…India’s Major Ports See More Volumes in First Nine Months***
Russian-flagged Igor Farkhutdinov cruise ship, carrying 127 passengers and 42 shipping containers, got stuck in thick ice off the coast of Japan earlier this week.
The vessel headed from Shikotan island, administered by the Russian Federation as part of Yuzhno-Kurilsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, to the Sakhalin port of Korsakov on February 5.
However, when exiting the Kunashirsky Strait, near the Japanese city of Mombetsu, the ship met dense ice up to 1.5 meters thick, the Sakhalin government said.
At the moment, the ship, which according to the government is an ice-class vessel with an experienced captain, is trying to navigate through the icy waters.
As informed, the ship is no immediate danger.
“We expect that the ice situation will improve today, with the tide and a change in the wind direction, enabling the ship to escape the ice and arrive in Korsakov on February 9,” General Director of the maritime company Sakhalin – Kuriles, Sergey Kondrashin, said.
Kondrashin added that the company was in contact with the crew and that the ship has enough supplies and fuel to last for a week.
According to the government release, should the situation complicate further, an icebreaker from Vladivostok is at the company’s disposal to assist the passenger ship.
In the meantime, major ports in India handled 560.9 million tonnes of cargo during the period April 2017 to January, 2018.
The number represents a growth of 4.6% compared to 536.41 million tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year.
For the period from April 2017 to January 2018, eight ports, including Kolkata, Paradip, Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Cochin, New Mangalore, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and Deendayal, registered positive growth in traffic.
The highest growth was registered by Cochin Port at 18.4%, followed by Paradip with 16%, Kolkata including Haldia with 13.5%, New Mangalore qith 7.4% and JNPT with 5.9%.
Cochin Port growth was mainly due to an increase of 24.5% in traffic of POL, containers increased by 11.4% and other other cargo was up by 1.02%. In Kolkata Port, overall growth was 13.5%.
In a separate release, the Government of India said that the Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the incorporation of the Official Amendments to the Major Port Authorities Bill 2016, which is pending in the Parliament.
The changes that are being incorporated include an increase in the number of Labour representatives to be appointed among the employees of the port from one to two, a limitation that the member representing the interest of the employees will hold office for a term of three years and will not hold office for more than two consecutive terms and his Board membership is co-terminus with his retirement.
Among other changes is the number of independent members in the Port Authority Board, which would be minimum two to maximum four.
World Maritime News
