HAVING been under rapid development since being established 15 year ago, the Shanghai port cluster, which is the aggregation of ports in neighbouring province of Jiangsu and Zhejiang centring on Shanghai, is now operating a container shipping network with over 900 lanes, covering more than 180 countries and regions in the world.

There are 11 ports with a 100 million tonne throughput and above in the Yangtze River Delta region, which are Shanghai, Ningbo-Zhoushan, Huzhou, Jiaxing river port, Suzhou, Nantong, Nanjing, Lianyungang, Jiangyin, Zhenjiang and Taizhou. As of 2011, there have been 15,478 operating berths at the region, 4.53 time of the number in 1996.



In 2011, ports in Yangtze River Delta handled 3.76 billion tonnes of cargo, accounting for 37.42 per cent in China's total, 11 times of that in 1996. Their collective container throughput was 61.8 million TEU, taking up 37.69 per cent in the national total, 25.04 times that in 1996.



Wang Mingzhi, director of Shanghai port cluster administration authority, said that Shanghai's throughput has remained on top of the world for seven years in a row. The percentage of Shanghai and Ningbo-Zhoushan in the world's top 10 ports' container throughput has expanded from 1996's 4.9 per cent to 23.8 per cent.



The Yangtze River Delta ports will continue to strengthen their cooperation, improve their distribution network, and work together to build an information service platform in the future, and to encourage cooperation between shipping lines and port operators.



The Ministry of Transport has pledged to work close together with government of Shanghai, Zhejiang and Jiangsu to accomplish the goal of building Shanghai into the world shipping centre by 2020.

THE Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway's (MTR) East Rail, linking the territory to the mainland province of Guangdong, has introduced a load limit of 32 kilogram's per passenger in its crackdown on package express couriers.

The Hong Kong Government has cracked down on cross-border couriers in response to protests from Sheung Shui residents, angry about them clogging railway stations, reported the Hong Kong Standard.



But couriers said they had not been inconvenienced as they keep consignments within the load limit. A courier said the smaller parcels might result in taking more trips. Shenzhen has also stepped up checks, she said.



But the measure has aroused anger among passengers, said the report. An elderly woman complained an MTR officer prevented her from going on the platform because her load weighed 40 kilos. She said she was taking shampoo and drinks to her son in Dongguan. She had to discard some belongings to get through the gate, said the report.



Scales have been placed at Sheung Shui, Fan Ling, Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau stations and staff were empowered to weigh baggage believed to be over the limit, said the report.



An MTR spokesman said the number of inspectors will be increased and a further 10 will be recruited to check on luggage. It will review the order and passenger flow and more scales will be installed if needed.

SINCE APM Terminals (APM T) took control of Peru's Callao North Terminal in July 2011 it has begun modernisation of a container terminal at the city's old Patio Guadalupe railway station to re-open in final quarter 2014 after a US$749 million investment.

APM T Callao has reached 436,000-TEU annual throughput at the terminal and with the expansion hopes to create an annual capacity of three million TEU. It will boast 12 ship-to-shore cranes and 36 rubber-tyre gantries at full build-out. By opening day, super-post panamax quay cranes will span 23 containers abeam and have 12 electric RTGs dockside.



The Netherlands-based operator, a unit of AP Moller Group, has invested $35 million in the first year since it took operational control in July 2011 and further expansion will generate 600 news jobs for the city in the coming two years.



It has seen an uplift in containers and will continue to upgrade the terminal's ro-ro and general cargo facilities in response to the country's overall increase year-on-year of 11 per cent in containerised cargo.



Through sustainable aims it will preserve elements of the old railway station to then relocate elsewhere in the city.

NETHERLANDS-based CEVA Logistics has announced the retirement of its CEO John Pattullo, who will remain on the board, and is to be replaced by company chairman Marvin Schlanger.

Said Mr Schlanger: "When John came to CEVA, he expressed his expectation of staying five years. Under his leadership, the integration of TNT Logistics and EGL was successfully executed and the end to end operating model developed.



"All this allowed CEVA to serve customers better and to grow faster than the market. We thank John for his strong leadership, and look forward to his continued guidance as a member of our board," Mr Schlanger.



Mr Pattullo took the reins at CEVA five years ago following Apollo's buyout of the former Eagle Global Logistics, which was combined with its previous acquisition of TNT Logistics to form CEVA.



During his tenure, CEVA became the sixth largest outsourced logistics provider in the world, based on revenue, which came to US$9.6 billion in 2011. CEVA is the 10th largest ocean forwarder by some estimates and its recent deal to manage ocean freight for Heinz Co could soon take it to seventh or eighth place in the ocean rankings.



The company is rapidly growing in China, where it draws annual revenues of US$1.2 billion. But the sluggish global economy and the company's high debt load from the Apollo acquisitions have kept profits down. CEVA reported an $88.5 million loss in the second quarter, which it attributed to weak transpacific volume and the recession in Europe.

THE Samoan government has acquired 100 per cent of the loss-making Pacific Forum Line (PFL), in which it already held eight per cent, after invoking a pre-emption right to acquire the rest of the shares.

Samoa said that it remains committed to the objectives of PFL, which was founded in 1977 to maintain shipping services in the South Pacific Islands to encourage economic development in these countries, reports Alphaliner.



It said PFL originally had 12 shareholder nations, namely Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Nauru, and Niue. Indeed New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea collectively controlled three-quarters of the company's shares prior to the buyout.

A CONNECTICUT port study says modest improvement can be made to increase trade through the deep-water ports of Bridgeport, New Haven and New London, but also said there remains a lack of basic capacity to support a container terminal at present.

The report by infrastructure advisor Moffatt & Nichol outlines four areas of business to invest in of liquid bulk and related energy use, and shipyard/ship repair services at all three deep water ports. It also highlighted development in services for dry bulk and breakbulk cargoes at New Haven and New London. Both Bridgeport and New London could benefit from private ferry services.



Most significantly, the report flagged up the lack of capacity in both landside and waterside to accommodate the larger vessel or cope with intermodal volumes with longer trains and heavier trucks.



Connecticut ports have suffered declines in commodities such as coal and fresh fruit imports at Bridgeport and at all lumber, steel and building materials demand has lagged following the real estate market collapse.



The report advises that to right import volume declines of nearly 80 per cent since 2006 it needs to "identify local and niche cargo markets appropriate to one or more of its deep water ports".



Niche areas identified were: scrap metal exports from New Haven; wood pellet exports from New London; break bulk lumber, copper, and steel imports to New Haven or New London and fresh food imports to New Haven and New London.

RUSSIA's Volga-Dnepr Airlines is to support Russia's motor racing competition, the Silk Way Rally 2012 over the six days of the tournament which involves 100 cars and 25 trucks competing in the 4,000-kilometre event for the fourth year running.

The race starts in Moscow and finishes six days later in the Russian city of Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.



As Volga-Dnepr is the holder of a Flight Dispatch and Operations Control Licence, it will support seven fixed wing aircraft and six helicopters that comprise the Silk Way Rally air unit. During the six days of tournament, the fleet of fixed and rotary-winged aircraft flew a combined 339 hours thanks to the air navigation support provided by Volga-Dnepr.



Participants in the event come from 25 countries in Europe, Asia and South America. In total viewers in some 190 countries watched the event on television.

HONG KONG International Airport has been named the world's "Best Airport" at the annual TTG Travel Awards, an award it has claimed every year since 2002, except in 2003 when the awards were not held due to the SARS epidemic.

Said Airport Authority CEO Stanley Hui: "Clinching the award for 10 years proves that the airport has achieved an exceptionally consistent delivery of high quality service. The award is a great testament to the tireless efforts of our 65,000-strong workforce in the airport community, who strive to offer an enjoyable airport experience to the ever-growing volume of passengers."



The TTG Travel Awards 2012 were voted by 60,000 readers of TTG's print and online publications between June and August.

UNITED Continental Holdings, Inc has announced that in September its consolidated traffic (revenue passenger miles) decreased 2.1 per cent and consolidated capacity (available seat miles) fell 1.3 per cent compared to the same month a year earlier.

Its consolidated load factor shed 0.7 points compared to September 2011. Consolidated passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) dropped an estimated 2.5 to 3.5 per cent year-on-year.