GEVEVA's Mediterranean Shipping Co (MSC), the world's second-largest container carrier, has joined others by introducing a US$1,500 rate increase per reefer containers on all services from January 1.

Current reefer rates are "inadequate to offset the very high and increasing operating costs", said the company. CMA CGM and Maersk Line will welcome the news, said London's Containerisation International, noting that Maersk CEO Soren Skou has been pressing for shipper acceptance of rate hikes at the recent Cool Logistics conference in Antwerp.

PRINCE RUPERT's Ridley Island and Fairview container terminals were evacuated together with all townspeople on the waterfront of the port following 7.7 magnitude earthquake off British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Islands directly offshore.

Port spokesman Michael Gurney said they are no longer expecting significant tsunami at Prince Rupert, but as a precaution, they evacuated the container terminals as well as Atlin and Cow Bay areas, reported CFTK television of Terrace, British Columbia.



An emergency operation centre is established at Prince Rupert City Hall, which is away from the waterfront.



An eight-foot rise in sea level was recorded at Sandspit, according to Mr Gurney.



Structures swayed and people ran for cover as a 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the central and north coast of the province. Cities as far east as Edmonton, Alberta and as far south as Vancouver said they felt the quake.



Reports say people in Sandspit, Haida Gwaii left their homes for higher ground and Prince Rupert city officials, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, members of the port authority, CBSA, and the fire department all met at city hall to plan for a possible tsunami.



The scare was short lived as the tsunami warning was downgraded to a tsunami advisory around 11pm, and the city's residents were told to go back to their homes.

AS many as 28 million TEU arrive late annually which impacts on a shipper's bottom line, which depends on reliability and on-time delivery for retailers, said Marco Wiesehahn-Vrijman of the European Shippers' Council's (ESC) maritime transport division.

Mr Wiesehahn-Vrijman said the problem is an "enormous cost burden" for shippers and consignees alike, made worse by the lack of communication with ocean carriers and exchange of real-time data.



Mr Wiesehahn-Vrijman told an audience at the fifth annual Med Freight Conference in Istanbul that the one in five containers arrives late despite an industry boast that schedule reliability has improved.



Slow steaming to reduce costs has increased transits from Asia to Europe by four to five days causing further supply chain costs in extra inventory, he added.



Surplus capacity and lower traffic levels have meant that the usual level of complaints of missed connections on transhipment services has been less, he said, but added that many of its members would be prepared to pay more in freight rates for faster transit.

THE Port of Dalian port has started construction on the expansion of its Dayaowan north port area, reports China Water Transport, conveyed by Xinhua.

Dayaowan north port area will cover 14 square kilometres, according to plan with 2.65 square kilometres for automobile and parts manufacturing and processing, 4.4 squares kilometres for international container transshipments and automobile logistics.



The terminal will have a quay length of 6,542 metres with seven 100,000- to 200,000-tonne container berths and three 70,000- to 100,000-tonne automobile berths.



By 2014, one 200,000-tonne container berths able to accommodate ships of 18,000-TEU will be completed at the north port area, bringing an annual capacity of 800,000 TEU to the port. Besides, a 70,000-tonne automobile ro-ro berth will be completed which will have a handling capacity of 300,000 vehicles per year, able to accommodate the largest ro-ro vessel in the world.

JAPAN's shipping group NYK's LNG carrier Lusail crew of 28 from Croatia and the Philippines has supported the rescue of two Sri Lankan fishermen in distress off the coast of Colombo, Sri Lanka when on route to Yungan, Taiwan to Ras Laffan, Qatar.

A crewman on deck of the Lusail spotted two fishermen in distress at the sea at around 9.30am local time. The captain Miro Vuletic immediately directed the crew of Croatians and Filipinos to initiate a rescue and even though visibility was poor because of heavy rain, the first fisherman could be pulled from the water within half an hour.



By mid-afternoon the second fisherman was safely taken from the water by a vessel that had responded to Lusail's SOS. In accordance with the instructions from Sri Lanka's Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre, both fishermen were eventually transferred to a Sri Lanka Navy ship and are reportedly in good health.

A Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe train carrying 41 FEU of laptops has left Chongqing and arrived in Duisburg Germany, Xinhua reports.

The journey took 16 days, and it was the first service operated by Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe Railway Company independently since the company's recent establishment.

SHANDONG coastal ports posted an 11.5 per cent increase in container volume to 14.19 million TEU in the first nine months of 2012 as provincial foreign trade throughput increased 11.5 per cent to 448 million tonnes, reports Xinhua.

Overall, Shandong ports recorded a year-on-year growth of 10.3 per cent year on year in volume to more than 800 million tonnes in the first nine months.



Investment in transport fixed assets increased to US$6.9 billion growing 51 per cent year on year over the same period.



Highway construction reached $4.9 billion, up 63 per cent year on year, port and shipping construction hit $1.2 billion, posted a 24 per cent growth, also it has experienced a 38 per cent growth in station construction costing $733.1 million.



Passenger volume grew 4.9 per cent to 1,890 million persons in highway and waterway transportation, and the freight volume amounted to 2,297 million tonnes, up 5.8 per cent. The highway passenger volume reached 1.8 billion, growing 4.8 per cent and the freight volume came to 2,194 million tonnes rising 5.8 per cent while waterway passenger volume was up 12.4 per cent to 21,370,000 and freight volume grew 4.6 per cent to 103 million tonnes.

HAIKOU, the principal port in the island province of Hainan, posted a 30.9 per cent year-on-year increase in container throughput to 720,000 TEU, reports Xinhua.

Improvement was attributed to the Haikou maritime department's enhancement of clearance efficiency, which cut down vessel dwell time strengthened coordination with shipping and port operations for better berth schedulings, arranged better cargo handling improved ship to shore communications and canvassed opinions on what would provide better service.



The department also made efforts to ensure efficient open-package inspection to guarantee container transport security by policing illegal activities in handling hazardous cargo and smuggling.

RUSSIA's only nuclear-powered containership will be scrapped following a decade of lying idle at Atomflot base outside Murmansk.

The 1,328-TEU ice breaking Sevmorput, built by Zaliv shipyard in Kerch, Ukraine, entered service in 1988, but ran into problems when port restrictions for nuclear-powered vessels confined it to a Murmansk-Yenisey along the Dudinkal River.



The 260-metre, 61,000 dwt Sevmorput was even denied entry to four Soviet ports .Authorities in Nakhodka, Vostochny, Magadan and Vladivostok refused to accept the two-month-old ship into their ports due to popular protests under the then recent of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster a force in the popular imagination.



Dockers refused to load or unload any cargo or provide any port services due to fears of radiation leakage.



The ship is one of three nuclear-powered commercial ships for cargo purposes, which were unsuccessful because of safety concerns, reported Lloyds Loading List.

ISRAELI flag carrier Zim has announced it is adding a call at Ashdod to its Zim Container Atlantic (ZCA) service in November to enhance service to central and southern Israel.

The service, transitting Ashdod to New York in 22 days, will rotate through Haifa, Piraeus, Genoa, Tarragona, Halifax, New York, Savannah, Kingston, Tarragona, Ashdod and back to Haifa.



"Zim pioneered the direct container service between Israel and Mediterranean ports and the US east coast decades ago, and continued to provide premium service to customers throughout the years," said Zim president and CEO Rafi Danieli.

NEW ZEALAND's inquiry into the exemption of price fixing by international shipping services has been welcomed by the Global Shippers Forum (GSF), which seeks similar measures to the European ban on shipping conferences in 2008 and more stringent US regulations in 2010.

The withdrawal of antitrust immunity in the shipping industry was supported by a report by the New Zealand Productivity Commission on international freight services given to parliament in April. Within five months, a proposal to adopt a normal competition regime in accordance of New Zealand's Commerce Act of 1986.



According to GSF secretary-general Chris Welsh the move to a Commerce Act-only regime would be low risk as it carries sufficient safeguards to provide maximum capacity and frequencies to and from New Zealand.



"It is impossible to treat as credible the continuing demands from the liner shipping operators for the continuation of exemption for price fixing on the ground that they are essential to ensure that international shipping lines continue to provide stable and reliable services to New Zealand's exporters and importers," Mr Welsh said in the forum's submission to the parliamentary commerce committee.



The brief noted that not all collaboration without price fixing had positive benefits for the New Zealand economy, but instead created capacity shortages for higher prices rather than price reductions through efficient practices.

THE Greek-based Costamare's subsidiary Daina Shipping, the direct owner of the containership Rena that went aground New Zealand last October was fined NZ$300,000 (US$247,000) by a Tauranga District court after pleading guilty to negligence charges. The New Zealand government charged Daina Shipping for allowing Rena to carry versatile harmful substances or contaminants, which included heavy fuel oil and other oils, 32 containers of dangerous goods, comprising 40 tons of hydrogen peroxide, 23 tons of alkylsulphonic acid, 500 tons of ferro-silicon, 5.4 tons of trichloroisocyanuric acid, and 24 tons of potassium nitrate.

Said Maritime New Zealand (MNZ) director Keith Manch: "The completion of this prosecution marks another step in the response to the grounding of the Rena. There remains a lot of work to be done in the recovery process and MNZ continues to oversee the wreck removal process."



In May, the ship's captain Mauro Balomaga, 44, and its navigator Leonil Relon, 37, were sentenced to seven months in jail after admitting to charges of releasing toxic waste and perverting the course of justice, reported American Shipper.



Resolve Fire and Salvage, a division of Resolve Marine Group, has been working on the removal of the Rena and Braemar Howells/Unimar on collecting debris from the seabed and beaches.

FEDEX has revealed plans to develop a new US$100 million air freight hub at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport, which will triple the capacity of its existing facility, by processing up to 36,000 items an hour.

This comes as the US express giant has signed an agreement with Shanghai's airport operator to establish the new "FedEx Shanghai International Express and Cargo Hub" that will be completed in early 2017, a company statement said.



"Demand for FedEx shipping services, both to and from China, is expected to increase. By expanding our infrastructure in Shanghai, we will be equipped to handle increased volumes in Asia," said FedEx Express COO Michael Ducker.



The 134,000-square metre hub is also expected to enhance connectivity between China's developed eastern coast and the United States and Europe for its customers in Asia Pacific and to support global trade growth along these regions.



The new facility will meet the company's expansion requirements for the next 20 years. It will have a special on-site facilitation by the Chinese Immigration Authority and Shanghai Customs for efficient cargo clearance. The hub will also house the Ground Support Equipment (GSE) facility for FedEx equipment maintenance as well as an area for Unit Loading Device (ULD) staging.



Li Derun, president of Shanghai Airport Group Co Ltd, said the venture will help Shanghai strengthen its role as a regional shipping and logistics centre, Xinhua reported.



FedEx Express offers 68 flights a week in and out of Shanghai.

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says it is expanding the Air Cargo Advance Screening (ACAS) pilot, which allows members of the air cargo industry to send and receive advance security filing data for their air cargo.

The CBP announcement was made in the Federal Register Notice, which sets forth eligibility requirements for participation and invites public comment. Participation in the pilot is voluntary and open to companies active in the air cargo supply chain, including passenger airlines, all-cargo carriers, freight forwarders and express carriers.



Through the ACAS pilot, the CBP and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) receive the advance security filing of cargo data to help identify cargo shipments inbound to the US that may be high risk and require physical screening.



Identifying high-risk shipments as early as possible in the air cargo supply chain provides CBP and TSA an opportunity to conduct a comprehensive review of cargo data while facilitating the movement of legitimate trade into the US, reports 4-Traders.



ACAS was introduced in the wake of the discovery of explosives concealed in packages on US-bound aircraft from Yemen in October 2010. As of last March, 14 million transactions have been processed through the ACAS pilot.

AIRBUS plans to double its annual US$12 million investment in US manufacturing by 2020 adding to the $1 billion it has already invested mostly in the Los Angeles area, according to a company press release. Airbus announced in July plans for a US manufacturing plant in Mobile, Alabama, to open by 2015, with the first aircraft deliveries planned for 2016.

The Airbus announcement comes after the European Union asked the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to issue $12 billion in annual sanctions against the US Government for its alleged non-compliance with an earlier WTO ruling against illegal state subsidies to Boeing.



The EU contends the US was supposed to end Boeing subsidies in March, and while Washington says that they ended in September EU says the US has "provided no detailed evidence to support its claims".



Said EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht: "The United States failure to end aircraft subsidies continues to cost European aerospace companies billions of euros in lost revenue. By taking action today, the European Union continues to ensure that every one of our trading partners plays by the rules, and that every effort is made to create a level playing field for European companies and workers."



The EU claimed $19.1 billion in federal subsidies went to Boeing from 1989 and 2006. The WTO has since ruled that while some tax breaks were de facto subsidies, they also found that American state aid came closer to $5.3 billion.



On September 23, the US Government notified the WTO that is had withdrawn the subsidies, but the EU then called on the WTO take counter measures against the US for failing to eliminate the subsidies. The WTO was scheduled to take up the issue, titled "Measures affecting trade in large civil aircraft," during its October 23 meeting.



The EU move pleases Airbus. "Airbus is grateful to the EU Commission for taking consequential action. Boeing has been denying the decades of government support for years but was finally faced with a sweeping judgment in March. We regret that Boeing continues a legal battle." said the Airbus statement.

UNITED Airlines says it has broken ground on its first widebody aircraft maintenance hangar at Washington Dulles International Airport that will act as the airline's principal gateway to the Middle East.

Construction of the US$45 million hangar is expected to be completed in 2013. The 2,322-square metre hangar will enable the airline to perform maintenance simultaneously on two widebody aircraft.



There are 300 technical operation workers at Washington Dulles, with more than 6,000 employees throughout the Washington area.



"Construction of this facility underscores United's investment in our people, our customers, the Washington region and the Virginia economy," said United vice president Kate Gebo.



"With on-going investments in terminal amenities, gate areas, lounges and employee facilities, United continues to shape Dulles into a modern global gateway for customers and United co-workers," she said.



The carrier maintains maintenance hangars at Chicago, Denver, Houston, San Francisco and Los Angeles and is constructing a new widebody hangar at Newark Liberty International Airport.



Since 2010, it has introduced service from Washington Dulles to key international and domestic markets, including one-stop service to Bahrain and Doha via Kuwait and Dubai.



Later this year, flights will begin from Washington to San Salvador and Fort Lauderdale. The airline will launch service to Fayetteville, North Carolina in early 2013.