Customs of south eastern Xiamen opposite Taiwan recorded a 21.3 per cent increase in 2011 trade value year on year to US$103.3 billion last year, which for the first time surpassed US$100 billion, Xinhua reports. The customs handled 77.75 million tonnes of trade cargo last year, up 8.3 per cent. Containerised cargo totalled to 4.2 million TEU, up 3.9 per cent. Director of Xiamen customs Ding Xuehui said this year…

Singapore’s global container shipping and logistics company, Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) Group has announced the end of its monthly APL volume and revenue report. The “final” monthly report for December 2011 showed APL’s average revenue per FEU declined 14 per cent year on year to US$2,265 while volume increased six per cent to 357,909 FEU. For the full-year APL’s average rate was exactly US$2,500, 10 per cent lower than in…

Private maritime security providers will be assessed by the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI) through its accreditation bureau, the National Security Inspectorate (NSI), a provider of home security, business security and fire safety services checks. NSI is a Security Industry Authority (SIA) assessing body for the Approved Contractor Scheme (ACS), said the NSI website. The SIA’s Approved Contractor Scheme is voluntary and only covers those parts of the…

New berth construction at Durban Container Terminal will result in 20 per cent fewer vessels, representing and estimated reduction of 400,000 TEU for two years or more, reports Fresh Plaza dot com, portal for fresh fruit news. In December, Transnet Port Terminals asked all shipping lines to reduce calls to Durban. Some ships will be handled by Point and Maydon Wharf Agri Ro Ro Terminal. Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has…

Geneva’s Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) has followed others in imposing a congestion surcharge of US$150 per TEU for services to the Kenyan port of Mombasa from February 1. “Persistent delays of more than 10 days in the port of Mombasa without any immediate solutions have prompted us to proceed with the implementation of a congestion surcharge,” the carrier said. Some other major carriers, including Maersk Line, CMA CGM and Emirates,…

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…