News

Transport workers Tuesday began industrial action across France that is expected to continue for several days, although the initial impact seems to have been limited. Trade unions have called on lorry drivers, railway workers, port and airport staff, seafarers, air traffic controllers, and oil refinery personnel to protest against new...

Port of Houston will deny access to its terminals for containers that arrive without electronic documentation of their verified gross mass after a new International Maritime Organization container weight ruletakes effect on July 1. The port, which handles two-thirds of the container volume on the U.S. Gulf Coast, joined ports in Virginia and Savannah...

The U.S. Coast Guard has determined that existing U.S. laws and regulations for providing verified container weights are equivalent to the requirements in SOLAS Regulation VI/2. The Coast Guard sent to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) a letter outlining its determination that its current regulatory regime provides for other entities...

China will conduct random inspections on export containers at the country’s ports from July 1 as part of its enforcement of new container-weighing requirements, according to long-awaited industry guidelines issued by the Ministry of Transport. In a consultation paper sent to all agencies of the Transport Ministry and translated by CargoSmart,...

Unexpected and unseasonably rough seas caused the closure of Santos, South America’s biggest port for containers, for more than 30 hours at the end of last week and Monday. Shippers and carriers suffered delays and some cargo had to be rolled over to later sailings, according to Sindamar, the Santos...

Quiport, the operator of Quito airport, has built an emergency terminal in the City of Manta, whose airport was damaged by a severe earthquake earlier this month. Together with the Civil Aviation Directorate and Avianca, flights have now resumed to Manta, which lost all connectivity after the earthquake – a...

The Patrick container terminal at the port of Melbourne in Australia will face a stoppage as part of a three-week-old industrial action campaign by the Maritime Union of Australia as the two parties negotiate contracts. The strike will last 48 hours beginning at 7 a.m. local time April 28 and...

Six German airports including Frankfurt/Main, Munich, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Dortmund and Hannover will be affected if the strike by German public services trade union Verdi moved forward on Wednesday, April 27. Frankfurt Airport will be affected from early morning until 3 p.m. local time, including ground-services, check-in, maintenance areas and also...

Workers at several German airports including Frankfurt will strike on April 27 in support of a wage increase, the Verdi union said. Strikes will affect Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Cologne/Bonn, Dortmund and Hanover airports. At Frankfurt, ground services, check-in, shops, aviation security inspectors and the fire service will strike until about...

Indonesia fears piracy on a shipping route along its sea border with the Philippines could reach Somalian levels and has told vessels to avoid danger areas, officials said on Thursday, after a spate of kidnappings. Analysts say the route carries $40 billion worth of cargo each year. It is taken...