DP World places large crane order, unveils plans for more piers and berths

Dubai Port World is purchasing 87 sets of container cranes for US$343 million from port machinery supplier, Shanghai Zhenhua Port Machinery Company, the world’s largest port equipment producer.

The cranes are to be delivered between 2009 and the first quarter of 2010. The deal comes amid plans by international container terminal operator DP World to build ten more piers over the next few years, with 13 berths currently under construction.
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Jurong polishes first Larsen semisub

Singapore’s Jurong Shipyard has wrapped up major construction work on Petrorig 1, the first of four ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling rigs the yard is building for Larsen Oil & Gas.

Jurong parent SembCorp Marine said turnkey work on the rig was wrapped on schedule and the rig was on track for delivery in March. Its maiden assignment is under a five-year charter with Petrobras in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig was named in a ceremony at the yard and will now move to an anchorage to allow thrusters to be installed. The Petrorig 1 is a sixth-generation rig built to the Friede & Goldman’s Ex-D Millennium design. The dynamically positioned rig will be capable of drilling in to depths of up to 37,500 feet in water up to 10,000 feet deep. The rig has an operational displacement of 46,750 tonnes and a deck-load capacity of up to 8000 tonnes. Petrorig 2 has landed a five-year charter with Petrobras off Brazil and Petrorig 3 has been handed a three-year gig with Pemex off Mexico.

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Port of Sohar joins Green Award certification initiative

The Port of Sohar has become the first port in the Middle East to enter the Green Award scheme — a certification system that encourages ships and ship-owners to embrace environment-friendly operational and management practices.

The scheme is supervised by the Rotterdam-based Bureau Green Award, the executive body of the autonomous, non-profit Green Award Foundation. The certification procedure consists of an office audit of each individual ship applying for certification. Green Award certified ships receive a significant reduction in port dues that are part of the scheme. Currently, 221 ships are Green Award certified. At present, only crude oil and product tankers, as well as dry bulk carriers of over 20,000 DWT, have applied for the certification. Plans are afoot to broaden the scope of the scheme to also include container ships and LNG carriers in the future, a senior representative of the Green Award Foundation stated here yesterday. As a Green Award partner, the Port of Sohar joins 30 ports and harbours around the world that support this initiative.

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Cambodia to build new port in Phnom Penh

Cambodia's government has announced a plan to build a new port in capital city Phnom Penh by the end of this year or in early 2010 to meet the increasing demand for waterway transportation.

The project, estimated at $25 million, was approved by the government in October 2008 and feasibility work is underway, said Keat Chhon, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance. The port will be located south of the city in the lower Mekong River area and not far away from the current Phnom Penh port. The new facility will have a capacity of 300,000 containers a day, which is six times larger than the current Phnom Penh port, Minister Keat Chhon added.

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