American Shipper articles from April 1993

American Shipper archives from April 1993

Notes and comments. (development of US maritime program)
April 1, 1993... Acting with amazing speed, just a few days after maritime industry and labor officials met with Transportation Secretary Federico Pena, private sector and government officials established a working group which is in the midst developing a new...

Brokers give failing grade to FDA. (Food and Drug Administration)
April 1, 1993... They say agency is inconsistent, unresponsive. They want more uniformity, communication. If customs brokers were to vote on their least-favorite government agency, the Food and Drug Administration would win hands down. While brokers and...

Tax bite. (tax policy on international marine containers)
April 1, 1993... 8-1 decision means states have the right to tax marine containers used exclusively in international commerce. Just a few days after President Clinton announced plans for higher taxes, the Supreme Court handed the container leasing industry...

Items on the Clinton hit list. (Pres. Bill Clinton; increase in user fees and taxes)
April 1, 1993... Harbor maintenance fees to rise. Export aids may be cut. Aside from the tax hikes, the Clinton Administration tax and "investment" package will affect vessel owners and shippers either through an extension, or an increase in user fees and...

Kuwait cargo policy attacked.
April 1, 1993... Congress says MarAd isn't enforcing cargo-preference laws. Kuwait requires all U.S. postwar aid to go in UASC ships. Members of Congress are protesting Kuwait's insistence that all cargo for the Mideast nation's postwar reconstruction be...

Boston/Antwerp service by Lykes. (Lykes Lines)
April 1, 1993... New England exporters offered direct routing; save about five days. Using six ships, Lykes Lines has added Boston to its transatlantic rotation after Norfolk. Antwerp is the first port of call in Europe, with a nine-day transit time....

Koch's parting advice. (Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Christopher Koch)
April 1, 1993... On April 5, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Christopher Koch will leave for a job in the private sector. In an interview, Koch urged liner conferences to continue what is certainly a new openess with their shipper customers. Due to...

TWRA rescinds 5-day extension on credit. (Transpacific Westbound Rate Agreement)
April 1, 1993... Gottshall estimated that the amount of float for five days totaled between $8 million and $10 million for each carrier. A five-day extension on credit terms for shipments to the Far East has been rescinded by the conference covering the...

The Pacific, as Gottshall sees it. (Transpacific Westbound Rate Agreement managing director Ronald B. Gottshall)
April 1, 1993... TWRA managing director steps down in September. When Ronald B. Gottshall took the helm of the Transpacific Westbound Rate Agreement in September 1985, more than a few observers thought it signaled a reversion by the carriers to the strong-arm...

P&OCL, Maersk, Sea-Land share Middle East, India, Med ships. (P&O Containers Ltd.; Sea-Land Service Inc.; A.P. Moller Maersk; Mediterranean)
April 1, 1993... U.S.-Mideast market livens up enough to lure three major carriers, nine ships. Three of the world's largest container carriers are commiting nine ships to a market that, a decade ago, had begun to peter out. P&O Containers Ltd., Sea-Land...

Stitching markets together.
April 1, 1993... The race through Suez becomes more competitive. Dr. Anil J. Vitharana thinks his company is in on the ground floor of something big. Vitharana is vice president of marketing of United Arab Agencies Inc., the Cranford, N.J.-based agent for...

North Atlantic CAFs tumble. (Currency Adjustment Factor)
April 1, 1993... Two rate-making bodies involved in the U.S.-Europe trades will lower their Currency Adjustment Factor surcharges in April. Reductions are steepest where the U.S. dollar has been the strongest, for example, the United Kingdom and Italy. The...

Reorganization at Cosco. (China Ocean Shipping Co.)(includes related article on joint venture with Norton-Lilly International)
April 1, 1993... Consolidates 160 state-owned shipping businesses into group that is expected to have more autonomy. China Ocean Shipping Co. and other government-owned shipping companies are expected to enjoy more autonomy as a result of a far-reaching...

CP buys rest of Canada Maritime. (Canadian Pacific Ltd.; Canadian Maritime Ltd.)
April 1, 1993... Canada Maritime looks toward fleet replacement. Canadian Pacific Ltd. in February acquired the 43 percent minority stake in Canada Maritime Ltd. held by CMB Transport of Belgium (CMBT). Canadian Pacific did not disclose terms of the sale,...

Nedlloyd joins crowd in new PAX service. (Royal Nedlloyd Group N.V.; Pacific Atlantic Express)
April 1, 1993... Charters space on segment of Asia-North America_Europe ships. A new liner service linking Asia, North America and Europe has attracted a fifth participant. Nedlloyd Lines will charter space on the U.S. West Coast/Europe leg of the service...

APL shortens trip from Shanghai. (American President Lines)
April 1, 1993... New feeder service to Japan skips Hong Kong, cuts six days off transit to U.S. American President Lines has launched a feeder service between Shanghai and Kobe/Yokohama that skirts Hong Kong and, according to company officials, lops six days...

TAA shippers threaten to charter. (Trans Atlantic Agreement)
April 1, 1993... TAA's Holden says it's not as easy as it looks. Some disgruntled West Coast agricultural shippers say they may charter their own ships to avoid what they consider to be excessive rates being charged by the 11 ocean carrier members of the...

Maverick shipper. (Levi Strauss and Co.'s export traffic manager Lee Ross Heidhues)
April 1, 1993... Levi Strauss' Lee R. Heidhues says shippers should work with carriers instead of always fighting them. "I think shippers need to look at themselves before casting aspersions on the carrier community." Who said that? If the name you've come...

'Out of the back office' at Xerox. (Xerox Corp.'s management reforms)(Includes related article on chain supply manager John Clendenin)
April 1, 1993... Logistics staff occupies central role. Supply chain judged on service level, asset utilization and logistics cost. Many companies used to think tight inventories and good service were mutually exclusive. Xerox Corp. has discovered otherwise,...

AT&T's approach to inventory control.
April 1, 1993... Key is to focus on process for managing supplies. Otherwise, inventories may go down but won't stay down. Several years ago, American Telephone & Telegraph decided its inventories had gotten out of hand. So the company attacked the problem...

Should you delay final assembly? (product manufacturing)
April 1, 1993... Companies are restructuring supply chains to move final assembly, closer to delivery. Delaying final assembly of a product can make a manufacturer more competitive in the global marketplace, says Hau L. Lee, professor of industrial...

3rd-party association still just an embryo. (logistics executives organization)(includes related article on organizers of the association)
April 1, 1993... Organizing meeting scheduled Oct. 22 in Atlanta, but some say new organization isn't necessary. A group of third-party logistics executives has taken a tentative step to form an association for self-policing and networking. But some in the...

Brokers settle dispute over remote filing. (Customs Modernization Act)
April 1, 1993... NCBFAA will support Customs Modernization Act with change protecting outport brokers. Customs brokers and forwarders have renewed their endorsement of the Customs Modernization Act after working out a compromise to ease concerns about...

Specialist in offshore assembly. (W.G. Carroll and Company Inc.)
April 1, 1993... W.G. Carroll in Atlanta will go after accounts normally served at Miami. For U.S. manufacturers, shipping goods for assembly offshore in Central and South America and the Caribbean means steady customers and savings in duties on finished...

Rotterdam's robots. (automation of Port of Rotterdam's cargo handling terminal) (Cover Story)
April 1, 1993... Another revolution in ports. Another landmark for Sea-Land. At first, Rotterdam's newest container terminal looks like any other. A chassis pulls up under a quayside gantry crane to take on a box. Once loaded, the chassis moves away from...

Oakland-Memphis stacktrain service.
April 1, 1993... APC unit's is the first in that corridor. It could eventually extend to Atlanta. American President Land Transport Services has become the first transportation firm to offer dedicated stack-train service between northern California and...

From 32,000 to 2 undercharge cases. (P-I-E nationwide Inc.)
April 1, 1993... Two suits filed by P-I-E may help court rule on thousands. The battle between defunct motor carrier P-I-E Nationwide Inc. and thousands of shippers socked with undercharge claims lurched forward through the courts again. U.S. District...

Streamlining APC domestic unit. (American President Cos.)
April 1, 1993... APL Land Transport Services takes steps to speed up and simplify service. American President Cos.' domestic truckload transportation arm has launched a $6 million revamp of its computer hardware and software system that company officials say...

Shipments up one-third at CSXI. (CSX Intermodal Inc.)
April 1, 1993... Intermodal company signs agreements with truckload carriers, expands national accounts program. CSX Intermodal Inc. says its volume of motor carrier, parcel and postal traffic increased by nearly one-third last year, to more than 100,000...

When the 'better' mousetrap isn't. (container and equipment standards)
April 1, 1993... Standardized equipment often makes best economic sense. While keeping pace with the marketplace makes good business sense, rushing pell-mell to develop the proverbial better mousetrap is not always the best way to go about it -- at least when...

EC reacts to maritime disasters. (maritime accidents)
April 1, 1993... Another OPA '90? Probably not. Sparked by a recent string of maritime accidents causing loss of life and environmental damage, the European Community is seeking tougher controls on ships navigating community waters. The EC Council of...

DOD's $2.18 billion shipbuilding plan. (Department of Defense)
April 1, 1993... Says investment, new programs needed to preserve shipbuilding base, rejuvenate industry. Against a backdrop of feared cuts in the Defense Department's shipbuilding funds, U.S. shipyards may soon be in for some good news from DOD -- at least...

New reform package due in April. (maritime reform package)
April 1, 1993... DOT Secretary Pena promises quick action but no details on Clinton maritime plan. Sometime in April the Clinton Administration will send Congress a new maritime reform package, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena told an industry...

Lykes tries again with LVM. (Lykes Lines; Louisiana Vessel Management)
April 1, 1993... A sign that Lykes executives aren't placing all their bets on latest effort to reform the subsidy program. Lykes Lines again is seeking permission to transfer the company's U.S.-flag ships and subsidy contracts to a separate company. The...

Tidewater sells stake in Sea-Barge. (Tidewater Inc.; Marine Transportation Services Sea-Barge Group Inc.)
April 1, 1993... Minority partner S.E.L. Maduro (Florida) Inc. buys Tidewater's 70 percent. Marine Transportation Services Sea-Barge Group Inc. is being sold by Tidewater Inc. to a group of investors led by minority joint-venture partner, S.E.L. Maduro...

TAA clone in Canada. (Trans-Atlantic Agreement)
April 1, 1993... Angry Canadian shippers fear 'super conference.' Canadian shippers using containerships to Europe are upset. To their dismay, eastbound carriers have joined the westbound conference in collectively restructuring tariffs and rates. They say...

JIT saved Chrysler $50 per vehicle. (just-in-time programs; Chrysler Corp.)
April 1, 1993... Just-in-time programs implemented at Chrysler Corp. over the last decade left their mark on manufacturing and transportation costs, according to a recently completed study. Nine of the automaker's assembly plants were evaluated in a research...

BN, Ford launch Autostack service. (Burlington Northern Railroad; Ford Motor Co.)
April 1, 1993... System developed by The Greenbrier Cos. allows vehicles to be containerized and shipped on stacktrains. Burlington Northern Railroad has contracted with Ford Motor Co. to become the first railroad to use the Autostack system of containerizing...

Coal brightens Seaway outlook. (St. Lawrence Seaway)
April 1, 1993... European demand for low-sulfur coal and toll incentives may turn the tide. St. Lawrence Seaway officials are anticipating renewed prosperity as the 2,342-mile-long system opens for its 35th season. They cite Montana and Wyoming low-sulfur...

Maritime reform made simple. (Column)
April 1, 1993... Former FMC commissioner Rob Quartel has become a prolific writer of "op ed" pieces for Washington and New York newspapers. He is an excellent writer, and papers like the Washington Post and New York Times make space available to him. So does...

Did BSC misfire? (British Shippers' Council)
April 1, 1993... Tactics of British Shippers' Council did not always sit well with more moderate European shippers. The rift became serious when BSC filed notice it will resign from ESC at end of the year. But European shippers go ahead with restructuring their...

Worldwide data link. (GE Information Services' communication links)
April 1, 1993... FIATA dumps SITA system for neutral system developed by General Electric. Putting months of rumors to rest, GE Information Services announced a series of new communications partnerships in late 1992 and early 1993. All of them seek to...

AGV: robotics takes a step out of doors ... and changes container handling forever. (automated guided vehicle)(includes related article on Work Station Stowage) (Cover Story)
April 1, 1993... It's very hard to stop watching them. On a small patch of pavement, no bigger than half the length of a basketball court, two vehicles, each 57 feet long by nine feet wide, go through their maneuvers. Right-angle turns, circles, S-curves,...

Will the good times last? (evaluation of containership industry)
April 1, 1993... Stabilization agreements are returning containership operators to profitability. But renewed losses are predicted by mid-1990s. Container shipping is mature industry, but carriers haven't learned how to make consistent profits. After years...

Shipper's perspective. (enforcement of the Export Administration Regulations)
April 1, 1993... Editor's note: William Maron has contributed this month's Shipper's Perspective column while John Dean is on vacation. Maron chairs the freight forwarding committee of the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association, Inc., and is...

CP Rail assembles stacktrain service. (Northern Supplement)
April 1, 1993... New Vancouver-to-Toronto service will eventually connect with CP's U.S. Northeast and Midwest operations. CP Rail System holds the pieces that, when assembled, become Canada's first transcontinental stacktrain system. In December, CP Rail...

A learning experience. (Heritage Log Homes' importation of US log homes to Europe) (Souther Supplement)
April 1, 1993... Gatlinburg company ships a log home to Italy. Log cabins, the embodiment of rustic Americana, are forging frontier markets in unlikely places. Heritage Log Homes of Gatlinburg, Tenn., a customized manufacturer of log homes for 18 years,...

Jaxport buys Dames Point land. (Jacksonville Port Authority)
April 1, 1993... The Jacksonville Port Authority paid about $14.5 million to purchase about 467 acres of the Dames Point property where it plans to build its $200 million third marine terminal. The sellers, acreage and prices involved were: * Hugh...