UK Appoints New Minister for Maritime


Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. Extends Terminal Towage Service Contract With Svitzer in Sakhalin, Russia, by Ten Years


The UK Government has appointed Kelly Tolhurst as new Maritime Minister to replace Nusrat Ghani, who was axed last week as part of PM Boris Johnson’s reshuffle.


Tolhurst’s role as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Transport will also include responsibilities for aviation, security & civil contingencies, and roads. Interestingly it does not include rail – and therefore the controversial new HS2 high-speed rail link with northern UK – which was part of Ghani’s portfolio.


However, the maritime role is understood to include both shipping and ports, meaning Tolhurst will oversee the project to create up to 10 new ‘Freeports’ for which the government has just launched a 10-week consultation period. The project has been championed by Rishi Sunak, who was promoted to Chancellor of the Exchequer in the latest reshuffle.


Maritime London Chief Executive Jos Standerwick said he welcomed the appointment, especially given Tolhurst’s previous work for the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, leaving her “perfectly placed to progress the commercial shipping agenda within government.”


6 www.dockyard-mag.com April 2020


Svitzer, global towage operator and part of Maersk, is announcing a ten-year extension of its marine service contract with Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd., a consortium set up to develop and manage the Sakhalin-II project, aimed at producing and exporting oil and liquefied gas.


Svitzer has been providing towage services to the Sakhalin-II project since 2007. The extension, which comes into effect in November 2022, supports the mooring of more than 1,800 gas carriers with a vessel fleet of four Robert Allen ice-breaking tugs and two mooring boats. These vessels are operated by a team of 58 Russian crew members, supported by nine onshore staff.


With this long-term agreement, Svitzer remains committed to ensuring reliable and safe marine operations for Sakhalin Energy Investment Company Ltd. in a harsh and remote area of the world. The operation in Sakhalin is part of Svitzer’s Asia and Middle East region (AMEA). Here, Svitzer employs 1,225 people and 109 vessels, delivering marine services to global and regional customers across 10 countries.


UK Chamber of Shipping Calls for Multi-Million Pound Relief Fund


The UK Chamber of Shipping Chief Executive Bob Sanguinetti spoke with the Maritime Minister Kelly Tolhurst on the 17 March and demanded an immediate multi-million pound government support package to ensure the shipping industry can continue to bring in the food, goods and medicines the UK will need to fight the coronavirus.


To keep freight moving and to enable the UK to continue to function, the UK Chamber of Shipping is specifically asking for a multi-million pound fund for:


• Help with hugely reduced cash flows resulting from dramatic loss of business, to keep freight flowing into the country; • Support with seafarers’ salaries in the short term to prevent job losses and loss of expertise;


• Grants to assist with the additional costs of virus provisions which operators have put in place;


• Grants to deal increased costs such as overtime, agency fees and any other cost associated with providing sufficient crew; • Clear guidance to ports and local health authorities to allow ships to continue trading, and for the swift disembarkation/ repatriation of crew members; • Delays on VAT payments; • The use of credit notes for future travel in lieu of refunding deposits;


• Relief from income tax for seafarers onboard vessels which ordinarily spend over 183 days a year outside the country; • Ships laid up in UK ports to continue to receive tax and duty relief for standard supplies


• Assistance with the safe return of UK cruise passengers from around the world


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