Le Havre

Dec 15, 9:01 Port of Le Havre becomes latest European port to reward ‘greener’ ships The Fre...

seagull Dec 15, 9:01
Port of Le Havre becomes latest European port to reward ‘greener’ ships
The French Port of Le Havre will join a growing number of European ports, including Rotterdam, Antwerp and Hamburg, by rewarding shipping companies operating the cleanest ocean-going vessels, Port Technology reports.
From the start of next year, France’s largest port will reward the ten cleanest container or Ro-Ro shipping lines with a discount of up to 10 percent on their port dues, subject to the conditions set up in Le Havre.
Vessels will be rewarded in accordance with the newly introduced Environmental Ship Index (ESI), an international benchmark for ship air emissions that awards points to those ships performing better than the statutory norm.
Last year, the World Port Climate Initiative introduced the Environmental Ship Index (ESI), under the auspices of the International Association of Ports and Harbors, in London.
A total of 375 sea ships have now been recorded in the ESI, each scoring better than what is required under international law.
The Port of Le Havre was one of the 55 ports that signed the World Port Climate Initiative’s international charter in July 2008. The charter was established to help promote the mitigation of emissions throughout the shipping industry.

en.portnews.ru

Nov 28, 23:47 MSC to expand container terminal at Le Havre Shipping line MSC and cargo-handli...

seagull Nov 28, 23:47
MSC to expand container terminal at Le Havre
Shipping line MSC and cargo-handling operator Terminaux de Normandie (TN) are investing €160 million, (US$212m), on a 50:50 basis through their joint-venture company TNMSC, in a new container terminal at the French port of Le Havre, ifw-net reports.

MSC currently uses the Normandy port’s Bougainville quay, with its traffic handled by TNMSC.

Located in the western zone of Port 2000, the new TNMSC terminal will extend along 1,400 metres of quay and be equipped with four berths.

The project has also attracted €270 million of public funding, which focuses on dredging the access channel to the port and building the quay. TNMSC’s investment concerns the terminal’s buildings and loading/unloading areas. Four gantry cranes will be transferred in from the Bougainville quay.

TNMSC General Manager Christian de Tinguy said the new hub marked a new stage of development for MSC in Le Havre.

“It will enable MSC to have any kind of vessel in its fleet – including 14,000teu ships – calling at the same wharf whatever the time and tide.”

The first of the four berths at the new terminal is expected to open to traffic at the end of January, with the other three entering service by the end of 2012.

MSC, which currently employs 240 staff at the port, has indicated that with the terminal fully in service in 2013, it could increase its services at Le Havre to 12 weekly compared with seven currently.

Two box terminals, equipped with five berths, are already in service at Port 2000. Two are operated by GMP, jointly-owned by DP World and CMA CGM, which is planning to add a third next year. The other terminal is operated by handling group Perrigault in association with AP Møller-Maersk.

A port authority spokesman told IFW: “Following the completion of the TNMSC terminal, Port 2000 will be offering 10 berths and there is the possibility of adding a further two. These would be served by 4,200 metres of quay and offer an annual capacity of 4 million teu.”

en.portnews.ru/news

Aug 8, 14:54 SeaFrance union to submit its own takeover bid SeaFrance’s main staff union, th...

seagull Aug 8, 14:54
SeaFrance union to submit its own takeover bid
SeaFrance’s main staff union, the CFDT, is to submit its own takeover bid for the ailing cross-Channel operator which has been in administration since June 2010, ifw-net reports.

The deadline for bids expired on 26 July, but the judicial administrators have agreed to allow the union time to formulate its offer.

As a result, SeaFrance was obliged to adjourn last week’s meeting of the company’s works council at which the joint takeover bid filed by LDA and DFDS was to have been presented. A new date for the meeting has yet to be arranged.

The CFDT’s bid focuses on the creation of a Société Co-opérative Ouvrière de Production (SCOP) – a co-operative of SeaFrance workers who would own and manage the company.

More information on the bid is expected to be disclosed next month, and the union says it is aiming to present “a coherent and alternative takeover project” to the Paris commercial tribunal at the end of October when SeaFrance’s period in administration ends.

The CFDT is being advised by its lawyer, Philippe Brun, and consulting firm Diagoris.

The timing of the bid has raised suspicions that the union was bent on delaying the examination of the LDA-DFDS bid which it believes will lead to the break-up of SeaFrance.

But the CFDT has insisted work on its bid began earlier this year, but progress had been checked by SeaFrance’s refusal to provide some company documents that a court has now ordered it to make available.

The union also claims that SeaFrance plans to implement additional restructuring measures which entail axing one of its four vessels, and with it a further 200 staff cuts, to make the company a more attractive proposition to LDA and DFDS.

But SeaFrance said reducing its fleet to three vessels remained at the project stage.

Source: shippingonline.cn

Jul 26, 16:42 Hanjin resumes Japan-Le Havre service The Port of Le Havre said Hanjin Shipping...

seagull Jul 26, 16:42
Hanjin resumes Japan-Le Havre service
The Port of Le Havre said Hanjin Shipping resumed service between Japan and the French port on July 15 after several years without any Japanese service to the French port, Journal of Commerce reports. The service, which Hanjin operates together with NYK Line, started just after the South Korean carrier suspended the Asia-Europe NE5 service.

Hanjin operated it jointly with its partners in the Green Alliance, formerly the CKYH alliance, between Cosco, “K” Line, and Yang Ming.

Hanjin deploys one vessel with a capacity of 8,500 20-foot equivalent units on the loop, which it calls the Japan-Europe Network Service (JEN), and NYK calls the EU Loop A.

The service has the following port rotation: Kobe, Nagoya, Shimuzu, Tokyo, Yantian, Hong Kong, Singapore, Jeddah, Rotterdam, Hamburg, Southhampton, Le Havre, Singapore, Hong and Yantian.

Le Havre said the service provides a transit time of 33 days on the eastbound leg from Le Havre to Tokyo, 39 days on the westbound leg from Kobe to Le Havre.

businesstimes.com.sg

Feb 25 '11, 12:00 French ports cut deal to avert strike French dockworkers called off their six...

seagull Feb 25 '11, 12:00
French ports cut deal to avert strike

French dockworkers called off their six-week campaign of rolling strikes Feb. 18 after reaching an agreement with port employers over early retirement.
The CGT union announced a deal had been struck after four days of negotiations and said it would end the strikes that have seriously disrupted French ports since the beginning of the year as dockworkers, crane operators and other port workers walked out.
The CGT, the main dockworker union, appears to have made a major concession by accepting two years early retirement for dockworkers and not the four years it has demanded for several months.
The union claimed victory, however, in getting official recognition of the arduous nature of dock work that entitles up to 6,000 port workers to take early retirement.
The CGT said the agreement included additional measures to address the issue of arduous work but did not give details.
Dockworkers started rolling strikes on Jan. 3, escalating to four successive four-day stoppages that are estimated to have reduced cargo traffic by as much as 40 percent and resulted in the cancellation of 50 scheduled calls by container ships at Le Havre, the nation's top box hub.
The agreement appears to be a vindication of the government's hard line stance in limiting early retirement to two years in the face of union threats of an all-out strike that would cripple French ports.
The center-right government faced down months of strikes, overtime and weekend work bans and go-slows in 2008 to push through its port reform program aimed at restoring the competitiveness of French ports.

businesstimes.com.sg

Feb 25 '11, 11:57 Damco opens new office in Le Havre port Damco has opened its third office in Fr...

seagull Feb 25 '11, 11:57
Damco opens new office in Le Havre port
Damco has opened its third office in France, in the port of Le Havre, to position itself to compete against other freight forwarding companies in the area, Eeyefortransport reports. Damco France also has offices in Lezennes and Dunkirk.
Le Havre is the biggest container port in France, accommodating 60% of traffic in containers and 40% of export oil.
With the company's current growth of more than 50%, the new Le Havre branch is the first step of a 2012 strategy that will enable Damco to be physically present in the main ports and airports in France. Consequently, Damco is preparing another branch opening this year.
Damco has more than 280 offices across 90 countries and representation in 120 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, the Middle East, and Latin America.

businesstimes.com.sg