Turkish firm receives 2nd Subic-made oil tanker
Written by Henry Empeño / Correspondent
Friday, 12 March 2010 18:59
http://businessmirror.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&i...

SUBIC BAY FREE PORT—Turkey-based Kaptanoglu Shipping Group received on Wednesday the second Aframax oil tanker that Hanjin Heavy Industries Corp. Philippines Inc. (HHIC-Philippines) has built in this free port.

Kaptanoglu officials, led by company president Engin Kaptanoglu, named the 114,000-deadweight ton (DWT) crude oil tanker M/T Eser K, after the shipping tycoon’s youngest daughter Eser.

The vessel, reportedly priced at $68 million, was the 12th vessel to be built by Hanjin in this free port after establishing its Redondo Peninsula shipyard in 2006.

Hanjin has also delivered to the Kaptanoglu group in January the first Aframax it built here, the MT Leyla K.

Like its older twin, Eser K is 250 meters long, 44 meters wide, 21.35 meters deep, and weighs 63,304 tons. Powered by a Man-B&W 6S60MC-C main engine, it has a top speed of 15 knots.

According to HHIC-Philippines senior executive vice president Hyun Soo Bong, the two vessels it delivered to Kaptanoglu were the biggest ships ever built in the Philippines.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-03-12/world-s-biggest-lpg-shipping...

(Adds analyst’s comments starting in fourth paragraph.)

World’s Biggest LPG Shipping Line Idles Four Vessels (Update1)
March 12, 2010, 7:48 AM EST

By Alaric Nightingale

March 12 (Bloomberg) -- BW Gas Ltd., the world’s biggest shipper of liquefied petroleum gas, idled four tankers because rates plunged so low that each vessel was losing the company about $25,000 a day.

The Berge Racine will idle until the end of the year, when it will be given to new owners, Andreas Sohmen-Pao, chief executive officer of parent company BW Group, said by phone, confirming a note sent to clients. Three other carriers will also stop trading until freight rates improve, he said today.

“The conditions are so bad and have been bad for so long we see this as a painful but necessary decision,” Singapore- based Sohmen-Pao said. “It’s impossible to say how long we will be putting them into lay-up,” as ship deactivation is called.

Cargoes have dwindled over the past year because of delays at natural-gas projects and reduced crude output by oil- producing nations, said Geir Olafsen, chief analyst at Inge Steensland A/S, an Oslo-based shipbroker specializing in LPG. The gas is a byproduct of crude oil and natural gas output.

Aquasino hopes to be running next month
By Adva Saldinger - asaldinger@thesunnews.com
http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/03/12/1363917/hundreds-bet-on-casino-boat...

The Sun News - A line of job applicants winds out into the parking lot at the SunCruz Casino building in Little River.

LITTLE RIVER -- The parking lot was full Thursday at the former SunCruz building in Little River, where hundreds turned out to apply for jobs with the new casino boat coming to the area. The new boat's owners say they want the positions to be filled by the time the cruise starts sailing next month.

"It provides jobs for several hundred people. It is a tremendous boom for the local businesses in the Little River area not counting the casino boat's own business," said John Weaver, the interim Horry County administrator.

The Coastal Workforce Center organized the job fair and will narrow down the list of applicants for each position based on skill level. A second job fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 6p.m. Tuesday at 4465 Mineloa Ave. in Little River, and applications are also available at the workforce centers in Conway, Myrtle Beach and Georgetown.

http://www.ananova.com/business/story/sm_3710885.html

A skilled ship's captain has managed to squeeze a new vessel through a narrow shipyard entrance.

It's not an easy first day at work but the 'conveyance', as it's officially known, is a rite of passage for this ship.

The Celebrity Eclipse sailed down the River Ems in Germany and in a nerve-wracking manoeuvre managed to squeeze through the shipyard entrance.

She and her sister ships Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Solstice are the largest ever to sail down the German river.

Next the ship will have to squeeze through canal boat locks and roads, railways and aqueducts as part of a 42km journey into the North Sea before heading to Southampton in April.

The 42km journey along the River Ems from the inland Meryer Werft ship yard in Papenburg, Germany, to Emshaven in the Netherlands will take between 12 and 15 hours.

Due to the shallow waters and tight turns, the ship's speed cannot exceed 4km per hour.

Friday, March 12, 2010
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/aussie-funded-project-beefs-port-operati...

CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY -- The airport and seaport here, as well as the Mindanao Container Terminal (MTC) received recently a total of P750,000 equipment and capability building support from a government project funded by Australian Agency for International Development (AusAid).

Dubbed as the "Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area Support to CIQS or Best on CIQS," the project specifically donated a P500,000 worth of equipment support to the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippine (Caap) in the city.

Also, it donated P250,000 to MTC, which Is located at Philippine Veterans Industrial Development Corporation (Phividec) in Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental, to support its capability building activities.

The allocation is part of the P3.75 million equipment and capability building assistance of the Best on CIQS project to priority ports in Mindanao and Palawan, such as Zamboanga, Cagayan de Oro, Davao, General Santos-Sarangani, Cotabato, and Puerto Princesa City.

By BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
March 12, 2010, 2:12pm

http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/247383/sbma-okays-95-increase-port-fees-ha...

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) has approved as much as 95 percent increase in port fees in Subic ports under its joint venture agreement with Harbour Centre Terminal Inc.

A certification from the Office of the Board Secretariat of SBMA showed that SBMA passed Resolution Number 10-02-35-35 last February 19, 2010 approving two additional provisions in the proposed JVA with HCPTI.

The first additional provision is the tariff adjustment clause “giving the operator flexibility to adjust tariff rates, provided that: (a) the tariff adjustment will in no case exceed 95% of the Philippine Port Authority-approved tariffs in the port of Manila; (b) the rate adjustment shall not exceed twice in one year; and (c) the rate adjustment can only take effect with a 30-day notice to SBMA and the public in general.

The other provision is the security deposit in the amount of P2 million to cover unpaid utilities.

Atty. Eulalio A. Ventura, counsel of Amerasia International Terminal Services Inc. (AITSI), said in a press conference that this could be the basis for the promised revenue of $500,000 annually.

Friday, March 12, 2010

http://www.sunstar.com.ph/network/coast-guard-beefs-holy-week-preparatio...

MANILA -- The Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) is not leaving up to chance the safety of sea travelers in the coming Holy Week.

PCG Commandant Admiral Wilfredo Tamayo said that this early, passenger assistance centers will be in place to anticipate the volume of passengers who will flock sea ports nationwide from March 30 to April 14.

“The centers will particularly help ensure the orderly, safe and secure conduct of embarkation of passengers and loading of cargo so as to give the PCG Boarding Teams ample time for boarding and inspection of vessels prior to departure,” he said in a statement.

To increase visibility, additional Coast Guard personnel will be deployed to the following ports: Manila, Batangas, Cebu, Zamboanga, Calapan/Roxas (Oriental Mindoro), Abra de Ilog (Occidental Mindoro), Odiongan/Romblon (Romblon), Dalahican (Lucena), Balanacan/Kawit/Sta. Cruz (Marinduque), Atimonan/Puerto Real (Quezon), Matnog (Sorsogon), Allen (Samar), Lipata (Surigao) Balingoan (Misamis Orriental), and Camiguin. (Virgil Lopez/Sunnex)