Sea Views: India wants war-risk premium scrapped

Indian Shipping Ministry officials are strongly pressing for war risk premium withdrawal by the London insurance market for Indian ports.

The situation is being viewed by many ship operators in the Sub-continent as exploitation for the sake of it, since no Indian insurance companies have, so far, followed the London example.

A report in Exim says that the Union Shipping Ministry, along with the Indian High Commissioner in UK and the External Affairs Ministry, will hold talks with the concerned authorities at senior trade and government level in UK, to try and reduce or remove the war risk premium levied at India's western ports by London-based hull underwriters.

All ships taking a war risk premium in the London market, and coming to the ports in India, north of Mumbai, are now affected by this increase. An additional war risk premium has been imposed in the range of 0.025-0.05 per cent of the hull and machinery value to the ports of Mumbai, JNPT, Kandla and Pipavav effective from June 2002.

This notwithstanding, the Indian government has yet to withdraw the war risk premium of 0.05 per cent flat across the board for Indian ships following the September 11 attack in US. London-based hull underwriters had withdrawn the war risk premium of 0.01per cent levied at Suez Canal, Gulf of Aqaba among other locations earlier.

Iranian private shipping firms seek support: At a press conference in Tehran, last week, a leading shipping executive claimed that Iranian financial institutions were impeding the development of the private sector due to their lack of knowledge and experience in the shipping industry. This was restricting the supply of badly needed loans and guarantees.

Furthermore, misinformation and lack of technology were fundamental factors behind the weakness of Iranian companies that undermined their competitiveness abroad.

Behzad Seifollah, managing director of Tehran-based ship management firm Bonyad Shipping (BSC) went on to call for support to protect the country's private-sector shipping companies and he added that millions of dollars were being spent on foreign carriers to handle 95 per cent of Iran's maritime trade.

QM2 maiden sellout: Cunard has announced that initial ticket sales for its new Queen Mary 2, currently under construction at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in France, have exceeded all expectations.

Only one day after bookings officially opened on August 1, the line's capacity-controlled early booking discounts have been removed for the maiden voyage on January 12, 2004, which is nearly sold out.

The $800-million ship is the largest, longest, tallest and widest ocean cruise liner ever built and also claimed by Cunard to be the most luxurious.

Because of the interest being shown in sailings throughout the ship's inaugural year, the company is now urging clients to reserve now while early booking savings are still in place for subsequent voyages.

Furthermore, strong sales are reported for the farewell transatlantic season aboard Queen Elizabeth 2 and company statement said, "QE2 is an icon, the embodiment of an elegant, Old World style of travel. The 2003 transatlantic season offers a last chance to cross the Atlantic on a legend."

When Queen Mary 2 takes over the transatlantic route in 2004, QE2 will be based in Southampton, England, offering a variety of cruises plus her traditional round-the-world voyage. The QM2 maiden voyage is a 14-day cruise from Southam-pton to Fort Lauderdale, Florida., calling at Madeira, Tenerife and Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, Barbados and St. Thomas en route.

ABS involved with CNG carrier design: U.S. classification society, ABS, has been selected to assist the tri-partnership that is developing vessels designed to carry compressed natural gas (CNG).

The society has been asked to work with the development project being undertaken by EnerSea Transport LLC of Houston, Texas, Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. of Korea (HHI) and Japan's Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. ('K' Line).

In particular, the society has been requested to oversee and provide 'class approval in principle' to Enersea's VOTRANS (Volume Optimised Transport Storage) compressed natural gas vessel concept.

Recognising the complexities of incorporating these CNG technologies into the application of transportation and storage of the gas, EnerSea has chosen not only to use the classification resources of ABS, but also the risk management and risk assessment services of ABSG Consulting Inc (ABS Consulting) to address the overall risks associated with the design, construction and operation of the vessels using both quantitative and qualitative studies.
ABS was closely involved with the development of safety standards for the carriage of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

More carrier rate rises for Middle East region: Carriers of the Informal Rate Agreement (IRA), which covers trades between the Far East and Middle East, are to implement a 'restoration of rates' from September 2002, charging $150 per TEU on top of existing rates. The additional rate applies to all equipment types originating from North Asia, including Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, but excluding Japan, to all ports or points in the Middle East.

IRA members include APL, Hyundai, Maersk Sealand, NYK, OOCL, Pacific, Uniglory, Wallenius Wilhelmsen, Yang-ming, Cosco, Iran Shipping Lines, MOL, Norasia, P&O Nedlloyd, Senator Lines, United Arab Shipping, and Wan Hai.

Meanwhile, members of the Far Eastern Freight Conference (FEFC) are to implement a peak season surcharge of $100 per TEU on the trade between Asia and the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea Ports.

FEFC said that the decision, effective from September 1, was made to cover the incremental costs needed to serve this trade during the peak season. FEFC members are APL, MISC, CMA CGM, MOL, Egyptian Inter-national Shipping Co, NYK, Hapag-Lloyd, Norasia, HMM, OOCL, K Line, P&O Nedlloyd, Maersk Sealand, and Yang Ming.

Arab Mashreq-Magreb Maritime Line discussed: According to Arab News.com, a group of industry representatives from Morocco, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt, met in Damascus July 28-31 and opted unanimously for Morocco to carry out a feasibility study of the Arab 'Mashreq-Maghreb' Maritime Line that will be completed during October this year.

The project is intended to activate inter-Arab trade exchanges and was adopted by the Moroccan, Syrian and Jordanian ministers of transports who signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding last November.

Three routing possibilities are being examined: the first linking Casablanca, Alexandria, Beirut, Latakia and Akaba; the second would serve Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli; while the third possibility extends the line further to the ports of Jeddah, Dubai, Bahrain and Oum El Qasr.
Arab maritime industry representatives from throughout the region will be invited to take part in future meetings.