Hot Port News from GAC
14-Oct-2020
EASING OF CREW CHANGE RESTRICTIONS
China
ROAD ACCESS TO MARINA SOUTH PIER DURING KUSU PILGRIMAGE SEASON
Singapore
CONTAINER VOLUME PASSES 1 MILLION TEUS FOR FIRST TIME SINCE APRIL
Antwerp, Belgium
HIGHER CAPACITY BARGE FOR BUNKER SUPPLIES
Tuticorin, India
Easing of crew change restrictions
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, China
Ten Chinese ports will resume foreign crew change operations with certain requirements in place, taking into account of the current COVID-19 situation.
According to a report in BIMCO (www.bimco.org) News and Trends, the ports allowing for foreign crew change are Dalian, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Haikou.
The following requirements should be followed to sign off foreign crew:
– comply with Chinese entry and staying regulations during the epidemic period;
– acquire a valid departing air, vessel or bus ticket;
– disembarking point has facility to arrange “point-to-point” transfer to the outbound gate within the same city;
– the ship in question has left the last foreign port in more than 14 days;
– crew on board keeps a sound health and quarantine record;
– crew change will be permitted at the designated Chinese port upon clearance by the Chinese Customs carrying out a proper quarantine checkout together with negative nucleic acid testing result;
and
– the shipping company is required to rent a car to transfer the foreign crew from the disembarking point to the outbound gatepoint directly within the same city, or to embark another outbound ship directly once disembarking without any further stay in China.
Shipping companies should closely monitor the port’s local quarantine conditions and implement a closed-loop management as per the quarantine requirements issued by the local port.
A quarantine circuit-breaker mechanism is introduced under which a shipping company’s foreign crew change operations will be suspended for 15 days if there are 5 cases tested positive cases in their ship aggregate, or suspended for 30 days if there are 10 positive tests. If there are more than 10 positive test results, the shipping company will not be allowed to operate until they pass a fresh assessment conducted by the relevant authorities.
For information about operations in China, contact GAC China at china@gac.com
Road access to Marina South Pier during Kusu Pilgrimage Season
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Singapore
This year’s Kusu Pilgrimage season is from 17 October to 14 November. Marina South Pier (MSP) is the transit point where Kusu devotees and visitors take the ferries to the island.
In view of the expected road traffic congestion and limited parking space at MSP, the shipping and harbour craft communities are requested not to drive to MSP and are encouraged to take the public transport instead…
…There will be controlled entry into MSP Car Park from 0600hrs to 1700hrs on weekends and public holiday during the Kusu Pilgrimage period. Only authorised vehicles, with valid parking labels, will be allowed to enter and park at the MSP Car Park…
…Motorists who need to drive into MSP Car Park during the controlled entry period can apply for authorised access into the car park. The application should be sent to: mpa_feedback@uemsgroup.com
The application for authorised access should reach Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) at least five working days in advance. Please include the following information in your application:
(i) Date(s) of access required
(ii) Purpose
(iii) Vehicle no(s).
(iv) Contact details (i.e. telephone/fax/email)
For urgent applications, please call 6325-5110/6225-1145.
The MPA will look into each request for authorised access on a case-by-case basis. Successful applicants will be informed to collect the car labels from the MSP’s Facilities Management office at 31 Marina Coastal Drive, #01-13A. The car label must be displayed on the vehicle’s windscreen for access into MSP Car Park…
(For information about operations in Singapore, contact GAC Singapore at singapore@gac.com)
Source: Extracts from Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore Port Marine Notice No.075 of 2020 dated 13 October 2020
Container volume passes 1 million TEUs for first time since April
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Antwerp, Belgium
After nine months, the total throughput of Port of Antwerp has decreased by 4.4% compared to last year. Thanks to container handling, which has maintained the status quo and has been picking up since July, the port of Antwerp is able to limit the damage caused by the decline in the throughput of all goods flows…
…Despite the impact of the corona crisis on global production and logistics chains, and the following worldwide drop in demand, the port of Antwerp is holding strong in these very difficult times…
Since July, larger volumes have been recorded in container handling again, after reaching rock bottom in May and June. In September, throughput surpassed 1 million TEU again for the first time since April. In the third quarter, growth occurred mainly in container traffic to the Far East and within Europe. As a result, container traffic remained almost unchanged on an annual basis, with -0.2% in TEU compared to last year….
…Both global trade turmoil and the corona crisis continue to have a clearly negative effect on goods flows in the conventional break bulk segment, especially on steel, the main goods group within this segment. After a few better months in June and July, there has been a new drop from August onwards. Conventional throughput of fruit did grow, but these volumes are rather limited. Result: a 20.3% decrease in total break bulk throughput at the end of the third quarter.
The automotive sector also continues to feel the consequences of the crisis. After rising volumes in June and July, these decreased again in August, which is an annual phenomenon. There was no clear recovery in September. The total throughput of new vehicles decreased by 30% and that of second-hand vehicles by 23.7% in 2020 compared to the same period last year.
The throughput of dry bulk fluctuates from one month to the other. Kaolin and scrap have remained stable, but other product groups, such as fertilisers (-4.5%), which represent the largest share of dry bulk volumes, have decreased. The throughput of coal amounted to less than half of that of the same period last year. This resulted in a 15.5% drop in dry bulk throughput in January-September 2020 compared to the same period last year.
Total liquid bulk dropped by 5.7% compared to the first nine months of 2019. Oil derivatives have started to pick up especially on the export side, which suffered greatly as a result of the reduced demand due to the corona crisis and the plunging oil price. The import side has always held up relatively well. The export of chemicals grew by 2.8%, while imports decreased by 11.5%, which resulted in a total decrease of 7.3%.
In the period January-September, 10,241 seagoing vessels called at Antwerp, representing a decrease of 5.3% compared to the same period in 2019. The gross tonnage of these vessels fell by 6.3%.
In order to continue supporting the shipping companies, inland navigation operators and concessionaires at the port of Antwerp in these difficult circumstances, the Port Authority, in consultation with Alfaport Voka and MLSO, has decided to grant a further postponement of payment for domain concessions and for shipping and inland navigation dues…
(For information about operations in Belgium, contact GAC Belgium at agency.antwerp@gac.com)
Source: Excerpt from Port of Antwerp (www.portofantwerp.com) press release dated 14 October 2020
Higher capacity barge for bunker supplies
Wednesday, October 14, 2020, Tuticorin, India
A higher capacity barge – the MV Shree Prakash – has been placed at Tuticorin Terminal to enable Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOC) to service vessels at all berths and offer higher VLSFO supplies within a short span of berth time.
It will also ensure any-time bunkering.
The barge can service up to 785 Kl of VLSFO supplies or HFHSD up to 165 Kl to be supplied in single fuelling.
For information about operations in India, contact GAC India at india@gac.co
