Russia plans to realize oil products transit only via its ports.

The draft Bill on Sea Ports in the Russian Federation recently approved in the first round by the RF State Dume may be amended yet, believe transport professionals who gathered for the conference on scientific and personnel issues in the transport sector development that opened on July 2 in St.

Scores of migrants who spent days at sea were missing and feared dead Sunday after their boat wrecked off Senegal's coast, the Red Cross said AP. About 150 people were believed to have been on the small wooden boat, two dozen of whom were rescued by fishermen Saturday near the northern Senegalese city of St.

Finland plans joining the project of the North European gas pipeline that is to link Russia and Germany, the Finnish television company YLE said.

LUKoil NK plans to triple capitalization of the company in the 10-year period, Vagit Alekperov, LUKOIL president told in interview to Itogi magazine, according to PRIME-TASS.

The captain of the Bahamas-registered, Latvian-operated reefer ship Roko, which ran into a small fishing boat in October, killing eight divers, has been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Brazilian maritime authorities, reports Fairplay. Vladimir Gruseiuskis and his crew were released 11 days after the 3,955-gt vessel hit the Costa Azul in Guanabara Bay, near Niteroi.

The Hamburg state government would be willing to support a 'Hamburg consortium' as buyer for Hapag-Lloyd, should parent Tui decide to sell its shipping business, reports Lloyds List. Finance senator Wolfgang Peiner said in a newspaper interview that he could not confirm a request for help from Tui, however. Tui has come under pressure from shareholders over possible changes in its group structure and management following a sluggish share performance.

Russia's negotiations with the United States over its accession to the World Trade Organization may have to be suspended for at least two years, a deputy head of the Carnegie Moscow Center think-tank said Friday.

A significant move into the Russian market may be on the cards if the Naples-based Grimaldi Group's takeover bid for Finnlines goes through as widely anticipated.

Klaus-Michael Kuehne, board president of Swiss logistics group Kuehne & Nagel AG, said he could see taking a personal stake of up to a 5 pct in TUI AG's struggling shipping division Hapag-Lloyd, should the parent company be broken up.

The RF Ministry of industry and energy has developed a Strategy of development and reforming for the country's shipbuilding industry, told head of the ministry Viktor Khristenko in an interview to Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The Strategy includes three blocks.

Gaz de France hopes to sign a new long-term gas delivery agreement with Gazprom in the near future, the French company's President Jean-Francois Cirelli told in his interview to Les Echos.

Steering problems on a brand-new cruiseship are being blamed for a sudden severe list that injured passengers and panicked officers.

The chief executive of APM Terminals, the world's third-largest container terminal operator, said he would consider breaking with the division's tradition of organic growth by acquiring a competitor. The statement, in a Financial Times interview, reflects Kim Fejfer's policy of turning APM, part of the Copenhagen-based AP Maller-Maersk group, into a more broadly-based company, serving a wide range of shipping lines. The operation started as the terminal operating arm of the group's Maersk Line, the world's largest container carrier, and until recently existed solely to meet Maersk Line's needs. An acquisition could accelerate the change by bringing in terminals less dependent on Maersk Line.

Danish shipping and oil group A.P.

AP Moller-Maersk A/S Chief Executive Jess Soederberg Tuesday said he expects freight rates to rise this year, but the company hasn't factored in big increases in its revised outlook for 2006.

The following topics are available in the SeaNews Weekly analytical bulletin this week: WEEK EVENTS Project worth billions PORTS' STATISTICS Arkhangelsk port throughput results in 5 months of 2006; Throughput of the Big ort of St.Petersburg in January-May 2006; Baltic ports cargo turnover in the 5 months of 2006; RAILWAY Work results of the Russian Railways in the 5 months; Russia.

Frontline Ltd biggies John Fredriksen and Tor Olav Troim have snapped up "between $5m and $6m" of the company's shares on the strength of a newly bullish attitude on where VLCC and suezmax rates are headed, Troim said today.

A Russian seafarer on-board a Far-Eastern Shipping Co (FESCo) containership was killed by a falling cable in New Zealand on Sunday night.