Mar 13, 2018  -  Lyttelton Port Company (LPC) is very disappointed that the Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) today refused a generous salary increase offer during mediation and insists on striking from midnight tonight.  LPC has now received strike notices for 13 – 25 March inclusive.

Mar 07, 2018 -Negotiators for Lyttleton Port Company and the Rail and Maritime Transport Union are meeting this morning to try to stave off a strike set to begin tomorrow and last up to 14 days

Mar 06, 2018  -  A new shipping service for Northland's $40 million kiwifruit industry will take more than 500 truck and trailers trips off the road south of Whangarei and increase profits for the region's growers.

Starting May this year, Northland's kiwifruit will be able to travel directly to Singapore from Northland, via a new service being trialled out of Northport, at Marsden Pt, by the Mediterranean Shipping Company.

The Geneva-based company has announced its container vessels will stop at Northport to load Zespri kiwifruit and other locally grown produce every fortnight.

The new service is called "Kiwi Express" in a nod to its major target crop.

According to an article on nzherald.co.nz, Northland produces around three and a half million trays of kiwifruit a year, which equates to about 13,000 pallets and is worth around $40 million. The volume of trays is expected to double in the next three years.

| A FreshPlaza release ||  March 06, 2018   |||

Feb 20, 2018  -  The Ministry for Primary Industries has introduced new measures to reduce the risk of brown marmorated stink bugs arriving in vehicles and machinery from Japan.  The changes will require all used vehicles (cars and trucks) to undergo inspection and cleaning at an MPI-approved facility in Japan prior to export.

feb 13, 2018  -  A Napier Port commercial training scheme is drawing praise from the Government for the way it is improving safety levels across New Zealand - and boosting the Fijian economy.

Feb 2, 2018  -  Rotterdam Authority and IBM announced on Jan. 31 that they will collaboration on a multi-year digitization initiative to transform the port’s operational environment using Internet of Things (IoT) technologies in the cloud.  As the largest port in Europe, the Port of Rotterdam handles over 461 million tons of cargo and more than 140,000 vessels annually. Previously the port relied on traditional radio and radar communication between captains, pilots, terminal operators, tugboats and more to make key decision on port operations.

Jan 30, 2018  -  40-foot standard containers are the most frequently used sea containers worldwide. With internal dimensions of roughly 12 by 2.3 by 2.4 metres, they have a loading volume of 65m3 and a cargo load of up to some 26 tonnes. Unloading these containers is heavy work, still mainly carried out manually in the world’s ports.

Jan 17, 2018  -  International shipping firm A.P. Moller-Maersk is partnering with IBM to build a blockchain-based platform that seeks to make global trade more efficient.

Jan 11, 2018  -  The Ministry for Primary Industries has introduced new treatment requirements to stop brown marmorated stink bug arriving into New Zealand in sea containers from Italy.  All sea containers from Italy now require treatment for the invasive pest before arriving in New Zealand or on arrival.

Jan 9, 2018  -  Kalmar has signed an agreement to acquire the port services business of Inver Engineering in Australia. The investment in Inver Port Services supports Kalmar’s goal of growing in services while strengthening and broadening its existing service capabilities throughout Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. The acquisition was closed on 29 December 2017.