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Shipping
Shipping sector, SLPA should tie up strategically - SAC chairman
Hiran H.Senewiratne
All stakeholders in the shipping industry should be strategically
integrated with the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) to make the Colombo
Port an efficient port in the region, said the Chairman Shipping and
Aviation Committee of the National Chamber of Commerce, Sujeiva
Samaraweera.
He said the Colombo Port is strategically located and its efficiency
level should be enhanced by integrating all stakeholders including Sri
Lanka Customs, CGR, BOI, Air Port, and other related organisations with
the SLPA.
He said due to the global crisis, the port and shipping sector is
going through a major crisis and the industry would probably bounce back
in 2010.Therefore, Sri Lankan ports should be competitive and use all
opportunities to face future challenges in the sector.
He said that we have to improve the competitiveness of the Colombo
Port because many ports in the region including Chennai, Dubai and other
ports are becoming very competitive.
Samaraweera said that Colombo Port is in an advantageous position
because most of major shipping lines call at the port and also because
our bunkering and other related services are up to international
standards.
Sri Lanka is one of the few countries that has a railway track
leading to the port in Colombo for good transportation.
Another important aspect is the training of professionals in the
industry to uplift the prevailing standard of the port.
The Government has to improve the port and shipping sector, because
90 percent of world trade is done through the shipping industry.
Today there are more than 50,000 merchant ships in the world and 150
nations have registered their ships. The global shipping sector
contributes five percent to the world economy to uplift their standards.
NOL reports loss in Q1
Singapore container shipping firm Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) reported
Tuesday a first quarter net loss of 245 million US dollars as the
economic slump clobbered global trade flows.
The loss reversed a net profit of 121 million dollars in the same
period last year, the company said in a statement. Revenue totalled 1.54
billion dollars, down 36 percent year on year.
NOL said its business was hit by a significant decline in global
trade flows and falling cargo rates as economies worldwide reeled from
the financial crisis and economic downturn.
"For the rest of the year, NOL anticipates a continuation of adverse
operating conditions," the company said. "NOL reiterates that it expects
to post a significant full-year loss. The group will continue to focus
on improving asset utilisation, yields and productivity." AFP
Pacific Basin Shipping to sell $97m shares
Pacific Basin Shipping on Wednesday said it would sell HK$761 million
(US$97.6 million) worth of new shares at a discount to third party
investors, raising capital to fund purchases of assets, mainly dry bulk
vessels and companies.
The dry bulk shipping service provider said it would sell 174.73
million new shares, or 9.1 percent of its enlarged share capital, at
HK$4.36 each. The placing price represented a 5.2 percent discount to
the closing price of HK$4.60 on Tuesday.
"We expect the difficult shipping market to present opportunities to
the company and are therefore expanding our capital with a view to
purchasing assets - mainly dry bulk vessels or companies - at attractive
prices at the right time," the company said. AFP
Moeller-Maersk Shiping posts first-quarter loss
Danish diversified group A.P. Moeller-Maersk, with interests in
shipping, oil and maritime construction, reported on Tuesday a
first-quarter loss as demand was hit by the global economic crisis.
The company, which through its subsidiary Maersk-Line is the world's
leading container shipping line, posted a net loss of 2.13 billion
kroner (286 million euros, 391 million dollars) in the January to March
period, compared to a profit of 5.22 billion a year earlier.
Pre-tax profit plunged by 87.7 percent to 1.74 billion kroner, down
from 13.75 billion in the same period in 2008.
Sales dropped by 24 percent in US dollars, to 11.02 billion dollars,
as oil prices fell and freight rates and volumes declined for Maersk's
container transport operations.
The average price for a barrel of oil was 45 dollars in the first
quarter of 2009, a drop of 54 percent from the first quarter of 2008,
A.P. Moeller-Maersk said.
For the full-year 2009, the company said there was "considerable
uncertainty, especially due to the development in the global economy."
"Specific uncertainties relate to the development in container freight
rates, transported volumes, the US dollar exchange rate and oil prices."
Profits for 2009, excluding gains on the sale of ships and rigs, were
expected to be "significantly below" those in 2008, when the company
registered a consolidated net profit of 17.64 billion kroner. AFP
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) has extended the deadline for
bids for the first container terminal in the new South Port of Colombo,
work on which is now underway, officials said.
"We extended the deadlines because there were few requests made by
bidders," a senior SLPA official said.
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Colombo
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The last date for issuing bid documents has been extended till May 15
while the closing date for submitting proposals to build and operate the
terminal has been extended to June 16, the official said. The last date
for bidders to seek clarifications is May 18, an official told Daily
News Business.
Fourteen potential investors, including shipping lines and port
operators, had collected bid documents before the original date for
collecting documents.
The parties who have collected bid documents so far include Maersk,
the world's biggest shipping line, APL, another global shipping line,
Hutchison Port Holdings, a big global port terminal operator based in
Hong Kong, and China Merchant Shipping, another Chinese Hong Kong
terminal operator.
Sri Lanka's top three conglomerates John Keells Holdings, Hayleys,
Aitken Spence and Hemas have also collected bid documents.
The new port will help Colombo retain and enhance its position as a
transshipment hub for the south Asian region.
Others are Gulftainer, a port operator based in Sharjah in the UAE,
South Asia Gateway Terminals, which operates Colombo's private container
terminal, and China Harbour Engineering Company, which is already
building a port in the island's south.
Asian Development Bank, which is funding the breakwater construction
and dredging of the new port, and Standard Chartered Bank, were among
the other parties who have collected bid documents, officials said.
Construction work on the breakwater and dredging of the new harbour
basin next to the existing port in Colombo is underway. HHS
Pirates held in Indian Ocean handed over
Fourteen Somali pirates held by the Spanish navy in the Indian Ocean
are to be handed over to Kenyan authorities, its foreign minister said
Monday, putting an end to a judicial row.
Miguel Angel Moratinos said the group were being handed over
"immediately to the Kenyan authorities in view of an agreement between
Kenya and the European Union" in March to take suspected pirates
detained by EU navies patrolling Somalia's waters and prosecute them in
Kenyan courts.
The decision was taken after National Court Judge Fernando Andreu
agreed to a request by the head of the army, General Jose Julio
Rodriguez, a defence ministry spokesman said earlier.
The judge "is not blocking the landing of the detained in Kenya or
anywhere else... meeting the operational and security conditions
necessary" for handing them over, the spokesman added.
A Spanish navy warship captured seven of the pirates in international
waters in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday after their boat capsized when
they were allegedly trying to board a Panamanian-flagged vessel. AFP |
