Montreal Port Authority has set up an interim committee to analyse the possibilities of forming a logistics and transportation industrial cluster in the Montreal region. The committee, which was established at the initiative of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM) will be chaired by Ms Sylvie Vachon, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Montreal Port Authority.

Cargo throughput figures have been announced for Jiangsu Ports in China. In 2010, Jaingsu ports comprising of six ports (Lianyungang, Nanjing, Suzhou, Nantong, Zhenjiang and Jiangyin) handled a total of 1.5 billion tonnes of cargo – doubling throughput figures compared to 2005.

The Port of Itajai has awarded a dredging contract for carrying out capital dredging works of both the approach channel and turning circle from -11 to -14m, giving the dredge Charles Darwin (a trailing suction hopper dredge with a suction capacity of 30.500m³, and the largest to ever operate in Brazil) carte blanche to start operations in March.

Aruba Ports Authority (APA) NV has today made available specifications of the Project Information Memorandum (PIM), the Request For Proposal (RFP) and the Draft Concession Agreement for the Project for the Concession to Design, Build, Finance, Maintain, Operate, and Transfer (DBFMOT) the Multi-Cargo Sea Terminal at Barcadera, Aruba (Dutch West Indies).

DP World Southampton, UK, made an important step in upgrading its equipment capability over the weekend, as the second and final shipment of sections of two new super post-panamax cranes (with 22 containers wide reach) arrived onboard the MV Beluga Formation. The cranes were built in sections by Liebherr Container Cranes in their manufacturing plant in Ireland.  Over the coming months a team of engineers will erect the cranes on site in Southampton.  Once assembled, the cranes will stand over 85m tall and will be moved to the quayside on specialised transportation wagons. They will become operational in May after substantial and rigorous testing.

Liebherr Werk Nenzing, Austria has launched the new LRS 645 LH reachstacker in "Log Handler" format especially developed for operations in the timber handling sector. Designed to optimise wood yard storage space and wood yard maintenance costs, The LRS LH is capable of handling logs for pulp and paper mills, chipboard or saw mills and wood terminals. The new model will be presented to the public for the first time at the LIGNA world fair for the forestry and wood industries 2011 in Hannover.

Forced by unrest and uncertainty in Egypt, Yang Ming's Post Panamax vessel "YM Maturity", a 6,572 TEU capacity container vessel, docked last week at the new Carmel terminal in the port of Haifa, Israel. The vessel diverted to Israel instead of its usual berth in the region at the Port Said, Egypt.

Terminal quayside container unloading operations need to be linked flexibly with yard stacking operations. The new Boxrunner straddle carrier from Konecranes is the flexible link between ship-to-shore cranes and automated yard cranes and  offers unique container handling performance to two distinct container handling operations. The first is represented by large container terminal operators that are adopting automation technology for greater efficiency. The second is represented by a potentially diverse range of companies that do not have container handling as a core competence, and yet handle incoming and outgoing materials in containers – often using trucks and trailers or custom-engineered, stationary gantry cranes. Boxrunner can be a much more effective solution for their container handling needs.