Shipping
Floating dry dock by HSL
If everything goes as per schedule, Hindustan Shipyards Ltd (HSL) should finalise the contract for constructing a 3,000-tonne floating dry dock with one of the 28 firms from Russia, Ukraine, German, the UK, South Korea and Singapore, that have bi d for the job.

Calcutta port sees a rival in Chittagong
THE Calcutta port is likely to face competition not only from new ports such as Dhamra and Kulpi, but also from the Chittagong port of Bangladesh. There is a move to develop Chittagong into a regional hub port catering to the SAARC members such a s Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and India. The move, though initiated a couple of years ago by the SAARC Secretariat, had not made much headway then.

Shipping cos: Sailing crude waters
CRUDE import has been fully decanalised, ending the long monopoly of the IOC-OCC-SCI combine in deciding purchase, shipment and logistics of this high-freight commodity. This is good news for Indian private sector tanker owners, though right now, they ar e not much bothered about Indian cargo. Their vessels deployed in the international market currently earn the best ever rates in the last 25 years.

Transport
Mumbai suburban rail services -- Chugging along the wrong track
WHAT happens when one attempts to run a two-tonne room air-conditioner connected to a 5-amp lighting outlet instead of a 15-amp power point? For one, the air-conditioner would run rather poorly and, worse, the fuse would blow and that is exactly what has been happening over the last one decade with the overhead electric system which was designed and installed over 75 years ago on the old BB&CI & GIP (today's Western and the Central) Railways, primarily to run commuter services.

Highway development programme -- Indian contractors getting railroaded
IT COULD well have been a golden opportunity for domestic road construction contractors. They had hoped to get projects, gain experience and thus attain the world class standards in road development by participating in the ambitious 13,000-km Nat ional Highways Development Project. However, that did not happen because of the approach adopted by the Centre while inviting bids for schemes under the NHDP.

Gati: Door-to-door in 550 districts by Dec
COME DECEMBER, and Secunderabad-based Gati Corporation Ltd (Gati), the express cargo company, will have the majority of the country's 580 districts in its network.

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