NMPT adds heli-tourism as cruise season begins November 06 , 2019

MANGALORE: With the beginning of this year’s cruise season on 4th November, the New Mangalore Port Trust (NMPT) also began Country’s first port-based heli-tourism initiative.

 

Aida Vita, a Panama Flag vessel called on NMP with 1,154 guests recently marking the beginning of the cruise season in Mangaluru. 

Around 400 of them disembarked for sight-seeing, said Port Chairman A.V. Ramana.

 

While the port had been facilitating transport services — autorickshaw, taxi and buses — for guests, this year NMP facilitated heli-tourism too. Chipsan Aviation Pvt. Ltd. deployed a six-seater helicopter to ferry tourists to Bekal Fort near Kasaragod in Kerala, Sringeri, Chikkamagaluru, Dharmasthala, Belur, Halebid, etc. “Given the present road conditions and the distance to these places, heli-tourism was the best option for international tourists to catch a glimpse of Karnataka. 

 

Any aviation company with DGCA certification can provide the service and NMPT will facilitate their operation. 

 

For the next cruise vessel calling on November 12, there are 16 confirmed bookings,” Mr. Ramana told.

India’s coal imports rise 9 % to 127 MT in Apr-September

NEW DELHI: India’s coal imports increased by 9.3 per cent to 

126.91 million tonnes (MT) in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal, industry data showed. The Country had imported 116.04 MT of coal in 

April-September period of FY 2018-19, according to a provisional compilation by mjunction services, based on monitoring of vessels’ positions and data received from shipping companies.

 

mjunction — a joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL — 

is a B2B e-commerce company which also publishes research reports on coal and steel verticals.

“On a progressive basis (April-September ’19) (provisional), total coal and coke imports were recorded at 126.91 MT, which is 9.36 percent higher than 116.04 MT imported for the same period (April-September ’18) last year,” it said.

Commenting on the coal import trend, mjunction MD and CEO Vinaya Varma said, “Although domestic coal production has seen a negative growth in recent months, the late monsoon has affected demand from the power and other consuming sectors, leading to slackness in import demand for thermal coal.”

 

India’s coal and coke imports in September 2019 through the Major and Non-Major Ports are estimated to have decreased by 2.71 per cent over August 2019. Imports in September 2019 stood at 18.62 MT (provisional) as compared to 19.14 MT (revised) imported in August 2019.

FICCI fully supports PM Narendra Modi's decision against joining RCEP November 06 , 2019

NEW DELHI : FICCI President Mr Sandip Somany in his recent comment on India not joining RCEP said, "We at FICCI fully support Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision against joining RCEP, as India's several concerns remain unaddressed and various issues are unresolved so far in the proposed deal under negotiation. In recent months serious apprehensions and reservations on RCEP have been expressed by a large number of sectors including steel, plastics, copper, aluminium, machine tools, paper, automobiles, chemicals, petro-chemicals and others. 

Further, there were not enough positive developments in the area of trade in services including easier mobility for our professionals and service-providers. I compliment Prime Minister Narendra Modi for taking a very pragmatic decision towards safeguarding the interest of Indian industry and the Country as a whole."

India not to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership November 06 , 2019

BANGKOK: India won’t join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) because concerns about getting swamped by imports under the agreement — putting its domestic industry and agriculture at risk — haven’t been assuaged. The RCEP, which includes China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), aims to cover about a third of the world economy and half its population.

 The present form of the RCEP Agreement does not fully reflect the basic spirit and the agreed guiding principles of RCEP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his address at the RCEP summit in Bangkok, according to a tweet by official broadcaster Prasar Bharati. It also does not address satisfactorily India's outstanding issues and concerns. In such a situation, it is not possible for India to join RCEP Agreement. 

 Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said the decision not to join RCEP will boost ‘Make in India’ as he lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his bold and courageous decision to not join RCEP, since it was against our economic interests and national priorities.

 India runs a large trade deficit with RCEP countries and was looking for specific protection for its industry and farmers from a surge in imports, especially from China.

Govt mulling to set up Mega Parks near Ports to attract FDI : Textile Secretary

NEW DELHI: The Government is mulling setting up around 10 integrated mega parks with state-of-the-art infrastructure near ports to attract foreign direct investment, a top official said recently. Addressing a conference, Textile Secretary Ravi Capoor said there has been a "very good response" from State Governments on the proposed mega parks.

 

"A Country which is competitive need not fear about anybody, no Country. Our fears stem from the fact that we know we cannot sustain the onslaught of the most competitive country or that particular product," Capoor said.

 

"The Government is very seriously contemplating mega parks in this Country...limited, maybe ten and compete with the best of the world. Provide...integrated parks close to the port. Today when you say about China-US trade war, they are looking for places to invest," the Secretary said while addressing a CII event here.

 

The Government needs to provide this type of infrastructure to global players to attract FDI and also to the Country's people, he added. Highlighting that world-class manufacturing can only happen if India is competitive globally, the Secretary said India needs to create mega-brands in textile sector and the Ministry was working on all these issues.

K Line joins Getting to Zero coalition November 06 , 2019

JAPAN: K Line has joined the ‘Getting to Zero’ coalition that aims to help drive decarbonisation of the shipping industry.

K Line joins more than 90 companies and institutions in the coalition which was founded under the Global Maritime Forum at the start of September.

 

“In our medium-term management plan, we have set ESG (Environment, Society and Government) initiatives as a key management issue,” K Line said. The company has set a 25% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030 under its K Line Environmental Vision 2050. It also started promoting its environmental management system ‘Drive Green Network’ group wide, including 14 affiliates from 2017.

 

“As an environmental front runner, we will continue to work toward the goal for 2050, aiming for the realization of our marine transportation business being more environmentally low-loaded and highly efficient from which more people throughout the world can benefit,” K Line said.

Ocean Network Express reports $126m profit in second quarter

SINGAPORE: Ocean Network Express (ONE) almost hit its target for profitability in the second quarter of its fiscal year, which ended 30 September, posting a positive result of $121m.

 

Thus, after six months, ONE is in the black to the tune of $126m, earned on revenue of $5.98bn. It said cost reductions and the fall in bunker prices had mitigated the impact of a drop in liftings due to “US-China trade issues and a deterioration in the supply-demand balance in the European trade”.

 

In terms of liftings, ONE’s biggest tradelane, headhaul Asia-North America, saw a utilisation level of 94% in Q2 and an overall 90% load factor for H1 at 1.44m TEU.The carrier’s second largest tradelane, Westbound from Asia to Europe, recorded a utilisation level of 95% in Q2, 

for a cumulative 91% for H1 at 947,000 TEU.

 

However, the outlook is rougher weather for the carrier. ONE said it now expected to report a loss of $66m on its trading in the second half of the year and, as a consequence, had downgraded its full-year profit forecast by $30m, to $60m.

 

It said this was a reflection of an expected deterioration in spot rates and concerns over a further slowdown in the global economy.

The forecast also assumes that the additional costs for compliance with IMO 2020 will be recovered in full by its OBS (One Bunker Surcharge) mechanism, adding that its “customers’ awareness” of the regulatory compliance was increasing.