JEDDAH 35

A threatened Oct. 1 strike by dockworkers at ports on the U.S. East Coast and Gulf of Mexico would immediately disrupt the flow of goods in the country, the North America chief executive of French container carrier CMA CGM said on Wednesday.The International Longshoremen's Association union represents 45,000 workers at 36 ports including New York/New Jersey, Houston and Savannah, Georgia. The union has vowed to stop work if it does not have a new labor agreement in place when the current six-year contract expires on Sept. 30 at midnight."The moment you close the door, things begin to back up," George Goldman, CMA CGM's North America chief, said on a webcast hosted by the Port of Los Angeles.

The U.S. Justice Department on Wednesday filed a civil claim seeking $103 million from the two Singaporean companies that owned and operated the container ship that in March toppled the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, killing six people and paralyzing a major transportation artery for the U.S. Northeast.The department is seeking to recover from Grace Ocean Private Limited and Synergy Marine Private Limited the money the U.S. government spent in responding to the disaster and for clearing the wreck of the Dali ship and bridge debris from the Port of Baltimore so the waterway could reopen in June.

A Greek appeals court on Friday reduced the prison sentences of 11 men involved in trafficking 1.2 metric tons of cocaine from the Caribbean into Europe and Africa, in one of the biggest drug busts in Greece's history.Greek police said in 2020 it had dismantled the criminal group after a months-long investigation with assistance from the United States' Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Albanian and Spanish police.A court in 2021 had handed the defendants, nationals of Albania, the Netherlands and Greece, multi-year sentences including life imprisonment. On Friday, the court set the highest sentence at 16 years.

Canadian shipbuilder Davie announced it has appointed Maxie Lafleur as president, bringing in a business executive from outside the shipbuilding sector to help drive growth.A Montréal native, Lafleur brings a wealth of experience in digital transformation, growth strategies, change management, mergers and acquisitions, and business development, both in Canada and abroad. Her career began at KPMG as an auditor, after which she joined CAE’s M&A team. She subsequently held various senior management positions, including CFO and CEO at Bus.com, where she led growth and transformation initiatives.

Marine towage provider Svitzer announced it has inked a deal Turkish shipbuilder Uzmar to build a world-first battery-methanol tug for scheduled delivery in the second half of 2025.Designed in collaboration with naval architect Robert Allan Ltd, the first-of-its-kind tug will be based on Svitzer’s TRAnsverse tug design and feature a 6MWh battery supported by dual fuel methanol engines for back-up and range extension.The 34.9-meter escort duty tug is expected to conduct more than 90% of its operations using its battery-electric powertrain and conduct up to 25% of Svitzer’s work in the Port of Gothenburg.