APM Terminals Vado, Italy Managing Director Paolo Cornetto highlighted the future role of the deepwater APM Terminals Vado facility, now under construction, as a new southern gateway to Central Europe. "We designed our new port around liner customers - and our landside customers – the importers, exporters and truckers - to help them do more business by tapping into the 70 million-member consumer market of northern Italy, southern Germany, Switzerland, Austria and eastern France within an eight hour proximity of our port," he said.
Wood Group has secured a new front end engineering design (FEED) contract with Gastrade S.A. for the Alexandroupolis Independent Natural Gas System (INGS) offshore Greece. The project, to develop a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving, storage and regasification unit (FSRU), will create a new natural gas gateway to the markets of south eastern and central Europe. Wood Group's subsea team will perform the design and engineering definition of the Alexandroupolis FSRU and its subsystems which will support the final investment decision for the project, planned for late 2017.
iContainers, the 100 percent online global freight forwarder, said it has opened a new branch in the shipping hub Port of Rotterdam, marking the Spanish company's fourth global establishment. In the last two years, the Barcelona headquartered iContainers has expanded its global operations with new offices in Florida , U.S.; Ahmedabad, India; and now Rotterdam. Founded in 2007, iContainers is an online platform allowing users to quickly access thousands of ocean freight routes. Users can also select different schedules and services, including door-to-door, catered to their shipping needs.
Kiel's new forest products handling and distribution centre has gone into operation in the Ostuferhafen. This means that the port has now become an integral part of the logistics chain operated by the Swedish concerns Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget (SCA) and Iggesund Paperboard. Dr Dirk Claus, Managing Director of the Port of Kiel (SEEHAFEN KIEL GmbH & Co. KG) said: "We have created a terminal in the Ostuferhafen which is tailor-made to the requirements of our customers. In addition to that, Kiel's geographical location fits very well into the SCA liner network".
essDOCS announced that Non-Executive Board Member, Andre Toet, has been appointed Chairman of the Board of Directors, succeeding Barry Williams, who is standing down after chairing the board since 2013, having previously served a term as Chairman from 2006 to 2011. Andre Toet possesses over 30 years of maritime industry experience and has held numerous supervisory board positions, of which PortInfolink (subsequently Portbase), directly supported his previous role as Non-Executive Board Member for essDOCS.
In Singapore, senior executives from Italy's La Spezia Container Terminal - Contship Italia Group will kick off a tour of key cargo hubs across south east and east Asia today to raise awareness and promote the benefits of La Spezia Homeport as the gateway to Northern Italy and its main cargo corridors. La Spezia is promoting the concept that La Spezia Container Terminal is a viable alternative for southern and central Europe for leading players in the region's supply chain sector.
UniMarine has opened a new office UniMarine South Europe & Mediterranean. Located in Piraeus (Greece), the office will service the Southern European and Mediterranean region, headed by Spiros Stamou who has been active in the marine lubricants market for many years and brings with him a wealth of experience in this key area of the world for the marine industry . With offices in Singapore, Central Europe, the United States and now the Mediterranean, UniMarine offers marine lubrication solutions to shipping businesses across the globe.