Maersk Line has started the first direct ocean container service between Morocco and Russia, calling at OJSC Petrolesport, St. Petersburg. MARUS Express will consist of 3 Ice-Classed vessels with a total nominal capacity of 800 TEU each, including 200 plugs for reefer containers. This will be a weekly service during fruits and vegetables high seasons.

More at: www.petrolesport.ru

OJSC Rosneftbunker, an oil-trader Gunvor company, has launched a new export route for Russian oil products. The company shipped the first consignment of oil products from a terminal at the Port of Ust-Luga on January 31, 2011. Rosmorport is currently implementing a dredging program to deepen Ust-Luga up to 17.5 m, in order to enable the port to receive ships with deadweight of up to 150,000 tonnes.

More at: www.interfax.com

Port of Gothenburg has set a goal to first bunker a ship with LNG at 13:00, 13th June, 2013, with a plan to possibly be the first major port that will be able to offer ship-to-ship bunkering with LNG. The port, together with Göteborg Energi and Norwegian GasNor, is involved in the LNG-GOT, the project aimed at construction of gas storage tanks within the port’s energy terminal, as well as development of a capability to supply fuel using a bunker barge.

More at: www.portgot.se

Port of Hamburg's Free Zone, which currently covers around 23% of its entire territory, will be abolished from 1 January 2013. The dismantling of the customs fence is designed to make the port faster, more competitive and lower its operating costs.

More at: dotletter.hwf-hamburg.com

MSC has started a direct weekly service from ECT Delta terminal in Rotterdam to First Container Terminal – Region 3 in St. Petersburg. The transit time is 4 days.

More at: www.shortsea.nl

Kuehne + Nagel has launched new weekly LCL service from Warsaw to Singapore with 26 days transit time. Goods are consolidated in the warehouse in Warsaw, transported by truck to Bremen/Hamburg, shipped directly to Singapore and distributed by the company’s network.

More at: www.kn-portal.com

Federal Transport Ministry announced that the trials of mega trucks in Germany, scheduled to begin in 2011, will last for 5 years and will take place under laboratory conditions. 73% of Germans are opposed to longer heavy goods vehicles on their roads.

More at: www.nomegatrucks.eu

Stena Line has inaugurated a new Onshore Power Supply (OPS) facility, developed by ABB, for the ferries operating between Gothenburg and Germany. In total, one in three vessels that call into the port can switch to OPS, which allows to significantly reduce CO2, SO2 and NOx emissions as well as noise.

More at: www.portgot.se

Naviland Cargo, a subsidiary of SNCF Geodis, has opened the first container rail link from the French Port of Le Havre to Germany. The overnight service will operate three rotations a week during the first year of service, with trains made up of wagons that can accommodate the heaviest containers and tanks.

More at: www.naviland-cargo.com

After the terrorist attack at Moscow Domodedovo Airport, ACI EUROPE and ACI WORLD in joint statement pointed out the limitations of the current aviation security regime and called on governments and international institutions to create a new and more effective aviation security regime. As a result of the explosion that occurred on January 24, 2011 at 16:32 Moscow time, 35 people died and more than 100 got injured.

More at: www.aci-europe.org

The European Parliament’s Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN) held its first exchange of views on the European Commission proposal to recast the first railway package on January 25. TRAN's concepts that are designed to support and reinforce competition in the rail sector and put it on a level playing field with other modes of transport got a strong support of the Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER).

More at: www.cer.be

BTJ RECOMMENDS:

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	22-24 February 2011, Berlin, Germany Now in its 14th year, EuroRail 2011 is the top platform for the rail industry’s leading CEOs to meet and discuss how to overcome the challenges faced in such a competitive market, as well as how to capitalize on the opportunities created through rail’s strategic advantages in a market geared towards sustainability. More at: www.terrapinn.com
	23-24 February 2011, Venice, Italy GreenPort Logistics 2011 & Energy for GreenPorts 2011 will examine practical, economically viable solutions, as well as applications and case studies in use for reducing carbon footprints and energy consumption management. The talks will have their follow-up at GreenPort’s Annual Congress, 14-15 September 2011 in Hamburg. More at: www.greenport.com

TRANSPORT MISCELLANY

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Traveller's trunk sticker by Marek Błuś The picture presents a suitcase/traveller’s trunk sticker, used on the pre-WW2 liners of Norddeutscher Lloyd. Perhaps this might inspire today’s owners of ferries, not with the idea of handing the stickers out as promotional material, since we personally would like to get them just like postcards - at the ferry’s reception. Suitcases and traveller’s trunks are maybe a bit out of fashion these days, but ferry-lovers will always find a place for the public display of a similarly beautiful accessory.

Read in BTJ 6-2010

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	An indispensable, unknown industry by René Kolman, IADC Dredging is vital to social and economic development, in particular, to the construction and maintenance of much of the infrastructure upon which our economic prosperity as well as social and environmental well-being depends. Subscribe to BTJ printed edition to read more.

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Read in BTJ 6-2010

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The future is still unwritten by John Manners-Bell, Transport Intelligence The road freight industry has been amongst the hardest hit of the transport sectors in Europe. At the worst point of the downturn in mid-2009, Transport Intelligence estimates that road freight companies’ revenues fell by about a quarter. The downturn experienced by trucking companies was in line with that seen in the international freight sector, with a major divergence from historic rates of growth which have typically displayed a correlation to GDP. Subscribe to BTJ printed edition to read more.

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