• Karimun eyes more ship-to-ship operations
  Shipowners concerned over Indon island's lack of transparency of rules forsuch activities
• Container ship splits into two in Atlantic storm
• Sunken cargo vessel at Port Klang to be refloated soon
• Colombo port faces strike action next month
• Panama supports IMO drive to toughen shipping laws
• PSA's free shuttle service to WTC

• British Aerospace to supply wing parts to Boeing
  Deal with rival US planemaker may upset British firm's Airbus partners
• Lufthansa-SIA pact not registered at German cartel office
• Evergreen to form aircraft maintenance joint venture
• China Northern Airlines to open new routes
• AI(R) plans to produce ATR 72 planes in China
• No share of profit, Cathay warns staff, unless revenues improve and costs
• Pakistan opens US$1b highway

• Asian air cargo still bustling
  While the region's economies are in crisis, its transport industry is adding capacity and competition is getting fiercer

• No direct causal link between age of vessel and accidents

• Sea-Land forecasts further industry cutbacks
• FANAL replaces ship
• Business is up for Gensan Port
• Bollore gets control of SAGA
• Man hours up 10 per cent
• Wild river finally tamed
• New vessels on nine-year credit
• Maiden Voyage for world's largest ship
• Air cargo in China soars
• Tampa must sink or swim
• United opens JFK cargo centre
• Aces takes delivery of first A320

• NS Cargo fears freeways failure
• Lufthansa beats Swissair
• Northwest Airlines together with Norwegian carrier
• Another increase in capacity in tanker trade
• The Netherlands wants to build Egypt harbors
• Sea Containers and Holyman might join forces
• Own flag success, but no captains

• Crowley adds to reefer box fleet
• Newport News chases Navy work with purchase of Continental yard
• Deal in works for floating condos
• Rail campaign starts safety run in Oregon
• Zodiac builds Army assault boats

• 'MSC Carla' splits in two off Azores
  ALL 34 crew were reported safe last night after the Panamanian flag containership MSC Carla broke in two in the Atlantic.
• An exceptional type of accident
  LONGITUDENAL strength of large cellular containerships, and their ability to operate in demanding circumstances, have rarely been questioned throughout the 30 year history of containerised trades and the accident to the MSC Carla will be considered quite exceptional, writes Michael Grey.
• Asian Terminals seeks 'urgent' 30% fees rise
  ASIAN Terminals has appealed to the Philippine Ports Authority to approve immediately a 30% across-the-board increase in cargo handling charges for both containerised and non-containerised cargo at the Port of Manila's international South Harbour terminal.
• Jardine Lloyd Thomson in brokerage buy
  BROKING group, Jardine Lloyd Thomson, is paying '5.25m ($8.9m) in cash, shares and paper for Colburn French & Kneen Holdings which owns a Lloyd's broker specialising in marine insurance, writes David Mott.
• N&T and Argonaut link was inevitable
  ARGONAUT and Nordstrom & Thulin was a merger waiting to happen. Ever since N&T took a stake in its fellow Swedish tanker company in 1993, a merger had seemed likely.
• Numast presses sea freight case
  SHIPPING'S strong green credentials have been stressed in a submission from officers' union Numast to the UK government's transport policy review.
• Shippers win apology from Union Pacific
  UNION Pacific Railroad executives have apologised at a California Public Utilities Commission hearing for the problems their company's breakdown had caused shippers, but insisted things are looking much better.
• US firms face fuel factor increase
  UNITED States shippers to the Far East will see reduced currency factors in the next quarter, but the good news has been countered by a need to increase the fuel adjustment factor, Jim Lamb reports from San Francisco.

• Lloyd Werft wins NCL/Costa completion
  NCL Holding, the Oslo-based parent of the Miami-based cruiseship operator NCL, has signed a contract with Lloyd Werft to complete the former Costa Olympia.
• Sri Lankan agents in fury over customs change
  SRI LANKA'S recent enforcement of a customs ordnance that has been dormant for more than 50 years has infuriated ships' agents in Colombo.
• Cruise operators return to Northern Ireland
  CRUISESHIP operators are slowly returning to Northern Ireland, according to the port of Londonderry.
• Benor close to signing suezmax contract
  BENOR Tankers, the Norwegian crude oil and product tanker owner, is close to signing a contract for two suezmax vessels with South Korean builder Hyundai.
• Genoa milestone marks real improvement
  GENOA'S recent announcement that it has handled 1m teu since the beginning of the year underlined the changing fortunes of the Italian port.
• NCL to set up Australian cruise venture
  NCL Holding, the Oslo-based parent of the cruiseship operator NCL, has signed a letter of intent to set up a cruise joint venture in Australia.
• St Lawrence traffic forecast to fall
  TRAFFIC levels on the St Lawrence Seaway are expected to drop over the next five years, according to Michel Fournier, acting president of the waterway.
• No customs check for Indian coastal shipping
  THE Indian Government is set to remove coastal shipping from the purview of the Customs Act.
• Asian owners eye up hull insurance market
  DURING its fourth interim meeting in Hong Kong, the Ship Insurance Committee of the Asian Shipowners Forum made further moves to set up an Asian hull insurance market.
• Lloyd's to set up in Singapore
  LLOYD'S is expected to have an underwriting centre in operation in Singapore by the beginning of next year.
• Premier Cruises acquires former-Regent Sun
  PREMIER Cruises, the Miami-based operator, has acquired the 25,500 gt, 842-passenger Regent Sun from Caribbean Shipping Co.
• Sri Lanka celebrations marred by union threats
  SRI Lanka Port Authority is today celebrating the breaking of the 1.5m container milestone, but union threats are casting a cloud over the festivities.
• France provides cruiseship 'assistance'
  CHANTIERS de l'Atlantique is reported to be close to concluding an order for two more 684 passenger cruiseships for Renaissance Cruises, which would involve government aid.
• Italy offers to train Maltese
  ITALY'S coastguard is reported to have offered to train Maltese personnel to control coastal and offshore pollution accidents, fire-fighting and search and rescue operations.
• Frontline to take Fredriksen newbuildings
  FRONTLINE expects to agree options to buy two further ulccs from companies owned by John Fredriksen by the end of the year.
• ANL to receive no more state aid
  NOT one more taxpayers' dollar will be spent on capital injections into the financially troubled, state-owned Australian National Line (ANL), according to the Australian government.

• La politique portuaire flamande fera-t-elle preuve de vision?
  Lors du récent symposium organisé par la Commission portuaire flamande (CPF) la présence simultanée des directeurs des ports et des ministres concernés témoignait de l'importance du débat, puisqui'il s'agissait d'exposer les points forts et faibles des ports et de la politique portuaire flamande.
• Grande-Bretagne: Dentressangle rachète AJG
  Le groupe français Norbert Dentressangle a racheté la société britannique AJG, une entreprise de taille moyenne active dans l'organisation de transport et le groupage. Le groupe français précise qu'il s'agit d'une "opération d'opportunité". De fait, elle peut surprendre dans la mesure où Dentressangle a annoncé qu'il veut surtout se développer dans la logistique, l'entreposage et la distribution.
• K Line rejette le concept des grandes alliances au profit de la flexibilité
  "Les super grands PC sont certes fascinants, car ils allient vitesse et croissance le but étant d'obtenir une réduction des coûts et une amélioration des services, toutefois, dans les faits, ils engendrent une augmentation des coûts et une dégradation des services"...Théodore Prince, senior vice-président et CEO de K Line America Inc, n'a pas manqué de faire sensation à la conférence "Intermodal 97", alors qu'il développait le thème "The future of shipping enterprise consolidation - economies of scale and economies of scope are not the same". Propos intéressants certes, car renfermant un fond de vérité, mais excessifs, prêtant même au sourire, car l'intéressé a développé sa thèse dans une optique purement américaine....
• Interferry, Ferry-Boats et la division ferroviaire Depaire vont fusionner
  Le conseil d'administration de la SNCB a donné son accord pour la restructuration de ses filiales opérant dans le secteur du transport de marchandises. La SNCB donnera de plus amples détails à ce sujet au cours d'une conférence de presse jeudi prochain. Selon le Financieel-Economische Tijd, il s'agirait d'une fusion entre Interferry, Ferry-Boats et les activités ferroviaires d'Edmond Depaire. La SNCB n'a voulu ni confirmer ni démentir cette information.

• Truck group splits; Carey walks
• Storm-tossed boxship splits; crew rescued
• Bible of the tanker market goes online
• New rules to cut smog, soot would hurt rails, coal producers
• Evergreen to form aircraft maintenance venture
• 3 marine accidents reported in 2-day period
• Mississippi barges leave as winter sets in
• Bridgetown garners port crown
• Hapag-Lloyd sees profit up in '97
• Philippine port hub gets a push
• Variety of computer war games span the past, present and future
• Furious, Gateway 2000 retaliates
• Busy LA-Long Beach ports face tough environmental laws as California deadline nears
• Tropicana may be docked in Brooklyn, but it's got Third World labor contracts

• Way prepared for ANL sale
  Legislation which will allow the government to sell the national carrier, ANL Ltd, is to be introduced to Parliament this week. The move was disclosed by the Minister for Workplace Relations, Peter Reith, during two and a half hours of talks with maritime unions in Canberra on Monday evening.
• MPC will ‘defeat’ stevedores by February
  The Melbourne Port Corporation will successfully defend legal action against it by stevedores P&O Ports and Patrick by February, clearing the way for another attempt to establish a third container terminal in the port, MPC CEO Jeffrey Gilbert told a CEDA luncheon yesterday.
• ASP sale by Friday
  The sale of ASP Shipmanagement to London-based, Indian-controlled Seahorse Shipmanagement is expected to be completed on Friday. Finalisation of the deal has been complicated by the present ownership structure of ASP, a partnership between McIlwraith McEachern (Cyprus Coal) and Marine Management Services (ANL).
• MSC ship breaks in two
  One of Mediterranean Shipping Company’s largest ships, the 39,949 DWT MSC Carla, was reported to be sinking yesterday after apparently breaking in two in an Atlantic storm. The Panamanian-registered container vessel, with 34 people on board, was foundering in heavy weather in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Azores islands, Lloyd's casualty reporting service said.
• ITF blitz continues
  ITF inspectors in Australia are continuing their blitz on FOC shipping, bringing in hundreds of thousands of dollars in backpay. In the latest developments in the week-long campaign in the Asia-Pacific rim, the ITF’s co-ordination centre in Tokyo reported that in Melbourne US$93,000 was recovered for the Ukrainian crew of Ukrainian owned, St Vincent and the Grenadines flagged, Balakleya.