As a first step, the joint venture will cover the transfer of Hatlapa marine air compressor technology over a two-year period. CSSC Luzhou MacGregor Machine Co Ltd will be located in Nanjing and will have exclusive sales rights for the air compressors in China. Outside China, service, spare parts and new sales will be undertaken by MacGregor’s established network.

“The planned joint venture will enhance our strategic partnership with the largest Chinese state-owned shipbuilding group, CSSC,” says Jane Chen, Vice President, Head of China, at MacGregor. “MacGregor and CSSC Luzhou have more than 20 years’ experience working together and now both parties see it as beneficial to widen this partnership and build a deeper cooperation model for certain business areas.

“The joint venture will benefit from MacGregor’s strong brand and product knowledge, as well as leveraging LMC’s proximity to the shipyards belonging to the CSSC group,” Ms Chen continues. “One of MacGregor’s strengths is its global operations that focus on serving customers locally. The joint venture will not only strengthen MacGregor’s market position in China, it will ensure an even greater local connection for our Chinese customers.”

Mr. Gao Jian, General Manager, CSSC Nanjing Luzhou Machine Co Ltd, says: “As the first joint venture between CSSC Luzhou and MacGregor, it marks the new commencement of our strategic partnership. The joint venture will also make its contribution to the Chinese shipbuilding industry and the ship equipment industry transformation. I have full confidence that the new joint venture will be a great success and we are looking forward to it.”

“The proximity and historical relationship between Cuba and the Port of New Orleans has us well-positioned should the trade embargo be lifted, and we are prepared to play an important role in trade when the time comes,” said Christian, who signed the MOU with Gov. Edwards and Director General Manuel Fernandez Perez Guerra of the National Port Administration of Cuba. “We look forward to working closely with Cuban ports and trade authorities to grow opportunities and nurture long-standing relationships that will be mutually beneficial. In the meantime, we will continue to efficiently handle those products that can be legally shipped to Cuba, often by Louisiana-based companies.”

Port of New Orleans officials travelled to Havana Oct. 3-7 as part of a 50-member delegation that included Gov. Edwards, Louisiana Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain, Louisiana Economic Development Secretary Don Pierson, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development Secretary Shawn Wilson and other state, regional, local, educational and private business leaders. The trip set the stage for greater economic and cultural exchanges between Cuba and Louisiana, and included meetings with Cuban government ministers of trade, agriculture and foreign affairs.

“There remains much work to be done before our nation’s embargo on broader trade with Cuba is lifted. However, there are new opportunities that can benefit Louisiana, and I am optimistic that we will be able to build on our existing trade partnership with Cuba following this bipartisan

visit,” said Gov. Edwards. “We want Louisiana to be first in line to any new opportunities with Cuba, particularly the import, export and foreign direct investment possibilities that could range into the billions of dollars in the coming years. For those reasons, we are eager to embark on this trade mission and to place Louisiana in a unique position of leadership with respect to Cuba.”

With the decision by President Barack Obama to normalize relations with Cuba in December 2014, the Port of New Orleans is positioned at the forefront of opportunity. Prior to the 1962 trade embargo enacted by President John F. Kennedy, the Port of New Orleans was a top trading partner with Cuba exporting agricultural and manufactured goods to the island nation.

Through the years of the embargo, the Port of New Orleans has participated in numerous trade missions and diplomacy visits to Cuba. Since 2010, more than 100,000 pounds of poultry have been exported via the Port to Cuba through a special allowance by the U.S. government. For the past decade, Louisiana has ranked as the No. 1 U.S. state exporting to Cuba, with more than $1.4 billion in cumulative exports.

The Port of New Orleans is also well-positioned for cruise travel to Cuba as tourism becomes more relaxed between the U.S. and Cuba. In May, Carnival Cruise Line, the Port’s largest cruise provider, embarked on the first cruise to Cuba in 40 years from Miami.

“Port NOLA is the sixth-largest cruise port in the United States, and as demand for cruises from New Orleans grows, we see a huge opportunity for cruise lines to add itineraries between New Orleans to Havana,” said Christian. “There’s always been a connection between Cuba and New Orleans, and we’re more than prepared to resume that relationship culturally and economically.”

The new intertidal mudflat – equivalent in size to 82 football pitches – is located on the south bank of the River Thames, just north of Cooling in Kent and to the south east of DP World London Gateway Port.

The new habitat is to be called Salt Fleet Flats Reserve following a vote by the public and members of the local community.

As part of the permission to build the deep-sea terminal, DP World created additional new mudflat habitat to compensate for habitat that was predicted would be lost during construction. But DP World has more than compensated, creating an additional twelve more hectares than it needed to, totalling a 59-hectare wildlife sanctuary.

The mudflat is the second that DP World has created in South East England. Completed in 2010, Stanford Wharf Nature Reserve, on the north bank of the Thames, provides 27 hectares of new inter-tidal mud flat habitat. That site is managed in partnership with leading wildlife conservation organisation the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Although largely funded by DP World, The Environment Agency made a financial contribution to the project through a partnership agreement with DP World, and some of the newly constructed habitat will count towards its requirements to compensate for intertidal habitat loss caused by predicted rises in sea levels.

Salt Fleet Flats Reserve was created by constructing a new 2.4km-long sea wall, inland of the existing one, before that was breached along a 700m section to enable the land to flood with the tide. This was the largest breach of a sea wall in the UK.

To provide further enhancement at the site, project ecologists The Ecology Consultancy worked with the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to develop a bespoke seed mix to be sown along the new sea wall. It is expected this will attract rare bee species and other invertebrates by increasing the diversity of flowering plant species and the biodiversity resource they provide.

Hundreds of members of the local community voted for the site’s name. School children from the Hathaway Academy in Grays, Essex, residents in Kent villages High Halstow, Cliffe and Cooling, Essex towns Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham and those who visited DP World London Gateway as part of Estuary 2016, a festival celebrating the River Thames, voted for ‘Salt Fleet Flats’, which is derived from the name of a watercourse located just south of the site.

Steve Bewers, Project Manager at the Environment Agency, said: “We congratulate DP World London Gateway on the successful completion of the creation of this new huge area of intertidal mudflats at Cooling in Kent.

“More habitat has now been created than was required by DP World to compensate for losses that were predicted to arise through the creation of the Port.
“Over 800ha of additional tidal storage is considered to be required in the Thames estuary by the end of this century. Some 30ha is needed within the next 20 years and the extra area provided in the new intertidal area at Cooling will make an important contribution to the target.”

Rachael Jones, Environment Manager, DP World London Gateway, said: “The completion of this important project has been a great effort by all those involved.

“We’re delighted that members of the public have been able to help us in naming the new site. It was a very close vote between Salt Fleet Flats and Willow Wick Reserve, but we are really pleased with the name Salt Fleet Flats, which refers to the name of an important existing water body next to the site.

“The new wetland habitat is already attracting wading birds and we will be monitoring how it develops and establishes over time. We are looking forward to seeing how the site is used during the overwintering bird season and the first fish surveys at the site will start next month, working in co-ordination with the Environment Agency.”