ViewPoint – Page 9
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PS Viewpoint
Drewry Shipping Consultants has revised its estimate of world container traffic in 2006 to 128.3m teu and expects the figure for 2007 to be 142.9m teu, a significant increase driven by rapidly expanding westbound traffic from Asia. The 2008 figure is tentatively put at 158.3m teu. So, the growth goes ...
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Viewpoint - Parallel World Rises
Congestion is raising its head again in Europe, partly as a result of the sheer volume of traffic, partly due to local factors and also due to the reality that the expansion plans of various ports have been slowed by meeting new environmental requirements.
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Less is more
Europe still has its fair share of less than hospitable airports and as this writer navigated one of them recently he opened the door to a rather "intimate" departure lounge only to push the door into the rather large backside of an east European gentlemen bending down looking for his ...
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Hand that feeds
Back to normal in Tuticorin after PSA International made a point to the Indian Government about the weird workings of the Tariff Authority for Major Ports (TAMP), the body which, in September 2006, effectively halved PSA’ s revenue at its Tuticorin Container Terminal (TCT) as a result of enforced tariff ...
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Burst that bubble
Give or take a few US politicians, no-one thinks its workable, no-one wants it, it will be expensive but it is in the pipeline. “ It” is, of course, new legislation in the US compelling the screening of all US bound containers at foreign ports. 
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Capacity crunch
That word is back again: “ congestion” , and along with it some interesting projections. Two new reports have recently been issued both of which foresee capacity crunches in the port sector. 
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Taking stock
Other than for a select number of Chinese ports, stock exchange flotation has so far not proved a hugely popular method of raising cash in the international ports industry. Indeed, recent times have seen a number of significant players exit from public listings as they have been acquired by private ...
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Time for Clarity
Port tariff reform is not a subject that “ rings everyone’ s bell” , but it is an important one worth paying some attention to. Larger ports will tend to have the subject fairly high on their agenda; others in the middle range and lower are not always so diligent. 
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Reality check
In the UK,if you turn on the radio,look at the television or read the newspaper it is virtually guaranteed that you will be exposed to an array of facts, discussions or opinions about the environment. And we are not alone; our colleagues around the world are no doubt being subjected ...
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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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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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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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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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Independence Day
International terminal operators, with their wide reach, high profile branding and bottomless pockets,have fast become synonymous with successful port operations, leaving public sector terminals to be viewed as the poor relations of the port world. And with capacity shortages making sour reading for shippers, these terminal factory lines can only ...
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Big spin-offs
The thirst for ever larger containerships is seemingly never quenched. Last month, the gleaming Emma Maersk sashayed on to the market with its declared 11,000 teu capacity - and whispers of a ''real'' capacity of more than 13,000 teu.
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Expect the unexpected
As I walked around Limassol port last month and watched the port manager calmly overseeing thousands of evacuees using his port as a springboard for other destinations, I have to say I was impressed. This port on the south coast of Cyprus didn''t ask to be the channel for evacuees ...
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Question Time
The UK Ports Policy Review Roadshow rolled into London on 25 May and was the focus of some serious attention as well as merriment by industry participants and analysts alike.
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Grasping the big issues
This is the last Viewpoint I shall be writing. I''m returning to my old business of ships agency, and to my old firm, Inchcape Shipping Services after three terrific years editing PS.
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Maritime Centres and Democracy
In Belgium and Holland recently it was striking to see what a deep-routed culture of maritime tradition prevails. The history of maritime activity goes back centuries and as with any such region, this breeds much more than just the port and its core activities. In Benelux you will find the ...