Maritime News - MaritimeHub.net

Russia: United Shipbuilding Corporation to Sign 9 Large Contracts with Defence Ministry

MaritimeHub — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 16:21:52 +0000

United Shipbuilding Corporation and Russian Defense Ministry have 9 large contracts to sign under State Defense Order 2011, reported RIA Novosti on Sept 1 referring to the company’s official representative.

Aug 31 was a deadline set by Prime Minister Putin to tie contracts between defense ministry and military-oriented companies under state defense order. Russian defense minister Anatoly Serdiukov said on Sept 1 that the ministry had tied all defense contracts except for United Shipbuilding Corporation.

“As for now, we have not signed 9 contracts with defense ministry, including the largest ones with Sevmash shipyard”, said the USC spokesman.

Sevmash is supposed to deliver to the Navy one Project 855 Yasen nuclear-powered attack submarine and two Project 955 Borei nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines which are platforms for SLBM Bulava.

“Submarines of projects 955 and 885 are equipped with new equipment. It is possible to sign long-term contracts with its suppliers only after completion of the first two serial subs in order to finally determine prices and parameters”, said the interviewee.

He specified that USC and defense ministry presently negotiate on the price of each submarine being built by Sevmash. As for him, the corporation will sign fixed-price contracts with defense ministry in 2013, “that will be contracts for the period until 2018 considering deflator rates set by Ministry of Economy Development (3.5% till 2016 and 2.5% – since 2016 till 2018)”.

Earlier on, USC officials said they had 13 non-signed contracts with defense ministry to the overall sum of RUR 40 bln. According to the interviewee, “talks on prices are currently in progress, and we’re going to tie several small contracts on Friday”.

Volume of Russia’s state defense order in 2011 will make RUR 750 bln which is 1.5 as much as in last year.

United Shipbuilding Corporation is the largest shipbuilding and ship-repair company in Russia. It was established in 2007 and comprises over 42 Russian shipyards and design bureaus. Currently, it consists of three regional branches: Western Shipbuilding Center (St. Petersburg), Northern Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (Severodvinsk), and Far East Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Center (Vladivostok). The state controls 100% shares of the corporation.

Cargo traffic at Bulgaria's Varna port reaches one million tons in August

MaritimeHub — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:43:18 +0000

Cargo turnover at Bulgaria's Black Sea port of Varna stood at a record-high 1.014 million tons in August, online trade publication maritime.bg reported. Grain and shipments from chemical plants based in the town of Devnya, northeastern Bulgaria, accounted for the bulk of the cargo traffic in August. On August 31 alone, Port Varna East handled 3000 trucks and shipped 30 000 tons of grain, chiefly wheat, maize, canola and barley. The port's freight traffic amounted to 5.5 million tons in the first eight months of the year, an annual increase of 10 per cent. The port also handled 82 000 containers, up eight per cent on the year. Currently, the port is renovating its fleet as part of its ambitious investment programme. The port expects to record an improvement in its financial and operating results and to process more than eight million tons of cargo this year.

Source (SofiaEcho)

MaritimeHub.net - Ports

Black Sea Container Summit 2011 Odessa

MaritimeHub — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 15:23:19 +0000

On September 15-16, 2011, the 5th International Black Sea Container Summit will be held in Odessa, Ukraine. Organizers are PORTS OF UKRAINE Publishing House and the Centre for Information and Analytics BLACKSEATRANS.

The summit is considered to be the review of container capacities in the Black Sea region in the conditions of container traffic recovery after world economic crisis.

The Black Sea Container summit is going to provide opportunities for fruitful communication of heads and top managers of transport companies, cargo owners, carriers, terminal operators, line agents, forwarders, representatives of state authorities, all people related to the container carriages market.

Special topics to be discussed during the summit:

Impact of world tendencies in the development of container business in the Eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea carriages market
Review of container markets in Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey
Rating of Black Sea container terminals
Container cargo flows of the Black Sea: trends and prospects
Shipping lines: competition and partnership
Impact of customs policy on container carriages in the region
Evolvement of regional logistic centers
New methods of container handling and IT-technologies

Among the speakers there will be the analytics from the world famous consulting companies, representatives of all Black Sea countries.

During the summit the presentation of a new Ilyichevsk fishery seaport’s container terminal is going to take place. Its annual throughput capacity totals 500,000 TEUs.

The previous fourth summit gathered around 140 delegates, among which there were representatives of the world largest container lines, global terminal operators, heads and top managers of seaports, stevedore companies, manufacturers of handling equipment, transport and forwarding companies from 15 countries (Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Romania, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, UK, Finland, Turkey, Bulgaria, Belorussia, Lithuania, Austria and Italy).

Particular reasons to attend the summit:

Before the downturn, the Black Sea container market increased at the world record rates – up to 40 percent year-by-year. Now it is recovering gradually. Ukraine extensively develop the infrastructure of container carriages and stevedore activities in the seaports. A new market is emerging. There is a place also for you there.

Besides, Odessa is especially beautiful in the season when the summit is held!

Venue:

“Odessa” Hotel,

6-a, Primorskaya St. (passenger terminal of Odessa seaport)

Odessa, Ukraine

Summit working languages: Russian, English.

Source (MaritimeHub.net)

MaritimeHub.net - Ports

MSC Panama released on USD 7 million ransom

MaritimeHub — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 14:35:46 +0000

On Sep 06 2011 Somali pirates released container vessel MSC Panama, a pirate called Abdi told Reuters news agency, that ransom totaling $ 7 million was delivered by air in the morning Sep 6, and vessel is already under way to safety.

Somali Report said MSC Panama will be met by a Mombasa based logistic supply vessel, MT Solstar, to assist with her departure from captivity. Predictably, consumer goods from containers on board of MSC Panama were looted, and reported to be seen on regional markets. Whether ransom is $7 mil or less we don’t know, as we have to rely on pirates words only. Well, it can’t be otherwise in these days, all other sources of information, including vessels management and owners, are tight-lipped, thanks to joint efforts of insurers, navies, media and maritime organizations. Ransoms can’t be less than $ 5 mil, or it’s a disgrace to pirates and those who fight them. Pirates said they got $ 7 mil, mark their words and check my statistics, next “reports” of “Oceans beyond piracy” researchers will make this and other sums of ransoms, claimed by pirates and not confirmed by any other sources, official. And journalists are still searching for piracy rulers and supporters! Here they are, open your eyes.

Source (Reuters)

Maritime News Hub - Piracy