Marginal growth at container ports

In April and May, the country's major container handling ports posted six per cent increase in volume of containerised traffic to 20 million tonnes and a meagre one per cent to 1.29 million TEUs in terms of number of boxes handled, according to figures released by Indian Ports Association. Jawaharlal Nehru port, the country's biggest container handling port, handled 739,000 TEUs and recorded two per cent decline year on year while Chennai saw 10 per cent rise at 273,000 TEUs. Kolkata handled 91,000 TEUs, up seven per cent and Tuticorin 80,000 TEUs, up six per cent. Mumbai and Kochi suffered marginal decline in throughput. In terms of total cargo handled, the country's major ports in first two months of current fiscal posted 5.1 per cent growth at 99.7 mt. Kandla topped the list with 13.8 mt, followed by Visakhapatnam 11.85 mt, JNPT 11.2 mt and Chennai 10.2 mt. In 2010-11 fiscal, the container throughput at the major ports posted 10 per cent growth at 7.54 million TEUs and the total traffic 1.5 per cent at 570 mt.

Rlys finalises diesel locomotive design

Indian Railways (IR) and Electro-Motive Diesel (EMD), Inc., of the US, recently finalised the design of the new high-powered WDG5 locomotives. Research Design & Standards Organisation, Lucknow, and Diesel Locomotive Works, Varanasi, both under the IR, were involved in the development of the design. The proposed locomotives will have an output of 5,500 bhp making them the strongest diesel locomotives on the country's rail network. The high horsepower and effort will help these engines to pull more load at a higher speed subject to the condition of the lines which must be strong enough to support such high speed and high load movement. Also, for the first time in Indian Railways, the locomotives will have an air-conditioned cab and a toilet for the drivers. It might be noted that EMD's association with IR is more than half a century old. As early as 1959, the US company initiated a contract to deliver 127 diesel locomotives. Subsequently, in the mid-1990s, it transferred technology to enable DLW to produce 4,000 HP diesel locomotives.

Cyber pirates risk transport gateways

Transport gateways are facing increased risk in next 20 years from attacks from cyber pirates hacking into supply chain systems and the real threat of piracy in key ocean trading lanes, says Shipping Gazette quoting from a survey of 80 executives by PricewaterhouseCoopers consultants. Terrorist and piracy attacks on supply chains are expected on transport gateways according to over half of respondents, observes the survey report entitled Transportation & Logistics 2030 - Securing the Supply Chain. The security costs will rise in the logistics industry particularly in regard to IT systems. The executives from 25 countries feel that hacker attacks are more troubling than physical ones, with more complex chains becoming vulnerable to accidents. A hacker could infiltrate the flight control system, for example, and randomly let airplanes fall from the sky, or re-set the tracks in rail traffic and let trains crash, it is pointed out.

Highest ransom to Somali pirates

What is the highest ransom paid to Somali pirates for the release of a single vessel with crew on board ? $13 million, says a report in London's Container International. The amount was paid in April to get the release of one oil tanker. More recently, the second highest ransom of $12 million was paid to the pirates to free a Kuwaiti-owned tanker with 29 on board. According to a United Nations report, a total of $110 million was paid in ransom last year. Meanwhile, in a dramatic development, a Somali court has sentenced to jail one American, three Britons and two Kenyans for 10 to 15 years for illegally bringing in $3.6 million ransom money to free two ships and their crew seized by pirates. This was for the first time, westerners have been sentenced under the law, it is learnt.

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