Deeply troubled as Afghanistan is, the market is “definitely worth being in” and offers “rich pickings”, according to Felixstowe-based Seaport Freight managing director Steve Parks. “It isn’t a big market for Seaport, but it’s one that the company has been in for years. And I see [the restrictions] lifting because of the infrastructure being put back in,” he told London’s International Freighting Weekly. Good agents on the ground are vital…

India’s air cargo sector is planning infrastructure upgrades to create major hubs at Mumbai and Delhi, which are forecast to boost annual volume by a million tonnes as well as enhance traffic at the newer Hyderabad and Bangalore airports. The sector’s growth, which reached 2.64 million tonnes last year, is built on its cold chain pharmaceutical expertise and a strong import-export balance, reports India’s Financial Chronicle. Northern India is home…

Europe imports are contracting faster than expected, according to Container Trades Statistics (CTS) figures revealing a more severe shrinkage than expected. Fourth quarter European imports from Asia fell 9.2 per cent to 3,352,600 TEU from the third quarter. While contraction is seasonally normal, not to this extent, says CTS. The final quarter took the westbound tradelane’s cargo flow to 13,920,700 TEU, only a 3.3 per cent more than in 2010,…

US ports and waterway dredging and maintenance must be paid by government to provide the access that the mega ships need to get the cargo to docks close to where consumers live, said Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) director Jamie McCurry told two congressional subcommittees. The Harbour Maintenance Trust Fund (HMTF), a tax introduced in 1986, has an available cash balance of US$6.1 billion of which only $793 million has been…

Zhuhai port group, operator of the western Guangdong province port of Zhuhai, registered a throughput of 474,800 TEU, or 25 million tonnes in terms of cargo tonnage last year. It also recorded a bulk throughput of 21.1 million tonnes. Its container, bulk throughput and tonnage total have all recorded double-digit growth, faster than the average growth of seaports in China. Wu Aicun, chairman of Zhuhai Port Group, said the group…

Volume growth at the Sea Port of Cork has been attributed to the bouncing back of the Irish economy through a healthy export sector up nine per cent in 2011 year on year, and 19 per cent compared to 2009, said its chairman Dermot O’Mahoney. Import levels dropped to below 2007 levels down 12.9 per cent. The container figures growth were led by oil traffic particularly exports of the refined…

China, which usually speaks with one voice on controversial issues, appears to be split on global warming with equally high-ranking experts differing on validity of the threat. Global air, sea and road transports sectors have been faced with major expenses to meet rising regulatory compliance costs, some of which are set in ways to drive smaller operators out of business. Reuters has reported the existence of a report which takes…

Saturday, October 11 ,2003New India service launched REGIONAL Container Lines, Wan Hai Lines and Sea Consortium Pte Ltd have jointly started a new weekly service from the Far East to India. The Korea-Straits-India (KSI) Service will link the ports of Pusan and Shanghai with Nhava Sheva. The group will deploy five containerships with a nominal capacity of 1,700 TEU on the service that will call at Pusan, (Korea) Shanghai, Ningbo,…