Chinese fishing boat owners have accused the North Korean military of taking 29 Chinese fishermen on three boats captive and holding them for ransom. The seizing of the fishing boats has opened up a rare public rift between North Korea and its most important ally. Chinese ship owners complain that the demands for ransom are tantamount to piracy, little different from what is happening off the coast of Somalia. According to the ship owners, four boats from the port of Dalian were accosted at sea May 8 in what they claimed are Chinese waters, about 50 miles off of the Chinese coast. azstarnet.com/new...

earlier today in the port happened an accident. Passenger ferry stena spirit during manoeuvres, struck the fuselage in a gantry crane at container terminal. Gantry crane struck the wharf and the crippled containers. Three workers injured. action is conducted.

Indonesia’s largest port authority is pumping in more than $2.5 billion to expand Tanjung Priok, the country’s busiest port, which has long been constrained by a lack of berth space and an inability to serve large container vessels. The expansion of Jakarta’s port, first built by the Dutch in 1877, comes three years after a management overhaul. The expansion is expected to help triple the port’s present annual capacity to more than 18 million TEUs — or twenty-foot equivalent units — when all phases are completed in 2023. The first phase of development, which begins in July, involves the construction of three container terminals and two petroleum product terminals. The first terminal will be completed by 2014, according to the chief executive officer of Indonesia Port Corporation (IPC), Mr Richard J. Lino, 59. Indeed, the infrastructure overhaul is driven by the need for the overburdened port to keep up with the rapidly increasing volume of growth.