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India’s National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plans to acquire US$5 billion worth of coal-fired power plants, making it the biggest acquisition in India’s power sector.

The state-run power company received up to 31 proposals from developers including Jaypee Power, Lanco, Sterlite, GVK and GMR, the Hindustan Times said in a report. NTPC is seeking board approval for the investments. NTPC managing director Arup Roy Choudhury the acquisition process will be completed before year end.

Among the plants ripe for purchase are Jaypee Group’s 500-megawatt Bina thermal project, 1,320-megawatt Nigrie thermal project in Madhya Pradesh and 1,980-megawatt Bara project in Uttar Pradesh. NTPC said it hopes to takeover six or seven thermal projects.

Several factors in the Indian economy have made plant developers eager to sell.

“Fuel constraints, high borrowing costs, regulatory delays have affected infrastructure projects in India and promoters are looking to exit,” an Energy Ministry official said. “Discussions on such projects have taken place between the ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office.”

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April pier container volumes set a 6-year record, marking the busiest month at the Port of Charleston since May 2008.

The increase in pier containers pushed fiscal year 2014 volumes up by 5.5 percent year-over-year. April’s pier container volume represented a 12.3 percent increase over April 2013 and a 21.7 percent increase over April 2012.

Measured in 20-foot-equivalent units, or TEUs, the South Carolina Ports Authority handled 151,790 TEUs during April and 1,374,066 TEUs during fiscal year 2014 with two months remaining.

“April reflected strong export growth at the Port of Charleston as we shipped 10.6 percent more containers overseas than the same month last year,” said Jim Newsome, President and CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority. “These growth figures stress the importance of our deepwater harbor as American manufacturers and exporters look for efficient, expedient ways to send their goods overseas.”

In action items, the board approved a $1.2 million contract for routine maintenance dredging at Union Pier Terminal and Columbus Street Terminal to accommodate break-bulk operations. The board also approved an $897,244 contract for engineering work associated with improvements being made at the Wando Welch Terminal.

The board also approved a $195,000 sale of surplus land in Beaufort that was formerly used as part of a railroad corridor serving the Port of Port Royal, and the board voted for a contribution of up to $12 million to construct a building expansion for New Orleans Cold Storage to support a strategic initiative to boost cold storage and freezer space in the Charleston area. Lastly, the board agreed to sell a portion of the Coal Tipple Property of which 16 acres are high-ground for $3 million to facilitate an economic development project involving water-borne commerce.

“Much is happening at the state and federal levels,” said SCPA Board Chairman Bill Stern. “While we continue to see cargo growth in Charleston, our federal delegation gave its unified support for the Charleston Harbor deepening project and the Port of Georgetown by voting for the Water Resources Reform and Development Act. We thank our U.S. House and Senate members for their support.”

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THE man who managed the successful implementation of Cathay Pacific’s new, innovative Hong Kong cargo handling terminal is the new chief executive of sister airline Dragonair.

Algernon Yau takes over at the carrier with effect from this summer.

Since July 2011, he has been chief executive of Cathay Pacific Services, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Cathay that operates the new Cathay Pacific Cargo Terminal at Hong Kong International Airport.

Patrick Yeung, the current chief executive of of Dragonair, is to become the group’s general manager for Taiwan and Korea, overseeing the business and operations of both Cathay Pacific and Dragonair in these two locations.

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US-BASED all cargo carrier Amerijet International has signed agreements with Rickenbacker and Reno airports for the development of two US domestic air cargo hubs in Ohio and Nevada.

The freighter operator has also confirmed a route expansion to serve eleven major airports within the US.

From early July, Amerijet will begin daily operations between its new hubs, providing long‐haul air freight services, connecting eleven cities coast to coast for intercontinental and domestic freight.

Amerijet’s senior vice president for business development, Pamela Rollins, said: “Amerijet’s dedicated B767 widebody cargo planes will operate exclusively between these hubs and will provide our customers with additional options for expedited and heavyweight domestic freight.

"We believe this product fills the need for select services once the mainstay of companies such as Burlington Air Express, Kitty Hawk, Emery and other all cargo carriers who did not survive the economic turmoil of the last decade."

She added: “Our new freighter service is ideal for shipments moving on long‐haul lanes over 1,500 miles, especially those in need of time‐critical and high‐value, temperature controlled or hazardous material shipments.”

The new network will also connect to Amerijet’s Miami hub, providing a link to the carrier’s domestic and international routes.

Cargolux Airlines recently announced that it will be adding weekly Friday flights to its current Monday and Wednesday schedule from Hong Kong to Rickenbacker.

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NEW LIGHTWEIGHT LD3 containers will see Lufthansa Cargo cut its fuel consumption by 2,000 tonnes per year and reduce CO2 emissions.

The containers, made from lighter composite materials, have a 14 kg weight saving over conventional LD3s.

The German carrier, which has some 500,000 container movements per year, says that using the “flyweight” containers for cargo and luggage will reduce its annual CO2 emissions by 7,000 tonnes.

Karl-Rudolf Rupprecht, board member operations at Lufthansa Cargo, said: “The new, lighter containers are still extremely robust and strong in spite of being almost completely made of plastic.

“Replacing all of our LD3 standard containers brings us a good deal closer to our goal of reducing our specific CO2 emissions by a quarter by 2020 compared to 2005.”

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HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT (HKIA) reported another month of solid growth in April, with increases in all three air traffic categories. During the month, the airport handled 5.4 million passengers, 362,000 tonnes of cargo and 32,700 flight movements. These figures represent year-on-year increases of 9.5 per cent, 6.0 per cent and 7.0 per cent respectively.

The growth in passenger traffic in April was mainly due to a 30 per cent year-on-year growth in Hong Kong resident traffic. Passenger traffic to/from Taiwan, Mainland China and Japan recorded the most significant increases.

Continued growth in cargo throughput last month was driven mainly by transshipments, which was up 18 per cent from a year ago. During the month, cargo throughput to/from Mainland China improved most significantly compared to other key regions.

Stanley Hui Hon-chung, Chief Executive Officer of Airport Authority Hong Kong, said, "If we combine the traffic figures for March and April to even out the effects of the Easter holidays, we see strong year-on-year increases in passenger volume (6.2 per cent), cargo tonnage (8.2 per cent) and flight movements (6.6 per cent ).

HKIA welcomed an average of 192,000 passengers per day over the four-day Easter holiday, which is 3.5 per cent higher than the same period in 2013. These figures support our expectations that 2014 will be a solid year for HKIA, in line with the global economic recovery.

"As traffic volumes continue to rise, sustaining our world-class services and operational efficiency has become an even greater challenge. To streamline the airport experience for travellers and working in close partnership with the airlines, we have introduced self-service technologies such as self check-in kiosks and mobile boarding pass service, and started exploring self-service baggage drop-off for checked-in passengers. Our efforts have been recognised by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which recently presented HKIA with Fast Travel Award Green status," Mr Hui added. The IATA is the trade association for the world’s airlines, representing some 240 airlines or 84 per cent of total air traffic.

For the first four months of 2014, HKIA handled 20.4 million passengers, 1.4 million tonnes of cargo and 126,595 flight movements, registering year-on-year growth of 6.4per cent, 5.6per centand 6.3 per cent, respectively.

On a rolling 12-month basis, passenger volume grew 6.8 per cent to 61.1 million while cargo tonnage increased 3.6 per cent  to 4.2 million tonnes over the same period last year. The airport handled 379,600 flight movements during the period, up 6.5 per cent year-on-year.


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THE Port of Los Angeles April container volume increased 10.26 per cent year on year 706,036 TEU, the harbour's busiest month since September 2013 the port authority announced.

Container imports rose 11.43 per cent year on year to 537,071 TEU in April 2014. Exports rose eight per cent to 172,945 TEU.

Combined, total loaded imports and exports increased 10.30 per cent to 537,071 TEU in April 2014. For the first four months of calendar year 2014, overall volumes (2,626,647 TEU) have increased 8.21 per cent compared to the same period in 2013.

 

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DUBAI-based ground handler dnata has been validated as a Regulated Agent (RA3), enabling it to accept cargo on behalf of its airline customers for carriage to EU countries in accordance with the European Union’s new ACC3 security rules for incoming cargo and mail.

The certification for its premises at Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) came after it collaborated with Emirates Security Group, which develops and implements security strategies across the Emirates Airline’s extensive network.

Dnata is the first air service provider in the region to receive the certification, says a statement.

Dr Abdulla Al Hashimi, divisional senior vice-president of Emirates Group Security, comments: “Air cargo is such an important commercial aspect of the aviation industry, and therefore its security and efficiency of operations, are accorded the highest importance.

“This is a significant initiative in working cooperatively with law enforcement and regulatory agencies – to strengthen measures towards safeguarding and protecting cargo.”

Gary Chapman, president of dnata, adds: “Last year, dnata handled more than 1.6 million tonnes of cargo. The smooth transition of these goods is vitally important to our customers and to our operations. RA3 certification ensures cargo moving through our Dubai facilities arrives efficiently at destinations throughout the EU.”

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Like moving an entire apartment by road, company says

Almajdouie Logistics Company handled the transportation of a pair of cold boxes for a Sadara Chemical plant in Jubail Industrial City, Saudi Arabia.

The boxes were manufactured by Linde Germany. Each weighed 358 tons and measured 31.19 meters long, 13.9 meters wide and 9.5 meters high.

“Each was like an apartment to move by road,” Almadjouie said in a statement released by GPLN, the Global Projects Logistics Network. Almadjouie won the assignment out of a tough competition for carrying out customs clearance and transportation of two cold boxes.

The cargo was received from the vessel gears at Jubail Industrial Port and safely jacked down, using specially designed beams and stools. After customs clearance, moving such a bulky cargo out of the port was again a risk, considering the narrow roads and two-way traffic inside the port, Almadjouie said.  They found an alternate route without disturbing the regular traffic.

After obtaining permission from the Royal Commission to move the cold boxes from the port, fences, barricades and several lights poles were removed to make way for the enormous loads.  For the transport, Almadjouie used 36-axle hydraulic trailers.

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LONDON’S Heathrow Airport is to double the size of its cargo area.

New improvement plans allow for enhanced access points and include the potential for a cargo railhead, offering faster, more efficient cargo movements to and from the UK hub.

The nation’s Freight Transport Association (FTA) says the project is good news for freight as it will improve the UK’s export competitiveness and maximise economic benefits.

Plans for the redevelopment of Heathrow are part of an overhaul of cargo facilities at the London airport hub to expand its capacity to twice the current size.

Chris Welsh, FTA’s director of global and European policy, says the plans are very much welcomed by FTA and echo the findings in its own recent report.

“We have previously stated that it is imperative that the UK has a single airfreight hub, and that Heathrow fulfils that role.

“It is an essential hub of connectivity for passengers and freight, bringing together huge resource, expertise and opportunity in one place,” he adds.

FTA’s ‘Sky High Value’ report reveals that 95 per cent of air cargo is carried in the bellyholds of passenger aircraft, and that airfreight accounts for nearly 40 per cent of UK imports and exports by value.

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