Hapag in Costamare ships pact Under an agreement with Germany's Hapag-Lloyd, Athens based Costamare Shipping Co has placed a new order worth about $150m in South Korea for three panamax-limit container vessels.
Agreement marks new departure from practice The move by Hapag-Lloyd, which is part of the Preussag conglomerate, to sign a long-term charter agreement with Athens-based Costamare Shipping Co for three 4,800 teu newbuildings is a departure from the company's normal practice.
Subic Bay pays price of conflict BUSTLING Subic Bay Freeport, once touted as the Philippines' leading investment haven is turning into an investors' nightmare.
Pilots strike Striking Northwest Airlines pilots picketed the Northwest Terminal at Detroit Metro Airport on Sunday, day two of a strike over issues including pay and job security. Negotiations have stopped and no new talks are scheduled.
Class factor for Hapag-Lloyd PREMIER German operator Hapag-Lloyd's commitment to a further three panamax-optimised newbuildings in South Korea offers the prospect of 18 ships of basically the same class being assigned by a single company to the Europe-Far East trade.
Flender Werft develops new fast ro-ro FLENDER Werft, the Luebeck shipyard, has developed a new fast ro-ro vessel with high cargo intake and large deadweight capacity, which can achieve speeds of up to 30 knots.
Strong first half for Cosco Pacific COSCO Pacific, Cosco's Hong Kong-listed subsidiary, enjoyed an 11% rise in first half profits to US$66.6m.
Doubts hang over Chernomyrdin Doubts hang over Russia's beleagured acting prime minister Victor Chernomyrdin, who has not been approved in a Duma vote after Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov failed to support President Yeltsin's proposals.
Des activités portuaires sur le site du chantier Boelwerf? Si l'on croit les déclarations faites par le curateur J. Dauwe, chargé du dossier de la faillite du chantier naval Boel, de Tamise, survenue il y a 3 ans déjà, 56 entreprises à caractère industriel sur les 100 qui se seraient manifestées auraient fait preuve d'intérêt pour une reprise de superficies de terrains sur le site en question. Parmi ces entreprises figureraient des grandes nations et autres manutentionnaires de la zone portuaire anversoise.
Le port de Matadi lourdement touché par les combats et les pillages Le changement de pouvoir à Matadi ne s'est pas effectué sans effusion de sang. Samedi, la ville et le port ont été la scène de combats acharnés. Dimanche, les troubles se sont limités à quelques coups de feu. Lundi matin, une première inspection a révélé l'ampleur des dégats dans le port suite aux combats et aux pillages. Les équipages des navires ont réussi à repousser les visiteurs indésirables à terre.
Ford Genk veut économiser l'équivalent de 2.500 salaires Afin de faire face de manière compétitive à la surcapacité de la production automobile, Ford Genk entend procéder à une réduction des coûts (qui s'élèverait à 20% des coûts du personnel actuels) d'ici la mi-2000. Aujourd'hui, 12.000 personnes travaillent dans l'usine Ford. Le program operations manager de Ford Europe, Peter Heller, accentue le caractère volontaire de ces départs qui se réaliseront après concertation des syndicats.
Oil merger drives shipping review AUSTRALIA'S tanker shipping sector looks set for further change in the wake of the decision by oil giants Mobil and Shell to merge their Australian refining operations. Mobil Oil Australia Ltd and Shell Australia Ltd on Friday announced the signing a memorandum of understanding on the merger proposal, to combine their Australian refining operations, with the new joint venture to be owned equally by the two companies. The start-up date for the proposed joint venture, which will have assets with a book value of more than $2 billion, is January, subject to clearance by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Foreign Investment Review Board. The companies said they have not yet entered legally binding commitments and the deal was subject to the successful conclusion and execution of definitive agreements between the two companies. The proposed joint venture will have a 400,000 barrel-a-day refining base and will include Mobil's Altona and Adelaide refineries and Shell's Geelong and Clyde refineries.
ARTC releases access rates New rail track authority, the Australian Rail Track Corporation, yesterday released to customers its first set of access rates for the Victorian and South Australian sections of the interstate network. The ARTC, which has owned and managed sections of interstate rail track in Victoria and SA since 1 July 1998, confirmed there would be an overall cut in access rates of up to 2.5 per cent for the majority of current operators. It also promised to provide fair and equitable rates for existing and new interstate operators for the first time. ARTC chief executive David Marchant told DCN that while the ARTC proposed to introduce a small surcharge for operators who operated longer trains, all current operators -- except one - would receive a reduction in overall "real term" rates.
Cooper questions 'rail renaissance' Victorian Transport Minister Robin Cooper has backed the recommendations of the recent Neville Report into rail and called on the commonwealth to focus its land transport funding commitments on upgrading the existing national rail infrastructure. Mr Cooper, who was the keynote speaker at this week's freight transport conference in Sydney, also questioned whether the much vaunted "renaissance in rail" was real or just wishful thinking. "There are many who seriously question whether we are ready for two separate high speed rail projects when we can't even keep our existing national rail infrastructure in acceptable working order," he said. "Leaping on the high-speed train bandwagon without proper consideration of how these projects fit in with our existing rail infrastructure, our rail needs and our objectives to meet future transport tasks in Australia would be the modern equivalent of building a national network of mismatched tracks.
Yarra Bridge OK for B-Doubles The consortium building Melbourne's $1.8 billion City Link tollway project, Transurban, have confirmed that the City Link bridge over the Yarra River will be able to accommodate higher mass and over-dimensional trucks. Addressing a Victorian Road Transport Association luncheon last week [27/8], Transurban operations manager Ken Daley assured Victorian trucking operators who use B-double trucks, including 108-tonne Super B-doubles, they would be able to use the new 30-metre high bridge. However, Mr Daley said Transurban proposed to introduce "traffic measures" for the heaviest trucks using the six-lane Yarra Bridge, such as limiting the lanes that these vehicles could use.
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