United Shipping from Constanta joins PDI
United Shipping Agency Ltd is one of the biggest terminal operators in the Port of Constanta and offers stevedoring and forwarding services as well as dry cargo chartering.
EC Vice-President Kallas and Commissioner Hahn address PDI
On the 8th of June, our secretariat received a letter jointly signed by EC Vice-President Siim Kallas and Commissioner Johannes Hahn. The two commissioners expressed their gratitude to PDI for having brought the severe waterway maintenance problems on the Danube to the attention of the European Commission. Kallas and Hahn noted that the removal of obstacles to navigation is important for the economic development of the entire Danube region. In order to ensure sufficient waterway maintenance the Commissioners have launched a political process which led to a Ministers meeting of all Danube states. The Steering Group of the EUSDR/Priority Area on Danube transport was tasked to coordinate concrete follow up measure. At the end of the letter, the commissioners mentioned that the input of the private sector would be essential for the EC actions. They explicitly invited PDI to make further contributions. The full letter can be downloaded here.
DBK - Donau Brennstoffkontor GmbH becomes a new member
DBK - Donau Brennstoffkontor GmbH is an well-established international trading company for solid fuels and other raw materials. DBK is part of the much bigger BIK Group and supplies for example ISD Dunaferr AG, the steel plant at Dunajvaros, with coking coal. A high percentage of DBK cargo is shipped on the Danube.
PDI fights new Hungarian restrictions on Danube navigation
The Hungarian National Traffic Authority (Nemzeti Közlekedesi Hatosag) issued on 27 February two new regulations (010/Du/2012 and 011/DU/2012) which result into severe restrictions for Danube navigation. The new regulations limit the size of the pushed convoys on the Danube section upstream of Budapest (KM 1812 - 1641) to four barges and downstream of Budapest (KM 1641 - 1433) to six barges based on the dimensions of Eurobarge II (76.5 X 11.4m).