Insight and Opinion – Page 49
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Troubles and tussles on Spain's Mediterranean coast
There are problems at the new Prat Dock container terminal under construction in Barcelona where Hutchison has secured terminal operating rights. Around 500m of the new quay line, that will eventually extend for 1,500m, has suffered a major structural problem putting into doubt the ability of the port authority to ...
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NewsGreen credentials
"Environment"is a word that will progressively burn its way into the psyche of business in the 21st century. Inevitably, with trends in motion such as global warming, there will increasingly be a balance to be struck between the requirements of business and those of preserving the environment.
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More trouble at the transhipment "mill"
More labour trouble in Gioia Tauro to the extent that Contship Italia, the transhipment terminal''s operator, has issued threats about exiting the terminal. The visible cause of the problems is the newly formed union Sindacato dei Lavoratori (SdL) which claims to represent 350 of the terminal''s 650 workers and which ...
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NewsA dose of collective amnesia
The flurry of activity at shipyards, as new orders come in for ever larger containerships, appears to have no end in sight.Combine this with the increasing size of terminal operators and the need for new mega ports to cater for the China (and Indian) cargoes and we see the results ...
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Money vs expertise
This issue''s article, Easy Money, highlights the increasing attractiveness of the ports sector to investment banks, infrastructure and pension funds. They are now figuring to an increasing extent in the growing port facility resale market - a deal just announced providing further evidence of this,namely the sale of Maher Terminals, ...
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Mind your P's
The end of 2006 and very early part of 2007 saw industrial action in Europe''s ports on a scale that has not been experienced for some time. The last week of December saw action at Gioia Tauro - including a one-day stoppage and which slowed traffic and prompted substantial diversions ...
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Crippling implications of US initiative
One of the more interesting announcements at the beginning of 2007 is that the opposition party in the US, the Democrats, are to fast track legislation which within three years aims to ban containers from entering the US unless they are scanned at source by US-installed equipment and fitted with ...
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NewsIs the great equity bubble about to burst?
Private equity firms and other non-public shareholder groups such as Dubai Ports World (DPW), have entered the global ports and terminals marketplace to drive up values in the industry. Perhaps the initial driving force was DPW when it entered the Indian market outbidding its rivals.
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Taking Stock
Time was when shipping lines used to divest terminal assets on the downside of the container boom and bust cycle.Nowadays,however,they have learnt a trick or two and as the recent OOIL disposal highlights they are not disposing of these assets on the downside, but on the upside and reaping the ...
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Learning Curve
It is interesting to note that an officer of Kenya Ports Authority has suggested that congestion problems in Dar es Salaam are worse than those prevalent in Mombasa, and that as a result privatisation may not be the right road for the Port of Mombasa to go down. He suggests ...
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The challenge of globalisation
There''s little debate that the changing circumstances of globalisation have, and will continue to, affect world trade. Prices for goods and services are dropping while quality is on the rise.
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Takes two to tango
Promoting competition in port activities seems a simple enough concept for government to handle,but theory does not always go into practice easily.
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NewsTo Boldly Go...
"You must play boldly to win."So said Arnold Palmer, famous American golfer and obviously someone Captain Richard Setchell of Sydney-based Anglo Ports has a good deal in common with.
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Party poopers
Southampton''s sensible UKport development proposal throws yet more doubt on the increasingly expensive alternative options
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NewsHinterland headaches in North Europe
A number of studies have been completed, and most likely some are still in progress, that have addressed the issue of the origin and destination of cargo from the "natural hinterland of the major European ports". In theory this should not be a hard task to achieve, but in practice ...
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NewsSpanish labour bottleneck needs urgent attention
Labour has traditionally been a problem along the Spanish Mediterranean coastline and recent times have seen things getting worse.
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Foreign bodies
Space to expand, government backing and support from terminal operators - sounds like any port authority''s dream. But Rotterdam has never been one for dreaming. Here''s a port that has always been one step ahead of the game. In the 1950s growing ship calls prompted the construction of Botlek and ...
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NewsThe right dressing
In mid-September George Vlachos, Greece''s General Secretary for Ports and Policy, announced that the country is close to making a decision on long-term management contracts for the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki. Such contracts include the full management of the existing container terminal facilities at the ports and as such ...
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What's in a number?
We are really creatures of habit. Take numbers for instance.We have a blind urge to compare one number with the next. For example, how does that compare with what the competition is saying, or what they said last time, or what are we saying or better still, what was that ...
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Buenos Aires - back to the bad ol' days
Some people just won''t learn. Today, Buenos Aires stands on the edge of the concessioning precipice once again, having experienced problems with the concessioning of container terminals back in the 1990s.
