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Box jam is global

NYK executive vice president Tadamasa Ishida has warned that inadequate port and transport infrastructure worldwide will keep boxships scarce for the next four years despite record orderbooks.

Brisbane firm to come up with rescue needs

A Brisbane firm has secured a contract to provide crew and high-tech search and rescue equipment support for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's new Dornier 328 turboprop aircraft.

Call for quick action on abuse of security alert

Federal transport minister John Anderson has condemned the declaration of a level two security alert by the master of strike-bound bulker Flecha in Wallaroo last week.

Coal giants face off for third terminal

The shortlist to develop a third coal loader at the port of Newcastle has been narrowed to two proponents with a final decision to be made in August, New South Wales premier Bob Carr said.

Costello roasts Qld competition watchdog over Dallrymple delay

Federal treasurer Peter Costello has slammed the Queensland Competition Authority for taking 20 months to make a final decision on a coal-handling charge dispute between Dalrymple Bay Coal Terminal (DBCT) and the terminal's user group.

Fast track for 'missing link' in coal logistics chain

Queensland will spend $25m to see if it is feasible to fast-track the expansion of Abbot Point coal terminal, and link two coal railway networks.

Fee to get boxes back earlier

In a move aimed at improving container availability and fleet utilisation, shipping line P&O Nedlloyd has decided to apply detention rates on 20 ft and 40 ft export containers which customers hold for more than 10 days.

Kangaroo Island freight task pressure

Kangaroo Island's freight transport needs will reach crisis point within the next decade unless a “whole-of-island” approach is adopted to address the issue, the South Australian Freight Council has warned.

Patrick move on FCL has benefits, says rival Little

Toll Holdings chief executive Paul Little said that it was both inevitable and expected that Patrick Corporation would move into rail container freight forwarding.

Secret charters all part of the games plan

Two Antonov 124s landed at Sydney airport on different days in November, with the secrecy and high security befitting a gold shipment, it has been revealed.

Seven reasons why LNG shipping will just keep booming

Sandy Galbraith, Melbourne

'Shallow water equals backwater'

Seventeen leading Victorian and national organisations on Tuesday called for decisive action on channel deepening in Port Phillip Bay, warning that Melbourne will be increasingly left off the international trade map if work doesn't begin soon.

Strong growth of industry in Brisbane's TradeCoast

The industry hub of Brisbane has contributed an average of 10,000 full-time jobs to the Queensland economy since 1999, according to a recent study.

Tactical Cargo Solutions takes over Interfreight truck fleet

Port Botany depot operator Tactical Cargo Solutions has bought local port trucking company Interfreight.

Task force may target delays in port facility approvals

The time it takes to approve expansion of port facilities is set to become a major issue in the prime minister's task force on export infrastructure bottlenecks.

Toll NZ lines up Stena Challenger for Cook Strait

Toll NZ is looking to charter the former English channel ferry Stena Challenger as part of a shake-up of its Cook Strait ferry services.

Young view of logistics holds the floor

An initiative to help drive the future of Victoria's $16.6bn transport, distribution and logistics (TDL) sector – the Next Generation Partner Reference Group – held its first meeting in Melbourne last week .

How fish fly

Air freighting 52 large fibreglass tanks sloshing with water and juvenile fish for more than 3,300km posed no problems for Emirates SkyCargo.

Steering the political ship

Ah, politics and power! A combustible combination that can inflame the ambitious spirit one moment, and consign it to a fiery hell of eternal damnation the next.

Are we all getting too bored for innovation?

Quarter-points, by Andrew Craig-Bennett

Budget to boost UK tonnage

BRITISH shipping has received another boost from its government. In his annual budget Chancellor Gordon Brown put a £5m- (US$9.56m) a-year price tag on earlier pledges to extend the tonnage tax system.

Kuehne + Nagel consolidates

Logistics giant Kuehne +Nagel is to underline its position as the world's top maritime freight forwarder through new products and markets, chief executive Klaus Herms said.

LNG giants 'in 10 years'

A leading shipping group has predicted that the size of liquefied natural gas carriers could make another giant leap to 350,000 cu m as early as in 10 years' time.

Pirates release prisoners

Five seafarers kidnapped by pirates from two different vessels in the Malacca Strait last week have been released, with a ransom paid in at least one case.

Prestige case judge moves on

After two years investigated the Prestige casualty for criminal proceedings Spanish presiding judge Francisco Javier Collazo was close to wrapping up the case.

She heads Wallenius

Christer Olsson is to stand down as head of Wallenius Lines in the northern autumn, making way for Lone Fnss Schrder.

Airbus bullish on A380 freighters

It will take the Airbus A380 freighter longer to eclipse the Boeing 747-400 than the passenger aircraft equivalents but forecasts show that the giant freighter will dominate the market in the long term.

Asian excess capacity `could ease crowding'

FOR all the talk of global port congestion, one area, suggests the regional head of transport for Smith Barney/ Citigroup, actually has hidden excess capacity.

Warning on midyear snarl-ups

Royal P&O Nedlloyd's chief executive has urged Rotterdam and PSA-owned ECT to “react fast” to avoid a reoccurrence of the delays of the last northern summer when congestion hit ports worldwide.

Chemical leak in container

Divers are seeing reef fish returning to rescued coral heads at the site of last month's grounding of bulk off Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbour on February 2 for eight days.

Ferry rescue plan `ad hoc'

Ferry giant Stena Line was blasted by a High Court judge last week for failing to learn the lessons of the Estonia and Marchioness disasters.

Maritime casualties

ALIDA GORTHON (Sweden)

Officer locked up over pills

The third officer of a Liberian flag ultra large crude carrier has spent nearly two months in jail in Fujairah after his arrest for posession of a small quantity of prescription sleeping pills.

Pacific Sky cruise ends in flight home

The 1,310 passengers on board passenger Pacific Sky took to the sky indeed for a premature return home from Noumea to Australia after technical damage to the vessel last week.

Pakistan to get US$32m for oil spillage

Pakistan is likely to get US$32m soon as compensation from an international fund for sea pollution along the Arabian coast from the Malta-flagged crude oil tanker Tasman Spirit in August, 2003.