USD 2 billion 
MSC senior vice-president Pasquale Formisano recently told the Propeller Club Basel about the ongoing adjustments to his shipping line’s fleet to 2020 and beyond. more
MOL and Singapore banking on LNG 
Pavilion Gas (PGPL) and the Japanese carrier MOL have signed a long-term charter contract. According to the pact, MOL will operate Asia’s hitherto largest (12,000 cbm class) LNG bunkering vessel in Singapore. Demand for LNG as bunker fuel is expected to grow on a global scale,... more
Improved access to port of Abidjan
The expanded and deepened Vridi Canal (Ivory Coast) was recently inaugurated. The waterway connects the port of Abidjan and the Atlantic via the Ebrié Lagoon. The China Harbor Engineering Company required three years to complete the work that resulted in a wider and deeper... more
Trade war still makes no impact on world trade
The flash estimate for the container throughput index published by the German research body Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (RWI - Leibniz) and the Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (ISL) rose to 138.8 in January from 137.7 in December 2018.... more
APL introduces cargo monitoring system
Cargo monitoring is becoming increasingly important. Given this, APL recently unveiled Traxens to offer near real-time data of the movement and condition of the cargo it transports. The initiative is consistent with the CMA CGM Group’s customer centric strategy, which was the... more
New technology for ship inspection by K Line
The Japan-based carrier K Line is rolling out an innovative ship hull inspection and maintenance project, involving the use of a drone and image analysis system, together with Technos Mihara, a non-destructive testing company based in Hiroshima. K Line says that inspecting... more
Favourable figures for the American Club
The American Club witnessed a positive outcome to the recently-concluded 2019 P&I renewal season. Its mutual P&I business saw tonnage increase by more than 1.6 million gt as of 20 February 2019, in comparison to the previous year, and by just under 900,000 gt in regard... more
Good January at Jaxport
The Florida-based Jacksonville Port Authority (Jaxport) had a good start into the year. CEO Eric Green announced that container movements had increased by 16% compared to the same month in 2017. Almost 122,000 teus were handled. The port’s Asian container volumes continue... more
New port strategy of Djibouti continues
On 22 February 2018 the State of Djibouti prematurely terminated the Doraleh container terminal concession, which was granted in 2006 to Doraleh Container Terminal (DCT), a company mainly managed by DP World. While the legal proceedings around the withdrawal of the... more
Merger of Hapag-Lloyd with UASC bears fruit
The Hamburg-based carrier Hapag-Lloyd achieved a more satisfactory result in 2018 than in previous years. On the basis of preliminary and unaudited figures, its Ebitda surged by almost 8% to EUR 1.14 billion (2017: EUR 1.05 billion). Ebit rose by 7.2% to EUR 443 million (2017:... more