News on Baltic Sea.
The chairman of the Russian Baltic port Ust-Luga is being held in custody, writes Reuters. According to Russian media, he is suspected of embezzlement for USD 25 million.
The ports by the Baltic Sea seem to be catching up after the downturn they experienced when sanctions were introduced against Russia in 2014 in response to the Crimea crisis, according to a new analysis from SeaIntel.
The IMO has agreed on stricter requirements for vessel emissions of nitrogen (NOx). Starting in 2021, new vessels must trim 75 percent of their nitrogen emissions when sailing in the Baltic and North seas.
The number of containers which passed through the terminals of Russia's Global Ports dropped by 22 percent in the first half of 2016, while revenue and the operating result noted setbacks as well.
While the biggest Russian ports in the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea and the Far East have lost large container volumes, the non-Russian ports in the Baltic Sea are showing significant improvement, according to a SeaIntel report.
Equity fund-owned Unifeeder acquires carrier Tschudi Lines, which operates activities in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, from Norwegian transport group Tschudi Logistics, reports Alphaliner.
The Swedish carrier group Stena AB's RoRo and RoPax carrier, Stena RoRo, is experiencing an increasing interest for its work with ferry operations in Asia, after several incidents have hit the ferry services on the continent.
Polferries has merged with another Polish ferry operator, and thus no longer represents a possible acquisition for the other Baltic Sea ferry companies. On the contrary, the newly merged player will try to increase its strength on the Baltic Sea market.
Unifeeder has retaken a large share of container volumes that deep sea carriers had announced they would handle themselves. Meanwhile, the carrier has entered into many more vessel sharing agreements with other operators, CEO Jesper Kristensen tells ShippingWatch.
Poland's Ministry of Finance has withdrawn its sale of ferry operator Polferries, says Finnlines in a statement.
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