The Tuvalu Maritime Administration started process of de-registering of Twenty-nine Iranian controlled ships, part from the fleet of National Iranian Tanker Company. The company is using the register of the small Pacific country, which has more comfortable requirements for ship's safety and condition. Also the National Iranian Tanker Company was trying to keep its fleet operating after the embargo held by European Union and USA in May 2012. The US government announced a few countries, which are violating the sanctions over Iran and warned them for possible restrictions in trade with them too. First the de-registering of the Iranian ships made Tanzania and was followed by several other countries, which support the embargo versus Iran.
National strike of the dock workers will close all Portuguese ports till the end of September. The workers protests against the austerity measures of the government will disturb seriously the maritime transport and the trade in the country. The main reasons for the protests are the 7% decreased of the dock workers' wages and cutting of two additional salaries each year. The collectives, which will join the strike in the different periods till the end of the month are pilots, stevedores and port administration workers. Definitely the strikes in Portugal will seriously disturb the shipping in the country and the operations of Inchcape Shipping Services, which is the world’s leading maritime services provider.
On 3rd September 2012 will open the new multibillion-dollar Khalifa Port in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The port is really modern, located in an industrial area, which is known as Khalifa Industrial Zone Abu Dhabi. The port is situated in Taweelah, between Dubai and Abu Dhabi and is created to serve and support the strategical growth of the economy of Abu Dhabi. Khalifa Port cost 7.2 billion USD for the first phase and from the UAE government promise that this is still its initial phases. The port will continue to growth, as Abu Dhabi and Dubai are planned to become not only the top travel destinations, but also centers of the industry in the region. The cargo port development is planned to turn Abu Dhabi into a center of container and general cargo shipping in Asia.
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The tropical storm Isaac gained more speed and power and transfered to Hurricane Category 2. The strong winds and rains attacked the Florida and closed many ports. The shipping in the region is highly disturbed by the strong winds and heavy sea, as port of Palm Beach, Miami and Everglades were closed. The winds are ranging between 96 and 110 miles per hour and the rain is pretty strong. The crude extraction platforms in the Eastern and Central part of the Gulf of Mexico were evacuated, as the authorities highly recommend the ships to round the hurricane if possible and even to stay away, drifting out of the danger area. The US Coast Guard also halted all cruise and cargo ships moving into and out of Tampa Bay, because of the powerful storm. There is no exceptions before the storm reduces its power and intensity
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The crude extraction companies began evacuation of some platforms in the Gulf of Mexico in anticipation of the Tropical Storm Isaac. The storm is now near the Dominican Republic and Haiti, but the crude extraction facilities will be at risk, if Isaac head to the Gulf of Mexico and reach hurricane power. Currently the winds are at speed of 100 km/h and the speed of storm movement is 26 km/h with course North-West. The Tropical Storm Isaac will reach Cuba in a few hours and from there is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico, when will lose large of its power. However the BP (British Petroleum) evacuated a lot of its workers in the East and Central part of the Bay and started process of stopping the oil and gas extraction there. The same actions were taken from the other companies working on extraction and drilling into the Gulf - Murphy Oil Corporation and Royal Duch Shell.
