MSC took delivery of its 43rd ship above 11,500 TEU capacity earlier this month in a bid to realise its goal of operating a full fleet of 11,500- to 14,000-TEU vessels on all four of its Far East-Europe/Mediterranean strings by the end of March, reports Alphaliner. It said the carrier will from then onwards be able to deploy ships above 12,500 TEU on its four Far East-Europe/Med strings, with the…

MAERSK’s APM Terminals (APMT) says much of Liberia’s expected 9.4 per cent GDP growth this year will come from through Port of Monrovia with the Dutch-based port operator took over a year ago. The Liberian government decided to privatise the port in response to the urgent need for infrastructure improvement, as the original facility was developed before containerised cargo became the norm, reported London’s International Freighting Weekly. The privatisation of…

MAERSK’s port operator APM Terminals has signed an agreement with Petkim Petrokimya, a subsidiary of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR) for the long-term operation and development of Petkim Port, located in Aliaga on Turkey’s Aegean coast. The Turkish petrochemicals producer Petkim plans to invest between US$350 and $400 million by 2014 in its container port in Aegean city Izmir, Reuters reports. The first phase of construction of…

Maersk Line will curtail its direct “Daily Maersk” Asia-Europe sailings from seven to six starting this week, reports maritime analyst Alphaliner. It will withdraw its AE-8 string that is jointly run with CMA CGM (which names the loop FAL 5). Afterwards, the world’s third largest carrier will re-align the five 13,830-TEU vessels from the FAL 5 service to its new alliance with MSC on Asia-Europe trade. And Maersk will re-deploy…

Thursday, November 06 ,2003 U-Freight builds huge logistics base in Penang U-FREIGHT Malaysia is building a modern, 800-square metre logistics centre in Penang, Malaysia. Scheduled for completion in September next year, the facility will have links to Penang International Airport and the area’s developing sea ports. Seventy-five per cent of the floor space will be devoted to specialist air-conditioned warehousing. “This is a huge expansion,” said Anthony Fong, U-Freight managing…