We would like to refer to last year's announcement by ECT (Rtm) to implement measures to reduce the dwell time of containers on their terminal - which we advised in our Tidings 2007/4.ECT have evaluated the measures taken in 2007 which they find must be adjusted and complemented with relating actions to further improve the terminal capacity and productivity at their Delta and Home Terminal.

These measures can be summarized as follows :

Cargo Closing Time for deepsea vessels :
    as from May 1, 2008 container closing of 24 hrs before vessel ETA.
Cargo Closing Time for feeder vessels - as from August 1, 2008 :
    Physical closing = 12 hrs before feeder's ETA.
Closing time for rail and barge currently remain unchanged (6 hrs) until further notice.

Cargo Opening Time : 
    as from 1.5.2008 COT will be adjusted from 9 to 8 days before ETA of outgoing vessel.