Halifax

Nov 12, 11:13 IMO issues warning to vessel owners over piracy in Nigeria Following the seizur...

seagull Nov 12, 11:13
IMO issues warning to vessel owners over piracy in Nigeria
Following the seizure of a Malta flagged vessel by pirates in Nigeria, the International Maritime Organisation, (IMO) has warned vessels owners on the danger of sailing to Nigeria, Vanguard reports.
Confirming the development the influential International Maritime Bureau (IM stated, weekend, that gunmen boarded the Malta flagged tanker; MT Halifax as it sat in waters off the coast of Port Harcourt.
According to security report, the pirates took over control of the ship and sailed off into the waters of the Gulf of Guinea, and are holding onto the crew as they offload the crude oil in the ship’s hold.
According to GAC, “communication was reportedly lost with the vessel around 1100 local time on 1 November in an area around 175NM south of Lagos, and 243 NM west of Port Harcourt. The vessel’s last reported point of contact is near to where two vessels were boarded in October, one of which was successfully hijacked and held for five days before release.”
It remains unclear how many crew members were taken or if any have been injured. The Halifax, registered in Malta, is managed by Ancora Investment Trust Inc. of Greece. However, it is likely that the crew that were capture are: Filipinos, Indians and an Italian master.
But becoming more exact over the weekend, IMB confirmed that “suspected pirates seized an oil tanker with over 20 crew on board off the coast of Nigeria, we believe it’s been hijacked and we believe there are about 25 crew on board,” Cyrus Mody, a London-based manager with the world’s piracy watchdog told AFP on the phone.
Vanguard gathered that in August, the London-based Lloyd’s Market Association — an umbrella group of insurers listed Nigeria, neighboring Benin and nearby waters in the same risk category as Somalia, where two decades of war and anarchy have allowed piracy to flourish.
Experts however expressed conviction that the recent oil tanker attack appears to be committed by a single, sophisticated criminal gang.
Technical knowledge
According to the managing director of Dryad Maritime Intelligence Service, Graeme Gibbon-Brooks, “finding an oil ship in the ocean, then being able to offload the crude oil into another ship requires technical knowledge and experience”.
”This is a carbon copy of a crime at sea that we’re seeing on shore,” Gibbon-Brooks said.
Last week attack coincided with a confirmation that the United States of America has provided about$35 million in support for coastal radar, equipment, boats and associated maritime security training to Nigeria, Ghana and other West and Central African countries.
Similarly, the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon also last week called for countries and regional organizations in West Africa’s Gulf of Guinea to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat maritime piracy, which he says threatens to hinder economic development and undermine security in the region.
“The threat is compounded because most Gulf States have limited capacity to ensure safe maritime trade, freedom of navigation, the protection of marine resources and the safety and security of lives and property,” Ban told the U.N. Security Council during a debate on piracy in the Gulf of Guinea.
Both spoke at the special meeting of the UN Council where a resolution was adopted to unanimously, encouraged the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) and the Gulf of Guinea Commission (GGC) to develop a strategy against maritime piracy.
Recently, both NIMASA and the Presidential Implementation Committee on Mmaritime Safety and Security (PICOMSS) disagreed at a meeting with the Senate committee on mariner transport about piracy and sea robberies in Nigeria.
While NIMASA reportedly told the Senator Zynab Kure- led committee that Nigerian waters are now very safe, sources at the meeting confirmed that, PICOMSS argued that NIMASA had done little or nothing to secure Nigerian waters for ships, crew and cargo.

Source: shippingonline.cn

Oct 3, 10:24 Strike threatens to shut St. Lawrence seaway Nearly 500 Canadian Auto Workers e...

seagull Oct 3, 10:24
Strike threatens to shut St. Lawrence seaway
Nearly 500 Canadian Auto Workers employees on Friday notified Canada’s St. Lawrence Seaway Management of their intent to strike on Monday, an action that would shut down traffic between ports Montreal to Duluth, the Journal of Commerce reported.

The strike would start at noon Monday, the seaway authority said, and mean “the St. Lawrence Seaway will be closed to all traffic. A contingency plan provides for the orderly shutdown of the system in the event of a labor interruption.”

Negotiations were scheduled to continue over the weekend with a federally appointed mediator. The latest round of negotiations began on Sept. 19, although initial talks on three collective agreements started last May. The SLSMC had expected negotiations to resume Oct. 6, but the CAW's 72-hour strike notice moved the date up.

Key issues in the dispute relate to changes sought by the SLSMC on work rules and technology replacing workers. CAW President Ken Lewenza said the 72-hour notice was necessary to get bargaining moving in the right direction.

Seaway traffic that from the late March opening of the 2011 shipping season through August grew 3.5 percent year-over year, to 22 million metric tons. Grain shipments from Canada and the United States led the increase in the period, traditionally one of the slowest of the year.

The strike also would shut down project cargo shipments to the ports of Duluth, Minn., and Thunder Bay, Ontario. The ports, at the head of the Great Lakes, handle giant blades, turbines and other equipment from Europe destined for wind farms being built in the U.S. Midwest and western Canada.

Seaway-Atlantic business also passes through the Port of Montreal, as do transshipments from hubs in the Atlantic and at Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Federal Labor Minister Lisa Raitt said any work stoppage could hurt Canadian businesses and the economy. Raitt did not mention the potential for back-to-work legislation, but she threatened two Air Canada unions with back-to-work legislation earlier this year, and legislated striking Canada Post workers back to work.

Source: shippingazette.com

Jul 24, 12:56 Port of Halifax Q2 container throughput up 3.3 percent The Port of Halifax, Nov...

seagull Jul 24, 12:56
Port of Halifax Q2 container throughput up 3.3 percent
The Port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, grew its container handling 3.3 percent year-over-year in the second quarter, as the strong Canadian dollar and difficult global economic conditions kept cargo gains “moderate,” the Halifax Port Authority said Thursday, Journal of Commerce reports.The port’s container handling grew to 109,250 twenty-foot equivalent units from 105,728 within the same period. The port handled more than 500,000 TEUS annually before 2007, and it had its first boost in annual container business in 2010, when it handled 435,461 TEUs.

Halifax runs at about one-third of capacity despite spending millions of dollars upgrading two competing container terminals.

The port’s handling of breakbulk cargo, including machinery, metals and forest products, rose 34.9 percent to 46,413 metric tons within the same period.

Halifax’s handling of bulk cargo, including oil imports and grain exports, jumped up 17.1 percent to 1.47 million metric tons in the second quarter compared to the same period last year.

The port’s total cargo handling increased 11.8 percent year-over-year in the second quarter.

In the first half of this year, Halifax increased its container handling by 3.5 percent to 212,329 TEUs compared to the same period a year ago.

Within the same period, breakbulk handling fell 4.5 percent to 66,805 tons, while bulk cargo handling rose 7.2 percent to 2.95 million tons.

The port’s handling in the first half of this year grew 5.6 percent to 4.85 million tons compared to the second half of 2010.

Source: shippingonline.cn

Jul 9, 13:19 AFL to sail first ship Friday Startup carrier American Feeder Lines’ first sh...

seagull Jul 9, 13:19
AFL to sail first ship Friday

Startup carrier American Feeder Lines’ first ship will depart Halifax, Nova Scotia, on Friday to begin a service its backers hope will develop into a network of routes covering the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Journal of Commerce reports.

“We’ll begin with a weekly service from Halifax to Portland, Maine, to Boston and back to Halifax,” said Rudy Mack, the former Hapag-Lloyd Americas CEO who is the new line’s chief executive.


Mack said the first sailing of the AFL New England, a chartered vessel with capacity of 700 20-foot-equivalent units, had been scheduled for mid-June but was pushed back until this week.

He said the ship’s cargo will consist primarily of feeder cargo from international ships but also will carry some cargo between Canadian and U.S. points.


AFL continues to seek financing for construction of 10 planned ships that would have nominal capacities of 1,300 TEUs.

Meanwhile, the company is considering adding a second ship next April or May to provide a second weekly sailing, Mack said.

Source: shippingonline.cn