Latest news with #ports
Zawya
an hour ago
- Business
- Zawya
Qatar ports see 16% surge in container throughput in May
Doha, Qatar: Hamad, Ruwais and Doha ports witnessed a significant growth in May 2025 after registering surge in handling higher container volumes, building materials, livestock and vessels compared to same period in previous year. The ports saw a 16 percent year-on-year increase in container throughput in May this year. Building materials, livestock, and vessel arrivals rose by 106 percent, 38 percent, and 21 percent respectively compared to May 2024, Mwani Qatar stated in a post on its X platform, yesterday. The ports received 294 vessels in May 2025. The container handling through the three ports stood at 142,843 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units). The general and bulk cargo, RORO, livestock, and building materials during the same period accounted for 174,398 tonnes, 6,783 units, 80,396 heads, and 82,745 tonnes respectively in May this year. Meanwhile in April this year, the ports handled 235 vessels marking a 22 percent rise compared to the same period last year. Container throughput surged by approximately 50 percent, while volumes of livestock and building materials grew by 30 percent and 141 percent respectively. Hamad Port keeps moving forward firmly towards more powerful position as one of the key ports in the Middle East and the region. It targets achieving a more efficient logistics services industry in Qatar and the transformation into a leading global trade hub, thus enhancing its economic diversification plans in step with the Qatar National Vision 2030. The state-of-the-art infrastructure and advanced technologies at Hamad Port boosts the efficiency of Qatar's maritime facilities and contributes to achieving the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030. It serves as a cornerstone in strengthening Qatar's role as a vital regional logistics hub, with the capacity to handle the world's largest commercial vessels and deliver integrated maritime services that meet the highest global standards. The maritime transport sector works to build bridges of cooperation with various bodies concerned with maritime transport specialisations and involve them in international meetings and workshops. Positioned strategically and supported by a rapidly expanding shipping network, Hamad Port, Qatar's main gateway to world trade enables seamless and secure cargo flow and transshipment operations. This boosts customer experience, unlocks greater growth potential, and strengthens the country's role as a key commercial and logistics hub in the region. The 2024/2025 cruise season witnessed the arrival of 87 cruise ships, marking a 19 percent increase compared to the previous season. This included five additional ships making their first calls to Doha Port and 13 turnaround operations. The number of cruise visitors during this season exceeded 360,000. Transfer passengers — those beginning or ending their journey in Qatar — accounted for more than 10 percent of total visitors, underscoring the country's status as a key hub for cruise tourism in the region. © Dar Al Sharq Press, Printing and Distribution. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
E&E News
3 days ago
- Climate
- E&E News
Red tape, staff cuts threaten NOAA operations
Staff shortages and new layers of bureaucracy are suffocating NOAA and threatening its ability to accurately predict extreme weather events, ensure U.S. ports stay open and safeguard the nation's commercial and recreational fisheries, say current and former agency officials. The coil around NOAA squeezes in two ways, they say. The first is personnel. More than 1,000 NOAA employees have left the agency since the start of the Trump administration, and the empty desks have led to staffing issues in key weather service offices — just as hurricane season approaches. For example, NOAA's Global Forecast System — which governments and industries worldwide rely upon — has 'measurably declined' in recent weeks because staff cuts have meant fewer weather balloon launches, said Tim Gallaudet, who served as acting NOAA administrator in the first Trump administration. Advertisement 'You're talking about a degradation and a measurable impact already,' Gallaudet said. 'It's not sustainable at all.'
Forbes
5 days ago
- Business
- Forbes
Why European Cruise Itineraries Don't Always Tell The Full Story
Sculpture at Le Havre cruise ship port shows its importance as a container port. When you book a European cruise, it's easy to be drawn in by iconic names on the itinerary: Paris, London, Florence and more. But while the brochure may promise a stop in these cities, the reality is often quite different. Cruise ships rarely dock in the center of major capitals. In fact, some of the most famous cruise destinations are located hours away from the nearest port. There are several reasons why this happens, and it's worth understanding them before you step aboard. More importantly, knowing what to expect helps you plan how to spend your time in port, whether you travel independently or stick with the cruise line's organized shore excursions. Many of Europe's most visited cities are inland. The likes of Paris, Rome, Berlin, and Seville were never designed to receive ocean-going vessels. Instead, they developed around rivers and ancient trade routes long before cruise ships became a mode of travel. Even when coastal cities exist nearby, they're not always capable of handling the megaships of today. Modern cruise vessels are huge, requiring deep water and extensive facilities. That means they're often routed to major commercial or container ports, which are better equipped for embarkation, refueling, and moving thousands of passengers. These ports are functional, but not always scenic or close to the city that's been advertised. There's also the matter of logistics. Large cities often struggle with traffic and crowd control. Docking further away can help spread the load and streamline passenger transport. Here are a few well-known cruise itineraries where the advertised city is much farther from the port than travelers may realize. Le Havre for Paris: Although Le Havre is billed as the port for Paris, the French capital is more than two hours away by train or coach. A day trip is possible, but time on the ground is limited. For a more relaxed alternative, nearby Honfleur offers Normandy charm with cobbled streets and historic harbors. Southampton for London: Southampton is often described as London's cruise gateway, but the capital is about two hours away. While a full-day excursion is feasible, traffic and train delays are common. If embarking in Southampton, spending a few days prior to the cruise in the British capital is a wise move. Civitavecchia for Rome: Rome's cruise stop is the port of Civitavecchia, located 50 miles from the city. Travel time is around 90 minutes each way, making independent sightseeing a challenge on shorter port days. Train connections are regular, so many travelers still opt to visit Rome's iconic landmarks. Cádiz for Seville: Although Cádiz is used as a launch point for Seville, the port city itself is a worthwhile destination. Seville is about 90 minutes away by coach, but the central port, ancient history, waterfront promenade, sun trap beaches and numerous tapas bars of Cádiz please many cruise travelers who stay put. When you're facing a long distance between ship and city, your first decision is whether to travel on your own or book a cruise line excursion. The answer depends on several factors. If your port call is relatively short and the destination is more than an hour away, it's usually best to book through the ship. These excursions are timed carefully and, crucially, the ship will wait if there's a delay. Independent travelers don't have that safety net, and cruise lines won't hold departure for latecomers unless they're on an official tour. On the other hand, if the ship is docked for a full day and you're comfortable using local transport, travelling independently can offer more freedom and potentially save money. This is especially true in places like Civitavecchia and Southampton, where train services are frequent and reliable. In either case, it's essential to build in plenty of extra time and carry appropriate travel insurance in case of delays or missed connections. There's a silver lining to these distant ports. Often, the smaller towns where ships dock are underrated destinations in their own right. Places like Honfleur or Cádiz might not be world capitals, but they offer a more relaxed, authentic taste of the region, and you won't spend half the day on a highway. By managing expectations and understanding the geography behind your itinerary, you can avoid disappointment and plan a more rewarding day ashore. Whether you choose to chase the headline city or stay and explore the port itself, a little research goes a long way. Finally, be wary of overnight ports. An overnight stop might sound like a generous amount of time in port, but the reality can vary. On some itineraries, particularly those chasing the northern lights, ships may remain docked well into the next day, giving passengers plenty of time to explore. However, not all overnight listings are created equal. A ship that arrives at 4pm and departs at 7am the following morning technically qualifies as an overnight stay and may show the itinerary across two days, even though it offers relatively little time ashore. Before making plans, check the actual arrival and departure times. This is especially important if you are booking independent excursions or transfers, as early departures can easily catch people off guard. When timing is tight, it may be wiser to stick with cruise line tours.
Telegraph
25-05-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
From Cornwall to Qatar, these are the world's next cruise ship hotspots
For every destination that accuses cruise ships of swamping them with too many visitors, it's easy to forget there are others enthusiastically rolling out the red carpet to attract ships in greater numbers. Cultivating such business can be a boon for fledgling ports keen to establish their tourism credentials as it brings worthwhile rewards, primarily by helping to boost their local economies. Cruise Lines International Association estimates that each passenger is worth £100 per day and in turnaround ports, where cruises start or finish, the figure is higher as guests often tag on hotel stays. For destinations that are otherwise relatively inaccessible, cruise calls can be a lucrative lifeline and even for seasoned hubs, there's much to be said for spreading the benefits where visiting cruise ships can help to extend the tourist season. British ambitions While Europe is a traditional cruising ground, popular holiday spots Cyprus and Madeira are two islands that have made their cruising ambitions clear with plans to woo more cruise companies to their shores. Another is the UK, already an established cruise hub that saw around two million passengers step ashore on a record number of port calls last year that topped 2,500. Cruise Britain, which represents around 45 of the country's ports and destinations, said smaller ports such as Fowey and Dartmouth were eyeing more ship calls, along with Aberdeen and Belfast, while investing in infrastructure and developing a broader range of shore excursions to cater for visitors. New hotspots However, it is further afield that countries are looking at how they can jump on the cruise bandwagon. India, which is known for voyages along the holy waters of the Ganges and the Brahmaputra rivers, has designated cruise tourism a priority. As part of a bid to position itself as a global destination for river and ocean voyages it is capitalising on its vast coastline and extensive network of inland waterways. New passenger terminals are planned for a string of ports, spearheaded by the country's largest cruise terminal, which opened in Mumbai in April 2025. Bali is another with its eyes on the cruising prize. The tropical isle has long been an embarkation point for sailings into the Komodo National Park and other Indonesian archipelagos, but now hopes to become a major cruise hub. This is an ambition shared by the Philippines, which wants to capitalise on the undiscovered allure of the thousands of islands in the republic's waters to appeal to ships of all sizes, with potential for some to base themselves in Manila. Luxury line Seabourn reports that most destinations in the South Pacific, notably Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and French Polynesia, are actively seeking more cruise calls, especially from smaller expedition vessels. Qatar calling The Arabian Gulf is another area coming to the fore where authorities in the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar are pumping millions of pounds into upgrading cruise facilities and forging partnerships with lines such as Celestyal and MSC Cruises which both base ships there. 'It's an exciting time for cruises in the region as it's still relatively new,' said Celestyal's chief commercial officer Lee Haslett. 'Cruising offers a unique way to explore multiple countries in one trip and Doha and the United Arab Emirates are perfectly positioned for this and for guests looking for winter sun.' Even the world's cruise capital, Florida, isn't resting on its laurels, with Miami, Port Canaveral and Port Tampa Bay adding new multi-million pound terminals. 'Port Canaveral continues to surprise us with just how much it's grown and it has become one of the most exciting places to start a cruise in Florida,' said Chris Gray Faust, US editor of cruise review site Cruise Critic.'Galveston [in Texas] used to be a secondary US port and now it's a major player with its new terminal opening later this year.' Under-the-radar Boutique line Windstar Cruises says it is regularly courted by ports wanting to increase cruise business. 'As a destination-focused cruise line we want to find new ports that can provide variety for our guests and make our itineraries stand out with new experiences and new locations,' explained head of UK & Ireland sales Augustus Lonsdale. In Norway, the fjord town of Haugesund, rich in Viking heritage, along with Trondeim and the little-known isle of Froya have recently slipped into Windstar itineraries accompanied by the southern Italian ports of Taranto and Reggio Calabria. Further afield, Tomonoura in Japan, described as an old-fashioned fishing town whose more recent claim to fame was as a location for Marvel superhero film The Wolverine, has also made its debut. Lonsdale accepts that Windstar's small ship status means destinations do not require the same level of infrastructure as large vessels and he expects further growth from the South Pacific along with Central and South America. 'The places we've added are interesting because they show there are still classic cruise destinations, such as Italy and Norway, with new areas to share and they are still being proactive. It's not just new countries to cruise,' he concluded.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Commentary: Rising from mudflats to world-class cargo hub, the ports of L.A. and Long Beach face a wave of Trump tariffs
Where the Southern California land meets the Pacific waters, the beaches are the glamour-pusses, but it's the ports that are the workhorses that bring in the heavyweight bucks. Lately, maybe not quite so much. The yo-yoing import tariffs imposed by President Trump have been toying with the massive twin-engine economies of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. They're operated separately by the cities of L.A. and Long Beach, but considered together, they are far and away the busiest container port complex in the U.S., or maybe the Western Hemisphere. It's from here, on San Pedro Bay, that the journeys by trucks and rail and plane begin, ferrying out to the rest of the country the billions of goods, overwhelmingly Chinese-made — all those holiday toys, all that kitchenware and household tools, even all that MAGA gear — that fill store shelves and warehouses and shopping lists. The ports had to invent themselves in the first place, out of muddy marshes and shallows, to become the present-day enterprises doing billions of dollars of business and compete and partner with the massive Asian container ports across the Pacific. Now the tariffs taffy-pulling may spur another moment for reinvention. The ports have many ways to divvy up their numbers, to claim to be first and biggest and most. Together, their operations range more than 15,000 acres on land and water, and two years ago they rang up almost $22 billion in what's called direct revenue to local service providers, ponied up $2.7 billion a year in state and local taxes, and accounted for at least 165,000 paychecks, and many thousands more across the nation's consumer supply chain. Earlier this month, a reporter asked Trump about the slide in cargo traffic at U.S. ports, with the cascading wallop to businesses and workers and customers. To the contrary, said Trump: Such a slowdown 'means we lose less money ... so when you say it's slowed down, that's a good thing, not a bad thing.' It is, in fact, a bad thing. When you so much as tap the brakes on the port operations — and the initial 145% tariffs imposed on China and less elsewhere was more like slamming them on — the pileup effect is a trade SigAlert of immense proportions. In early May, the tariff effect meant that the ports clocked a cargo drop of something between 25% and 30%. The port of L.A. has come far from its unpromising beginnings. Hollywood-fashion, it fudges a bit about its age — to make itself older. The port dates itself from October 1542, when the Spanish seafarer Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo spotted the mudflats of the San Pedro coast as he sailed past. The captain of the first European ship to reach the future U.S. West Coast adjudged it 'a port enclosed and very good.' That may have appeared true to a man whose flagship measured about 100 feet long — the same distance the DMV says you should signal an upcoming turn — but in time, the hunger for harbors would convert the shallow San Pedro waters into a bona fide port. San Diego and San Francisco are more natural ports. For a time from the late 1880s, Redondo Beach, with its steep, deep offshore canyon, did a brisk trade as a port for lumber to build L.A. But, as I like to say, L.A. never let nature thwart its self-invention. Richard Henry Dana was a Boston Brahmin and a Harvard man who took to sea on an ordinary merchant ship. In 1835, he came ashore at San Pedro, a port so rudimentary that sugar barrels and other goods the sailors unloaded had to be carried 'California fashion' up to the blufftop, man by laboring man, and the valuable cattle hides nicknamed 'California bank notes' were rolled down the bluff for sailors to hoist onto their heads and carry out onto the waiting ship. Read more: Tariffs bring shipping slowdown, threatening trucking jobs at L.A. ports When Dana returned to San Pedro just before the Civil War began, he could 'scarce recognize the hill up which we rolled and dragged and pushed our heavy loads.' It was a place transformed, with railroads and wharves running at capacity. Much of this was the work of 'the father of the port,' Phineas Banning, an indefatigable Wilmington, Del., native who bestowed that town's name on the one he founded here. Banning had made the port into a commercial powerhouse. Soon, two of the titans of the age and place — Southern Pacific railroad man Collis P. Huntington and L.A. Times owner Harrison Gray Otis — engaged in a Godzilla-versus-King Kong struggle over where to put L.A.'s official port: Santa Monica or San Pedro? Political money and political muscle came down on the side of San Pedro in 1897. Read more: California businesses are reeling from Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs One way or another, Los Angeles pretty much always got what it wanted. And in 1897, the harbor towns of San Pedro and Wilmington weren't within Los Angeles' civic embrace, and L.A. was eager to get the jump on Long Beach. So in 1909, voters in both towns agreed to be annexed by L.A., tethered by a 'shoestring strip' of land about 16 miles long and a half-mile wide, a legal but comically gerrymandered umbilicus between the bulk of the city and the singularly different seafront and harbor neighborhoods. The work of running a port is a constant maintenance of channels, breakwaters, bridges, and the machinery of seagoing commerce. Importers and exporters opened offices at the port, and pleasure cruise companies sent their passenger ships up and down the Pacific coast, and then to Hawaii and across the Pacific. In 1907, President Theodore Roosevelt sent the U.S. Navy's white-painted fleet on a round-the-world voyage to show the nation's naval might and reach. In 1908, it steamed memorably past crowds waving along San Pedro Bay, just as Long Beach was planning to turn its own marshes and mudflats into a port, and soon dredging a channel connecting Long Beach with the L.A. port. The Long Beach port was dedicated in 1911, and like Southern California itself, went like gangbusters. The Panama Canal opened in 1914, giving U.S. shipping a big flex in seagoing nimbleness at a moment when Europe was going to war. Read more: Commentary: 250 years after saving America's bacon, French have little taste for what Trump dishes out In the 1950s, the Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis — soon to be familiar on American shores as the second husband of Jacqueline Kennedy — supposedly declared that Long Beach was 'the world's most modern shipping port.' Shipyards in both ports sent their new vessels from their cradles out into the world. Beginning in the 1920s, oil burst cinematically out of the ground at wells across the coastal South Bay and even into the Long Beach harbor. So much oil got sucked out of the port and its neighborhoods that the ground started to subside, in some places yards deep. The infrastructure damage has run into the billions, and in the 1960s, 'Operation Big Squirt' started injecting water underground to restabilize the land. In 1930, both Ford and Procter & Gamble had set up plants near the water's edge, the better and faster to move products. For P&G's debut, Harriet Hauge, the Long Beach mayor's white-gloved daughter, christened a four-foot-long 'boat' made entirely out of cakes of Ivory soap, whose motto was, 'It floats!' Back in 1908, the Great White Fleet had sailed right past the ports. Within a dozen years, the ports became central to U.S. Navy operations, building ships through World War II, and making Long Beach a sailors' town, the home port for the Pacific Fleet. And then, just like the wartime industries of L.A., the peacetime ports swiveled to more commercial operations. The Navy moved many of its operations to San Diego after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989. The shipbuilding pretty much came to an end, and the commercial fishing trade of some thousand vessels that once kept canneries working in high gear has moved elsewhere. In its stead came a cargo trade of astounding scale. In the late 1950s, shipments started being standardized in cargo containers that made it easier and faster to unload a ship and hasten its cargo on its way. About 20 years later, free-trade agreements began moving mass-produced goods in thousands of enormous containers from factories in South Korea, in Vietnam, and most of all from China, into the hands of American consumers — via the ports of L.A. and Long Beach. All of this changed port jobs, and lost port jobs, and created other jobs all along the cargo chain. Los Angeles was a town hostile to organized labor, but labor forces in the harbor had the backing of national longshore unions, including the radical-leaning International Workers of the World, the so-called 'Wobblies,' and the city resisted their strength with formidable anti-union organizing laws. The Southern California chapter of the ACLU was born out of an incident during a strike in the L.A. harbor in May 1923. Police had arrested about 30 leaders at the port workers' strike and walkout. Then several hundred men who had called for the work stoppage were rounded up and held without bail in a specially built 'stockade.' Several days later, author Upton Sinclair stood on a hilltop above the harbor, and began reading from the Bill of Rights. He was arrested. So was the man who took his place, and the man after that and the man after that. L.A. was now engaged in the movement of the moment: rising organized labor and civil rights versus government and private industry joining forces to suppress them. [At one point, the KKK was helping L.A. police in a show of force to break the strike.] Then, in 1934, a nearly three-month strike by port workers up and down the West Coast ended in the creation of the longshore and warehouse workers' union, which represents harbor workers to this day. Read more: Palm trees are about as L.A. as it gets. But is it time to bid them a frond farewell? The present battle is over robot automation and the risks of job losses in those changeovers. Workers have not been alone in their grievances against the harbor. The harbor neighborhoods are probably the most polluted part of a very polluted city, owing to the filth that the port generates. Every day, as my colleague Thomas Curwen described it a few years ago, the big rigs take a shortcut through a small Wilmington neighborhood, sending out dirt and noise and diesel fumes. It isn't just one street. Port roads jammed with diesel trucks, oil refineries processing fuel, ships idling to be unloaded, make for some of the worst air in the state. Residents of that Wilmington street petitioned and pleaded and then resorted to blocking off the street briefly to the trucks that shook the ground and spewed the filth through their neighborhood. Wilmington has been told that solutions are around the corner, yet just the plans for a remedy don't have to be completed for another two years. In the city of Los Angeles, there are three 'proprietary' departments, operations that pay for themselves, pretty much without tax money and with their own commissions, independent of the City Council, powerful entities unto themselves. The airports and the Department of Water and Power are two; the third is the port. In 1967, The Times investigated the doings of harbor commissioners, and a grand jury, following up on that, called for indictments of past and present commissioners for perjury and criminal conflicts of interest. Two of the four were convicted of accepting bribes. The name of the president of the harbor commission, Pietro Di Carlo, a leading citizen of San Pedro, had come up in the investigation in connection with a contract with a troubled development company that Di Carlo had had associations with. And one morning in early November 1967, about six weeks before the indictments were issued, and a few hours after he went to 6 a.m. Mass, he was found dead in a channel in the harbor, face down, his hat floating nearby. The coroner found that no foul play was involved, and that his death was accidental. His widow said that he had gone to the harbor to reserve a boat, and had been taking medicine that sometimes made him dizzy. This scandal was a stain on Mayor Sam Yorty, who had appointed the harbor commissioners. A few years later, Times political columnist Bill Boyarsky wrote about the political clout of big donors sponsoring a Yorty fundraiser. Annoyed, Yorty confronted Boyarsky at the fundraiser. 'Boyarsky, I don't know what I'm going to do with you.' Boyarsky, remembering the dead man in the water, put up his hands in comic defense. 'Oh no, mayor,' he said. 'Not the harbor!' Yorty was not amused. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
