Friday, 12th March 2010 | by Ray Martin
Business Secretary Lord Mandelson announced today (12 March) a €300 million (£270m) loan guarantee to GME Europe which will help secure the company’s operations in Britain and the rest of Europe.
Today’s outline agreement follows detailed and highly complex talks between the Government and GM.
The guarantee will be provided under the Government’s Automotive Assistance Programme. The British loan guarantee will be provided alongside extra support from GM in the US and support from other European governments.
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Monday, 8th March 2010 | by Ray Martin
PD Ports, the operator of North East port, Teesport, has been crowned as the ‘Most Outstanding Service Carrier of the Year’ in 2009 by leading UK retailer, ASDA at its annual National Carrier of the Year awards ceremony.
The award was won by PD Ports for its Logical Link service – a coastal feeder container shipping service offering a next day connection between Felixstowe in the south of England and Teesport in the north, which runs three days per week.
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Thursday, 11th February 2010 | by Ray Martin
Jan. 20, 2010
U.S. productivity weathered the recession well, growing 2.5 percent (in per hour terms) in 2009, The Conference Board reported today.
This blip in the prevailing downward trend in U.S. productivity was largely explained by dramatically reduced working hours that offset output decline (employment fell by 3.6 percent in 2009; hours worked per worker by 1.5 percent.) U.S. productivity growth is projected at 3 percent for 2010.
European productivity growth turned negative in 2009, falling far behind the United States. Output per hour fell 1 percent in the Euro Area.
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Friday, 5th February 2010 | by Ray Martin
Akio Toyoda, the grandson of Toyota’s founder and the most powerful man in the car industry, defended the Japanese manufacturer’s handling of a widespread fault with its accelerator pedals but admitted: “We are facing a crisis.”
More than 8m Toyota cars are being recalled worldwide, including 180,000 in the UK, with the company also under investigation in the US over problems with the brakes on its hybrid Prius car.
Mr Toyoda is planning measures which he hopes will avoid a repeat of the crisis. He will lead a committee that will take charge of introducing initiatives including the introduction of new “quality management” professionals at “Automotive Centres of Quality Excellence” in key regions, an improvement in the way it researches its cars and customers, and greater autonomy for regional divisions.
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Monday, 18th January 2010 | by Ray Martin
China and its population of 1.3 billion has overtaken Germany, population 82 million, as the world’s top exporter, trade figures from the German national statistics office showed on Friday.
From January to November, Chinese exports were worth 1.07 trillion dollars, while German data showed that exports from Europe’s biggest economy amounted to 734.6 billion euros, or 1.05 trillion dollars.
The widely-expected crowning of a new export champion should be confirmed when Germany releases full-year 2009 trade figures on February 9.
Economic growth in both countries depend on exports, which critics claim contributes to overall global imbalances, urging Germans to consume more and Chinese authorities to let the yuan float freely against the dollar.
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