Tag: maritime traffic

Indian ports caught in shallow waters

shipping traffic, Mississippi River

Thanks to Booming Oil and Gas Exports A UN team is in Australia this week investigating what damage the mining industry is causing to the Great Barrier Reef, which is located off the coast of Queensland, Australia's largest coal-producing state. Officials have been told the reef could face a tenfold increase in bulk ship traffic as coal and gas exports boom, the Sydney Morning Herald reports.The delegation from UNESCO's World Heritage Committee and the International Union for Conservation of Nature follows ''extreme concern'' from the heritage committee last year over a proposed liquid natural gas plant near Gladstone, a small town near the Queensland coast. Or, as Greenpeace put it, "Approvals for new gas processing plants on Curtis Island off Gladstone in 2011 prompted a stinging rebuke from United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)."Greenpeace and environmentalists are increasingly concerned that additional coal production, and the resulting spike in shipping traffic, could affect the World Heritage status of the Great Barrier Reef, an already-stressed but vital ecosystem.The Sydney Morning Herald has more:In a submission to the delegation, the conservation union's Australian committee warned that the dramatic growth of the Queensland resources industry had accelerated the threat to the reef ...

Container traffic at Malaysia's leading container port increased Container traffic at Malaysia's leading container port increased 15% in 2011. The Port of Tanjung Pelepas (PTP) in Johor handled 7.5M TEU in 2011, representing an increase of 15% over 2010, outperforming the reported global volume growth of 7%."This sharp increase was driven by strong organic growth from existing customers as well as volume from new customers," said Azlan Shahrim, Deputy CEO."Container volume from PTP's main existing customers, Maersk Line and Evergreen, increased by 16% over the previous year. The port has also seen new shipping lines during the year, including Hanjin and STX Pan Ocean of Korea, Mitsui and K-Line of Japan and China Shipping."From just two shipping lines in our early days, we now have 26 shipping lines and container operators. This has vastly improved connectivity and frequency, and enables us to provide shippers better access to the global market."PTP is one of seven ports worldwide chosen by Maersk Line for its new "Daily Maersk" service, a daily service between the Far East and North Europe involving 70 vessels operating between four mega ports in Asia and three ports in Europe.PTP is a joint venture between MMC Corporation (70%), a ...

The UAE's position is seen as a key import and re-export hub The UAE's position as a key import and re-export hub, has seen its ports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah and others handling increasing amounts of container traffic, as demand for goods and services throughout the region rises. According to recent estimates, the amount of container traffic handled by UAE ports in 2010 was 11.6 million TEU, up four per cent over the previous year. The performance of the region in the second half of 2010 saw a return to peak levels previously seen in 2008 with 6.1 million TEU handled in the six month period.Large-scale developments underway in the region, such as the mega terminal project in Jeddah, which will double existing capacity to 15 million containers annually by 2020, are set to transform the current scenario in the near future. Another mega-development that is sparking tremendous interest regionally is the ongoing construction of the multi-billion dollar world-class deep water port at Meesaid in Qatar.Increasing globalisation and international trade is spurring the demand for greater transport, logistics and communications facilities the world over. This has fuelled the drive to create improved facilities such as ports, air terminals, ...