The latest issue of Drewry's Container Insight Weekly includes an analysis of how a Suez Canal closure would affect the container industry. Were social unrest in Egypt to disrupt shipping through the waterway, Drewry's concludes that there are enough vessels to move goods around Africa.

Siim Kallas, vice president of the European Commission, has outlined some changes to customs formalities in ports, in an effort to help shift EU transit cargo from congested highways to under-utilised short-sea shipping lanes.

Higher levels of training to maintain and improve the expertise of those employed by shippers, consolidators, warehouses and depots to pack containers is now a primary objective of a number of current industry initiatives.