SHIPPING

SriLankan Cargo appoints Expolanka Freight as authorised agents

Ali Kamil, Snr Mgr Cargo (Worldwide Sales and Marketing) UL and Jagath Pathirane, Director/ CEO of Expolanka (Pvt) Ltd opening the new office, Mahiman Yapa, Cargo Sales Manager, Clare Wijesinhe and Sumith Wijeratne from SriLankan Airlines, Christo Kulatunga and Scerena Jansen from Expolanka Freight.

SriLankan Cargo appoints Expolanka Freight (Pvt) Ltd as its Cargo authorised Agent in Galle SriLankan Airlines Cargo in a bid to make available their services at regional level appointed Expolanka Freight (Pvt) Ltd as their new Cargo Authorized Agent in Galle. Accordingly new office was jointly declared open at a simple ceremony held recently under the patronage of Director/CEO of Expolanka Freight (Pvt) Limited Jagath Pathirane,and Senior Manager Cargo (Worldwide Sales and Marketing) SriLankan Airlines, Ali Kamil.

Ali Kamil, addressing the gathering said that SriLankan Cargo was moving further in achieving its vision of taking the Airline to the

public in Sri Lanka and this was possible as a result of the longstanding excellent business relationship with Expolanka Freight

(Pvt) Ltd Pathirane said that Expolanka was proud to be a partner of the National Carrier with its cargo operations in the Southern Capital and that the opening of the office in Galle further strengthens their presence in the South following the opening of the SriLankan Cargo Authorized Agents office in Hambantota last year.

Mahiman Yapa, Cargo Sales Manager SriLankan Airlines, said that the scope of this process will not only further develop the partnership between SriLankan Cargo and Expolanka but also ease the hassle for the community in Galle as they could conveniently hand over their personal effects, gift packages and sample shipments in Galle instead of travelling to Colombo for this purpose.

Panama Maritime hosts eleventh World conference

There are several good reasons why Panama will be the centre of attention in the shipping world over the coming months. The Panama

Maritime XI Conference and Exhibition is lining up another spectacular show, with a comprehensive showcase of shipping equipment and services and a powerful conference agenda at the Megapolis Convention Centre in Panama City.

Running from 27 February - 1 March 2013, the 11th maritime convention will see an impressive line-up of dignitaries from around the world discussing, amongst many topics, the huge opportunities presented to ship managers, ports and logistics organizations as the canal expansion project (Third Set of Locks) moves into its final phase.

This is truly a world event, with leading figures opening the show, including Ricardo Martinelli, President of the Republic

of Panama; IMO Secretary General Koji Sekimizu and President, Panama Maritime XI, Tomas Avila.

Over the three day conference, top international industry executives will address the whole spectrum of shipping related issues. In the

opening session Koji Sekimizu will be talking about ‘Sustainable Development, IMO’s contribution beyond Rio+20’ with a following

session providing the ‘Canal Expansion Project Update’, together with a presentation from a ship manager’s perspective on ‘What the expanded Canal means to International Trade’.

The entire conference speaker line-up includes representatives from ports, shipping, shipbuilders, logistics, oil and gas, security and key industry bodies around the globe, including Brazil, Colombia, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, UAE, UK and USA.

Tomas Avila, President, Panama Maritime XI said, “It is a pleasure to be hosting the eleventh Panama Maritime World Conference and Exhibition at such an important time in Panama’s maritime development plans. The country remains one of the few economies in the world that maintains stable growth and offers such great opportunities for the maritime and logistics industries.”

Nautilus Marine places confidence on Colombo Dockyard

Colombo Dockyard was the ideal option for Nautilus Marine Acquisition Corp. Greece/Vega Offshore, Norway the owners of Offshore Support vessels SK Line 71 and 72, who were looking out to carry out charter requested modifications to the brand new deliveries from China.

OSV. SK Line 71 conversion project in progress

The two 1678 GRT OSV’s vessels built in Fujian Funing Shipbuilding Heavy Industry, Fu´An, China, were placed in Colombo soon after taking delivery. The main project scope was to Install a new stern thruster on the fabricated skeg and carry out all electrical and mechanical installations on these two OSVs. This modification was coupled with other repair requirements such as blasting and painting of 12 Nos of tanks to S.A 2.0 standard, conversion of the existing piping systems related to the above tanks, Removal of the anchor handling winch, Removal of the wire reel, Shifting the existing tugger winches by 1 meter, removal of the shark jaw and towing pins, removal of Stern Roller, Convert the space of the stern roller to a fresh water tank.

Once the decision was taken to place the vessel in Colombo, prefabrication of the skeg commenced prior to arrival of the first vessel in Colombo. Planning and coordination of the project was handled by Priyanka Cooray, Ship Manager with full support from production departments.

Colombo’s flexibility was evident when the vessel’s arrival date was shifted due to changes in the delivery dates from the Chinese yard, Colombo Dockyard keeping to its customer centric decision making was able to re-schedule the program in order to facilitate suitable drydocking with minimal effect on the schedule. The SK Line 71 was accommodated in Drydock No. 04 (125,000 DWT) drydock while SK Line 72 was taken into Drydock No. 03 (9,000 DWT).

Colombo’s strategic geographic position also plays a part, as the vessel delivery was taken from China and two OSV’s were placed one after other in Colombo for the conversion, soon after the sea trials the two vessels proceeded to Brazil, where they will be on-hired to the Petrobras charter,

Given the successful completion of the projects on SK Line and previously on OSV. Kailash and OSV. Shegar, Colombo Dockyard has managed to create a niche as a specialist shipyard with the necessary capability to cater to repair requirements / conversions for vessels moving into the Petrobras charter in the Brazilian waters.

The project management was assigned to Thome Offshore Management Pte Ltd. Singapore. Toni Ang, Senior Technical Superintendent was based in Colombo to during the total project. Georgios Aivaliotis - Senior Technical Manager represented the owners from Nautilus Marine Acquisition Corp. Greece.

The project was carried out meeting the classification society requirements of American Bureau of Shipping.

The Local agents for the vessel during this call were McLarens Shipping Limited.

World's largest container, Marco Polo, christened in Belgium

The Marco Polo, flying a British flag and said to be the world's biggest container ship by French owners CMA CGM, was given its champagne christening in the Belgian port of Zeebrugge.

“Marco Polo's expeditions to Asia made us dream 700 years ago.

"Today we have a new connection with that continent,” said port president Joachim Coens, quoted by Belga news agency.

The ship, which is 396 metres (yards) long -- the length of four football fields -- was built in South Korea and was to head back to Asia after a stop in France.

It is said to be the largest container in the world measured by capacity, as it can hold 16,020 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit containers) -- or 97 kilometres of containers lined up one by one.

CMA CGM has commissioned two more of the same tonnage expectes to be delivered next spring and each costing between 150 and 200 million euros.

AFP

Japan's US-bound exports overtake China shipments

Japan's US-bound exports overtook shipments to China last month, official data showed, as a new government in Tokyo vows to stand its ground in a bitter diplomatic dispute with Beijing.

Shipments to China tumbled 14.5 percent in November as demand for everything from cars to construction equipment fell away, while an improving US economy helped boost the flow of Japanese goods 5.3 percent on-year.

The result pushed exports to the US ahead of those to China for the first time in nearly a year, although Beijing remained Tokyo's biggest overall trade partner despite their simmering dispute over an East China Sea island chain.

The data “reflects the soundness of the US economy and brisk sales of Japanese cars there, but whether US exports will keep this pace depends on the settlement of the fiscal cliff,” said Ayumi Maekawa, senior economist at Tokyo-based Mizuho Research Institute, referring to the US budgetary impasse.

“China's domestic demand is still weak but if its public spending increases that could boost exports of products like Japanese-made steel.” Overall, Japanese exports fell 4.1 percent while imports edged up 0.8 percent, translating into a $11.3 billion trade deficit for November, the fifth straight monthly shortfall and a record for the month.

Exports to Europe -- a key market for Japanese goods -- were off almost 20 percent as demand on the debt-strapped continent sagged.

“Japan's trade deficit is likely to continue for the time being as the European economy is weak,” Maekawa said.

The gloomy data for Japan, which may have slipped into recession last quarter, comes days after the conservative Liberal Democratic Party swept to an electoral victory at the weekend.

Hawkish LDP leader Shinzo Abe has pledged to take a hardline stance in the dispute with China that flared badly in September after Tokyo nationalised the Senkakus, which Beijing refers to as the Diaoyu islands.

The dispute set off a bitter diplomatic row, huge anti-Japan protests across China and a consumer boycott that weighed heavily on China sales of well-known Japanese brands, including those of top automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda.

AFP