Chinese companies have signed agreements to invest $1bn in Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone (KPFTZ), Abu Dhabi in the UAE. Abu Dhabi Ports and the Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Company Limited (JOCIC) announced that 15 Chinese companies had agreed to invest $1bn in the free trade zone in a 2.2 sq m area dubbed the dubbed as the China-UAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation Industrial Park.

Environmentalists found high concentrations of pollutants in air samples taken at the weekend at the Mediterranean port of Gibraltar. The samples, which were taken next to cruise vessels moored in Campo de Gibraltar [an area between the port proper and the mainland], showed "high concentrations of ultrafine particles", according to international environmentalist groups Ecologistas en Acción from Spain and Nature and Biodiversity Union (NABU) from Germany. "Air pollution levels [were] up to 140 times higher than in areas with clean air" from samples taken on Friday, Saturday and Sunday when different cruise ships visited the port, a statement from NABU said. NABU policy officer Malte Siegert called for the Mediterranean Sea region to be designated a emission control area (ECA) as is already the case in the North and Baltic Seas.

ATHENS, April 18 (Reuters) – Greek ferries remained docked at the country’s ports on Wednesday as seamen, marine engineers and ship cooks walked off the job to protest against planned government reforms which they say will further hurt their labor rights. The 24-hour strike was organized by Greece’s seamen federation (PNO), which said the leftist-led government was preparing a reform allowing non-European flagged transport ships to sail in Greece, leading to job losses for Greek crews. The reform is coming on top of pension cuts, rising unregistered labor and work without any insurance, PNO said. PNO said later on Wednesday that the strike would be extended until Friday morning. “No more blows against our sector,” it said in a statement. Passenger traffic was slow at Piraeus port on Wednesday morning. Traffic has been picking up as the summer, the top tourism season for the Mediterranean country, approaches. Marine unions have strongly resisted reforms liberalizing the shipping sector, which along with tourism is a pivotal industry for Greece, a country of proud seafarers and shipowners.