Two years ago, the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) amended the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) introducing the requirement to verify the gross mass of a full container prior its loading on board the vessel. This measure was implemented to prevent cases of container weight misdeclaration, which leads to incorrect vessel […]
Four major Chinese ports have been found violating the anti-monopoly law: Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. Ltd., Tianjin Port (Group) Co. Ltd., Qingdao Port (Group) Co. Ltd. and Ningbo Zhoushan Port Co. Ltd. On 15 November 2017, China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) held a press conference, where Meng Wei, an NDRC spokeswoman, told […]
The Russian Ministry of Transport has drafted regulations to introduce the so-called “investment dues” at the nation’s seaports. The money collected through these fees are meant to be invested in construction and development of the state-owned facilities at the seaports. However, this may decrease the competitiveness of the Russian ports, writes PortNews. The relevant documents […]
The question of stevedoring rates in the Russian ports is again on the federal agenda. In mid-August, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to convert the port handling charges of Russian stevedoring companies into rubles as from 1 January 2018, but, as it often happens in Russian practice, “with certain provisos for particular situations and particular […]
The European Commission (EC) approved last week new state aid rules that exempt certain public support measures for ports and some other infrastructure facilities from prior Commission scrutiny. Previously, Member States were required to notify the EC about their plans of public investment into infrastructure projects and obtain its approval. The 2014 “General Block Exemption Regulation” enabled […]
The Congress, the lower house of Spain’s Parliament, has approved today the new law on liberalization of the country’s dock labour system suggested by the government. This is the second attempt to reform the stevedoring sector in order to comply with the judgement of the European Court of Justice to bring it in line with […]
The US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has rejected the merger of the three Japanese container shipping lines K Line, Mitsui O.S.K. and NYK on “jurisdictional grounds”, informs The Loadstar. The matter will now be referred to the US Department of Justice (DoJ), which could delay or halt the proposed joint-venture. As we wrote earlier, aiming […]
Spanish dockworkers unions have called off the remaining days of the strike scheduled for March, 17, 20, 22 and 24, after the Congress rejected yesterday the new law on dock labour system reform suggested by the government. The lower house of Spain’s Parliament voted down the law, which now has a status of royal decree, […]
Spain’s dockworkers unions called off the first two days of the 9-days strike scheduled for March, 6 and 8 and expect to continue negotiations with the government on the dock labour system reform. However, the action on March, 10 as well as those every Monday, Wednesday and Friday during the following two weeks are still scheduled. […]
Spanish ports face severe disruptions during March, as dockworkers plan to protest government reforms to allow ports to hire non-unionised labour. The Spanish government has been under pressure since December 2014, when the Court of Justice of the EU ruled that the country’s current dock labour system breaches the EU legislation on the freedom of […]
