The channel reopened to all traffic about 7 a.m. Wednesday, about 4 1/2 hours after part of it was opened to outbound tug and barge traffic only, Coast Guard Petty Officer Richard Brahm said.

The channel initially was to reopen late Tuesday, restoring access to one of the nation's busiest ports. The waterway is also the main point of access to the country's largest petroleum refineries.

Around 6 a.m. Sunday, a tug pushing three barges crashed into the tower. "Big John," one of the largest cranes in the country, was brought in Monday to help prop the tower up as CenterPoint Energy crews cut 14 power lines.

CenterPoint spokeswoman Leticia Lowe said the last power line was cut about 11 p.m. Tuesday and the tower was lowered to the ground about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday.

The channel leads to the Port of Houston, the country's leader in foreign waterborne tonnage and imports and second in U.S. export tonnage and total tonnage.

The U.S. Coast Guard estimated the channel closure was accounting for about $320 million a day in economic losses, including factors such as jobs associated with the waterway and ships waiting to pass being unable to deliver or receive goods.

Nearly 70 ships, including more than 30 tankers, were waiting when the channel was partially reopened about 2:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Brahm has likened the channel to a parking lot, explaining that if there are no open spots ships cannot be allowed in. He said Wednesday that authorities were starting to allow the vessels into the channel according to priority.

For example, if a refinery is running low on crude to process, the ship carrying that product would be allowed in first, Brahm said.

He said the FTA would pave the way for long-term and stable Malaysia-EU trade ties.

According to an analyst, should the FTA be successful, Malaysian business would gain more in the long run especially in the wake of the economic slowdown.

The analyst said the catalyst may come from the potential for the FTA to rebuild the wealth that has been lost during the recent economic slowdown.

As Malaysia was gearing towards achieving developed nation status, Mr Piket said that it was timely for Malaysia to start the FTA negotiations to complement the country in achieving the goals of the New Economic Model (NEM).

He said the FTA was very much part of the NEM and emphasised the promotion of a business-friendly economy and increased private sector share in the Gross Domestic Product.

The envoy pointed out that all this would attract trade, quality investment, capital, skills and know-how and the FTA with the EU would certainly contribute towards this objective, adding that trade and investment were crucial to global recovery and economic growth.

With the current deadlock in the World Trade Organization Doha Round, he said Malaysia and the 27-member EU should expand bilateral trade.

Malaysia is EU's second largest trading partner in Asean after Singapore, clearly ahead of much larger countries like Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

The EU, meanwhile, is the world's fourth largest trading partner and second largest source of foreign direct investment, he said.

The country's Planning Ministry says the loan from regional development bank Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF ) will be invested in the Belgrano Cargas freight rail network.

The network, in South America's second-largest economy, operates 120 locomotives and 3,500 railcars and employs 1,500 workers, whose jobs are guaranteed by the government.

In a statement, the ministry's transport secretariat said the loan would finance repairs to rail lines in Chaco and Santiago del Estero provinces, as well as the purchase of signalling equipment, railcars and locomotives.

The administration of President Cristina Fernandez is looking to restore the dilapidated Belgrano Cargas railway that operates 10,00km of track in 13 provinces.

The network passes through Argentina's key farm and mining regions and could also be used to ship freight to and from Chile and Bolivia.

Freight currently moved on the network includes copper, corn, minerals, petroleum products, rice, soya beans and vegetable oil.

In July, Argentina and China signed an agreement under which China pledged to invest $10 billion in the South American country's railroad industry.

The Argentine Embassy in China revealed the agreements during the President's visit to China, where she is heading a trade delegation.

New statistics from Box Trade Intelligence (BTI) have revealed that transpacific carriers saw yields of US$2.8 billion in the first half of 2010, on the back of average rates of US$1,426 per teu, and total revenues of $15 billion.

In the first half of 2009, carriers saw yields of almost $556 million, with average rates of $1,270 per teu, and revenues of $10.7billion, while in 2008 yields were $1.5 billion, average rates were $1,583 per teu and revenues totalled $15.4 billion.

The figures are evidence of the recovery that container lines have staged since last year when the world's top 23 carriers announced losses of $15 billion.

It also shows that the cost-cutting measures taken by carriers have left them in a better position than in 2008 - considered a decent year for shipping lines - even though average rates and volumes were higher that year.

BTI said: "Stronger utilisations in both directions and a $2 billion cheaper network than 2008 have reduced overall unit costs by 31% to $475 per teu in the first half of 2010.

"Meanwhile, in the North America-Middle East Gulf & Indian Subcontinent trade, yields have grown to $322 million, up from $167 million a year earlier. This is a comparable performance to 2006 levels in the trade.

"The North American north-south trades have shown similar resilience to the European north-south trades, with North America-Australia/New Zealand alone providing $385 million in yield for the first half of 2010."

BTI figures show that on the headhaul westbound direction, vessel utilisation rates were at 86% in 2010, 68% in 2009 and 70% in 2010.

The BTI data is calculated on a port-to-port basis and way-port cargo carried is excluded. Also, the supply data uses gross vessel capacities rather than net vessel, meaning utilisation figures may appear lower than the operational capacities of the vessels.

"The performance of the nation's transportation system is not keeping pace with the rate of growth of the demands on that system," said Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce. "As our economy recovers, the nation's transportation infrastructure must be prepared to meet the projected growth in freight and population. In fact, a 10-point improvement in the new national transportation index could generate 3% more growth in the nation's Gross Domestic Product. However, our index shows that from now through 2015 there will be a rapid decline in the performance of the system if we continue business as usual. Right now we're on an unsustainable path."

The annual Transportation Performance Index combines indicators of supply (availability), quality of service (reliability, predictability, safety) and utilization (potential for future growth) across all modes of passenger and freight transportation - highway, public transportation, freight railroad, aviation, marine and intermodal - to show how well the US transportation system is serving the needs of businesses and the overall US economy.

The national index is 51.24 in 2008, which is a slight improvement from 50.74 in 2007. However, the moving average, which smoothes the annual variations, reveals a clear downward trend from 2003 to 2008, demonstrating that the performance of the US transportation system is not keeping pace with the demands on that system.