Hot Port news from GAC

GAC Nigeria’s office will be closed on these days. Normal work will resume on Tuesday 5 September.

For information about operations in Nigeria contact GAC Nigeria at nigeria@gac.com

The rain is a result of a low-pressure area that developed over Odisha and moved westwards towards the central parts of the country. There is also an upper air cyclonic circulation over the eastern part of the state and a trough that extends over the West coast, which led to very heavy rain over the Konkan coast, especially Mumbai.

Mumbai International Airport has reported delays with a few flights diverted/delayed landing.

The combination of high tide and heavy rains had pushed water into the low lying areas of the city, causing water logging, flooded roads and train stations, disrupting transport service. However, most of the flooding seems to have receded now, and transportation services resumed this morning (30 August), enabling our workers – including GAC India employees – to get home safely.

PORT AND CUSTOMS OPERATIONS:
Due to the heavy rain and declaration of public holiday today, only skeleton staff are available in the Port, Customs and offices, affecting import/export clearance in Mumbai.

For the past five days, the customs online EDI systems were not working nationwide, as the servers were down. This has affected import shipment clearance. The service is expected to resume by tomorrow (31 August).

Cargo operations alongside berths, outer anchorages and the Port Lighterage Area in Mumbai Port remain suspended since 11am local time yesterday. Operations are expected to be suspended until further notice.

Loading and unloading of containers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust terminal (JNPT) were also affected for more than 3 hours yesterday.

The Indian Metrological Department (IMD) has issued a warning of heavy to very heavy rain until 31 August.  The latest weather update for respective ports is as follows:
* KANDLA & MUNDRA – Cloudy weather; but no rain
* SIKKA/JAMNAGAR/NAVLAKHI – Raining heavily last night; presently, light to medium showers reported. Vessel operations not affected, though conditions have slowed down all operations, in general.
* HAZIRA/DAHEJ – Heavy rains last night; presently normal weather with no disruptions to operations reported.
* MUMBAI – Operations at alongside berths/anchorage suspended due to prevailing severe weather
* SOUTH OF WEST COAST INDIA – presently cloudy with intermittent light to medium showers experienced in Goa, New Mangalore and much less rain in Cochin. No disruption of vessel operations reported.

For further details or information about operations in India contact GAC India at india@gac.com

Catastrophic and life-threatening flooding continues in southeastern Texas and portions of southwestern Louisiana. Harvey is expected to produce additional rainfall accumulations of 3-6 inches from southwestern Louisiana and the adjacent border of eastern Texas northeastward into western Kentucky through Friday with isolated amounts up to 10 inches. While the threat of heavy rains has ended in the Houston/Galveston area, catastrophic and life-threatening flooding will continue in and around Houston eastward into southwest Louisiana for the rest of the week.

No significant rainfall is expected for the next 24 hours. The only anticipated issues will be the high current flows from local rivers and bayous.

The Captain of the Port, Sector Houston-Galveston expects to remain at Port Condition ZULU for at least the next 24 hours. Deep-water traffic may not start moving until Thursday, and possibly later.

USCG Houston-Galveston Vessel Traffic Service hopes to get a Modified ZULU approved today, which would allow limited vessel movements within the port.

USCG Houston have salvage teams assisting with the sunken dry dock near Brady’s Landing, and other sunken or missing equipment. All facilities must complete a post-storm assessment form and provide those to USCG before their terminals will be allowed to receive vessel traffic.

USCG MSU Texas City has started facility inspections based on post-storm assessment reports received. They have also begun working on ATON surveys and restorations. Initial reports are positive.

The Port of Galveston is working to get the port ready to receive the cruise ships.

The Port of Freeport is working to get ready to receive ships. Some traffic has already diverted. The terminal is in fair condition and roads are passable. Initial surveys by pilots have started.

The Port of Texas City is working to get the port ready to receive traffic.

For information about operations in the USA contact GAC USA at usa@gac.com