Indo-French naval exercise to be held in Bay of Bengal

After bringing in nuclear carrier Charles de Gaulle and Nuclear submarines to Indian waters, the French Navy proposes to field its largest amphibious assault ship Mistral in the war games with Indian Navy to be held early next month.

Mistral, 32,300 tonnes displacement warship would be accompanied by Missile frigates and stealth ships in the Varuna-2008 exercises to be held in Bay of Bengal off India's Eastern Sea board in which amphibious landings would form a major component, Naval sources said. The visit of the amphibious warship to Indian waters assumes significance as Indian Navy has expressed interest in the design of the Ship Landing dock. Mistral is capable of deploying 16 NH 90 medium helicopters and has reinforced forward pod to accommodate 30 tonne helicopters such as the CH-53E super stallion. The warship is capable of ferrying a whole armed battalion with 13 heavy tanks and 70 vehicles and has four landing barges. The French Naval flotilla will dock in Chennai around May 12, and then after a port call undertake war games with Indian Naval warships including Rajput class missile destroyers, Kirch class corvettes, submarines and helicopters, in the Bay of Bengal. At around the same time, an Indian Naval flotilla comprising warships of the Western Naval Fleet will embark on a trip to Horn of Africa for the first ever Indo-South African and Brazilian trilateral war games.

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Dubai World eyes Mauritania development

His Excellency Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Dubai World chairman, has expressed interest in managing and developing Nouakchott port in Mauritania and has identified great potential for a freezone nearby.

During a meeting with the Mauritanian President, His Excellency Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Bin Sulayem discussed investment opportunities in various sectors of the economy, including minerals, mining and power generation. “We held very fruitful talks with His Excellency the Mauritanian President, during which he welcomed investments from Dubai World and expressed keen interest in the Dubai development model and admiration for the vision and foresight of its leaders,” said the Dubai Word chairman, who is currently touring West Africa along with a number of senior company officials to identify areas of investment. “Our interest in Mauritania goes beyond the traditional historic trade ties, as we see plenty of potential for growth in the country’s mining, and energy sectors,” he added. “After touring the port, we feel that there is ample opportunity for the development of a Freezone that can help increase business for the port, which we would like to manage and develop as well.” Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for almost 50% of its total exports. The nation's economy is expected to grow by 4.5% this year, and to continue growing at a steady rate of 4% up to the year 2010. During 2007, Dubai’s non-oil trade with Mauritania stood at around AED157m ($42.7m), with re-exports (around $32m) accounting for a majority of this amount.

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CSSC plans to build China's largest shipyard in Guangdong

China State Shipbuilding Corporation is looking for a site for its south China shipbuilding base, which could become China's largest shipyard when completed.

A CSSC field study group has been scouting Guangdong's coastal areas for initial selection of an appropriate site. Jieyang city, with 82 km of coastline, has become one of the key candidates for the planned shipyard. CSSC is a large scale central enterprise with 60 subsidiaries and is the leader of China's shipbuilding industry, with ships and marine products exporting to over 50 countries and regions. Its new yard in the Guangzhou area, Longxue, is already slated to become on of the four largest in China, while what has been described previously as another CSSC world beater yard, Changxing, is now building ships just north of Shanghai, having delivered its first last November. CSSC is the state umbrella organization of southern Chinese yards. CSIC is its northern counterpart.
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Global Industries to build second Ulstein Sea of Solutions-designed offshore vessel

US offshore company Global Industries has decided to build another new pipelay/heavy lift vessel designed by Dutch design company Ulstein Sea of Solutions.

The vessel named 'Global 1201' will be an evolution of the 'Global 1200', currently under construction at Keppel Singmarine, and also designed by the Dutch company. Scheduled to enter service in April 2011, the dynamically positioned 'Global 1201' is a combination derrick/pipelay vessel with 1,200-tonne lifting capacity, pipe-laying capacity up to 3,000 metres water depth and 150-centimetre concrete coated pipe. The main crane will also feature deep water lowering capabilities. With a transit speed of up to 15 knots, the vessel will be able to mobilize swiftly around the world. Like its sister ship 'Global 1200', the 'Global 1201' is a customized version of the Ulstein Sea of Solutions' SOC 600 design. The design incorporates an AmClyde single post crane on the aft and a centre firing line on the freeboard deck, the latter being a distinctive feature of most Ulstein Sea of Solutions pipelay designs.

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Seaspan fixes loan for two 13,000-TEU ships

Container ship owner and vessel charterer Seaspan Corp, Canada, has secured a loan for US$235.3 million to finance the purchase of two 13,100-TEU vessels that it ordered earlier from South Korean builder, Hyundai Heavy Industries.

The two vessels are part of an order for eight ships from the shipyard, which are expected to be delivered in 2011 and thereafter chartered to COSCO Container Lines. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. has underwritten the credit facility at a weighted average rate of 0.7 percent over London inter-bank offered rates (LIBOR). Seapan said it has generated US$2.2 billion of debt so far this year to support the company's expansion plans, and has US$550 million in immediate liquidity to capitalize on future acquisition opportunities.
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Maxicon Launches MIB (Myanmar-India-Bangladesh) Direct Service

Maxicon Container Line Pte. Ltd., a division of Hyderabad based, Seaways Group, is launching a direct Myanmar – India - Bangladesh service.

The first vessel, the 852 TEU’s capacity “MV Marina Star 2” will be embarking on the first voyage from Yangon on 21 April 2008 to Chennai. The next vessel of 1118 TEU’s capacity “MV Emirates Gondwana” planned for the first week of May 2008 will connect Yangon directly to Nhava Sheva (Mumbai) and shall call Colombo/Chittagong on the return voyage. Maxicon is a subsidiary of the flagship company Seaways group. For nearly two decades, Seaways Shipping Limited has endeavored and achieved credit of being one of the largest maritime operators in India with a wide coverage of 28 branches across all major ports and inland destinations in India. Indian consignees and shippers have long been waiting for this direct service, which will help reduce the transit time significantly and provide a regular service to both East and West coast of India. This service will provide connection to Chittagong on each leg of the routing, as well. Shippers from North and West India can utilize the service for both Chittagong and Yangon bound cargoes from Nhava Sheva, while the shippers from South and East coast can take advantage of connectivity to both these ports, from Chennai in particular. “MV Marina Star 2” will provide thrice a month connection to the East Coast of India, while “MV Emirates Gondwana” will provide fortnightly connection to the West Coast. Maxicon Container Line Pte. Ltd. operates its own fleet of containers and is now spread all over the South East Asian region, the Far East and several ports in the Middle East countries. In the light of recent increase in the bilateral relationship between Myanmar and India, this direct service will help strengthen the bond between the two countries. It is expected that this service will pave the way for increase of trade and commerce significantly.

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