NOL readies bid of up to $7bn for Hapag-Lloyd

Singapore: Neptune Orient Lines Ltd. is ready to make a cash offer for Hapag-Lloyd of $6 billion to $7 billion and is confident of winning the German container shipper despite an expected bid from a consortium led by the German city of Hamburg.

" NOL is expecting Hapag's formal invitation for bids at the end of this month or early June. Once the request for offers lands, the bid will be made," said one of the people. Hapag-Lloyd, the shipping arm of German tourism company TUI AG, has held talks with NOL about a possible takeover since the beginning of the year. A deal would make NOL the world's third-largest container-shipping firm by capacity. NOL Chief Executive Thomas Held confirmed last month that he was interested in buying Hapag-Lloyd, and TUI said it was in the process of approaching potential buyers. One rival bid likely will come from the city of Hamburg, which has taken a 20% stake in a consortium that plans to make an offer for Hapag-Lloyd, Hamburg Financial Secretary Michael Freytag said. While the consortium would give Hamburg an indirect stake in Hapag-Lloyd, Mr. Freytag said the city doesn't rule out taking a direct stake. Other members of the newly formed consortium are German logistics company Kuhne Holding AG and Hamburg private bank M.M. Warburg & Co.

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MOG's Ombrina Mare 2 provides 'very good results'

Mediterranean Oil & Gas had good results from a horizontal side track well drilled inside the carbonate reservoir at the Ombrina Mare 2 well offshore Italy.

MOG's geological prognosis and the oil appraisal expectations have been met. Transocean jackup George H. Galloway drilled the well to a total depth of 2,145 metres (7,037 ft) in 20 metres (66 ft) of water in the Adriatic Sea. A production test to verify the oil production rates obtainable should get underway in the next few days and be completed by the end of the month. MOG CEO Sergio Morandi said, "The programme to appraise the Ombrina Mare oil and gas field continues to provide very good results. The horizontal well has now appraised the Ombrina Mare structure for a considerable distance away from OM1 and encountered significant oil shows along the entire horizontal hole. Once the full production test is carried out we will be in a position to commission an assessment of the field volumetrics and reserves based on the appraisal results."

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ODC Marine launches new passenger vessel

French-owned Dalian ODC Marine, based in Dalian, China, has just completed a new Bureau Veritas-classified passenger vessel for Corsica, France, designed by Laurent Fourré.

To be operated by Via Mare, the aluminium vessel is 18.3 metres long, and has a displacement of 16.25 tonnes. It is propelled by a pair of 300kW Cummins main engines for a maximum speed of 22 knots and cruising speed of 20 knots.

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Port of Melbourne's fee changes to fund infrastructure

Both loaded container wharfage and empty container charges remain unchanged in the revised Reference Tariff Schedule for port charges which will apply from July 1, 2008, Port of Melbourne Corporation announced.

The new tariff schedule follows the introduction of an amended tariff schedule on April 1, 2008 to recover the costs of the Port Philip channel deepening project, previously announced on 21 December 2007. Under the new schedule, wharfage charges for loaded TEUs remain unchanged at AU$35.50 plus GST (US$33.96), and empty container charges have also been held constant at AU$9.00 plus GST per TEU. Similarly, there are no changes to the infrastructure levy of AU$31.50 plus GST to fund the channel deepening project. PoMC says a moderate price increase has been applied to channel access charges and reflect increased operating costs and planned investment. Passenger cruise vessels were subject to tonnage dues for the use of the channels and navigational aids for the first time in 2007. These vessels will be subject to a tonnage rate of 40 per cent of the published rate to provide for long-term development and improvement of Station Pier, home to Melbourne's growing number of cruise ship visits.

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