New Shanghai airport cargo terminal for UPS. A construction crew works on an expansion project at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, as a plane makes an approach for landing in this March photo. United Parcel Service (UPS) began construction last week on a major air cargo hub of the facility to connect China to the express delivery giant’s global network. The 96,000-square-meter center, the first such facility by a US cargo carrier in China, is scheduled to go into operation next year. Upon completion, the facility may even be larger than the current design because of growing demand for freight transport, said Mike Eskew, chairman and chief executive officer of UPS, before the groundbreaking ceremony. --BloomBerg

PHILIPPINE crewing agencies and other seafarer groups are making a last ditch effort to stop the government from requiring sailors to take additional management level courses before their employment documents are issued, a rule which was implemented recently. 

In a letter of appeal sent to Malacañang late last month, the groups claimed that taking the said courses—originally meant to upgrade sailors’ competence—should not be made mandatory by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), which issues licenses to both deck and engine crew members. However, sailors interested in seeking international employment are still required to take a certificate of competency, also at the PRC, which would serve as their license for working at ocean-going vessels.

The groups said it resorted to making an appeal at Malacañang after it “miserably failed” to convince the marine board of the PRC that the new requirement will be an additional cost to seafarers. It added that the new subjects are not included in the minimum requirements indicated in international guidelines.

Taking the courses will not upgrade their skills since most of the topics are already part of the curriculum of the four- to five-year marine deck and marine engineering courses, said the groups, which include the Crewing Managers Association of the Philippines Seaman’s Party Inc., Pobar Marine Services, United Filipino Seafarers, Philippine Maritime Institute Alumni Association Inc., and Integrated Marine Deck and Engine Officers Association Inc.

Rates for the new course requirements range from P42,000 for deck courses and P52,000 for engine courses, which last between six to eight weeks. 

“Taking the management level courses as an upgrading program can be well addressed on an optional and non-mandatory basis, not only because it is not one of the minimum requirements of the STCW (Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping) Convention, but also foreign principals do not require these management level courses as a condition for employment,” the letter said. “The PRC is pushing on the program upon the strong and very persuasive lobby of the training centers with the members of the PRC Board for Marine Officers. These training centers obviously stand to gain at the expense of our seafarers in making the management level courses mandatory, and the PRC will have become the willing tool."

PHILIPPINE crewing agencies and other seafarer groups are making a last ditch effort to stop the government from requiring sailors to take additional management level courses before their employment documents are issued, a rule which was implemented recently. 

BEIJING—Qingdao Port Group Co., which operates China’s biggest crude oil import terminal, plans to raise as much as 4 billion yuan ($528 million) in an initial share sale for expansion.