Ports & Ships Maritime News

19 August 2014
Author: Terry Hutson

Bringing you shipping, freight, trade and transport related news of interest for Africa since 2002

TODAY’S BULLETIN OF MARITIME NEWS

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• First View – CAP SAN SOUNIO
• Dire warning as Vale Moçambique posts heavy loss
• WHO cautions against closing borders on Ebola virus
• Chinese firm to develop Mombasa Free Trade Zone
• NSRI rescues stricken yacht off KZN coast
• Mozambique spends US$15m fighting illegal fishing
• MSC goes big with order for 19,200-TEU ships
• Epicentre of Nigerian Piracy Found - claim
• International Spotlight – Maesrk SeaLand to return
• Expected Ship Arrivals and Ships in Port
• Pics of the Day – ORANGE BLOSSOM 2

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FIRST VIEW – CAP SAN SOUNIO

For the second time in a little more than a month we feature the same ship, Hamburg Süd’s Cap San class newbuild, CAP SAN SOUNIO (123,130-dwt, built April 2014). On the previous occasion in July we showed the ship sailing from the Brazilian port of Santos. In this edition we have the ship arriving in Durban. As reported earlier, the ship is named for Cape Sounion in southern Attica, Greece, overlooking the Aegean and the Temple of Poseidon, the ancient Greek’s God of the Sea, Earthquakes (and Horses), who was a brother to Zeus and Hades. It’s good to know that history continues to be honoured in names etc. Picture: Trevor Jones

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DIRE WARNING AS VALE MOÇAMBIQUE POSTS HEAVY LOSS

Vale open cast mine at Moatize

Vale Moçambique posted a loss of US$103.5 million in the second quarter, despite an increase in its coal sales to 833,000 tons, the director of the Brazilian mining company subsidiary said in Maputo.

Pedro Gutemberg said that production at the Moatize mine totalled around 1.17 million tons of coal in the second quarter of 2014, which was an increase of 161,000 tons against the first three months of the year, with sales totalling 883,000 tons, or 183,000 tons more than in the previous quarter.

According to Gutemberg, taking into account investments made in staff training for example, Vale Moçambique posted an operating loss of around US$103.5 million which, together with the US$44 million loss in the first quarter, bring the total for the year to US$147.5 million.

Gutemberg also said that against the first quarter of the year the climate was identical with the cost related to coal transport “extremely high” at around US$65 per ton and international coal prices at around US$120 per ton.

Recently Anglo-Australian group Rio Tinto sold its coal assets in Mozambique for US$50 million to a consortium of Indian state companies, International Coal Ventures Private Limited (ICVL). The assets were originally acquired for around US$4 billion.

Commenting on this deal, Gutemberg said, “the news of the exit of a company as important as Rio Tinto should be a warning to everyone involved in the sector.” - macauhub

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WHO CAUTIONS AGAINST CLOSING BORDERS ON EBOLA VIRUS

The World Health Organization (WHO) yesterday voiced opposition to Ebola-related travel and trade bans, even as the virus that has killed more than 1,100 people continued to spread across West Africa.

The risk of getting infected with Ebola during travel was "low," the WHO said in a statement. While countries needed to strengthen their capacity to detect and contain new cases, they should avoid “unnecessary interference with international travel or trade.”

According to the WHO, actively screening passengers on arrival at sea ports, airports or border posts in countries not affected by Ebola that do not border an affected country was not necessary.

Numerous airlines, including British Airways, Air France and Kenya Airways, have suspended services over the past weeks, while most West African countries have implemented tight border controls.

Port authorities …
… in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, which is a key transhipment point for West African shipments, the port authority last week prohibited all vessels arriving from any of the four Ebola-affected countries - Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Nigeria.

The ban was lifted a few days later but is in effect in some other African countries. Cameroon has closed its 2,000 kilometre long border with its neighbour, Nigeria and suspended flights between the countries. In East Africa, where no Ebola infections have been reported, Kenya has banned all flights to and from the affected countries. “This decision on border closure and suspension of all flights to and from Nigeria was to protect the lives of Cameroonian citizens living within and outside from contracting Ebola, as Nigeria, our main trading partner in Africa had been facing since 20 July 2014 when Patrick Sawyer sneaked into the country aboard a flight with the deadly virus,” said the spokesman of Cameroon Foreign Affairs, Chiroumma Boukkari.

He said that the ban would be applicable for at least one month and advised Cameroonian citizens to regard the closure of borders and flight suspension seriously in protecting their lives and property.

“The border closures with our main trading partner will be lifted as soon as Nigeria contains the spread of the deadly viral disease,” he said.

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CHINESE COMPANY TO DEVELOP MOMBASA FREE TRADE ZONE

Port of Mombasa – adjacent to East Africa’s first free trade zone

Kenya has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a Chinese construction company for the development of the Mombasa Free Trade Zone (FTZ), the Malaysian news agency Bernama reports.

In February this year, the Cabinet approved the establishment of a free trade zone in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa in what was expected to establish Kenya as a regional trade power-house.

Mombasa will become Kenya's first free port and is expected to promote and strengthen trade within the East, Central and Southern Africa sub-regions by allowing trading of goods within the zone without payment of duty.

The Free Trade Zone, which would be benchmarked against similar projects in Dubai, China and Malaysia, is expected to benefit 400 million people from East, Central and Southern Africa.

As it will be among the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa, the Free Trade Zone has the potential to attract investors to Kenya.

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NSRI RESCUES STRICKEN YACHT OFF KZN COAST

The yacht Carpe Diem under tow behind the Durban NSRI rescue craft Eikos Rescuer II

At 01h55, Monday, 18th August, NSRI Port Edward volunteer sea rescue duty crew were activated by the Transnet National Ports Authority following a request for assistance from the 30 foot yacht CARPE DIEM, sailing from Durban to East London, with two men, aged in their 70’s, reporting a damaged rudder and unable to sail further, 20 nautical miles off-shore of Port Edward.

NSRI Port Edward volunteer sea rescue duty crew summoned the assistance of NSRI Shelly Beach for the use of the NSRI Shelly Beach larger sea rescue craft SPIRIT OF DAWN. NSRI Port Edward supplied a sea rescue coxswain and crew to join NSRI Shelly Beach crew who launched the sea rescue craft SPIRIT OF DAWN from Shelly Beach and responded to rendezvous with the yacht.

Failed communications from the yacht required a joint effort by NSRI and MRCC (Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre) and assisted by Telkom Maritime Radio Services to plot the yacht’s estimated position. On arrival on-scene, some 20 nautical miles off-shore of Port Edward, and following a brief search, the yacht was located and taken under tow by the NSRI at around 05h00 Monday morning (18 August).

The tow then proceeded towards Port Edward. Meanwhile, the NSRI at Durban was activated at 05h06 and launched the NSRI Durban sea rescue craft EIKOS RESCUER II. Following an arrival on-scene at 13h00, NSRI Durban took over the tow.

The estimated time of arrival at Durban was around 02h00 Tuesday 19 August, depending on weather and sea conditions. Initial progress was being reported as 6 knots.

NSRI East London had been placed on alert but had not launched, was allowed then to stand down. NSRI Shelly Beach and NSRI Port Edward crew that assisted returned to base.

The two sailors aboard the yacht are safe and well.

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MOZAMBIQUE SPENDS US415m FIGHTING ILLEGAL FISHING

A traditional non-motorised Mozambican fishing vessel returns to shore with its catch

Mozambique’s Minister of Fisheries, Victor Borges, told reporters on Saturday that over the past five years the government has spent about 15 million US dollars in the fight against illegal fishing in Mozambican waters, reports AIM.

Speaking during a press conference at the end of a visit to Maputo province, Borges said that in combating illegal fishing Mozambique has used “a platform of vigilance via satellite, river and lake patrols, and campaigns of good fishery practices.”

A good practices campaign was launched in April in Chidenguele, in the southern province of Gaza. Borges stressed that the campaign is intended to inform fishermen what they should and should not do.

With the help of the Community Fishing Councils (CCP), the Minister thought it would be possible to reduce the amount of illegal fishing year after year.

He recalled that, in March 2012, a vessel flying a foreign flag, which had come from Madagascar, was fined around US$700,000 when it illegally entered Mozambican waters, and was caught about 150 nautical miles from the coast.

“Those who steal fish steal the future,” declared Borges. “And we don’t want anyone to steal our future.”

During his visit, Borges had urged artisanal fishermen to acquire motors for their boats. He considered this to be a key strategy for artisanal fisheries.

Data from the 2012 census of the sector indicate that there about 40,000 small scale fishing boats in Mozambique, but of these only 1,000 use a motor. During the visit, Borges delivered outboard motors to 15 fishermen.

“We are going to buy more motors”, he said, “so that gradually boats which are not yet motorised acquire motors.”

Motorised vessels would be able to fish further away from the coast, and Borges believed this would relieve areas that are currently threatened with overfishing. He considered that this was a strategy for sustainable and responsible fishing, and would bring higher income to the fishermen and to the country. – AIM

MSC GOES BIG WITH ORDER FOR 19,200-TEU SHIPS

MSC Vega, at 13,200-TEU currently the biggest container ship in MSC service

Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) is being reported as having placed orders for what will become (for a while at least) the world’s largest container ships – a minimum of three ships each with a capacity of 19,200-TEU.

The super container ships have been ordered by the Monaco-based Scorpio Group, better known for dry bulkers and tankers than for owning container vessels. The ships will be built by Samsung Heavy Industries and MSC has agreed to take them on a bareboat charter for 15 years.

One estimate suggests that the ships have been lined up at a rate of $50,000 a day.

The three-vessel agreement is also said to be worth an investment of at least US$460 million and Scorpio was probably attracted by the relatively low price of $8,000 per TEU.

Contracts had not been signed when this report was under preparation but are expected to be so within the week.

The biggest container ships previously on order are the 19,000-TEU vessels ordered by China Shipping Container Lines and a similar order by United Arab Shipping Co.

Meanwhile, MSC has concluded a contract to take six 18,400-TEU container ships from a leasing company. The ships which are to be delivered from 2015, are being built by Daewoo Shipbuilding and these will provide MSC with their (currently) biggest ships as the Swiss/Italian company looks to enter a sharing deal with Maersk on the Asia-Europe trades.

EPICCENTRE OF NIGERIAN PIRACY FOUND - CLAIM

Map of Nigeria showing location of Aiyetoro

A security company believes it has discovered the epicenter of Nigerian piracy.

Security consultant Bergen Risk Solutions (BRS) says that an analysis of vessels released off Ondo state, Nigeria, indicate that all activities have been conducted off the town of Aiyetoro, located half-way between Lagos and Escravos.p> “This area now appears to have solidified as the primary disembarkation location of the hijacking gangs,” BRS says.

There is no sign of the Gulf of Guinea piracy problem abating. Last month saw four piracy incidents in the region, including one hijacking, two confirmed or suspected kidnaps and one suspicious approach, BRS says.

Placing this in wider context the consultants add that over the past 12 months, 23 product tankers and 19 vessels servicing the petroleum industry have been targeted. At least one attack is now taking place every week, but because many incidents go unreported, the real total could be three times as high as that.

INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHT - MAERSK SEALAND TO RETURN

Maersk Line intends reinstating SeaLand as from 2015 as a regional feeder shipping line covering all of the United States.

Maersk will operate the SeaLand similarly to SeagoLine in Europe which it established in 2011, and MCC Transport in Asia which was set up two years earlier.

“We have discovered that MCC and SeagoLine enables us to provide an overall higher quality of our service to our customers. By establishing SeaLand after the same model as the MCC and SeagoLine we can serve the Intra-America market by offering a dedicated service to our shippers and third-party feeder service for major carriers moving goods in and out of this important region,” says Vincent Clerc, chief trading and marketing officer at Maersk Line.

According to Maersk, reinstating SeaLand will enable them to better meet customers' individual needs. SeaLand will mainly serve the intra-US market as a specialist in cargo over short distances, but it will also sell space for container shipping lines operating in and out of the region.

“MCC in Asia, SeagoLine in Europe and SeaLand in America are very important regional shipping lines in Maersk Line's portfolio and will also in the long term will be an important addition to Maersk Line and Safmarine,” says Clerc.

Maersk Line operated under the name Maersk Sealand until 2006. The name came from the company's purchase of the American container shipping company Sea-Land in 1999. - Lloyd's Loading List / Maritime Denmark

EXPECTED SHIP ARRIVALS and SHIPS IN PORT

Gateway port

Ports & Ships publishes regularly updated SHIP MOVEMENT reports including ETAs for ports extending from West Africa to South Africa to East Africa and including Port Louis in Mauritius.

In the case of South Africa’s container ports of Durban, Ngqura, Ports Elizabeth and Cape Town links to container Stack Dates are also available.

You can access this information, including the list of ports covered, by going HERE - remember to use your BACKSPACE to return to this page.

PICS OF THE DAY – ORANGE BLOSSOM 2

An unusual sight for these pages is a fruit juice reefer, which however is a common caller in Brazil where much of the citrus produced by that country is exported after having undergone ‘beneficiation’ by converting it into fruit juice. This is then exported to Europe or the Middle East or clients elsewhere as required. Hence the quaint name for a ship, ORANGE BLOSSOM 2 (23,686-dwt, built 2014). Note her attractive and clean colour scheme, note also her ‘hump’ - an explanation of its purposes would be appreciated from any reader. The ship is Swiss- owned and is managed by Atlantship SA also of Switzerland. Pictures: Roberto Smera

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