Hyundai Merchant Marine is looking at the possibility of reducing voyage times between Asia and Europe via the Arctic Sea as the polar region becomes more accessible to vessels amid global warning. According to media reports, South Korea’s carrier is considering a trial sailing of the polar passage route from 2020 onwards with either a polar icebreaker blazing a trail for commercial boxships or
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UK food and drink exports reached a record-high of £10.2bn in the first half of 2017 which meant an 8.5% increase compared with the same period last year. Higher export growth was recorder to EU countries than non-EU countries with the total value of EU exports reaching £6.3bn. Ireland, France and the US remained the UK’s top three export destinations for food and drink.
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Iran is aiming to triple container port capacity to 14m teu (equivalent of 14 million 20′ containers) by the end of the decade following the easing of trade sanctions more than a year ago. Bandar Abbas can currently handle 3m teu, which represents about 84% or Iran’s container traffic, with ambitions to grow to 9.8m teu annualy by 2020, according to government data. With
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Chinese firm Guangdong iBosst has launched a project to develop Intelligent Logistics Express (ILE) cable rail system covering urban and rural areas of China. The aim is to offer same-day delivery of goods nationwide and one-hour citywide delivery at half the cost of traditional transport modes. The first 15km long ILE was completed in Guangdong Province in May. The technology focuses on low-altitude static
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Plans for a pioneering (1.9 million sq ft) underground warehouse near Heathrow Airport were approved early this month. This ambitious project will potentially serve as a blueprint for other underground warehousing and logistics developments in high-value urban land areas. Hounslow Borough Council’s planning committee approved the proposals submitted by the landowner, Formal Investments, to create the largest new recreational park in West London on
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26th June marks one year anniversary since the expanded Panama Canal began commercial operation. More than 1000 Neo-Panamax ships have undertaken the journey since then. The project has opened up a new shipping lane for larger vessels. Increasing the size of the vessels able to pass through, from a max length of 294 metres and a beam of 32.2 metres to 366 meters and
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On 5th June 2017 UAE, Saudia Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain announced that they were restraining diplomatic ties with Qatar over allegations that it is sponsoring terrorism. In addition to that, various bans have been imposed on land, sea and air travel as well as movement of goods into and out of Qatar. Immediate bans were imposed on ports in Saudia Arabia, the UAE and
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Chinese ports are currently experiencing a serious congestion brought on by a number of factors. Bad weather such as fog and problems related to the establishment of new shipping alliances will soon pass. However in order to overcome other issues, implementation of some strategic planning will be required. On the surface it looks like Chinese main ports’ workload has been lightened as there aren’t
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Post-Brexit challenges awaiting logistics and freight companies were discussed in much detail during an annual “Keep Britain Trading” conference organised by FTA this month. The participants of the conference raised many concerns regarding the way that shipping industry will work post Brexit. British Port Asscosiation (BPA) chief executive Richard Ballantyne said the number one concern of his organisation’s UK port members was in the
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In the summer of 2016 Unipac Shipping UK took on a project of transporting a life size sculpture of Capability Brown from China to France. Laury Dizengremel, the highly-regarded international sculptor, was commissioned to carry out the work, based on the portrait by Richard Cosway. The statue was made in Laury’s studio in China and cast in the foundry used by Ai Wei-Wei.
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