We would like to introduce "Orient Star Ukraine", as branch office in Ukraine. The company was found in 1998 and has the state license N 119531 to effect the employment of Ukrainian seafarers abroad. We provide manning service for the Ukrainian and foreign employer and can arrange the employment of any kind of qualified and professional seafarers providing them with all certificates requested by the STCW-95 and National regulations.Concerning recruitment and vetting of potential candidates for employment we pay particular attention to the experience and references of our candidates, their age, appearance, knowledge of English language to guarantee the successful work for them and mutually beneficial cooperation between ourselves and the employers.Orient Star Ukraine" cooperates with medical center "Academmarine" in Odessa, which insures full medical examination for our seafarers. Medical center is certified by ""P&I Club" and their certificates for seamen are internationally recognized. Our travel agent provides us and our partners (ship owners and ship managers) with complete service during the process of booking air tickets for the seamen to all destinations worldwide. We have excellent experience in conducting interviews between Employers and seamen, which is of utmost importance during recruitment of officers and catering personnel on passenger ships.

We also offer the facility preparation of all necessary documents as may be required for all seamen to obtain ships flag certificates and endorsements. We hope the above will be of interest to Your company, enabling us to offer our service for the supply of Ukrainian seafarers for Your vessels, for all positions including deck, engine room, hotel and F&B departments.We can offer You the highest level of service and assure You of our continued endeavors to maintain the high standards and service available.

It was quite a milestone when the Gjøa platform was towed out into the fjord off Aker Solutions Stord shipyard. It feels incredibly good to finally send the platform out to the field. Many millions of work-hours lie behind this milestone,” acknowledges Statoil’s vice president for the Gjøa field development, Kjetel Digre. Out in the fjord four huge anchor-handling vessels tautened the cables and the journey out to the field in the northern part of the North Sea commenced. For work on Gjøa has not been without unexpected obstacles. An unusually long and snow-laden winter created a number of challenges for the project. And when spring finally arrived the platform tow had to be postponed. A systematic review revealed that some minor modifications had to be carried out to the platform hull, and Gjøa had to remain in dock for an extended period.

From June 2010, Martinair will take occupation of its new head office building, named TransPort. Along with other motorised forms of transportation, harmful emissions from aviation affect the environment. Over and above introducing fuel-saving measures, Martinair strives to achieve sustainable operations. The new building at Schiphol East has been named TransPort. It’s a fitting name, as it will house both Martinair and transavia.com who, each year, jointly transport millions of passengers and many tons of cargo.The Dutch Green Building Council has awarded the first BREEAM-NL certificate to Schiphol Real Estate, the developer of the building, for the sustainable construction of the TransPort office building. As such, Schiphol Real Estate is the first developer and investor in the Netherlands to have constructed an office building in compliance with the new Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM-NL) for newly constructed buildings.

A big welcome back for "Charlie Romeo", the first of Lufthansa Cargo’s four MD-11s to return to base after a sojourn in the Mojave desert in California. After a flight from Victorville Airport, the freighter landed in Frankfurt on Friday, May 5th, at 12.00 hours today. The MD-11 and the crew headed by Captain Fokko Doyen were greeted on touch-down by Dr. Andreas Otto, Board Member Product and Sales at Lufthansa Cargo. Technical reactivation of the "Charlie Romeo" began in the desert in April. The freighter (registration D-ALCR), is scheduled to resume services at Lufthansa Cargo in June. It had been parked with three other MD-11s at the US desert airport, a two-hour drive northeast of Los Angeles, since January. A second MD-11, the "Charlie Sierra", will be flying back from Victorville in the late summer.

Continental and United today announced a definitive merger agreement, creating the world's leading airline with superior service to customers, expanded access to an unparalleled global network serving 370 destinations around the world, enhanced long-term career prospects for employees, and a platform for improved profitability and sustainable long-term value for shareholders.  The all-stock merger of equals brings together two of the world's premier airlines, creating a combined company well positioned to succeed in an increasingly competitive global and domestic aviation industry.

The WCA Family has made good on its promise bringing the Sino-European conference to the forefront of its regional meetings. With almost 200 delegates already signed up, and many more signing up everyday, we expect this to be an even larger success than predicted – it will be a sell-out at 350 delegates! Currently there are over 80 Chinese forwarders and over a dozen African forwarders attending the event – with such positive numbers, this is a must attend event.

In this connection Norwegian will strive to operate approximately normal route program within short time. However, there will be some cancellations until the condition is completely normalized, and we therefore refer to the updated route program published below on this page. Updated april 21 - 11:45

The schedules can be subject to changes without warning. Please check this page regularly.

Passengers traveling to (including) Thursday 22 April may cancel their flight and get a full refund or rebook to a later flight on the same destination within the same price range regardless of whether the flight has already been canceled or not. The journey must be completed by the end of 2010. Passengers who are booked on already canceled flights, and which have not yet rebooked these tickets, must apply for a full refund of air fare. Norwegian follows the EU guidelines 261/2004 regarding assistance. Due to the extraordinary nature of what has happened, many insurance companies have indicated that they will cover the cost of essential needs for customers who are stranded away from home. The assistance provided by an insurance company may be more comprehensive than EU 261/2004 and we recommend that passengers who find themselves in this situation contact their insurance company.

 DHL Express resumes standard intra-European air operations

 Intercontinental services back to normal since Tuesday night

With the problems surrounding flights due to volcanic ash, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines can report that almost all passengers had joined Braemar in the Caribbean by 17 April, and the ship left Bridgetown as scheduled, on her transatlantic cruise arriving back in the UK on 01 May 2010. Unfortunately, 257 home-coming passengers due to return to the UK on the Manchester charter flight, have not been able to do so and are still in Barbados. Full board hotel accommodation has been arranged for those passengers, and a company representative is on hand to liaise with airlines and the ground transportation company, to assist passengers with arrangements home as soon as possible.

A new contract with Total has now been confirmed and Bourbon Borgstein will be operating the area until late 2011.

A volcano near Iceland’s Eyiafjallajokull glacier has been spewing ash clouds into the air since Wednesday, bringing air traffic in parts of northern and western Europe to a standstill. The southeast drifting cloud, floating roughly between 6,000 and 8,000 meters above surface forced national civil aviation authorities to close many parts of the European airspace, mainly above Scandinavia, the UK, the Benelux countries, France, Germany, the Baltic States, and Poland. A large number of airports were shut down Thursday, among them all British airports, Paris, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin, Oslo, Copenhagen and Brussels. Eurocontrol reported the skipping of about 4,000 flights on Thursday. This occurred in 1989 when a KLM Boeing 747 en route from Amsterdam to Alaska flew across an ash cloud spewed in the atmosphere by Mount Redoubt of the Aleutian Range. All four engines lost power, which were restored shortly, averting the aircraft from crashing. A similar incident happened in 1982 to a British Airways B747 flying from Great Britain to New Zealand hitting volcanic ashes coming from Indonesian volcano Mount Gulanggung. All four engines failed but were restarted by the cockpit crew after they managed to glide the aircraft far enough to escape the ash cloud. It is our hope that we can get back to a normal operation by Sunday but it’s way too early to tell if that will be possible. AD.

CrossCountry train driver Stephen Parker will once again be leading the Dartmoor Challenge Group this year on its annual 30-mile charity walk over Dartmoor - the largest and wildest area of open country in the south of England. Princetown-based Stephen, 54, has co-ordinated the charity walk for 19 years having raised over £100,000 for local children’s charities in Devon. Stephen formed the group in 1991 to raise money to help children who suffer from cancer and enjoys the support from CrossCountry, one of Britain’s largest train operating companies. This year’s event takes place over the weekend of 17/18 April and will see volunteers having the option of a 10-mile or 15-mile route each day. On day one volunteers will hike from Postbridge to Belstone with the 15-mile course continuing further east to South Zeal. Day two will begin at Princetown with the 10-mile finish at Dartmeet and the full 15-mile route ending in Widecombe-in-the-Moor.

It was today announced that Hoegh Autoliners and Jardine Shipping Services have entered into a partnership agreement for the South East Asia region, whereby Jardine Shipping Services will act as Agents for the region. The representation covers Port Agency, Sales & Customer Services and Logistics. The agreement comes in to effect during March and April 2010 and is expected to be complete by June 1st 2010 in the region.

Says Per Folkesson, Head of Region South Asia, Oceania, Middle East & Africa, “Hoegh Autoliners has served this region for many years but at varying levels. Ten to twelve years ago, we had a very high level of activity in this area but after the tiger crisis, much of the cargo base disappeared. We continued however, calling on the base ports in the area with factory new vehicles. In 2009 we decided to take a closer look at certain markets with a view to exploring possibilities to develop new trade patterns. We were recently awarded new business out of the area and have already established two new services catering for exports.

Statoil has signed an agreement with an affiliate of ExxonMobil to transfer 35% of its interest in Statoil operated Block 2 in Tanzania. Statoil now holds 65% interest in the 11,099 square kilometres block. Statoil is looking forward to working with ExxonMobil in our frontier acreage offshore Tanzania. This is a deepwater environment and both companies have extensive deepwater experience,” says Tim Dodson, senior vice president Exploration. The agreement, executed between Statoil Tanzania AS and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Tanzania Limited, was approved by the Tanzania government on 9 March. Statoil signed a Production Sharing Agreement on 18 April 2007 with the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC). Offshore Tanzania is considered a frontier exploration area. A phase of 2D seismic acquisition was completed in 2008 and the acquisition of a 3D seismic survey was completed in February this year

Geely started in 1986 as a manufacturer of refrigerators, then moved to manufacturing decoration materials in 1989, and by 1992, motorcycle parts. In 1994, Geely began manufacturing motorcycles. By 1996, Geely had produced over 200,000 motorcycles and scooters. Automobile production started in 1998. Geely began exporting its first cars in 2003. Geely had its IPO in 2004. Geely's chairman and founder, Li Shufu, wants to sell two-thirds of the company's output overseas, though he is noncommitted as to when that could happen. In a March 2005 forum held in Beijing, he was quoted as saying: We must make cars like people from Wenzhou make [a quarter of the world's] lighters. But developing a car industry is like growing one tree slowly to cover a whole forest."  Li relinquished the CEO title to Yue Guisheng in February 2006 to comply with Hong Kong Stock Exchange regulations. He remains chairman.

Volvo on Sunday confirmed that Zheijang Geely, a Chinese carmaker, had signed the deal to buy Volvo from US auto giant Ford.I can confirm that a final agreement on the sale of Volvo to Geely was signed at 14:40,'' Volvo Cars spokesman Per-Aake Froeberg told AFP, but he would not give further details before a news conference scheduled for later in the day. The deal was signed at a ceremony at the Volvo headquarters in Sweden, the official Xinhua news agency said. Ford announced in December that it had agreed on the main terms of the sale of its loss-making Swedish subsidiary Volvo Cars to Geely, one of China's largest private automakers, for a reported two billion dollars. The deal will bring to an end Ford's decade-long association with the premium Swedish brand, known for its sturdy, family-friendly cars. Volvo unions had earlier voiced opposition to the deal on grounds that it was vague on expansion plans and possible layoffs.Three Volvo unions this week pressed for details "on the capital that will finance Volvo's daily activities, investment on future projects and the production target of 600,000 vehicles by 2015.''

State owned carrier Air China (Code CA) will up its stake in Shenzhen Airlines from currently 25% to 51%. The transaction is supposed to take place in mid-April the airline announced in Beijing. The move comes after former majority owner (65%) Li Zeyuan of Shenzhen Airlines and senior executive Li Kun were under criminal investigation for unspecified economic fraud. The upcoming takeover will further consolidate the country’s aviation industry leaving three major state-controlled groups consisting of Air China, China Southern and China Eastern. Directly affected by the ownership change is Shenzhen-based Jade Cargo International in which local Shenzhen Airlines holds 51% capital majority, while Lufthansa Cargo (25%), and DEG – Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (24%) are the other stakeholders. The 2004 established air freight carrier deploys six B747-400ERF jumbo freighters and is managed by Lufthansa Cargo personnel. Up to this point it is uncertain what implication the integration of Shenzhen Airlines into Air China might have for Jade. Analysts favor the possibility of an upcoming collaboration between Jade and newly built Air China Cargo (ACC), a Shanghai-based JV between Air China and Cathay Pacific. They point out that Air China in 2007 joined the Star Alliance in which Lufthansa plays a leading role. In addition LH Cargo and Air China Cargo are partnering on routes between Germany and China as a result of a co-loading agreement.

State-owned Air China is overseeing the commercial activities of Shenzhen Airlines after Li Zeyuan, (left)the major shareholder of the Shenzhen-based carrier is being investigated by police for alleged economic crimes. The carrier has been assigned de-facto control by Beijing’s Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) . It has generated speculations of a possible takeover by Air China of Shenzhen Airlines, the country’s fifth biggest carrier by assets, operating a fleet of more than 80 passenger aircraft and freighters. The Chinese flag carrier has long held a 25 percent stake in competitor Shenzhen Airlines but failed to gain control in 2005 by losing a public bid to Chinese investment partners Huirun Co. and Bright Oceans Corp.

The IATA World Cargo Symposium is unique amongst air cargo events in moving from talk to action! Our 2010 theme focuses on what it will take for the air cargo supply chain to bounce back from the current recession and rebuild its future.

Date and Location - 08 March - 11 March, 2010 - Vancouver, Canada - Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre - Event designed for: All Audiences

Economic uncertainty prevails, together with increased safety, security, and environmental demands. In such challenging times: 

1.What economic scenarios does the air cargo industry face and how best to respond?

2.How can the air cargo supply chain bounce back from the current recession to deliver a step change in efficiency and customer value?

3.How must the air cargo supply chain respond to the increasing safety, security, and environmental regulatory demands?

4.What are the critical decisions we must now take as an industry to ensure we are fit for business?

The 2010 World Symposium will focus on developing an industry agenda to tackle these questions

On the 13 of November Darka had successfully delivered 82 tons crane from Port Sudan to Bisha Gold mine in neighboring Eritrea. This was a very urgent and essential shipment to the mining project in Eritrea.

It is the first delivery of such equipment to be done through the port of Port Sudan and delivery cross the Sudanese Eritrea border. Total route length is 800 km of which last 130 km is tarmac rough road where dozers and loaders were used to fix and settle the roads were needed.  Delivery took 5 days.

Darka once again prove to be the reliable partner to handle urgent cargo in the region.

The domino effect of a crisis which started in the finance sphere has hit us all in one way or the other and signs of recovery are still slow to materialize. The main problem for us is the reduced yields. These are not sustainable and will have to move up the moment the demand/supply gap justifies this. Cargolux remains strongly convinced that new and fresh opportunities will rise from the current difficult context. With this forward-looking state-of-mind the company has engaged into a venture called Cargolux Italia, together with a Italian financial partner. Cargolux Italia is a fully certified Italian Carrier operating a Boeing 747-400F aircraft. Based in Milan, the airline will initially serve the Milan-Hong-Kong route, while eyeing further expansion in Asia once the Hong-Kong operation has reached its cruising speed. Cargolux Airlines International is acting as sole GSA for Cargolux Italia. In this role, we hope to deliver the same level of service, quality and know-how to its customers as we deliver to our customer base and look forward to a long and fruitful collaboration between the two airlines.

Zurich, Switzerland / Oslo, Norway: Swiss WorldCargo, the airfreight division of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd., is introducing a new scheduled Zurich-Oslo air cargo service on 19 June. The to daily flights, operated by Airbus A319 aircraft, will offer two tonnes of cargo capacity on the route and strenghten Swiss WorldCargo's position in the Scandinavian market. A major shipping nation with a high dependence on international trade, Norway is essentially an exporter of raw materials and semi-processed goods. The country is rich in natural resources that include oil, hydro power, fish, forests and minerals. It is currently among the world’s top five exporters in the seafood, crude oil and shipping services sectors, and has significant market shares in the light metals and ship equipment fields as well as in a number of maritime services. The after sales services of these Norvegian indistrues require complementary time-sensitive and high value cargo services; in fact, our investment in our new Zurich-Oslo rout highlights Swiss WorldCargo's trademark focus on care-intensive airfreight solutions," says Urs Stulz, Managing Director Area Management Europe. "With its leading flown-as-planned track record within the airfreight industry for express and valuable consignments, Swiss WorldCargo is particularly well equipped to meet the needs of a niche air cargo market like Norway's. The new flights will offer customers from Norway convenient connections in Zurich with SWISS’s other European services and its intercontinental network.

Carsten Spohr, Chairman of the Executive Board of Lufthansa Cargo, has made it clear that, in the event of an absolute ban on night flights in Frankfurt, the business model of Lufthansa Cargo would be seriously threatened and that, as a result, gradually both the MD-11 fleet and up to 50 percent of the company’s jobs worldwide could be endangered.
"Apparently some of the political and legal authorities have simply no idea of what the ‘threat to our existence’, which provided evidence of during the proceedings, really means. In really concrete terms it would mean that with the coming into force of an absolute ban on night flights, Lufthansa Cargo - and also the complete logistics location of Frankfurt - would be pulled into an irreversible downwards spiral which would result from a reduction of the cargo tonnages, incl. the shift of traffic and jobs abroad. Our business model, in which we closely coordinate bellies and freighters in Frankfurt and operate optimally, would no longer be profitable here."

Maunu Visuri has been appointed Managing Director of Finnair Aircraft Finance Oy as of 1 May 2009. Visuri currently holds the position of Deputy Managing Director in Finnair Aircraft Finance Oy. The current Managing Director, Colin Molloy, will retire at the end of April. Finnair Aircraft Finance is responsible for Finnair's aircraft procurement and aircraft lease agreements. In Finnair Group, Finnair Aircraft Finance falls within the area of responsibility of Deputy CEO Lasse Heinonen.

Cargo Air Group, with offices in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden, has open new office in Bangkok. This is a strategic office as this will be head office for Asia. Cargo Air Group will during 2009 and 2010 have a huge expansion and will establish 15 new “franchise” offices world wide. Cargo Air Group has head office in Denmark and coordinator office in Norway. We are a Scandinavian company and share the administrative between Denmark and Norway. Are you interested to establish your own Cargo Air Offices? Make contact with  roloken@cargoair.no

EVERET, Wash., Feb. 24, 2009 -- Boeing [NYSE: BA] yesterday delivered the second of eight 777-200LRs (Longer Range) jetliners that have been ordered by Qatar Airways. The airplane departed Paine Field in Everett in the early afternoon on a shuttle flight of more than 14 hours to its new operational base at Doha International Airport. Qatar Airways has ordered 17 777-300ERs (Extended Range), five of which have been delivered, and two 777 Freighters for future delivery. Qatar Airway's newest 777-200LR is shown here during flight tests taking off from Paine Field in Everett, Wash., earlier this month. The first Boeing 777-200LR to join the airline's fleet arrived in Doha Feb. 8.

German newcomer Air Cargo Germany (ACG) welcomed a first freighter at their home base Frankfurt-Hahn Airport this Wednesday. The pax to cargo converted B747-400SF (Special Freighter) commuted from Amsterdam where it was painted in the new red and white livery of ACG. We are extremely proud of receiving our maiden craft and will commence operations soon despite the rough times our industry is presently confronted with," exclaimed CEO Michael Bock.The jumbo freighter will first be utilized for charter operations. Scheduled flights to Hong Kong and Shanghai with stopovers at Istanbul and Almaty will follow in April. A second B747-400SF will arrive sometime in spring, confirmed Managing Director Thomas Homering. VP Strategic Development Andrey Goryashko added that there is room for another player in Germany and central Europe despite the present world financial crisis: When we sat down about a year ago discussing the perspective of a new airline there weren’t any clouds hanging over the markets yet. To form an airline is a complicated and somehow bureaucratic process that takes time. Now we more or less accomplished this task and are ready to commence commercial operations," exclaimed Goryashko who once headed Aeroflot Cargo but lives in Germany now. Welcoming the first B747-400SF of ACG Air Cargo Germany means that for the first time of our existence we have a home carrier at our airport," stated Managing Director Joerg Schumacher of Frankfurt-Hahn Airport.

CLEVELAND - The U.S. Coast Guard, and multiple state and local agencies are attempting to rescue several hundred people stranded on an ice floe in western Lake Erie near Oak Harbor, Ohio.Approximately 300-500 people are reported to be on the ice flow. The call for help came into the Coast Guard at approximately 10:45 a.m.Responding agencies include: U.S. Coast Guard Air Stations Detroit, Traverse City, Mich., and Elizabeth City, N.C.; U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Mackinaw, U.S. Coast Guard Stations Toledo, Ohio, Belle Isle, Mich., St. Clair Shores, Mich., and Marblehead, Ohio; Canadian Coast Guard; Ohio State Patrol, Monroe County Sheriff;  Jervis, Carol and Washington Townships; Toledo Lifeflight.Rescuers are staging out of Crane Creek State Park in Oak Harbor, Ohio."We don't know why the people were on the ice," said Lt. David French, Ninth Coast Guard District Public Affairs Officer. "Right now our primary goal is to safely remove all the people from the ice floe." As of 1:25 p.m., 35 people have been safely removed from the ice floe.

New fare reductions position Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky as airport of choice for nonstop travel to more than 90 worldwide destinations CINCINNATI Feb. 6, 2009 – Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) today lowered business and leisure fares in domestic markets served from its Cincinnati hub. The reductions offer more than 80 percent of customers flying to or from Cincinnati a significant savings** on advance-purchase leisure and business fares to the hub’s most popular destinations, including select cities in Florida, the Northeast and along the West coast. Customers can take advantage of these new fares while enjoying convenient nonstop service to nearly 90 domestic destinations. “Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky is the airport of choice for customers across the Tri-State Region and these new fares make it compelling for customers to choose the convenience of flying nonstop to more than 90 worldwide destinations from Delta’s Cincinnati hub rather than wasting time and money driving to neighboring airports,” said Glen Hauenstein, Delta’s executive vice president – Network Planning and Revenue Management.

LOUISVILLE, Feb. 5, 2009 - On the eve of UPS's 21st anniversary as an air carrier, its airline division is being honored as the 2009 "Cargo Airline of the Year" by a leading industry publication. Each year, Air Transport World magazine recognizes the world's top airlines with its prestigious Industry Achievement Awards.  The publication selected UPS Airlines this year for its history of successful global growth, expansion into heavy freight, commitment to safety and technological innovation. "Whether it is the way it sorts parcels at Worldport in Louisville or the way it operates its aircraft to achieve peak safety and efficiency, UPS Airlines has distinguished itself as an innovator," wrote Perry Flint, the editorial director of Air Transport World. UPS's two decades of aviation accomplishments will be celebrated by Air Transport World and industry guests at a Feb. 17 ceremony in Washington, D.C."We work very hard to run the safest, most efficient airline we can to serve our customers all over the world," said UPS Airlines President Bob Lekites. "So it's certainly gratifying to see our efforts recognized by industry experts. We're honored to receive this award." UPS operates the world's ninth largest airline with a fleet of 266 aircraft. The company flies more than 1,900 flight segments each day into 800 airports in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. UPS (NYSE: UPS) is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain and freight services. With more than a century of experience in transportation and logistics, UPS is a leading global trade expert equipped with a broad portfolio of solutions. The company is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., and can be found on the web at UPS.com.

Lufthansa Cargo AG has been certified at its Frankfurt base to the international environmental standard ISO 14001, verifying that its comprehensive environmental management system satisfies the requirements of the ISO norm. Certification is granted to companies which meet the international requirements specified for effective environmental management systems - in a word, companies which exercise responsibility in their business operations by actively assessing and taking systematic steps to reduce the environmental impact of their processes, products and services. Alongside yearly internal and external audits, Lufthansa Cargo’s entire environmental care system will now be monitored by external auditors every three years. In its programme of environmental activities, Lufthansa Cargo is hosting an environmental conference in Frankfurt on 26 February 2009. At the event, international experts will be discussing the environmental relevance or effects of airfreight traffic as well as technical developments in the industry, furthering the cause of environmental and climate protection. During the Frankfurt conference, the "Cargo Climate Care Award 2009" will be presented to customers and staff of Lufthansa Cargo as well as students and young researchers, who have developed innovative solutions designed to improve the climate balance of air cargo traffic.

Airbus will initiate its 2009 activity with two important events: a groundbreaking ceremony on 14 January for the A350 XWB jetliner's new final assembly line facility; and the Airbus annual press conference on 15 January with the company's executive team. Both events will take place in Toulouse, France.

To assist the international news media, Airbus is providing live video streaming on its website, and also will make high-resolution images and video rushes available after the completion of these events.

The DSV logistics company, based in Copenhagen, will be admitted into the Global Partnership Programme of Lufthansa Cargo AG. Peter Larsen, Vice President DSV Air & Sea Holding, and Dr. Andreas Otto, Lufthansa Cargo Board Member for Product and Sales, signed the membership agreement in Brøndby in Denmark. We are pleased to be able to welcome DSV as our new Global Partner," said Dr. Otto. "The company ideally augments our customer portfolio. We hope that this new form of cooperation will intensify our good business relations and that we will grow profitably together."  Over the years, the Lufthansa Cargo Global Partnership Programme has developed into a solid platform for stability and growth. Alongside joint sharing in worldwide growth in the airfreight market, the programme is geared to increasing closer cooperation and the inter-meshing of capacity planning as well as operational processes and systems.  Lufthansa Cargo meantime generates about 50 per cent of its business with its twelve Global Partners, which together with the newest member DSV include the Agility, Ceva, DHL Global Forwarding, Expeditors, Hellmann, Kühne+Nagel, Nippon Express, Panalpina, DB Schenker, UPS and UTi logistics companies.

In line with recent developments, IRISL Benelux N.V. decided to change their IRISL agency in the Netherlands. The current collaboration with Messrs Neptumar will not be renewed. The new settlement with Ahlers Rotterdam B.V. will be effective as from December 1st, 2008.  IRISL Benelux N.V. is a Belgian based agency company, created in June 2003 as a Joint Venture between Ahlers Belgium N.V. and IRISL (Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines), the biggest shipping line in the Middle East.

The company represents, as agents, the conventional, bulk and container services of IRISL in all ports in Belgium and The Netherlands, as well as in their natural hinterland, including Germany, France and Luxembourg.
IRISL Benelux N.V. is also involved in logistics (door-to-door) for European exporters or importers in the trade between Europe and the Near & Middle East. Antwerp remains the main hub for IRISL with about 80 vessels’ calls annually, or some 4 ships weekly divided over a weekly container service, some 20 break bulk vessels and some 12 bulk vessels. Furthermore IRISL also guarantees a regular service in Rotterdam, where the company is represented by Ahlers Rotterdam B.V., using IRISL Agencies Netherlands as brand name.

Brussels, November 3rd 2008, DHL, the global market leader of the international express and logistics industry, introduced DHL TYREBOX for Europe, which is a new and patented solution for transporting tires to the market. Offering a convenient, cost-saving and environmentally-friendly packaging method, the box will soon be available across Europe. Simple, yet innovative, the DHL TYREBOX offers a unique solution to the conventional challenge of transporting tires, turning them from a non-conveyable shipment into a conveyable one, allowing tires to be easily stacked together and delivered flat-packed. Paul Coutts, Executive Vice President Marketing & Sales, DHL Express Europe, said: “We have initially launched the DHL TYREBOX with some customers in the automotive industry and it has had very positive feedback.’’ At DHL we continuously aim to innovate and deliver industry-leading solutions. The DHL TYREBOX is an example of this and one that demonstrates that innovation is sometimes in creating a simple product which makes all the difference to customers.“ Customers can use the box in a variety of ways for their own marketing. An optional center box can be added for easier distribution of company literature and ancillary items and the box can be branded.  In addition, customers can choose from a variety of the water-resistant board grades, offering increased durability of the packaging, and improve the appearance of the shipment to the end user. For customers transporting seasonal tires, an added value of this product is that its design allows re-usable storage

To ensure high load-factors from Dubai, basically from day one of operation, Cyril Bricaud and Nils Pries-Knudsen, have just paid a two-day visit to SAS Cargo's general sales agent in Dubai, Dnata. Dnata is a very professional and competent agent, and last year virtually all our capacity from the Middle East was sold. Now we are preparing for an encore. Dubai itself has few export articles, but it is a good destination for SEA-AIR traffic. Textiles and shoes are shipped from China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and other countries in Asia to the Dubai ports, where shipments are reloaded, transferred to aircraft and flown to Europe. In this way shippers optimize the balance between transport time and transport costs", explains Nils.

In Dubai, Nils and Cyril had the opportunity to meet the three SAS Cargo customers who provide 80% of SAS Cargo's payload from the Arabic peninsula, and everyone looked forward to continuing last winter's profitable partnership. The only challenge related to the Scandinavian visit in Dubai was the oppressive heat with temperatures around 47 °C combined with the Ramadan prohibition of eating and drinking in public places from sunrise to sunset. Fortunately, promising business prospects are nourishing in their own right.

According to Chinese authorities the contamination of powdered and liquid milk in the region of China has affected nearly 13,000 infants, with 80% under the age of two. As a consequence, an urgent need for dairy products arose, also demanding shipments from abroad. Cargolux has been among the carriers to provide these urgent supplies. On September 23rd, 2008, the first shipment of powdered milk from France was loaded on board one of Cargolux's B747-400 freighters in Luxembourg and flown to Shanghai the same day. Altogether, a total of 150 tons of powdered milk will be carried, with 50 tons on board each Cargolux flight.

Saia, Inc. (NASDAQ: SAIA) is pleased to announce it is the first less-than-truckload, non-bulk carrier in the United States to receive the distinction of being certified RC14001®. Saia's decision to pursue the RC14001 was two-fold. It allowed the company to build a single environmental, health, and safety (EHS) management system and a demonstrable way to provide Saia's customers with an even greater level of confidence in the company's operations.  Responsible Care® was launched in 1988 as the American Chemistry Council's (ACC) comprehensive environmental, health, safety and security performance improvement initiative. RC14001 builds on the Responsible Care Management Certification by including all of the requirements of the ISO 14001:2004, the international specification for an environmental management system. One critical additional requirement was a mandatory assessment by an independent, accredited auditing firm that reviewed Saia's policies, procedures and records for conformance and implementation of applicable standards. "Saia became the first non-bulk/LTL motor carrier within the American Chemistry Council's Responsible Care Partnership Program to become fully certified to the technical specifications for RC14001. RC14001 is a robust voluntary environmental, health, safety and security management system combining the attributes of the Responsible Care Management System® and the ISO 14001 environmental standard. We are proud to have Saia in an active leadership role in our nationally recognized chemical industry supply chain partnership program and look forward to continual performance improvement in their already excellent environmental, health, safety and security programs," said Dave Gleason, senior director for the ACC's Responsible Care program.

OCS is a worldwide network of more than 250 proprietary offices and substations, specializing in the customized distribution and time-sensitive delivery of international business materials. Major OCS corporate offices in New York, Tokyo, London, and Brussels anchor one of the most experienced and extensive international delivery systems. This OCS network links every business capital, on every continent, capable of delivering to nearly 200 countries. OCS (Overseas Courier Service) was organized in 1957 by a consortium of major newspaper publishers in Tokyo, Japan, as a global, overnight delivery system for time-sensitive business publications. It was the first such private international network, dedicated entirely to overseas air-speed shipping. At first, OCS focused on next-day delivery of critical financial news, within the major markets of Asia and the Pacific Rim. By 1962, we had expanded our system to handle overnight delivery from Asia to all other major business centers throughout the growing global economy. It was at this time that OCS America was created to accommodate this new inbound volume. Within a few years, our trade routes developed between OCS stations on all continents, and each of our regional branches in this growing network soon generated local export business As OCS evolved, we adapted our network to the movement of all types of business materials, from small documents to software media to hardware systems to commodities, in weights from just a few ounces to thousands of pounds. Today, OCS services range from express courier package delivery to heavy air freight to fulfillment and wholesale distribution. Growth of volume and new services have made the OCS organization more complex, but the longevity and prosperity of the company still owe to the OCS principles of good overseas positioning and alliances. Business cultural practice and foreign government regulatory policies demand local understanding. To become a truly international group, OCS has followed a strategy of employing indigenous expertise in each new market.

ZIM Rio Grande, a new 4250 TEU’s vessel build in Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Korea, has been delivered to ZIM at Koje, Korea, on July 6th, 2008. ZIM Rio Grande is the first out of a series of 8 similar long-term chartered newly-built vessels, to be delivered over the coming months, with the 8th vessel scheduled for delivery on June 2009. ZIM Rio Grande main particulars:
Weight: 50632.4 MT (Gross Tonnage) Engine Output: 49680 BHP  Width: 32.25 M, Length: 260.05 M, Maximum Speed: 24 Knots (service speed about 21 Knots) 400 plugs for refrigerated containers on board.  The new vessel is being phased into ZIM’s East-West Express Service (EWX), commencing operation at Shanghai on July 8.  ZIM’s recently introduced East-West Express Service, linking Asia and Europe, now operates 9 x 4250 vessels. As from July 2008, EWX service has added the port of Rotterdam to its rotation, offering excellent transit time of about 27 days from Shanghai to Rotterdam. The service also added the UK port of Southampton (replacing Tilbury) in order to streamline operations and further improve service to customers. The full rotation of EWX is as follows: Shanghai - Xiamen - Hong Kong - Shekou - Port Klang - Suez - Rotterdam - Bremerhaven - Antwerpen - Southampton, En - Le Havre - Suez - Shanghai .   ZIM East-West Express Service offers short and reliable transit times in this major trade lane, and serves various other Asian and European origins and destination through ZIM's extensive regional services. ZIM offers a total of 7 x weekly services between Asia and Europe, as well as Transpacific services between Asia and the Americas. 

Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. ("K" Line) is pleased to announce that an agreement has been reached with the holding company of Titan Quanzhou Shipyard Ltd. (TQSL), a shipyard under construction in a suburb of Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, PRC by Titan Petrochemicals Group Ltd. (HK Exchange: 1192)*, for “K Line to become a Primary Strategic Partner in ship repair business by purchasing convertible securities (equal to 5% of the outstanding number of shares).

Itasca, IL, August 8, 2008 – SEKO, a global provider of supply chain solutions, including transportation, logistics and IT solutions, announced it has been named a “100 Great Supply Chain Partner” in a poll taken by readers of Global Logistics and Supply Chain Strategies (GL&SCS) magazine. Global Logistics & Supply Chain Strategies magazine’s list of 100 Great Supply Chain Partners for 2008 is the result of a six-month poll in which senior level logistics and supply chain professionals were asked to nominate organizations whose technology, logistics, transportation or consulting solutions have made a significant impact on their company’s efficiency, customer service and overall supply chain performance. The purpose of the list is to recognize those organizations that have so impressed the readers that they deserve to be singled out and to be held up as examples for others in the industry as well as an opportunity to thank those providers who have helped the readers achieve better results. GL&SCS received more than 1,400 nominations from small and large companies representing scores of different industries on five continents. More than 400 vendors of every conceivable type of supply chain activity were nominated – from very specialized technologies, to third party logistics providers, to highly specialized transportation services. The 100 companies that received the most qualified nominations were selected for this year’s list. The listing appears in the July issue of GL&SCS in alphabetical order, without ranking. Several nominations were accompanied with commentaries, but regardless of what type of vendor a reader nominated, there were clear themes within the commentaries that accompanied most of the ballots. Similar to that of previous reports, the most common 10 qualities named in selecting this year’s winners were: reliability; repeatable excellence; value and cost savings; expertise and knowledge base; problem-solving ability; continuous improvement; support; positive culture; global capabilities; and strong management.

Gulf Air, the flag carrier of the Kingdom of Bahrain, prides itself as the airline with the biggest network in the Middle East offering as many as 588 flights every week in the Middle East with more non-stop flights than any other airline.This is a great advantage to the trade and industry, which has wider choice of flights to transport their cargo across the Middle East and beyond to/from Europe, the Indian Sub-Continent and the Far East. With excellent onward connections and minimum connecting time between flights, customers can be rest assured that their cargo will reach at the shortest possible time. Our dedicated personnel provide 24 hour coverage for all transit cargo, so transfer is both smooth and swift. That means a container arriving in Bahrain from London, for instance, can be on its way to Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Jeddah, Kuwait or Dubai within an hour. Whether your consignment is big, small, precious or perishable, we’re committed to ensuring your cargo is handled responsibly and efficiently.The user-friendly, state–of-the-art, on-line tracking system enables customers to monitor the progress of shipments at every step of their journey from origin to destination.

Gulf Air can boast of 57 years experience in flying cargo throughout the Middle East region and across the world - more than many of its regional competitors combined, which means Gulf Air understands the business of flying people and cargo better than most, backed by such a solid experience.

Shipowner A.P. Møller, born on 2 October 1876 in Dragør, son of Captain Peter Mærsk Møller and Ane (Anna) Mærsk Møller (née Hans Jeppesen), married 1910 to Chastine Estelle Mc-Kinney, two daughters and two sons.
In 1884 the family moved to Svendborg, and Arnold Peter Møller was sent to the local private “realskole”. Having passed the leaving exam at Svendborg Private Realskole, he was apprenticed to merchant I.N. Bonnesen in Sorø, and three years later, in 1895, he started as trainee with two of his father’s business contacts in Newcastle, England. In 1897 he went to the East Prussian city of Königsberg – today Kaliningrad – where A.P. Møller was employed by an export firm, and in 1899 he moved to St. Petersburg, where he joined a shipbroking firm.
In February 1904 A.P. Møller returned to Danmark to take up the post as manager of the chartering department of C.K. Hansen, one of the major shipping and brokerage firms in Copenhagen of that time. Later in the same year he founded A/S Dampskibsselskabet Svendborg (The Steampship Company Svendborg) together with his father, Captain P.M. Møller.

Boeing and Dubai's recently launched low-cost airline FlyDubai today announced an order for 50 Next-Generation 737-800s at the Farnborough Air Show. Valued at approximately $3.74 billion at current list prices, the order will be added to Boeing's Orders & Deliveries Web site at the next regularly scheduled update. FlyDubai has substitution rights to convert its 737-800 orders to 737-900ERs (extended range) in the future.

"The Boeing Next-Generation 737 is ideally suited to our mission to bring some two billion regional inhabitants affordable, efficient and flexible travel options to and from Dubai," said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, chairman of the new low-cost airline. "FlyDubai will be the first step for a new set of passengers seeking out high-demand tourist destinations in the Gulf States and surrounding countries, while bringing connectivity to all parts of the globe." The Dubai government initially formed FlyDubai in March. Since then, the airline has been building a business model based on flexible flight operations with a high degree of interactivity with its customers, giving them greater control in booking flights and tailoring their in-flight services. The low-cost airline's operations will be entirely separate from Emirates Airline and Group. Boeing Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer CEO Jim McNerney hosted a ceremonial signing and press conference held at the air show. "Our relationship with the UAE is something we truly value and have worked to strengthen over time," McNerney said. "Today's order is the result of a thorough analysis of the contributions the Next-Generation 737 can make to FlyDubai's innovative business model. We foresee the unmatched efficiency and operability of this incredible airplane bringing the same success to our partners in Dubai as it does to so many of the world's most successful low-cost carriers." One hundred sixteen customers have ordered more than 4,800 Next-Generation 737s. Boeing has more than 2,200 unfilled orders for the Next-Generation 737 valued at more than $160 billion at current list prices.

Zurich, July 1st, 2008 – Swissport International, the world’s leading aviation services group, has appointed John Batten as its new Executive Vice President Cargo. Batten will assume his duties, in which he will also serve on Group Executive Management Board, on August 1st.

In John Batten (48), who is a UK national, Swissport has enlisted a proven industry professional to head its global cargo operations. Batten can draw on extensive experience in the air transport sector. He is currently serving as Senior Vice President Cargo for Qatar Airways, based in Doha, with worldwide responsibility for the carrier’s airfreight sales, ground operations and business development.

Prior to this, John Batten spent 25 years (from 1982 to 2007) with TNT Express Worldwide in a career that saw him occupy various executive positions at Headquarters and around the world.

In addition to his management skills and his logistics expertise, Batten has earned a strong reputation for his hands-on approach and his wide practical experience in day-to-day airfreight operations.

Aristotelis Sokratis (also Ari) Onassis (in Greek, ΑριστοτέληςΩνάσης) (January 15, 1906 – March 15, 1975) was the most famous shipping magnate of the 20th century. Onassis was born in Smyrna, Ottoman Empire (now İzmir, Turkey) to a middle-class Greek family. At the time of his birth, Smyrna had a very significant and prosperous Greek population. After being briefly occupied by Greece (1919-1922) in the aftermath of the allied victory in World War I, the city was re-captured by Turkey; the Onassis family holdings were lost, causing them to move to Greece as refugees. In 1923, Aristotle Onassis left his country to go to Argentina with allegedly only $63. After difficult beginnings, he revived there the family's tobacco business.

In 1925, he received Argentinian and Greek citizenships. After engaging in many different entrepreneurial activities with determination and passion for success, he finally managed to become a world-class businessman making his first million by the age of 25, owning commercial ships, tankers and whalers. In 1954, the FBI investigated Onassis for fraud against the U.S. government. He was charged with violating the citizenship provision of the shipping laws which require that all ships displaying the U.S. flag be owned by U.S. citizens. Onassis entered a guilty plea and paid $7 million. He founded Olympic Airways (today Olympic Airlines), the Greek national carrier, in 1957.Onassis married Athina Livanos, daughter of shipping magnate Stavros Livanos, on December 28, 1946; their son, Alexander (April 30, 1948 – January 23, 1973), and daughter Christina (December 11, 1950 – November 19, 1988), were both born in New York City. After their divorce, Athina married her late sister's widower (and Onassis's arch shipping rival) Stavros Niarchos.

Onassis died at age 69, on March 15, 1975 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, of bronchial pneumonia, a complication of the myasthenia gravis that he had been suffering from during the last years of his life. According to his will, his daughter, Christina inherited 55% of the Onassis fortune while the other 45% was used as funds for the Alexander S. Onassis Foundation set up to honor his son Alexander Onassis. This 45% was the share that his son Alexander would have inherited, had he not died in 1973. However, Jackie Kennedy received her share of the estate settling for a reported $10,000,000 dollars ($26 million according to other sources) which was negotiated by her former brother in law Teddy Kennedy (this amount would later grow to several hundred million under the financial stewardship of her companion Maurice Tempelsman). Christina's share has since passed to her only child Athina, making her one of the wealthiest women in the world.

SEOUL, Korea (June 4, 2008) - Korean Air topped the list for commercial airline cargo operation for the fourth consecutive year in 2007, according to World Air Transport Statistics compiled by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). During 2007, Korean Air recorded 9.498 billion FTK (Freight Tonne-Kilometres), topping the charts for international air cargo, followed by Lufthansa and Cathay Pacific. Korean Air attained the top ranking for the first time in 2004 and has consistently been one of the world’s top three freight carriers since 1993.“Our goal has been to claim and retain the top cargo position and we’re accomplishing this,” said Chang Hoon Chi, Senior Vice President of Korean Air’s Cargo Division. “We are entering new markets, incorporating e-business systems and creating a customer-oriented business model, to provide excellent service in terms of both quantity and quality to meet our customers’ needs.”

DUBAI, UAE, 4th JUNE 2008 – Managers from Emirates SkyCargo’s 100-plus stations around the world recently came to Dubai for the company’s Worldwide Conference 2008. Since the event was last held in 2006, nearly 20 new SkyCargo destinations have opened.

During the three-day event, the award winning carrier fine-tuned its strategies for tackling the challenges in the year ahead.

“The coming year will not be easy,” Ram Menen, Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo, warned delegates, “but there is an upside. We will enter a “correction period” where the market corrects itself.

“All carriers will have to refine their operating practices and airlines operating fuel inefficient aircraft will not survive. Yes, there are some big challenges ahead of us but this is also a great opportunity. We take delivery of our first Boeing 777 freighter this year and, with its 103-tonne payload, it will be by far the most fuel economical twin-engined freighter the world has ever seen.” 

Emirates, whose fleet has an average age of 67 months, will eventually operate eight Boeing 777 freighters, as well as 10 of equally fuel efficient Boeing 747-8 freighters.

HMM is strengthening its sales by establishing new service routes in areas such as India, Australia, and the Red Sea.
HMM reorganized one of its Asia-Australia service routes and divided it into two services. The reorganized service comprises FA2 (Far East-Australia 2) and FAL (Far East-Australia). The first directly connects China and Australia, while the second connects Japan and Australia through China. The new services commenced at Kaohsiung, Taiwan on May 11, and at Yokohama, Japan on May 12.
Prior to this, HMM started a NIX (North China-India Express) service from Qingdao, China on May 2. HMM expects this new service to secure a sizeable market share in the future by connecting China and India which have enormous growth potential.
HMM also plans to open two service routes in the Red Sea area, starting from June 11th and 12th respectively. They are designated CRX (Central China Rea-Sea Service) and FM5 (Far East-Middle East Service), and both will commence at Shanghai, China. HMM’s new Red Sea service will connect the main ports of China, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and other ports in the Red Sea area.

OOCL Logistics (China) Ltd. announced today that it has acquired 83,455 sq m. of land in Lingang Logistics Park in Shanghai. Within the next 10 months, OOCL Logistics will build warehouse and depot facilities for international customers who use Yangshan Deepwater Port container terminals as a gateway for their global supply chain.With our own warehouse and depot facilities in Lingang Logistics Park, OOCL Logistics can provide better services and more flexibility to customers in the Greater Shanghai area,” said Mr Erxin Yao, Managing Director of OOCL Logistics (China) Ltd. “Together with our warehouse facilities in Beijing, Qingdao, Tianjin, Dalian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Zhengzhou, Xiamen, Xian, Guangzhou and other major service hubs, we are providing our customers with a network in China which offers a consistent level of quality services.  These warehouses are connected with state-of-art computer systems, enabling our customers to enjoy an unmatched level of visibility and control in their supply chain in China.

European Hub in Roissy-Charles de Gaulle to be Expanded To Meet Demands of European Business; State-of-the-Art, Environmentally-Friendly Facility Planned for Cologne

PARIS, June 3, 2008—FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) and the world’s largest transportation company, has announced two major European hub projects to meet the growing demands of European business—a major expansion to its European hub in Roissy-Charles de Gaulle, Paris, and a state-of-the-art environmentally friendly facility in Cologne.

The expansion at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle by September 2009 and the building of a major new facility at Cologne by spring 2010, announced at an event hosted at Roland Garros, will dramatically increase capacity at the two hubs—ensuring that FedEx Express can continue to provide a seamless service for customers who wish to access European and global markets while minimizing impact on the environment.

Since the severe earthquake in Sichuan Province in China, millions of people in the region have been dependent on aid. On May 28th Lufthansa Cargo dispatched a relief flight with the flight number LH 8462 from Frankfurt to Chengdu. The MD-11 freighter aircraft took off for the disaster area at 3.20 hrs local time, two hours after being loaded with about 80 tonnes of relief items, and landed 14 hours later in the Chinese city. The aid supplies have been donated by the regional government of Hesse and will be transported free of charge by Lufthansa Cargo.  Lufthansa Executive Board member Stefan Lauer said: "Lufthansa takes its responsibility as a global company seriously. The Group has had a presence in China for several decades and has established close ties there in all its business areas. With this relief flight we aim to help the victims of the earthquake disaster in China and use all the means at our disposal to help ease the suffering of the people." "We should like to thank the regional government of Hesse and Lufthansa for their sympathy.This emergency aid will help to ensure that the local people receive targeted support," said Chinese Consul General in Frankfurt Haiyan Li.

"K" Line, Hanjin and Yang Ming will rationalize their East Coast South America (Brazil) / U.S East Coast service effective from May, 2008 through a new cooperation scheme on CSAV’s current “USATLAN”service.

This service from/to East Coast of South America to/from the US East Coast will replace current “ECAS” service jointly operated by Hanjin, “K” Line, Hyundai, and Yang Ming's 4 x 1800 TEU vessels. Last vessel of ECAS service will be Port Said 20 S/N – ETA Santos: May 5th 2008.

With this change, KHY will continue to offer every week high quality of service in ECSA/USEC market

Thai Airways International Public Company Limited was recently voted 3rd place for Best Airline at the fifth annual go asia Awards for the second consecutive year. The award was presented to THAI at ITB 2008 in Berlin, Germany. In addition, Thailand received the go asia Award for being the Best Travel Destination.
The go asia initiative was founded in 2003 in order to enhance the marketing in the German speaking regions. The votes were conducted in cooperation with the readers of a consumer travel magazine, “Reise + Preise”,  as well as travel agents throughout Germany.

Currently, THAI operates 28 flights between Bangkok and Germany, utilizing Boeing 747-400 aircraft on the route to/from Frankfurt and Airbus 340-600 aircraft on the route to/from Munich.

Bombardier Transportation announced today that it has received an order for an additional 84 MOVIA metro cars from the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC). The contract is valued at approximately 87 million euros ($ 137 million US). This latest order follows on from a contract awarded in July 2007 to supply 340 MOVIA metro cars, making a total of 424 metro cars ordered. As stated in the contract, DMRC has requested a change to the configuration of the trainsets and the revised scope will be 37 four-car trainsets and 46 six-car trainsets. Deliveries of the latest order are scheduled to begin upon completion of the original deliveries.
In the phase II expansion of Delhi Metro, the modern BOMBARDIER MOVIA high-capacity vehicles will transport an impressive 4 million passengers every day, reducing their journey time and alleviating the heavy traffic congestion and pollution prevalent in the city. The phase II expansion extends the existing network by approximately 60 kilometers covering all major destinations in the East-West and North-South corridors of the city, which is occupied by around 16 million inhabitants.
The new vehicles will be produced at Savli in South Gujarat, where Bombardier is setting up a facility for manufacturing and assembly of the coaches and bogies.

In the first two months of the year “Rossiya-Russian Airlines” carried a total of 366, 681 passengers in its own aircraft fleet (an increase of 13,1% on the same period in 2007). The total includes 188,809 passengers carried on domestic routes (+2,7 %), and 177,872 on international and CIS routes (+26,9%).

In 2007 “Rossiya” carried a total of 3,244,585 passengers in its own aircraft fleet. The “Rossiya ” route map now encompasses 70 destinations in the Russian Federation, 20 in seven CIS countries, and 35 in twenty countries further afield. The planned introduction of modern medium- and long-haul airliners, the opening of new routes, the expansion of cooperation with partner airlines and its status of a designated carrier on international routes is enabling “Rossiya” to develop dynamically, increasing its volume of passenger flights.

The Container Port in port of Aarhus is Denmark's largest and busiest operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Each year, 1,500 ships call at Aarhus thus efficiently linking Aarhus with the rest of the world.

With approximately 900,000 containers handled each year Aarhus is an important hub in constant and continued growth. Regular services have been established to large ports in the Nordic countries, north-, south- and eastern Europe and to ports in the UK, the eastern Mediterranean and Asia. The rest of the world is reached by numerous weekly feeder connections between Aarhus and the container ports on the Continent. There are good roads leading to the nearby motorway network, and numerous hauliers ensure efficient and flexible transport. Added to this is rail transport with daily connections to national and overseas destinations.

There are two terminal operators in the container port: APM Terminals and Cargo Service Container Terminal - they have their own gatefunction with efficiently control the reception, delivery and storage of containers by means of modern computer management systems. The stevedores in the terminals use the most efficient handling equipment available on the market.

The terminals are complemented by modern facilities for cooling and refrigerating containers. The majority of these containers are monitored by modern reefer monitoring systems, designed to ensure that the correct temperature is maintained in the containers connected to the system.

Lufthansa Cargo and Jade Cargo International are extending their cooperation from 30 March 2008, when the summer timetable goes into effect. Lufthansa Cargo will then be responsible for marketing the airfreight capacity of its Sino-German cargo subsidiary on routes from Europe to Asia. The Blocked Space Agreement (BSA) will apply to all Jade Cargo International’s routes ex Europe and will be valid throughout the forthcoming summer timetable and the 2008/2009 winter timetable. Under the terms of this new cooperation agreement, the successful marketing and sales partnership between Jade Cargo International and Swiss WorldCargo will be transferred to Lufthansa Cargo.

Grindrod today announced the acquisition of the business of Bay Stevedores (Pty) Ltd, effective from 1 July 2007. The cost of the investment is undisclosed. Bay Stevedores will become a division of Grindrod Terminals (Pty) Ltd, a 100% owned subsidiary of Grindrod Limited.

Bay Stevedores, situated in the port of Richards Bay, was formed in 1993 and is a stevedoring business specialising in the pay loading and separation of bulk cargo. The business provides services to Grindrod affiliated companies as well as third parties.

 “Our business is about moving cargo and taking care of all logistical factors on route. The acquisition of Bay Stevedores is simply the purchase of another piece of the supply chain puzzle. This business complements our existing terminal operations in Richards Bay and goes hand in hand with Grindrod’s strategy to grow its service offering to customers in the bulk cargo handling market,” said Dave Rennie, executive director Grindrod Limited.

Frank Phillips and “Dup” du Preez, both directors of Bay Stevedores (Pty) Ltd, will continue to run the operation. “The deal has taken a while to finalise as the stevedoring licence and property lease agreement with Transnet had to be transferred to Grindrod Terminals (Pty) Ltd. We are very pleased with the eventual outcome and look forward to being part of growing Grindrod’s terminal operations going forward”, said Mr. du Preez.

Port of Hamburg posts further cargo handling record in 2007:
Total cargo volume: 140 million tonnes -
including 9.9 million TEUS.

Germany’s largest universal port boasts robust growth in containerised transport and expects 10 million TEU barrier to be surpassed in 2008.

Last year a record volume of 140.4 million tonnes in seaborne cargo was handled by the cargo terminals of the Port of Hamburg for the very first time. This is equivalent to a 4.1 per cent increase year-on-year. In containerised cargo traffic, a new record figure of 9.9 million TEU (20-ft. standard containers) was achieved, equivalent to an increase of 11.6 per cent.
The cargo handling segment of “conventional general cargo”, i.e. goods that cannot be transported in containers on account of their size, performed particularly well in 2007 compared with the previous year, achieving a growth rate of 9.1 per cent with a cargo volume of 2.9 million tonnes.
While the cargo handling of bulk cargo was successful with a total volume of 41.7 million tonnes, this was 2.4 per cent below the very good results achieved in the previous year.

FESCO Transport Group scored second in the list of top 75 fastest-growing companies in Russia according to the "First Rating", published by "Kommersant" on January 14, 2008. In 8 years FESCO market capitalization grew more than 340 times.

The rating assigns positions to companies by the pace of market value growth. According to the rating, FESCO grew by 34,230%, increasing its value from US$ 4.931 million in 1999 to US$ 1.693 billion as of June 29, 2007.

The market capitalization achieved by mid-2007 also allowed FESCO to rocket up the list of top 300 largest Russian companies. For the first time in its history, the company made it to the top hundred, in just one year jumping to 75th position from 117th in 2006.

According to FESCO Transport Group President Evgeny Ambrosov, «such a spectacular growth is yet another confirmation that the adopted Group development strategy yields its results».

According to the Russian Trading System (RTS) Exchange, the market capitalization of FESCO (FESH/FESHG) as of January 11, 2008 is equal to US$ 2,597 billion.

Mumbai-based Direct Logistics, a freight forwarding company, has acquired a Chinese logistics company, Shenzhen Dida Logistics, for an undisclosed amount.

This is the first-ever acquisition by an Indian company in Chinese freight forwarding industry.

Direct Logistics, which is in the process of setting up its own office in China, is currently into warehouse-to-warehouse international transportation and marine insurance, apart from cargo.

Shenzhen Dida is focused on freight forwarding, logistics and international transportation. Sunil Devrani, managing director of Direct Logistics, said, ‘We have signed an agreement with Shenzhen Dida for acquiring 100% shares.

In order to maximize market opportunities and provide better service to air freight forwarders , China Airlines has developed several new functions after launching Cargo Status Automated Notification System. By using these new functions, customers can not only choose specific Cargo Status but also receive Cargo Status for the specific shipments by filling in air way bill number in China Airlines website (http://calec.china-airlines.com/ecgo/en/mail_main.asp) . In addition , China Airlines also provide Unit Load Device information include pure load or mix-load messages for air freight forwarders to pre-arrange shipments delivery or trucking service at arrival station prior to flight arrival . This new service will increase their work efficiency and reduce cost and idle time.

Cargo Status information could be one of the most important messages in the cargo forwarding service chain . Air freight forwarders only need to register the service through the China Airlines website  (http://calec.china-airlines.com/ecgo/en/mail_main.asp), they can secure the most up-to-date status on their cargo shipments without approaching China Airlines in anyplace and anywhere . Besides , telephone and fax bills can also be reduced .

China Airlines provides many innovated services to air freight forwarders including the China Airlines Cargo B2B Platform, Cargo e-Booking service , House air way bill data up-load through web service and Cargo tracking system . Air freight forwarders now enjoy full information exchange , and enhanced efficiency in the global forwarding service chain.

Nepal Freight Forwarders Association (NEFFA) would like to welcome Government of India's (GOI) move to waive off four percent additional customs duty levied on their import of Nepalese manufactured goods in India.
In this Connection, NEFFA would like to extend our sincere thanks to the Government of India, His Excellency Ambassador of India to Nepal and officials of the Embassy of India, Government of Nepal - Ministry of Industry Commerce & Supplies, and Ministry of External Affairs for their support to waiver.
We are very much pleased to be informed that altogether 111 categories of goods manufactured in Nepal have been exempted with effect from 25th January 2007.
Nepal and India being very close trading partners and having peculiar geo-political, socio economic and cultural relationship, we are confident that this waiver in custom duty will definitely bring cost effectives in the products manufactured in Nepal and will have positive impact in Nepal's Export to India.
NEFFA hopes that the remaining Nepali Products like textiles, pharmaceuticals and spices among others too would be exempted form this duty.

Emirates Shipping Line is proud to announce that it has been short listed in the top 4 for one of the most sought after Lloyd’s List Asia Awards 2007 in the category of Container Shipping Line of the Year.

The Lloyd's List Asia Awards recognize achievement of companies actively operating in the Asian shipping community, and this category award goes to the container shipping line that has the most outstanding performance across the region.

This nomination underlines Emirates Shipping Line’s dedication to provide outstanding quality services and strong professionalism to its customer base.

Emirates Shipping Line FZE, is registered in Dubai Maritime City of UAE and commercially

headquartered in Dubai and Hong Kong, two of the busiest commercial hubs in the world. Operated by a team rich inexperience of managing maritime trade, the company has a focused goal of attaining superior service quality and customer intimacy

On August 6, Sinotrans Development extended the agreement with Macao A?irlines on return freight flights operation between Shanghai and Taipei. Since the previous contract launched, Sinotrans Development has seen satisfactory performance, gaining 25% market share from Shanghai-Taipei Lines and 16% out of Taipei-Shanghai. Eastern Branch of Sinotrans Development, in the past year, strengthened sales,optimized internal processes, provided logistics and value-added services as clients requires, to build up a good brand effect. In the new agreement, shanghai-taipei slot volume increased to 40 tons, and on 8 August, two days after the agreement effective, the “maiden voyage” was fully loaded and smoothly took off in Shanghai.

The founder of OOCL, the late C Y Tung, dreamed of creating the first international Chinese merchant fleet. In 1947, he achieved that dream when the first ship with an all-Chinese crew reached the Atlantic coast of the USA and Europe. Regular cargo and passenger services were subsequently developed under the name of Orient Overseas Line.
When containerization began in 1969, the company was re-named Orient Overseas Container Line. In those days, Victory-class vessels could carry 300 TEU, a far cry from today's post-Panamax vessels that ply the world's oceans. In April 2003, OOCL took delivery of the SX-Class OOCL Shenzhen, the largest containership ever built at 8,063 TEU.
Today, OOCL has vessels of different classes with capacity varying from 2,500TEU to 8,063TEU, plus ice-class vessels that suit extreme weather conditions. As a member of the Grand Alliance - the world's largest specialist transport group - our vessels form part of a fleet of 139 ships. Both our self-owned and chartered-in vessels can carry general cargo, reefer cargo and dangerous goods, according to the needs of customers.
All OOCL vessels meet and exceed international environmental standards, adhering to OOCL's own Safety, Quality and Environmental (SQE) management system; demonstrating OOCL's commitment to environmental protection and good corporate citizenship.
In 1982, following the death of his father C Y Tung, C H Tung assumed the leadership of Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL), OOCL's parent company for 14 years. In 1996, C C Tung took over at the helm on C H Tung's election as Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Today, OOCL is one of the world's leading container transport and logistics service providers, with more than 230 offices in 58 countries around the world. 

Versatility and Productivity, On- or Off-Road

The Model 388 combines high performance and rugged durability to meet the needs of both vocational and on-highway customers that prefer conventional styling and an aluminum hood. It features a shorter BBC for exceptional maneuverability and reduced weight for payload-sensitive applications.

Peterbilt's legendary traditional styling and improved aerodynamic performance help reduce operating expenses through improved driver attraction and retention and greater fuel efficiency. An optional Fuel Efficiency Package brings further advantages through proprietary, specially designed cab and sleeper components that can improve fuel use by as much as to 3/10 of a mile per gallon.

A wide range of engine options helps customers spec the perfect balance between power and weight. Numerous other options are available to customize the Model 388 to meet exact business and operating requirements, such as manual and automated transmissions, proprietary Peterbilt suspensions, and many components that are both lightweight and durable. Additionally, the wheelbase can be adjusted in one-inch increments and six different frame rails are offered to custom match strength-to-weight requirements.

The Model 388 is available in truck and tractor configurations and as both a day cab or with the full range of detachable Unibilt® sleepers which can be removed to meet the needs of a second or third application life.

On- or off-highway, the Model 388 brings customers new levels of productivity, efficiency and performance.

Anyone who’s travelled to Asia will be familiar with the way people like to decorate their vehicles. But in Pakistan, they elevate it to an art form …

Mark Corcoran discovers that in the colourful world of Pakistan truck painters, Osama bin Laden is old hat – these days reflecting glass patterns are all the go – meaning the teeming streets of Pakistan are alive with giant hazard indicators on wheels.

The trucks, many of them old Bedford Rockets, provide a moving canvas for the artists, who compete to see who can execute the most daring and outrageous designs. Unfortunately, not as much time is devoted to what goes on under the bonnet, as on top of it.

British aero-engine maker Rolls-Royce plans to cut 2,300 jobs from among its managerial, professional and clerical staff to help offset rising costs and the effect of the weak dollar.

"The impact of these proposed changes will extend to the UK, United States, Germany, the Nordics and other countries where the relevant functions are located," Rolls-Royce said in a statement on Friday.

"In the UK, the group will seek to secure the headcount reductions, wherever possible, through voluntary redundancy."

Rolls-Royce said the restructuring would have no impact on its 2007 results. "Costs associated with this exercise in 2008 will largely be balanced by savings achieved in the course of the year."

Rolls-Royce, like other British companies which carry out a large part of their business in dollars, has seen profits hit as sterling reached a 26 year high against the US currency last year.

Credit Suisse analysts forecast in a recent broker note, looking at the pound backing away from those highs, estimated that "every 1 cent move in the long-term dollar assumption added GBP12 million pounds to (Rolls-Royce's) long-term EBIT (earnings before interest, and tax)".

Leif Høegh (1896-1974)
Educated a political economist at the age of 20, Leif Høegh came to be employed in shipping. After shipping practice both in the USA and Norway, he started his own company in 1927, at the age of 31, and emerged as an entrepreneur in oil transportation. He earned his fortune from tankers on long-term charter-parties and turned to liner shipping in order to spread his financial exposure.

In addition to leading his company into a prominent position, Leif Høegh also took an active part in international shipping politics after the Second World War. His main interest was primarily aimed at macro- economics and politics, as well as international trade and finance, which were interpreted into his own company strategy. His personal interest in literature and theatre also led him into the board of the National Theatre in Oslo, a position he served for many years.Leif Höegh was characterized by entrepreneurial determination and a tremendous working capacity, coupled with an ability to delegate authority. He lived to see the transformation of his company from an entrepreneurial enterprise into an organization headed by a professional management team under the leadership of his sons. By his death in 1974, Leif Höegh & Co ranked as one of the largest privately owned shipping companies in Europe.