In Beirut port containerisation opposed by Christian truckers
who fear for their jobs

BEIRUT's port is thriving, says the port authority's director Hassan Kraytem, the proof of which is that it has earned US$55 million for the national treasury in 2014, according to the Finance Ministry figures.
This is due to its growth into a transshipment hub and an increase in container traffic, writes Jeremy Arbid in Lebanon's Executive magazine. Yet despite this success, a plan to expand the port to increase this capacity has resulted in labour strikes and political controversy.
Whereas today the fourth basin can only handle ships carrying general cargo commodities such as grain and flour, cars and other goods that are not easily containerised, the plan is to fill the basin and create a multipurpose terminal to handle both general cargo and containers.  >More
 

Malta: Ancient soul of Mediterranean transshipment via
Valletta and Marsaxlokk

AS the Mediterranean is on the way to somewhere else for most of world shipping, the real action is transshipment, and the further refinement of smoothing onward passage that has become so important to global transport today.
The efficiency of this process, for example, is key to making the Suez Canal a credible rival to the Panama Canal in getting Asian goods to the east coasts of the Americas where most consumers live on both continents.
One can make a case study of Malta, the island nation south of Italy as the traditional transshipment port serving ships headed elsewhere with cargo bound for still other places.  >More
 

China reaps rewards of helping Africa's decolonialism
struggle when few would

GIVEN the low priority of Africa in China's overall foreign strategic thinking, a disproportionate level of attention is paid to its African involvement - with reason.
China is now Africa's biggest trading partner, having surpassed the United States in 2009. By the end of that year, 45.7 per cent of China's cumulative foreign aid of US$41.2 billion had been given to Africa.
Of course, when China was the poorest of the poor in the 1950s, it stood by rebel guerrilla forces (which have since become legitimate national armies) against African colonial regimes. China armed them, and on independence put in roads and railways. A grateful Mozambique even graced its flag with a Chinese AK-47 assault rifle. >More
 

Thinking outside of the box: An overview of break-bulk
shipping

AFTER more than 50 years of containerisation, the containership today is responsible for the transportation of more than 90 per cent of world trade, taking over the role previously played by general cargo ships, or break-bulk carriers.
Yet despite the advances that have come as a result of containerisation there is still a substantial break-bulk sector today. Simply put, not all cargo can fit into a 20 or 40 foot container, as in the case of project shipments and other out-of-gauge cargo.
The sector continues to flourish in parts of the world that are not equipped with the necessary technology to handle containerships and other specialised vessels like tankers. >More