Concor to resume coastal shipping in a month

HD Gujrati, group general manager of international marketing at the state-owned Container Corporation of India in Mumbai has revealed plans to resume coastal shipping services as part of its strategy to widen its reach as a logistics service provider.

“Short-sea shipping (coastal shipping) is the future,” said Gujrati. “We intend to start regular shipping services on coastal routes within a month.” Although Concor had offered coastal shipping a few years ago, the services were discontinued due to operational and regulatory reasons. This time around, the company is clear about its strategy. “Initially, we will buy slots (space on board a ship occupied by a container) in the coastal ships of firms specializing in this sector. Subsequently, we may hire full ships or even buy ships in partnership with an experienced firm,” Gujrati said. Coastal shipping is said to be a cheaper alternative to carrying cargo by road or rail. But, despite a 7,517km coastline dotted with 12 major ports and more than 200 smaller ones, India’s coastal shipping has not developed to the level prevailing in other parts of the globe. Coastal shipping accounts for more than 40% of the trade volumes in the US, China and Europe, but in India, it makes for just 7% of the total domestic cargo transport, according to consultancy firm Ernst and Young. Concor is negotiating with several firms for a joint venture, but Gujrati declined to give details.

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Galoc set to flow next month

First oil from the Galoc oilfield off the Philippine looks set to flow early next month as the pre-commissioning of the floating production, storage and offloading vessel is nearing completion and is expected to be mobilized shortly.

The FPSO, Rubicon Intrepid’s pre-commissioning prior to hook-up to a pre-installed mooring and riser system is progressing in Batangas, 120 kilometres south of Manila, said joint venture member Otto Energy. The Galoc oilfield lies about 65 kilometres north-west of Palawan. Shareholders in the Galoc field are the Galoc Production Company (58.29%), Nido Petroleum (22.28%), Philodrill (7.02%), Oriental Petroleum & Minerals (7.58%), Forum Energy (2.27%), Alcorn Gold Resources (1.53%) and PetroEnergy Resources (1.03%). Australian junior Otto Energy holds a 31.38% shareholding in Galoc Production, while a subsidiary of Vitol owns the remaining 68.62% stake.

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Chinese magnates cooperate on shipbuilding

China State Shipbuilding Corporation, Baosteel and China Shipping Group, the three largest individual players in Chinese shipbuilding, steel producing and shipping, have recently signed an agreement on cooperating on the Long Xue Shipbuilding Base in Guangzhou.

The three companies aim to establish the biggest shipyard in southern China. The Long Xue Shipbuilding Base is one of the strategy shipbuilding areas approved by the Chinese central government. As the most important port city in Southern China, Guangzhou only has a shipbuilding capacity of less than one million DWT and the largest ship that can be built there is 60,000DWT. Long Xue will be able to reach 2.12 million DWT in production ability and will also be able to build 300,000DWT-sized ships.

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'Natchan World' arrives in Japan

The newest vessel built by Incat has arrived in Japan less than seven days after leaving Hobart, Australia.

Delivered by Incat to her new owner an impressive two months ahead of schedule, the 'Natchan World' left Hobart on April 10. The vessel arrived in Hakodate on Thursday April 17 in the early hours of the morning. On completion of crew training, the new ship will enter service on in early May after an inauguration and ribbon-cutting ceremony at Aomori. Senior Japanese government officials and also representatives of Incat and the Tasmanian government will then have the opportunity to sample all the ship has to offer during her maiden voyage before continuing the celebrations at Hakodate. The 'Natchan World' is Incat's second high speed wave piercing catamaran for Higashi Nihon Ferry. The vessel now joins its sister ship 'Natchan Rera'', which was completed by Incat last August. The 'Natchan Rera' is currently in service across Japan's Tsugaru Strait between the islands of Honshu and Hokkaido. At nearly 11,000GT, the new 112-metre long 'Natchan World' is one of the largest vessels yet built by Incat. 'Natchan World' can operate at speeds of approximately 40 knots and has a capacity for up to 800 persons and 355 cars, or 450 lane metres of trucks and 193 cars.

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2nd Maldives International Boat Show 2008

Maldives Exhibition and Conference Services (Pvt) will be organizing the 2^nd Maldives International Boat Show 2008.

Maldives’ premier Boat Show will have an exclusive access from the 28^th to 30 April 2008 at the Dharubaaruge Exhibition Hall, Male, Republic of Maldives. The event is endorsed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade together with the Maldives National Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The 2008 exhibition themed “Set Sail for the Maldives” is expected to outperform the previous event with a much wider array of products on show. The organizers objective is to make the Maldives International Boat Show 2008 a regional show, making it ‘a water front festivity’ in the tourism calendar of Maldives. They hope to do this by adding many other events to the boat show such as a fishing competition, a boat race, a wind surfing competition in order to attract competitors, participants and tourists from the entire region. The annual show will feature and showcase all types of boat builders, accessory suppliers and other service providers from all over the world to introduce their latest innovations to the buyers in the Maldives and other regional buyers. The show will draw big names from the regional and international boating and marine industry, and will find its place in the global boat show calendar. The MIBS Game Fishing Competition will take place concurrently with the exhibition attracting anglers from all over the world. This will be endorsed and supported by the Game Fish Association of Maldives together with the Sports Fishing Club of Sri Lanka. MIBS Game Fishing Competition is poised to become the biggest event of its kind in the region.

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