Campaigners including Freight on Rail and the Campaign for Better Transport have welcomed increased capacity for freight trains to and from the UK container port of Felixstowe that will cater for the immediate, suppressed demand for rail freight services on this key intermodal route. Network Rail recently announced that the upgrades to the branch line between Felixstowe and Ipswich are on schedule to be
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American Airlines Cargo recently flew two sand tiger sharks from New York Airport and three bonnethead sharks from Miami International Airport, all to Rio de Janeiro. All five sharks were headed to their new home at an aquarium in Nova Iguazu, Brazil via two different Boeing 777-200s. American Airlines worked with Four Star Cargo to ensure the sharks arrived safely and on time. The
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Nippon Yusen KK will remotely pilot one of its large container ships from a Japanese port to North America, although a crew will be aboard as a precautionary measure for the initial test voyage, Bloomber reported. The voyage is being planned by the Monohakobi Technology Institute, which is a division of the shipping firm, and will be a step towards the abolition of crews
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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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