• Demand for VLCCs will keep expanding: Mitsui
  But report says volume of spot contracts this year will lag 1997
• HK shipowners not badly hit
• One dead, 6 missing as Greek ship sinks

• Asian airlines overcommitted, analysts expect order deferrals
  More carriers may follow Philippine's cancellation, some may even sell planes
• Chek Lap Kok's delay hailed as a sensible move
• HK handled record 1.7m tonnes of air cargo in 1997
• First leg of new Heathrow rail link opens today
• Tata clears 1st hurdle for new airline
• Dassault seeking British Aerospace alliance: report

• Canberra set to take on union
  Reforming the unionised waterfront, which is costly, slow and unreliable, is seen topping the political agenda

• Some Europe players put their money where their optimism is

• Transpac slot deal for COSCO
• Support for Shanghai grows
• Mainhaul hope for Chiwan
• MTL plans mainland push

• US backs merchant shipbuilding
  AN innovative shipbuilding programme designed to extend a new form of government financial incentive to domestic shipyards wishing to build merchant vessels has been implem-ented by the US Navy.
• 21 feared lost as bulker snaps in two
  TWENTY-ONE seafarers are feared dead after the 29,222 dwt dry bulk carrier Flare snapped in two in stormy weather in the Gulf of St Lawrence, off Newfoundland. There were four survivors, writes James Brewer.
• Saga of replacement navy ships looks set to run and run in SA
  LIKE a merry-go-round powered by some magical perpetual motion engine, the saga of South Africa's desire to buy a host of military hardware, including submarines and corvettes, bops along and up and down and in continuum. Or so it seems.
• Repairs cause Mombasa congestion
  PORT of Mombasa has been experiencing one of the worst ship delays in recent times due to the ongoing repair work at one of its container terminal berths.
• Vaccination call to crews over rubella
  US health officials have warned foreign-flag cruise lines operating at US ports that their seafarers have been found to be potentially susceptible to rubella and, unless already immune must be inoculated to prevent its spread to female mariners and passengers.
• Stolt achievement launched in France
  STOLT Achievement, the first in a trio of double-hulled chemical carriers ordered from French shipbuilder Societe Nouvelle des Ateliers et Chantiers du Havre by Stolt-Nielsen subsidiary Stolt Parcel Tankers, has taken to the water, writes Dale Wainwright.
• Shipbrokers' ISM checklist
  THE shipping press is currently packed with articles on the onset of IMO's International Safety Management Code (lSM) the first phase of which is less than six months away.
• Ireland unhappy over UK duty-free support
  IRELAND's government is unhappy with the lack of support from the UK in the fight to prevent Brussels mandarins abolishing duty-free sales in the middle of next year.

• Exercise terrorises union
  An Australian military counter-terrorist operation at P&O Ports Fremantle terminal has left the WA branch of the Maritime Union of Australia deeply suspicious. While the operation was conducted with the support of the MUA, some union officials are concerned that the exercise could have deeper industrial implications and was merely a mask for another Dubai-style venture.
• AMSA detains over 200 ships in 1997
  A total of 203 ships were detained by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority during 1997 as a result of port state control inspections of which some 3131 were carried out during the year.
• Dampiers profit may see charges fall
  The Dampier Port Authority reports that high trade levels saw it exceeding its own expectation during the last financial year, with it achieving an all time record operating profit.
  DPA commercial manager Greg Ahern said the port’s legislative objective was to maintain a break-even financial position, and if high trade volumes continued the DPA would look at reducing port prices thereby ensuring that the port’s operating profit did not increase again.
• Missing charts caused grounding
  The lack of a necessary chart for the passage from the Southern Spencer Gulf to Wallaroo led to the grounding of a 30,396 dwt Panamanian bulk carrier, the Western Winner in may last year.
  This is the finding of an investigation of the incident by the Marine Incident Investigation Unit of the Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business.
• K&S confirms JV with SCT
  Mount Gambier-based transport group Scott Corporation confirmed on Friday it is to establish an interstate rail joint venture with east-west train operator Specialised Container Transport. Acting general manager of the K&S Group of companies Legh Winser confirmed that the two companies had been "formalising arrangements with a joint venture," as forecast in DCN.
• RTW deal near
  Long standing discussions between Contship and CMA-CGM/Marfret over integration of the two groups’ round-the-world services seem likely to finally culminate in a joint announcement within a matter of weeks.
  While Contship’s George Patterson and CMA-CGM’s Philippe Blasset were on Friday prepared to acknowledge marketplace rumours neither executive would reveal any details of the possible tie-up nor forecast the timing of any announcement.