Asian ports face $49 billion climate adaptation costs
Protecting Asia-Pacific ports against climate change could cost up to US$49 billion, according to new research commissioned by HSBC from sustainability analysts Asia Research and Engagement (ARE).
The report – Climate Costs for Asia Pacific Ports – evaluates the climate risk of 53 of the Asia Pacific region’s largest ports and estimates costs for adaptation. It also outlines recommendations to investors, port authorities and governments for how to manage risk in the future. Covering ports across Japan, China and Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, India, South Korea and Malaysia, the sets of assumptions produce a low case cost of around US$30.9 billion and a high case cost of around US$49.4 billion. Japan’s Kitakyushu faces the highest costs at US$4.9 billion, while five of the region’s 10 largest ports by capacity face adaptation bills of over $1 billion.
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Global lng market to almost double by 2030
Global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market will almost double by 2030 from 2017, according to projections from Japan’s leading trading house, Mitsubishi Corp. Mitsubishi Corp’s general manager of energy business division, Atsushi Miyazaki, said at Offshore Technology Asia 2018 on March 21 that the trading house sees the world’s LNG market growing 5 percent year-on-year from 2017. Global LNG volume traded for 2017 is projected to reach 290 million tons per annum and is set to expand to 530 mtpa (metric tons per annum) by 2030, Mr Miyazaki quoted as saying.
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Colombo box traffic soars 16.4pc in january to 564,155 teu
Sri Lanka’s Port of Colombo saw its container throughput in January surge by 16.4 per cent year on year to 564,155 TEU fuelled by strong growth in transshipment volumes, up 20.4 per cent to 436,303 TEU.
The Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) controlled Jaya Container Terminal (JCT), one of three terminals at Colombo, recorded transshipment volumes of 164,252 TEU, a dramatic increase of 43.7 per cent. Across the country, SLPA volumes were up 24.8 per cent to 194,688 TEU. The Port of Colombo received 332 containerships in January, an increase of 9.2 per cent.
The facility is made up of the JCT, the South Asia Gateway Terminal and the Colombo International Container Terminal. The SLPA is currently enacting a three-year development plan to accelerate port development and boost container volumes, reported Container Management.
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Ship owners’ multibillion-dollar quandary: buy cleaner fuel or a fuel cleaner?
The owners of 60,000 cargo ships are bracing for tighter emissions rules that are forcing them to make a multibillion-dollar choice: Start buying cleaner-burning fuel or invest in a device that treats the ship’s exhaust before letting it out.
It isn’t an easy call. Retrofitting a vessel with a sulfur-trapping exhaust system called a “scrubber” costs as much as $10 million a ship, while cleaner fuels are about 55 percent more expensive than the ones shipping operators use now. Whether it makes sense to install scrubbers and absorb a bigger financial hit upfront depends on whether scrubbers will be adequate to meet even stricter pollution caps expected in the future and the availability and cost of cleaner fuels. Both factors are difficult to gauge.
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Two big box ships collide in Karachi, 10 containers lost, none hurt
Shipping which fell into the sea after two containerships collided in Karachi Port, have yet to be recovered. The South Asia Port Terminal (SAPT) will open for traffic once the containers, which were carrying imported cars and general freight have been recovered from the bottom.
The ships have been docked at Karachi Port and the damage will also be repaired after Hapag-Lloyd’s 8,000-TEU Tolten collided with the 6,350-TEU Hamburg Bay at South Asia Port Terminal. No damage was done to the cranes, though dock operations at the SAPT were suspended, but will resume after the containers are salvaged from the sea. Judging from witness accounts the collision happened when Tolten was maneuvering on arrival. More than 10 containers, some of them damaged, fell overboard.
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Asia fuel oil-380-cst cash differential rebounds from 1-year low
Asia’s 380-cst cash differential rebounded last Tuesday from a one-year low touched in the previous session, as buying interest for physical cargoes of the fuel returned to the Singapore trading window. While buyers of 380-cst cargoes returned to the trading window with 12 bids against 13 offers for cargoes of the fuel, no cash deals were reported.
Day earlier, there were no standing bids for 380-cst cargoes versus 13 offers. Cash discounts of 380-cst fuel oil narrowed to minus 55 cents a ton to Singapore quotes on Tuesday, up from a discount of $1.17 a ton on Monday. Ample supplies and aggressive supplier offers have weighed on market sentiment in recent weeks, but some industry participants expect improving demand fundamentals in April as well as tightening supplies stemming from scheduled refinery maintenance to support Asia’s fuel oil market in the near to medium term.
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Australian PWCS coal terminals’ vessel queue falls to only one ship
Port Waratah Coal Services’ two terminals at Newcastle port in eastern Australia had one ship waiting offshore, down from two ships a week ago, the Hunter Valley Coal Chain Coordinator said in a report last Sunday.
The queue for the PWCS terminals at the end of March is expected to be four vessels, and fewer than five vessels at the end of April, the coal chain coordinator said. The PWCS terminals shipped out 1.65 million mt of coal in the week ended Sunday, down 261,900 mt from a week earlier, and the month-to-date exports totaled 5.04 million mt, the report showed. Coal producers forecast ship arrivals in March at the PWCS terminals to total 8.4 million mt, and 9.2 million mt for April. Coal throughput for Newcastle port’s railway last week was 3.36 million mt, HVCCC said.