News

WORLD NEWS

ASIA SFL Corporation sells seven vessels

SFL Corporation Ltd has announced that it has agreed to sell its seven Handysize dry bulk vessels to an Asiabased buyer for an aggregate price of approximately US$100 million.

Delivery of the vessels is expected to take place before year end, and net cash proceeds are estimated to be more than US$50 million after repayment of associated debt. The company expects to record aggregate book gains of more than US$40 million from the sale of the vessels.

The vessels have cargo capacity between 32 - 34000 DWT and have been employed in the spot market the last fi ve years, after redelivery from their initial charters. With limited long-term chartering opportunities for small dry bulk vessels, the intention has been to trade the vessels in the spot market until the markets improved. The sale will not have an impact on the company’s charter backlog, and the net proceeds are expected to be reinvested in new assets.

Ole B. Hjertaker, CEO of SFL Management AS, said “Our primary business strategy is to own and charter out vessels long-term to strong counterparties, and we have added more than US$850 million to our charter backlog in 2021.”

NORWAY Veson Nautical announces acquisition of Oceanbolt

Veson Nautical has announced its strategic acquisition of Oceanbolt, a dynamic data solutions product for bulk commodity trade flow analysis and marine shipping intelligence.

Oceanbolt’s data solution provides web-based and API access to high integrity, real-time data on commodity trade flows, freight tonnage flows, live and accurate vessel positions, port congestion, port activity, and turnaround times – instrumental insights for strategically managing demurrage, for example.

Since the inception of the Norway-based venture in 2019, Oceanbolt’s innovative data platform has earned the respect of an impressive client base of dry bulk owner-operators, commodities traders, supply chain co-ordinators, and tonnage charterers. Oceanbolt combines a best-in-class AIS processing engine with a proprietary geospatial database of port and berth polygons to allow computationally expensive calculations to be processed in a matter of seconds. Today, Oceanbolt processes 30+ billion data points, makes 60+ million daily observations, and tracks 5+ billion t of cargo each year over 140 commodities.

USA Bruks Siwertell delivers cement unloader to Ozinga

Bruks Siwertell has delivered a Siwertell road-mobile shipunloader to US organisation, Ozinga. The next-generation unit promises to secure environmentally friendly cement handling for the company; an operator that prides itself on delivering innovative solutions to its customers.

“This is Ozinga’s fi rst Siwertell shipunloader,” says Ken Upchurch, VP Sales and Marketing, Bruks Siwertell. “The Ozinga team invested time in researching various types of unloading equipment and concluded that the Siwertell roadmobile unloader was the best solution for its application.”

Ozinga specialises in concrete, dry bulk materials, and natural gas energy solutions, and has an extensive network of truck, rail, barge, and ship terminals. Its operations are predominantly focused in the US mid-west, where the new shipunloader is making its debut.

For operators that serve multiple ports or facilities with minimal or no infrastructure, Siwertell road-mobile shipunloaders offer flexibility, effi ciency, and environmental protection.

“They have a worldwide reputation for reliability and are a popular choice for cement handlers,” adds Upchurch.

Ordered in 2020 and delivered later in the same year, the 5000 S road-mobile unloader offers totally enclosed, environment-friendly cement handling operations, with the unit delivering a continuous rated unloading capacity of 300 tph for vessels up to 5000 DWT.

The trailer-based, diesel-powered system is fi tted with dust fi lters and a double-bellows discharge arrangement with an automatic shifting function. It also features advanced digital technology for diagnostics and trouble-shooting.

WORLD NEWS

DIARY DATES

ADIPEC 2021 15 - 18 November 2021 Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates www.adipec.com/exhibition/ about-the-exhibition

AntwerpXL 07 - 09 December 2021 Antwerp, Belgium www.antwerpxl.com

SOLIDS & RECYCLING-TECHNIK Dortmund 16 - 17 February 2022 Dortmund, Germany www.solids-dortmund.de

GEAPS Exchange 26 - 29 March 2022 Kansas City, USA www.geapsexchange.com

Posidonia 2022 06 - 10 June 2022 Athens, Greece www.posidonia-events.com

TOC Europe 14 - 16 June 2022 Rotterdam, the Netherlands www.tocevents-europe.com

RUSSIA Cargo to Russian seaports on the rise

In January - July 2021, loading volumes on the railway network owned by Russian Railways and dispatched to Russian seaports for export amounted to 204.9 million t, 9.4% more than in the same period in 2020. Various cargoes dispatched to the ports of Russia’s North-West totalled 83.9 million t, up 11.7%, while 53.3 million t were transported to the ports of the South, an increase of 21.7%, and 67.7 million t to the ports in Russia’s Far East, a rise of 6.2%.

Coal dominated the exports, accounting for 52.4% of the total, followed by oil cargo (22%), ferrous metals (6.9%), fertilizers (6.1%), and grain (2.3%).

Coal loading volumes shipped to ports in January - July 2021 increased by 15.5% to over 107.4 million t. Delivered to the ports of Russia’s Far East were 55.8 million t of solid fuel, an increase of 4.5%, 16.8 million t to the ports in the South, up by a factor of 1.8, and approximately 35 million t to the ports of the North-West, a rise of 15.5%.

The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has released the 2021 mid-year statistics for goods moving through the Port of Vancouver. From 1 January - 30 June 2021, overall cargo volumes through Canada’s largest port reached a record high of 76.4 million t, up 7% from 2020 mid-year, and 5% above the previous record set in 2019. Sectors that experienced strong growth include grain and containers, both of which hit new records in 2021.

Strong overseas demand for Canadian grain products – a main driver of the overall record mid-year cargo volumes – resulted in record mid-year volumes of bulk grain, up 20% to 16.5 million t compared to mid-year 2020 and up 35% from 2019. Total foreign tonnage and foreign exports resulted in 60.3 t and 52.0 million t, up 4% respectively, compared to mid-year 2020 volumes, due to strong increases in grain and coal.

Increases in wheat, up 23%, barley, up 151%, and animal feed, up 30%, contributed to this new bulk grain record. Metallurgical coal increased by 11% while thermal coal remained flat. In fertilizers, potash exports increased by 0.3% from last year and sulfur decreased by 20%.

“Record grain volumes through the Port of Vancouver once again over 1H21 demonstrate the continued growth in the global demand for Canadian agricultural products,” said Robin Silvester, President and Chief Executive Offi cer at the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority. “Over many years, we have worked with partners to support the growth of the agricultural sector, and over the last decade there has been a very signifi cant amount of investment in the port and the surrounding gateway by grain terminals, governments, railways, port customers, and the port authority, with much of that investment directly benefi tting the grain sector.”

The record overall cargo volumes at mid-year in 2021 reflect the continued growth in the agriculture and container sectors. This trend is expected to continue as the long-term outlook for Canadian trade is growing.

CANADA Port of Vancouver announces new grain record

WORLD NEWS

USA NORDEN moves into port logistics

Through a complex operation to offload bulk salt, NORDEN is optimising the supply chain for its customer Empremar.

At a chemical plant in California, US, 30 000 t of salt is being offloaded from a bulk carrier onto a private terminal. The salt will be taken directly to the plant and used to make chlorine.

This shipment is one of eight per year that NORDEN will make for Chilean salt miner Empremar. While NORDEN has been shipping salt to the US for Empremar for 20 years, this is the fi rst time it is managing the entire logistics operation of moving the salt from ship to shore.

“Usually our contracts for carrying bulk commodities are simple ‘free in/free out’ – which means our responsibilities end when the ship arrives at the berth for discharge,” explains Mark LaFrankie, Head of NORDEN’s Vancouver, Canada, offi ce.

“For Empremar we are handling all the port logistics too. This involves an intricate barging, heavy equipment, and labour operation, and timing it all to consistently meet the arrival of the ship coming from Chile. There’s a great deal of specialist knowledge involved.”

With no space at the terminal to bring in heavy equipment, NORDEN has partnered with a local barge company to carry bulldozers, clamshell buckets, re-fuel tanks, and gangways alongside the vessel to offload the salt.

A team of private heavy equipment operators have also been contracted to complete the offloading operation in approximately four or fi ve days, working 12 hour shifts night and day.

Such port logistics and cargo handling services represent a critical new business area for NORDEN.

LATVIA Loading of the new harvest grain has started in the port of Riga

Recently, approximately 190 000 t of grain products were handled at the port terminals in Riga. Most of this amount is wheat, which is currently shipped to South Africa, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Algeria by Panamax-type vessels, so it can be considered that the new grain season in the port of Riga has been launched.

“In August, we have loaded the fi rst seven vessels with approximately 90 000 t of local wheat, peas, and rapeseed of the new harvest. However, in general, we plan this season cautiously – the prolonged heat of this summer has affected both the quality and volume of the harvest,” said Edgars Ruza, the Board Chairman of the Agricultural Services Co-operative Company LATRAPS, which has acquired a 50% + 1 share in the dry bulk cargo terminal ‘Alpha osta’. He added that due to weather conditions, this year’s grain season started earlier than planned.

“This year, grain arriving at the port of Riga both by road and rail is being handled at 13 terminals on both banks of the Daugava. The Freeport of Riga Authority’s investment in dredging the port access and shipping channels made it possible for larger vessels to enter the port, providing the businesses with the opportunity to save on transportation costs,” emphasised Ansis Zeltins, the Freeport of Riga CEO.

One of the essential preconditions for competitiveness is availability of the infrastructure for transhipment and storage of agricultural products at the port companies as well as the grain storage facilities. In recent years, modern grain warehouses have been built at the terminals, and investments are being made in new handling equipment and technologies.

Due to changes in cargo structure, this year grain cargo is being handled at the STREK terminal on Krievu Island, where two new closed warehouses of 3000 m2 with a total storage capacity of up to 30 000 t have been built and are being fi lled with grain of local and Lithuanian origin. This year a new closed grain warehouse with storage capacity of up to 20 000 t has been built in the terminal ‘Osta LejasVoleri’. In addition to the six existing ones, two more closed grain warehouses will soon be put into operation at the bulk cargo terminal SIA ‘Port Milgravis’.

In recent years, with the change in the overall cargo situation in the port of Riga, grain and grain products have become one of the fastest growing segments in the cargo portfolio of the port of Riga, which is confi rmed by the fact that the volume of grain products shipped through the port has increased 2.2 times. So far in 2021, 1.6 million t of grain products have already been handled at the port, which is a quarter more than in the corresponding period of the previous year.