2012-05-26
CANADIAN Pacific Railway has suspended Canadian service early this week after union workers began a strike after failing to hammer out a contract with management.
However, the company said CP railroad service within the US will not be affected. Railroad management and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, the union representing 4,800 engineers, conductors and rail traffic controllers, are still in negotiations. Canadian Labour Minister Lisa Raitt was unable to get the two parties to agree to a contract before the midnight deadline.
"We have made every reasonable effort to get a settlement," said Doug Finnson, TCRC vice president. "Every union member knows how important the outstanding issues are. We will not walk away from the negotiation table."
TCRC is trying to stop CP from shifting workers to a cheaper pension plan, and the union also said fatigue management issues haven't been fully addressed. But, the railroad said changes need to be made to the legacy pensions and post-retirement benefits to make CP competitive with other railroads.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE new CEO of DB Schenker Rail Automotive GmbH, which handles Deutsche Bahn's rail freight activities for the automotive industry, Jens Noldner, 48, will take over his new position as of June 1.
Mr Noldner succeeds Axel Marschall, who was appointed to the management board of DB Schenker Rail at the beginning of the year to be responsible for German and European Sales, a company statement said.
The newly appointed CEO has been at DB Schenker Rail for 20 years, serving as managing director of DB Schenker Rail Automotive for the past three years. He holds a degree from Dresden University of Transportation.
"Jens Noldner has played a pivotal role in the development of our efficient DB Schenker Automotive RailNet," said Alexander Hedderich, CEO of DB Schenker Rail.
Up to 250 trains in the Automotive RailNet transport components and finished vehicles to and from plants throughout Europe. The network connects production sites and sales markets throughout Europe by rail from Sweden and Russia to Turkey and Portugal, and onwards to China.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
HOLLAND-based Goltens Green Technologies (GGT) is poised to help shipowners who are concerned about meeting the UN's ballast water convention and sees it "simply as another environmental challenge to be negotiated".
In 2010, ship repair specialists, Goltens, established GGT to be an independent service provider to the BWT market aimed at helping shipowners meet the many new environmental regulations being introduced in the maritime industry.
Complying with the imminent ballast water treatment (BWT) convention is one of the most pressing issues in shipping and it is in this area that GGT is focusing. In barely 1.5 years, GGT has been involved in projects for 20 vessels. Its most recent collaboration with Optimarin and Saga Shipholding (Norway) is doubling this number to 44 vessels.
Thirty-two projects are installing Optimarin's Ballast Systems. Eight vessels are for GulfMark, owners and operators of a modern fleet of offshore support vessels that include: Platform Supply, Anchor Handling Towing Supply and Specialist Subsea Support Vessels.
The remaining 24 vessels are sophisticated open-hatch bulk carriers owned by Saga Shipholding, a subsidiary of Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK).
Optimarin provided GulfMark and Saga systems and GGT is installing them. Optimarin technical project manager, Kim Stian Haugland, said the 3D laser technology GGT employs for scanning and modelling to prepare the installation has proven especially effective. "The 3D scanning has become a very important part of initial investigation of ships and installation. More work can be done off the ship, saving time and money and enabling systems to be installed while vessels are in service."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
NATIONAL Container Company, a container terminal operator in Russia and the CIS, announced that the name of its Ukrtranscontainer terminal in Ukraine has been officially changed to Container Terminal Ilyichevsk (CTI).
It said in a statement that the change of the name is "aimed to emphasise the company's business area and geographical location as the only container terminal in Ilyichevsk port."
The terminal's registered name was changed in accordance with the legal procedures on May 15.
Container Terminal Ilyichevsk has an annual container handling capacity of 850,000 TEU and is able to accommodate vessels of up to 8,000 TEU.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE Airport Authority of Hong Kong says it has extended the service term of serving chief executive officer Stanley Hui by two years from February 1, 2013.
Mr Hui has occupied this position since February 2007.
Airport Authority chairman Marvin Cheung said in an official statement that Mr Hui's 30 years of aviation experience and deep industry knowledge are important for the development of the authority.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
QANTAS along with its subsidiary and budget airline Jetstar are raising the frequency of their domestic east coast services this year and next, in a bid to respond to 'opportunities and changing market conditions.'
Qantas said in a statement it will add 11 return services per week between Sydney and Melbourne from July 9, as well as, 11 return services per week between Sydney and Brisbane from August 23.
Jetstar will add: 21 return services per week between Sydney and Melbourne from August 16; and seven return services per week between Sydney and Adelaide from 15 November 15.
From April 18, 2013 the budget airline will operate an extra seven return services per week between Sydney and Ballina-Byron; seven return services per week between Sydney and the Gold Coast; three return services per week between Adelaide and the Gold Coast; and four return services per week between Newcastle and the Gold Coast.
Chief executive officer Alan Joyce said: "The additional capacity reflects the Qantas Group's commitment to ensure our customers have the greatest choice, flexibility and product offering across a strong domestic network. We know that network and frequency are vital to customer satisfaction."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
2012-05-26
A MAN who once used his air cargo company in South Africa to spy on the military operations of nearby countries that opposed the apartheid regime, and who later helped the US Drug Enforcement Agency to capture a Russian arms trafficker, was recently jailed for five years in a New York court, according to a report in the New York Times.
Born in Britain in 1941 and raised in South Africa and served in its air force, Andrew Smulian was caught in Bangkok in 2008, with Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
The court heard that it all started when Mr Smulian's business failed and then he became ensnared in a purported arms deal with terrorists that turned out to be a sting operation by the American government; he was used unwittingly to capture the Russian arms trafficker Bout.
When he was arrested Mr Smulian decided to switch sides and over the past four years, he has co-operated with the authorities against Bout, meeting regularly with prosecutors and agents, and pleading guilty to supporting terrorism, among other charges.
Last fall, at age 70, he became the government's star witness at Bout's trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan; Bout was convicted and sentenced to 25 years.
Mr Smulian, now 71, appeared in court recently and this time for his own sentencing. Both his lawyer and the government cited his extensive cooperation. Although Mr Smulian faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years, a letter from prosecutors describing his substantial assistance allowed the judge, Shira Scheindlin, to go below that. She imposed five years, and since Mr Smulian has been held since 2008, he has less than one year to serve.
"He was simply a financially vulnerable, out-of-work" air transporter who had known Bout, the judge said in court, and he had been used as a conduit for the government to catch the man it really wanted. There was no evidence, she added, that had Mr Smulian not been approached in the sting, he would ever "have been involved with terrorism."
Mr Smulian testified that he began working for Bout in the late 1990s, helping to acquire a base in South Africa for his air-transport operation, and that he later assisted him in setting up companies in Swaziland and Zambia.
The Drug Enforcement Administration approached Mr Smulian as early as 2007, using one of his old friends who was secretly cooperating with the drug agency. Mr Smulian was asked to convey a potential arms deal to Bout and they both met in Moscow and later in Curacao and other places with other informers who posed as representatives of a Colombian terrorist group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. Bout agreed to sell 100 surface-to-air missiles, machine guns, grenades and five tons of C-4 explosives, prosecutors said. He and Mr Smulian knew that the weapons would be used to kill American pilots stationed in Colombia, the evidence showed.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
In early June 2012, Tajik Air, the Tajikistan’s Air Company, will start operating a new regular flight on the Dushanbe–Islamabad–Dushanbe air route.
These flights will be operated twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Air Company reports the flight time will be 2.5 hours and the one way air ticket’s cost will come to EUR 180.
Tajik Air launches this new destination in accordance with the inter-governmental treaty between Tajikistan and Pakistan.
In addition, the Air Company intends resuming its flights to another city in Pakistan, Karachi, in the near future.
Tajik Air’s flights to Karachi were interrupted in September 2001 because of destabilizing the situation in Afghanistan, as the Airline’s airplanes were flying through the airspace of this country.
The launching of the flights "would lead to a breakthrough in bilateral relations", said Ambassador of Tajikistan to Pakistan Zubaidullo Zubaidov.
Central Asian News Service, en.ca-news.org
Modern ships fully equipped for Rhine
The Belgian province of Liège has launched two new ships for the training of skippers after the "retirement" of their 91 year old predecessor 'Libertas'. Supported by a EUR 740,000 grant from the government of Wallonia and EUR 1.8 million grant from the European Union regional development fund ERDF, the total cost for the project amounted to EUR 4.1 million EUR.
The province of Liège is the only authority in French-speaking Belgium to provide training to skippers, via the Institut Polytechnique de Huy and the Institut pour la promotion sociale de Huy-Waremme, so the investment is an important one.
The training vessels - ‘Province de Liège I’ and ‘Province de Liège II’ - consist of a push barge and a motorised tanker, with state of the art facilities and equipment. Both vessels meet all the necessary navigation standards for training on the Rhine. The vessel operates as a boarding school for twenty pupils who can stay overnight in four cabins and attend lessons in the onboard classroom.
The ships were put up for public inspection at an Open Day on 4th and 5th May at an exhibition designed to showcase European Structural Fund co-financed projects in Wallonia.
The schools are member together with other schools in Europe of EDINNA, the educational network of inland waterway navigation schools and training institutes. EDINNA actively works on harmonising inland navigation education and training across Europe including the use of training equipment and simulators.
Source Inland Navigation Europe
2012-05-25
2ND AIRCRAFT DELIVERED – 5 NEW ROUTES STARTED
Wizz Air, the largest low-fare, low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, celebrated today the arrival of its second Vilnius-based aircraft. Wizz Air has now increased its investment to USD 160m at the Lithuanian capital and will carry over 500,000 passengers in the current year, outgrowing any other airline in Vilnius.
This growth comes as Wizz Air commences five new Vilnius routes and offers the biggest route choice compared to any other airline at Vilnius airport. Wizz Air’s 13 low-fare routes, which include the 5 new routes to Bergen, Liverpool, Oslo, Paris and Stavanger, will grow incoming tourism and allow Lithuanian families to beat the recession with low fares to the sun and exciting European cities. At the presentation of the new aircraft arrival, Wizz Air also announced its Wizz Ambassador program for Lithuania, which recognizes the excellent service provided by outstanding flight attendants. Over 10,000 passengers have voted so far to decide which flight attendants will be ambassadors for both Wizz Air’s excellent passenger service and Lithuanian hospitality.
“This is a great day for Lithuanian aviation and tourism. Wizz Air has grown international routes to/from Vilnius from 8 to 13 in less than a year and we are now the preferred choice of passengers at Vilnius. Lithuanian travellers must be excited about Wizz Air’s low fares, since we confirmed record bookings this summer to Bergen, Paris and Stavanger. Lithuanian culture, gastronomy and hospitality are best shown by Lithuanian people, and we are pleased that over 10,000 passengers voted so far to decide who will be the Wizz Ambassadors on our Vilnius-based aircraft. To celebrate our second Vilnius aircraft and our number one position at the airport, Wizz Air has launched a sale with seats from LTL47 on wizzair.com, and we urge passengers to book before these low-fares seats are snapped up”, said John Stephenson, Executive Vice President of Wizz Air.
SE Vilnius International Airport
The Argentine hoki (Macruronus magellanicus) trawl net fishery has been awarded MSC certification. The fishery, which operates in the Argentine Economic Exclusive Zone (EEZ) and adjacent waters from 39° to 56° South Latitude, was certified following independent assessment to the MSC standard for sustainable, well-managed fisheries. Products from the fishery will now be eligible to bear the blue MSC ecolabel. This is the third fishery in Argentina to become MSC certified.
MSC
TIANJIN Port Group (TPG) and Singapore's PSA International (PSA) have signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to develop Tianjin Port, Xinhua reports.
So far, PSA has invested in two of the port's container terminals, namely Tianjin Port Pacific International Container Terminal (TPCT) and Tianjin Port Alliance International Container Terminal (TACT).
These two facilities have a total of 10 berths that can handle the biggest containerships. This makes "Tianjin Port one of the preferred ports of call for mega containerships in the northeast Asia region," said the joint statement.
Said TPG president Tian Chang Song: "Both organisations recognise the tremendous potential of Tianjin Port as a major container hub in the Bohai Rim to support the further development of industries and hinterland investments in northeast China. Together, TPG and PSA aim to ensure that Tianjin Port will be a world class facility for global container shipping."
Said PSA chief executive Tan Chong Meng: "PSA is committed to give its best expertise and resources to help develop Tianjin Port into a resounding success."
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
ZHEJIANG Provincial Transportation Department and government of Yiwu city have issued the province's first road cargo transportation rate index after one year's trial operation, to provide reference for the making of logistics industry policies, Xinhua reports.
The Yiwu road freight rate index is comprised of indicators of rate and industry prosperity. Statistics are collected from transportation routes from Yiwu, a manufacturing base of the Yangtze River Delta.
The index released in April was 103.14 points, down 0.5 points compared to March, but still in the prosperity section. Container rate index was 106.74.
Besides providing reference for policy makers, the index can also help to lead market competition onto an orderly and healthy track, experts said.
Experts from the industry said Yiwu's products has lower prices and profit, which makes buyers or suppliers of these product care more about the cost of transportation. This situation has resulted in destructive price undercutting competition of carriers.
With launch of the index, freight rate has become steady. Difference has narrowed between the rates of the cargo on the same route and of the same weight. Customers are shifting their focus to efficiency and service quality.
Zhejiang Provincial Transportation Department deputy director Zheng Liming said the government plans to widen the adoption of freight rate index to other cities in the province like Hangzhou and Ningbo.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
China Shipping (Group) Co, the parent company of China Shipping Container Lines Co Ltd., announced that it issued CNY2 billion (US$316.1 million) worth of unsecured medium-term notes with a maturity of three years on May 22, Xinhua reports.
The company said in a statement that the notes will be issued at face value, and the coupon rate be determined during the process of book-building. Both value date and payment due date was May 24, and the to-be-issued notes tradable on May 25.
China Cheng Xin International Credit Rating Co. Ltd. has rated the issuer and notes AAA and AAA, respectively.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
THE increase of Nigerian port container throughput has increased in the first quarter by 5.7 per cent to 210,057 TEU laden due to investments by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and terminal operators, said the NPA general manager Michael Ajayi.
Vessel traffic surged by 42 per cent to 63,992 units compared to previous year's 45,077 while empty container throughput rose by 18.9 per cent to 161,107 TEU year on year.
According to NPA. the concession programme starting in 2006 led to a massive marine rehabilitation of port infrastructure which involved laying of channel marker buoys, maintenance dredging and the removal of 24 wrecks along the Lagos Channels.
"These efforts have attracted more vessels as safe and secure navigation has been guaranteed," said NPA managing director Omar Suleiman, reported Nigeria's Business Hallmark, and will continue to attract larger vessels.
Investment from terminal operators include the Port and Terminal Multiservice Limited (PTML) of US$100 million in infrastructure development and APM Terminals invested about $200 million in upgrading and modernising the Apapa Container Terminal in the last six years.
Shipping Gazette - Daily Shipping News
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