Suez

21. апр, 12:46 French LNG strikers in talks with GDF Suez Workers at GDF Suez liquefied natura...

seagull 21. апр, 12:46
French LNG strikers in talks with GDF Suez
Workers at GDF Suez liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in southern and western France blocked the unloading of vessels for a fourth consecutive day, forcing a Qatari vessel to divert to Spain, ship tracking data showed on Friday, Reuters reports.

Talks with the management of Elengy, the LNG branch of GDF Suez, restarted on Friday morning after a meeting on Thursday failed to end the dispute.

"The three LNG terminals which belong to GDF Suez have now all stopped operating," the CGT union said in a press release.

"Talks restarted today at 1000 (0800 GMT). A positive outcome to a situation which has lasted much too long is reachable," the union added.

The workers demand a raise in their annual bonus to reflect the companies' higher profits, a CGT union official said.

One of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers blocked by workers in the southern French ports of Fos Cavaou and Fos Tonkin has been diverted to Spain after it was unable to unload due to strike action, ship tracking data showed.

The Qatari LNG vessel Al Gharrafa, which can carry up to 216,000 cubic metres of the super-cooled fuel, is expected to arrive at the southern Spanish port of Algeciras on Saturday, AIS Live ship tracking data on Reuters showed.

The ship was last seen off the coast of Valencia at 0520 GMT on Friday, after it was still anchored off the French coast on Thursday, according to the tracking data.

Workers announced strike action on Tuesday, refusing to unload the Al Gharaffa and Cheick Bouamama tankers, as well as an LNG delivery to the northern French terminal of Montoir.

The 150,000 cubic metre Grace Cosmos LNG tanker is due to deliver a cargo to Montoir on April 23, AIS data showed.

French LNG workers last downed tools for two weeks in autumn 2010 as part of wider strike opposing pension reforms.

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6. апр, 10:13 Egypt halts tanker with Syrian oil for payment fees An Iranian tanker carrying ...

seagull 6. апр, 10:13
Egypt halts tanker with Syrian oil for payment fees
An Iranian tanker carrying Syrian crude oil is being held in Egyptian waters because it has not paid the Suez Canal Authority the fees required for passage, the Egyptian authority said on Monday, The Egyptian Gazette reports.
"Its agent has not paid the Suez Canal fees, therefore it hasn't passed. The issue is not linked to politics," Tarek Hassanein, head of information at the Suez Canal Authority, said.
Reuters reported on Friday that the M.T.Tour, owned by ISIM Tour Ltd and identified by the U.S. Treasury Department as a sanctions-evading company set up by Iran, was shipping a cargo of Syrian crude to a state-run Chinese company.
The Suez Canal Authority confirmed the vessel was carrying Syrian crude oil bound for Singapore and added it would be allowed to pass with its 81,000 tonne cargo once the fees had been paid.
The M.T.Tour, which was sent by Iranian authorities after Syria was unable to find another vessel to take the cargo, loaded light crude at the Syrian port of Tartus last weekend. The cargo is worth some $84 million to the sanctions-hit Syrian government.
Western and Arab countries have imposed sanctions on Syria in an effort to force Assad to halt the bloodshed, in which the United Nations estimates some 9,000 civilians have been killed.
The Maltese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday it was delisting a Maltese-flagged, Iranian-owned tanker that was carrying Syrian crude oil in breach of international sanctions.
The ministry said the Maltese transport authorities took immediate action last week on learning that the Iranian ship flying the Maltese merchant shipping flag was carrying Syrian oil in breach of sanctions.

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23. мар, 9:40 Egypt prevents attack on ship in Suez Canal Egypt's National Security Service h...

seagull 23. мар, 9:40
Egypt prevents attack on ship in Suez Canal
Egypt's National Security Service has foiled a planned attack against a foreign vessel in the Suez Canal. The service's officers detained two suspects - residents of the Ismailia Governorate, the MENA news agency reported on Wednesday.
One of them planned to organize an attack on a vessel passing through the canal from a land plot he owned on the coast, says the report cited by RIA Novosti.
No details of the preparation for the attack were immediately available. The agency said the suspects intended to "inflict damage upon the state's economy."
The Suez Canal linking the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea is a key source of funding for Egypt's budget. The North African country receives some EUR 5 B annually on average in levies for the passage of vessels.
Despite political instability in Egypt since the Hosni Mubarak regime was deposed in February 2011, the canal has operated normally. Some 50 ships pass through the canal daily.

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22. фев, 15:27 Iranian navy ships return from Syria through Suez Two Iranian naval ships retur...

seagull 22. фев, 15:27
Iranian navy ships return from Syria through Suez
Two Iranian naval ships returned from Syria through the Suez Canal Tuesday, a Suez Canal source said, Reuters reports. The ships entered the canal from the Mediterranean Sea early in the morning, heading south toward the Red Sea, and were expected to leave the canal Tuesday afternoon, the source said.
The ships had docked at the Syrian port of Tartous, in a show of support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a regional ally of Iran.

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16. фев, 10:20 DP World shuts Egyptian port again Workers are demanding hardship allowances, w...

seagull 16. фев, 10:20
DP World shuts Egyptian port again
Workers are demanding hardship allowances, wage restructuring and a percentage of the company's profits, according to a report by Reuters, citing an official at the Red Sea Ports Authority, The National reports.

The global ports operator said it hoped to reopen the port as soon as the protests eased.

"Our primary concern is the safety of our people," said a DP World spokesman yesterday. "While we do not anticipate much disruption to our business, we hope to resolve the situation as soon as possible and swiftly resume normal operations."

Positioned near the southern end of the Suez Canal, Sokhna is well located to serve the flow of trade between Europe, Africa and Asia. It is also 110 kilometres by road and rail from Cairo, the largest single market in the Arab world's most populous nation.

It is the second time in less than six months that DP World has closed the port because of unrest. In September, operations at the port were halted for five days when employees went on strike demanding better conditions. The shutdown reportedly cost DP World about US$5 million (Dh18.3m).

The latest disruption follows a wave of similar instability across the country as workers demand better treatment. The protests risk harming the recovery of Egypt's economy from a revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak from the presidency in February last year, say economists.

"If instability across the country continues, then Egypt's competitiveness will be dented," said Jean-Michel Saliba, the Middle East and North Africa economist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. "If the situation remains unstable, then the environment will not be conducive to investment."

DP World has remained committed to Sokhna, despite the protests. It said in October that it planned to raise the capacity of the port by nearly half by the end of last year to accommodate rising container volumes.

More than 900 workers were involved in the latest strike, according to local media reports. The strikers' demands included risk allowances comparable to those received by staff at other sea ports, Ahram Online reported.

Six port workers were also waging a hunger strike until their demands were met, it reported.

Sokhna is not the only port in DP World's portfolio to be disrupted by recent staff action. Last month the company said it would lock union workers out of its Melbourne container port in Australia in response to a planned 24-hour strike.

DP World is one of the more profitable units of Dubai World. This month, it reported it handled 10 per cent more containers last year than in 2010 as it weathered a stormy time in the global shipping industry. Trade was most brisk in the firm's ports in Africa. Despite last year's temporary shutdown in Sokhna, the firm still reported a 15 per cent rise in container traffic in its Egyptian operations last year.

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11. фев, 16:11 MSC’s Golden Gate Service to call Savannah The Mediterranean Shipping Company h...

seagull 11. фев, 16:11
MSC’s Golden Gate Service to call Savannah
The Mediterranean Shipping Company has added Savannah to its weekly Golden Gate Service between the East Coast and Asia. The 12-vessel service includes the largest ships ever to call on Georgia’s deepwater ports, The Maritime Executive reports. “The 9,000-TEU class vessels included in this Suez Canal route represent the future of U.S.-Asia shipping,” said Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz. “The economy of scale in this size ship will make it the dominant choice in global trade, especially after an expanded Panama Canal opens in 2014, allowing Pacific routes for post-Panamax vessels.”

MSC Executive Vice President Allen Clifford said Savannah’s position as a logistics hub played a large role in the company’s decision to add the Suez service. “Savannah is a valuable stop, among many other things, because there are so many proprietary BCOs (beneficial cargo owners) located there in terms of distribution centers,” Clifford said. “It’s very significant in U.S. trans-Pacific trade moving Asian cargo. It makes (Savannah) a natural service.”

The Golden Gate Service will deploy vessels ranging in capacity from 6,700 to 9,200 twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) on the following rotation: Shanghai, Chiwan, Yantian, Singapore, Salalah, New York-New Jersey, Norfolk, Baltimore, Savannah, Freeport, Charleston, Norfolk, Jeddah, Colombo, Singapore, Chiwan, Hong Kong and Ningbo.

The first ship on the Golden Gate rotation will be the 8,089-TEU MSC Toronto, slated to arrive on Feb. 13. The first 9,200-TEU vessel, the MSC Roma, will call on Savannah Feb. 20.

“The new service will mean a substantial bump in cargo shipped through Georgia,” said GPA Chief Commercial Officer Cliff Pyron. “MSC added Savannah to its Golden Gate rotation at the request of companies importing and exporting goods to Asia. While much of the cargo will be processed by distribution centers near the Port of Savannah, other containers will go directly from Savannah to destinations in the interior U.S. via truck and rail.”

The Port of Savannah now has eight Suez services and 13 Panama Canal services calling on its terminals.

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