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UNITED AND CONTINENTAL AIRLINES TO MERGE
United Airlines and Continental Airlines announced Monday they have agreed on a merger that would create the world's largest airline.
Under the $3 billion stock swap, United shareholders would own 55 percent of the company and Continental shareholders the remainder. Combining the two carriers would create an airline with an enormous global route structure with minimal domestic overlap serving 370 destinations.
United has a huge presence in the Asia/U.S. market and Continental is strong in Latin America. United's U.S. hubs are in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Continental has hubs in Houston, Cleveland and Newark, N.J. The new company will operate under the brand name United Airlines, but incorporate the Continental logo and livery on its planes.
The proposal also is important for freight forwarders that deal with the cargo divisions of both airlines to move shipments for customers in the belly holds of their planes. The airlines said they intend to finalize the deal by the end of the year, but it must first receive antitrust approval from the U.S. Justice Department.
BRITISH AIRWAYS - UNITE ANNOUNCES FURTHER STRIKE DATES
Unite has announced a further 20 days of strike action. The action will take place in four blocks of five days, from May 18, 2010 through to June 9, 2010. British Airways has continued to build on their contingency planning following the last industrial action in March and as a result they expect to run a significant part of their operations normally:
• All flights to and from Gatwick will continue to operate as normal;
• At Heathrow BA plans to operate a substantial part of their long-haul schedule as before and there will be a number of daily flights to every destination across their short-haul network;
• The long haul freighter program will not be affected; • Any adjustments to the short haul freighter program will be communicated in due course;
• BA’s trucking operation will operate normally
British Airways will announce the finalised schedule as soon as possible.
They are already working through the implications on customer bookings. If they are affected, your local BA World Cargo representative will contact you to make alternative arrangements for your consignment as soon as possible. If you have any concerns or questions please do not hesitate to contact your local BA World Cargo representative
WORLD'S LARGEST AIRPORT SET FOR OPENING IN DUBAI
“IFW” Report that Dubai’s long-awaited Al Maktoum International Airport is to open for cargo operations on 27 June, with plans to receive passengers towards the end of March next year.
The US$10 billion airport is set to be the world’s largest. It will have six runways and handle 120 million passengers a year when fully operational. The first phase will see the opening of a single A380-compatible runway and a cargo terminal with a capacity of 250,000 tonnes a year, with room to expand to 600,000 tonnes a year. There will be a dedicated road link to Jebel Ali port
NEW REGULATION FOR IMPORT CARGO TO ARGENTINA
FIATA has been informed by its member AAACI that the Argentinean Authorities have announced the enforcement of the new regulation AFIP 2744/09 for all Import Cargo to Argentina effective 17 May, 2010 for the C.U.I.T. number resp. on 1 July, 2010 for the Customs Code number. A detailed explanatory document is available on the FIATA Website
KEVERGREEN TO RESTART UAM, LEAVES JOINT SERVICE
AS - Container line Evergreen will on May 10 resume its UAM pendulum service between Asia, Europe and the Pacific Northwest reports “American Shipper” Evergreen had temporarily suspended the service in October.
The service will have a rotation of Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Yantian, Tanjung Pelepas, Colombo, Ashdod, Alexandria, Taranto, Genoa, Barcelona, Valencia, Taranto, Colombo, Tanjung Pelepas, Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Yantian, Shanghai, Ningbo, Tacoma, Vancouver, Tokyo, Osaka, Qingdao, Shanghai, Ningbo and Kaohsiung.
The service will be operated with 14 vessels averaging 5,634 TEUs. With Evergreen resuming the UAM, the line will pull out of a China Shipping service it had jointly operated, the ANW1
MAERSK TO CALL HALIFAX WITH REEFER AQUARIUMS
Maersk Line plans to resume its weekly seasonal reefer calls at the Port of Halifax on May 18 with the arrival of the Maersk Palermo on the revised rotation of the TA4 trans-Atlantic service reports “JOC Online”.
The TA4 service deploys four vessels, each with 2,900 20-foot equivalent units capacity, that have new technology inside some of their refrigerated containers this year. The new reefers contain aquariums that hold live seafood for export from Atlantic Canada to Northwest Continental Europe.
Each reefer holds 20 water tanks that allow the shellfish to remain in their natural environment. Maersk Line returns service to Halifax every year in time for the seafood export season. Eastern Canada exports approximately 3,400 metric tons of lobster to Europe each year. The new rotation of the TA4 service will be: Montreal, Halifax, Bremerhaven, Rotterdam, Antwerp, Le Havre and back to Montreal
BOX VOLUMES WILL CARRY ON INCREASING
“IFW” reports that container volumes are expected to continue to grow this year after returning to 2008 levels in the first quarter of his year, according to Macquarie Equities Research. Data from Macquarie’s global container database, which aggregates data from 200 container ports, shows that volumes increased year-on-year by 14% in March and by 18% in the first quarter.
The growth was fuelled by strong volumes in China and the Indian sub-Continent, which offset weaker growth in Europe and North America. Compared with 2008, Indian ports saw volumes rise by 10% in the first quarter of 2010, while Chinese ports saw a 7% increase. North American ports saw first quarter volumes decline by 7% on the same quarter in 2008 and European ports saw a 12% fall on the same period.
The researcher said it expected volume increases to continue throughout the year, in line with seasonal growth expectations, despite a perception that they could soften because growth so far had been fuelled by inventory re-stocking. Macquarie said that there was also little evidence to show that there had been a spike in volumes during the first quarter of the year and said the increases had started towards the end of last year
CN'S CANADA BASED RAIL TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS RATIFY NEW COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT
CN and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference/Rail Canada Traffic Controllers (TCRC/RCTC) announced Monday that TCRC/RCTC members have ratified a new three-year labour agreement with the company.
The union represents approximately 200 Rail Traffic Controllers at CN across Canada. The contract, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, provides for wage increases, as well as dental plan benefit improvements that come into effect on June 1, 2010.
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