Asia

Confusion surrounds the $12.07bn development of a new 54-berth deep-water port on Yangshan Island, which will be connected to Shanghai via a new 30km bridge.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has dropped proposals to adopt the Minimum Guaranteed Throughput (MGT) formula as part of bid conditions linked to the construction of the third container terminal.

Tianjin is to invest $2.18bn to expand its facilities to rival those of Shanghai. At present the northern port is Chinas fourth largest having handled total traffic of 129m tonnes in 2002.

PSA Corp has negotiated pay cuts with its unions in an effort to be more competitive.

China has formally joined the Container Security Initiative (CSI) to target and pre-screen containers shipped from Shanghai and Shenzhen to US ports.