Europe

Few now appear to doubt the future strategic importance of what will be Germany’ s only deep-water container terminal: the idea, once scoffed at, appears to have literally grown on Germans. 

City hopes to boost future port prospects with a majority share sell off to an experienced port operator, as Tom Todd reports

Germany’ s easternmost deep-water port,Sassnitz- Mukran, expects planned new rail-ferry links this year with Russia will help solve its problem of unused capacity and hopes more cruiseships will fill the rest. 

Although best known for booming ferry and ro-ro traffic, east Germany’ s biggest port, Rostock, continues to surprise, with eggs in many baskets as part of a strategy of universal, multisector development. 

Odessas HPC Ukraina has ordered four rubber-tyred gantry (RTG) Konecranes cranes for Odessa Sea Trade Port, a subsidiary of HPC Hamburg Port Consulting GmbH.

Swedens largest timber products company has agreed a multi-year rental contract with Kalmar for 31 specially developed forklift trucks.

The UKs Port of Larne is to upgrade its vessel tracking system (VTS), currently consisting of two radar sites, closed-circuit TV and recording system,VHF recording and three VTS operator workplaces.

Piraeus Port Authority posted revenue growth of 2.9% in 2006, when it generated ¢ 144.1m ($195m). However, the increase would have been more had the port not been hit by several strikes…

The president of the port of Lisbons administrative authority,Manuel Frasquilho, has indicated that it will not be necessary to expand  Terminal da Trafaria to accommodate major flows of container traffic in the…

The ports of Amsterdam, Civitavecchia, Copenhagen- Malmö, Hamburg, Livorno and Valencia are to take part in the EUs Nomeports programme, which is looking into ways of reducing noise pollution in four major…

MSC cancelled approximately 70 services in 2006 that were due to call at Marítima Valenciana located in the port of Valencia. This was blamed on poor productivity at the terminal and also…

Norwegian ports are to implement strict controls on ballast water management this year to meet standards set down in an IMO Convention, which has yet to be adopted internationally.

The Portuguese construction and services group Mota-Engil is negotiating a partnership with Maersk to manage ports both within Portugal and abroad. Domestically, they are looking at possibilities in both Lisbon and Setubal,…

Kalmar has confirmed orders for27 straddle carriers from Germanterminal operators.

UK transport minister Stephen Ladyman has thrown his weight behind a lobbying campaign to raise the profile of Merseysides growing maritime sector.

Salerno Container Terminal has opened its doors to US Customs officials as the first commercial port in Italy to become operational under the US Container Security Initiative.