Sea News from CrewingBizUa (eng)

Oil price down to $114.17 in London and to $115.59 in New York

In London, the October Brent Crude contract was down $2.05 on August 28 to $114.17 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange. Light Sweet Crude for October delivery fell $2.56 to $115.59 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, Finmarket reports.

In accordance with PortNews information

LUKOIL, ConocoPhillips� Yuzhno Khylchuyu field production begins

Today, OAO LUKOIL President Vagit Alekperov and ConocoPhillips Chairman and CEO Jim Mulva participated in a special ceremony on the occasion of the startup of the Yuzhno Khylchuyu (YK) field located in the Nenets Autonomous District. One of the biggest fields in the north of the Timan Pechora oil and gas province, this field is developed by OOO Naryanmarneftegaz, a LUKOIL and ConocoPhillips Joint Venture (70% and 30%, respectively). The field was discovered in 1981. Oil quality there surpasses the Russian Urals export blend quality: its density is 35.5 API (Urals, 32.

Read more...

Shengeliya lefts the post of Vanino port director general

The Board of directors of OJSC "Vanino sea trading port" (VSTP) made a decision to stop ahead of the schedule powers of the director general of the company Apollo Shengeliya. It is spoken about in the report of the port according to AK&M. The Board of directors accepted such decision under A.Shengeliya's application. Alfir Bogudinov is elected the new director general of the port. OJSC "Port Vanino" - the stevedore company in the Khabarovsk territory - renders cargo handling and accompanying forwarding services.

Read more...

DP World increases net profit to US$287 million in H1

Dubai-based port operator DP World posted on Thursday a 123 percent increase in net profits in the first half of 2008, which hit 287 million dollars, despite a global economic slowdown.The world's fourth-largest container port operator said its revenues grew by 32 percent to 1,598 million dollars, compared to the corresponding period last year."The business has performed very well in the first half of 2008 despite a deteriorating global financial and economic background, and these uncertainties remain," DP World chief executive officer Mohammed Sharaf said in a statement.

Read more...

Greek Thessaloniki Port H1 net sinks 34% on strike

Greece's Thessaloniki Port Authority (OLTH) said on Thursday that first-half net profit dropped 34 percent due to strike action which led to reduced revenues.Net profit at Greece's second-largest container port slipped to 4.3 million euros ($6.36 million) from 6.6 million in the same period last year, while sales fell 16 percent to 26.6 million euros, the company said in a statement.

Read more...

Somali pirates free Omani ship

Somali pirates have released an Omani ship they had held hostage for months, a senior government official said on Thursday."The Omani ship held for six months was released last night," said Abdiqadir Muse Yusuf, assistant minister for fisheries in northern Somalia's Puntland region."I think a ransom was paid but I do not know the exact amount," he added, but gave no other details.Piracy is rife off Somalia, which has been mired in anarchy since warlords overthrew a dictator in 1991.

Read more...

Grand Alliance adds Valencia to Med-Asia route

The Grand Alliance, a shipping consortium whose members include Hapag-Lloyd, NYK, OOCL and MISC, has added Valencia to its service between the Mediterranean and Asia.Port rotation for the enhanced Mediterranean service is now Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shekou, Hong Kong, Singapore, Port Klang, Jeddah, Damietta, Genoa, Fos, Barcelona, Valencia, Damietta, Singapore, Hong Kong, Busan.Eight vessels with a capacity of 6,000 TEUs each have been deployed on this route.

In accordance with PortNews information

Ukrainian Ministry of Transport and Communications to consider proposals on construction of deepwater Black Sea port

Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers charged the Ministry of Transport and Communications with the task to consider investors’ proposals on construction of a deep water port at the Black Sea, Ukrainian News reports. Smart-Holding company (Kiev) intends to upgrade Ochakov seaport (Nikolayev region) till 2011 to make it a deep water port (15-17 m). The deepest port in Ukraine is Yuzhny port (Odessa region). Its approach canal is 15.5-market deep, the depth at the berths is 14 – 15.5 m).

In accordance with PortNews information

Federal budget to allocate RUR 182 bln for development of Russia�s seaports

Federal budget is to allocate RUR 182 bln for the development of Russia’s seaports, with RUR 449 bln to come from off-budget sources, the Minister of Transport Igor Levitin told the meeting of the governmental committee on transport and communications. Implementation of large projects is integrated into a separate sub-program "Development of export of transport services" of a targeted program "Modernization of Russia’s Transport System (2002-2010)".

Read more...

E.ON Ruhrgas expects Nordstream will launch operations in 2011

German generating company E.ON Ruhrgas expects Nordstream, which is to pump Russian gas to Germany, will launch operations in 2011, notwithstanding discontent on the part of some politicians from the Baltic states and delay in granting environmental permits to perform works. "We have a clear-cut plan, slightly ambitious, but realistic" - said head of the German company Bernhard Reutersberg. In addition, E.ON Ruhrgas, which targets raising gas output to 10 bcm, will do its best to obtain a license to tap Norwegian fields, he said. Last year output amounted to a mere 1.3 bcm.

Read more...

Railway conventions raised in the port of Tuapse

The convention of Russian Railways OJSC on delivery of coal to the port of Tuapse was raised on August 25, press center of Commercial Seaport of Tuapse informs. The wagons accumulated while convention was in effect are to be unloaded by August 29. Earlier, on August 22 and 23, convention was raised on shipment of export grain and metal to the port of Tuapse. Thus Commercial Seaport of Tuapse is fully ready to handle planned volumes of cargo.

Read more...

Ship explosion kills 1, injures 19 in Vietnam

A ship exploded when exploiting metal scraps in Vietnam's sea waters, killing one local man and injuring 19 others, local newspaper Young People reported Thursday.The ship owned by Le Van Cu from Ninh Phuoc district, southern Ninh Thuan province, exploded on Wednesday some 17 km off the NinhPhuoc coast, making itself and a nearby ship sink. Some fishing ships brought all the victims, including eight seriously injured people onshore.Local relevant agencies are probing into the cause of the accident, the newspaper said.

In accordance with PortNews information

Sintez Petroleum gets the land for construction of the new oil terminal in Murmansk

The oil company Sintez Petroleum has been allotted land on the western shore of the Kola Bay for the construction of an oil terminal. The terminal, a 40 billion RUB project, will have an annual capacity of 10-12 million tons, regional media reports.The Sintez Petroluem is one of the major investors in the development of Murmansk Transport Hub, a huge regional infrastructure initiative headed by regional authorities along with the federal Transport Ministry.The company gets the land on the western shore of the heavily trafficked Kola Bay on a 49 year contract, Murman.

Read more...

Maersk says must accept lower container mkt share

Danish shipping and oil group A.P. Moller-Maersk said on Wednesday it would have to accept a lower global market share in container shipping in the short term."Obviously we don't want to lose market share, on the other hand we are, given the present market conditions, quite pleased we don't have the largest order book coming on stream in the next couple of years," Maersk Chief Executive Nils Andersen told a conference call."That means we will have to accept some loss of market share. We want to make it as little as possible," he said.

Read more...

China Harbour Engineering Company bids for Rewas Port project

China Harbour Engineering Company, a global dredging contractor, has joined the race for $1.3 billion dredging works at Rewas Port as a prospective bidder. The Chinese company may bid for the country’s largest dredging project once the formal tender is floated, subject to the receipt of security clearance from the defence ministry. Some big global dredging contractors such as Van Oord, Boskalis, International Seaport Dredging and Jan De Nul have already shown interest in the project.However, it is not clear when Rewas will be able to float the global tender.

Read more...