• Growth forecast for HK port halved
  Growth prediction over 20 years slashed from 8.5% to 4.5%, due to more competition
• Cheaper South China ports erode HK's dominance
• Star Cruises says it's relatively unaffected by currency crisis
• P&I clubs facing competition from commercial insurers

• Volkswagen goes back to the future with new Beetle
  After more than 20 years, the Bug returns to the US this spring, priced atUS$15,200
• Ford upgrades emission levels for light trucks
• EC expands antitrust probe
• China spent 11b yuan on upgrading airports
• Ansett stops S Korea flights
• Vickers claims free hand in Rolls sale
• Kia's US sales rose 66% last year
• GM puts Thai plant on hold

• End to rates freefall in sight
  Conference lines and independents promise to work together and stabilise rates, as rise in capacity is set to taper off

• Recalcitrant flag states coming under increasing pressure

• Kuantan Port a new earner
• Pakistan may sell rail freight
• Port of NY & NJ continues to experience strong
• Taiwanese industry lacks faith in government scheme
• Marine Terminals to run San Francisco pier
• Bremen/Bremerhaven container cargo rises 10.2 per cent
• Qantas drops Korean flights
• Alitalia seeks alliance
• Chek Lap Kok security company set up
• PAL records three billion pesos loss

• Port of Antwerp posts 4 per cent growth
• 2.5 per cent growth in Amsterdam
• USAir may still fly to Amsterdam
• Integration in short sea terminals
• Van Ommeren raises profit forecast
• Stena catamaran damage following warning being ignored

• COSCO Containers now based in Shanghai
• Box traffic from Asia to US favorable through 1997
• Samudera launches Singapore/Karachi service
• Export cargo shows higher increase at Osaka port
• Rotterdam hits record in 1997
• Box throughput at Colombo sets highest growth
• Qantas to suspend ROK services

• P&O Orders Two Cruise Ships Worth $850M
• Hvide Acquires Kirby Product Tankers
• RGI Unit Wins PGS Ship Deal
• Algoma Buys Tankers From Imperial

• Heidmar-Pleiades in tanker link
  CONNECTICUT-based Heidenreich Marine and Pleiades Shipping Agents of Greece have formed a major panamax tanker pool in a move which also includes merging staff of the two companies in the United States.
• Former Miami port boss faces FBI probe
  US FEDERAL agents are reportedly investigating allegations that former Port of Miami director Carmen Lunetta conspired to channel port money to favoured associates and port vendors.
• Vessel imports review worries Indian owners
  RECOMMENDATIONS of a committee set up by India's Ministry of Surface Transport to look into the issue of ship imports, have caused considerable concern among the country's shipowners.
• Russia restricts foreign insurers
  RUSSIA will retain some restrictions for foreign insurers after 1999, contrary to its previous plan to free the market fully, Reuters reports.
• Oslo market sees shipping firms surge
  SHIPPING and offshore companies significantly outperformed the Oslo market in 1997 even though the market as a whole enjoyed a record-breaking year, according to an analysis published by the Norwegian bourse.
• Dutch standby contract renewed
  DUTCH salvage companies Smit Tak and Wijsmuller Salvage have secured a new contract from the Netherlands government for the permanent standby of the salvage tug Waker off the Dutch coastline, writes Alan Dickey, Nether-lands Correspondent.
• Arno Dunkerque wins ferry deals
  FRANCE'S Arno Dunkerque has secured a pair of two shiprepair contracts from SeaFrance and Stena Line, continuing the focus of shiprepair news on the ferry market.
• Fire damaged Kuka-wa
  OT Africa Line's 29,572gt container/ro-ro ship Kuka-wa, severely damaged by fire (pictured) remains berthed at Falmouth after being towed from the Channel Islands by HM Coastguard emergency towing vessel Far Minara just before the Christmas break. Details of the necessary repairs have been circulated to repair yards across nothern Europe, and her managers, Glasgow-based Acomarit, expect to award a repair contract in the next couple of days. A decision is still to be made on the possibilityof unloading her cargo of 20,000 tonnes of cocoa and timber.

• Princess orders two mega cruiseships
  PRINCESS Cruises has placed an order for two $425m cruiseship newbuildings.
• Samudera 'will benefit from currency crisis'
  SINGAPORE-listed feeder operator Samudera Shipping Line says it will benefit from south-east Asia's currency turmoil as its earnings are in US dollars.
• Royal Olympic acquires two cruiseships
  ROYAL Olympic Cruises has acquired the former Cunard Countess and the World Renaiss-ance to boost its fleet to seven vessels.
• 17 rescued from grounded bulker
  TAIWANESE military forces have rescued 17 seafarers from a Malaysian ship that ran aground off the port of Keelung in a storm.
• Eritrea loosens its grip on forwarding
  THE government of Eritrea has loosened its control on clearing and forwarding at the ports, enabling long established Gellatly Hankey to resume its role as agent.
• Jinzhou to issue shares to foreigners
  JINZHOU Harbour (Group) Co is to issue 115m B shares to foreigners in order to raise $41.4m to finance the phase two construction of Jinzhou port.
• ILO to train Indians in container handling
  WORKERS from five major Indian ports are to be trained in handling containers by the maritime branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
• Bangladesh to formulate shipping policy
  THE government of Bangladesh has drawn together a high level committee to formulate a National Shipping Policy, according to the country's shipping minister ASM Abdur Rab.
• Academic calls for Australian stevedore inquiry
  ONE of Australia's leading economists has called on the government to conduct an inquiry into stevedoring charges.
• Owners pays $1.25m for damage to coral reef
  THAI owner Rama Shipping has agreed to pay $1.25m for damage to "natural resources" caused by the grounding of the Fortuna Reefer on a coral reef.
• Work begins soon on Curacao cruise pier
  CONSTRUCTION work on a mega cruise pier outside Curacao harbour is to start at the end of this month, according to local sources.
• Chennai re-opens berth tender process
  CHENNAI Port Trust has re-opened the tender process to container lines and common feeder operators for a reserved berth in the south Indian port.
• Guam asks for money back from "excessive profits"
  GUAM asks US FMC to order Sea-Land and Matson Navigation to return $50-100m following excessive profits made in providing transportation services under the US flag.
• Rotterdam breaks through 300m tonnes
  ROTTERDAM port broke all transhipment records in 1997.

• Les ports français se battent en ordre dispersé
  La prédominance de la rangée Nord dans les flux de transport maritime intéressant l'Europe est bien connue et remonte aux temps anciens. Il est donc normal que le trafic de cet axe donne lieu en permanence à une âpre bataille, dont l'une des manoeuvres consiste à vouloir se placer le plus à l'Ouest possible sur le trajet maritime en organisant au mieux les liaisons de ces ports avant-postes avec l'Hinterland européen global.
• Mory Team revient en force sur le marché de la logistique
  Pour le groupe français Mory Team, l'objectif est d'atteindre un CA de 500 millions de FRF vers l'an 2000. Analyse des raisons du repli puis de celles du retour. Le tout dans un contexte de redressement qui verra ce groupe présenter pour 1997 un résultat bénéficiaire, ce qui n'était pas arrivé depuis plus de dix ans.
• Rudy Saelens reprend les activités vracs de Vematra (Verliefden)
  La société de transport routier Vematra (ex-Verliefden) a cédé ses divisions "transport de vracs" et "transport de ciment" aux Transports Jeanfils, une entreprise du groupe Rudy Saelens. C'est ce que signale Truck & Business. Le magazine précise que Vematra se trouvait trop petite pour être concurrentielle sur le plan du transport européen de vracs, et qu'elle va désormais se reconcentrer sur le tractionnariat.
• Dart Line augmente la fréquence sur Zeebrugge-Dartford
  Dart Line a l'intention d'augmenter la fréquence de son service ro-ro entre Zeebrugge et Dartford en offrant un troisième départ quotidien dans les deux directions. L'entreprise-mère recherche un petit ferry fret d'une capacité de 70 à 75 semi-remorques. Selon le directeur de Dart Line Zeebrugge, Helmut Walgraeve, cette mesure est indispensable pour pouvoir faire face à la demande croissante. Il a ajouté que les objetcifs pour 1997 ont été atteints sans aucun problème.

• Houston's Eagle USA to buy Eagle Transfer
• FedEx to increase rates 3% to 4% for cargo in US
• Airbus reports record orders; Boeing lags
• EU nations split over methods of applying road-use truck tax
• 'Sex toy' in luggage turns out to be pot
• Commercial banks gave Greeks $1.5 billion for '97 ship buys
• Evergreen's US head aims to ride out rough waters
• 3 rails sue to overturn state law on crew size
• Baltic boom
• Port of Colombo posts 24% rise in container traffic for 1997
• China revamps ship operations to create biggest bulk company
• Software remedies are out there to relieve your organizational ills

• Mayne Nickless trims more express freight
  The long-term future of the Mayne Nickless group’s Australian express freight operations seems to be in further doubt following this week’s closure of the Ipec Melbourne depot, with the loss of 100 management and contractor jobs. The decision follows the earlier shutdown of the Brisbane depot and the amalgamation of Western and South Australian operations.
• Union to wait on AIRC
  THE Australian Industrial Relations Commission is now expected to decide on the timing of any hearing or conference on the simplification of the Stevedoring Industry Award. While the union confirmed that it had now received a copy of the draft document, an industry source told DCN that the matter was not one of extreme urgency. As the Commission has been notified of the development in anticipation that the union will not agree to sections of the document, it appears stevedores will now await further word from the Commission.
• P&OP sells down Argentina stake
  P&O Australia Ports Pty Ltd has announced the sale of a 37.5 per cent holding in Terminales Rio de La Plata S.A. in Argentina to AIG-GE Capital Latin American Infrastructure Fund L.P. Under a 25-year concession awarded in 1994, TRP is the operator of two container terminals at Puerto Nuevo in Buenos Aires. The sale leaves P&OP with a 50 per cent stake.
• No difficulties, Cho Yang assures
  Cho Yang has reacted strongly to market rumours suggesting that the company is in financial difficulty. "Such rumours appear to have grown from the financial difficulty confronting another and totally unrelated Korean company whose name has a similar rhyme in the Korean alphabet to that of Cho Yang," the company said in a statement.
  "Cho Yang’s position within the Australian trade will continue to be developed in the most positive way together with its service partners."
• Don’t slight bulk ports, says PCQ
  THE nation’s bulk ports should not be put in the general reform arena, according to the chief executive officer of Ports Corporation of Queensland, Derek Andrews.
  Writing in the Corporation’s latest annual report, Mr Andrews said these ports had already been independently recognised for their competitive levels of performance and efficiency — equal to the world’s best.

• Hopes rise for Gdansk sell-off
  More than a year after plunging into bankruptcy, the Gdansk Shipyard may be close to falling into the hands of new owners, according to legal sources close to the company's affairs.
• Greeks dominate S&P market
  Greek buyers continued their long-time domination of the sale-and-purchase market in 1997, and some locally based shipbrokers believe there could be a continuing upward trend in their purchases this year.
• Lazard leaps into the limelight
  An explosion of interest in the use of capital markets by shipowners has brought the name of a relatively small and low-key investment bank group - Lazard - to the centre of the maritime finance scene. Instrumental in many of the high-yield bond issues and initial public offerings (IPO) for companies like Pegasus Shipping and Knightsbridge Tankers, Lazard has attracted praise, envy and criticism.
• Legal legend still writing at age 88
  Nicholas Healy, just days from his 88th birthday, is putting the finishing touches on a 700-page tome that is set to be a definitive work on the legal aspects of ship collisions. With no plans to retire after more than 60 years as a top admiralty lawyer, he's working on another book and still puts in the hours at Healy & Baillie, his New York-based maritime law firm.
• A captain under strain hopes for a better year
  Captain Konstantinos "Costas" Spiropoulos admits he has taken to smoking three to four packs of cigarettes a day to help relieve stress. Spiropoulos was at the helm of the ill-fated tanker 'Nissos Amogos' when it ran into trouble off Venezuela last February, and he's been detained by the authorities ever since. The past few weeks have brought some relief, as Spiropoulos was allowed to travel home to Greece to spend the holidays with his family, but his ordeal is set to resume soon.

• P&O buys into Mediterranean
• First ecus for Portsmouth
• Marseilles growth plan
• Barcelona awards contract
• New authority boosts Shanghai
• ICTSI mixed performance
• Handy size bulker operators face changing markets
• Global steel consumption expected to break 700m tonnes tonnes
• Steady expansion for seaborne trade
• Dover gets green light
• PSA record container growth
• Test results
• Safe and sound
• Penang lift
• Long Beach
• SCT record
• Thamesport sale?
• China order

• Hapag-Lloyd growth contained
• Double service
• Geest offers new service
• Maersk intro
• OTAL change
• Gioia Tauro for Evergreen
• Fast freighter studies
• Asia-Australia alliance
• CMB saga: a new chapter begins
• French strike beaters
• Intermodal developments
• CANMAR two