News

First built in 1950 to provide deepwater access from the Atlantic Ocean to the port of Abidjan on the Ebrié Lagoon, the Vridi Canal has just been widened and deepened to accommodate container ships with a draft of up to 16 metres and a 10,000 TEU capacity, as opposed to the previous maximum draft of 12 metres and TEU capacity of 3,500.

Budd’s Dakar office has provided us with the a circular received from the Senegalese Council of Shippers and advising that from 1 March 2019, all cargoes imported into the country will have to be identified by an electronic Container Tracking Note (CTN) number or Bordereau Electronique de Suivi des Cargaisons (BESC). We have also prepared an English translation of this circular.

The first round of Senegal’s presidential elections will take place on Sunday, 24 February 2019.

Budd’s Algeria office reports that lulls in the bad weather recently experienced along the Algerian coast are now enabling those ports which were previously closed (e.g. Arzew, Oran, Mostaganem, Skikda and Tenes) to reopen, if only for as long as meteorological conditions allow safe berthing.

Bad weather along the Algerian coast has closed most of the country’s ports to traffic, including Arzew, Oran, Mostaganem, Skikda and Tenes.

Following official publication of the DR Congo’s presidential election results, Budd’s Kinshasa and Matadi offices have confirmed to us that internet and social media began to work again yesterday (21 January 2019).

China joined the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention) on 22 October, 2018. To implement the obligations under the Convention, China maritime authority has been taking steps to incorporate the main contents of the Convention into the Chinese legal system.

Budd’s Casablanca office shares details of the major development plans which were published in the moroccan website “Leconomiste”.

As reported in the press, votes are still being counted in the DR Congo’s presidential election and therefore the results were not published this weekend as originally announced (see our website alert of 2 January 2018).

Budd Gabon advised earlier today that, despite the attempted military coup which started in the night of 6 to 7 January 2019, vessels calling in Gabonese ports are not in danger although commercial operations have come to a halt as port (and all other) employees were told to stay at home today.