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The world’s largest gas turbine was loaded on board of a heavy lift vessel, the ANNEGRET in the Buss Hansa Terminal in Hamburg last week.
The gas turbine was manufactured by German engineering and electronics company Siemens for Malaysian power plant TNB Prai.

Pirates have shot a seafarer in the neck after boarding an anchored product tanker, two miles off Teluk Ramunia, Malaysia, on Friday.

According to sources, cash, personal belongings and possibly fuel were stolen by the seven armed Indonesians that boarded the tanker MT Ji Xiang which is registered in Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

Local authorities were able to intervene, and in their haste to escape, the pirates left two pistols and a machete on the vessel which was carrying 14 crew comprising seven Myanmars, a China national and six Indonesians.

A maritime patrol boat gave chase but lost them in the waters off a neighbouring country. The seafarer who was shot is now recovering in hospital.

For Lieutenant (Military Retired) Dave Daniel Rachimi, CEO of the maritime security organization, World MarSec Union, help in this sort of situation is often too late, too little and too far away. “With endless heartbreaking results for seafarers, shipowners, and officers at sea, we all know the results of piracy,” he said.

“It is plain to see that the authorities in and around the waters of Singapore do not react or are not equipped to react to any emergent situation in order to secure ships in these dangerous waters. The Union knows, however, that under these dangerous conditions it takes just four savvy armed guards to secure any mission.”

It is time for action, he says. “Since the beginning of this year seven confirmed hijacks have taken place in the South Malaysian waters, among them the tanker MT Ji Xiang, MT Orapin 4 and MT Oriental Glory.

“It is financially practicable to place three armory vessels along the main shipping routes of the Straits of Malacca (north, center, and south) and then give all commercial shipowners the option to secure their ships, without needing to challenge the local authorities with endless begging for weapons and port entry permits with arms that will never come. The model of armed secured and savvy armory vessels in international waters that is being employed in the Red Sea and Fujairah can also be employed in the Straits of Malacca.”

Maersk Line has announced a 10 year Vessel Sharing Agreement (VSA) with Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) on the Asia-Europe, Transatlantic and Transpacific trades. The VSA will be referred to as 2M. It replaces all existing VSAs and slot purchase agreements that Maersk Line has in these trades.

The VSA will include 185 vessels with an estimated capacity of 2.1 million TEU, deployed on 21 strings. The overall purpose of the cooperation is to share infrastructure (network). Maersk Line and MSC will be able to provide their customers with more stable and frequent services, cover more ports with direct services. The VSA will improve the efficiency of the Maersk Line and MSC networks through better utilisation of vessel capacity and economies of scale.

“I am very pleased with our agreement with MSC. We share the same ambition to have as efficient and effective operations as possible. We will continue to provide our customers with competitive and reliable container shipping in the East-West trades at attractive prices. To do so we have to be innovative and take out cost, while keeping a product that is best in class for our customers in terms of coverage, frequency and reliability. Our agreement with MSC is a step towards achieving all of these objectives in the East-West trades,” says Søren Skou, Maersk Line CEO.

Maersk Group CEO Nils S. Andersen welcomes the agreement with MSC.

“Over the last years, Maersk Line has established itself as a leader in the industry through its customer focus and by improving its competitive cost position.  With this agreement Maersk Line will be able to further enhance its customer offering while also reducing costs and CO2 emissions. I am confident that Maersk Line’s leadership, also after this positive step, will continue to find new ways to strengthen its competitive advantage and customer experience” says Nils S. Andersen.

http://www.globallogisticsmedia.com/articles/view/maersk-line-announces-cooperation-on-the-east-west-trades-with-msc

A U.N. Security Council committee on Monday blacklisted the operator of a North Korean ship, which was seized near the Panama Canal last year for smuggling Soviet-era arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, under thousands of tons of sugar.

The North Korea (DPRK) sanctions committee designated Ocean Maritime Management, which operated the Chong Chon Gang, the ship that was detained a year ago.

The U.N. designation means the company is now subject to an international asset freeze and travel ban.

“Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd (OMM), played a key role in arranging the shipment of the concealed cargo of arms and related materiel,” the committee said in an implementation assistance notice, obtained by Reuters.

“The concealment of the aforementioned items demonstrates intent to evade U.N. sanctions, and is consistent with previous attempts by the DPRK to transfer arms and related materiel through similar tactics in contravention of Security Council prohibitions,” the committee said.

A Panamanian court on Friday ordered the release of the Chong Chon Gang‘s three North Korean officers. Thirty-two North Korean sailors and the ship were released by Panama in February.

North Korea is under an array of United Nations, U.S. and other countries’ sanctions for repeated nuclear and ballistic missile tests since 2006 in defiance of international demands to stop.

A U.N. report issued in March said North Korea has developed sophisticated ways to circumvent United Nations sanctions, including the suspected use of its embassies abroad to facilitate an illegal trade in weapons.

In accordance with a decision taken by the board of the Eurasian Economic Commission on 17.09.2013, it will be mandatory to provide preliminary information about goods being imported by rail into the common customs territory of the Customs Union from 1 October 2014.

In conjunction with the Russian Federal Customs Service, Russian Railways has established a working group to improve customs operations and procedures and coordinate cooperation with those involved in foreign trade with regard to the introduction of new information technologies, including electronic document processing.

Today, all those involved in foreign trade who are interested in the speedy passage of their goods through railway crossing points can provide preliminary information via the website of the Federal Customs Service.

As a result of this system, by the time the goods arrive at the checkpoint, the customs authorities have already received all the necessary information for making decisions, in particular about conducting inspections.

From 1 October 2014, it will be compulsory for shippers to provide preliminary information on imported consignments via the official website of the carrier, namely Russian Railways. The portal will be launched and ready to receive data in test mode in September 2014.

Electronic cooperation between the customs authorities and the carrier is based on the exchange of documents in electronic form between the Main Computing Centre at Russian Railways and the computer system at Russia’s Federal Customs Service, which also takes into account all information security requirements.

According to a press conference, the introduction of mandatory reporting of imported freight will increase the automation of customs procedures and reduce clearance times at railway crossing points.

Technological and technical solutions that are identical to those that will be used for preliminary notification have already been tested during the previous two years of active electronic cooperation between the customs authorities and the railway company.

In 2011, after the signing of a joint plan for the organisation of the main activities of electronic interaction between the Russia’s Federal Customs Service and Russian Railways, a working group was established to improve customs operations and procedures under the joint chairmanship of Salman Babaev, Vice-President of Russian Railways, and Ruslan Davidov, Deputy Head of Russia’s Federal Customs Service.

During this work, two orders were published whose application at pilot sites led to a significant reduction in the time of customs procedures after processing information in electronic form.

Whereas previously the average time for customs operations was 120-200 minutes, the electronic exchange of data meant that the time could be reduced to 60-90 minutes, and in cases where the same types of goods were processed, to just 15-35 minutes.

http://eng.rzd.ru/newse/public/en?STRUCTURE_ID=15&layer_id=4839&refererLayerId=4530&id=106429

By Joseph O’Reilly

UK and continental shippers can expect a price reprieve after Eurotunnel announced plans to reduce freight rates through the Channel tunnel. The move comes after the European Commission began legal action to reduce charges and increase traffic.

Paris-based Eurotunnel, which operates trains through the tunnel, will cut tariffs for off-peak services at night during the week, and reduce prices by one-third during tunnel maintenance.

The European Commission welcomed the decision to reduce track access charges by up to 50 percent, expecting it to double rail freight volume through the tunnel in the next five years.

“Because rail freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel has increased 10 percent in 2013, and 13 percent in the first quarter of 2014, we decided to reinforce our efforts to support the development of this traffic,” says a statement from Eurotunnel.

In response, European Commission Vice President Siim Kallas says the decision “stands to unblock a major bottleneck in Europe’s transport network,” and is good news for business, consumers, and the environment.

http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/global-logistics-june-2014/

The President of Russian Railways Vladimir Yakunin Sums Up Company’s Performance During 1H 2014

During a conference call on 4 July 2014, Vladimir Yakunin, President of Russian Railways, summed up the railway network’s operational performance during January-June 2014.

According to Yakunin, in the first half of 2014, tariff turnover increased by 5.6% due to a 7% increase in the average distance over which freight was transported and a reorientation of freight traffic to ports, with the highest increase being recorded in Russia’s Far Eastern region. During January-June, the railways shipped 599.5 million tons of freight, 1% less than during the same period in 2013. From the beginning of the year, the largest decline in loading volumes occurred with construction goods, which fell by 15.2%, black coal, down by 0.9%, cement, down by 6.2%, and imported goods, which dropped by 16.4%.

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