MAST believes training will play an important part in helping to raise those industry standards. These courses include Ship Security Officer, Company Security Officer, Port Facility Security Officer, Counter Piracy and Close Protection.

The announcement follows the introduction of new legislation in Malta regarding a licensing framework for private maritime security companies. The new operational licensing regime is the only licensing regime of its kind in the E.U. and governed by the Licensing of Private Maritime Security Companies Regulations 2013 (published as LN 110 0f 2013). MAST initiated this legislative work when it moved its HQ to Malta in 2008.

“These courses, coupled with the new Maltese licensing regime will ensure that companies and individuals actively involved in these high risk and dangerous operations are properly vetted, competent and up to standard,” Tim Reilly, corporate affairs spokesman said. “For instance, a core element of the counter-piracy course is to provide a rigorous understanding of the law and rules for the use of force. They will also provide additional credibility to the industry and enable corporations and PMSCs to work together to combat the crime of piracy.”

MAST’s training courses are held at a new training center in Malta and are based on its extensive experience in counter-piracy, personal security and the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code (ISPS Code), that MAST has developed over the last decade.

MAST is a UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) accredited course provider, an Edexcel Assured provider and ELCAS approved, as well as holding ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification. The company is also a founding signatory to the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Companies and a member of ADS (Security in Complex Environments Group); a representative industry group at the heart of the development of private security standards and approved by the British Government.

For further information visit: http://www.mast-commercial.com/

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The project will have an installed capacity of 250 megawatts. Financing is yet to be arranged, Elcen’s general manager, Dan Ştefan Cetacli, told local reporters. It will be built about 10 kilometers south-east of the city of Arad, which is near the Hungarian border.

The fast start-up plant will use aero-derivative gas turbines. Construction is expected to begin within a year and a half and will last three years.

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The plant will have an installed capacity of 1,800 megawatts. Excess power will be sold to Thailand, according to a report by Bernama. The governor of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand said he hoped the project would be approved in time for construction of the facility to begin by the end of the year.

The power project is part of a US$9 billion deep port and industrial development, located on the coast of Tanintharyi region in southern Myanmar. The Dawei mega-project will also include numerous factories, as well as the construction of a highway linking Dawei to Bangkok.

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In an unusual transport,  BBC Chartering has moved the Caravan Stage Company’s Tall Ship Theater from Salerno, Italy, to Houston, Texas.

The Amara Zee theater is a 30-meter vessel upon which the theater company performs for onshore audiences.

On June 15, 2013, BBC Chartering loaded the 125-tonne Amara Zee on the BBC Ohio, a 12,708 heavy-lift vessel, at the port of Salerno.

“When the Amara Zee finally settled onto the deck of the BBC Ohio, a resounding cheer was heard from the crews — a standing ovation to the BBC Chartering Team!” Adriana Kelder, show producer and designer of the Caravan Stage Company, said in a statement.

Once the BBC Ohio reaches Houston, the theater will be discharged and sail on its own keel to New Orleans.

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Von der Heyde succeeds outgoing Chairman Chaz Wilson, vice president of Grove Services, an international poultry trading company with offices in Atlanta. His election came Thursday during USAPEEC’s annual meeting in Williamsburg, Va.

Until January, von der Heyde was vice president of international sales at Pilgrim’s headquarters in Greeley, Colo., when he was promoted to head up the company’s operations in Mexico.

As chairman, von der Heyde will head the eight-member USAPEEC Executive Committee, which sets policy and gives direction to USAPEEC, an organization whose mission is to promote and increase exports of U.S. chicken, turkey, duck, and egg products worldwide.

Also elected to the executive committee were Mike Little, director of export sales at Mountaire Farms in Selbyville, Del., as first vice chairman, and Jim Wayt of Intervision Foods in Atlanta as second vice chairman.

Joel Coleman, vice president and general manager of international sales at Butterball in Mt. Olive, N.C., was re-elected secretary-treasurer of the organization.

Neil Carey of Simmons Prepared Foods in Siloam Springs, Ark., was re-elected chairman of USAPEEC’s Marketing Committee. The chairman of this committee also serves on the board and has a seat on the Executive Committee.

Rounding out the executive committee as at-large members are Steve Monroe of Sanderson Farms in Laurel, Miss., and Steve Lykken of Jennie-O Turkey Store in Wilmar, Minn. Wilson will remain on the committee as past-chairman.

New members elected to three-year terms on the USAPEEC board are Sher Marshall of Interra International in Atlanta; Bobby Wilburn of Peco Foods in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; Dean Hughson of Henningson Foods in Omaha, Neb.; and Scott Chapman of Lineage Logistics in Richmond, Va.

The post USA Poultry & Egg Export Council Elects New Chairma appeared first on Breakbulk.

May exports from Brazil totalled 45,623 units, an increase of 13.4 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. The tally from Jan. 1 to May 31 reached 203,078 cars, up a massive 81.1 percent compared to the first five months of 2012, when 189,468 units were exported.

Passenger automobiles fared even better than light commercial vehicles. Exports of passenger cars rose 99.5 percent between May 2012 and May 2013 with 35,916 units exported. Exports of light commercial vehicles rose 57.1 percent to nearly 12,900 units for the same period.

The exports are is proving to be a very good business for major car carriers operating out of Brazil, which include MOL, NYK Line, K Line, EUKO, Grimaldi, CSAV and Wallenisus Wilhelmsen.

One executive from a major ro-ro operator attributed the export boom to imports by Argentina, its Mercosur trade bloc neighbor.

Denis Jorge, a manager at NYK Line in Sao Paulo, told Breakbulk.com: “Argentinians are spending their money on new cars before high inflation can eat into it. I would estiamte that about 60 percent of those Anfavea figures are exports to Argentina.”

Auto sales in Brazil’s domestic market also are setting new levels almost every month, with May a banner record of 316,200 units sold. The previous May record was in 2011 with 300,500 cars sold.

April also set a record with 333,700 cars sold, according to Anfavea.

During the first five months of this year, 1.48 million new licenses were issued, up 8.6 percent higher than during the same period in 2012. Also production hit 1.54 million units during that five-month period, up 18.6 percent over the same period in 2012.

Sales for the yearlong period ending June 1 were up 10 percent to 3.92 million cars.

At this time last year, car sales were struggling; averaging only 13 000 units per day in Brazil. The government responded with tax cuts to automakers, including a reduction in the IPI tax on industrialized products. The savings allowed the industry to reverse the negative trend at the end of last year, with sales booming since that time.

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The Special Secretariat of Ports, known as SEP, intends later this year to launch a new bidding process to dredge the channel at the Port of Santos to 17 meters. Santos is the biggest port in South America.

Leonidas Cristino, SEP president, is anxious for the extra deepening to proceed as soon as possible so Santos can increase capacity and handle more cargo, especially soy, which is a primary export for Brazil. But the deeper draft will be a major benefit for breakbulk vessels, which often must lighten cargo loads before entering Brazil’s ports.

Cristino said every extra 10 centimeters of draft allows vessels to carry an extra 70 TEUs or 3,000 tonnes of cargo.

The post Brazilian Navy Approves New Depth at Santos appeared first on Breakbulk.

The drone would be capable of tracking suspected pirate vessels on the water’s surface, as well as from the air.

The move is to develop an unmanned craft that would be released from a naval ship into an area where pirates may be operating.

“Navy’s idea is to develop an unmanned seaplane type of vehicle,” a senior defense source told the Times of India. “They want it to do aerial as well as sea-surface surveillance.”

The naval staff qualitative requirement included the stipulation that the drone would be able to operate for up to eight hours on a single charge.

Two types are being designed: a smaller 1.5-tonne model and a larger 5-tonne one. The heavier unit would be able to carry a larger payload, according to the report.

India has been using military drones since around 2003. The navy reportedly has over 100 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) flying since 2003.

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Under the terms of the contract, Siemens is responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and handing over of three 132kV/33kV/11kV substations to the areas of Abu Shagara, Al Khan and Muweleah in Sharjah, Siemens said in a statement. This scope of supply includes substations, transformers and capacitor banks.

The project will be completed in the fall of 2014.

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The plant will process 75 million standard cubic feet per day of non-associated gas and 4,500 barrels per day of condensate, Saudi Aramco said in a statement. It will consist of two pipelines stretching a length of 98 kilometers to deliver sales gas and stabilized hydrocarbon liquids to a power plant near Duba.

The Midyan gas plant is expected to be operational by 2016.

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