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A seven-year hitch

Adsteam will be the major provider of towage services for commercial vessels for Fremantle Ports for a further seven years from June 1, Fremantle Ports chief executive Kerry Sanderson said on Monday.

Boomerang ready to throw at trade

PAN Australia Shipping says it has overcome a delay in finding suitable tonnage and is now set to begin a dedicated Australian coastal shipping service early next year.

Brisbane bolsters business crew

The Port of Brisbane Corporation has strengthened its business development division with the appointments of two business development managers – Andrew Brinkworth for intermodal work and Daryl Wood for automotive.

Customs to refund duty

The Australian Customs Service has pledged to pay back duty and tax on consumption goods to importers after it was found Customs was demanding the impost without cause.

Forwarder Bob Date, an AFIF founding director, dies

Bob Date, for years a prominent figure in the trans-Tasman trade and a founding director of the Australian Federation of International Forwarders (AFIF), died last week. He was 60.

FreightLink chief: Prospects look good

FreightLink has played down reports that its service from Adelaide to Darwin has under-performed during the first phase of operation and that a failure to attract regular international freight from Asia through the port of Darwin, had driven a $53m loss on the railway in its second year of operation.

PN board delays talks on Tasmania rescue plan

Pacific National is unlikely to consider a $118m Federal and State government rescue package for Tasmanian rail services until early next year, probably February.

Thumbs up on dredging

An independent environmental audit into the completed trial dredge in Port Phillip Bay in September has produced a generally positive outcome.

Lift for longhaul cargo

Qantas's giant $24m order from Boeing for 115 787 Dreamliner planes will provide freight operations with greater lift opportunities over long-haul routes than the present fleet.

Temasek steals up on DP World

THE fate of ports controlled by P&O remains to be seen, as DP World's 3.3bn (US$5.8bn) takeover bid faces the build-up by investment agency Temasek Holdings of 4.1% in the UK ports and ferries group.

Is there really a crisis in labour?

WHEN BIMCO and the International Shipping Federation published their latest manpower study, there was almost a sense of disappointment that things appeared markedly better than last time round.

Takeovers to rise as market dies: Saade

CMA CGM chairman Jacques Saade has forecast further concentration in container shipping, as medium-sized companies face increasing pressure to sell to bigger operators in a market which has gone into overcapacity.

`Faked' report on corrosion

A new French judicial report into the loss of the Erika has highlighted the failure of the ship's manager and classification society to detect and deal with the advanced structural corrosion from which it said the vessel was suffering immediately before her break-up and sinking six years ago last week.

Officials `spoke of sinking Prestige'

More than three years after crude oil tanker Prestige sank off the coast of Spain, previously unheard audio evidence has emerged that sheds new light on the first hours of the casualty.