It was announced on 17 December that the Egyptian Minister of Transport, Lieutenant General Kamel Elwazer, has paid a visit to Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe.

The Minister was accompanied by HE Sherif Kamel, the Egyptian Ambassador to the UK and a delegation from the Ministry of Transport. The group met port executives and were welcomed by Eric Ip, Group Managing Director of Hutchison Ports, via video link from Hong Kong.

In a ground-breaking move, Hutchison Ports Port of Felixstowe is believed to be the first port in Europe to introduce autonomous terminal tractor units (ATs) into mixed traffic container terminal operations. The first two battery-powered units to enter service at the UK’s largest container port have been supplied by manufacturer Westwell.  This was announced in mid-December.

On 24 May 2020, APL England was making way down the east coast of New South Wales, with a cargo of containers, bound for Melbourne, Victoria. Early that morning, in adverse weather, the ship underwent a series of heavy rolls that resulted in the loss of 50 containers overboard and shutdown of the main engine.

On 5 December, the EU Transport Council reached a provisional agreement on the review of the TEN-T guidelines of 2013.

The European Sea Ports Organisation (ESPO) welcomes the text of the Council General Approach, since it clearly backs the Commission’s approach to lift the importance of the maritime dimension and strengthen the role of ports within the framework of Europe’s TEN-T policy.

Independent evaluation is an essential part of the STCW Convention1 requirements, to ensure countries can be kept in the so called STCW White List.

A regional workshop on awareness and importance of the independent evaluation was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia from 4-8 December. This was for participants responsible for STCW Independent Evaluation reports from IMO Member States in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) region.

Training on IMO port security and safety legislation was held at a workshop in Luanda, Angola from 5-9 December.

Seventy representatives from across the US Coast Guard convened to develop recommendations that align efforts and increase synchronization within the Coast Guard on Arctic matters in Anchorage, Alaska, on 6 / 7 December. 

The International Harbour Masters Association (IHMA) has announced the recipients of its latest round of bursaries towards the Diploma in Harbour Masters Programme of Lloyd’s Maritime Academy.

The IHMA has been providing bursaries, which count towards 50% of course fees, since 2007. In that time, the association has awarded approximately 30 bursaries to aspiring harbour masters.

On this occasion the bursary recipients are as follows:

Greg Tandy, Hydrographic Surveyor, UK.

Damien Allen, Assistant Harbour Master, Port of Cork, Ireland.

A rainwater harvesting system proposed by Ms Rabiah Nadir is helping Johor Port, Malaysia, save fresh water, minimize chances of flooding and contribute to global goals.

It is estimated that the scheme will save up to ten million litres of freshwater each year.

UNCTAD’s TrainForTRade programme