New Zealand’s Lotus Wash Systems has developed the world’s first fully-automatic sea container washing unit at the Fremantle Port operation of AWH Logistics, according to PortStrategy.com.
China imported 8,017 tonnes of olive oil in 2007, up from 393 tonnes in 2001, according to the General Administration of Customs. Analysts expect imports to soon touch 10,000 tonnes a year.
Asian governments’ failure to act has given shipping lines the freedom to collaborate to impose sharply higher rates. The Asian Shippers Council said its members have had to put up with ridiculous surcharges – a peak season surcharge outside the traditional peak season and emergency bunker surcharge even when bunker prices are stable.
Using robotics in meat processing and packaging will lead to greater hygiene, improved consistency of operation and greater productivity, according to MeatProcess.com, citing the German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL).
A World Trade Organisation (WTO) panel has ruled that a US ban on Chinese poultry is illegal – the first such reprimand for legislation brought in under the Obama Administration, according to MeatProcess.com.
Denmark has said that unless Brussels imposes a Europe-wide ban on bisphenol A (BPA) in food contact materials for young children it will not lift its own ban on the chemical, according to FoodProductionDaily.com.
China would have invested a total of 140.5 billion yuan (NZD$28.15 billion) in its ambitious South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project from 2006 to 2010, according to a China Daily report quoting the country’s water diversion authority.
The US House of Representatives last week passed a bill giving the executive branch the power to impose punitive duties on exports to the US of any country whose currency is labelled “fundamentally undervalued.”
In August, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co completed its takeover of Swedish carmaker Volvo Car Corporation. And late last month Shanghai-based Bright Food (Group) Co Ltd emerged as the frontrunner to acquire United Biscuits, the UK biscuit maker currently owned by private equity firms.
Six global freight forwarders have pleaded guilty and have accepted fines of USD$50.27 million (NZD$70.17 million) from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) for conspiring to fix air cargo fees between 2002 and 2007, according to the Shipping Gazette.
More than 1,600 Chinese businesses are investing in Africa in the mining, processing, commerce, agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors.
UK sales of gluten and wheat free products soared 18% to GBP108.3 million (NZD$231 million) in the year to July 11, 2010, according to FoodManufacturer.co.uk, citing data from Kantar Worldpanel.
Research In Motion (RIM) unveiled a tablet computer aimed at its core business customers, as it tries to gain a foothold in a fast-growing market dominated by Apple’s iPad, according to a Reuters report carried by GulfNews.com.
Ocean container carriers pulled around 100,000 20-foot equivalent units of capacity from the Asia to North Europe route during the Chinese vacation week as freight rates decline rapidly on weaker-than-expected cargo demand, according to the Journal of Commerce citing a report by Alphaliner.