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Shanghai
port to invest in Chongqing’s Yangtze harbor
SHANGHAI
International
Port (Groupa) Co., operator of China’s busiest container
harbor, plans to invest in a $343-million project in
Chongqing city, western China, to add facilities along
the Yangtze River.
The port
operator and the
Chongqing
government will build 13 ship berths, the
company said in a Shanghai Stock Exchange statement
Wednesday. They will seek other investors to take part
in the project, as well.

A man looks at a container
and bulk-loading dock along the Yangtze River in Wanzhou
District, Chongqing, China, in a file photo. Chongqing,
a municipality as well as a city, is China’s largest
inland port, with the municipality home to over 30
million people. -- Bloomberg
The
Chongqing plan follows Shanghai Port’s investments in
Jiujiang and Wuhan as the company expands along the
Yangtze River.
China
aims to make greater use of internal waterways for cargo
shipments to cut pollution and transportation costs.
The
5,551-kilometer Yangtze,
Asia’s longest river, stretches from
Tibet to
Shanghai, the world’s second-busiest container port.
(Bloomberg)
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Daewoo
Shipbuilding to develop tourism in Oman’s Duqm
DAEWOO
Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. signed an
agreement with the government of
Oman
to develop tourism in Duqm, a port city about 450
kilometers south of Muscat.
The
venture will develop Duqm into a tourism and business
area, Daewoo Shipbuilding said in a statement Wednesday.
The
value of the project will be decided at a later date,
the Seoul, South Korean-based company said. No details
of the development were given in the statement.
Daewoo
Shipbuilding, the world’s third-biggest shipyard, is
turning to new businesses to benefit from increased
spending in the Middle East nations.
Economies in the Gulf region will expand 9.2 percent
this year as oil revenue spurs spending on airports,
power plants and business parks, according to Morgan
Stanley.
Gulf states,
including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates,
plan to spend a combined $1.1 trillion to develop their
economies, Qatar Finance Minister Yousuf Hussain Kamal
said on March 16.
That may
help South Korean contractors win record orders for a
third year in 2008.
Duqm
will become an industrial and tourist area around 2020,
Daewoo Shipbuilding said.
The
South Korean shipbuilder in 2006 signed an agreement to
build and operate in Oman a ship-repair yard, which will
be the biggest in the
Middle East. (Bloomberg)
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Oil-spill ship pilot faces new charges
JOHN
Cota, the pilot of a ship that struck a bridge support
in San Francisco Bay in November and dumped 58,000
gallons of oil, was indicted for allegedly making false
statements about his medications.
A
federal grand jury returned a new indictment Wednesday
that added charges against Cota, who was criminally
charged last month with negligence for polluting the
bay, according to a statement by San Francisco US Atty.
Joseph Russionello.
Cota, of
Petaluma, California, made false statements to the US
Coast Guard on his annual medical forms in 2006 and 2007
about his current medications, the dosage and possible
side effects, according to the statement. (Bloomberg)
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Cherokee-led group withdraws from SF port
bid
A
CHEROKEE Investment Partners LP-led group withdrew from
a competition to invest $1 billion in a waterfront
development on land owned by the San Francisco Port
Commission.
Cherokee, a developer based in
Raleigh,
North Carolina,
and San Francisco-based developers Build Inc. and
UrbanGreen Devco Llc. withdrew from the competition
after opposition to their plan from the Carpenters Local
22 union in San Francisco, Build President Lou Vasquez
told the port commission Wednesday in San Francisco.
Groups
led by Boston Properties Inc. and Farallon Capital
Management Llc. have also expressed interest in the
development. (Bloomberg) |