Africa News

Vitol has launched barge deliveries of very low sulphur fuel (VLSFO) and marine gasoil (MGO) in the West Africa market and plans to expand its offering to ‘the full spectrum of marine fuels’.

Five companies have been awarded preferred bidder status by South Africa’s Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA) to develop liquid bulk and green fuel terminals at the Port of Richards Bay.

DP World has announced that the $165 million expansion programme of its Maputo container terminal – which will double the Mozambique facility’s capacity and enable it to accommodate post Panamax-class vessels of up to 366 metres in length – officially began yesterday (1 May).

CMA CGM has announced the implementation of a $9 per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) surcharge on shipments to and from Libreville, Gabon – following the decision by the Gabonese Council of Ministers to introduce a new Carbon Contribution to help finance environmental projects.

The International Bunker Industry Association (IBIA) has announced the appointment of Jon Hughes, Managing Director of Dan-Bunkering Africa, as the new Chair of the IBIA Africa Regional Board.

In a move which it says ‘confirms Mauritania and Senegal as LNG-exporting nations’, bp has loaded the first LNG shipment from its Greater Tortue Ahmeyim (GTA) Phase 1 project.

Mauritius’s Minister of Agro-Industry, Food Security, Blue Economy and Fisheries, Minister Dr Arvin Boolell says if the country’s marine fuels industry wants to compete on a global scale, ‘it must move from being a secondary stop to a primary destination for refuelling, just like Singapore, Fujairah and Rotterdam.’

The value of Africa’s blue economy is projected to be $405 billion by 2030 and, as Ambassador Nancy Karigithu, Special Envoy & Advisor for Maritime and Blue Economy in the Executive Office of the President of Kenya, told delegates at Maritime Week Africa this week, an integrated and cross-sector maritime policy approach will be the most effective way of driving not only this sector’s development, but enabling ‘all the sub-sectors of the economy, at national and continental levels, to contribute to economic growth.’

In a keynote speech at the opening of Maritime Week Africa today (26 March) in Mauritius, Aruna Bunwaree Ramsaha, Acting Director General, Mauritius Port Authority, said Port Louis is planning for growth by focusing on three key avenues: strengthening its infrastructure and storage capacity; investing in digitalisation and operational efficiency; and fostering stronger regional and international collaboration.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Shipping, Stena Bulk, and Caverton Marine Limited have announced the signing of a new joint venture (JV) that will create a new tanker operation serving Nigeria and West Africa's regional and global crude oil, refined product and LNG shipping requirements.