• Tender open for Moroccan port
• Evergreen ponders giant pendulum service
• Three more vessels for UASC
• Boxships up for sale
• Los Angeles unveils new terminal project
• Malaysia keeps an eye on navigation standards
• Penang Shipbuilding keen for Egyptian yard
• Workers say no to plans for new cargo company
• Boeing passes first test with flying colours
• Indian airline to expand
• Air Canada profits shoot up

• Deadlock in French negotiations: online summary
• Large part Rhenus to go to Rethmann
• KLM moots stop on January 1, 2000
• Government to investigate Port Authority's privatization
• Conflict SHB workers and union
• CEO appointed at Frans Maas
• New Nedlloyd Flowmasters chief

• Elite calls showdown meeting
  DENMARK'S Elite Shipping has called a shareholders' meeting later this month which could lead to the sale of the multi-purpose vessel specialist.
• Kvaerner Masa hit by strike
  WORKERS at Kvaerner Masa-Yards, part of the Norwegian shipbuilder Kvaerner, yesterday started a two-day strike in protest at the company's decision to transfer electrical and cleaning workers to subcontractors, Reuters reports.
• Seoul economy warning
  ORIENT Overseas' top financial man sees South Korea's economic woes as a much more destabilising prospect than the difficulties in southeast Asia.
• SembCorp ready to expand further
  DIVERSIFIED marine-based Sembawang Corp (SembCorp) is still on the acquisition path, despite analysts' concern over its recent purchase of Delifrance Asia Ltd, Reuters reports from Singapore.
• CSX victory on $2.5bn judgment
  LOUISIANA'S Supreme Court has handed CSX Transportation a victory by annulling and setting aside a lower court judgment in class-action litigation that included a precedent shattering punitive damages of $2.5bn against the firm.
• Across the great divide
  Chinese workers inspect the progress of construction at Sanduoping, beside the Yangtze River in central Hubei provinces, where damming of the river will take place. China has begun final preparations to block the world's third-largest river for constructon of the giant Three Gorges Dam. When finished in 2009, the construction will be 182.88 m high, have a reservoir stretching 640 km and produce 85bn kW hrs of electricity per year.
• Mumbai ferry plan to counter crowded roads
  MAHARASHTRA'S state government is making elaborate plans for developing water transport along Mumbai's coast to ease severe traffic congestion in the city.
• Zeebrugge freight traffic up 12.7%
  ZEEBRUGGE Port Authority said freight traffic rose 12.7% to 23.7m tonnes in the first nine months of this year.

• Dover port seeks strike compensation
  DOVER Harbour Board is to seek compensation from the French government for loss of business caused by the French truck drivers' strike.
• Fincantieri denies Carnival cruise order report
  FINCANTIERI chairman, Dr Carrado Antonini, has denied a report that Carnival Cruise Lines had decided to place an order for six cruise ships with Kv'rner Masa-Yards.
• Fewer Germans on German ships
  MORE low-wage crew members from third world countries could be employed on German ships from the beginning of 1998.
• Norbulk expands Asia services
  NORBULK Cargo Services (Hong Kong) is expanding its Mediterranean/Middle East/Asia Pacific service to Hamburg, Bremen, Antwerp and a British east coast port.
• Resignations follow Elite board split
  FOUR board members of Elite Shipping, the Danish feeder containership owner, have called an extraordinary shareholders' meeting where they will announce their resignation.
• Kværner sells old Baltic site
  KVAERNRER has agreed terms for the sale of the site of the fomer Baltic Exchange building.
• China-Japan box trade up slightly
  BOX trade between Japan and China in the first nine months totalled 683,622 teu, up 3.4 per cent over the same period last year.
• ITF calls for action on Colombo
  THE International Transport Workers' Federation is calling on its members to support action against ships calling at Colombo.
• Star Cruises moves into fast ferry sector
  STAR Cruises has ventured into the ferry sector with the launch of the first fast vehicle/passenger catamaran to enter service in southeast Asia
• NSA critical of Norwegian budget
  THE Norwegian Shipowners Association (NSA) has expressed disappointment at budget proposals made this morning by the recently elected centre-coalition government.
• French truckers' union accepts deal (update)
  THE union representing most of the striking French truck drivers said it would sign the compromise deal offered by the employers.
• Ferry runs aground in Venezuela
  THE ferry Concepcion Marino ran aground on November 5 as it neared the port of Punta Piedras on Venezuela's Margarita Island.
• Three stowaways found dead
  THREE Dominican stowaways suffocated to death this week in a container packed with plastic-bagged clothing on its way to Palm Beach, Florida, authorities said.
• Hong Kong Salvage turns to project management
  HONG Kong Salvage and Towage (HKST) plans to increase its marine consultancy business for newbuilding projects, using small shipyards in southern China.
• Sanmar to expand its fleet
  SANMAR Shipping Corp, part of Chennai (Madras), India-based Sanmar Group, is expected to add two product tankers to its fleet next year.
• Balaji drops shipping interest
  INDIAN liquor distilling company Balaji has withdrawn three handysize bulk carriers under management with Chennai (Madras)-based Pearl shipping.
• Container lines 'should look to paper carriage'
  CONTAINER shipping lines have great potential to win more paper and cellulose cargo, according to Hapag-LLoyd director Adolf Adrion.
• CGM and Harrison join Condor service
  FRENCH liner operator CGM and UK's Harrison Line have joined the Condor Express Service operating between North Europe and the west coast of South America.
• German yards get subsidy shock
  GERMANY'S shipbuilders have been shocked by a sudden plan announced by the Bonn government to end virtually all shipbuilding subsidies next year.
• Mitsui OSK to go trans-Atlantic
  JAPANESE liner operator Mitsui OSK (MOL) is to enter the trans-Atlantic service early next year and line up with Singapore's Neptune Orient Line (NOL).
• French truck strike talks collapse
  TALKS aimed at solving the French truckers dispute failed early this morning.

• A shippers' survey suggests a possible shift of business away from the king of all package shipments to companies such as RPS and FedEx
• Slow turn-around times hurt ATA members' bottom lines
• 2 maritime bills appear to be sunk for this year
• Comments by a canal commission official made labor and the opposition party suspect a politically motivated plan to privatize the facility
• Clarification
• Children spark port security alert
• Commission keeps things moving at the Panama Canal
• Railroads one month behind in moving fall grain harvest
• Chile has hot night, gets a cool 3 out of 12 honors
• ISM Code addresses common denominator in ocean accidents: the human factor

• NOL becomes APL, forms new group
  NEPTUNE Orient Lines is to adopt the American President Lines name for all its container trades following Wednesday's expected completion of the takeover of APL.
  And in a move which may have major ramifications for Australian trades, NOL is precipitating another international shake-up by quitting the Grand Alliance to set up a new worldwide grouping with Mitsui OSK and Hyundai Merchant Marine.
• Fiscal support: Reith lays down law
  Workplace Relations Minister Peter Reith has again raised the stakes in Australian shipping reform, by suggesting unions and owners are interested in going only as far as it takes to secure government fiscal concessions - not in the long-term survival of the industry itself.
  But the MUA says Mr Reith's strategy is transparent and confused, and he has "made a rod for his own back" in laying down conditions for fiscal support.
• Vaile challenges States over track access
  Transport Minister Mark Vaile has put the states on notice that he wants agreement on a national track access model at this week's Australian Transport Council meeting. He's hinted a compromise agreement with NSW could be on the cards, and expressed confidence that WA will also be part of the single rail management plan.
• New port for Bundaberg?
  A $1 billion project to build a private railway and port in southern Queensland could create up to 1,500 jobs, according to a Brisbane-based consortium. Dr John Hoffman, director of SUDAW (Surat Dawson) Developments, said plans for the $1 billion project included a private railway from the Surat Basin in southern Queensland, to Bundaberg in the south-east and a port for coal exports.
• Long wait for SIFC money
  Despite an announcement by the federal government that it has developed a 'scheme of arrangement' for the infamous Stevedoring Industry Levy, shipowners aren't holding their breath awaiting amounts they believe they're owed.