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In cooperation with Svitzer, Sohar Port and Freezone, recently signed a charter agreement for five new tugboat vessels to replace the existing tugboat fleet and provide 24/7 operational support for vessel movements in and around the rapidly expanding port. The marine service agreement was signed at the annual business reception on January 23, between Dr Mohammed Nasser Ali Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Board at Sohar Port and Freezone, and Henriette Hallberg Thygesen, CEO of Svitzer.

Fluxys and Titan LNG have joined forces to build the FlexFueler 002, a bunkering pontoon to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) more widely available as shipping fuel in the Antwerp port and region. The pontoon will be commissioned by mid-2020 and support the shipping industry in its switch to cleaner operations.

LUKOIL says it is interested in construction of a dry cargo terminal for transshipment of coke, coal and pellets in Vysotsk, says press center of the Leningrad Region Government. The terminal design has been discussed at the meeting of Leningrad Region Governor Aleksand Drozdenko and LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov. The first turn of SPK Vysotsk terminal able to handle up to 7 million tonnes of cargo per year is to be completed by 2021. When fully operational the terminal will handle up to 15 million tonnes per year. The project foresees generation of about 160 jobs.

Gujarat may offer an additional 50% stake in Gujarat State Petroleum Corp. (GSPC) LNG Ltd to Adani Group, which already holds a 25% stake in the company, after Indian Oil Corp. Ltd decided to opt out of the race, said three state government officials close to the development, requesting anonymity. The Gujarat government, which owns 50% in GSPC LNG, had been looking to induct a third partner for the remaining 25% stake. It may now allow the Adani Group to pick up the 25%, and offload up to 25% of its own stake in the company.

FRANKFURT, Jan 25 (Reuters) – German utility Uniper on Friday said ExxonMobil had signed a preliminary deal to take a substantial share of the regasification capacity at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) floating terminal planned for Wilhelmshaven. “The heads of agreement (a non-binding draft) is an important step towards the realisation of the Wilhelmshaven floating storage and regasification (FSRU) project,” said Keith Martin, Uniper’s chief commercial officer. “The FSRU will provide LNG companies from the United States, but also other countries from around the world, with the opportunity to deliver LNG into the German and European markets,” he said. LNG is seen helping the German government diversify away from pipeline gas arriving from Russia, Norway and the Netherlands.

Restrictions on navigation in the port of Arkhangelsk coming into effect on 15 February 2019 are applicable to vessels covered by icebreaker assistance. According to the order signed by the Port Harbour Master Dmitry Sarapunin, icebreaker assistance will be only provided to vessels with ice class Ice3 and above; vessels with ice class Arc4 and above can sail independently within the water area of port Arkhangelsk, along the canal fairway; vessels of Ice2 category and above are allowed to sail along the canal with the assistance of icebreakers between Chizhovsky anchorage and Rosneft berths and up to the berths higher off the Krasnoflotsky bridge.

APM Terminals Poti and Poti New Terminals Consortium have submitted a conceptual design for a first stage construction permit for the expansion of the Poti Sea Port, Georgia. The plans were received by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia. The project plan entails a 14.5-meter water depth at the 700-meter quay wall and 25 hectares of dedicated land for the bulk operation for yard and covered storage facilities for various cargo types, including grain, ore, and minerals.

A new marine terminal will be built in the Poti, due to which the port will be able to receive 2.5 million tons more cargo per year. This was announced on February 4 by the Prime Minister of Georgia, Mamuka Bakhtadze, during the signing of the relevant agreement. The relevant agreement was signed between the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) and the Georgian-American transport company PACE Group in Tbilisi.

APM Terminals has signed a memorandum of understanding with Sahathai Terminal PLC (PORT) and Mitr Phol Sugar to develop a 345,000 TEU capacity greenfield container terminal in Bangkok, Thailand. Bangkok River Terminal Limited (BRT) will accommodate Thailand’s rapidly-growing containerized import and export trade. Sahathai Terminal PLC (PORT), Thailand’s leading container terminal and logistics company formed a Joint Venture with Mitr Phol Sugar to develop this Container Terminal in October 2018. With over 35-years’ experience in Thailand with container operations in Lat Krabang and Laem Chabang, APM Terminals’ participation will further strengthen the joint venture. Completion of the transaction is subject to receiving applicable regulatory approvals and licenses.

Hamburger Hafen und Logistik AG (HHLA) has further increased performance at its largest container terminal in the Port of Hamburg with a comprehensive expansion of its rail terminal. Two extra tracks and two new rail gantry cranes have been added to the rail terminal at the Container Terminal Burchardkai (CTB).

Port operators have begun shipping out empty containers clogging the Manila International Container Port (MICP) and the Port of Manila (POM), Bureau of Customs (BOC) Commissioner Rey Leonardo Guerrero disclosed. Guerrero, a former military chief, said the Asian Terminals Incorporated (ATI), which operates POM, has already transferred empty containers from Manila to Batangas Port last January 14. The shipping lines are also set to send their sweeper vessels to move out empty containers to the Ports of Batangas and Subic to free up space at the two Manila ports.

CMA CGM Short Sea Lines Med announced the deployment of a new Intra Med service in which CMA CGM will operate 1 vessel. This new service called Med Pendulum Service (MPS) will have the following features: Rotation and terminals: Salerno (Amoruso Container Terminal) - La Spezia (Terminal del Golfo) - Genoa (San Giorgio Terminal) - Algeciras (TTI) - Casablanca (Somaport) - Leixoes (TCL) - Setubal (Sadoport) - Marseille (Mourepiane) - Genoa (San Giorgio Terminal) - La Spezia (Terminal del Golfo) - Salerno (Amoruso Container Terminal) - Piraeus (Piraeus Container Terminal) - Mersin (Mersin International Port) - Lattakia (Lattakia Terminal) - Beirut (Beirut Container Terminal) - Alexandria (Old Port) - Salerno (Amoruso Container Terminal) Duration: 40 days Frequency: 10 days Vessels: 4 vessels of 1,700 TEU (1 provided by CMA CGM) Starting date: January 29th, 2019 in Salerno (WB)

DCT Gdansk says it is expanding its fleet of STS and RTG cranes. Five new fully electric RTG cranes, which came by sea to DCT Gdansk terminal at the beginning of December, are being assembled on the yards. One of them has already reached vertical dimension. Five RTGs were bought as part of T2b project. They will be started and tested in the second half of February 2019. A the beginning of May they will be fully operational. From then on DCT Gdansk will have forty RTG cranes to handle containers at the yard of the terminal. Twenty eRTG cranes for T2 yards and 20 RTG cranes for T1 yards. Two new STS cranes which are already at T2 berth are being tested. The tests should last around two weeks.

As MPs restarted the Brexit debate, Secretary of State for International Trade Dr Liam Fox claims Southampton could benefit majorly from new trade agreements. Dr Fox said that when the UK leaves the EU on March 29, it will begin to negotiate new deals with the US, Australia, New Zealand and could also do a deal with countries in the Pacific Rim. He said that UK was considering joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which covers 11 countries around the Pacific Rim, including Australia, Canada and Japan, as well as some of the world’s fastest growing economies like Malaysia and Vietnam. Trade with the US, Australia, New Zealand and the 11 CPTPP countries was worth more than £7 billion to Hampshire and the Isle of Wight last year, with more than £20 billion worth of goods passing through the Solent in 2017, 13 per cent of the UK’s total trade with these countries. In recent years Southampton has become the UK’s main port for car exports and vehicles to the 14 priority markets was worth just under £6bn in 2017.

At the Georgia Foreign Trade Conference, Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch unveiled GPA’s Big Berth/Big Ship program that will allow the Port of Savannah to simultaneously handle six 14,000 TEU vessels by 2024. “No other single container terminal in North America has the ability to expand berth capacity at this rate,” said Lynch. Currently, Savannah’s Garden City Terminal is equipped to handle two of these vessels and by April of this year that number will increase to three. During his presentation titled “2019: The Triple Crown?” Lynch told an audience of 350 logistics professionals that the Port of Savannah had just last week achieved the busiest month ever in its history, moving 433,975 TEUs, a whopping 28 percent jump over the previous year.

New energy-saving, low-emission technology at the Port of Hamburg: two straddle carriers with environmentally friendly hybrid engines are now transporting containers between the ship, the yard, the rail terminal and the truck gate at the HHLA Container Terminal Tollerort (CTT). The two prototypes are expected to use at least 15 percent less diesel than their predecessors. This will significantly reduce emissions of CO2, nitric oxide and particulate matter, the company said in its release.

Magellan Midstream Partners LP has begun talks with companies developing crude transportation assets in Freeport, Texas, as it considers building a U.S. crude export terminal there instead of its previously planned spot off Corpus Christi, an executive said.

With support from the European Union’s CEF Program, Port of Barcelona partners with energy suppliers, ship owner-operators, port equipment manufacturers and technological innovators to pilot and measure the efficiency of LNG on land and at sea as an alternative fuel source. The aim is to reduce NOx, SO2 and PM emissions using alternative fuels throughout the ports nautical and intermodal chains for cargo ships, ferries and cruise ships. The Port of Barcelona’s energy transition towards a more environment-friendly business model is gaining momentum, as it completes pilot operations using LNG and CNG as alternative fuels throughout its nautical and intermodal supply chains.

Taking into account the current ice situation, ice forecast and long period of temperatures below 15 centigrade degrees in the water area of port Vyborg (Leningrad Region) and at the approaches to it, restrictions on navigation in the port’s waters come into effect on 6 February 2019. According to the order signed by the Port Harbour Master Igor Malafeyev, navigation of ATB units and non-ice-class ships is not allowed in ice waters; vessels of Ice1 category are allowed to sail in ice waters only with the assistance of icebreakers; vessels of Ice2 category and above are allowed to sail independently or with the assistance of icebreakers.

On Monday, Jan. 10, 2019 the liquefied natural gas (LNG) feeder and bunker vessel “Kairos” starts its first reload operation in Klaipėda. Next to the German LNG supplier Nauticor one of the ship’s charterers is oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal operator Klaipėdos Nafta (KN). “Kairos” being the world’s largest LNG bunker vessel will enhance the LNG logistic chain for KN in the Baltic Sea region. Built at the “Hyundai Mipo” shipyard in South Korea, the ship has started its voyage to Europe in October 2018 and reached Klaipeda at the middle of December.