Month: September 2014

“The latest United Nations projections see a nearly 11% growth in Latin America’s population to 690 million by 2025, nearly 200 million more than the current combined population of the European Union countries.

The total container throughput for Central and South America, in comparison, grew by only 1% in 2013, to 45.7 million TEUs. Brazil, Latin America’s largest economy, handled 8.6 million TEUs in 2013, approximately the same number as the Port of Antwerp, the 3rd-busiest container port in Europe,” said Mr. Laursen.

He added that “this underperformance will only become more acute without a new and invigorated strategy to address and promote necessary infrastructure investment”.

The cost of this port and transportation infrastructure will require significant amounts of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as Latin American nations develop new strategies for the infrastructure to catch up with current and projected future requirements.

The importance of developing master plans covering ports as well as the roads and rail connections needed to efficiently link the ports with main population centers was also emphasized, as otherwise these hinterland connections will only create more bottlenecks in the future.

Latin America attracted FDI, excluding offshore financial centers, of $182 billion in 2013, or 12.9% of total global FDI of $1.4 trillion last year. The World Economic Forum’s 2014 assessment of port infrastructure ranked major Latin American economies Brazil, Colombia and Argentina 131st, 110th and 99th, respectively, out of 148 nations within their annual survey.

“Successful strategies to promote investment and partnerships with the private sector will become significantly more important to address these port and transportation infrastructure opportunities, with realistic and practical concession terms an increasingly crucial component of this process,” said Mr. Laursen.

APM Terminals owns a 50% share in Brasil Terminal Portuário, which opened last year in Santos, Brazil, Latin America’s busiest container port, and currently has new terminal development projects underway at Moin, Costa Rica, and Lazaro Cárdenas, Mexico, as well as a major terminal expansion and upgrade in Callao, Peru.

Press Release, September 05, 2014;Image: APM Terminals

The struggling company has accrued losses of around USD 323 million over the past decade despite subsidies from the state.
Coupled with the recent ruling, repayment claims surge totaling in USD 612 million.
According to the ruling, the European Commission had been wrong to approve the aid package as the circumstance under which the financial aid was given to the firm were not in accordance with that applicable to a private investor.
Workers are urging the state to keep the company afloat and have been stagging strikes since June.
Earlier this year, Baja Ferries, Mexican ferry company voiced intention to buy 66 percent stake in SNCM from Transdev. The company said that the talks to close the deal were underway and that a decision might be in before the end of the year.
As explained by Baja Ferries’ director, if acquired, the company would cover routes between Marseille, Corsica and north Africa.
World Maritime News Staff, September 05, 2014; Image: SNCM

Commissioned by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, SINTEF has compiled a report on capacity and competence in the rig industry in order to assess the potential consequences for HSE of inadequate competence. The background to the report was a high and increasing level of activity in the rig industry, with pressure on access to qualified personnel.

According to the report, capacity in the rig industry is not seen as a challenge, either by rig company employees or the industry organisations that participated in the project. Many of the stakeholders interviewed were finding that advertised positions in the rig companies attracted many applicants.
The challenges largely relate to a lack of competence and experience, manifesting itself in the fact that many of the applicants are not properly qualified, many applicants lack work experience and experience of the NCS or professional certification, and in some cases, language is also a barrier.

Nowadays, the rig companies want their new hires to have gained professional certification and maritime training. In periods when unqualified and inexperienced recruits are hired en masse, a safety risk may arise. The challenge is greatest if the employee is new to both the rig industry and the job.
At the same time, more new rigs are arriving on the NCS. According to the report, these new rigs, incorporating new technology and with a combination of experienced and inexperienced personnel on board, will help promote safe working practices.

The combination of new series-production rigs using new technology and under long-term contracts may therefore have a positive impact on the safety level on the NCS.