American Shipper articles from August 1994

American Shipper archives from August 1994

NIT League files complaint against TAA. (National Industrial Transport League; Trans-Atlantic Agreement) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Asks FMC to act against conference. 16 shippers and groups offer statements complaining of anticompetitive practices. The National Industrial Transportation League, dismissing the Trans-Atlantic Agreement's revisions as "cosmetic," has asked...

U.S. shippers skeptical of 'new' TAA. (Trans-Atlantic Agreement) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... They say it's step in right direction but falls short. They'll wait for action, not words, from conference. U.S. shippers gave a lukewarm greeting to the revisions in the Trans-Atlantic Agreement. Some called it "window dressing" to...

NVO tariff-filing a trade barrier? (non-vessel operating common carriers) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... FIATA may ask World Trade Organization to declare FMC filing requirement a violation of GATT rules. The International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) may ask the World Trade Organization to declare that U.S....

NVO sues over service contracts. (Worldlink Logistics Inc.) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Worldlink files complaint against National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia, Hyundai Merchant Marine. Worldlink Logistics, a non-vessel-operating common carrier in the Philadelphia area, is having a tough time winning service contracts this...

Blue Star exits Pacific islands route. (Blue Star Line Ltd.) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... To concentrate on Australia/New Zealand. South Seas Steamship, South Pacific Interline in slot charter. Blue Star Line has withdrawn from the U.S.-South Pacific islands trade to concentrate on its mainline service between North America and...

New entry in U.S./South America. (shipping industry; Di Gregorio Navegacao Ltda.) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Di Gregorio launches independent service in crowded trade. For the last few years, Brazil's Di Gregorio Group has watched as newcomers have jumped into the hotly competitive trade between the U.S. East Coast and South Africa. Now Di...

'K' Line reshuffles in Europe. (K Line Europe Ltd.) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Takes over some agency functions, reassigns executives. Change is part of continuing restructuring of carrier. In the latest step in a company-wide restructuring, "K" Line (Europe) Ltd. has announced a reorganization that includes combining...

Navieras sale delayed again. (Navieras de Puerto Rico) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Government keeps bidding open, seeks to quiet critics. Sale proposal may go before Legislature in August. The sale of Navieras de Puerto Rico was put on hold again when officials said they would continue to accept new proposals for the...

Carriers close to 5,000-TEU ship. (containership with capacity of 5,000 twenty-foot-equivalent units) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Evergreen follows OOCL in ordering 4,900-TEU-plus containerships, probably for transpacific. The 5,000-TEU containership isn't here yet, but it's getting close. Already several carriers are moving to build ships with capacity to handle...

Ediship pact filed in U.S. (UK systems partnership registers with Federal Maritime Commission) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Will carriers eventually merge information systems pacts? Ediship, a four-year-old United Kingdom-based systems partnership, has joined the list of systems agreements registered at the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission. According to the FMC...

D.X.I.'s 'tariff access engine.' (D.X.I. Inc.) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Company's new president says goal is SABRE-like system. D.X.I. Inc. sees itself as less of a gatherer and disseminator of tariff data than as an information services provider, the company's new president says. Tariff data is merely the...

Creel, Won named to FMC. (Hal Creel; Delmond J.H. Won; Federal Maritime Commission) (Newsfront)
August 1, 1994... Nomination of two Democrats will bring commission to full strength for first time in more than two years. The Clinton Administration has finally acted to fill all of the seats of the Federal Maritime Commission. The commission has been...

TAA bows to Brussels. (Trans-Atlantic Agreement makes concessions to European Commission)(includes related article) (Regulatory)
August 1, 1994... Revised agreement filed in Washington and Brussels. Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement is born. After two years of fighting shippers and regulators for its legal right to exist, the Trans-Atlantic Agreement has come up with a compromise its...

Fortress Europe. (European shipping industry) (Regulatory)
August 1, 1994... European Commission wants to beat the Asians at their own game. The European Commission wants Europe to stay ahead of Asia in the global shipping and trade game -- so much so that it says it will consider allowing ocean carriers to cooperate...

Grey box in the spotlight. (neutral container-boxes)
August 1, 1994... Ironically, an equipment management concept that never really caught on is being championed by the European Commission as an ideal way for carriers to cooperate. In its extensive report on the application of EU competition law to liner...

Competition policy and maritime transport: excerpts from EC Commission Report to EU Council of Ministers. (European Commission; European Union) (Fortress Europe)
August 1, 1994... Importance of European Maritime Transport "The European Union is the largest trading bloc in the world. Its international trade accounts for more than some 20 percent of the value of world exports and imports. The bulk of such trade is...

Van Miert elaborates. (European Commission vice-president Karel Van Miert comments on shipping competition cases) (Fortress Europe)
August 1, 1994... Agreements that raise transport costs to the point where users are uncompetitive simply won't be tolerated. In a speech delivered on June 20, the European Commission's competition chief, Karel Van Miert, swept away any lingering doubts about...

Taking sides in Japan. (shipping industry)
August 1, 1994... Japan's shippers and shipowners clash over European Union competition policy. The traditionally cozy relationship enjoyed by Japan's shippers and shipowners is showing considerable strain as they square off over regulatory policy forged half...

EATA defends itself. (Europe Asia Trades Agreement)
August 1, 1994... Tells Brussels that capacity management without price fixing doesn't hurt anyone. The Europe Asia Trades Agreement believes it is being wrongfully judged by the European Commission. "The Commission mischaracterizes the object and effect of...

Liner shipping without conferences. (European Shippers' Perspective) (Column)
August 1, 1994... At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee on April 21, Federal Maritime Commission Chairman William Hathaway warned against Senator Howard Metzenbaum's campaign to terminate antitrust immunity for shipping conferences...

We need 10 good men. (shippers and carriers discussion group) (An American Shipper's Perspective) (Column)
August 1, 1994... Shippers and carriers need a permanent discussion group to resolve problems. The two most onerous tasks this writer ever had to perform as a corporate ocean transportation procurement manager were to ask for a charge code to settle a general...

Logistics, Fifth Avenue style. (Saks Fifth Avenue, New York City) (Logistics Management)
August 1, 1994... High-fashion goods are highly perishable. That's why Saks Fifth Avenue's logistics program stresses speed, cooperation. David Glass, chief executive officer of Wal-Mart stores, has predicted that fully half of the nation's retailers will go...

Car carriers at a crossroads. (Logistics Management)
August 1, 1994... A revolution in car marketing could take JIT to the outer limits. It's changing the way car carriers map their future. The story is familiar. You go into an auto showroom to buy your dream car. You know just what colors and options you...

APL's logistics group. (American President Lines Inc.) (Logistics Management)
August 1, 1994... Three units brought under one executive. Idea is to cooperate on logistics problems "without re-inventing the wheel." American President Lines does a lot of different things -- ocean shipping, domestic intermodal, freight consolidation,...

Hiram Walker cuts intermodal use. (HIram Walker & Sons Inc.) (Logistics Management)
August 1, 1994... Equipment shortages, rate increases lead liqour company to switch domestic shipments back to over-the-road trucking. Hiram Walker & Sons Inc. is cutting back intermodal use by as much as 15 percent in 1994, one year after the company boosted...

Freight futures don't excite shippers. (Logistics Management)
August 1, 1994... Hedges deterred by thin volume, problems with BIFFEX index, lack of multiple trading locations. Launched with great fanfare nine years ago, futures contracts designed to help manage the risk of volatile freight rates have failed to excite...

Watch who signs your bill of lading. (revised rules on transportation documentation) (Forwarding/Air)
August 1, 1994... Requirements for signature and routing indication have changed. So far, it's caused only minor headaches. Exporters and freight forwarders are advised to make sure their carrier representatives know the revised rules on transport-related...

Benki leaves OOCL for Fritz. (Al Benki, Orient Overseas Container Line Inc.; Fritz Companies Inc.) (Forwarding/Air)
August 1, 1994... To be based in Hong Kong. Appointments signal Fritz plan to expand Europe, Latin America activities. Al Benki has left as president of Orient Overseas Container Line's U.S. operating arm, OOCL (USA), Inc., to become managing director in the...

Myers Group's third-party strategy. (Myers Group Inc.) (Forwarding/Air)
August 1, 1994... Plans, operates distribution centers for shippers such as Molson Breweries. Has grown far beyond customs brokerage. The Myers Group, well known as a customs broker and freight forwarder, has found several ways to tap the third-party logistics...

Forwarders seek EDI link with carriers. (electronic data interchange; freight forwarders) (Brokers, Forwarders & NVOs)
August 1, 1994... Freight forwarders at the National Customs Brokers & Forwarders Association of America's annual convention in Scottsdale, Ariz., last spring thought an element was missing from the electronic data interchange network described by a pair of EDI...

Slow takeoff for 20-foot airline boxes. (air cargo containers) (Air Freight News)
August 1, 1994... Some international air carriers have been investing in new 20-foot containers that are larger than standard air cargo containers, but acceptance of the bigger boxes has been slow. The jumbo containers -- the largest to be found in the air...

USAir's new approach to cargo. (USAir Inc.) (Forwarding/Air)
August 1, 1994... Former British Air cargo executive tries to replace "space available" with "time definite" service. As part of a broad new plan for improving its cargo division, USAir will unveil "same day" and "next day" guaranteed freight deliveries this...

CSXI privatizes 48-footer fleet. (CSX Intermodal) (Intermodal)
August 1, 1994... Will keep its trailer on its network. In a move aimed at improving equipment utilization, CSX Intermodal has recalled its fleet of 48-foot trailers from non-CSX railroads and will operate them itself on its eastern U.S. network. CSXI said...

CSXI buys Iron Highway technology. (CSX Intermodal) (Intermodal)
August 1, 1994... Market tests planned next year. Intermodal train designed to compete for trips as short as 300 miles. CSX Intermodal has acquired sole rights to licensing and technology of the "Iron Highway," a piggyback train designed to compete for truck...

RoadRailer cracks China market. (Wabash National Corp. RoadRailer Division) (Intermodal)
August 1, 1994... Signs joint venture with Sinotrans. Rail-highway vehicle also in Europe, India, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand. RoadRailer, the hybrid rail-highway vehicle, will be manufactured and marketed in China under a joint venture between Wabash...

When in doubt, weigh the container. (court ruling on carrier liability for missing cargo) (Intermodal)
August 1, 1994... Court says carrier isn't necessarily liable for missing cargo in sealed container. Lawyers disagree on case's impact. Carrier attorneys say the case law governing claims for lost or damaged cargo in sealed containers has been significantly...

U.S.-based stevedores go international. (Cooper/T. Smith Stevedoring; Ryan-Walsh Inc.) (Maritime)
August 1, 1994... Cooper/T. Smith to add Mexican terminal to Latin American operations. Ryan-Walsh plans to expand beyond Venezuela. Faced with limited opportunities for growth in the United States, two U.S. Gulf-based stevedores are exploring opportunities in...

New chance for Howland Hook? (Howland Hook Terminal, New York City) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... Ragucci seeks to reopen vacant terminal. City, New Jersey seek to buy Staten Island Railroad. New York's hard-luck cargo terminal, Howland Hook, may get a new lease on life. The Staten Island terminal, which a decade ago was busy as the...

Pan American to use Red Hook. (Pan American Independent Line, Red Hook Terminal; New York City) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... Terminal's new operator, American Stevedoring, hopes to develop business from smaller carriers. The only marine cargo terminal still operating on the New York side of the New York/New Jersey port, the Red Hook terminal in Brooklyn, has...

Plans offered for Boston dredging. (Boston ship channel) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... The Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing dozens of comments on its various proposals for deepening Boston's ship channels to 40 feet. More than 60 written statements were filed before a June 29 deadline for public comment on proposals for...

'Rebirth' for Oakland terminal. (Port of Oakland) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... Marine Terminals Corp. renews management contract for 10 years and invests $5 million for new gate complex. Marine Terminals Corp. has renewed its terminal-management contract with the Port of Oakland for 10 years and committed to a $5...

Pallet Reefer used on West Coast. (refrigerated container used in freight industry) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... CF employs Pallet Reefer on all its regional LTL lines. Airfreight use has started, and sea-LCL use may come soon. Consolidated Freightways has expanded its use of a small, pallet-borne reefer unit to its regional trucking subsidiary serving...

Ports pay penalty for success. (Regional)
August 1, 1994... Rising trade volume swells port revenues but leads cities to seek a share of the money. Port budgets are squeezed. Despite continuing growth in transpacific trade, both in volume and in dollars, some West Coast container ports find themselves...

Calif. ports lobby to keep their cash. (Regional)
August 1, 1994... This time, they have broad-based support in effort to avoid repeat of bill that allowed cities to raid their coffers. Maritime interests in California lobbied state lawmakers, as budget-adoption time approached, to avoid reviving special...

Across the Atlantic in 3.5 days. (proposed transatlantic cargo ships) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... Group proposes up to eight 42-knot ships in new transatlantic service. Philadelphia port agency provides seed money. The Delaware River Port Authority has agreed to put up $7 million in seed money for as many as eight 42-knot cargo ships that...

Lykes sued over preference bids. (Lykes Lines) (Regional)
August 1, 1994... Lawsuit alleges Lykes, ex-MarAd official "manipulate" waivers for Eximbank-financed project cargo. A company that competes with Lykes Lines for project-cargo shipments has accused Lykes of manipulating government cargo-preference rules to...