Meanwhile passenger traffic rose by 26% thanks to a 152% increase from the cruise sector.     

General cargo slipped 1% to 4.2MT, which included 2.6MT in container tonnage.  In unit terms, box traffic rose 2% to 265,516 teu on the back of 4% growth at the Fos deepsea terminals.  Ro-ro throughput was down 7% on 0.93MT due to a drop in exports to Corsica.  Conventional cargo fell a point to 0.68MT, with a 7% increase in steel product exports just failing to balance a decline in imports from Italy.

In similar vein, dry bulks lagged 1% on 3MT despite imports of raw materials for the steel industry rising 4% to almost 2MT.  The sector also saw bulk foodstuffs improve 19% to 0.28MT, but these gains were not enough to compensate for lower scrap iron exports and fertiliser imports.    

Most significantly, however, a quarterly deficit of 13% left the oil-led liquid bulks sector on 12.8MT, with crude oil and petroleum products also 13% down on 12.1MT – almost 2MT less than the first three months last year.  Crude imports for national refineries rose 15% to 6.6MT but slumped 64% to 0.69MT for pipeline deliveries to Germany and Switzerland.  The envisaged 2013 refining capacity at sites supplied from Fos suggests that crude imports will contract at between 10-15% over the full year.  Meanwhile refined products and LNG each dropped 24% for the quarter to 2.9MT and 1.2MT respectively, while LPG was 13% worse on 0.66MT.  Other liquid bulks – chemicals and agro-products – also went into reverse with a 15% fall to 0.74MT.

Passenger throughput totalled 263,700 – up by 26% and 54,000 on last year.  This was driven by cruise numbers soaring 152% to 110,000 due to weekly calls by mega-vessels carrying 3,200 passengers against an average of 2,600 in 2012.  Ferry carryings fell 8% to 153,000 after a marked drop on international services – with Algeria 17% down on 31,000 and Tunisia 19% worse at 22,000 – but Corsica was just 2% lower on 98,000. 

Both Directors will help to drive business improvements and further enhance the effective management of the company.

Shane Amaratunga whose career with BMT dates back to 2000 will assume the role of Director of Internal Affairs, while Wilfred Aaldriks will take the position of Director of External Affairs. 

Focusing on internal strategies, Shane’s main responsibility will be to ensure the effective execution of overall conformance activities within each of the company’s business lines in order to achieve excellence in areas such as technical, operations, IT and HR, and  to secure maximum profitability and sustainability for the company.

Commenting on his new role, Shane explains: “I am excited to be part of a company where demand for its products is increasing.  Improving energy efficiency is continuing to dominate the minds of ship owners and operators around the world due to economic pressures and the introduction of new legislation.  Products such as our suite of SMARTSERVICES and REMBRANDT will provide us with an opportunity to be part of a growing market, placing us in a strong position now and in the future.”

Previously Director of Operations at Veolia Water Solutions & Technologies, Wilfred will focus on providing leadership and direction in the execution of marketing and sales strategies and will be based in BMT’s Marknesse office.  Wilfred says: “Further developing and promoting our capabilities in a buoyant market is key and I’m looking forward to working with the team to recognise and maximise the market opportunities.  Bringing together the excellent skills and expertise of BMT ARGOSS and our sister companies will also allow us to further strengthen our market offering.”

“With the current operational capacity of 280 trains per month, to date TCB Railway has been responsible for the most ambitious railway commitment that has been seen in any Spanish port”, says Xavier Moliné, CEO of TCB Railway.

Last year, the TCB subsidiary has handled 117,000 TEUs and the forecast for 2013 is its increasing  by 11% to reach 130,000 TEUs annually, thanks to the company’s work plans and the launch of new services.

In February, TCB Railway inaugurated a freight service at the Arrubal station (La Rioja) to cover the Logroño region with six weekly roundtrip trains. At the same time, the company has increased the number of rail frequencies to provide service to hinterland terminals and it has managed to make four to five daily departures at one of them.

The company’s services will increase with the launch of the Barcelona – Tarragona corridor, a project that TCB Railway will implement in 2013.

The volume handled by TCB Railway has been constantly increasing since Grup TCB founded it in 2006. The aim was to diversify its logistics business and provide shipping companies, as well as import and export companies, added value in the form of independent freight management, door-to-door service,  quality of service and safety, while respecting the environment and reducing costs.

The rail terminal will have a significant leap during 2013, once the yard expansion works at the Barcelona Container Terminal (TCB) have been finalised. The expansion includes the extension of the rail terminal from current 450 metres to 750 metres in order to increase the efficiency of Grup TCB´s intermodal services. In addition, the company will have six mixed gauge rail tracks to facilitate the connection with Europe. 

The seminar will examine key topics, issues and trends facing the port investment market around the globe, including the challenges associated with obtaining finance for developing and managing port development and expansion plans, as well as current investment opportunities.

The event enables participants to gain first-hand information on upcoming investment opportunities, understand global economic trends in the ports and terminal sector, learn about drivers of demand & regional volume growth projections, grasp key funding issues in financing of ports and terminals, assess the economic criteria of financing and valuating ports and obtain an overview of the private sector investment in ports.

The seminar is specially designed for terminal operators and owners, ship owners, equity and pension fund operators, bankers and financiers, port authorities, shipping agents, brokers and insurers, policy makers, lawyers, real estate and infrastructure developers,
transportation consultants and analysts.

Speakers already include:
Amsterdam Port Authority, DNB Bank ASA – London Branch, HSH Nordbank AG,
JP Morgan Infrastructure Investments, University of the Aegean, Watson Farley & Williams…

“The sessions were of high quality, furthermore the conference brought 
together an audience with a strong focus and mutual interest”
Paul van Eulem, Director, MTBS

“Great networking opportunities amongst players in the port industry”
Dato Zuraidah Atan, Director, NCB Holdings

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For further information and to register, please contact:

Claire Palmer – Event Manager
MCI Media Limited

Telephone: +44 (0)1628 820 046          Facsimile:   +44 (0)1628 822 938

Web:  www.millenniumconferences.com          Email:  claire@mcimedia.com