The British Ports Association has welcomed the renewed focus on role that ports play in regional and national UK economies in a new report on 'Supercharged Free Ports' published today.

The report highlights the opportunities of 'super charging' free ports to include enterprise stimulus. This is similar to the Association's 'port zoning' proposals, which could include enterprise, planning and consenting advantages for UK ports of all type and location.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 16 June 2018: It has been noted in some reports that DP World may consider an out of court settlement with respect to the dispute with the Djiboutian government over their illegal action in taking control of the port at Doraleh.

A DP World spokesperson said that the concession agreement remains in place, and the action taken by the Djiboutian government is subject to legal process in the International court of Arbitration in London.

"We await the outcome of this process. We remain committed to operating Doraleh port as per original agreement of the concession, and we will not consider any other alternative settlement option."

At TOC Europe, Liebherr Maritime disclosed the expansion of the reachstacker product line by two new devices. A powerful reachstacker with the lifting capacity of 35 tonnes in the second container row and a log handler for timber handling will complete the existing product family.

The Port of Rotterdam Authority has signed partnership agreements with four recent participants in the annual PortXL innovation programme.

The Port of Long Beach had the busiest May in its 107-year history, as dockworkers handled 687,427 TEUs of containerised cargo, an increase of 6% compared to the same month a year ago.

Van Oord is collaborating with three start-ups who have been scouted via innovation platform PortXL. On 14 June, the contracts were signed in the presence of CEO Pieter van Oord. In the search for new cooperative partners, Van Oord focused on two innovation themes: sustainability and digitisation.

The Port of Savannah handled 3 million tons of cargo in May, an increase of 8.9 percent or 247,671 tons compared the same month a year ago. Total cargo crossing all terminals reached 3.22 million tons.

The Port of Virginia is managing the flow of empty containers as part of a larger move to drive cargo throughput during expansion at its two primary container terminals, Virginia International Gateway (VIG) and Norfolk International Terminals (NIT). May's dip in cargo volumes reflect the tactical decision.

ABB launches new functionality for the ABB Ability™ Marine Advisory System – OCTOPUS, tailored to make the voyages of project cargo vessels more fuel-efficient and safer.

With this latest delivery of cranes, APM Terminals Moin remains on schedule for completion in February 2019, when it is expected to raise commerce in Costa Rica by 23% according to Qbis Socioeconomic Impact Study.

The Shannon Foynes Port Company has taken delivery of a Liebherr mobile harbour crane LHM 420 at the deepwater port at Foynes, Ireland to bolster bulk handling operations.

Navis announced that Tianjin Port Group has completed the cutover and go live of N4 across its six terminals in record time. Following implementation at the sixth and final terminal, Tianjin Orient Container Terminal (TOCT), Tianjin Ports is now the largest N4 terminal complex by TEU – with an annual TEU of 15 million.

Kalmar, part of Cargotec, in conjunction with Dalian De Yulong Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Technology Corporation Limited, has received an order for three Kalmar Essential Forklifts from Dalian Port Corporation Limited, Bulk Grain and related Logistics.