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Container Shipping
Dozens of firefighters were battling a blaze on a container ship docked at a Los Angeles port on Friday night, according to officials. All of the 23 crew members were accounted for, and there were no injuries from the electrical fire, which appears to have started below deck, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The ship's cargo includes hazardous materials. By about 7 pm, the fire had spread to several levels of the ship, according to the fire department, and later an explosion took place mid-deck. It was not immediately clear how the fire started. More than 100 firefighters were fighting the fire at the Port of Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The port is known as the busiest in North America. LAFD Hazardous Materials companies are monitoring air quality as fire suppression continues, she said. The 1,102-foot-long (336-metre-long) vessel, the One Henry Hudson, is operated by One Ocean Express, a shipping company headquartered in Singapore. Before
Palghar police in Maharashtra have been put on alert following a message from higher authorities about the probable drifting of some containers from a cargo ship in the Arabian Sea, according to officials. As per the police message circulated on Monday, 48 containers fell from the ship 'MV Phonnix 15' after it crossed 20 nautical miles from Salah in Oman. The Directorate General of Shipping has informed that 48 containers from the vessel fell into the sea. Out of these, 8 containers have so far been recovered, while the remaining have either sunk or are suspected to have drifted towards the shore, it said. The communication on Monday directed all Marine and Bay police stations in Palghar district including Safala, Kelva, Satpati, Tarapur, Wangaon, Dahanu and Gholwad to remain vigilant. The message further instructed that if any floating containers or related materials are spotted by local fishermen, villagers in the coastal areas or patrol teams, the information must be immediate
Eighteen crew members rescued from the blaze-hit Singapore-flagged container ship were safely brought to the New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA) Coast Guard berth at Panambur by Indian Naval Ship INS Surat. Among the rescued, two are said to be in critical condition, while four sustained minor injuries and 12 others suffered varying levels of trauma. The injured were evacuated and transported to AJ Hospital in Kuntikana here late on Monday night. The critically injured were stabilised onboard INS Surat, and shifted on arrival under close medical supervision. Immediate evacuation was our priority, a Coast Guard official told reporters. He added that immigration, port, and police authorities worked in unison to ensure a seamless handover and medical transfer. The ship MV Wan Hai 503, which caught fire on Sunday in the Arabian Sea off Kerala coast, had 22 crew members on board. While 18 have now been rescued, four remain unaccounted for. Search and rescue operations are ongoing. Por
An explosion struck a Hong Kong-flagged container ship on Tuesday travelling north through the Red Sea, sparking a major fire that forced its crew to abandon the vessel, shipping industry officials said. The ship was drifting and ablaze some 225 kilometers (140 miles) off the coast of Hodeida, a port city in Yemen held by the country's Houthi rebels, said the Diaplous Group, a maritime firm. It wasn't immediately clear what caused the fire in the Red Sea, which has been repeatedly targeted by attacks from the Houthis. The rebels said last week they were was limiting their assaults following a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. The Houthis did not immediately acknowledge the fire incident. The vessel was abandoned and the crew later rescued unharmed, another maritime industry official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as authorization hadn't been given to speak publicly about the incident. The official described the cargo aboar
Container volume is expected to grow by 8 per cent to 342 million tonnes this fiscal despite the risk of a prolonged Red Sea crisis, CateEdge Ratings said on Thursday. The slated connection of the dedicated freight corridor to Jawaharlal Nehru Port in FY26, along with capacity additions by ports, is expected to drive growth in container volume over the medium term, it added. Cargo at Indian ports is dominated by 3Cs -- crude oil (termed as Petroleum Oil Lubricants (POL), coal and containers. These three commodities represent 74-75 per cent of total cargo throughput handled by ports. Over the past 3 years ended FY24, POL witnessed a moderate CAGR of 4 per cent while coal and container volumes witnessed 13 per cent and 9 per cent growth, respectively, CateEdge Ratings said. The rating agency said it expects coal cargo throughput at ports to grow at a CAGR of 2-3 per cent between FY24 and FY26, despite an anticipated decline in coal imports by 3-4 per cent due to increased domestic c
The largest crane on the Eastern Seaboard was being transported to Baltimore so crews can begin removing the wreckage of a collapsed highway bridge that has halted a search for four workers still missing days after the disaster and blocked the city's vital port from operating. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said the crane, which was arriving by barge and can lift up to 1,000 tons, will be one of at least two used to clear the channel of the twisted metal and concrete remains of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, and the cargo ship that hit it this week. "The best minds in the world are working on the plans for removal, Moore said. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Baltimore District told the governor that it and the Navy were mobilizing major resources from around the country at record speed to clear the channel. This is not just about Maryland, Moore said. This is about the nation's economy. The port handles more cars and more farm equipment than any other port in America. He warned of
US officials have expressed concern about the implications rippling beyond the immediate region after a key bridge harbouring America's largest vehicle handling port collapsed in Baltimore when a cargo ship crashed into it, even as experts predicted repercussions to be "modest and mainly localised". The 2.6km-long, four-lane Francis Scott Key Bridge over the Patapsco River in Baltimore was destroyed after Dali, a 984-foot cargo ship bound for Sri Lanka, collided against a bridge column in the early hours of Tuesday. The collapse of the bridge has indefinitely halted the flow of ships in and out of Baltimore Port. We are concerned about the local economic impact, with some 8,000 jobs directly associated with port activities," US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told reporters in the White House on Wednesday. "We're concerned about implications that will ripple out beyond the immediate region because of the port's role in our supply chains, he said, describing the Baltimore po
Container shipping charter rates are set for a course correction after touching historical highs in 2021 and staying elevated so far this year, according to a report. It also expects margins of the Indian shippers squeezing this fiscal even as they will be higher than the pre-Covid level. Charter rates were up 156 per cent year-on-year for the first seven months of this year, according to Crisil Research. Over the remaining months, however, the rates are expected to decline, though still ending the year 40-70 per cent higher, it said. These rates are likely to slide a further 30-50 per cent in 2023 on account of the expected recessionary environment in the majority of the consumption economies and consequent fall in demand for discretionary goods, according to the report. It also noted that a widely anticipated recessionary environment is expected to weigh on demand in key consumption countries in the West towards the end of the year, among other factors for the anticipated furthe
Engineering firm Braithwaite & Co Ltd has earmarked Rs 50 crore as capital expenditure (capex) for taking up container manufacturing in a big way, a company official said on Sunday. The Miniratna public sector undertaking has forayed into the manufacturing segment as the country is focusing on indigenous production of containers and reducing dependence on China for such goods carriers. The PSU under the Ministry of Railways has orders of 350 containers for global logistics major DP World and 1,000 for Container Corporation of India Ltd, the official said. We have a big plan for container manufacturing to help traders reduce cost and dependence on imports for such goods carriers. This initiative is in line with the AatmaNirbhar Bharat. We have earmarked Rs 50 crore in this business. The investment will be made in phases, Braithwaite Chairman and Managing Director Yatish Kumar told PTI. Braithwaite was also working with the state-run Steel Authority of India for speciality steel for