News

​The Guinean Presidential Elections whose campaign ended in violence on Thursday and Friday (8 October and 9 October) finally took place on schedule on Sunday, 11 October.

In a circular dated 28 September 2015, the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille (Marseille-Fos Port Authority) advised that the anti-Ebola measures previously applicable to vessels which had been in an Ebola-affected country in the 21 days prior to their arrival have now been lifted.

Although the summer holiday season is drawing to a close, a new cruise record was set in the port of Marseille-Fos over the weekend of 12 and 13 September. A total of 11 cruise ships were in port with a total of 36,000 passengers. For 14,000 passengers Marseille was their port of arrival or departure. For the remaining 22,000 passengers Marseille was one of the ports of call on their cruise.

As Budd’s network of offices continues to grow and develop, we have just published the full updated coordinates for all our offices including the contacts for our latest ventures in Indonesia, Myanmar, Mozambique and Namibia.

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) has recently published updated guidelines on the reporting requirements for dangerous and polluting goods on board ships as well as guidance on the inspection of ships to ascertain their compliance with Council Directive 1999/32/EC regarding sulphur content of marine fuels.

As P&I Correspondents, our network of offices around the world are regularly confronted with cases of stowaways risking life and limb in to flee their home country by sea.

​Wiggins are pleased to advise that their French Channel Coast surveyor has recently become an SDT-IMCS certified operator of classification society-approved ultrasonic of hatch cover tightness testing devices.

Budd’s Myanmar office advises that rice exports will be supsended from 10 August to 15 September following nationwide floods.

Following our article of 10 July, Budd Luanda has just been advised that the General Tax Administration has now revoked its instructions authorising the Customs clearance of perishable goods without the original Bs/L if the relevant documentary payment had been delayed due to a lack of foreign currency.

As per recent reports, in accordance with the attached General Tax Administration (GTA) order dated 19 February 2015, it is now possible for some Angolan receivers to obtain their cargo without producing the original Bills of Lading.