"India Aims to Invest $100 Billion in Ports, Shipping" from Wall Street Journal

"India aims to invest 4.52 trillion rupees ($100 billion) by 2020 to build new ports and develop its shipping industry in a bid to boost trade, Shipping Minister G.K. Vasan said."

"Chinese officials last month told Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov that they may resume buying major Russian weapons systems after a break of several years." from South China Morning Post

"China's lack of foreign military bases - it has insisted that it will not station troops abroad - limits its ships on long-term missions."

"Pearl River deal barges ahead" from South China Morning Post

"China Merchants Holdings (International) and Chu Kong Shipping Development are teaming up to develop a Pearl River transshipment business to benefit from Guangdong's low-carbon policies over the next five years."

"Orient Overseas Container Line, the Tung-family-controlled shipping company, could order massive container ships that would be almost 50 per cent bigger than any ship in its fleet, a senior executive confirmed yesterday." from South China Morning Post

"CR Cement embarks on expansion course" from South China Morning Post

"Calls to curb the massive loan growth on the mainland are not stopping China Resources Cement Holdings from building what will become possibly the world's biggest cement plant and doubling production capacity.

"By 2012, we will have the world's biggest cement plant in Fengkai," said the company's strategic development director, Max Yu Zhongliang."


"The Fengkai plant is next to the Xijiang or Western River. China Resources invested 1.2 billion yuan in a cargo terminal to transport cement from the plant by river. It was seven times cheaper to transport cement by river compared to trucks, Hu said.

Next year, the river terminal would start shipping fine stones, or aggregate as it is known in the industry, to Hong Kong as a raw material for construction projects, Yu said."

"London's position as the world's top shipping hub is being challenged by emerging contenders from Asia, as China's economy sucks in goods." from South China Morning Post

"Chinese commodity demand is an increasingly pivotal factor driving freight market activity eastwards, while Asia dominates shipbuilding. Indian appetite for raw materials is also set to grow in the coming years, all enabling Singapore to set out its stall as a centre for the ship industry.

Shanghai is also vying to attract the maritime firms that are looking away from London and to the east."

"Singapore is seen as attractive. UK-based Shipowners' P&L Club recently opened their first overseas Asian office there, global ship broker Clarksons relocated it Hong Kong dry cargo broking teams to Singapore, while Swiss Re moved its Hong Kong marine reinsurance operations to Singapore. Rolls-Royce moved its global headquarters for marine business to the city state last year."

"China Shipping Container Lines, the second largest mainland container shipping company, showed a third-quarter turnaround, posting 2.15 billion yuan (HK$2.5 billion) net profit, compared with a 1.94 billion loss in the year-earlier period. from South China Morning Post

"SITC International Holdings, a mainland shipping and logistics company which listed in Hong Kong last month, saw a 334 per cent year-on-year growth in net profit for the first nine months on higher freight rates and shipping volume." from South China Morning Post

"Shipments of farm products to China will total $15 billion, compared with Canada's $16.8 billion and Mexico's $14.6 billion. Corn prices are up over 60 percent since June, while wheat as much as doubled." from Bloomberg Businessweek

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