Local news:Evergreen new plans for MauritiusThe shipping line Evergreen is carrying out negotiations so that at least one of its own vessels services Port Louis.Evergreen has currently a slot-sharing agreement with the Japanese carrier Mitsui OSK Line on the route from Asia to Mauritius. The container-carrying ships of Mitsui OSK Line, on average of 8 000 TEU, do the following port rotation: Malaysia-Singapore-Port Louis-Durban-Maputo before moving back to Malaysia. At present, vessels of Mitsui OSK Line cast their anchor at Port Louis at a frequency of 3 calls per month, loading or unloading containers of both Mitsui and Evergreen whose representative in Mauritius is company fast Shipping & Transportation Co. Ltd. Evergreen plans to introduce a vessel from its fleet to increase that frequency to a weekly basis. This planned strategy of Evergreen is line with its objective to face the alliance that has been struck last month between MSC and CGM CMA, which will unite their forces especially in the Asia-Southern Africa trade. Furthermore, to protect or enhance its market share, as from the second quarter of 2012, Evergreen will strengthen its partnership with 4 other Asian shipping lines namely Cosco Container Line, K Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping which form the CKYH alliance. The objective is to achieve the highest frequency of service loops and optimise port coverage. Evergreen operates the fourth largest container fleet in the world. It operates over 180 ships whose total capacity turns around 650 000 TEU. New Freight Rebate SchemeThe Government announced in the Budget Speech for the year 2012 that a Freight Rebate Scheme in a modified model will be reintroduced so as to benefit exporters but also producers. In the new scheme, they will obtain a refund of 25% of the freight costs to be shared equally between the exporters and the producers. They will have to be registered with the Agricultural Marketing Board and the Small Planters Welfare Fund.The Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security is currently working on the modus operandi of the new Freight Rebate Scheme which will be managed by the Agricultural Marketing Board. Concerning the products that will fall under this Freight Rebate Scheme, a Technical Committee has been set up under the aegis of the Agricultural Marketing Board. It also consists of technicians from AREU, the Agricultural Services and of the Ministry of Agro-Industry and Food Security. The committee will take into consideration the range of horticultural products, the nature of the products to be exported (fresh or minimally processed), and the destination countries which are members of the World Trade Organization. It will complete its work before the end of the year so that the scheme becomes operational in January 2012. The previous version of the Freight Rebate Scheme was introduced in the 1990s to boost the export to European markets of a selected range of fresh horticultural products like litchi, pineapple and chilli, amongst others. The costs incurred by the exporter for the freight, were reimbursed to the tune of 50%. However, a technical appraisal of the initial scheme showed that the original objective had not reached desired level. Moreover, only exporters were taking advantage of that scheme while producers were not deriving any benefit. As a result, the scheme was discontinued. New airport terminal more than 40% completedThe construction works of the new terminal at SSR International Airport have been reached a stage of more than 40% completion. Two new parking stands for planes have been delivered while the building of the apron has been achieved up to 60% for the time being.The new airport terminal which will cover a surface area of 57 000 square metres, will contribute to position Mauritius as a regional hub. It will be equipped with 5 boarding gates, one of which will accommodate an Airbus A380 aircraft. A new company Airport Terminal Operations Ltd, a strategic partnership between Airports of Mauritius Ltd. and Aeroports de Paris Management, has been set up to implement the project. Airports of Mauritius Ltd holds 90% of the shares and Aeroports de Paris Management, 10%. The financing of the project has been obtained through a loan of USD 260 million from the Exim Bank of China at a concessionary rate of 2% for a period of 15 years. The contract for building the new terminal was awarded following a tender to the firm China State Construction Engineering Corporation Ltd for an amount of USD 305,813,752. The project started on 30 March 2011 and it was initially planned to end by September of next year. However, an extension of three months have been granted to the contractor, as additional works will be required after sub-surface soil investigations revealed the presence of caves on the construction site. The new terminal is now expected to be completed by December 2012 and the new terminal will start to operate by early 2013. The process of examining the tenders for CHC is being finalisedThe Cargo Handling Corporation (CHC) has since the beginning of its current Financial Year which started in July 2011 and up to the end of September of this year, made a loss of Rs 37.6 million.However, since that this period is considered to be lean months for cargo traffic, the financial situation of the CHC is expected to improve towards the end of the year. To a question asked during the parliamentary session held on Tuesday 18th October concerning the strategic investors who are supposed to buy shares in the Cargo Handling Corporation, the Prime Minister stated that “we asked the International Finance Corporation to assist us so that we know that we have the standard that we require. They have agreed and they have done so and I think they are finalising the process of examining the tenders as far as I know.” The Prime Minister added that the outstanding debt on CHC loans contracted for the development projects stood at one billion and one hundred and seventy three million rupees (Rs1,173 billion) as at 30 September 2011. These investments in equipment, have enabled productivity at the container terminal to increase over the years. The number of moves of containers per hour has reached 20 compared to 16 in 2008 while the average waiting time for container vessels has decreased drastically from 48 hours in 2008 to two hours on average at present. Since that the investments had been mostly financed through long term loans, the debt servicing of the CHC has now increased to Rs 200 million annually. The MCT quay will be extended by 240 metersThe Mauritius Ports Authority plans to invest Rs 3.3 billion next year to extend the quay of the Mauritius Container Terminal (MCT) by 240 meters. The quay which is currently 540 meters long, will reach 800 meters.Dredging works will also be undertaken to increase the sea depth near the quay from 14 to 16.5 meters, so as to enable vessels of higher capacity to berth at Port Louis. Furthermore, the Mauritius Ports Authority will launch next year an invitation for proposals from potential strategic partners so as to be able to raise the required funds to implement a major project: an Island Terminal covering a surface area of 60 acres of reclaimed land at Mer Rouge. It will have a handling capacity of two million 20 feet containers a year. In comparison, in 2010, 442 654 TEU were handled at Port Louis with an annual growth of 8%. According to analysts, that project will require investments around Rs 20 billion as the infrastructure that will protect the future Island Terminal from the sea waves in case of cyclonic conditions, is estimated to cost Rs 7 billion. In addition, the sea depth will be brought to 18 meters. Vessels carrying up to 11 000 TEU, will thus be able to cast their anchor at the Island Terminal. By looking for a strategic partner in the near future, the Mauritius Ports Authority expects to optimise container traffic at Port Louis, reduce its operational expenses and the vessels waiting time while favouring technical know-how in port management and equipment. Moreover, the strategic partner will inject money in the port development. Major developments at the Cargo Handling CorporationThe Cargo Handling Corporation has ended year 2010, with losses amounting to Rs 194 million after having incurred a deficit of Rs 211 million during the previous year.The Cargo Handling Corporation has heavily invested in the purchase of travelling gantry cranes and other shore equipment to the tune of Rs 1.7 billion during the last 12 years. The company had recourse to loans but its Chairman, Mr. Dan Bhima expects to be able to reimburse all its debts within the next 2 years. However, with the increasing transshipment activities at Port Louis and the awaited return of Taiwanese shipping line Evergreen which has started negotiating with the Mauritius Ports Authority, the Cargo Handling Corporation may have to invest in additional equipment to cater for the rising demand. But since that Port Louis had a traffic of 400 000 TEU last year, the Cargo Handling Corporation is confident that with its 5 travelling gantry cranes, each one having an annual handling capacity of 100 000 TEU, it has a spare capacity of 100 000 TEU to cope for any increase in the short term. A committee has been set up under the Prime Minister’s Office for the project of a strategic partner for the Cargo Handling Corporation. An exercise of due diligence has already been carried out and the committee which is working closely with the International Finance Corporation, will launch in the near future, the 2nd phase of the project which will consist in a request for proposals. The foreign strategic partner might bring in capital to sustain investments at the port. |