• S'pore port set to surpass 14m TEU level by year-end
  Republic should overtake Hongkong as world's largest container port next year: Salomon Bros
• General Electric leads in race to buy Vosper
• Canberra resists its fate

• EVA Air to buy six A340 planes worth US$900m
  Airbus clinches another customer for its new long-range model
• Penang's air cargo volume expected to grow 25%
• Narita airport edges closer to expansion
• S Korean car exports down 5.4% in Oct
• British watchdog bans air fare ads that exclude tax
• China to build railway for coal project
• Hyundai union threatens strike

• Germans call for united stand
  Bonn identifies three possible structures for an integrated European aerospace industry based on Airbus consortium

• Global change on a Grand scale
• Cosco reforms to prevail
• Maersk Hong Kong boss promoted to senior post
• Broad plan for Indonesia's ports
• Dongnama to replace Japan agents

• OOCL has doubts about Global Alliance
• Consultation on Swiss toll levy breaks down
• Schiphol considers different strategy
• Polar Air threatens to leave Amsterdam
• ECT moots Duisburg investment
• Demand for rapid handling claims for damages
• French truckers' wage rise over three years

• Port of Olympia moves China plant
• Maritrans wins court ruling in OPA suit
• Rail group to control DOT transport center
• Trucking firm’s hauling scheme gives crabs ride of their lives
• Yang Ming sets December to open LA terminal gate

• Calls for an early end to EU yard aid
  PRESSURE is growing for the European Commission's proposed phase-out of contract-related shipbuilding subsidies to be accelerated.
• Emerald
  The rainbow funnel of Thomson Cruises' 24,851 gt Emerald brought a splash of colour to the UK port of Southampton's Mayflower cruise terminal on a cool autumn day when she made her maiden call there. The 1,153 passenger Emerald, built in 1958, is one of three Thomson Cruise vessels normally based in Palma, Majorca.
• Swire box service first
  JOHN Swire & Sons unit Steamships Trading has taken delivery of a small tanker/landing craft with 61 teu of container capacity for deployment on the southern coast of Papua New Guinea.
• Australia's cruise industry changes
  AUSTRALIA could attract cruise operators by opting for changes to legislation such as cabotage, fuel excise and other taxes, writes Susan Parker.
• Fremantle second port bid 'by 2001'
  WESTERN Australia is to sound out the private sector to develop major port facilities in Kwinana, in a plan which will bring forward the mooted development of a second port for the Fremantle area by five to 10 years.
• Mutual warns on liability cover
  THE spread of containerisation and port privatisation are two developments in the transport industry fuelling demand for liability insurance from those companies involved in the door-to-door delivery chain.
• Filipino owners to help STCW drive
  PHILIPPINE Maritime authorities, short of both funds and trained personnel, have agreed to tap the services of private sector volunteer assessors.
• Ferry aground after hitting Cebu jetty
  A PASSENGER ferry has run aground after ramming a concrete jetty of an oil depot in the central Philippine island of Cebu, writes Alec Almazan, Manila.

• Ecuador aims to cut week from customs procedures
  VICE-minister of Ecuadorian customs, Jorge Zavala, has unveiled a new EDI system which aims to cut customs paperwork for Ecuadorian shippers by more than a week.
• Trasroll/Hamburg Sud dispute to be heard in Rio
  LONDON arbitrator Michael Keer has decreed that a dispute between Transroll and Hamburg Sud over excess container carriage should be decided by a Brazilian court.
• Legal wrangles delay Rio privatisation
  CONTINUING legal disputes are delaying the privatisation process of Rio de Janeiro's main container terminal.
• Overseas influence welcomed on ICS council
  THE Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers is hoping to open the way for direct representation of overseas members and branches on the Institute's ruling council.
• Storli buys six chemical tankers from Holland
  HOLLAND Chemical International has sold its fleet of six chemical tankers to Norwegian operator Storli for $40m.
• Yugoslav line re-opens US Gulf service
  AFTER five years of UN Security Council-backed sanctions, a Montenegro-based liner company has re-opened a service from former-Yugoslavia to the US Gulf.
• P&O Nedlloyd rumoured to buy Elite Shipping
  P&O Nedlloyd is rumoured to be interested in acquiring Elite Shipping, the Copenhagen-based feeder containership owner.
• Frontline plans bond issue to buy vlccs
  FRONTLINE is planning to raise $150m through an offer of ten-year bonds in the US to finance the acquisition of four 308,000 dwt vlccs.
• Ugland buys 112,000 dwt Borgestad shuttle tanker
  A JJ UGLAND group company has acquired the 112,000 dwt shuttle tanker Dicto from Borgestad for about Nkr425m ($60m).
• French truckers' strike ends
  STRIKING French truck drivers removed their barracades blocking roads and ports and returned to work during the weekend
• Westshore Terminal to break coal throughput record
  BRITISH Columbia's Westshore Terminals expects to set its third consecutive coal throughput record this year.
• Saarikangas promoted to Kvaerner top job
  KVAERNER has appointed Martin Saarikangas as president of its shipbuilding business division.
• Canada to stop disputes blocking grain shipments
  THE Canadian government will go ahead with amendments to its labour laws which will prevent employers and longshoremen from blocking grain shipments during disputes.
• Algoma Central Marine doubles nine month profits
  ALGOMA Central Marine has doubled earnings for the first nine months of the year.
• Spinelli makes surprise bid for Genoese terminal
  AN ITALIAN investor has put in a bid of Lire120bn ($71m) for VTE Voltri Terminal Europe.

• Shuster bids for GOP control of Amtrak's board
• CMA-CGM joins ship-share deal; expands service in South America
• Panama Canal plans for rise in toll revenue
• BAA sees profit, traffic increase
• India approves airport policy allowing 74% foreign equity
• Domestic stocks lead small rise in index
• Malaysia to jettison ballast of native-control law for ship lines
• Now there's software that can monitor a system, spot problems
• Modern pirates turn peaceful ports into troubled waters

• Officers put work rider on SRG deal
  Members of the Australian Maritime Officers Union have supported their union’s in principle agreement with owners and operators on the response to the Shipping Reform Group’s recommendations, on the condition that productivity aboard Australian vessels is improved.
  The decision, which is likely to put further pressure on relations between the maritime unions, clears the way for the union’s executive to seek a final agreement with owners and operators.
• NZ owners fear reform delay
  The pending elevation of Transport Minister Jenny Shipley to the Prime Ministership in New Zealand has stalled hopes of shipowners for an SRG-style reform package for NZ shipping. Ms Shipley had agreed to take the matter to Cabinet, but within the Coalition the Nationals and New Zealand First hold diametrically opposed views.
• Mass limits get Vaile’s backing
  New federal transport minister Mark Vaile has thrown his weight behind the NRTC’s proposed increases in mass limits for heavy vehicles, boosting the proposals’ chance of acceptance at this week’s Australian Transport Council meeting in New Zealand.
• Waterfront out of kilter, NFF claims
  The National Farmers Federation has seized on Dr Judith Sloane’s Flinders University study of employment conditions on the waterfront to call again for "genuine’ reform of the sector, saying serious anomalies in pay and conditions need to be addressed.
• Govts agree to streamline maritime safety
  Federal, State and Territory governments have reached agreement on the implementation of a national regime designed to substantially reduce duplication, inconsistency and the costs of regulation and administration of maritime safety.