DP World signs a £400 million contract to build the first phase of a new port at London Gateway, the most technically advanced container port in the world, integrated with Europe’s largest logistics park.

This is the first major contract to be awarded in the £1.5 billion project, due to be built over the next 10 to 15 years. The contract is over five years, and will see the construction of the first phase of the port’s quay providing three berths and over 1.2 kilometres of quay in a joint venture between Laing O’Rourke and Dredging International. The new port will eventually handle 3.5milion TEU (twenty foot equivalent units), providing a much needed increase in capacity for the UK’s container terminals.

The South Essex project is currently set to be the largest creator of new jobs in the UK, delivering over 12,000 in the coming years, and is the largest investment in the South East of England.

London Gateway is the UK’s first deep sea container port for over 25 years and will change the way millions of consumer goods are transported around the country. By integrating the new container port with a logistics park, many everyday goods will be sent to the nation’s shops without having to be hauled on a truck to a distribution centre often situated inland hundreds of miles away from a container port. Instead, goods will go straight into London Gateway’s own logistics park to be sorted and then sent direct to shops.

By reducing the need for the goods to travel inland, the project will save 2,000 trucks from the UK’s highways every day, trucks which normally travel from a port and then return with an empty container to be put back onto a ship. DP World estimates that by cutting out this inefficient part of the logistics process, London Gateway will take 52 million truck miles off the UK’s highways every year, reducing congestion, saving time, fuel and curbing carbon emissions.

CEVA Logistics was recognized as the recipient of two “Kaizen Challenge Awards” by Toyota Motor Sales (TMS) at its annual Logistics Partner meeting, for the second consecutive year. The Kaizen Challenge gives TMS’ service providers an opportunity to work with the company to improve its business processes. Kaizen, which means “continuous improvement,” is a key component of the Toyota Production System (TPS) and exemplifies the company’s continuous efforts to achieve the highest quality, lowest cost and shortest lead-time.

This year, CEVA’s winning entries focused not only on process improvement and cost savings, but also on environmental and safety awareness. “Clean Sweep,” the first of CEVA’s kaizen projects, targeted unkempt work areas and warehouse and equipment placement. CEVA’s redesign of the work area in the warehouse has resulted in improved safety, increased productivity and standardized work processes. For the second winning project, “Go Green,” CEVA developed a pallet model for the local transfer from Toyota North American Parts Center California (NAPCC). The outcome of this project has been improved pallet utilization, warehouse utilization and environmental footprint for Toyota and CEVA.

CEVA Group Plc announced its results for the second quarter of 2008. With total revenue of € 1.7 billion for the quarter, both the Contract Logistics and the Freight Management operations continue to show increasing growth momentum. At 2007 exchange rates, revenue grew by 9.4 % over the same quarter of the previous year on a proforma basis1.

“Just 12 months after the acquisition of EGL, it is a pleasure to announce this solid set of results. They are a credit to the hard work of all our employees. In recent months we have realigned our organizational structure into four geographical regions in order to create a more customer focused and responsive structure. We have also developed a very clear set of strategies and plans to shape the future direction of CEVA. Our customers are reacting positively to these changes and we have experienced a number of significant wins during the quarter. Although trading conditions are challenging, we believe that CEVA’s current momentum will allow sustained progress.”

TNT is rebranding its India-based domestic road express arm from Speedage to TNT. The name change shows the successful integration of Speedage, a company TNT acquired in September 2006, into TNT’s global express network. Operating under a single brand will support TNT’s strategy to become the market leader in the Indian market for domestic and international express services, using an integrated air and road network.

“This is the first acquisition in India by one of the top four express players to be rebranded. We now offer customers a single point solution for international air, domestic next day and domestic day-definite services, using an integrated air-road network”, says Abhik Mitra, Managing Director, TNT India.

The rebranding will be accompanied by the set up of a single Customer contact number. The name change will encompass signage, vehicles, uniforms, the website, and every touch point where the brand is visible. A single brand gives more visibility to the company, its products and services.

Borouge has awarded a service contract to Agility (Abu Dhabi) PJSC to build the Borouge Compound Manufacturing Unit (CMU) and Shanghai Logistics Hub in Shanghai, China, and to provide local logistics services for Borouge’s customers in Asia for a duration of 10 years with effect from its operational start up date in 2010.

Following the contract win, Agility will undertake the design, development and subsequent operation of the logistics hub, to ensure sufficient infrastructure, storage facilities, packaging and distribution services to accommodate Borouge’s products dispatched from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Agility will handle and distribute a total volume of approximately 600 kilotonnes of polyolefins out of the Shanghai logistics hub annually.

Borouge’s current production capacity in the UAE is 600 kilotonnes of Borstar® polyethylene per year. With the ongoing Borouge 2 project expansion, this capacity will increase to 2 million tonnes per year by the middle of 2010 and will add polypropylene to the product mix. Construction of the Borouge 2 facility has already started and consists of a 1.5 million tonne ethane cracker, the world’s largest olefins conversion unit (with a capacity of 750 kilotonnes), two Borstar® polypropylene plants with a total capacity of 800 kilotonnes and a 540 kilotonne Borstar® polyethylene plant.