The Strategist – Page 3
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Waking up to mega ship realities
COMMENT: A new Discussion Paper from the International Transport Forum (ITF), the intergovernmental think-tank for transport policy, on the Argentinian port of Buenos Aires has raised a number of key issues faced by various ports around the world - particularly maritime and landside access issues - when it comes to ...
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NewsRationale of Newcastle’s suitors
COMMENT: The Port of Newcastle, New South Wales, has reported explicit interest on the part of international terminal operators to develop a container terminal at the port, writes Mike Mundy.
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Thumbs up for Valencia index
COMMENT: The Valencia Containerised Freight Index (VCFI) – a new initiative developed by the Valencia Port Authority and the research/study body Valenciaport Foundation – is, according to Aurelio Martinez, president of the Port Authority of Valencia, intended to fill an information gap regarding maritime freight rates for key maritime routes ...
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Port pirates must be eliminated
COMMENT: Piracy at sea targeting cargo carrying vessels is an unfortunate reality most of us are familiar with, but piracy at berth or anchor in port is a new development, writes Mike Mundy.
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Think you have an environmental problem?
COMMENT: Think you have got an environmental problem, asks Mike Mundy? Think again: your problem is probably miniscule when compared with the one recently identified in Calabar Port, located in the southeast corner of Nigeria in Cross River State.
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Politicians and ‘favours’ unhappy bedfellows
COMMENT: The end of March saw ‘operation Skala’ launched in Brazil, a federal investigation into alleged bribes paid by port sector companies to government personnel in return for ‘favours’ such as concession contract extension, writes Mike Mundy.
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Fair and proper process the only way
COMMENT: Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya, and James Macharia, transport cabinet secretary, have been piling the pressure on Catherine Mturi-Wairi, managing director of the Kenya Ports Authority (KPA), to achieve greater freight movement on the new Chinese-built standard gauge railway (SGR) connecting Mombasa with Nairobi, writes Mike Mundy.
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Ultra-large boom
COMMENT: The proliferation of ultra-large container ships has been the bane of many a port operator’s working life of late, writes Mike Mundy.
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Moving with the times
COMMENT: Slowly but surely, port agencies in Africa are becoming more sophisticated about how they offer port properties – container terminals, multipurpose terminals and so on – for a public-private partnership (PPP), writes Mike Mundy.
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A case of fake reforms?
COMMENT: To the outside world it looks like Spain has complied with its obligation to reform its port system. But has it, or more to the point will it when the formal deliberations of employers and unions are complete, asks Mike Mundy.
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Transhipment dice roll again
COMMENT: One of the consequences of the formation of the mega-alliances that has yet to work its way fully through is the relocation of transhipment volumes, writes Mike Mundy.
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Trying times for transhipment
COMMENT: Who would set up a new container transhipment terminal nowadays, asks Mike Mundy.
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No to organised crime
COMMENT: Make no mistake, organised crime has a strong interest in gaining influence in port gateways and ports have to be vigilant in order to ensure that this does not happen, writes Mike Mundy.
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Spain’s second stab at reforms
COMMENT: Spain’s Council of Ministers has approved the content of what is intended to become the new national stowage law and is readying to pass it into law via a Royal Decree. It has not, however, arrived at this juncture without controversy, writes Mike Mundy.
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Corruption health check essential
COMMENT: Corruption in ports and at borders generally manifests itself in terms of collusive forms of corruption to evade tariffs and taxes and coercive bribery where port or customs officials extract bribes from companies or individuals for performing routine processes, writes Mike Mundy.
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Collaboration not confrontation?
COMMENT: Around the world port labour reforms are in train. There are not many locations where such reforms are undertaken on a proactive basis; it usually involves legislative change and grinding out a solution between employers and unions often with some sort of mediation in-between. As is now the case ...
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Second can be better than first
COMMENT: The poor state of health of the container shipping sector has prompted a lot of speculation about the implications for the container terminal operating sector, writes Mike Mundy.
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South Korea’s turn
COMMENT: Now its South Korea’s turn for some political turbulence, writes Mike Mundy.
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The case of Bangladesh
COMMENT: Bangladesh is an interesting case study; it is a country where international trade is on the march but it is still a country without a deep-sea port, writes Mike Mundy.
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Will common sense prevail?
COMMENT: The port of Melbourne sale to the private sector has realised a whacking A$9.7bn (US$7.2bn), much more than anticipated, writes Mike Mundy.
