The container terminals are ready, tankers are transferring oil between each other and the world’s biggest ship has arrived - Port of Rotterdam Authority’s flagship development Maasvlakte 2 is ready for service MJ has been reporting on progress with the construction of Maasvlakte 2 since early 2009 and as important as these latest developments are, they are just one step of a journey which, if images of the finished product are reflected upon will see the story continuing until at least 2030. The two recently completed container terminals should be viewed in the context of just part of the whole 2,000ha site behind a 4km long seawall. Rotterdam World Gateway’s (RWG) first container cranes were delivered ready assembled to Prinses Amaliahaven in November 2013, less than a year later the terminal boasted eleven deepsea quay cranes, three barge/feeder cranes, two rail cranes, 50 automated stacking cranes and 59 automated guided vehicles. Testing is now all but complete, commercial services due to commence by April or May 2015. www.maritimejourn...

Following the announcement that some Costa Crociere shoreside services will be consolidated in Hamburg, trade unions and employees at Costa are planning a four-hour strike on Monday, February 2. According to Italian news reports, up to 161 Costa employees may be affected, across four departments including hotel, marine/technical, purchasing and medical. Earlier on Thursday Costa announced the establishment of a central Marine Operations Center in Hamburg. Under the name of Carnival Maritime, Costa will create a new division for its 25 ships, which includes the Costa and AIDA brands. The division will be headed by Jens Lassen, currently senior vice president of marine operations for AIDA.

The wreck of the sunken "Ninive" was pumped out on Jan 28, 2015, by forces of the THW and the "Stadtwerke". Draining works started at 2 p.m. , and a tractor pulled the galeas upright with a towing wire at the mast. Around 4 p.m. the THW arrived with 17 men and eight more mobile pumps with a capcity of 6000 liters per minute each. At 5.15 p.m. the ship which sank in the night of Jan 21, was floating again. German reports with photos and video: www.shz.de/lokale... highwaynews.de/20...