LAST WEEK'S TOP STORIES ON FTW ONLINE

‘SA ports not expensive’ – Socikwa While a lot of criticism has been levelled at South Africa over expensive port costs, Transnet Port Terminals CEO Karl Socikwa denied that this was the case. Speaking at a breakfast briefing at the opening of the Ports and Harbours Conference in Johannesburg, he said much of this was the result of not comparing apples with apples. “In South Africa we have different components of ports costs – terminal handling charges which are very comparable with other port terminals, cargo dues that are paid to the Port Authority and rates which are paid to Samsa. Where to go for friendly service The Pakistan International Freight Forwarders’ Association (PIFFA) recently handed its ‘Friendly Line’ award to Safmarine Pakistan at the organisation’s inaugural Excellence Awards 2012 event. The results were based on an online voting poll by PIFFA’s more than 500 members comprising local and international freight forwarders. New Agoa bill introduced The US has introduced legislation to continue expanding trade with sub-Saharan Africa and Central America. The bill will extend a key provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) and make noncontroversial technical changes to the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) textiles and apparel provisions. In addition to the Agoa and CAFTA-DR provisions, the bill will reauthorise import sanctions against Burma for three years, while preserving the Administration’s right to waive or terminate those sanctions. How dogs are helping to keep aircraft safe While bird strikes are on the increase internationally, with damage estimated to be in excess of US $1.5 billion per annum, South Africa is bucking the trend. According to the International Bird Strike Committee, in South Africa the situation is firmly under control thanks to successful intervention. This year, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT) and Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) celebrate a decade of Bird Control Dogs working at Acsa Airports in order to reduce the frequency of bird strikes at their airports. SAA adds flights on several global and African routes South African Airways (SAA) has added more flights to some of its key African and international destinations. From August 19 the airline will offer an additional flight on a Sunday to Accra, which grows the service between Johannesburg and Accra from five to six flights per week. SAA operates its new A330-200s on this route.