• Brace up for rough year in newbuilding, sale and purchase
  Market likely to go into very low volume, says chairman of H Clarkson & Co
• Shortage of oil may lift VLCC demand
• KPM may have lost RM2.7m from port closure
• Iran buying 27 ships for US$700-$800m

• Tata Group applying to set up Indian airline
  Company will seek foreign technical link-ups for project, likely to include SIA
• BA-American Airlines alliance may still take off, say analysts
• Boeing to rename and use 100-seat McDonnell jetliner
• Pacific East Asia Cargo defers upgrading
• Airbus' 1st China sale of '98
• Thai-based int'l airlines seeking to charge in US$
• KLM, MAS planning tie-up to boost services
• 350 additional flights from MAS to cater to festive season demand

• Riding a wave of confidence
  P&O's recent US$850m order for another two large cruise ships reflects boom in the business

• P&O Nedlloyd to leave TWRA
• Philippine port body promotes 44 new schemes
• 14 million TEUs shifted in 1997
• New Maersk office at Niger
• Newbuildings may be partially financed by loan
• Shanghai climbs world port rankings
• Tanjung Priok achieves strong annual growth
• Fritz suffers profit drop
• Longer range jumbo planned
• Garuda's 1997 projected profit climbs over RP232 billion
• Push for liberalisation of air service to continue

• P&O Nedlloyd calls it quits with ratemaking agreement
• Kerr Norton Marine promotes Doug Gutwig
• DOT honors brave driver for heroism
• FedEx increases U.S. rates by three to four percent
• UPS captures FTZ designation
• Study shows changing face of world navies

• COSCO wants rate changes to effect on 1-day notice
• US-Japan talks postponed to early March

• Mitsubishi to build largest cold store in Tokyo

• Japan-US conference increases liftings in 1997
• Sea-Land/Maersk to switch UK port call

• Hankyu expands facility in Amsterdam
• Airbus on target to grab 50% share

• Evergreen plans box terminal at Taranto
  EVERGREEN is planning an initial investment of around Lire90bn ($50m) in a new dedicated Mediterranean container transhipment hub at Taranto in southern Italy.
• Two Shell tanker crew shot in Santos port pirate attack
  TWO British crew members were shot and injured in a piracy attack on a Shell oil tanker at the Brazilian port of Santos on Friday.
• Marine firms take a hammering
  FROM shiprepair to tanker operating, from shipbuilding to logistics providing, most publicly listed maritime stocks across Asia have taken the hammering of their corporate lives in the past couple of months.
• Green light for Enron in Kerala
  THE Kerala state government has cleared the entry of US-based multinational Enron Power Energy Corporation into the state, writes Shirish Nadkarni, India Correspondent.
• LPG carrier rates may rise 50% claims report
  FREIGHT rates for the 800-strong fleet of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) carriers could soar 50% by 2003, a new report from Drewry Shipping Consultants has claimed.
• Premier plans $160m junk bond issue
  MIAMI-based Premier Cruises is planning a $160m junk bond issue this month, to be priced by Donald Lufkin and Jenrette prior to a public flotation later in the year.
• The New Inquisitors, or the rule of the Director-Generals
  HISTORY sometimes repeats itself as farce. Europe has given the world many wonderful things. Among the less wonderful ones, in approximate historical sequence, were the Inquisition in Spain, the rule of the major-generals in England, the committee of public safety in France and twentieth century horrors far worse than these.
• Bureaucracy that could be a policy too far
  THOSE of us with a healthy dread of bureaucracy tend to break out into a cold sweat at the mere mention of expressions such as "Interim Rule CGD97-067".

• Reith opens up new front with hold-cleaning attack
  The federal government has accused the Maritime Union of Australia of being involved in the "extortionate practice of hold cleaning" while the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has confirmed that it is investigating the practice.
• Wilhelmsen speeds north European schedule
  Wilhelmsen Lines is claiming fastest transits from Melbourne and Sydney to north Europe will follow the reversal of its Australian East Coast ports rotation to take effect next month.
• MPC presses on with plan for third terminal
  The Melbourne Port Corporation has commissioned an engineering feasibility study into a possible third container terminal for the port, despite facing continuing Supreme Court action by both P&O Ports and Patrick to prevent such a development.
• Bunbury AWAs get go ahead
  The Bunbury Port Authority’s introduction of workplace agreements for new port workers has proceeded without incident, despite a threatened backlash from the Maritime Union of Australia.
• Work must continue, stevedores say
  The simplified stevedoring award being proposed by waterfront employers pays particular attention to the avoidance of disputes procedure, stressing that work must continue while attempts are made to resolve grievances.
• Air freight boost for Victoria
  Victoria is preparing for a significant ramp up of air-freighter services and air cargo traffic next month when two new independent cargo operations commence landmark services in the state.