Construction Begins for Congo's First Deep-water Port
Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi on Monday launched the construction of the country's first deep-water port, a $1.2 billion project that has drawn criticism for being built on the edge of a protected wetlands.Banana Port, to be built by Dubai's port giant DP World, will border Congo's Mangrove Marine Park, a nature reserve that contains a variety of vulnerable or endangered plant and animal species.The port at Banana, a sandy spit of land at the mouth of Congo River, will process 322,000 containers per year, Congolese Minister of Industry Julien Paluku said on Twitter, p
Cosco to Order 10 Triple-E Megaships
China's shipping and ports giant China Cosco Holdings is planning to order at least 10 Triple-E megaships capable of moving 19,000 containers apiece as the shipping and port giant seeks to dominate major ocean trade routes, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed sources. The vessels will be ordered from a Chinese yard and cost around US$1.4 billion in total. When fully loaded, Triple-E's can cut the cost of moving a container across the oceans by around 25% in an industry that carries about 95% of the world's manufactured goods. The ships are intended to be deployed in the Asia-to-Europe trade loop. The announcement comes on the back of several 20,000 TEU containership orders placed by shipping majors over the recent period as they up the ante in container trade.
