TRANSPORT PNG The National – Tuesday, November 25, 2014 31

News and views on local and international Shipping

By MELTON PAISTHE first year of the three years of the Capacity Development Project on Port Policy and Administration between the Japanese Government and PNG Government under the Department of Transport ended last Wednesday.

Since the inception of this ca-pacity development project in Feb-ruary, the project is managed as planned and authorised by the Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) members.

During the 2nd JCC meeting in Port Moresby last Wednesday, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) presented the prog-

ress report on the project for the ca-pacity development of the Depart-ment of Transport in Port Policy and Administration in front of all the members of JICA and Depart-ment of Transport.

Transport Department Secretary Roy Mumu said the capacity-build-ing project has three major compo-nents.l The workshop session at the

Department of Transport meeting room:

This workshop is important as the respective members of JCC dis-cuss the activities that are designed to enhance the capacity of person-nel who are actually involved in the

national port administration of the country;l the Port Survey for the port

inventory: Some of the port survey trips were limited due to funding constraint.

Mumu said however, next year would work out well because of the K1 million that the National Gov-ernment allocated through the De-partment of Transport to the JICA team for the internal expense as they do the port surveys within the country; and,l First training in Japan: Mumu

appreciated the devoted work by JICA experts for training three of their civil engineers attached to the

Department of Transport to be spe-cialised in port engineering.

He said these trainees had great opportunities to enhance their knowledge and experience regard-ing national port administration.

Civil engineer Joseph Lelepo, who was one of those trainees to be specialised in port engineering, said the ports were vital infrastruc-ture for the economy of the nation and for the improvement of its peo-ple’s welfare.

He said in Japan mainly the Port and Harbour Act governed the ad-ministration of ports and harbours and there was no exception for PNG.

Department of Transport Secretary Roy Mumu (second right) and chief representative of JICA PNG office Shigeru Sugiyama with PNG senior officers and the JICA team having their second joint coordination meeting in Port Moresby last Wednesday. – Nationalpic by MELTON PAIS

Building project progresses

Pacific meetto reduceemmissions

AS the world counts down to the UN conference on climate change next month, here in the Pacific re-gion a regional gathering took place to discuss air pollution and green-house gas emissions from interna-tional shipping.

Last week, participants at the special workshop discussed Annex VI of the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, known as MARPOL.

This Annex deals specifically with regulations for the prevention of air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from ships.

The meet was hosted by the Sec-retariat of the Pacific Regional En-vironment Programme (SPREP), in partnership with the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) and the Australian Maritime Safety Au-thority (AMSA), and was supported using funds donated to the IMO through Transport Canada.

At the opening of the workshop Dr David Haynes, SPREP’s director of waste management and pollution control, explained that international shipping was the most energy effi-cient mode of mass cargo transport.

“Seeing as the demand for sea transportation will continue to grow with increased world trade, it’s im-portant that a global approach is taken to further improve its energy efficiency and limit emissions to mi-nimise the impacts on human health and the environment,” he said.

There are eight island countries that are Party to MARPOL Annex VI, however, there is hope that more will ratify this to address the control of emissions of gases and air pollu-tion from shipping.

TRANSPORT PNG Tuesday, November 25, 2014 – The National 33

Tanker in town … Ocean Supreme, a tanker ves-sel managed by Carpenters’s Shipping, was recently seen at the Port of Port Moresby. – Na-tionalpic by KESSIE TADAP

Transport plan on target

Global air cargo market increasesTHE international freight volumes jumped 6.5% in September year-on-year as global demand con-tinues to improve in volume and growth rate, according to Airports Council International (ACI).

Volumes rose 5.8% from Janu-ary to September compared to a year ago, and posted a 5.4% expan-sion from the previous year on a 12-month rolling basis.

Asia-Pacific booked increases in airfreight volumes of 6.1% in September. The world’s largest air-freight hub, Hong Kong, had vol-umes ballooning by 5.8%.

North America experienced buoyant airfreight traffic growth in the month, following a weakened airfreight market in 2013.

Airfreight volumes in Latin-America-Caribbean contracted in September by 1.4%, while Europe and Africa experienced a moderate growth of 3% year-over-year.

Dubai World Central (DWC), the Middle Eastern airport that has ex-perienced exponential growth, is now a major contributor to overall increases in freight volumes for the region, observed ACI.

Although only recently opera-tional, by the end of September alone, airfreight volumes at DWC have surpassed the 500,000-metric tonne threshold on a year-to-date basis, representing an increase of over 255% from the previous year.

Even as he noted that the global economy continues to experience a

rocky recovery, ACI World’s eco-nomics director Rafael Echevarne said: “Aviation markets remain re-silient and continue to grow.

“Airfreight continues to show a glimmer of hope, irrespective of downside risks in the global econ-omy.”

Volumes have remained above 2013 levels for all of 2014 up to the 4th quarter.

This is cause for optimism given that the airfreight markets were particularly sluggish over the last three years.”

Echevarne puts growth in global freight volumes by the end of 2014 at 4% compared to the previous year’s volumes. Meanwhile, Kore-an Air Lines, South Korea’s largest

air carrier, swung to an overall net loss in the third quarter from a year ago but posted growth in operating profit due to lower fuel costs.

Korean Air’s net loss reached KRW392 billion (US$361.3 mil-lion, K881.21 million) in the July-September period compared to a net profit of KRW335.4 billion (K753.7 million) a year ago, as a weaker won against the US dol-lar in the third quarter increased the cost of the company’s overseas debts and interest payments, ac-cording to a report by Yonhap.

But operating profit rose by 50.3 per cent year-on-year to KRW240.7 billion (K539.3 million) on falling fuel costs, while sales edged down 0.6 per cent to KRW3.16 trillion.

Indonesianexports gain momentumas year ends

INDONESIA’S exports in Septem-ber strengthened to US$15.3 billion (K38.3 billion), up 5.5% compared to the previous month, driven by in-creases in non-oil and gas exports.

In a statement, the Ministry of Trade said it expects the non-oil and gas export sector to continue its positive performance through the end of the year.

“Growth of non-oil and gas ex-ports has strengthened compared to last month, which only rose 2.1%. This shows optimism for improve-ment of exports at the end of the year,” Indonesian Minister of Trade Rachmat Gobel said.

Cumulatively, non-oil and gas trade balance in September 2014 was a surplus of $758.8 million (K1.9 billion), an increase from the previous month’s $489.6 million (K1.2 billion).

The rise in exports was followed by an increase in imports, particu-larly oil and gas imports which rose 7.4%, causing a $1-billion (K2.5 billion), deficit to make the national trade balance for September a deficit of $270.2 million (K675.5 million).

Non-oil and gas exports reached a value of $12.7 billion (K31.8 bil-lion), up 6.5% month-on-month, or 2.9% year-on-year, while oil and gas exports reached $2.6 billion (K6.5 billion), up 0.9% m-o-m or 8.6% y-o-y.

Non-oil and gas commodities that logged growth for the month includ-ed metal ores, slag, and ash; jewelry/gems; and wood and wood products.

Manufactured products that ac-celerated exports were machinery/mechanical appliances, knitting items, and non-knitted apparel.

Exports to emerging markets in-creased significantly in September 2014, said the ministry.

Shipments to Australia surged 49% m-o-m and 32.1% y-o-y, Paki-stan 19.7% m-o-m and 126.8% y-o-y, Saudi Arabia 4.7% m-o-m and 31.9% y-o-y, and the United Arab Emirates 4.4% m-o-m and 40.1% y-o-y.

In January-September 2014, the value of exports reached $132.7 billion (K331.8 billion), for a 0.9% drop compared to a year ago.

By MELTON PAISTHE National Transport Strategy plan has been implemented well with the cooperation of the related maritime transport sector and the engagement of the Japan Interna-tional Cooperation Agency experts.

First Assistant Secretary of the Maritime Transport Division Charles Siniu revealed that in Port Moresby last Wednesday during the 2nd Joint Committee meet-ing with the JICA experts and the Department of Transport officials to present their reports on the proj-ect for capacity development of the Transport Department in port

policy and administration. Siniu said under the National Transport Strategy plan on capacity develop-ment, they felt that their priority was to develop and build on the hu-man capacity to be able to take on the managerial role of the maritime sector.

He said the National Government recognised the shortage of skills and expertise to deliver many of the transport sector projects. These skills shortage extended to the mar-itime industries.

“The presentation of the reports today as you have witnessed is the beginning of the bigger picture of

what the project will be doing for the maritime sector now and in the future,” Siniu told the participants in the meeting.

“We would like to contribute to the drafting of the new laws for the sector as the Harbours Act was enacted as a transition from PNG Harbour’s Board to PNG Ports and did not reflect the sector overall picture on maritime needs and re-quirements.

“Other related maritime sector laws and regulations should be re-viewed, updated and amended to reflect the changes within the sec-tor.

“The new Act, if enacted, should be named ‘Ports and Harbours Act’ which should cover all aspects of maritime activities,” Siniu said.

Advisor of the Overseas Coastal Area Development Institute of Ja-pan, Michiharu Nose said his JICA team and PNG Transport Depart-ment officials would commence the second year of the three year proj-ect in February.

“This is because some of the overall programme of Ports Facili-ties Survey was rescheduled due to lack of findings to cover counter-parts’ travelling expense within the country,” Nose said.