opened its doors for Hong Kong's only international shipping exhibition. Organiser, Neil Baird welcomed the VIPs and guests and stated how excited he was to be back in Hong Kong (since China Maritime 2006). 'We have a big spread of exhibitors covering the whole shipping industry, from small to large,' he said. 'Hong Kong is an exciting entry point to China and with the support of the Hong Kong Government, we are looking to build on our last exhibition and are looking forward to helping to build a truly international Hong Kong maritime week, over the years to come. Mr Peter Cremers, Chairman of the Hong Kong Shipowners Association, thanked the organisers for their persistence in bringing the China Maritime exhibition to Hong Kong and wished the exhibition a successful three days. An exciting Lion dance was witnessed by all. Ms Eva Cheng and Mr Peter Cremers conducted the ribbon cutting ceremony that officially opens the Exhibition. Over the past seven years, China's shipbuilding industry has had some 30 percent growth per annum, making it the second largest shipbuilding country in the world, today.

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European shipping co. to bring more cargo through port

A European shipping company has agreed to bring more containerized cargo to the Port of New Orleans.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. said that it will immediately open a direct shipping line between New Orleans and docks on the west coast of South America, adding one vessel call per week to the port's container terminal at the foot of Napoleon Avenue. MSC already brings two ships per week to Napoleon Avenue from wharves on the east coast of South America and in Europe. The new service is "a coup" that will bring New Orleans more business from a major shipper, said Conrad Appel, a former chairman of the Dock Board of the Port of New Orleans who advises GNO Inc. on maritime issues. "What this means is that New Orleans can be considered a blooming but potentially major player in the container ship trade," Appel said. "It demonstrates their confidence in the Port of New Orleans as a gateway." MSC's decision follows news that the company forged a partnership with Ceres Gulf Inc., one of two stevedores that operate the Napoleon Avenue terminal. Joined under the banner New Orleans Terminals, MSC and Ceres Gulf soon will begin operating half of the terminal. Upon announcing the partnership last year, port officials promised the arrangement would result in more containerized cargo from MSC. Cargo volumes at the terminal have grown in recent years. Data shows that the port handled 250,649 TEUs last year, up more than 42 percent from 2006.

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Keppel surpasses 11 million safe man-hours on two FPSOs for SBM

ExxonMobil to support Keppel Shipyard in its Safety Excellence 2010 roadmap.

Keppel Shipyard has set another safety milestone with more than 11 million man-hours worked without lost-time incidents (LTI) on two FPSO (floating production storage and offloading) facilities converted for Single Buoy Moorings (SBM) and Esso Exploration Angola (Block 15) (ExxonMobil) for the Kizomba C project in Angola. FPSO 'Saxi Batuque', achieved six million man-hours without LTI, while FPSO 'Mondo', which was delivered in September last year, attained five million. The successful completion of these FPSOs is the culmination of seven years of safety partnership involving Keppel Shipyard, SBM and ExxonMobil. ExxonMobil's contribution to Keppel's safety efforts goes far beyond the projects they work on. The oil major has been actively involved in the promotion of safety programs at Keppel Shipyard throughout the seven-year period. ExxonMobil and SBM also play an important role in Keppel Shipyard's Safety Steering Committee. The delivery of Saxi Batuque will mark a new phase in ExxonMobil's strategic safety partnership with Keppel Shipyard to achieve its Safety Excellence 2010 plan. The program will establish a roadmap for additional safety improvements, to ensure that results are sustainable and can continue to grow in the future. The Minister of Planning of the Republic of Angola, Mrs Ana Dias Lourenco, named the vessel ‘Saxi Batuque’. FPSO 'Saxi Batuque' will be capable of processing 100,000 barrels of oil per day with a storage capacity for 1.6 million barrels of oil.
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Eskom buys raw export coal to boost quality-miners

South African state utility Eskom is having to buy more raw, unwashed export coal on a spot basis because much of its newly-rebuilt stocks are powdered fines difficult to handle.

Eskom has been battling a power supply crisis that has hit the country's lifeblood mining industry and caused blackouts. Eskom has during the past month been buying crushed run-of-mine (ROM) coal at just under R300 a tonne free-on-truck to blend with fines making them useable. Eskom has signed new term contracts in the past two months at around R150 a tonne FOT, double last year's contract price. A high proportion of fines delivered to the plants would leave Eskom little option but to buy ROM coal at market value in order to sweeten the blend and ensure maximum power generation round the clock. Eskom has also bought a small amount of washed, export coal at around R600 a tonne FOT, where ROM has not been immediately available, according to one mining source. Earlier this week, Eskom spokesman Andrew Etzinger acknowledged that the utility had experienced difficulty handling and burning fine coal over the past few years. This remains a problem for Eskom, he said. "It's as much an issue of quality as quantity," he said. Coal mining companies have pledged an additional 5.4 million tonnes to Eskom for delivery within the next couple of months and this coal is starting to be moved. The majority of large and small coal producers have stepped up deliveries to Eskom during the past few weeks and are delivering coal of the size and quality sought by the utility.
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Avalanche buries PetroChina crew

Four PetroChina employees are dead and several are missing after an avalanche in north-western China’s Xinjiang region buried workers digging a tunnel for the company’s second west-to-east gas pipeline.

The avalanche struck at a mountain construction site for the 30 billion-cubic-metre-a-year pipeline linking Turkmenistan and eastern and southern China. About 70 workers were digging a 3.8-kilometre tunnel for the pipeline in the northern part of Xinjiang. More than 200 rescue workers were now searching for the missing, it said. The news service said 12 workers were buried by the avalanche, of which four had been found dead. The rescue operation was slowed by sub-freezing temperatures and heavy snow, deputy chief Zhang has been qouted as saying. "Machines, like bulldozers, can hardly get in as the road linking the construction site and the outside was covered by about one metre of snow," he said. PetroChina started building the pipeline in February. The $20.3 billion link consists of one trunk line and eight branch lines with a total length of 9102 kilometres. The western section of the line is scheduled to start operation next year. PetroChina already operates China's flagship west-east pipeline connecting gas fields in the Xinjiang region with the commercial hub of Shanghai, 4000 kilometres away on the east coast.

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