22 May 2006
Japan's largest shipping company, NYK, and one of the country's top courier service providers, Yamato Holdings, have formed an alliance to provide more comprehensive and logistics solutions to their customers.
Under the deal, the two parties will each buy six billion yen ($54.1 million) worth of shares in each other's company and set up a joint venture to handle international land, sea and air logistics.
A joint statement said the business partnership will initially target three areas for business growth and development including the provision of integrated global logistics services for Japanese exports and imports; business to business logistics services targeting the China market; and the management and leasing of transport equipment using IC tags.
Chittagong congestion criticized
The increasing problem of acute congestion at the Bangladesh port of Chittagong has drawn sharp criticism from lines that use the port with fears that unless the situation is properly addressed, smaller companies could be bankrupted.
In an interview with the Asian Shipper, QC Shipping GM (Singapore), Captain Sohail Mahbub Bhuyain, said one way to alleviate the "mess" would be for the Chittagong Port Authority (CPA) to refuse entry to what he described as any "additional inappropriate vessels" when the port is filled to capacity and he added that this was how Dubai's Jebel Ali Port had handled a similar situation last year.
The current situation in Chittagong is due to a surge in trade that has stretched the port and its anchorage to full capacity, and apart from one circular to shipping agents that urges them not to bring any more vessels until the congestion has eased, CPA has done little else to address the problem.
The increase in trade to the port can be seen in the number of services sailing to and from Singapore that have increased from 32 to 48 in a short period. According to Captain Sohail, this has attracted an influx of "non-professional" feeder operators whose vessels are reportedly hogging up space at the port's few berths.
500 ships needed by Iran in 15 years
A senior manager of the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) has projected that the country's shipping business will need some 450-500 ships over the next 15 years in order for Iran to maintain its regional position.
Golparvar was addressing a gathering of national marine organisations in Mahmudabad, Mazandaran Province, and he said that the number includes both commercial ships and tankers. "IRISL now owns 180 ships", he said, but as the Iranian gas fields within the Gulf develop in the next few years, Iran would need 20-80 LNG ships in order to transport its gas to all parts of the world but particularly India and China.
It is believed that Iran is ready to invest $5 billion in tanker acquisitions.
Blue Lady may follow Clemenceau
The former cruise ship SS Norway, now renamed Blue Lady, has been refused entry into Indian waters for passage to Alang ship breaking yard in Bhavnagar, until a committee appointed by Indian Supreme Court gives its opinion, the Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) has said.
The 45-year-old vessel is alleged to contain large quantities of toxic materials such as asbestos, and the environmental group Greenpeace is claiming as much as four times more than the French aircraft carrier Clemenceau, which was recently turned back to France for the same reasons.
The Gujarat Maritime Board and the GPCB will assist the committee in its investigation aboard the ship that is owned by Star Cruises, and the final report us expected to be presented to the Court in July.
The writer is a Dubai-based marine consultant.
By Frank Kennedy
Gulf News 2006. All rights reserved.
