KOCHI: Marine BizTV, a maritime television channel based here, will organise a nine-day ‘Maritime Fiesta’ in Kochi from December 14.
The events will take off with the inauguration of ‘Maritime Cultural Olympics,’ in which maritime students will showcase their talents. International Boating Awards ’08 will honour outstanding contributions and craftsmanship in the boating and yachting industry. Another event will be Boat India 08, a boating and lifestyle exhibition. There will also be a two-day international conference on boating and yachting on December 15 and 16 at Hotel Taj Residency. ‘Boat India Expo’ will showcase the latest products in the boating and yachting industry. A debut Marine Film Festival will be conducted December 17 and 22 at Sangeetha Theatre.
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Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Boxlines braced as US recession made official
Singapore: Containerlines across Asia are braced for a tough day's trading at local bourses today following the news overnight that the US has entered recession. Overnight, news that the US is officially in recession saw stocks on Wall Street plunge.
The Dow Jones Index lost nearly 8 per cent and the Nasdaq and Standard and Poor's indices fell even more. The U.S. economy has been in a recession for a year, the nation's business cycle arbiter declared on Monday. Alarming for box lines is the economic data just out showing factories were slashing output in the United States, Europe and China last month as demand dropped. China's manufacturing sector slumped in November as new orders tumbled, showing the world's fourth-largest economy was being sucked deeper into the global maelstrom. Back in the US hopes that consumers may ride to the rescue appeared to be optimistic. U.S. post-Thanksgiving sales, which mark the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, looked less dire than feared but that did not stop investors from dumping shares of retailers. Analysts warned that while stores were crowded, the sales growth may have come at the expense of profits and overall demand remained weak. The transpacific has been torrid for containerlines this year and next May's annual rate negotiations already look bloody in prospect.
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The Dow Jones Index lost nearly 8 per cent and the Nasdaq and Standard and Poor's indices fell even more. The U.S. economy has been in a recession for a year, the nation's business cycle arbiter declared on Monday. Alarming for box lines is the economic data just out showing factories were slashing output in the United States, Europe and China last month as demand dropped. China's manufacturing sector slumped in November as new orders tumbled, showing the world's fourth-largest economy was being sucked deeper into the global maelstrom. Back in the US hopes that consumers may ride to the rescue appeared to be optimistic. U.S. post-Thanksgiving sales, which mark the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, looked less dire than feared but that did not stop investors from dumping shares of retailers. Analysts warned that while stores were crowded, the sales growth may have come at the expense of profits and overall demand remained weak. The transpacific has been torrid for containerlines this year and next May's annual rate negotiations already look bloody in prospect.
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Drydocks World gears up for China venture
Singapore: Drydocks World is confident it will have all the paperwork out the way to get cracking on its China debut by year end.
Denis Welch, ceo, Drydocks World, Southeast Asia, told Seatrade Asia Online that he was meeting with Chinese officials today to close in on the yard in Jiangsu province near Nanjing on the Yangtze. The yard has been wholly owned by Singaporean outfit Top Niche Associates and has been in the building game for the past 18 months. By neatly buying out the yard operations of Top Niche, Drydocks World has circumnavigated the China ruling banning foreign majority shareholdings of Chinese yards. The site has a building berth to fit panamax sized ships and to begin with Drydocks World will focus on low end ships such as self-propelled barges and tugs. ‘It gives us a toe hold in China,’ said Welch. Meanwhile, last week saw another milestone in the fast emerging Dubai headquartered yard operator with the launching of the second rig from its new Batam yard in Indonesia. Reclamation at the site will go ahead, said Welch, giving the facility an eventual 175 ha of space. Globally, Drydocks World now boasts 29 building berths and eight floating docks.
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Denis Welch, ceo, Drydocks World, Southeast Asia, told Seatrade Asia Online that he was meeting with Chinese officials today to close in on the yard in Jiangsu province near Nanjing on the Yangtze. The yard has been wholly owned by Singaporean outfit Top Niche Associates and has been in the building game for the past 18 months. By neatly buying out the yard operations of Top Niche, Drydocks World has circumnavigated the China ruling banning foreign majority shareholdings of Chinese yards. The site has a building berth to fit panamax sized ships and to begin with Drydocks World will focus on low end ships such as self-propelled barges and tugs. ‘It gives us a toe hold in China,’ said Welch. Meanwhile, last week saw another milestone in the fast emerging Dubai headquartered yard operator with the launching of the second rig from its new Batam yard in Indonesia. Reclamation at the site will go ahead, said Welch, giving the facility an eventual 175 ha of space. Globally, Drydocks World now boasts 29 building berths and eight floating docks.
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Libra signs good, says Nexus
Nexus Energy said the Libra-1 exploration well had struck more than 180 gross metres of gas pay in several thick sand packages on Browse basin exploration permit AC/P41 off Western Australia.
Nexus said the results were based on logging-while-drilling data and observed gas shows, The well was sunk to total depth of 3918 metres. The company said further wireline logging and pressure data was required to confirm the height of the column and establish the hydrocarbon composition and reservoir quality of the find. The well is being drilled by the semi-submersible rig Ocean Epoch, operated by Shell with a 65% stake on behalf of AC/P41 joint venture partners Mitsui E&P (20%) and Nexus Energy (15%). The Libra structure lies immediately south of Nexus’s Crux liquids field on AC/P23.
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Nexus said the results were based on logging-while-drilling data and observed gas shows, The well was sunk to total depth of 3918 metres. The company said further wireline logging and pressure data was required to confirm the height of the column and establish the hydrocarbon composition and reservoir quality of the find. The well is being drilled by the semi-submersible rig Ocean Epoch, operated by Shell with a 65% stake on behalf of AC/P41 joint venture partners Mitsui E&P (20%) and Nexus Energy (15%). The Libra structure lies immediately south of Nexus’s Crux liquids field on AC/P23.
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Piraeus Port posts nine-month loss of 0.6 mln euros
The port of Piraeus (OLP), the largest in Hellas, managed to trim its losses from the continuous bans on overtime and weekend shifts by dockworkers, which have resulted in a halt of transshipment trade.
The overall volume of container traffic has fallen by more than 60 per cent. For the nine-month period, the port authority posted a loss of 0.6 million euros ($776,300). Nevertheless, the port had recorded a net profit of about 20 million euros in the same period of 2007. Piraeus has suffered gravely from the workers’ dispute over the concession agreement for two (out of three) container handling piers. As a result sales for the third quarter dropped 37 percent. OLP has seen containers pile up as dockers have refused to work overtime since January in protest at the government's move to privatise the port's container business. "The dockers' refusal to work overtime and weekends for the third consecutive quarter has led to reduced cargo business and income at very low levels," the company said in a bourse filing. Last week, OLP signed the much-contested concession agreement with Cosco Pacific Singapore, which will modernize and run the port’s facilities for a period of 35 years. The deal will start running from October of 2009. Cosco, China’s state-controlled container operator, is expected to invest almost 620 million euros, in order to upgrade the existing terminal and build a new facility to handle larger ships capable of carrying 10,000 TEUs (20 feet equivalent units). The company would operate both terminals, while OLP will handle the last one. Both parties expect that the investments will triple capacity to more than 3 million TEUs on an annual basis, while more than 1,000 new jobs would be created.
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The overall volume of container traffic has fallen by more than 60 per cent. For the nine-month period, the port authority posted a loss of 0.6 million euros ($776,300). Nevertheless, the port had recorded a net profit of about 20 million euros in the same period of 2007. Piraeus has suffered gravely from the workers’ dispute over the concession agreement for two (out of three) container handling piers. As a result sales for the third quarter dropped 37 percent. OLP has seen containers pile up as dockers have refused to work overtime since January in protest at the government's move to privatise the port's container business. "The dockers' refusal to work overtime and weekends for the third consecutive quarter has led to reduced cargo business and income at very low levels," the company said in a bourse filing. Last week, OLP signed the much-contested concession agreement with Cosco Pacific Singapore, which will modernize and run the port’s facilities for a period of 35 years. The deal will start running from October of 2009. Cosco, China’s state-controlled container operator, is expected to invest almost 620 million euros, in order to upgrade the existing terminal and build a new facility to handle larger ships capable of carrying 10,000 TEUs (20 feet equivalent units). The company would operate both terminals, while OLP will handle the last one. Both parties expect that the investments will triple capacity to more than 3 million TEUs on an annual basis, while more than 1,000 new jobs would be created.
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Newbuild forecast for next year to hit lowest since 2003
A South Korea-based financing firm has released a gloomy report in which the company said that newbuild orders placed in 2009 would most likely hit the lowest level since 2003.
Hi Investment & Securities said that reduced volume of commercial shipping would have a negative impact on shipbuilding orders in 2009. The report said that bulkers would suffer the most due to the large number of orders made in the past two years. According to the report, there are 833 capesize units in the world wide orderbook while 768 such vessels were in operation as of late October. Orders for LNG tankers on the other hand are set to increase since major LNG development projects which were previously delayed would resume. In 2008, only five LNG tankers were ordered. The decline in oil prices would also affect the offshore plant market and orders for offshore vessels such as drillships and FPSOs would start to drop off as well.
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Hi Investment & Securities said that reduced volume of commercial shipping would have a negative impact on shipbuilding orders in 2009. The report said that bulkers would suffer the most due to the large number of orders made in the past two years. According to the report, there are 833 capesize units in the world wide orderbook while 768 such vessels were in operation as of late October. Orders for LNG tankers on the other hand are set to increase since major LNG development projects which were previously delayed would resume. In 2008, only five LNG tankers were ordered. The decline in oil prices would also affect the offshore plant market and orders for offshore vessels such as drillships and FPSOs would start to drop off as well.
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