Melbourne

3. фев, 11:48 Melbourne port to start maintenance dredging project Port of Melbourne Corporat...

seagull 3. фев, 11:48
Melbourne port to start maintenance dredging project
Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) is set to commence maintenance dredging in the South Channel of Port Phillip Bay from February 6, 2012, the PoMC news release said.

This is a routine part of port operations to ensure safe navigation and will involve the removal of sediment which has built up over time due to natural wave, tidal and storm events, the port authorities said.

Works will commence with the arrival of the dredging vessel Brisbane which will carry out maintenance dredging of clean sand over a period of around thirty-five days.

During the works, approximately 330,000 cubic metres of clean sand will be dredged from South Channel and placed in the South East Dredged Material Ground located west of Mount Martha. This volume is approximately 2% of the material dredged from the South Channel during the Channel Deepening Project.

All works will be governed by an approved Environmental Management Plan (EMP). Supported by PoMC's hydrographic survey vessel the John Norgate, the Brisbane is approximately 84 metres in length and will be visible from the shore.

en.portnews.ru

11. янв, 10:14 DP World to lock out Melbourne port staff The Dubai ports operator DP World is ...

seagull 11. янв, 10:14
DP World to lock out Melbourne port staff
The Dubai ports operator DP World is to lock union workers out of its Melbourne container port in Australia next week in response to a 24-hour strike called for Sunday, The National reports.

The two-day closure of the Swanson Dock in Melbourne, Australia's busiest container port, is expected to affect about 16 ships transporting some 20,000 containers for import and export.

The move signals a significant escalation in an eight-month dispute over pay and conditions at DP World's five terminals in Australia, located in Brisbane, Sydney, Fremantle, Adelaide and Melbourne.

The Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) is asking for a 15 per cent increase in wages over three years for the 2,000 employees at the five terminals, but DP World says any wage increase over and above the rate of inflation should be linked to performance and productivity improvements. It has said the union demands would add about US$60 million (Dh220.3m) to costs.

The threat to lock 600 workers out of its Melbourne facility comes just days after DP World locked 140 workers out of its Adelaide terminal in response to rolling stoppages and industrial action at that port. The union is also pushing for a greater number of casual employees to be given permanent employment.

"In response to the 24-hour industrial stoppage taken by members of the MUA in Melbourne, DP World has now taken protected action of locking out employees at our container terminal in Melbourne for 24 hours from 22.31 Monday 9 January to 22.30hrs 10 January 2012," said Andrew Adam, the DP World Australia national director of operations.

DP World raised $1.5bn in December 2010 by selling a majority stake in its Australian unit to Citi Infrastructure, a unit of Citigroup, and one other party. DP World now holds a 25 per cent share in DP World Australia but retains a key presence in the business through a services and management agreement.

Relations have deteriorated rapidly since talks broke down last month. The dispute is part of a wider escalation of industrial action and stoppages in recent months in Australia. The increasing use of lockouts by companies such as Qantas Airways and Cadbury Schweppes in response to union action has in turn put pressure on the Labor government over the Fair Work Act, which is unpopular with many business groups that argue it is ineffective in resolving disputes.

The use of lockouts as a key negotiating tool has also raised fears of a repeat of the bitter dispute in 1998 between the MUA and Patrick Stevedores company, when Patrick locked out its workers and replaced them with non-union labour. Chris Corrigan, who was then the chief executive of Patrick Corporation, is now the chairman of POAGS, which chose to lock workers out of three of its terminals last month in response to its own dispute with workers over pay and conditions.

That dispute ended after the intervention of the government. However, Bill Shorten, the federal workplace relations minister, said yesterday that he did not intend to intervene in the dispute between the MUA and DP World, at least until the negotiating process had been exhausted.

"I'm not going to micromanage every negotiation that goes on," Mr Shorten told ABC Radio. He said both parties had strongly-held positions but both had advised that the negotiations had not been exhausted. "At this stage, no one's indicating any desire for arbitration," he said.

The company and Paddy Crumlin, the MUA national secretary, are scheduled to meet in Melbourne today, The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported yesterday. "We are pretty much at the pointy end of the agreement and we are hopeful to be able to work through them and have no further action," Warren Smith, the MUA assistant national secretary, told the AFR.

en.portnews.ru

30. авг, 8:29 MSC chooses Tauranga stop off for Oceania Express Service Tauranga's port has b...

seagull 30. авг, 8:29
MSC chooses Tauranga stop off for Oceania Express Service
Tauranga's port has been chosen by the world's second-largest container shipping line as the only New Zealand stop-off for its new Oceania Express service.

The vessels will initially call every fortnight but once business grows it will revert to weekly, and all the east coast ports will send cargo to Tauranga.

The service was announced by Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) yesterday and will see Tauranga become part of a rotation that includes Australian cities Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, Balboa at the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal, and Californian city Long Beach.

Port of Tauranga has recently announced five other new services, and the company expects container volumes will increase by 20 to 25 per cent in the next year, reaching 750,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalents).

Port of Tauranga chief executive Mark Cairns said the latest shipping service would mean more jobs would soon be available at the port. However he could not yet say how many.

"We are delighted that MSC have chosen Tauranga as their New Zealand hub port and this announcement provides another tangible example of the structural change that is occurring in the New Zealand Port sector," Mr Cairns said.


"We are undertaking significant capital expenditure at the container terminal over the next few years to ensure that we continue to provide our customers with world-class levels of productivity."

MSC's Oceania Express service would start in October.

Source: bayofplentytimes.co.nz

27. июн, 21:18 Grand China delays announced weekly service to Australia GRAND China Shipping's...

seagull 27. июн, 21:18
Grand China delays announced weekly service to Australia
GRAND China Shipping's launch of a weekly service to Australia has been postponed after announcing its commencement before the start-up of its two-string transpacific service launched in April/May with five 2,800-TEU chartered vessels, Shipping Online reported.

The first sailing of the China-Australia service using 1,700-TEU ships was from Ningbo on June 12 with a port rotation of Ningbo, Shanghai and Shenzhen-Shekou, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and back to Ningbo.


Grand China appointed Sydney's Kingston Shipping as agent, and employees attached to the service will be paid until the end of the month, reported London's Containerisation International.

Source: longshoreshippingnews.com

2. июн, 11:26 Melbourne port to raise port fees from July Australia's Melbourne port will rai...

seagull 2. июн, 11:26
Melbourne port to raise port fees from July
Australia's Melbourne port will raise port fees and charges from 1 July as part of its cost recovery after completing a channel deepening project, Seatrade Asia online reports. Under Port of Melbourne Corporation's (PoMC) new tariff schedule, wharfage charges for twenty-foot containers will increase by A$1.70 to A$40.10 including goods and services tax (GST), while empty container charges will increase by A$0.40 to A$10.00 plus GST. The infrastructure levy will increase by A$1 to A$34.10 plus GST with direct Bass Strait movements retaining their exemption. “Foremost amongst our considerations is the need to adequately and prudently fund port infrastructure against the background of rising engineering costs to develop and maintain a level of service our customers rightly expect,” said Stephen Bradford, chief executive officer of PoMC. “The modest fee increases are generally in the range of 3.0% to 4.5% with minor reductions in concessionary rates which have been previously flagged with industry through consultation,” he said.

seanews.ru/event

31. май, 13:26 Port of Melbourne hikes charges, effective July 1st Port of Melbourne will in...

seagull 31. май, 13:26
Port of Melbourne hikes charges, effective July 1st

Port of Melbourne will increase wharfage, empty container and other charges in 2011-2012, the Port of Melbourne Corporation (PoMC) press release said. The new Reference Tariff Schedule (RTS) for port fees is effective July 1, 2011.

PoMC said wharfage charges for full twenty-foot containers will increase by $1,70 to $40,10 (plus GST 4.4%) while empty container charges - by 40 cents to $10,00 (GTS - 4.2%). All other charges will be increased by approx. 4.5%. The revenue from the charges will be set aside for expansion of Port of Melbourne infrastructure and services.

Motor vehicle fees will increase by an average of $1.04 per motor vehicle to $23,66 (plus GST). The channel fee for Pure Car Carrier vessels remains at 75% of the scheduled fee.

A concessionary rate for channel tariffs remains for cruise vessels but will grow from 60% to 70% of the full channel fees for 2011-2012. The discount on channel fees for short sea shipping making more than two sailings a week will be reduced from 50% to 47% as of July 1st.

businesstimes.com.sg