Maritime conference: A three-day international maritime conference, beginning in Mumbai from November 19, will provide a forum to shipping technocrats to acquaint themselves with the latest knowledge in various aspects of the marine industry. Talking to reporters, Chairman of the conference Inmarco 98 RC Bhavanani said the theme will be `Shipping trends for the nextmillennium'. Inmarco, mooted in 1982, is an event held every four years and organised by the Institute of Marine Engineers (India) (IME), Bhavanani said.

Tropicana launches pure orange juice: Tropicana Beverages, has introduced its Dole brand of orange juice in India, beginning with a launch in Bangalore on Saturday. Dole is a premium brand of 100 per cent pure orange juice and contains no added sugar or preservatives, the company said. It is positioning the juice on a health platform claiming that Dole is untouched by the human hand on its journey to the consumer. The juice will be available in one litre and 250ml tetrapacks priced at Rs 53 and Rs 14 respectively. The company plans to expand its distribution network throughout India shortly after the test launch in Bangalore.

Online checking from TNT: TNT, the international distribution company has launched the first global online checking facility, Price Checker, recently. This facility provides customers the price of sending a document orpackage from one place to another virtually anywhere in the world, according to Jinendra Sancheti, Managing Director, TNT India. To mark its launch, the company is offering a free weekend trip to Europe to anyone with access to internet and the Price Checker which is hosted on TNT home page as prize for a competition being run on TNT's website- www.tnt.com.

Dr Beck certification: Dr Beck & Co (India) Ltd received ISO 14001 certification for environmental management System for its plants at Pimpri and Ankleshwar and it corporate office at Beck House in Pune at a function held in Pune on Saturday. Dr Beck is the first chemical company in Pune to receive this certification. The certificate was presented by TUV India Pvt Ltd general manager GS Iyer to the company managing director M Tandon.

Hindustan Antibiotics product: Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL) will launching a new biopesticide in the market called `Biokem'. This product has been jointly developed by Hindustan Antibiotics and the BhahbaAtomic Research Centre, Mumbai. Trials and toxicological evaluation studies have been completed and the product will be commercially launched after registration formalities. According to company general manager (research & development) SR Naik this will be a new generation of biopesticide and is more efficacious than the existing ones. The new product has multiple genes and has a wider spectrum of application. Existing pesticides are disease specific while Biokem could be used for a range of crops and diseases.

Textile engineering industry urged to modernise: Textile engineering industry should adopt the state-of-art technology to face the challenge of globalisation, union textiles minister Kashiram Rana on Saturday, said. Inaugurating the 54th all-India textile conference on the occasion of the golden jubilee celebrations of the Ahmedabad chapter of textile association of India, he assured the government help to the industry in its efforts for modernisation. He also urged the supplier industries tohave closer interaction with the user industry as well as the research institutes. Lauding the performance of the Indian textile engineering industry, started just five decades ago, he said it now produces machinery and parts worth more than Rs 4,000 crore. A textile exhibition -- `Texpo 1998' has also been organised on the occasion.