I N D U S T R Y N E W S
DP World emerges as top-3 private port investor
Jul 27DP World pumped nearly $1.91 billion into ports management projects worldwide between 2006 and 2009 to sharply boost its global port presence to become the world's third largest private sea port investor, according to an international port law firm.
Holman Fenwick Willan (HFW), was commenting on recent reports about DP World's decision to acquire a controlling interest in two port companies in Suriname as part of plans to expand its South American port presence.
HFW gave no figures on such projects on the grounds DP World did not say how much it is paying for the majority stakes in Integra Port Services (IPS) and Suriname Port Services (SPS).
The report noted that IPS has a concession for a container and break-bulk cargo terminal in Nieuwe Haven Port while SPS owns a nearby break-bulk facility, both in the Surinamese capital Paramaribo.
DP World, which expects to close on the deals in the third quarter, will have a management services contract for both terminals, it said.It added that the
company operates container terminals in Callao, Peru and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and is developing a terminal in Santos, Brazil.
"DP World invested $1.91 billion between 2006 and 2009, making it the world's third largest port private investor."
In 2010, DP World handled nearly 50 million TEU across its portfolio from the Americas to Asia. With a pipeline of expansion and development projects in key growth markets, including India, China and the Middle East, capacity is expected to rise to around 92 million TEU by 2020, in line with market demand.
DP World purchased P&O) in 2006 for £3.9 billion ($7 billion).
Maritime India - New Delhi
JN Port mulls ship repair facility
Jul 27JN Port plans to build a ship repair facility at the port and is looking to acquire a property near Raigad from a public sector company to build a special economic zone (SEZ), said JNPT chairman L. Radhakrishnan. JNP is also awaiting clearance from the Defence Ministry to go ahead with its proposed free-trade and warehousing zone (FTWZ). "We are currently awaiting clearance from the ministries of defence and home to go ahead with the FTWZ that we are proposing within the port. The Rs 3,500 crore FTWZ will be built on more than 276 hectares to help us generate huge revenues once completed. We will look to partner it in developing an SEZ. While the PSU will provide us the land, we will develop all the facility," said Mr Radhakrishnan.
Maritime India - Mumbai
Engg exports surge 54 pc to Rs 955-cr
Jul 27EEPC India has registered a growth of 54 pc during the 10 month period of 2010-11 (April-January) to $215 million (Rs 954.6 crore) over the corresponding period last year. The potential of export of engineering goods to Canada is enormous as its 33 pc of engineering imports are outside the Nafta bloc estimated of $44 billion, EEPC vice-chairman Anupam Shah said. "In the 12th plan period EEPC had projected to increase this share to 1.5 pc," Shah said.
Maritime India - New Delhi
Hainan province moved 6.1 pc more cargo in first 5 months
Jul 27South China's Hainan Island recorded a year-on-year 6.1 pc growth in cargo transport volume to 91.2 million tonnes in the first five months. The province's shipping transport saw the fastest increase to 38.6 million tonnes, growing 14.4 pc and accounting for 42.3 pc of the total. Road transport made up the largest part to 49.76 million tonnes, up 0.4 pc and comprising 54.4 pc of the total. Rail and air freight take a smaller part among the total.
Maritime India - New Delhi
L&T to form JV with TIDCO,Ennore Port for road project
Jul 27L&T Ship Building Ltd is likely to form a joint venture with Ennore Port Ltd and the Tamilnadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), to build a 25.5 km road that would connect Ennore port and Kattupalli port. The road project is estimated to cost Rs 360 crore. L&T Ship Building Ltd is currently putting up a ship-building unit at Kattupalli, some 50 km north of Chennai. Part of the project is a deep draft port, meant mainly for captive purposes, but one that would also handle commercial (container) cargo.
Originally, the NAHAI was supposed to build the road connecting the two ports, but it is learnt that TIDCO - Tamil Nadu Government's industrial promotion arm - has proposed that instead of NHAI, a joint venture of L&T, Ennore Port and TIDCO undertake the road project.
To implement the road project some 400 acres would need to be acquired.
"The project has found to be viable on a build-operate-transfer basis," it is learnt from sources in the Department of Highways, Government of Tamil Nadu. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the Tamil Nadu Government has named the 'Outer Ring Road Phase-II' project among the projects that are to be undertaken with the assistance of Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA).
The Outer Ring Road project is for building a road that would bypass Chennai, connecting Vandalur - a suburb that lies just outside Chennai to the south - to Minjur, some 40 km to the north of the city. The Phase-I, which stretches 30 km from Vandalur to Nemilichery, is currently under way. It is being put up at a cost of Rs 1,080 crore.
The Phase-II would link Nemilichery to Minjur. The 32-km-road would cost Rs 1,075 crore to build.
Once the project is completed vehicles that, for instance, take cargo from districts lying to the south of Chennai to the Ennore port, would be able to do so without entering the city.
Maritime India - Chennai
Concor first quarter net profit rises 21 pc to Rs 234-cr
Jul 27Concor has managed to post a 21 pc growth in net profit during the first quarter, despite only a modest 3.6 pc increase in its top line.The company reported a total income of around Rs 949 crore, and net profit of Rs 234 crore in the quarter.
While a slew of cost control measures helped the company improve its operating profit margins by around 40 basis points, to 27.4 pc, profit growth was largely driven by a drastic increase in 'other income', and lower tax outgo.
The 'other income' component surged 64 pc to Rs 59 crore, helped by good interest income and dividends from the company's many joint ventures.
On the revenue front, the slower growth can be attributed to weak domestic volumes and the impact of a hike in haulage charges of specific commodities (effective December 2010).
The company also suffered due to capacity constraints at the port.Closure of one of the three terminals at the port for about two weeks also impacted Concor's volumes.
As a result, the volume share of JNP for the company is now at about 60 pc, down from 74 pc last year. It, however, diverted some of the volumes to Mundra and Pipavav ports, whose volume share has now increased to 11 pc (7.5 pc) and 14 pc (6.3 pc), respectively.
This may, to some extent, help offset the loss in volumes from the JNP, although Concor will have to brace for more competition at the Mundra port (due to stronger presence of private operators).
Rail freight revenues accounted for about 75.5 pc (79 pc) of total revenues in the quarter, while value-added services (road transport and warehousing services) made up the rest.
On a segmental basis, revenues from the export-import business grew by 7.1 pc, while domestic revenues fell by over 17 pc. With most operators are facing volume losses due to a change in the Government policy, the competition in the exim segment may have intensified.
Maritime India - New Delhi
Industrial machinery, auto & car parts lead jump in exports
Jul 27India's automation sales will come from exports which is up from almost nothing five years ago. Indian exports of goods are now nearly double exports of services, growing 37.5 pc, to $245.9 billion, in the 12 months that ended in March. Leading the way are high-value products likeindustrial machinery, automobiles and car parts, and refined petroleum products.
Indian exports are following a different path from that taken by other Asian countries like Japan, Korea and China. Those countries started by exporting products like garments and toys made by armies of low-paid, low-skilled workers, before moving to more sophisticated products like cars and industrial machinery.
India has largely skipped the first step and gone straight to producing capital-intensive items that require skilled workers but not necessarily many of them. Rather than pursue the traditional developing-country model of exports, India aspires to eventually achieve something more like Germany's mix of industrial goods for the global market - even if India has a long way to go before approaching Germany's $1.3 trillion in annual exports. Over the last decade, industrial export hubs have sprouted around India, some with the help of government planning. Here in Pune, about 100 miles east of Mumbai, a vibrant domestic automotive and engineering hub supplies the U.S. and other Western markets.
Chennai in the south has become India's Detroit, as car factories ship small Fords, Nissans and Hyundais to Europe, Africa and Latin America.
In the west, Gujarat state is home to several large petroleum refineries that take imported crude oil and process it into products like jet and diesel fuel that are sold in other Asian countries. (The need to import crude oil for domestic use, though, is the main reason Indian continues to run a trade deficit - $104.8 billion in the last fiscal year.) Meanwhile, traditional exports like textiles and agricultural products together account for less than 20 pc of the goods India sells to the world. India now exports fewer garments than its neighbor Bangladesh, which has one-eighth India's population and an economy only about one-fifteenth as large.
"India has moved away from the textiles story," said Rohini Malkani, an economist at Citigroup in India. "Now, it's engineering goods and chemicals, including pharmaceuticals." In many ways, these are virtues born of necessity. The country's poor transportation and electricity infrastructure and restrictive labor laws have discouraged companies from setting up labor-intensive manufacturing plants like those for which China is known. Instead, many Indian exporters specialize in higher-value goods and services that require fewer, but more skilled, workers.
Maritime India - New Delhi
Biggest Maersk vessel berths at ICTT Vallarpadam
Jul 27Maersk Sembawang became the largest vessel to call on South India when it anchored at Kochi port on July 21 to deliver consignments at Vallarpadam. The vessel, with a length of 318.79 metres and a capacity of 6,478 TEUs, is the largest Maersk Line and a Singapore-flagged vessel.
The previous largest container ship to call on South Indian ports was also a Maersk Line vessel - Maersk Kalamata - in Chennai, with a length of 303.83 metres and a capacity of 6,416 TEUs. This is a special call by Maersk Line to cater to its customers for the raw cashew season in South India on the Asia-Europe eastbound routing.
Maritime India - Mumbai
World's largest ore carrier launched
Jul 27STX Offshore & Shipbuilding recently launched its 400,000-ton Very Large Ore Carrier (VLOC) at the Jinhae Shipyard.
The world's largest ore carrier is 361 meters in length, 56 meters in width and 30.5 meters in height. It is about the size of three and half football stadiums and is able to carry 400,000 tons of iron ores at a nautical speed of 14.8 knots.
The company led research, design and construction of the VLOC on its own. The VLOC is designed for outstanding sailing performances and reduction of fuel costs. Operating the company's high-capacity ballast water treatment system that can increase seawater discharges and shipping tonnage per hour, it could reach the goal of loading 16,000 tons of cargo an hour. This helped reduce bottlenecks in loading cargo on the vessel.
A TIER-II engine is built in the VLOC, contributing to cutting emissions of toxic gases including nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide. In addition, high tensile steel has been used for the vessel to decrease the heavy weight of the hull, improving fuel efficiency and sailing speed.
"The VLOC is designed for outstanding sailing performances and reduction of fuel costs."
This new VLOC will be dispatched to carry iron ores to Brazil's largest iron ore company Vale under a long-term contract with STX Pan Ocean. Meanwhile, STX Offshore & Shipbuilding has successfully delivered three fleets of 13,000-TEU container carriers and one fleet of 320,000-ton Very Large Crude oil Carrier (VLCC) this year.
Maritime India - New Delhi
Cloves export crosses 700 ton the back of global shortage
Jul 26Indian exports of cloves, probably for the first time by the net importer, crossed 700 tonnes in the past three months to Indonesia via Malaysia/Singapore traders at $12,000 a tonne for Brazilian material to $17,000 a tonne for dry red Indonesian cargo, according to trade sources. "Yesterday, dry Madagascar cargo was exported from there for $17,000", they told Business Line. Indian importers who are holding stocks resorted to shipping it out at nearly double the imported price because of great demand from overseas, they said.
Severe shortage of the material is felt in the world market following crop failure in India - the crop is claimed to be only two per cent of the total crop this year, they said. In India, buying for the ensuing festival season has started and "today the price quoted for cloves in Zanzibar is Rs 1,010 a kg, and in Colombo it is at Rs 890 a kg, and soon it will be Rs 1,200 and Rs 1,000 respectively", they claimed. The price has, of late, multiplied nearly four fold on short supply as the last crop in India was less than 50 per cent of the normal output estimated at 2,500 tonnes. Indian demand is estimated at somewhere between 13,000 and 15,000 tonnes, market sources said. India, despite being a net importer, is feeling the pinch of this shortage as sizeable quantities of cloves are being exported from here, following the sharp rise in prices in the world market in recent weeks, they said.
The production has dropped sharply in Indonesia following crop damage by disease and it is expected to take 3- 4 years to return to normal. As a result, "cloves prices will remain high till 2014, new crops take nearly four years to grow and fruit, while on the other side, the Indian and the world market demand is growing," they said. "The latest development is that China is now buying huge cloves cargoes, pushing the prices further", trade sources in Bangalore said. The annual world cloves crop is usually 1,41,000 tonnes with Indonesia topping with a production of 1,10,000 tonnes, and at the same time, consumption of around 1,20,000 tonnes, they claimed.
"This year, the Indonesian crop is said to be below 10 per cent, that is, 10,000 tonnes while the output of all others put together comes to 28,000 tonnes. Thus, the total world cloves crop is estimated at 38,000 tonnes. Given this huge deficit, cloves' prices are at $21,000 a tonne now and it may climb to $30,000 a tonne soon", they predicted.
The new crops in Comoros, Zanzibar, Brazil, Madagascar "are also small and are getting booked in forward sales. Indian importers are just wondering while Indonesian cigar companies are buying all crops. Consequently, local Indian markets will soon dry up and will see a price of Rs 1,200 a kg. It is a good time for traders to buy cloves and keep it", the market sources said.
Maritime India - Kochi
JN Port hires 60 t Bollard pull tug
Jul 27JN Port has hired a 60 tons Bollard Pull Tug " Ocean Harmony" from Ocean Sparkle Ltd. for a period of 5 years. The tug has a Bollard Pull of 62 Tons at 90 pc MCR and a maximum Bollard Pull of 65 Tons. This will help handling of increasing sizes of vessels in the port providing more safety during handling of large ships. During strong tide and severe monsoon condition, a 60 ton Bollard Pull will add to the safety of operations. Further, any marine emergencies can be handled more efficiently.
This tug has replaced a 45 Ton Bollard Pull hired tug which completed its contract period on July 19, 2011. JNP is the first major port in India to have a tug of this power. The tug has been deployed for operation from July 24, 2011. Dy. Chairman JNPT formally inducted it into port operations at a ceremony held on July 26, 2011 attended by the heads of department and senior officers of the port. With addition of this tug the total number of tugs in JNP continue to be 8. The port already has four 50 Tons Bollard pull tugs and three 30 Tons Bollard pull Tugs on hire.
Maritime India - Mumbai
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