With a strong dollar, US consumers have money to spend
on imports from Africa

AT first glance the lack-lustre trade figures don't show it, but with an eye to what is happening to oil and exchange rates much more becomes clear - things don't look nearly so bad for Africa and the Mediterranean.
The big news is the impact of strong US dollar and its power of to create a worldwide export boom in US imports. The euro is in pretty good shape too; even the EU economy is not as bad as some make out.
Also note that US imports from Asia are not impressive. The American appetite for Chinese goods has waned lately, perhaps a function of a strong yuan and diversification of sourcing.  >More
 

State of African ports around the continent port by
port assessed

IN this report, Port Overview Africa, long-time observer of world shipping Victor Shih, now editor of PortOverview.com and analyst Kasper Hansen of Sea Intel Maritime Analysis, undertook a technical tour of the continent's ports and their progress.
They report overall improvement in average reliability on both Europe and Asian services into African ports. Average on-time arrival within +/- 1 day of schedule is up from 64 per cent to 73 per cent for Asia-Africa (based on 1,840 arrivals) and 46 per cent to 60 per cent for Europe-Africa (based on 1,846 arrivals).
As for African exports - reliability is normally quite high comparatively for the Africa-Asia route - the figure remains down by just three per cent at 77 per cent versus the first half of the year figure of 80 per cent (based on 3,567 arrivals).  >More
 

Euro-Mediterranean partnership encompassing North Africa
still a work in progress

A DIFFERENT and more volatile "north-south" problem exists today. It too concerns the peoples of the richer north seeking to improve the fortunes of the poorer south.
But this time it is more localised and refers to the economic gap that might be ameliorated with more trade between the countries on the north side of the Mediterranean with those on the south.
The key objective of the trade partnership between the countries of North Africa, in the eyes of the European Commission (EC), is the creation of a deep Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area.  >More
 

Barcelona: Challenging all for the Mediterranean's logistics
crown

BARCELONA, an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination, has fast evolved into a key logistics player in the Mediterranean and southern Europe, says the Hong Kong Trade Development Centre (HKTDC).
Hong Kong's Hutchison Whampoa through its subsidiary, Hutchison Port Holdings (HPH), have long deployed extensive port investment across the region. So has Hong Kong's Kerry Logistics Network strengthened its operations there?
This is due, says an article on the HKTDC website, to its strategic geographic location, from which logistics players have long achieved benefit from the city's success in vying for the region's logistics crown. >More
 

If Cape route makes sense on the back-haul, it might make
sense on head-haul too

SINCE the end of October last, SeaIntel Maritime Analysis showed that 115 vessels deployed on Asia-USEC and Asia-North Europe services have made the back-haul sailing south of Africa instead of through the Suez or Panama.
With the extra 3.5 days transit time on the back-haul, carriers could save US$5 million per service in fuel savings, argues New York's Marine Link - quite apart from the canal fee savings of $20 million a year per service.
"Potentially, we may see carriers offering 'business class' fast services through the Suez Canal and economy fare around the south of Africa," said SeaIntel CEO Alan Murphy. >More