Global carmaker, Toyota Motor, has announced that it will begin exporting US-assembled Venza crossover vehicles to Russia and Ukraine via the Port of Brunswick in Georgia. Toyota, which is a new client for the Georgia Ports Authority (GPA), will begin Venza shipments this year. Production will begin at Toyota’s Georgetown plant in April 2013. The company expects to export around 5,000 Venza vehicles per year to Russia and Ukraine. - See more at: www.portstrategy....

Australia’s Port of Dampier, Port Walcott and Port of Hedland have all experienced closure this week in the wake of tropical Cyclone Rusty – meaning more delays for operators and vessels. The cyclone caused winds of up to 35 knots with thunderstorms and squalls to 90 knots, which placed the ports on yellow alert. The cyclone moved in a southerly track this week and crossed the east coast of Port Hedland as a category 4 system yesterday. The all clear was given for Port Hedland to reopen in stages on Feb. 28 after port inspections were undertaken. But Rusty has cost the Port Hedland Port Authority (PHPA) a total closure time of 3.5 days this week. A port spokesperson confirmed that there is some minor superficial damage to signs and non-essential structures, with the main item of concern being potential damage to one of the lines boats. This is the third time in two months that Hedland has been affected by cyclones. Last month, Cyclone Petra shut the port for nearly a day and a half. - See more at: www.portstrategy....

The port in Palma de Mallorca has extended the Pier Ponent so it can accommodate larger cruise ships that are visiting the city. The new pier is 359 metres long and 30 metres wide and took two years to build, beginning in 2010. The current pier extends to 443 metres which means that the combined space will now be able to dock four large cruise ships. Around one million passengers come to Mallorca by cruise ship each year and Palma's port is expecting around 449 cruise ships to visit the city in 2013. www.seemallorca.c...

Employees of the WSA Brunsbüttel plan a 24-hrs strike at Brunsbüttel Kiel-Canal locks lasting from 06.00 a.m. until 06.00 a.m. of the next day March, 01.

A controversial neighbourhood plan and a draft development blueprint, which gives the green light for another cruise terminal in Brisbane, has passed at the Brisbane City Council meeting. In a rare move, Labor and LNP councillors united in their support for the draft Pinkenba/Eagle Farm neighbourhood plan at Tuesday's meeting, voting to approve a document outlining a new shape for a district dubbed Brisbane's “economic heart”. That heart will beat through six different development precincts contained within the industry-focused plan, with “mega cruise ships” supported by provisions for a new terminal at the Myrtletown Precinct. Brisbane's existing cruise ship terminal at Portside Wharf is capable of welcoming ships up to 270 metres in length, including the P&O Aurora and the Oriana, but unable to handle mega ships the size of the 345 metre-long RMS Queen Mary 2. www.maroondahweek...

Heavy fog has closed the Tampa cruise port and delayed the arrival of two cruise ships, Carnival Legend and Norwegian Dawn, on the morning of Feb. 24, 2013. The delay will impact debarkation of current cruise passengers and delay the embarkation for the subsequent cruise. Norwegian Dawn has just received the Coast Guard okay to head into port, according to a noon EST e-mail by Norwegian spokeswoman AnneMarie Matthews. The ship should arrive at the terminal at approximately 4 p.m. In a statement half an hour earlier, the line says that "we expect embarkation for today's cruise to begin between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. We are asking all embarking guests to please not arrive at the terminal before this time because it has limited facilities." Carnival Legend received the green light to "start the approach into the channel at 11 a.m. EST," says Carnival spokesman Vance Gulliksen in an e-mail. It will take several hours for the ship to reach the port, and a revised embarkation time is not yet available. www.cruisecritic....

BHP Billiton and Fortescue Metals Group appear set for moves to stretch the nominal shipping capacity at Port Hedland, believing the official 495 million tonne limit can be pushed up. Until last year BHP had said it was reliant on the $20 billion outer harbour development to get past its 240mtpa shipping allocation. But outgoing BHP chief executive Marius Kloppers told analysts last week that adding a fifth car dumper at Port Hedland had lifted its infrastructure capacity to 300mtpa, well above that. au.news.yahoo.com...

The city's new $90 million cruise ship terminal opens for business Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, but its first users are going to be quite a bit smaller than the 4,000-passenger behemoths that will dock at Pier 27 next year. From March through October, the two-story facility will be the headquarters for the America's Cup races, where 72-foot catamarans and their 11-member crews will face off on San Francisco Bay. Mayor Ed Lee will be there at 11:30 a.m. to cut the ribbon, for the first time, anyway. He'll likely be back in spring 2014, when the terminal is finally cleared for cruise ship duty. Read more: www.sfgate.com/ba...

Bintulu Port Holdings has inked a RM437m ($141m) contract with Integrated Marine Works for Phase 1 of the Samalaju Port Development Project, it said in a stock market release. The contract, for reclamation and dredging works, is due to be completed within six months, nine months, one year and three years for Sections A, B, C and D respectively.

After signing a Heads of Terms agreement last February, APM Terminals (APMT) and Petkim Petrokimya Holding AS (Petkim) have entered into a final agreement to create and operate a new container and general cargo complex at Petkin Port, near Izmir, on Turkey's Aegean coast. Aegean Gateway Terminal (AGT) will be one of Turkey’s largest terminals and will be entirely operated by APMT under a concession agreement. Construction of the new facility is being carried out by APMT’s partner under APMT’s technical and operational specifications. The initial capacity of the container terminal will be 1.5M TEU/year, which is 50% more than the capacity of the current city port of Izmir (Alsancak port). Operations are expected to start in summer 2015. More and Photo at www.worldcargonew...