Turmoil in LibyaPort operations in Libya continueto be affected by conflictbetween various armed groups.Oil and product tankers havebeen bombed, and movement ofcontainer and bulk vessels is alsobeing disrupted.Libya has turned into a virtualfailed state since the overthrowof President Muammar Qaddafiin 2011. Rival groups, jockeyingfor recognition as the country’sofficial government, control differentarms of the state and aretargeting ships and port facilities.The current focus of fighting isbetween the government in Tobruk,which is led by Abdallah AlThani and which is recognised bymost western states, and IslamicState, while a rival governmentin Tripoli, under Omar al-Hassi,controls the ports of Tripoli andMisrata.Most recently, in late May, aproduct tanker, operated by thestate-owned General NationalMaritime Transport Company,was bombed by the Libyan AirForce (LAF) as it arrived at thePort of Sirte. According to theTobruk government, the tankerwas carrying arms as well as fuel.A Turkish containership was attackedby the LAF in May and thePort of Misrata bombed in January.Maersk Line is consideringwhether it should suspend itsservice between Marsaxlokk andMisrata. Very high insurance premiumsfor vessels using Libyanports make it prohibitively expensivefor most shipping linesto serve the country, although,unlike in Syria, there are no sanctionson trading with Libya.Containerships have also beencaught up in the migrant crisis,rescuing migrants whose vesselshave sunk or who have beenabandoned by people traffickers.For example, MAERSK REGENS-BURG rescued 427 people off theLibyan coast at the end of Maywhile sailing from Al Khoms inLibya to Sfax in Tunisia. This wasthe second large-scale rescue forthe ship in the same area inside ayear. Libya has become the mostpopular sailing point for refugeesand economic migrants seekingto enter Europe, because of thelack of effective border controlsin the country.Maersk Line has been involvedin six rescues involving over2,000 refugees this year, while itstanker division, Maersk Tankers,has rescued another 700. The rescuespresent an enormous challengeas commercial vessels witha crew of less than 25 are notequipped to feed and house largenumbers of migrants.Chinese investmentsin PakistanSubstantial investments fromChina are planned to be madein Pakistan’s transport infrastructure,in support of Beijing’s planto create a China Pakistan EconomicCorridor (CPEC). Thiswill also be a logistics and transport(highway, rail and pipelines)artery and will provide importersand exporters in western/interiorChina with faster and costcompetitiverouting options tothe Middle East and Europe.The planned 2,000 km corridorextends from the Chineseborder city of Kashgar to the Pakistaniport city of Gwadar. Thisdeepsea port, which is being operatedby China Overseas PortHolding Co under a 40-yearconcession (signed in 2014), isbeing expanded, with US$1.6Bearmarked for modernising andexpanding its cargo handling facilitiesand infrastructure.In addition to Gwadar, significantinvestments are alsoplanned in the port of Karachi.In May, a Memorandum of Understandingwas signed betweenChina’s Guangdong ProvincialTransportation Departmentand the Karachi Port Trust(KPT), the goal of which is “tostrengthen the Pakistani port’soperations and enhance its shippingconnectivity”.In particular, KPT andGuangdong Province will cooperatein establishing betterfreight and logistics connectionsbetween the two regions,in promoting imports and exports,investment and trainingprogrammes.Meanwhile, container volumesat the port are growingstrongly, with a record 160,649TEU handled in May. In 2014,box traffic rose by just over 6%to 833,000 TEU. Some of this isUS military cargo, which is nowflowing through Karachi afterRussia closed the NorthernDistribution Network across itsterritory to Afghanistan in May.Theft in Pakistan remains a significantconcern, however. Onerecent cargo theft case aloneinvolved 9,722 NATO containersstolen between Karachi andTorkham.The CPEC plan involvesUS$46B in investment by theChinese. It fully supports and isan integral part of the government’seven more ambitiousNew Silk Road initiative.PORT NEWSDCT Gdansk growthManagement at DCT Gdansk,Poland, has announced that theG6 Alliance will extend its Loop7 Asia/Europe string to the facilityin early August. The decisionis a major boost to the terminalwhich, up until now, has beenheavily reliant on Maersk Linesince it opened in 2007.Currently, Maersk’s AE10(Asia/Europe) service string,which uses Triple E-class 18,000TEU vessels, calls at Gdansk.Operated within the 2M agreement,the line’s partner MSC alsoroutes some cargo over the facility,although it uses feeder linksand the neighbouring port ofGdynia as its main service optionfor Poland.The move by the G6 will meanthat APL, Hapag-Lloyd, HyundaiMerchant Marine, Mitsui OSKLines, NYK Line and OOCL willroute more of their cargo directto Poland, rather than by train,truck and/or feeder services overBenelux and German ports. TheG6’s Loop 7 service, which usesships in the 13,000/14,000 TEUsize range, also calls at Rotterdamand Hamburg in Europe, aswell as Southampton in the UK.The new business fully justifiesDCT Gdansk’s expansionprogramme. This involves expenditureof at least US$200Mon building a second 650mberth terminal with the capacityto handle 1.5M TEU a year.This is being accompanied bya significant increase in the port’srail and logistics capacity. In particular,new temperature-controlledstorage facilities are beingdeveloped within the planned18,500 m 2 Pomeranian logisticscomplex, as the terminal operatorlooks to reshape the country’sexisting cold chains and create amore captive cargo base for itself.Several clients have agreeddeals for the space, including: Belgium-based Univeg, a supplierof fresh produce – 3,500 m 2with the ability to process 500TEU/week of mainly fast movingconsumer goods and perishables. Poland-headquartered PAGO,which specialises in the distributionof frozen produce – 10,000m 2 facility with a full range ofchilled to frozen temperatures. Itwill be capable of handling 270TEU/week. Poland Services, which is partof the Netherlands-domiciledZandbergen Services Group –Chilled and frozen storage capacityof 5,000 m 2 with the capacityto process up to 100 TEU/week.All of the facilities are due toopen by the end of 2015.In 2014, DCT Gdansk handled1.21M TEU, up 2.6% on theprevious year.Big plans for NacalaThe operator of the Port of Nacalain Mozambique has unveiledits long-term vision for the port’sdevelopment. Portos do Nortebelieves the port will become animportant coal port, while a newdeepwater container terminalcould eventually rival Durban.The latter obviously serves SouthAfrica, but is also the main transitport for shippers seeking to transportgoods from the rest of theworld to the whole of SouthernAfrica. The CEO of Portos doNorte, Fernando Couto, believesthat Nacala can eat into Durban’smarket share when its redevelopmentis complete.“Now and likely for at least thenext five years, we are all countingour costs and seeking to savemoney, but all conditions are inplace for the Port of Nacala totake advantage of its position. Thelarge investors and shipping linesare eyeing Nacala port, due to itsdeep water and its access to therest of the country.”The port’s main connectionwith the rest of Mozambique andSouthern Africa is a 912 km railwaythat runs from Tete Province,through Malawi, and then on toNacala. However, the proposedMozambican north-south railway,or a much better road network,must be developed if the port isto serve the rest of the countrydirectly. The coal terminal mayprosper in any case, but the newcontainer terminal would beforced to rely heavily on the transhipmentmarket.The Japanese InternationalCooperation Agency (JICA) isinvesting US$250M in the port,while the coal terminal is beingdeveloped by a consortium includingVale and Mitsui. Nacalahas the deepest natural harbouron the east coast of Africa but hadpreviously been little used becauseof the lack of a convenientlocal market.www.tratos.euLet’s takeanotherturnOur cables have beencontinually workingfor many years withhigh speed applicationsall around the world.Virginia (USA)Throughput: 1.745.228 teuSpeed 300 m/mTratos cables have been workingsince 9 th March 2010Rotterdam (Holland)Throughput: 9.743.290 teuSpeed 270 m/mTratos cables have been workingsince 3 rd March 2008TratosFlex ESDBfollow us onwww.reelingcables.comTratos Cavi S.p.A - via Stadio, 2 - 52036 - Pieve Santo Stefano - Italytel. 0039 0575 794 329 - fax 0039 0575 794 246 - e-mail export@tratos.itSliding non Sliding TechnologyThe SNS TECHNOLOGY is based on the fusion of the improved design of Brevetti Stendalto’s sliding skids and theuse of wheels at specific locations of the guide channel. Wheels work where skids don’t, and vice versa.The combination of what have so far been the two main long-stroke solutions for cable chain applications allowsBrevetti Stendalto to offer a solution for the most demanding applications.For more information visit www.brevettistendalto.comWorldwide cooperation withDYNAMIC CABLE PROTECTION10June 2015
PORT NEWSMay 2015 11
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