Ports & Ships Maritime News

July 12, 2010
Author: Terry Hutson

Shipping, freight, trade and transport related news of interest for Africa

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TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS

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• First View – HELLESPONT CENTURION
• South African port statistics for June 2010
• CSCL provides four ships to expanded WAX service
• CSAV introduces weekly China container service with South Africa
• Transnet strike causes RBCT June exports to slump
• New deepwater port south of Maputo back on the agenda
• Pics of the day – AFRICAN UBUNTU

   

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First View – HELLESPONT CENTURION

The German owned chemical and oil products tanker HELLESPONT CENTURION (11,551-gt, built 2009) in Cape Town recently. Picture by Ian Shiffman

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South African port statistics for June 2010

 
Port Elizabeth harbour and city

South African port statistics for the month of June 2010 are now to hand, courtesy Transnet.

As is customary the figures shown in this report reflect an adjustment on the overall tonnage to include containers by weight – an adjustment necessary because Transnet NPA measures containers in terms of the number of TEUs and no longer by weight - for which PORTS & SHIPS estimates an adjustment of 13,5 tonnes per TEU to reflect tonnages. This figure is on the conservative side with 14 tonnes or even more perhaps being a more realistic figure, particularly in view of the increasing quantity of bulk cargo which is now being handled in containers.

For comparative purposes readers can see statistics from 12 months ago (June 2009) by clicking HERE Use your BACK button to return to this page.

Figures for the respective ports during June 2010 are (with May 2010 figures shown bracketed):

Cargo handled by tonnes during June 2010

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CSCL provides four ships to expanded WAX service

Further to our report on 6 July (you can read it HERE, click your Back Button to return to this page) of the new direct weekly service between the Far East and West Africa via Durban, which replaces a feeder service from Durban, Seaclad Maritime, the agents for China Shipping Container Line (CSCL) in South Africa points out that the enhanced WAX service is being expanded from a fortnightly to a weekly service.

This follows the joining of a third partner line to the service which is now made up of CSCL (four ships), K-Line (three ships) and Hapag-Lloyd (one ship) on a 70-day rotation of Shanghai, Ningbo, Xiamen, Shekou, Port Kelang, Durban, Tema, Lome, Cotonou, Tincan Island, Durban, Port Kelang, and Shanghai.

Referring to the Durban calls, Paul Scannell of Seaclad Maritime says that a berthing window has been secured at DCT on Wednesdays for the westbound voyages in order to try and avoid the lengthy berthing delays being experienced in Durban and which are expected to continue throughout the year.

Eastbound voyages will continue to berth at Pier 1 Container Terminal. The first vessel in the expanded service is the HELENE S, voyage 0003W loading from Shanghai on 20 July and ETA Durban 10 /11 August 2010. Helene S will also be the first eastbound vessel ETA at Durban on 9 September 2010.

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CSAV introduces weekly China container service with South Africa

CSAV Rio Aysen. Picture  by Trevor Jones

A further indication of improving trade lanes between the Far East and southern Africa comes with the news that Chilean container carrier CSAV is about to launch a weekly service between north and south China and South Africa.

Dubbed the New Discovery Service this will be CSAV’s third service into South Africa after its Marco Polo and ASAX services and will make use of seven 2,500-TEU ships making calls at two South African ports, Durban and Cape Town. The New Discovery Service commences at the end of July 2010.

CSAV says the addition of another service to South Africa reinforces its commitment to an emerging market and strengthens its competitive position for further expansion in the future.

The full rotation will be Xingang, Shanghai, Ningbo, Chiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Durban, Cape Town, Singapore and Xingang. The first southbound sailing will be from Xingang on 28 July of the 2,500-TEU HAMMONIA POMERANIA, arriving Cape Town 25 August 2010.

As a result of this new service the Durban calls of CSAV’s AXAS service (Far East, Durban, East Coast South America) will discontinue with the final calls at Durban being made by CSAV SUAPE voyage 1025 ETA Durban on 14 August and CSAV LARAQUETE voyage 1030 ETA Durban 13 August 2010.

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Transnet strike causes RBCT June exports to slump

Last year it was the result of too many derailments along the Richards Bay coal line that disrupted and delayed coal exports. That and the lack of rail infrastructure (for which read trains) to collect coal from the mines.

In 2010 it is Transnet’s recent rail strike that is being held accountable for shipments from the Richards Bay Coal Terminal having decreased by 27 percent during June, year-on-year.

Although the terminal carries sizeable stockpiles in reserve, rail delivery disruptions lasted more than two weeks and shipments were held up. According to RBCT the volume of exports this June dropped to 4.02 million tonnes compared with 5.52mt in June 2009.

The strike has all but ruled out any chance of RBCT getting much above 62mt for the year, according to some observers. In 2009 the terminal exported 61.14mt for the year and there was confident talk that this might be increased to around 65mt or more in 2010.

According to monthly statistics the terminal has so far shipped 27.96mt. As from earlier this year the terminal has increased its capacity to 91mt a year in order to take on board emerging mining houses, but achieving this sort of number appears to be a long way off.

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New deepwater port south of Maputo back on the agenda

Environmentalists had reasons to believe the proposal to build a new deep water port south of Maputo in the Matutuine district just north of the KwaZulu-Natal border had been kicked firmly into touch a couple a year ago, but not so, it seems.

According to Maputo’s usually well-informed Noticias newspaper, the Mozambique government has approved of plans to build the new port, costing an estimated USD 550 million, which according to the newspaper is in an “effort to decongest the port of Maputo.”

The Minister of Transport and Communications, Paulo Zucula is quoted as saying that the new port will be capable of handling the largest of ships up to 300,000-dwt and that the port would attract business from South Africa and from Botswana, where Mozambique has its eyes on a new coal mining venture shortly to commence.

Botswana and Namibia have already held talks aimed at building a new railway across Botswana into Namibia to link with a new port to be built on the Atlantic coast.

When the story of the proposed new deep water port at Ponta Dobela south of Maputo first surfaced some years ago there was an outcry because of its close proximity to the Maputo Elephant Park and plans were hurriedly redrawn to ensure the boundary of the reserve was not crossed.

The declaration last year of a Marine Protected Area linking the Maputo elephant park with the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in KZN (formerly the St Lucia Wetland Park) was thought at the time to have effectively prevented any further thought of creating a new port along this pristine coast, but not so for the developers or government, it seems.

But then we regularly hear of projects costing millions or billions of rands or dollars, and few of them eventuate. Possibly someone makes money from speculating with ideas but nevertheless such talk should never be dismissed too lightly.

For that matter, we wonder what those running the port of Maputo have made of the newspaper report that Maputo is congested?

See related report HERE

Dredging to commence at Beira

Further north and away from the realm of speculation, dredging of the port approaches and channels at Beira is due to commence at the end of this month, CFM’s chief executive has confirmed. The work which is costing €43 million is being undertaken by the firm of van Oord with loans from European agencies including the EU Investment Bank and Danish interests.

The dredging is necessary before the arrival of the first coal shipments from the new open cast mines at Moatize in Tete Province, using the newly refurbished Sena railway.

Pics of the Day – AFRICAN UBUNTU

 

The MUR-operated container ship AFRICAN UBUNTU (16,802-gt, built 1997) in Cape Town at the end of June. MUR Shipping is the shipping division of Mittal Steel South Africa and Macsteel International Holdings. Mittal is South Africa’s largest steel producer (which evolved out of Iscor) and exports up to 2 million tonnes of steel annually. The company is perhaps better known for its fleet of general cargo and bulk ships. Macsteel is a global trading company also operating in South Africa. Most if not all the ships in the MUR fleet are prefixed with the word ‘African’. Pictures by Ian Shiffman

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