shipping

Maersk to invest in new container terminal

Hiran H. SENEWIRATNE

The Maersk group, which runs the world's biggest shipping line, will invest in a new container terminal in the planned new deep-draft port next to Colombo, a company official said.

Maersk Line is part of the Danish AP Moller-Maersk group and operates independently of the terminal operator unit, APM Terminals (APMT).

The construction work on the breakwater of the new port is under way and the Government is about to call for tenders to build the new port's container terminals, Ports Authority sources said.

The Colombo Port needs to move fast to build new deep-water terminals if it is to remain competitive. Existing facilities were nearing saturation and new terminals are needed to handle bigger new container ships now being deployed on trade routes, its sources said.

It is one of Colombo's biggest customers and also has a stake in the privatised South Asia Gateway Terminals container facility. The Maersk group did not bid when bids for the container terminal project were called initially.

The tenders for the project were first called last year but cancelled when the government could not decide between the two top contenders, Port of Singapore Authority and Hutchison Port Holdings of Hong Kong.

The AP Moller-Maersk group, commonly known as Maersk, is the world's largest container ship operator and also a big container terminal operator, its sources said.

The last time APMT did not participate because it was involved in too many projects and its resources were tied up. But this time it may tender. its sources said. APMT is actively looking at the project. But it depends on the tender documents and criteria.

Eitzen maritime makes its mark in Sri Lanka

The liaison office of Eitzen Maritime Services ASA held a corporate presentation to promote the opportunities available to Seafaring Officers of Sri Lanka. It was an evening full of entertainment, prizes and surprises where all those involved in the Sri Lankan crew manning operation enjoyed a fellowship with marine officers and engineers.

It also provided an opportunity for EMS to promote their well-known brand in Sri Lanka and bring to the notice of the attendees the strengths, standards and corporate culture of EMS along with the many advantages and benefits on offer for EMS Seafarers.

Representatives from EMS Denmark, EMS India, Merchant Shipping Division of the Ministry, CINEC Maritime Campus and service providers to EMS Liaison office in Sri Lanka, participated in the event.

Special Awards of Recognition were awarded to 14 seafarers who have completed more than 10 years of service in the Company. Among them were 6 seafarers who have completed more than 20 years of service. Their loyalty portrays the quality of service EMS provides to their valued Seafarers.

It was discovered that the sentiment of appreciation was mutual among the EMS family when a token of commendation was presented to Mrs. A. Silva, Authorised Representative of the EMS liaison office in Sri Lanka by the current seafarers, in appreciation of her 25 years of dedicated service to the Company.

EMS Ship management is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange and is a part of the Eitzen Group based in Norway.

They provide services ranging from technical management, crew management, ship supply and logistics, to marine equipment and insurance broking, through their subsidiary companies. One such subsidiary, EMS Crew Management offer complete crew management services to all types of vessels through crew competence centres located in most of the seafaring nations across the globe.

EMS established its presence in Sri Lanka by acquiring Gibson Gas Tankers of UK who were the principals of Fort Shipping Limited, the first offshore ship management company in Sri Lanka established in 1983 by Capt. R.M. Logan who was also present at the event. Continuing the services offered by Fort Shipping Limited, The Sri Lankan office of EMS concentrated only on the LPG Gas tanker qualified seafarers up to now.

A decision was taken by EMS to expand their business in Sri Lanka by opening up vacancies for marine officers and engineers to sail on various types of vessels they are qualified in. It is a great opportunity for Sri Lankan Seafarers and the attendees were quick to realize the same.

CSC to implement three-phase plan

Ananda Wedaarachchi

Ceylon Shipping Corporation (C.S.C.) will implement a three-phase development plan shortly, said Chairman CSC, Y.L.S. Hameed.

The Chairman said that at the first phase of the plan CSC will work with larger international shipping companies to deliver goods from countries to various destinations.

He said that initially forty (40) containers will be brought weekly from France to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Mundry in India from next week. Under the Non Vessel Operating Common Courier (NVOCC) phase, C.S.C. will be able to handle sea cargo transportation successfully in the future, he said.

The purchase of slots from the vessels and sharing the space of the vessels with international shipping companies will be the other important phases of the C.S.C's development plan, he said.

He also said that the Colombo Port as the hub in the Indian occean is able to play a key role in the sea cargo transportation, purchasing slots of the ships and sharing the vessels definitely expand C.S.C.'s cargo handling capacity enabling it to meet the huge demand in the international sea cargo transport sector, he said.

Global financial crisis, no impact on seafarers

Amid dire predictions that trade will slow next year due to the global financial crisis, hundreds of Filipino seamen still gather in downtown Manila everyday to scan the positions vacant notices.

Wilfredo Narte, a 66-year-old Filipino sailor, has seen it all before as he walks past a group of recruitment officers offering him up to 8,000 dollars a month to captain a foreign vessel.

Scanning the job notices he carefully chooses one and signs up, content he will sail within the month.

Others like him wait their turn, but with hundreds of job vacancies on foreign ships none of them look worried even as the financial crisis starts to batter economies around the world.

"Crisis after crisis, they still look for Filipino seamen," says Narte, who has more than 30 years of experience on foreign vessels working his way up from deckhand to captain.

"I have travelled the world and have been on ships from Asia and the Americas to the Middle East," he says proudly.

Narte, who spends an average of 10 months a year at sea, is one of an estimated 270,000 Filipinos who make up roughly a third of the world's merchant sailors.

While economists make dire predictions that trade will fall next year with demand for cargo ships dropping sharply experts here say Filipino seamen would hardly feel the pinch.

Government has said that from its army of eight million overseas workers those most likely to be affected by the financial crisis will be the low-skilled labour and not those in specialised sectors such as shipping.

Filipino overseas workers sent home 14.4 billion dollars last year, equivalent to 10 percent of the Southeast Asian nation's gross domestic product.

Fluent in English and highly trainable, Filipinos are much sought after to man anything that floats - from luxury cruise ships to giant tankers and container ships.

"The world economy may slow down but there will still be commodities that need to be moved around the globe," Roberto Ibaviosa of Epic Maritime, a staffing agency for foreign vessels told AFP.

"Even if the industry cuts jobs Filipinos will not be affected. They (shipping companies) want us to do the work." The lowest-ranked Filipino seafarer, a messman, earns about 800 dollars a month plus overtime.

Officers get as much as 8,000 dollars a month - about 15 times higher than the average office executive in Manila.

"The situation now is that Filipino seamen can actually demand their own pay scale and choose to ignore the lower paying job offers," said Ibaviosa, himself a 24-year veteran seaman.

He forecasts the demand for shipping manpower to "slowdown a little" in the first quarter of next year, with job orders still lined up until December.

A more pressing concern, he said, is rampant piracy near the sealanes off Somalia, where 120 Filipino crew aboard 11 foreign-flagged ships were seized by pirates between April and September this year, Ibaviosa said.