Archive

Keith Nuthall
EXPERTS at the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) are discussing a proposal to set up a non-profit company that would offer airports, ground handlers and airlines third-party war risk liability insurance cover from US$50 million per insured, should the commercial market withdraw such protection.…

BY MONICA DOBIE, in Montreal
INTERNATIONAL airports across Canada will begin using iris scanners to speed up the security processing of passengers as early as this summer.

Toronto and Vancouver airports are expected to be the first to install the devices, in August; they would allow selected travellers to confirm their identities through a checkpoint scan within thirty seconds or less upon arrival at Canada Customs.…

BY MARK ROWE
THE MALAYSIAN government is to press ahead with its decision to transfer all passenger jet operations from Subang airport in the centre of Kuala Lumpur to KLIA, (Kuala Lumpur International Airport), the new international airport 40 miles outside the city, by July this year.…

KEITH NUTHALL
HAULIERS are likely to escape the full burden of an energy taxation directive imposing minimum duty levels on petrol and diesel because of an about turn performed by European Union heads of government. A short but significant clause in the communiqué drawn up at the recent summit in Barcelona not only commits Member States to approving an energy tax law by this December, but crucially says that they should “bear in mind the needs of professionals in the road haulage industry.”…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has declared illegal on grounds of national discrimination the imposition of tougher penalties by the Italian authorities on erring foreign drivers than on Italians. Local drivers may appeal against a penalty within 60 days, but foreigners must appeal immediately and then post security of twice the minimum fine to avoid the immediate confiscation of their licence or vehicle.…

BY RICHARD HURST, in Johannesburg
JAPANESE truck manufacturer Nissan Diesel is considering sourcing components from South Africa to benefit from the tariff reductions for imported vehicles containing locally made parts, local press reports claim. The Japanese company has indicated that it intends using South Africa as a base to expand truck exports into the rest of Africa.…

KEITH NUTHALL
CONTINENTAL hauliers competing unfairly with British companies because of the low rate of duty of fuel in their home countries, may escape seeing tough rises in excise when the EU passes its long awaited energy taxation directive.

Agreeing that the legislation should be passed by December, heads of government at the recent Barcelona summit also performed an about-turn and said that the directive should “bear in mind the needs of professionals in the road haulage industry.”…

BY ALAN OSBORN
FOLLOWING the publication by the European Commission on February 5th of its proposed far-reaching reforms to the current block exemption scheme for new car sales in the European Union, the continent’s motor industry is in ferment. Nobody can be quite sure whether the reforms will go through as they have been planned – or when.…

Keith Nuthall
The use of cadmium batteries in electric vehicles is to be banned

in the EU from 2005, the European Commission has announced. Cadmium is a

heavy metal that pollutes the environment and can cause kidney damage in

humans. The Commission said alternative power sources for electric vehicles

such as nickel metal hydride batteries were now available and lithium-ion

batteries would be on the market later..…

BY RICHARD Hurst, in Johannesburg
DAIMLER Chrysler South Africa’s new dealer strategy has prompted the Retail Motor Industry (RMI) organisation to investigate the possibility of taking the matter before the country’s competition authorities.

The new strategy will see changes in ownership, franchise territories realigned and a single band ownership in the major urban areas.…