Emmanuel Mair

With traffic at the Port of Baltimore suspended until further notice following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, carriers are likely to reroute traffic to nearby ports, although the road vehicle market may be disrupted, owing to Baltimore’s specialism in this area.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority is calling for the EU to establish a broad, stimulus-based European industrial policy in order to maintain commercial activity, especially if Europe wants to reduce its dependency on other countries and remain a leader in innovative, sustainable manufacturing.

COSCO Shipping Ports (CSP) saw container volumes rise by 4% last year to 136m teu, despite challenging market conditions affecting Chinese export growth.

APM Terminals (APMT) and ENNA Logic have invested in more than 60 pieces of electric container handling equipment for their joint venture (JV) terminal Rijeka Gateway in Croatia, meaning that all major container handling will be carried out by electric-powered assets, when operations start in 2025.

Salvors have begun removing containers from the M/V Dali as part of the effort to gain access to the portion of the Francis Scott Key Bridge that lies atop the ship in Baltimore.

Africa Global Logistics (AGL) has signed the contract to manage the Walvis Bay Multipurpose Bulk Terminal on the southwest coast of Namibia, aiming to utilise its position to offer connectivity between Southern Africa, Europe, Asia and America.

The Port of Salalah is piloting a solution to use excess water from freshwater generator systems aboard cargo ships in an effort to tackle freshwater scarcity.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened a criminal investigation focusing on the Baltimore bridge incident, and specifically whether the crew of the Dali left the port knowing the vessel had serious systems problems.

Shipping demand on a green corridor between the ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and Singapore is estimated to be around 850,000 tonnes of methanol and 160,000 tonnes of ammonia annually by 2030, displacing the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions from almost 320,000 cars annually, according to a study by the American Bureau Shipping.

The UK government has announced an £8m (US$10m) fund for the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in shipping, aiming to kickstart feasibility studies to develop smart shipping technologies such as AI, robotics, and autonomous vessels.