Sea Views Mideast shipping boom to continue

The CEO and general manager of the Omani Port of Salalah, Jack Helton, has predicted that the boom in the shipping industry will continue over the next decade.

"We are looking at strong growth across the Gulf, Red Sea, East Africa and the Indian subcontinent," he said. "Over the next ten years, we will see more container traffic, larger vessels, more cruise vessels and the emergence of more free zones. The shipping industry globally, and particularly in the Middle East, is booming and we expect that to continue for some time to come."

Helton's optimism is spurred by the $249 million project at Salalah, scheduled for completion in 2006, which will include two new berths and a 2.5 kilometres breakwater. Furthermore, Salalah Port has recently signed a two-year management contract for Jordan's Red Sea Aqaba Container Terminal.

The Jordanian port has shown steady growth in tonnage in the first quarter of this year, up by 28 per cent over the same period in 2003.

Global shipping and logistics company GAC Group has shuffled its management team in three of its offices in the Middle East and Asia.

Jan Farnelid, former MD of GAC India, has been appointed the first vice-president for Human Resources at the corporate headquarters in Dubai. In his new role, he is responsible for driving the company's HR policies and practices as well as reviewing and examining ways in which these support the implementation of the globalisation strategy of the group that was launched early last year.

Farnelid's previous position in Mumbai has been filled by the appointment of Paul Haegeman, who was previously GM of Andhika GAC in Indonesia, a joint venture between Andhika Lines and GAC.

Neale Proctor, former regional manager for Protection and Indemnity in GAC's Dubai office, has taken Haegeman's position in Indonesia.

US enforces ballast water management regulations

Starting September 27, all applicable ships will be required to carry out ballast water management (BWM) prior to entry into a US port.

Additionally, as of August 13, all ships have been required to submit a ballast water report form 24 hours before arriving at a US port.

Ballast water reporting requirements apply to all vessels equipped with ballast tanks that are bound for ports or places in the United States regardless of whether it is operated outside of the Exclusive Economic Zone (which includes the equivalent zone of Canada), unless exempted.

The regulations require all such ships to develop and maintain a ship-specific BWM plan and to employ approved BWM practices that must include one of the following:

• Before discharging ballast water in US waters, the ship must perform complete ballast water exchange in an area no less than 200 nautical miles from any shore

• Retain ballast water on-board the vessel

• Before the vessel enters US waters, use another environmentally sound method of BWM that has been approved by the US Coast Guard

These US measures have been introduced in advance of the IMO's BWM Convention, 2004, that was adopted in February. It will enter into force internationally, after the required number of contracting states has been achieved.

Orient Overseas orders four new vessels

Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) has signed a contract with Samsung Heavy Industries of South Korea to build four 4,500 TEU vessels for delivery during 2007.

The company said that building the four vessels, each with a speed of 24.5 knots, is a demonstration of OOCL's continuous effort to upgrade its fleet and its desire to cater to the growing demand and to ensure the quality of service provided to customers.

Frank Kennedy is a marine consultant based in Dubai