D.T. Gruelle will be closed on the following dates of 2010:

·         New Year's Day

·         Memorial Day

·         Labor Day

·         July 5^th

·         Thanksgiving Day

·         Christmas Day

The Commission found that the 21 airlines had conspired to introduce fuel surcharges and continue to raise surcharge rates for air cargo to and from Korea between 1999 and 2007.

According to the KFTC, the airlines conspired on four routes: outbound from Korea, and inbound to Korea from Hong Kong, Europe, and Japan.

Conspiracies on outbound shipments from Korea:

In June 2002, Korean Airlines and Lufthansa agreed to introduce fuel surcharge. Later, another fifteen airlines (Malaysian Airline, Swiss International Air Lines, Singapore Airlines Cargo, Japan Airlines International, Nippon Cargo Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Asiana Air, Air France (including Air France-KLM), British Airways, Cargolux Airlines International, Cathay Pacific Airways, KLM Airlines, Qantas Airways, Thai Airways International ) reached an agreement to impose fuel surcharge of 120 won per kg starting from April 16, 2003, and also agreed to raise surcharge rates in October 2004, July 2005 and November 2005.

Conspiracies on shipments from Hong Kong to Korea:

In January 2000, seven airlines (Korean Airlines, Asiana Air, Air Hong Kong, Air India, Cathay Pacific Airways, Thai Airways International, Polar Air Cargo) agreed to start imposing fuel surcharge of 0.50 HK$ per kg from February 1, 2000, and consistently colluded to increase surcharge rates adjusting to oil price hikes.

Conspiracies on shipments from Europe to Korea:

Between December 1999 and February 2000, eight airlines (Korean Airlines, Lufthansa, Scandinavian Airlines, Air France (including Air France-KLM), Japan Airlines International, Cargolux Airlines International, KLM Airlines) agreed to introduce a fuel surcharge of €0.10 per kg starting from February 1, 2000. The cartel was later expanded to involve additional air carriers (British Airways - September 18, 2000, and Singapore Airlines Cargo - December 2003). They agreed to raise the surcharge rates adjusting to oil price increases and actually implemented the agreement.

Conspiracies on shipments from Japan to Korea:

Between September and October 2002, five airfreight carriers (Korean Airlines, Asiana Air, Japan Airlines International, All Nippon Airways, Nippon Cargo Airlines) agreed to impose fuel surcharge of ¥12 per kg starting from October 16, 2002, and continued to reach and implement an agreement to raise surcharges according to oil price hikes.

The commission estimated that these practices had cost exporters 6.7 trillion won in excessive freight charges.

Fines:

• Air France: 3.71 billion won
• Air France-KLM: 5.43 billion won
• Air Hong Kong: 104 million won
• Air India: warning
• All Nippon Airways: 1.3 billion won
• Asiana Airlines: 20.66 billion won
• British Airways: 950 million won
• Cargolux: 2.05 billion won
• Cathay Pacific: 4.1 billion won
• Japan Airlines: 3.87 billion won
• KLM: 7.84 billion won
• Korean Airlines: 48.74 billion won
• Lufthansa Cargo: 12.1 billion won
• Malaysian Airline: 1.12 billion won
• Nippon Cargo Airlines: 1.17 billion won
• Polar Air Cargo: 850 million won
• Qantas Airways: 131 million won
• Scandinavian Airlines: warning
• Singapore Airlines Cargo: 2.35 billion won
• Swiss International Airlines: 265 million won
• Thai Airways: 2.78 billion won

According to newswire reports, Korean Air said that its penalty was reduced by more than half to 22.2 billion won, because it cooperated in the probe and reported the unfair practices voluntarily.

The Korean probe follows similar investigations in the EU, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand into cargo-carriers and freight forwarders.

USA EXPORT: CLIENT ADVISORY

SOUTH AFRICA PORT STRIKE
Due to a Union strike, all import and export operations are currently encountering service disruptions at the ports in South Africa. As a result, all ports are functioning with limited staff and slowdowns in operations. At this point, there is no foreseen resolution to the current condition. Delays in release of cargo and port congestion should be expected.

CHINA BOOSTS BUSINESS LINKS WITH SOUTH AFRICA

China on Thursday announced its largest investment in South Africa for more than two years, entrenching its position as the resource-rich continent’s most important economic and commercial partner.

The China Africa Development Fund and Jidong Development Group will help build a new cement plant worth at least Rmb1.5bn ($220m, €174m, £148m).

The announcement lays the ground for a planned August visit to Beijing by Jacob Zuma, the South African president, who has made deepening economic and political ties with China a priority of his foreign policy.

China emerged as South Africa’s largest trading partner last year, partly due to a large rise in iron ore exports, mirroring a trend in other countries on the continent, which have been courted by Beijing for their resources and growing markets.

The latest agreement will see the two Chinese entities joining forces with Continental Cement, a local enterprise, and Women Investment Portfolio Holdings, a South African company dedicated to empowering black women. They will build the new plant in Gauteng province, outside Johannesburg.

The new plant is aimed at making up a shortfall of domestic building products, such as cement, much of its caused by the huge infrastructure programme from construction for the football World Cup.

Congested roads and railways make it relatively costly for South Africa to import cement, so investment in local production facilities is correspondingly more attractive

Growing economic ties with China and other big emerging markets have paved the way for closer political ties, especially since Mr Zuma came to office last May. While his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, expressed reservations about China’s role in Africa, Mr Zuma’s own enthusiasm has been greater.

A $5.5bn investment by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in South Africa’s Standard Bank agreed in October 2007 remains easily the largest Chinese investment in Africa to date, accounting for about a quarter of the funds that Beijing dedicated to the continent.

Much of that investment has concentrated on roads, power plants and other infrastructure but analysts say a growing number of Chinese companies are beginning to buy building and other materials locally. They are also eyeing Africa’s rapidly growing consumer markets.

For example, FAW, a Chinese carmaker, last month announced a $100m investment in South Africa. “Chinese companies are coming to the party,” said Martyn Davies, chief executive of Frontier Advisory Services, a Johannesburg-based consultancy. “They have a high level of confidence in the continent and see South Africa as a springboard for expansion elsewhere.”

Mr Davies predicted that the China African Development Fund will probably fund much of this investment. CADF, which eventually expects to have $5bn available, established a South African office last March. “They have a lot more deals in the pipeline,” he said.

Protest leader shot as Thai violence flares

Maj Gen Khattya Sawasdipol, flanked by security guards, gives an interview in the
protestors’ encampment hours before being shot

The Thai authorities’ latest attempt to bring an end to eight weeks of anti-government demonstrations turned bloody on Thursday night when one of the protest leaders was shot and severely wounded in unclear circumstances.

Maj-Gen Khattya Sawasdipol, a renegade army officer whose views are regarded as extreme even by his political allies, was shot shortly after the beginning of a security operation designed to surround the sprawling, barricaded protest site in central Bangkok in an attempt to prevent support and supplies reaching the demonstrators.

Maj-Gen Khattya was one of a number of casualties reported by hospital officals in Bangkok following an explosion and reports of gunfire earlier in the evening.

As darkness fell small groups of soldiers were gathered at key points beyond the stockades made of tyres and sharpened bamboo staves that mark the outer fringes of the protest zone, but there was little sign of the armoured vehicles and troop concentrations that were supposed to throw a cordon around the demonstration.

Protest supporters, galvanised by both the threat of the crackdown and later reports of the injuries to Maj-Gen Khattya, flocked to the main protest site, where leaders broadcast defiant statements from the stage that lies at the heart of the protest site.

Maj-Gen Khattya, who is better known by the nom-de-guerre “Seh Daeng” – Commander Red -- is one of the most controversial figures in the anti-government movement. He was recently described as the biggest barrier to the peace process by the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.

He is close to Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who is the godfather of the protest movement, but he was initially rejected by the mainstream leaders of the demonstration because his confrontational views clashed with their desire for peaceful protest.

However, he has become more influential as the main protest leadership has fractured. He was suspected of playing a key role in the violence on April 10 which led to the deaths of 25 people, including 19 protesters, five soldiers and a television cameraman. He denies the allegations, but he has revelled in controversy and the commander of the armed forces is currently trying to have him cashiered.

“I am a soldier outside the law,” he told the Financial Times during a lunch late last year. Volume 5 of his self-published autobiography shows a picture of him dressed as Rambo.

The attack on Maj-Gen Khattya is another bloody punctuation mark in the increasingly confrontational relations between the demonstrators and the government.

Mr Abhisit has withdrawn the offer of early elections he made last week as a compromise on the protesters’ demand for his immediate resignation.

The offer had been the central plank in his plan to end the demonstrations, and the protest leaders, who say that Mr Abhisit’s administration lacks legitimacy, initially gave it a cautious welcome, but then qualified their acceptance with a series of demands designed to ensure they would not be locked up as soon as the protests ended.

The shifting demands exhausted Mr Abhisit’s patience. “I have cancelled the election date... because protesters refuse to disperse,” he said on Thursday. “I have told security officials to restore normality as soon as possible.”

The authorities are considering cutting off water and power supplies to the demonstration area, but are hesitant in part because of the presence of two hospitals in the immediate vicinity.

Analysts say turning off the fire hydrants that supply most of the water to the protesters could have a devastating effect.

But Mr Abhisit is also running out of options. The police are widely believed to share many of the concerns of the protesters, and the army seems willing to carry out containment operations but has shown little appetite for the sort of bloody confrontation which would be necessary to clear the demonstrators from their stronghold.