Archive

Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Organisation (IMO) is considering changes to its conventions that would broaden the range of offences against which signatory countries are bound to take action, to ensure that legal commitments to fight terrorism are harmonised and toughened.…

Keith Nuthall
THE INTERNATIONAL Maritime Bureau is warning cargo owners to beware of two growing threats posed by pirates, to small tankers and barge-towing tugs. The IMB has warned of an increase in attacks on tugs and barges, reporting two hijackings of these vessels in Indonesian waters alone since early September.…

Keith Nuthall
SHIP’S masters are always alert to the threat posed by stowaways, but not necessarily when those uninvited passengers have scales, fins and gills. Both the International Maritime Organisation and the European Union are working to tighten global environmental regulations that prevent the accidental transportation of such illegal aliens in ballast water.…

Keith Nuthall
THE UNITED Nations’ (UN) International Court of Justice has fixed the disputed maritime boundary between Nigeria and Cameroon, having decided that the contested Bakassi Peninsula should be considered part of Cameroon.

The court ruled that the maritime boundary should be set from the point of intersection of the centre of the navigable channel of the Akwayafe River with the straight line joining Bakassi Point and King Point, with many elements following previous Cameroon-Nigeria agreements dating back to the 1970’s.…

Keith Nuthall
SIGNIFICANT progress has been made in preparing a comprehensive shipping and port security code, which is to be agreed by the International Maritime Organisation this December. The second meeting of the UN agency’s security working group developed detailed guidelines on how governments, national agencies, local administrations and shipping and port authorities should detect security threats and take preventive measures against them.…

BY MARK ROWE
TONGA’S venture into the world of shipping registries appears to have ended in the farce that many industry experts long predicted. The registry was closed earlier this year in the face of international criticism but Tonga now believes it has lost the money it made during the registry’s controversial two-year period.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has closed competition investigations threatening the future of two international aviation cooperation deals: the Star Alliance of Lufthansa, SAS and United Airlines; and the KLM-Northwest Airlines compact. Brussels halted inquiries into Star after its partners offered to surrender slots at Frankfurt airport to allow competing services on the Frankfurt to Chicago, Washington, Los Angeles and San Francisco routes.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has proposed a system of public compensation for violent crimes committed across the EU. Its suggested directive on compensation to crime victims lays down minimum standards of compensation for intentional violent crimes, including sexual, racist and xenophobic offences committed on a Member State’s territory.…

BY SWINEETHA DIAS WICKRAMANAYAKA
INDIA AIRPORTS

INDIA’S Ministry of Civil Aviation has announced that the privatisation of the country’s four metro airports New Delhi, Mumbai (Bombay), Kolkata (Calcutta), and Chennai (Madras), should be completed by May 2003.

India’s civil aviation secretary, Mr K.…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
FOUR consortia have pre-qualified onto a short-list in a bid to modernise the main airport of Mozambique, namely Maputo International Airport. The project is estimated to be valued at US$13.6 million and will include an upgrade of passenger check in, cargo handling and the ground assistance to the aircraft.…