Sovcomflot in move to skuld RUSSIAN shipowner Sovcomflot has moved the majority of its fleet out of the UK Club and into Norway's Skuld, in one of the biggest defections of the P&I renewal season. Around 50 vessels are involved in the move.
'Front Lord' hairline fracture to be checked FRONTLINE'S VLCC Front Lord, which is suffering from a hairline fracture in one tank, was due to rendezvous with a Portuguese marine authorities vessel yesterday for an initial inspection to be carried out.
Temporary slowdown in container rates erosion THE containership charter market has become a lot more active during the past month as owners who made sure they had employment to last them over the holiday period began emerging to seek more work.
KLM-UK plans job cuts when duty-frees end THE first job losses as a direct result of the threat to abolish duty-frees in the summer of 1999 have been reported by European trade unions.
Time is up for Australian dockers NICK Finney, the lobbyist who led the campaign to end the dock labour scheme in Britain, has been a frequent visitor to Australia and has been a speaker at this week's Waterfront and Shipping Reform Congress in Sydney.
Cammell Laird takes on Gibraltar shipyard SHIPREPAIR and conversion specialist Cammell Laird has reached agreement with Gibraltar's government to operate the local shipyard, which it aims to re-open in a matter of days.
Navion venture unveils $18.8m first-year profit NORWAY'S Navion, the 80%-20% joint venture between Statoil and Rasmussen launched last autumn, has recorded a NKrl42m net profit ($18.81m) in its first year on the strength of new floating production technology it has developed and a stable shipping and offshore loading portfolio afforded by the proximity with Statoil.
Sohmen takes chair at N&T Argonaut HELMUT Sohmen has taken over as chairman of newly-merged Scandinavian tanker giant N&T Argonaut, as the component parts of the group announced greatly improved profits for their final period as independent operators.
Hyundai assure sa première escale en containers à Anvers "En ce qui nous concerne, cette première escale d'un de nos porte-containers à Anvers et celles qui suivront, offrent la possibilité de faire la comparaison avec Rotterdam et ce tant du point de vue de l'efficacité technique que des prix... Mais c'est également l'occasion de mieux desservir la clientèle des chargeurs qui ont recours aux services du port d'Anvers." C'est ce que nous a déclaré Sh. Lee, managing director de Hyundai Merchant Marine (Benelux) s.a., à l'occasion de la première escale directe d'un porte-containers de l'armement, le "Hyundai Admiral" (4.411 TEU), dans le port scaldien, plus précisément au terminal de la Hessenatie sur l'Escaut. L'escale intervenait dans le cadre d'un des trois services que le groupe New World Alliance assure entre l'Europe du Nord et l'Asie.
Les entraves au transport routier coûtent de 33 à 67 mia. de BEF par an Le bureau-conseil économique Hague Consulting Group a calculé que le coût des obstacles évitables au transport routier (congestion, grèves, interdictions de circuler, frontières, etc.) est de 0,9 à 1,8 mia. de USD (33 à 67 mia. de BEF) par an pour les pays d'Europe occidentale. Ces coûts, qui proviennent de l'augmentation des coûts d'exploitation des véhicules et des coûts en personnel qui en découlent, représentent entre 1 et 3% de l'ensemble des coûts de transport. Dans les pays d'Europe centrale et orientale (PECO), les obstacles évitables représentent même entre 8 et 29% des coûts du transport.
Kinnock prend des mesures pour une sécurité accrue sur les ferries et hovercrafts Le commissaire européen Neil Kinnock (Transport) a annoncé de nouvelles mesures pour accroître la sécurité des passagers en mer. Il propose que les pays membres de l'Union soumettent les ferries à passagers et hovercrafts desservant des ports européens à des contrôles sévères afin de déterminer s'ils respectent les consignes de sécurité.
Le Conseil d'Etat appelé à se pencher sur Doel Le mouvement écologiste flamand Bond Beter Leefmilieu (Union pour l'amélioration du cadre de vie) signale qu'il va aller au Conseil d'Etat pour demander l'annulation de la décision du gouvernement flamand à propos du village de Doel.
Grim outlook for NZ shipping ABOUT 25 per cent of New Zealands trans-Tasman fleet has disappeared in the past few months and there is worse to come according to the president of the New Zealand Shipping Federation, Rod Grout. Mr Grout, who is also chief executive officer of the Pacifica Transport Group, spoke in Sydney yesterday at the 9th annual Waterfront Reform Ports & Shipping Conference organised by AIC Conferences.
SPS sinks in Tasman storm THE long-predicted Tasman storm has finally struck lines and shippers, with South Pacific Shipping yesterday placed in voluntary liquidation and BHP Transport announcing cuts to its service. After months of warnings from carriers about the parlous state of the trade SPS, the largest dedicated operator, finally succumbed to long-rumoured financial pressures when German shipowner Klaus Löwer and apparently withdrew financial support.
MUA loses appeal THE MARITIME Union of Australia yesterday lost an appeal for the removal of orders issued by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission under section 166 of the Workplace Relations Act last week, while Patrick was contemplating its next move following the declaration of another 48 hour strike at East Swanson Dock. On a more positive note, the threat of chaos for Australian shipping on 1 March appears to have been averted following a joint approach by the union and shipowners to the Commission.
FreightCorp calls for easy to administer pricing policy The Australian Rail track Corporation, scheduled to fully begin operations on 1 July, must provide consistent and largely transparent access pricing across the interstate network, according to FreightCorp. Addressing a conference in Sydney this week, FreightCorp access manager Sunil Gupta said an essential success measure of the new access body would be the development of a standardised, easy to understand and easy to administer pricing policy.
Waterfront to hot a topic for some THE waterfront appears to be too hot a topic for some to handle at the moment, with yesterdays ninth annual Waterfront Reform Ports & Shipping Conference in Sydney failing to deliver some of the advertised key speakers. New South Wales Transport Minister Carl Scully who was to deliver the ministerial address failed to appear. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, while vocal on waterfront issues in recent weeks, declined to participate, leaving the conference organisers, AIC Conferences, in a difficult position as half the morning program of the two-day event was effectively wiped out.
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