Marine terminals

DP World managed to defy a sluggish container shipping market.

Eurogate has signed a contract to operate the Limassol Container Terminal, expanding the German port group’s Mediterranean footprint.

DP World has signed twin agreements with the Cyprus government to operate a multipurpose terminal at Limassol and provide marine services at the Mediterranean island’s largest port.

Less than 100 days before the container weight rule takes effect, a fight is brewing over whether terminal operators in Brazil should charge for inputting verified gross mass declarations as part of the new SOLAS container weight rule.

BLG Logistics grew its revenue in 2016 with its automobile, container and logistics sectors all posting higher sales, but the Bremen-based transport group posted a marginally lower operating profit.

DP World will offer container weighing services across its global portfolio when the new International Maritime Organization ruling is enforced from July 1, and is the first terminal operator to make such a widespread commitment.

Singapore-listed Hutchison Port Holdings Trust reported year-over-year drops in revenue, operating profit and net income of 7 percent, 10 percent and 26 percent for the first quarter of 2016.

Ports must invest, consolidate and rationalize to meet the rapid changes in a volatile shipping market, according to the head of the Maersk Group’s container terminal unit.

DP World signaled its interest in making additional investments along the China-Europe Silk Road after Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, group chairman and CEO, met with the prime minister of Georgia, Giorgi Kvirikashvili at an investment meeting in Dubai.

French officials searched the head office of the Bollore Group as part of a probe into the leading transport and logistics group’s port-operating contracts in two West African nations.

DP World is installing scales at its British Columbia and Dominican Republic terminals and plans to charge a $245 fee for containers the company must weigh to ensure compliance with new international rules requiring certification of weights.

The Federal Maritime Commission has scheduled a two-day summit in May to bring together members of the logistics community to develop commercial solutions to port congestion.

Milaha, the company formally known as Qatar Navigation, has put in a bid to manage the New Hamad Port in Qatar, the first phase of which is due to come online at the end of this year.

German container terminal group Eurogate warned of growing headwinds in the container handling market due to reduced global traffic growth and the forthcoming reshuffle among liner shipping alliances, after it reported increased earnings in 2015.

Terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach do not have the infrastructure that would allow them to weigh containers before they are loaded onto ships, so shippers will have to make other arrangements for obtaining the required verified gross mass of the containers before a July 1 international deadline takes effect, the terminals stated late Friday through a spokesperson.

APM Terminals is to invest 758 million euros ($859 million) in Africa’s first automated terminal in the Moroccan transshipment port of Tangier.

Cosco Pacific’s decision to commit more than $1 billion at the beginning of the year to acquire control of the port of Piraeus, once a sleepy and inefficient backwater, is already looking like a winning investment.

HHLA, Hamburg’s leading container handler, has ruled out a recovery in seaborne traffic at its terminals this year following a double-digit decline in 2015 and said it will focus on expansion of its intermodal operations.

Cosco Pacific Ltd., which has interests in 19 container terminals in China and Hong Kong as well as five overseas terminals, announced a 30.4 percent increase in profit to $382 million boosted by the write back of provisions on the 2013 sale of a stake in China International Marine Containers (Group) Co.

The president of an association representing container terminal operators is confident that Brazil will be ready for the Safety of Life at Sea, or SOLAS, Verified Gross Mass rule and has established a Special Technical Group to resolve any final concerns.

DP World has reached an agreement to acquire a 49 percent stake in the NUTEP terminal in Russia’s port of Novorossiysk with the Delo Group of Companies, one of the country’s largest transport groups.

Paris-listed Bolloré Group, which holds 21 port concessions worldwide and operates 14 container terminals in Africa, announced a 2 percent drop in revenue for 2015 to $12.2 billion.

APM Terminals is working to determine which of its 72 terminals are suitable for offering container-weighing services so that shippers and carriers can be assured they are in compliance with the verified gross mass amendment to SOLAS, which takes effect July 1.

Dubai-based global terminal operator DP World announced a strong financial performance in 2015 with revenues up 16.3 percent to $3.97 billion and net profit up 30.7 percent to $883 million, driven primarily by the acquisition of Economic Zones World.

Container traffic at Gulftainer grew 4 percent year-over-year in 2015, as a strong performance at its two United Arab Emirate facilities helped keep volume growth steady despite weakness in the European and Chinese markets.

DP World on Thursday said it received the necessary go-ahead from the union government of India to restructure its business interests in the country.

European cargo terminal operators have once again said their national governments are not doing enough to clarify regulations requiring all containers to be weighed before they are loaded onto ships.

MENA Infrastructure, a fund manager and equity investor in Middle East infrastructure, said it divested its 30.3 percent stake in Egypt’s Alexandria International Container Terminals to Hong Kong’s Hutchison Port Holdings for an undisclosed sum.

APM Terminals has completed the $1 billion acquisition of Spain’s Grup Maritim TCB, boosting its annual container volume by 2 million 20-foot equivalent units and consolidating its position as the world’s second-largest terminal operator.

Importers and exporters will benefit as container terminals in North America are automated because automation will result in “reliable productivity” for beneficial cargo owners, according to a marine engineer.

International Container Terminal Services saw net income and revenue fall during 2015 despite a 5 percent rise in throughput at its global terminal operations.

Djibouti Ports & Free Zones Authority expects throughput at Doraleh Container Terminal to expand by 3 percent in 2016 to just over 861,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units, driven primarily by increasing domestic consumption in Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Gulftainer has tapped Flemming Dalgaard, head of company’s international operations, to take the helm of the company's international operations as CEO of the independent port operator.

APM Terminals has signed a contract with Kalmar, the Finnish crane manufacturer, for 19 hybrid straddle carriers for its Vado container terminal being built on Italy’s North West Liguria coast.

Ultra-large container ships can now call at the Suez Canal Container Terminal 24 hours a day following the opening of a new access channel at the Mediterranean entrance to the Egyptian waterway.

Shippers face fewer delays due to less congestion and more reliability at African ports and connecting liner services, but they have less services to choose from and the delays of critical port projects may cause the continent’s port productivity gains to slip, according to two new reports.

Yilport Holding has finalized the acquisition of Tertir, a Portugal-based port and logistics group with container and bulk terminals in Europe and South America.

Hapag-Lloyd has started to pilot a collaborative, cloud-based stowage planning system that makes stowage plans and cargo data available to vessels in port and to terminal operators.

DP World on Friday unveiled a plan to invest $1 billion in India over the next few years, as the Dubai-headquartered terminal operator looks to tap into potential growth opportunities in the emerging Asian economy.

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, India’s largest port infrastructure developer, recorded a big jump in its net earnings in the third fiscal quarter on the back of continued capacity expansion.