According to company figures, the total can be broken down into 1.53 million TEU for Singapore, an increase of 8.5 per cent year-on-year; and 790,000 TEU for its overseas operations, an increase of 5 per cent. Compared to August, the overseas figure fell by 3.8 per cent from 820,000 TEU.

From January to September, the company handled a total of 20.56 million TEU, for all regions, a rise of 13.8 per cent from 18.06 million TEU for the corresponding period in 2002. This includes 13.38 million TEU in Singapore, an increase of 6.5 per cent.

The company said it expects to handle 17 million TEU in Singapore for the full year, an increase of at least 6 per cent over last year.

PSA operates terminals in Singapore, China, India, Belgium, Italy, Korea, Portugal, Yemen and Brunei.

John van de Merwe, who is the current president, will be moving to the company’s Marseille headquarters in the first quarter of 2004.

This will put Mr Wats in charge of the North American organisation, where he will be based at the company’s Secaucus, New Jersey, head office reporting to Mr van de Merwe.

The Asia Logistics Awards, organised annually to acknowledge the leaders of the Asian logistics industry, were determined by votes cast by trade magazine readers.

Andy Weber, managing director of Kuehne and Nagel (Asia Pacific) Management Ltd, said: “The awards represent the industry’s recognition of Kuehne and Nagel’s excellence in providing quality international forwarding and integrated logistics solutions in the Asia Pacific region.

“My sincere thanks go to our customers and business partners for their votes of confidence.”

“This is an excellent opportunity for operators to leverage relatively modern airplanes that may be under utilised because of the unprecedented travel downturn we’ve seen during the past two years,” said Mike Cave, senior vice president, Boeing Commercial Aviation Services.

“There has been tremendous customer interest in Boeing offering a 747-400 passenger to freighter modification, and the customer knows that if it’s a Boeing upgrade, designed and supported by Boeing, it’s the same quality as they can expect in a new airplane,” Mr Cave added.

Freighter conversions comprise about two thirds of the world’s current cargo fleet.

For large freighters like the 747-400, the future fleet will be equally divided between production freighters with their larger payloads and range capabilities and versatile nose doors, and converted freighters. This provides air cargo operators with solutions that match their unique market requirements, a Boeing spokesperson said..

Tibco, an integration software company, is supplying solutions for the airline’s FOReSIGHT project, which started earlier this year and is scheduled to be completed in 2006.

“With the FOReSIGHT project, we’re making our business processes and IT systems fit for the future,” said Ricardo Diaz-Rohr, CIO at Lufthansa Cargo.

“Our goal is to save EUR35 million (US$40.7 million) per year with real-time integration and optimisation of our core order management process, which comprises order entry, ground handling and revenue accounting.

“In addition, we estimate that optimising revenue management should help us increase our corporate profits by EUR5 million between now and project completion.”

Lufthansa Cargo’s IT infrastructure has grown over the years, but the addition of heterogeneous systems has made it complex.

The new project includes 40 sub-projects and is designed to cut costs by reducing complexity.

The new software is also expected to reduce development risk and costs and will help the carrier integrate customers’ and partners’ systems more easily, the company said.

In addition, Lufthansa Cargo will realise cost savings by minimising the development of interfaces between applications.

“An enterprise’s key processes have a direct influence on quality, efficiency, and costs,” said Erik Hansen, president EMEA of Tibco.

“Our software optimises these processes at Lufthansa Cargo helping it to maintain the leadership position as one of the most successful freight airlines.”

A high cargo load factor, better ecological credentials, higher cost efficiency and state-of-the art technology are some of the reasons that prompted Swiss to select the four-engined A340-300s to replace its ageing Boeing MD11s.

By the end of next June, the new long hauler will completely replace the MD11s as the flagship of Swiss’s fleet, allowing it to develop more non-stop services and offer it more cargo and mail transportation advantages.

The new planes will offer greater comfort for live animals being transported and increased efficiency means perishables will arrive at their final destinations fresher, the airline said in a statement.

The A340 offers approximately the same volume capabilities as the MD11, but its fuel efficiency allows for a higher payload for long-haul flights.

The World Travel Awards have been presented annually since 1993, with winners selected by thousands of travel agents voting in more than 200 countries.

Kennedy Airport had been a finalist for North America’s leading airport in four of the past five years before winning the award this year.

Anthony Coscia, The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey chairman, said: “Our staff, working closely with our airport partners, have focussed all of their resources to ensure our airports remain world-class facilities, and it’s encouraging to be recognised for these efforts by industry experts.”

An MOL Logistics affiliate in Canada already owns 25.5 per cent of Shanghai HuaJia shares, and with MOL Logistics (Japan)’s acquisition of an additional 25 per cent, the MOL Logistics Group now holds 50.5 per cent.

In addition, MOL Logistics (Japan) will allocate directors to Shanghai HuaJia.

The Japanese company may snap up more shares of its subsidiary, it said.

MOL Logistics (Japan) said that if the Chinese government removes futher restrictions on foreign capitalisation, it will acquire an additional 25 per cent of Shanghai HuaJia.

Chinese newspaper Wen Hui Bao quoted Lu Haihu, president of Shanghai International Port Group, as saying he believes that at the eastern Chinese port’s current box volume pace, Shanghai will reach 10 million TEU by October 28 and be close to 11 million TEU by the end of the year.

In otherwords, Shanghai is on track to become the third busiest port in the world this year and is set to overtake South Korea’s port of Pusan, but would still trail Hong Kong and Singapore.

The reason Shanghai reached last year’s full throughput figure 78 days early, in Mr Lu’s view, is because of China’s robust economy and due to rapidly forming cargo infrastructure around the Yangtze River Delta.

The port president added that international and domestic liner service calls have increased by 17 to 1,049 in October, from 1,032 in October 2002, further strengthening Shanghai’s hub position in the global transport network.

Another reason for Shanghai’s growth this year is the opening of Waigaoqiao Container Terminal in February, which has provided the Port of Shanghai with an additional 1 million TEU capacity.

The CNY6.2 billion (US$749 million) project, into which an Australian company has invested, is to act as a distribution centre for Shandong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Anhui and Jiangxi provinces. It is being built on a 6,000 acres plus site and is expected to be completed in three years.

The logistics centre is located at the entrance of the Beijing-Shanghai highway in Linyi, and facilities are to include markets, trading and bond areas.

IT support and logistics services will be offered at the centre and it will also have its own e-commerce platform to facilitate online shopping.

The group made the announcement during its recently concluded annual general meeting in Bali, Indonesia.

FIATA was set up in 1926 and is headquartered in Switzerland. It is the world’s largest non-governmental international freight forwarding body and has 2,700 members from 150 countries and regions – 96 of which are international members.

“The award reflects the huge amount of work Andre has put in since he joined us,” said Anthony Fong, U-Freight’s managing director.

“I have to say there was a lot of competition, but the excellent efforts he has made to build up our traffic through Chicago contributed to the final decision.”