France clinches cruiseships deal Festival Cruises has made a $500m investment in European cruising by signing a shipbuilding contract for two additional 48,000 gt cruiseships with Chantiers de l'Atlantique.
Bombs disrupt Iraq oil A damage report has cast doubt on how quickly Iraq will resume oil shipments to the Mediterranean after US planes bombed an oil pumping station, pictured above, 240 miles north of Baghdad. Dutch firm Saybolt said there was no damage to the pipeline itself. "It could take a day or it could take weeks. It's up to the Iraqis when they decide to resume pumping," said Saybolt. The pipeline supplies around 950,000 bpd of Kirkuk crude to Ceyhan in Turkey.
Ocean Group unveils '170m war chest for acquisitions OCEAN Group, the UK freight forwarder to tug operator, has earmarked '170m ($272m) for sea and airfreight acquisitions to develop its growing logistics business.
Costa Crociere set to close catering unit Costa Crociere is to close the third-party catering business it acquired in the early 1990s when it bought Zerbone Catering.
Armed guards accused of African port cargo thefts ARMED guards provided in some African ports steal cargo themselves, according to the latest monthly threat to shipping report from Bahrain-based, anti-piracy watchdog, the Maritime Liaison Office.
Birka Princess Finnish ferry Birka Princess has left Lloyd Werft at Bremerhaven after a Dm40m extensive refit and rebuilding which lasted five weeks. The work included the construction of a new forefront and 75 new cabins, of which 31 were built on top of the wheelhouse.
Cyprus shipping firms call for computer project action SHIPPING companies based in Cyprus have asked for the personal intervention of the country's president to spur the implementation of a longstanding project to computerise the island's maritime department.
New giant containership set to join Maersk fleet MAERSK Line will take delivery of its seventh S-class containership, with a capacity of at least 6,600 teu, within a couple of weeks, writes Janet Porter.
Evergreen teste divers ports européens, dont Anvers, avec sa classe "U" (5.364 TEU) Ce mardi, en début d'après midi, un PC géant de 5.364 TEU, le "Ever Union" se présentera au terminal de l'Europe qu'exploite la Hessenatie sur les bords de l'Escaut, escale assez particulière car elle se situe dans une campagne de tests que l'armement Evergreen mène actuellement et qui intéresse divers ports européens.
La douane anversoise marque des points dans l'enregistrement électronique de documents Il arrive fréquemment qu'au sein de la communauté maritime et portuaire anversoise, des critiques soient émises à l'endroit de la douane, critiques qui ne s'adressent pas à la fonction proprement dite ni a son personnel, mais plus particulièrement à l'organisation, qui souffre d'un manque crucial d'effectifs. Il n'en reste pas moins vrai qu'en dehors de certains aspects négatifs, il faut prendre en considération ce qui est positif. Et il s'avère que la douane réalise effectivement des performances qui méritent d'être mises en évidence. Nous citerons la transmission électronique des données relatives à la déclaration des navires et à l'apurement de la liste des marchandises à l'entrée. Depuis le premier janvier dernier, ces opérations s'effectuent entièrement par voie électronique dans le port d'Anvers. On peut dire que dans ce domaine également, la douane a une longueur d'avance par rapport à ce qui se passe dans d'autres ports étrangers voisins. Nous avons rencontré J. Moortgat de l'Administration des Douanes et Accises et R. De Meyer de la Fédération Maritime d'Anvers, afin d'aborder cetter évolution.
Belgique: un comité d'action fluvial plaide pour une hausse des tarifs "Nous voulons un retour aux tarifs en vigueur avant la libéralisation de la navigation intérieure". Voilà en bref la revendication du comité d'action Beter Binnenvaart Team (BBT).
La SNCB approuve le système modulaire de calcul du côut de l'usage de l'infrastructure La semaine dernière, le conseil d'administration de la SNCB a approuvé la formule avec la valeur de tous les coefficients, qui devrait permettre de calculer le côut de l'utilisation de l'infrastructure ferroviaire. Sur base des simulations du transport ferroviaire en 1997, le côut moyen, calculé sur le réseau entier, s'élevait à quelque 54 à 58 BEF par train-kilomètre. Le grand nombre de points et de virgules fait preuve de coûts variables qui se situent entre les deux extrêmes. En d'autres termes: il y aura une variation de prix. Or, il n'y a aucun doute sur ce que la SNCB devra elle-même payer: 6,6 mia. de BEF (163 mio. d'EUR).
Crane holds up Newcastle ship A dispute over the operation of a mobile crane prevented the loading of the reefer Maunakea at Newcastle yesterday. The vessel was due to load a consignment of mutton at the Eastern Basin Distribution Centre, the core of a demarcation dispute involving members of the Maritime Union of Australia and the Transport Workers Union employed by Patrick and Toll Logistics, respectively.
Owners' over-servicing worries remain Shipowners are concerned about possible over-servicing of towage services in the port of Melbourne, according to the chief executive officer of Liner Shipping Services Ltd, Llew Russell. Mr Russell was commenting yesterday on the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's decision to allow a 10 per cent increase in the towage charges in the port, rather than the 17.5 per cent sought by Howard Smith Towage.
Declining ship business hits ADI ADI Ltd's $22.5 million reduction in revenue during the first half of 1998 has been attributed mainly to a reduction in its heavy engineering and ship repair businesses, and "the maturing" Huon Class minehunter construction project. The company announced late on Friday that it had recorded an $11.4 million profit before tax and abnormals over the six months to 31 December 1998, compared to $12.1 million announced last year.
Enforcement set for greater consistency Roadside decisions by enforcement staff about truck defects are set to become more nationally consistent following approval of new national guidelines by Australia's Transport Ministers. The National Road Transport Commission said the guidelines, to be introduced nationally by the end of 1999, would enable enforcement officers to assess the safety risk of each defect, taking into account the type of defect, how the truck is being used and the road conditions ahead.
September air freight figures show a small decrease The amount of air freight carried into and out of Australia in September 1998 decreased 3.1 per cent when compared with the same month in 1997, latest aviation figures from the federal Department of Transport showed. According to the figures, released last week, a total of 54,127.1 tonnes of freight passed through Australia's international airports in September 1998, compared to 55,850.4 tonnes in September 1997.
FedEx will abandon its Express Saver name for heavy-freight hauls and replace it with three tiers of service under the FedEx name as it makes a push beginning March 15 to haul big, big stuff weighing more than 150 pounds. They don't want it all, though. In FedEx fashion, very specific parameters govern what they will take and how they will take it. But if all goes as planned, pallets will be as commonplace as parcels for FedEx.
Alleging unlawful double taxation, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is suing Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and New York to recover $720 million in fuel taxes collected from truckers who also pay a fee to drive over self-supporting toll roads. The suits also are a warning to states considering tolling existing Interstate highways under a provision of last year's Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. "We are asking the courts to find that the Constitution's commerce clause does not permit states to impose taxes or fees that exceed that which is reasonable and appropriate for the services provided," OOIDA General Counsel Paul D. Cullen Sr. said.
What do you do when your business expects to more than double in size within four years? You ask for help. That's just what Wayne Gibson and Bret Rudeseal of The Home Depot did at the Traffic World Strategic Technology Conference. The home-improvement retailer is looking to its carriers to help it fully integrate its inbound supply chain, said Gibson, vice president of import-logistics. That will require close linkage of information systems between the shipper and its carriers, and a much stronger shipper-carrier partnership than exists today, even with Home Depot's core carriers.
United Parcel Service seems to have fully recovered from its first nationwide work stoppage, a 15-day Teamsters strike in August 1997. UPS posted record annual net profits last year of $1.7 billion on $24.88 billion in revenue, compared with $909 million earnings on similar revenue in 1997. Plus, UPS made a profit internationally last year for the first time ever. Analysts marveled over UPS's operational excellence while UPS officials claimed the best might yet be coming.
BDP International of Philadelphia hopes within six months to quadruple heavy equipment shipments of its newly formed domestic air-freight division. It is geared to handle shipments weighing more than 50 kilos and offers a number of different service options, including next flight out, emergency shipments, overnight service, two-day service and three-to-five day service.
At the request of the Surface Transportation Board, Canadian National Railway submitted redacted versions of its marketing agreements with Illinois Central and Kansas City Southern. But industry observers say the documents do not answer what opponents say is a central question in CN's merger with IC: are some of the benefits of the merger actually attributable to these marketing alliances, and if so should they be considered separately from the merger itself? CN believes the question has already been answered. The STB believes the filings will help make for a smoother oral argument when the board reviews the merger in March.
The United States should put its own house in order before complaining about the lack of security at foreign ports, said a U.S. Customs official. A pilot project at the port of Jacksonville, Fla., could begin the process. The aim of the project is to establish a security blueprint for the ports industry.
Domino's Pizza has spent the past three years getting its domestic logistics under control. Now it's turning its attention internationally. The Ann Arbor, Mich.-based pizza maker has selected Schenker International as its international logistics provider, responsible for the shipments of materials that include both food and nonfood supplies such as kitchen equipment, store interiors and signage. Schenker also will be responsible for the logistics and exporting of materials for the construction of 500 new Domino's Pizza stores worldwide.
A cargo plane crash that killed more than 40 people seven years ago still is sending shockwaves throughout the Netherlands where a parliamentary commission is investigating whether the Dutch government and El Al Israel Airlines sought to cover up the release of hazardous materials following the crash. A final report is expected by the end of March.
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