Dry bulk market shows signs of life

After 22 straight falling sessions for dry bulk freight rates, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) finally headed back up, during the last couple of days.

The BDI rose a further 14 points yesterday at 1,492, coupled with another 15 point gain of 1% last Thursday, the last day of trading before the Catholic Easter Holidays. Thus, the longest slide of the Index since the previous November ended. Of course, the market sentiment remains bleak, as proved by the retreat of the smaller handysize vessels’ index (BHI) at 628 points (down by 7), even at yesterday’s rising session. The lead of the increase was mostly noted at the panamax sector which suffered during March. The relative index (BPI) recovered at 1,185 points, up by 41 from last week. Capesizes, the gauge's biggest vessels, climbed to US$18,035 up by $49 from the previous session, while panamaxes daily spot average rates gained $327 on a day-to-day basis, reaching $9,494. Capesize forward freight agreements for the third quarter, used to bet on future shipping rates, closed at US$19,375 last Wednesday, a 7.8 per cent gain this month. Panamax FFAs for the same period were at US$11,750, a 4.3 per cent advance for this month. The data are from broker Imarex NOS ASA.

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Fuzhou Port targets 1.3 million TEU throughput

The southeastern Chinese port of Fuzhou plans to strive for a container throughput of 1.3 million TEU and a cargo tonnage of 75 million tonnes by the end of this year.

According to Xinhua, the port will start five new projects this year, including a 150,000-berth in Luoyuanwan port area; berths number 1 and 3 at the Kemen port area; berths number 0 and at the Songxia port area, berths number 6 and 7 at the Jiangyin port area and the tenth liquid chemical terminal.
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New Marine Service Vessel from Alnmaritec

Alnmaritec, specialist aluminium boat builder based in Northumberland, UK, recently announced the launch of a new offshore marine service vessel for operation in and around the busy port of Gibraltar.

The MHB Swordfish has been built for the Gibraltar based company MH Bland and is a customised version of the popular Wave Provider class of vessels from Alnmaritec. She is the fourth vessel Alnmaritec has built over recent years for marine servicing work in Gibraltar.MHB Swordfish is an aluminium asymmetric catamaran 49 ft long and 16.5 ft wide with a displacement of around 17 tonnes. She is fitted with twin 425bhp Volvo Penta D9 MH diesel engines driving through conventional ZF gearboxes to a pair of Hamilton 322 waterjets.

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Karaikal port opens

Chennai: The privately built Karaikal port will receive its first vessel on Wednesday when M.V.Beluga Fan Fare, a project cargo specialist vessel, docks at the newly built berth in the morning.

The deep sea, all-weather port is being built by Karaikal Port Private Limited (KPPL), at Vanjore near Karaikal, on a Build-Own-Transfer (BOT) basis. Of the nine berths planned to be built on 600 acres leased from the Puducherry government, two were ready, company officials said.

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New catamaran among world's ten largest

SHIPPING: Bornholmstrafikken's new catamaran ferry will be 50 per cent larger than the existing catamaran Villum Clausen, and with its 113 meter it will be one of the world's longest high-speed ferries.

61 million - that is how much Nordic Ferry Service had to pay the Australian shipyard Austral for building the new high-speed ferry. According to Bent Hansen, technical manager of Bornholmstrafikken, the new ferry will have better manoeuvre abilities than the current high-speed ferry Villum Clausen, and will also be more comfortable to onboard in heavy weather. "The tunnel height is much higher than that of Villum Clausen. This means that it can force waves one meter higher and that it does not drop into sea troughs as easily, as did Villum Clausen. And it was not always comfortable to sail with in heavy weather", says bent Hansen to the professional paper Ingenioren.The new catamaran is driven by four diesel engines, whereas Villum Clausen sails with two gas turbines. This will give fuel savings of 20 per cent with the same march speed, 40 knots, but also imply more maintenance.

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