Global economic downturn and financial crisis have slowed growth in world seaborne trade, while the increase in the supply of vessels has kept freight rates depressed, according to 2009 review of the maritime transport by United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).The review marked that the year 2008 marked a major turning point in the history of the world economy and trade. A ti....

Ispat Industries is one amongst the largest cargo movers by ships in the Mumbai region, bringing 150-180 ships annually. It is followed by other players like Tata Power, RCF, MESB, PNP, Bhatia Coal, Agarwal Coal, Rock Phosphorus, MOP, MAP, etc. Ispat has a steel plant at Dolvi in Raigad district, with a capacity of 3.3 million metric tonnes of hot rolled steel coils per annum, for which approxima....

Given the growing demand of logistics service providers (LSPs), your business may well need a wider range of capabilities. Considering the high demand of international trade in the current scenario, being simply a low-cost service provider is not enough to win businesses. Your business needs to transgress beyond the purview of offering just cost-effective solutions. Becoming a technology-driven L....

On December 16, 2009 when the HAZMAT Conference, attended by the Director General of Shipping and other shipping luminaries, ended in Mumbai, everyone was talking about the importance and focus needed in the carriage of hazardous goods by sea and the transformation in the rules of carriage from the days of Captain Charles Bryant till today. But who was Capt Bryant and what did he do? Capt Charle....

according to union shipping minister GK Vasan, the share of Indian shipping tonnage as compared to world shipping tonnage in term of gross tonnage (GT) by flag of registration stood at 1.19% on January 1, 2006, 1.16% on January 1, 2007 and 1.18% on January 1, 2008 as per data available.The government, he said, has introduced tonnage tax regime in India since 2004 by which the tax outgo for Indian....

In an all cash deal, Arshiya International subsidiary Cyberlog has entered into an agreement with aurionPro Solutions for the sale of marketing rights along with all existing customers and hosting infrastructure of Cyberlog product Suite. The product is a completely web based comprehensive and state-of-the-art solution for integrated logistics and supply chain management with a global customer ba....

The government, according to shipping ministry has taken following steps to prevent oil spill in the ports and other areas:India being a party to International Convention for the prevention of pollution from ships, 1973 (MARPOL 73/78), the Merchant Shipping Act (MS Act), 1958 has been amended to implement the convention to prevent, reduce, contain and control oil pollution from ships.Besides, it ....

One of the country's leading logistics software providers, Softlink Logistic Systems has successfully installed Logi-Sys, a web-based, end-to-end, modular, ERP software at Logistic Integrators (India), a Mumbai-based logistics company with global footprint.According to Softlink, Logi-Sys provides freight forwarders with an integrated global freight forwarding software that ensures lower total cos....

Container Corporation of India (Concor), leading mover containerized trains across the country, is planning to launch two more terminals in the eastern region. While work for the Rourkela terminal has started another one proposed at Jharsuguda is still at the drawing board stage. The government organization has already got terminals in operations at Amingaon (Guwahati), Durgapur, Tatanagar, Balas....

Delhi-based logistics solutions provider DRS Logistics plans to extend its reach into southern states. The company is embarking on a Rs 450-crore expansion that envisages construction of warehousing facilities in the south by the end of the next financial year. The company currently operates 1.5 million sq ft of warehousing space in cities like Gurgaon, Khajuri, Palwal and Ambala in the north thr....

Evergreen Marine has announced that all cargo moving from Asia to Indian subcontinent and Europe will be subject to a rate increase from January 1. The Taiwan's shipping line will increase rates by $75 per TEU on its services from the Far East to ports in the Middle East and will increase rates $100 per TEU on services from the Far East to the Red Sea, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Bangladesh. ....

Orissa has requested the union ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) to grant environmental clearance to Gopalpur Port. The port has already got clearance from state body, Orissa State Coastal Zone Management Authority (OSCZMA). According to sources, the MoEF clearance was pending due to the absence of the recommendation by OSCZMA. The state forest and environment department has now recommend....

Kolkata Port Trust is understood to be preparing to invite pre-qualification bids for developing yet another jetty. It has already proposed a riverine jetty, the pre-qualification bids for which have already been received and the pre-bid meetings are in progress. This riverine jetty in the upstream of the existing third oil jetty of the dock will have a length of 275 metres to handle ocean going ....

Gujarat Maritime Horizon 2010, an international conference on maritime development in the state is scheduled to be held in Ahmedabad on January 12, 2010. It will discuss threadbare the progress, issues and way forward for the state and its stakeholders who has been instrumental in making Gujarat's trailblazing journey into maritime space possible.The New Year's first event of the maritime industr....

DANISH shipping giant AP Moller-Maersk has again gone to the debt market to raise $704 million in two bond issues. According to reports, the issue was placed by Danske Bank, Nordea and Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken and will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. The parent company of Maersk Line raised $1.6 billion in September from a share sale to institutional investors in the US, UK and S....

When King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa officially opened the Gulf state's new port of Khalifa bin Salman early December, it was Bahrain's largest privatisation projects in the port sector. The facility is being operated by APM Terminals BV.Aside from APM Terminals' box handling facilities, Khalifa bin Salman also has facilities for general break-bulk, RoRo and a separate cruise terminal. Designed to....

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's 2010 preliminary budget calls for 150 job cuts and investing $3.1 billion on capital projects, including the World Trade Center.The authority's board of commissioners will vote on the budget December 10. However, the preliminary budget calls for no increases in tolls or fares. The budget's cost-cutting measures include a 20% reduction in overtime an....

SINGAPORE has been re-elected to the Council of the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) for a ninth term at the 26th session of the IMO Assembly in London in November. The election was conducted by secret ballot from representatives of IMO member countries attending the assembly session. Each country has one vote for each council seat contested and the assembly will reconvene in two years t....

Lloyd's Register Classification Society (China) [LRCS] and Shenzhen-listed Shanghai Bestway Marine Engineering Design (Bestway) have jointed hands to develop a new fuel-efficient bulk carrier. This is in response to increasing pressure from owners and regulators for shipbuilders to offer environmentally friendlier and more cost-effective vessels. The comprehensive research-and-development project....

THE United Nations Security Council has extended its permission to states and regional organisations to use force against pirates off the coast of Somalia for another 12 months. The Council renewed calls to have officers of the countries prosecuting pirates to be stationed on naval vessels to take suspects into custody and conduct investigations. At the request of the Somalian government, the Cou....

IT looks more like the Starship Enterprise sinking in the sea - but this huge vertical vessel could be the future of ocean exploration.SeaOrbiter, a huge 51m (167ft) structure of a huge vertical vessel is all set to be the world's first vertical ship allowing man a revolutionary view of life below the surface.Although currently only a prototype its inventor Jacques Rougerie thinks his internation....

DUBAI WORLD has welcomed the announcement that the government of Dubai is to provide financial support to the group, including full repayment of the Nakheel 2009 sukuk, which provides funding and a stable basis for the restructuring, said a company statement. Dubai World said it will continue to work with financial creditors to negotiate a standstill in an orderly way. As long as a standstill is ....

Three Asia-based trade areas of Asia, Africa and Latin America will account for nearly 40% of the world's trade volume by 2028, according to DHL's latest survey.Chief executive of DHL Global Forwarding, Hermann Ude, said, DHL's latest survey, which was released at the recent APEC CEO Summit in Singapore, showed that the three fast-growing areas of economic activity will soon have a much greater i....

China's leading manufacturer of vessel equipment and also a producer of missile launchers, China Shipbuilding Industry is planning to raise $2.15 billion in what would be the country's third-largest initial public offering this year. As per plans, the company will sell as many as 1.9 billion shares in a range of $0.90 and $1.08 each. China Shipbuilding is likely to benefit from the government's t....

There are some sectors that will survive the current slowdown better than others. Storage and warehousing (SW) within the logistics sector is one of them. Although other segments of the logistics supply chain such as transportation and retail have been affected marginally by the slowdown, SW seems to be well insulated. This is because the demand for warehousing exceeds the supply of storage facil....

I will not be surprised if India's imports actually exceed the estimate of 8.65 million tonnes, announced Dorab E Mistry, director, Godrej International, while talking about revisited economic downturn and effect on palm oil trade at POTS - India by MPOC on December 15, 2009, in New Delhi. According to Mr Mistry, there are 3 reasons for what he said. They are: First, Indian farmers are at present....

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Cut off from family and friends, and cut off from the shore visible at a stones throw from him, a seafarer is indeed a very lonely man going through his routine job day after day, thanks to ISPS. These days, the stay at a port is very short and the seafarer has no time to stand and stare. This makes it necessary to provide seamen with a facility for visiting the shore within this short stay, keep....

The ambitious project of the government to transform port and shipping sectors is inching forward. Of the 276 port projects that are part of National Maritime Development Programme (NMDP) , only 47 projects stand completed as on November 31. It has also dropped 22 projects. Launched in March 2006, the NMDP project was formulated by the department of shipping. It covers the entire gamut of activit....

When Commander Dilip Dhonde of the Indian Navy sailed off mid August, 2009, from Mumbai, he was embarking on a journey that registered a new watermark in Indian naval and maritime history. For what Cmdr Dhonde set off was the first of its kind solo circumnavigation sea voyage undertaken by an Indian. The fact that the vessel, 'Mhadei' used for the project was an India-made one also made the event....

India has transformed from being a slow-growing agrarian country into one of the world's most dynamic economies in less than two decades. Barring the current fiscal, India's GDP has grown at an average of more than 8 per cent annually over the past few years, making it the second-fastest growing economy in the world. Given the flourishing economy and increasing exim levels, domestic companies are....

Mahatma Gandhi said that the real India lives in its villages. And if there was a time in post independence when rural India was at its tryst with destiny it would be NOW! 5000 towns and 600,000 villages make up for India's rural landscape. The people living in these areas are eager to connect with the rest of the world, and they will do so by beginning to either sell their product to the markets....