In brief: Request for Proposals in Marseille/Fos terminal

A request for proposal has been sent at the begining of April 2008 by Marseille-Fos Port Authority (Port Autonome de Marseille) to find a roll-on/roll-off operator to develop new automobiles shipping activity at the harbour basin #3 (Darse 3) in the new Fos-sur-Mer (east of Marseille) terminal.
Asian products import market is particularly targeted by Marseille [...]

New scandal in the United States’ air sector?

New Jersey Senator Robert Mendez recently seized the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA, part of the United States Department of Transportation) to investigate Continental Airlines case. In 2007, Continental Airlines, a member of the SkyTeam alliance (with Air France-KLM), declared that some of its Boeing 757 aircrafts landed 96 times at Newark Airport (New York/New Jersey) [...]

St. Lawrence Seaway Hosts Ballast Water Inspection Media Day in Montreal

An announcement from the St. Lawrence Seaway Corporation
The Canadian and U.S. Seaway Corporations are inviting the media to Montreal, Quebec, on Monday, May 5, 2008, to showcase the ballast water inspection process currently in place for the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System. The Seaway Corporations will be joined by other U.S. and Canadian regulatory [...]

French ports: a bill project and a strike

A bill project was adopted by the Ministers’ Council
The bill project to reform maritime port authorities was adopted by the Ministers’ Council on April 23, 2008. The law, among other propositions, will impose port authorities to privatize handling activities (cranes operators mainly) and includes a large investment program to increase French ports competitiveness.
The project bill [...]

In brief: new maritime piracy acts off Somalia’s coasts

Less than three weeks ago early April 2008, “Le Ponant”, a ship from French merchant marine company CMA CGM, was hijacked. The French luxury sailboat was assaulted by Somalian pirates and the crew was finally rescued by the French military, and the pirates killed or arrested.
It is now the turn of a Spanish tuna boat [...]

In brief: Alitalia’s loan, Air France fuel surcharges

Alitalia obtains a government-backed loan for €300 million
Even though the Italian Government was not supposed to do so under the European Union rules, it just granted an emergency loan worth €300 million to Alitalia on April 22, refundable by the end of the year. This €300-million loan will allow the airline to maintain itself while [...]

Deutsche Bahn: To be or not to be… privatised?

Whether or not Deutsche Bahn AG (DB) will be privatised is no longer a topical question. An agreement was finally reached within the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD, Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands). Among the several options that were initially considered (e.g. excluding local passenger transportation activities from the privatisation process, or extending shares without rights [...]

In brief: Alitalia story, Air France-KLM gives up

After a couple weeks of discussions with the labor unions of the Italian national airline Alitalia, Air France–KLM group finally announced on Monday, April 21, 2008 that “the contractual commitments taken on March 14th of this year with the aim of the launch of a public offer of exchange on Alitalia were not valid any [...]

DHL in Leipzig: a too quickly implemented scheme?

A brief investigation of the well-known German newspaper “Die Welt” has recently revealed that DHL would be experiencing various and serious problems in running operations of its lately-built Leipzig hub. It is to note that this information has been formally denied by DHL owner, Deutsche Post.
The main problems seem to arise from the poor performance [...]

Freight rail financing and planning: France vs. US

As it is the case in many sectors, the evolution of the “American giant” are in many cases “transcribed” in Europe: this phenomenon should happen to freight rail transport as well. Transport Expertise will produce, in the coming months, several articles that will first describe the freight rail situation both in the United States and [...]

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