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Project Dory Monitoring 4 August 2017
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North Korean money man reveals smuggling operations
Aug 3, 2017 | CNN
By Brian Todd, Dugald McConnell and Joshua Berlinger,
Ri, a high-profile North Korean defector, spent years working for what is essentially a slush fund for one of the most notorious regimes on the planet, Kim Jong Un and his compatriots. -
Lin Duo, the ‘Bane’ of China’s Corrupt Officials
Aug 3, 2017 | Th Epoch Times
By Irene Luo
When Chinese official Lin Duo became deputy chief and acting governor of Gansu Province in April 2016, analysts predicted the local officialdom would soon be shaken up. -
Dalian Port integrates container terminal assets
Aug 4, 2017 | Splash 247
By Jason Jiang
Dalian Port Group has announced a plan to integrate its container terminal assets. -
Death of University Graduate Sparks Anger at Chinese Pyramid Scam Gangs
Aug 4, 2017 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Philip Wen and Liangping Gao
he death of a young Chinese university graduate who fell victim to a pyramid scheme on a job-seeking website has made national headlines and sparked an outpouring of sympathy and anger online. -
Trump is signaling he's about to lash out at China — here's what Beijing is thinking
Aug 3, 2017 | CNBC
By Eunice Yoon
China is bracing for a clash with the U.S. when President Donald Trumpannounces potentially aggressive trade measures against Beijing. White House officials told CNBC the president will make a speech on Fridaytargeting Chinese intellectual property and trade practices. Here is how people in China are reacting.China's official response -
U.S. may soon expand U.N. talks on North Korea sanctions, signaling China deal: diplomats
Aug 3, 2017 | Reuters
By Michelle Nichols
The United States could shortly broaden talks on a push for stronger United Nations sanctions on North Korea to include all 15 Security Council members, signaling a likely deal with China on new measures, diplomats said on Thursday. -
Abu Dhabi Ports partners with China to expand Khalifa FTZ
Aug 3, 2017 | Journal Of Commerce
Abu Dhabi Ports has secured a 1.1-billion-dirham (about $300 million) investment from China for its flagship Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone (KPFTZ) as the Emirate ramps up efforts to position itself as a global maritime and economic hub. The company this week reach -
Panama Canal Authority Signs for a New Cruise Terminal
Aug 3, 2017 | Maritime Executive
Jan de Nul and China Harbour Engineering Co. (CHEC) have won a contract worth $165 million to design and build a new cruise terminal on Panama City's Amador Causeway. The firms' joint venture, Cruceros del Pacifico, will complete the terminal within two years, according to industry media.
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North Korean money man reveals smuggling operations
Aug 3, 2017 | CNN
By Brian Todd, Dugald McConnell and Joshua Berlinger,
Washington (CNN)Ri Jong Ho had simply had enough. He'd seen too many executions.
Ri, a high-profile North Korean defector, spent years working for what is essentially a slush fund for one of the most notorious regimes on the planet, Kim Jong Un and his compatriots.
Life was good. Ri helped bring in somewhere between $50 million and $100 million for North Korean elites, and was handsomely rewarded with luxuries most North Koreans couldn't dream of in years past: a car, a color TV and some extra cash on the side, once rarities in the communist state but more commonplace now in the capital, Pyongyang.
But he watched the regime kill his peers and their families, even children.
"It was not just high level officers, officials, but their families, their children (and) their followers," Ri told CNN in his first interview to a major US broadcast network. "It was not just once or twice a year -- it was ongoing throughout the year, thousands of people being executed or purged."
Ri said the final straw came in late 2013, when Kim Jong Un executed his own uncle, Jang Song Thaek, with an anti-aircraft gun.
"It was a cruel and crude method of execution," he said. "After all these years living in the socialist system, I never witnessed anything like that."
Ri was living in China at the time, and in 2014 was able to safely defect with his family.
And just like that, Kim lost one of his top money makers.
Office 39
Ri said he worked for decades in what's known as "Office 39."
The office is in charge of bringing in hard currency for the regime. Ri calls it a "slush fund for the leader and the leadership."
Ri told CNN "Office 39" is not engaged in illicit activities, but the US Treasury Department says otherwise.
The US government accused the office of engaging in "illicit economic activities" to support the North Korean government. It has branches throughout the nation that raise and manage funds and is responsible for earning foreign currency for North Korea's Korean Workers' Party senior leadership through illicit activities such as narcotics trafficking.
North Korea has been accused of crimes like hacking banks, counterfeiting currency, dealing drugs and even trafficking endangered species.
Workers who help bring in cash for the regime are granted access to the outside world -- especially China -- in order to establish networks that are crucial to making money, analysts say. They often have diplomatic privileges that allow them to evade their host country's domestic laws, experts say.
Ri said he was not involved in illegal activities and that they were not under the purview of Office 39, but did not deny they occurred. He said much of North Korea's hard cash is earned through exporting labor -- the country sends workers across the globe and collects much of their pay, according to the UN -- and exporting natural resources like coal, which China used to buy but has since stopped.
Illicit activities make a lot of money, though. The Congressional Research Service estimated in 2008 that North Korea could earn anywhere from $500 million to $1 billion from these types of illicit activities.
That money helps fund the lavish lifestyles of the North Korean elites while sanctions limit the country's ability to make money. That keeps North Korea's leadership happy and helps Kim prevent coup attempts, analysts say.
"They (North Korean leaders) are focused on maintaining their ruling power, and they are working on making this dynasty-like system lasting for a long time," Ri said. "So instead of focusing on their economic development or better life, they are more focused on maintaining their system.
Some of Office 39's profits also go to the country's nuclear and missile programs, which crossed an important threshold this month with the testing of two intercontinental ballistic missiles, weapons that experts say likely put the United States homeland in North Korea's range.
CNN reached out to the North Korean mission at the United Nations for a response to the interview with Ri. An official at the mission said Ri was lying to "make money and save his own life."
'Hundreds of fishing boats'
Analysts say Office 39 is likely now in the cross hairs of US President Donald Trump's administration.
The Trump team has made it clear that one of the ways it plans to deal with North Korea is to squeeze its revenue streams across the globe in order to pressure them into negotiations over their weapons programs.
Who speaks for the United States on North Korea? Contradictions emerge
Ri is not sure if the tactic will work, as he says it's easy to side-step sanctions and believes the international community has made strategic mistakes that could come back to bite them.
North Korean companies can just change their names once sanctioned, he says. North Korean leaders don't keep much money abroad, so the sanctions against them are pointless, according to Ri. Smugglers are difficult to catch.
"Smuggling is conducted by any and every means you could imagine. Mostly larger items are done using ships, for example by filing a cargo list ... where what's written on the (list) is different from what is really being shipped," he said. "On the open sea, the Yellow Sea, there are hundreds of fishing boats -- both from China and North Korea -- and all the smuggling is done by these so-called fishing boats.Going after China
Ri believes that secondary sanctions -- targeting those who do business with North Korea, like the United States did to China's Bank of Dandong in June -- is the way to go, especially in China.
Beijing accounts for about 85% of North Korean imports in 2015, according to UN data, though Ri revealed that Pyongyang does import some oil from Russia.
North Korean economist Ri Gi Song told CNN in February that China accounts for 70% of trade and that trade with Russia is increasing.North Korea's 2015 imports
"Those companies who are paying North Korea, those are the ones that should be sanctioned by the US, not North Korean companies or North Korean leadership, for whom sanctions simply do not work. You should sanction the market, not the North Korean companies or the people in high positions," Ri said. "Expecting Chinese companies to abide by international laws, that will not bear any fruit."
Though North Korea is likely losing money now that China has reduced coal trade with North Korea -- a very profitable endeavor for Pyongyang -- trade between the two countries is up for the year.
China insists that none of its current trade with Pyongyang is in violation of international sanctions.
President Trump has tried to enlist China's help in dealing with North Korea to specifically clamp down on these companies. He initially praised Beijing for its help after an April summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but now appears to have given up on his counterpart.
"I am very disappointed in China," Trump tweeted Saturday. "They do NOTHING for us with North Korea, just talk. We will no longer allow this to continue. China could easily solve this problem!"
Life after defection
Ri now lives a quieter life, one not too far from the White House. After defecting, he moved with his family to a suburb of Washington, D.C.
He said he doesn't fear for his safety, but South Korean authorities have accused North Korea of trying to assassinate other defectors. A South Korean investigator showed CNN weapons like a ballpoint pen that shoots poisonous bullets and a flashlight fashioned into a gun that would-be North Korean assassins were caught with.
When asked if any North Korean agents inside the US might be coming after Ri, an official at North Korea's UN mission laughed.
"No, " the official said. "He's garbage."
http://edition.cnn.com/2017/08/03/politics/north-korea-defector-ri-jong-ho/index.html
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Lin Duo, the ‘Bane’ of China’s Corrupt Officials
Aug 3, 2017 | Th Epoch Times
By Irene Luo
Associated with Communist Party disciplinary chief, Lin's presence portends trouble for local bureaucrats
When Chinese official Lin Duo became deputy chief and acting governor of Gansu Province in April 2016, analysts predicted the local officialdom would soon be shaken up.
Lin Duo, 61, is a confidante and former subordinate of China’s anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan. Lin served under Wang as a district committee secretary and deputy secretary, and has been called the “bane” of corrupt officials as his presence has been associated with the impending downfall of the latter.
Most recently, after Lin became deputy secretary of Gansu, dozens of officials in the region were sacked, including the former provincial Party chief Wang Sanyun, who was demoted in April and put under investigation for “severely violating Party discipline” on July 11.
Lin was tapped to take over his spot as the head of the province. Within ten days of his promotion to acting governor, Lin had already convened two meetings on dealing with corruption in the region. On June 19, it was announced that a deputy mayor, Li Jiayan, was being disciplined by the provincial disciplinary commission.
Since the launch of the anti-corruption campaign in 2013, Gansu Province has seen about 75 provincial-level officials and 900 lower-level officials investigated for corruption.
Many officials in regions Lin Duo once held office have been purged in Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign. In Beijing and Liaoning Province, where Lin held office prior to his transfer to Gansu in 2016, several of Lin’s former superiors and Communist Party coworkers have been investigated.
Many of them, including the former head of Gansu Wang Sanyun, are part of a powerful faction opposing the policies of Xi Jinping. Members of this informal network, tied with former Party chief Jiang Zemin, have been the main target of Xi’s campaign against malfeasance.
Lin Duo spent the majority of his official career in Beijing, where he built rapport with China’s anti-corruption chief Wang Qishan.
After Wang left the Beijing municipal government to become the head of the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which carries out the anti-corruption campaign, Lin was promoted to head the provincial disciplinary committee of Liaoning Province. At least four high-level officials in the region have since been purged for corruption, including the Wang Mian, the provincial Party committee secretary.
In both Liaoning and Beijing, Lin’s former superiors has been arrested for corruption. In November 2015, Beijing deputy chief Lü Xiwen was put under investigation. Lin Duo had served under Lü when Lü was a district chief in Beijing.
In December 2015, Ge Ruyin, who formerly served as deputy chief of Harbin City when Lin was mayor, was also put under investigation.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2276760-lin-duo-the-bane-of-chinas-corrupt-officials/
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Dalian Port integrates container terminal assets
Aug 4, 2017 | Splash 247
By Jason Jiang
Dalian Port Group has announced a plan to integrate its container terminal assets. According to the plan, the company’s subsidiary Dalian Container Terminal Company (DCT) will acquire the entire assets, liabilities and businesses of another two container terminal subsidiaries, Dalian Port Container Terminal (DPCT) and Dalian International Container Terminal (DICT).
The integration will also involve a series of share transfer and swap deals with the shareholders of DPCT and DICT. Following the completion of the integration, DPCT and DICT will be dissolved.
DPCT is jointly owned by Dalian Port, APM Terminals, PSA China and Cosco, while DICT is owned by Dalian Port, China Shipping and NYK.
APM Terminals will sell its entire 20% equity shares in DPCT to DCT and all the other shareholders of the two subsidiaries will be awarded a new stake in the integrated company.
Dalian Port said the integration can lower the management costs and enhance operational efficiency, which is in line with the overall strategy of the company.
http://splash247.com/dalian-port-integrates-container-terminal-assets/
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Death of University Graduate Sparks Anger at Chinese Pyramid Scam Gangs
Aug 4, 2017 | Reuters (In The New York Times)
By Philip Wen and Liangping Gao
BEIJING — The death of a young Chinese university graduate who fell victim to a pyramid scheme on a job-seeking website has made national headlines and sparked an outpouring of sympathy and anger online.
Li Wenxing, 23, was found dead on July 14, his body floating in a small pond along a highway on the secluded outskirts of Tianjin, a major port city neighboring Beijing.
Police said autopsy results showed the cause of death was drowning, and there were no signs of injuries.
The circumstances surrounding Li's death have resonated widely in part due to his youth and his embodiment of a familiar tale of young Chinese graduates leaving home to find work in bigger cities.
It also shines a spotlight on the aggressive tactics of pyramid scheme gangs which have long blighted Chinese cities, while much online criticism has been directed at the recruitment site Boss Zhipin for not ensuring the veracity of its ads.Continue reading the main story
Chinese media reports said Li, an engineering graduate from a rural family in northern Shandong province, had traveled to Tianjin after receiving a job offer from a company advertising on Boss, a popular recruitment website.
But soon after arriving in Tianjin on May 20, the reports said, he became distant, hard to reach by telephone, and began asking friends for loans.
On July 8, in what would be his final phone call home, he told his family: "No matter who calls for money, don't give it to them."
Tianjin police said late on Thursday that Li had become involved with a gang of pyramid scam artists and that it had detained two suspects as part of its investigations.
Typical pyramid scheme organizations in China prey on vulnerable or poorly-educated victims by luring them with the promise of well-paid jobs.
Victims are followed around the clock and are instructed, often under duress, to recruit friends and family or borrow money from them. Their mobile phones, identification documents, cash and bank cards are often confiscated.
Boss, a fast-growing start-up, markets itself as a platform where job seekers can chat directly with employers.
It has more than 10 million users and has attracted investment from Shunwei Capital, backed by Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, as well as from prominent venture capitalist Kathy Xu's Capital Today.
In a statement, Boss chief executive Zhao Peng issued an apology and said the company was strengthening its ad verification procedures. He said Boss was cooperating fully with police investigations.
"This is a very painful lesson," he said. "As for Li Wenxing's passing, we feel extremely deep grief and regret."
(Reporting by Philip Wen and Liangping Gao; Editing by Kim COghill)
https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2017/08/04/technology/04reuters-china-society-graduate.html?_r=0
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Trump is signaling he's about to lash out at China — here's what Beijing is thinking
Aug 3, 2017 | CNBC
By Eunice Yoon
· President Donald Trump is set to make a speech Friday hitting on Chinese trade and intellectual property practices.
· The official Chinese response has largely been critical — but subdued.
· Government officials told CNBC, however, that China is in wait-and-see mode.
China is bracing for a clash with the U.S. when President Donald Trumpannounces potentially aggressive trade measures against Beijing. White House officials told CNBC the president will make a speech on Fridaytargeting Chinese intellectual property and trade practices. Here is how people in China are reacting.China's official response
The official Chinese response has largely been critical but subdued. On Thursday in Beijing, the Chinese Commerce Ministry played up the U.S.-China trade benefits, but dismissed the notion that China has not done enough to protect intellectual property.
"I would like to emphasize that the Chinese government has always put strong emphasis on the protection of intellectual property rights," ministry spokesman Gao Feng told reporters at a regular press briefing. "The results are obvious to all."
When asked about the speculation that U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer could initiate an investigation into Chinese trade practices using Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974, which allows the president to unilaterally impose restrictions to protect American industries, Gao reiterated China's position that disputes should be taken to the World Trade Organization.
"Any trade measures taken by WTO members should abide by the rules of the WTO," Gao said.
Lighthizer and other Trump administration officials have been critical of how the WTO manages international disputes.China's unofficial response
Government officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told CNBC that China is in wait-and-see mode with the White House.
They want to see if Trump will actually take action and what the details of any measures might be, they said.
So far, despite Trump's tough talk, Beijing has seen no 45 percent tariff on Chinese goods, no border tax and no quotas on steel.
That said, China has seen action with the Trump administration's crackdown on certain Chinese entities with business dealings in North Korea. And for their part, officials and government researchers say they are miffed that the U.S. is linking the North Korea nuclear issue with U.S.-China trade.
This week, the country's vice commerce minister said that the two are "completely different domains."
One officer told CNBC that, from the Chinese perspective, connecting the two issues makes little sense: Just because China and the U.S. don't see eye to eye on one issue doesn't mean the two can't do business, he explained.Chinese state media
The Chinese state media tends to be more openly critical, and, on Thursday, the government-backed China Daily attacked Trump's expected announcement.
In an editorial, the newspaper described the possible restrictions as "worrying" with the potential to "spark a trade war." The paper argued that, depending on the action, "China will have no choice but to take retaliatory measures."
It's important to note that the state media is not the official government reaction, but articles and editorials are vetted by authorities, so the media response helps gauge Beijing's outlook on various topics.American companies in China
U.S. companies in China are in a tough spot.
On the one hand, many business executives have told CNBC they want the Trump administration to focus more on intellectual property theft as well as market access instead of manufacturing and the trade deficit.
Scott Palmer, an intellectual property expert at law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton, said the U.S. needs to press for greater trade secret protection, easier trademark filings and cooperation to fight counterfeits sold online.
However, several American businesses are also feeling vulnerable to retribution in one of their key markets. And since Trump's election, Chinese officials and the state press have already said that, if need be, China would prepare for tit-for-tat retaliation.
What is also worrying executives in China is the possibility that retaliation could affect entirely different industries. For example, in 2009, the Obama administration slapped a hefty tariff on Chinese tires. Soon after, Beijing imposed penalties on U.S. chicken parts — costing American poultry producers.
The two issues weren't explicitly linked, but the timing raised eyebrows.
Executives are also concerned that the business climate could get even tougher for U.S. companies more generally. Top corporate complaints these days include tighter controls on the internet and a crackdown on virtual private networks, requirements for data storage on local servers, as well as uncertainty about getting money out of the country.
American companies want the U.S. government to help, but they are nervous about the real impact on their operations.
https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/03/trump-is-signaling-hes-about-to-lash-out-at-china--heres-what-beijing-is-thinking.html
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U.S. may soon expand U.N. talks on North Korea sanctions, signaling China deal: diplomats
Aug 3, 2017 | Reuters
By Michelle Nichols
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States could shortly broaden talks on a push for stronger United Nations sanctions on North Korea to include all 15 Security Council members, signaling a likely deal with China on new measures, diplomats said on Thursday.
Since North Korea's July 4 launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the United States has been negotiating with Pyongyang ally China on a draft resolution to impose new sanctions on North Korea, which fired a second ICBM last Friday.
"We have been working very hard for some time and we certainly hope that this is going to be a consensus resolution," China's U.N. Ambassador Liu Jieyi told Reuters on Thursday.
Some diplomats said the United States could give the draft resolution to all 15 council members as early as Thursday.
Typically, the United States and China have agreed sanctions on North Korea before formally involving other council members. A resolution needs nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, China, Russia, France or Britain to be adopted.
The United States has been informally keeping Britain and France in the loop on the negotiations, while U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said China had been sharing the draft and negotiating with Russia.
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has been frustrated that China has not done more to rein in North Korea and Washington has threatened to impose new sanctions on Chinese firms doing business with Pyongyang.
Haley said on Sunday the United States was "done talking about North Korea" and China must decide if it is willing to back imposing stronger U.N. sanctions. But she has also acknowledged that Russia's engagement on the draft resolution would be the "true test."
Russia noted on Thursday that the permanent five (P5) veto powers had yet to formally discuss the draft. It was not immediately clear if poor relations between Russia and the United States, which imposed new unilateral sanctions on Russia on Wednesday, would hamper the negotiations.
"Even if there is an agreement between the U.S. and China, it doesn't mean there is an agreement between the P5 members," said Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, who met with Liu earlier on Thursday and discussed a possible resolution.
"Maybe there is a bilateral agreement (between Beijing and Washington), but that's not a universal one," he said, adding that while he was aware of what might be in the resolution he had not seen "the draft as it stands now."
The U.S. mission to the United Nations declined to comment.
Moscow has disagreed with assessments by Western powers that Pyongyang has launched two long-range missiles, saying they were mid-range. Diplomats say China and Russia only view a test of a long-range missile or a nuclear weapon as a trigger for further possible U.N. sanctions.
North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its ballistic missile and nuclear programs and the Security Council has ratcheted up the measures in response to five nuclear weapons tests and two long-range missile launches.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-missiles-un-idUSKBN1AJ2HV
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Abu Dhabi Ports partners with China to expand Khalifa FTZ
Aug 3, 2017 | Journal Of Commerce
Abu Dhabi Ports has secured a 1.1-billion-dirham (about $300 million) investment from China for its flagship Khalifa Port Free Trade Zone (KPFTZ) as the Emirate ramps up efforts to position itself as a global maritime and economic hub. The company this week reach
The company this week reached an agreement with China’s Jiangsu province administration under which ChinaUAE Industrial Capacity Cooperation (Jiangsu) Construction Management Co. Ltd., a new local entity set up by Jiangsu Provincial Overseas Cooperation and Investment Co. Ltd., will develop and occupy around 23.7 million square feet of space at the site. That translates into roughly 2.2 percent of the total free zone space recently allotted to KPFTZ in Kizad, a large industrial zone adjacent to the port.
“We will work together with Abu Dhabi to build the UAE-China Industrial Capacity Cooperation Demonstration Zone into a landmark program of the ‘Belt and Road’ initiative and a beacon of UAE-China exchanges and cooperation,” said Jiangsu province vice governor Huang Lixin said, in remarks at the event.
At the signing ceremony, officials from five Chinese companies also unveiled plans to set up industrial units at the leased site, which authorities believe will help create more than 1,400 jobs, according to a press statement.
Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of State and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Ports, said the cooperation deal would be a boon to bilateral trade between the United Arab Emirates and China, given that the UAE is a dominant market for Chinese exports. The UAE is China’s No. 33 trading partner in tonnage terms, importing 10.4 million tons of goods in 2016, an increase of 4.4 percent year-over-year, according to Global Trade Atlas, a sister product of JOC.com within IHS Markit.
Abu Dhabi Ports CEO Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi said the new agreement is another step toward accomplishing Emirate’s “Economic Vision 2030” designed to revamp the country’s infrastructure and transport systems.
Notably, Jiangsu province’s participation in KPFTZ follows on the heels of Cosco Shipping Ports snapping up a contract to build a new 2.4 million-TEU terminal at the Khalifa port . The project, scheduled for completion in early 2018, will increase Khalifa’s capacity to 6 million TEU annually.
Other expansion works under way at the port include a contract with National Dredging Company to deepen the port’s fairway to 18 meters (59 feet) from 16 meters at present, and an equipment upgrade with three ship-to-shore cranes and 10 automated stacking cranes.
Abu Dhabi Ports has been expanding its footprint in the Persian Gulf, having opened a multi-purpose facility on Delma Island (about 25 miles off the coast of Abu Dhabi and about 70 miles from Doha, and with a 35-year concession to upgrade and operate the Fujairah port, roughly 70 nautical miles from the Straits of Hormuz.
http://www.joc.com/port-news/international-ports/abu-dhabi-ports-partners-chinese-authority-expand-khalifa-ftz_20170803.html
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Panama Canal Authority Signs for a New Cruise Terminal
Aug 3, 2017 | Maritime Executive
Jan de Nul and China Harbour Engineering Co. (CHEC) have won a contract worth $165 million to design and build a new cruise terminal on Panama City's Amador Causeway. The firms' joint venture, Cruceros del Pacifico, will complete the terminal within two years, according to industry media.
The Panama Canal Authority (ACP) envisions the new terminal as a home port for large ships, and it will have space for two vessels of nearly 1,200 feet in length. It will also have passenger parking, administrative buildings and green spaces. AMP will oversee its operations directly.
The terminal will be Panama's first on the Pacific side, and AMP has specified a maximum capacity of 10,000 passengers, a sign of expectations of significant traffic. Colon, on the Atlantic side of the ithsmus, already sees more than 180 vessel calls per year.
ACP announced its intention to develop the terminal last August, and it has broader ambitions for the Amador Causeway. The man-made breakwater connects four small islands, and it was built with excavation debris from the original Panama Canal. It was returned to Panamanian jurisdiction along with the canal itself in 1999, and it has seen considerable development since. The causeway and its islands are now home to a marine, a convention center, the Frank Gehry-designed Biomuseo and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute's aquarium. The Panamanian government recently invested $300 million in overhauling the area's roads and infrastructure to support future development and tourism.
https://maritime-executive.com/article/panama-canal-authority-signs-for-a-new-cruise-terminal
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