ISS anticipates that dockers, pilots, tugboats and locks operator will be involved, and that roadblocks with strike pickets will occupy all access roads to the ports.  The company has been unofficially informed that terminals will close from 06:00hrs on 30/01/2012 to 06:00hrs on 31/01/2012.

Patrick Van Huffelen, General Manager, ISS Port Services, said: “We advise shipowners and operators not to attempt to deliver any cargoes to Belgian ports on Monday, and we are warning that further disruption to schedules may continue into the week.  Our offices will be running with a skeleton staff on Monday, however we will continue to offer advice and support to our clients on port congestion, the welfare of crews should they become stranded in port, and other related issues.”

Øyvind Lygre, CEO of Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics AS states: “We are pleased having entered into a long term agreement which provides stability between the two companies. Scandinavian Shipping & Logistics AS has cooperated with Greenwave for many years. To get a stable development of our container terminals in Moss, Drammen, Larvik, Kristiansand, and Drammen, we see it as strength that we have now entered a new partnership with Greenwave, at least for the next four years. In order to further develop our products and solutions within Terminal & Port Logistics, we need a stable partner who takes care of the operation and development of IT solutions between ship owners, operators and terminals. We feel confident that we have chosen the right partner for the benefit of our customers”Even though Greenwave have been SSL’s supplier for many years, this deal did not come as a matter of course. Greenwave’s T3 system has been challenged by and compared with other internationally renowned TOS systems like for instance Jade’s “Master Terminal” solution during a professionally conducted evaluation process. The Norwegian Greenwave AS has been supplier of the fully internet browser based T3 terminal operation system for more than 10 years. T3 was developed for lower volume container/goods terminal operators, but suits as well terminals over 100,000 TEUs. The target marked for T3 is the sea and inland terminals that handle goods from a boat, truck and rail. The choice of modern internet technology made it easy to spread the usage of T3 to multi-terminal organizations. Software updates and extensions are available instantly for all group users without interruption in time and user involvement. T3 enables multi-location terminal operators to appear as a truly consistent and unified business partner to shipping lines, forwarders and other shipping community related parties. Greenwave supplies also other shipping related products such as S3, VOSS, GateAccess and GateBooking.

This was stated by Mr GK Vasan, Minister of Shipping. Vasan said that Paradip Port successfully crossed 50 years in the promotion of Indian trade and commerce and was blessed by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who laid the foundation stone of Paradip Port on 3 January, 1962. This Port is the first major port on the East Coast commissioned after Independence.

Vasan said that a new Haridaspur-Paradip rail link was under execution by Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. which would reduce the rail route from the iron ore mines of Odisha to Paradip making the export more viable apart from reducing congestion. Paradip Port has also contributed equity for the construction of this new Railway line. On completion of the project, there will be considerable reduction of the distance from Bansapani to Paradip and the freight will be reduced by
50%.

Mr Vasan said that the Port handled 56 million metric tonnes of traffic during 2010-11 comprising of 31.22 million tonnes of import cargo and 24.81 million tonnes of export cargo. Vasan stated that the Port had embarked upon an ambitious plan to enhance its capacity to 251 MMTPA by taking up several capacity addition projects, strengthening the rail-road connectivity, and
mechanizing / modernizing the existing facilities to meet the requirement of industries.

Some of the capacity addition projects under execution are deepening of channel to handle 1,25,000 DWT vessels at an estimated cost of Rs. 293.36 crore, which is expected to create a capacity addition of 5 Million Tonnes Per Annum, construction of deep draught iron ore berth and coal berth on BOT basis at an estimated cost of Rs. 1070 crore, which would add a capacity of 20 MMTPA.

ntries (-0.3 percent for the Euro Area), down from its June estimates of 6.2 and 2.7 percent (1.8 percent for the Euro Area), respectively. Global growth is now projected at 2.5 and 3.1[1]  percent for 2012 and 2013, respectively. Slower growth is already visible in weakening global trade and commodity prices. Global exports of goods and services expanded an estimated 6.6 percent in 2011 (down from 12.4 percent in 2010), and are projected to rise by only 4.7 percent in 2012. Meanwhile, global prices of energy, metals and minerals, and agricultural products are down 10, 25 and 19 percent respectively since peaks in early 2011. Declining commodity prices have contributed to an easing of headline inflation in most developing countries. Although international food prices eased in recent months, down 14 percent from their peak in February 2011, food security for the poorest, including in the Horn of Africa, remains a central concern. “Developing countries need to evaluate their vulnerabilities and prepare for further shocks, while there is still time,” said Justin
Yifu Lin, the World Bank’s Chief Economist and Senior Vice President for Development Economics.
Developing countries have less fiscal and monetary space for remedial measures than they did in 2008/09. As a result, their ability to respond may be constrained if international finance dries up and global conditions deteriorate sharply. To prepare for that possibility, Hans Timmer, Director of Development Prospects at the World Bank, said: “Developing countries should pre-finance budget deficits, prioritize spending on social safety nets and infrastructure, and stress-test domestic banks.”
While prospects in most low-and middle-income countries remain favorable, the ripple effects of the crisis in high-income countries are being felt worldwide. Already, developing country sovereign
spreads have increased 45 basis points on average and gross capital flows to developing countries plunged to $170 billion in the second half of 2011, compared with $309 billion received during the same period in 2010. “An escalation of the crisis would spare no-one. Developed- and
developing-country growth rates could fall by as much or more than in 2008/09″ said Andrew Burns, Manager of Global Macroeconomics and lead author of the report. “The importance of contingency planning cannot be stressed enough.” While the East Asia and Pacific region recovered quickly from the March 2011 Tohoku disaster in Japan, flooding in Thailand and the turmoil in Europe, have started to affect regional growth. After expanding by 9.7 percent in 2010, regional GDP grew an estimated 8.2 percent in 2011, but growth is projected to ease to 7.8 percent for both 2012 and 2013. In China, which accounts for about 80 percent of regional GDP, growth eased from 10.4 percent in 2010 to an estimated 9.1 percent in 2011 and is expected to dip to 8.4 percent in 2012 as
authorities continue to dampen “overly-fast” growth in particular segments of the economy. GDP growth in Europe and Central Asia increased marginally from 2010 outturns to 5.3 percent in 2011, despite the global financial turmoil since August 2011 and weakening external demand, especially from the Euro Area. However, the expected slowdown in high-income Europe, still troublesome inflationary pressures in the region, and reduced capital flows due to the Euro Area crisis may slow regional growth to 3.2 percent in 2012, before firming to 4.0 percent by 2013. Close trade
and financial ties to high-income Europe will make regional outturns particularly sensitive to developments in the Euro Area. Latin America and Caribbean grew by an estimated 4.2 percent in 2011, but this is expected to ease to 3.6 percent growth in 2012, before picking up to 4.2 percent in 2013. Weaker global growth, uncertainty arising from the Euro Area debt crisis, slower growth in China, and a policy-induced deceleration in domestic demand are weighing on growth
prospects. Brazil’s economic growth came to a halt in the third quarter and growth is forecast to be 3.4 percent in 2012, up slightly on 2011 but well below the 2010 growth of 7.5 percent. Several
countries in the region could be hard hit, if international commodity prices were to weaken sharply.
Dramatic political changes in the Middle East and North Africa have disrupted economic activity substantially, but selectively, across the region, while a deteriorating external environment is beginning to amplify adverse effects on trade, commodity prices, tourism and other revenues. Developing oil exporters and the high-income GCC economies benefited substantially from the rise in oil prices but they remain vulnerable to a sudden fall in these prices. GDP for the developing
countries of the region grew by an estimated 1.7 percent in 2011 and is expected to remain subdued in 2012 (2.3 percent), rising to an expected 3.2 percent gain by 2013. GDP in South Asia slowed to an estimated 6.6 percent in calendar year 2011, from 9.1 percent in 2010, reflecting a sharp slowdown in the second half of the year in India as well as external headwinds. Exports are negatively affected by weaker foreign demand and remittances have grown only modestly. Domestic demand is down sharply due to rising borrowing costs, high input prices, worries over the global slump, and delay in reforms. The region’s GDP growth is projected to ease further to 5.8 percent in 2012, before strengthening to 7.1 percent in 2013. High inflation and fiscal deficits remain concerns going forward. Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa remained robust in 2011 at 4.9 percent.
Excluding South Africa, which accounts for over a third of the region’s GDP, growth in the rest of the region was even stronger at 5.9 percent in 2011, making it one of the fastest growing developing
regions. Increased investment flows, rising consumer spending, and the coming on stream of new mineral exports in a number of countries should accelerate Sub-Saharan Africa’s growth to 5.3 percent in 2012 and 5.6 percent in 2013. Nonetheless, merchandise exports, tourism receipts, commodity prices, foreign direct investment and remittances are all susceptible to a Euro Area recession.