Felixstowe South Piles Ahead

http://www.shippingtimes.co.uk/item_10204.html

The first shipment of piles for the new quay wall at the Port of Felixstowe’s Felixstowe South development have arrived at the UK’s largest container port.

Nineteen of the large tubular steel piles were discharged from the vessel Arklow Rainbow directly onto the Felixstowe South construction site. Each of the huge piles is up to 38 metres in length, 2.56 metres in diameter, and weighs in excess of 45 tonnes.

The piles are being supplied by Corus, fabricated by Arcelor Mittal in Holland and shipped to Felixstowe from Dintelmond. In total over 350 piles will be transported to complete the 730-metre quay wall for the first phase of Felixstowe South.

Commenting on the latest phase of the development, Chris Lewis, Chief Executive Officer of Hutchison Ports (UK) Limited, owners of the Port of Felixstowe, said:
“We are pleased with the progress being made on Felixstowe South. The construction programme remains on schedule and we expect to handle the first ship on what will be the UK’s most modern container terminal in 2010.”

Referring specifically to the piling operations, he added:
“A special acoustic fence has already been constructed between the Port and our nearest neighbours, and the contractors will be using special vibrating hammers to the greatest extent possible. Although the use of the noisier percussive hammers will be needed for the final stage of each pile, we hope the noise will be kept to a minimum.”

The first of the piles is expected to be driven in week commencing 19 January 2009 by main contractor Costain.

The timing of piling operations will be restricted. Percussive piling will not commence before 08.00 in the morning Monday to Friday, and will be completed by 18.00 each evening. Between these times, there will be no more than five hours piling each day. Percussive piling on Saturdays will not commence before 09.00 and will finish by 13.00, and will not take place on more than 13 weeks in a six-month period. There will be no piling on Sundays or public holidays.

Hutchison takes control of Amsterdam's Ceres terminal

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/hutchison-takes-control-of-amsterdams-ceres-terminal/20017602592.htm;jsessionid=F03F0FAEFB5F30E23ECE025C91BF8D62

HONG Kong terminal operator Hutchison Port Holdings has tightened its grip on the Dutch waterfront by acquiring a majority stake in Amsterdam’s Ceres Container Terminals Europe.

Hutchison has signed a share swap agreement with Japanese shipping group NYK, which gained full control the Ceres facility since 2006 after holding a 50% interest since 2002.

NYK will retain a small stake in Ceres, and will also get a minority shareholding in Hutchison’s giant Europe Container Terminals in Rotterdam.

The deal was revealed a few days after Hutchison acquired an interest in Evergreen’s Taranto terminal in southern Italy, with the Taiwanese group securing minority stakes in ECT and the UK’s Thamesport in exchange.

Maersk Line pulls out of Charleston

MAERSK Line has decided to leave the Port of Charleston, opting to transfer its services to other regional ports over the next two years rather than take on a powerful US dockers' trade union.
The South Carolina port, which has been seeking to establish a niche in the face of stiff competition from regional rivals such as Savannah, would lose about one-fourth of its container volume as a result of the defection, including the immediate loss of some 100 ships a year as Maersk begins its drawdown in early 2009.

South Carolina State Ports Authority chief executive Bernard Groseclose Jr said in a statement emailed to Lloyd's List that the authority "hopes to welcome Maersk back to Charleston at some point in the future", and expressing his confidence that the two dozen-odd other carriers in the port would "continue to be very successful".

Maersk's decision would end a presence that dates back half a century. It comes a week after International Longshoremen's Association locals in Charleston expressed opposition to the carrier's preference to transfer its terminal operations to another site where it could use non-union workers.

Maersk, which is a concessionaire at a dedicated space in Charleston's Wando Welch terminal with a lease that runs through to the end of 2010, has been forced to pay "shortfall fees" to the landlord port this year, as cargo volumes shrivelled and operating costs began to bite.
In October the carrier threatened to pull out of Charleston unless "a path which enables profitability" could be found.

Despite having an enforceable contract the harried ports authority came up with two alternative solutions at Maersk's request, as the line sought the authority's help in containing costs. One would have reduced Maersk's space at Wando Welch, with the landlord repossessing some of the more than $8bn infrastructure that would then become surplus.

The other option was to shift Maersk to a "common-use area" in the yard, where non-union employees would handle its cargo. Maersk said it preferred the second option.

Mr Groseclose said this common user gate model is preferred by "more than half the business currently moving through the port".

However, members at three ILA locals last Thursday overwhelmingly voted against the carrier's choice, saying their wage costs were competitive and comparable with non-union workers, and protesting the impending loss of "dozens of union jobs" because of the carrier's decision.

Maersk said in a statement on Thursday: "The ports authority offered us a workable solution, but we needed the consent of local ILA to accomplish the move. [Since the union refused], we are forced to move.

"By moving to other regional ports, we will once again be able to compete on a level playing field with other ocean carriers while continuing to provide excellent service to our customers."

Maersk is moving one service, the South Atlantic Express, representing about 25% of its Charleston business, to "other nearby ports" in early 2009. The remainder of the business would be moved out "strategically" over two years, and the carrier does not intend to renew when the lease runs out at the end of 2010.

At Charleston, state employees handle cranes and container-lifting operations, while ILA workers hired by stevedores perform shipboard work and gate activities in dedicated spaces used exclusively by Maersk, Evergreen, the CKYH carriers and Atlanticargo.

Maersk said this model placed it at a competitive disadvantage compared with rivals that use common user gate areas.

Mr Groseclose said: "This port, our region and our state will suffer greatly from Maersk's departure. This will mean great losses for our economy at a time when we can least afford it.
"However, we will work tirelessly to backfill this area with new business and keep as much of that cargo moving through Charleston as we can."

Evergreen takes stake in Thamesport and ECT Delta

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/evergreen-takes-stake-in-thamesport-and-ect-delta/20017602131.htm

TAIWAN’s Evergreen Group has secured a minority stake in Hutchison Port Holdings’ Thamesport and ECT Delta box terminals as part of a deal which sees HPH become an unconfirmed 50% shareholder in Evergreen’s Taranto Container Terminal on the heel of Italy

Box line chiefs back IMO efforts to cut emissions

http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/box-line-chiefs-back-imo-efforts-to-cut-emissions/20017602023.htm;jsessionid=A20985756D75A09A1F28A47FF026DD35

CONTAINER shipping bosses are giving their full backing to efforts by the International Maritime Organization to find a way of cutting ships’ carbon emissions rather than put forward proposals of their own at this stage.

World Shipping Council board members met IMO officials in London yesterday to discuss pollution issues and expressed confidence that the UN agency would be able to produce a solution that would avoid the risk of regional regulation.

Dockers in protest over liberalisation of port services

http://www.euractiv.com/en/transport/dockers-protest-liberalisation-port-services/article-151559

Thousands of dock workers have gathered in Strasbourg at the weekend to march on 16 January against a draft EU directive to liberalise port services. MEPs are divided over whether to reject or modify the proposal.

A divided European Parliament is gearing up for a vote in Strasbourg on 18 January over a proposal to liberalise port services in the EU. The proposal has attracted additional controversy as fears of excessive economic liberalism were cited as one of the main reasons that led French people to reject the draft EU Constitution in May last year.

Unions say they have mobilised 6,000 dock workers in the French city at the weekend for a mass demonstration on 16 January aimed at pressuring MEPs to reject the text. The European Transport Workers' Federation says the proposal "could dramatically affect European port operators and investments in the sector" and eventually lead to job cuts. "No one can ignore the impact that deregulatory proposals will have on jobs, working conditions, health and safety and the quality of port services in Europe," the Union says.

British opt-out from 48-hour working week defeated in Strasbourg

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article5358640.ece

Britain’s opt-out from the EU’s 48-hour working week was soundly defeated in a vote by the European Parliament today, with many Labour MEPs voting against the Government’s attempts to keep the measure first won by John Major in 1993.

The defeat marks a humiliation for Gordon Brown who signed up to a parallel agreement to give temporary and agency workers full employment rights after just 12 weeks in the hope of a deal to save the British opt-out from the EU working time directive.

It will trigger last-ditch talks between the European Parliament and the 27 EU member states on the directive although the two sides are a long way apart. They have until May to reach a compromise or the entire revised directive will fall, leaving the status quo — and the British opt-out — in place.