JoC Week articles from April 2006

JoC Week archives from April 2006

On track.(Leaders Count: The Story of the BNSF Railway)(Book review)
April 24, 2006... A 150-year chart of the U.S. railroad industry's fortunes would look something like this: A generally rising line into the early 20th century, followed by a steady decline through the 1970s, and a rebound since the Staggers Act of 1980. ...

Concerns linger over China's port capacity.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... China's port capacity may not be able to keep pace with the growth of demand in the next decade despite the country's Herculean efforts to build new ports and terminals, according to a consultant to the Yangshan port development program....

Does USTR shake-up doom the Doha Round?(United States Trade Representative)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Is the U.S. about to give up on the Doha Round? Some trade policy analysts are drawing that gloomy conclusion from news that U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, a strong supporter of Doha, will leave his post. Despite earlier high hopes,...

Goodbye, CNF; hello, Con-way.(CNF Transportation Inc. is now Conway Inc.)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Shippers will start seeing a new name and logo on many trucks on the nation's interstate highways as a result of the April 18 vote by CNF shareholders to rebrand the $4.2 billion trucking and logistics company Conway Inc. CNF chose the...

Results of the JoC pulse.
April 24, 2006... Results of the JoC Pulse What is the biggest growth sector for China logistics? Ocean 37% 3PL 24% Air 14% Ground 13% Rail 12%

Hapag-Lloyd to cut 2,000 jobs.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Hapag-Lloyd Container Line will cut about 2,000 jobs to reduce costs and offset a decline in freight rates as it integrates the purchase of CP Ships. The German carrier said it plans to complete the integration of CP Ships, acquired by its...

Global economic outlook brightens.(International Monetary Fund's forecast)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... The global economy, which has coped surprisingly well in the wake of natural disasters and lofty energy prices, is expected to pick up speed this year. Still, risks remain, especially if oil prices continue to surge, the International...

ILA protest snarls NY-NJ terminals.(International Longshoremen's Association)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... A walkout by members of the International Longshoremen's Association's maintenance union caused severe congestion at the Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal at the Port of New York and New Jersey last week. The Tuesday morning protest by...

Business soars in China, INTTRA says.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... INTTRA, the e-commerce shipping portal, said electronic transactions in the China-South Korea market soared 165 percent from 2004 to 2005. The Parsippany, N.J.-based online ocean portal, said growth in ocean freight e-commerce parallels...

BNSF considers third logistics park.(Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... BNSF Railway said it is studying the feasibility of locating its third logistics park in Gardner, Kan. The carrier currently operates parks--which include intermodal hubs, freight distribution and warehousing centers, and motor vehicle...

China Shipping profit declines.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... China Shipping Container Lines reported net profit of 3.6 billion yen ($446 million) for 2005, down 11 percent from $499 mil. lion a year earlier. Revenue jumped 25 percent to $3.5 billion. The carrier, a Hong Kong-listed unit of state-owned...

Great Lakes carriers push for dredging.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Dredging of Great Lakes ports has fallen so far behind that dry bulk carriers are loading as much as 4,500 tons per transit less than they could the Cleveland-based Lake Carriers' Association said. Glen Nekvasil, association vice president,...

Descartes acquires Canadian company.(THE WEEK)
April 24, 2006... Descartes Systems Group has acquired ViaSafe, an Ottawa-based provider of secure electronic logistics services for global trade. No terms were disclosed. Descartes, a provider of software that manages transportation, logistics, manufacturing...

Security fever: trade industry worries that Congress will enact an unworkable law to require scanning of all import containers.(Cover story)
April 24, 2006... There they sit, congressmen with their eyes aglow: The final fix for a gaping hole in homeland security is within their grasp. Millions of cargo containers arrive on our shores each year, and members know that the Bush administration is...

ILWU, Coast Guard clash: dispute over ID cards fuels debate over dockworker dispatch system at West Coast ports.(International Longshore and Warehouse Union)
April 24, 2006... A disagreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the U.S. Coast Guard over security procedures at West Coast ports has rekindled a debate over the antiquated dispatch system that assigns dockworkers to their jobs...

Paper dragon: costly, time-consuming documentation stifles U.S. exports to China.
April 24, 2006... The limited trade agreements that were scheduled to be announced last week in the tightly scripted White House meeting between Chinese President Hu Jintao and President Bush might seem like major concessions on the part of the Chinese, but...

Hub of the future: service providers rush in as China's 'logistics city' takes shape.
April 24, 2006... Imagine this: Build a new offshore port that will be able to handle 15 million TEUs a year by 2010; connect it by a 20-mile bridge to a planned-from-scratch city that will serve as a manufacturing and logistics platform for the port's cargo;...

California bound: Los Angeles, Long Beach ports regain lost ground.
April 24, 2006... Shippers are a fickle lot. When port and rail congestion crippled the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in 2004, importers immediately diverted large blocks of cargo to the Pacific Northwest and East Coast, and ports there registered...

Tug of war: litigation continues over proposed South Carolina terminal.
April 24, 2006... A recent South Carolina Supreme Court ruling doesn't represent the final word in a three-way dispute over a proposed container terminal in Jasper County, S.C., a few miles downriver from Georgia's Port of Savannah. The latest twist in...

March madness: cargo backlogs at Asian airports underscore the importance of contingency plans for shippers and forwarders.(AIR CARGO)
April 24, 2006... Airlines are dealing with the last vestiges of a significant bout of congestion at Asian airports. The next one could be worse. Korean Air Cargo and rival Asiana Cargo used the Easter weekend to clear out the remaining 300 tons of cargo...

Confronting cargo crime: carriers deploy more sophisticated countermeasures to fight thieves who see cargo as low-risk target.
April 24, 2006... They pick targets with precision, tracking trucks from terminals and striking when drivers pull into rest stops. They use the same high-tech equipment favored by police and run highly organized, efficient networks. Thieves steal tens of...

Air cargo.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Traffic and capacity International scheduled services Percent change from same month previous year [GRAPHIC OMITTED] International freight Freight ton-kilometers Percent change by carrier, grouped by carriers' base of...

Spotlight: U.S. trade *.(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... Goods, in billions of U.S. dollars, January 2003-February 2006 The U.S. imports nearly twice as much in manufactured goods as it exports. Last year, imports of manufactured goods increased 9.7 percent while exports rose 9.8 percent. ...

Containerized ocean trade.(Statistical table)
April 24, 2006... CONTAINERIZED OCEAN TRADE In TEUs Loaded containers only January-Current month current Imports month 2005 2004 change Port of...

U.S. foreign trade.(Statistical table)
April 24, 2006... U.S. FOREIGN TRADE In millions of dollars, via all modes of transportation to/from the U.S. January-December Imports 2005 2004 % change Total ...

Rail cargo.(Statistical table)(Brief article)
April 24, 2006... RAIL CARGO Weeks 1-14 ending April 8, 2006 Loadings, 2006 2005 % change in Units Intermodal-total 3,169,369 2,995,153 5.8% Trailers ...

JoC-ECRI industrial price index.
April 24, 2006... The Journal of Commerce--Economic Cycle Research Institute Industrial Price Index (JoC-ECRI IPI) is leading indicator of inflation rates. The index is based on prices of a broad assortment of raw materials used in industrial production. The...

SOX and export controls.
April 24, 2006... Just before Christmas, the State Department published case details of selected companies charged with violating U.S. export laws. This initiative was intended to make all companies shipping goods internationally more aware of their export...

Questions & answers with Charles H. Piersall Jr.: ISO.(Interview)
April 24, 2006... ISO standards are used and referenced by the major international governmental bodies, such as the International Maritime Organization, the International Labor Organization and the World Customs Organization. Perhaps the best-known ISO...

Bucking conventional wisdom.(growth predictions in maritime industry)
April 24, 2006... Making predictions that run contrary to popular thinking in the maritime industry can be fun and relatively risk-free because most experts in this industry are always wrong, and everybody quickly forgets what is said anyway. This year,...

An overlooked milestone.(Keith W. Tantlinger's cintribution towards conteranization)
April 17, 2006... Few people in today's shipping industry know the name of Keith W. Tantlinger, and that's a shame. As Malcom McLean's vice president of engineering in the 1950s, Tantlinger was a leader in developing the technology that launched containerized...

US importers sticking with China.(RADAR SCREEN)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Despite recent reports of labor shortages and rising costs in China's big coastal manufacturing centers, some big U.S. importers say they have no plans to shift sourcing from the region. "I still see reasons to stay in China," Marion Zingaro,...

Bruner, McNamara are Good Scouts.(J. Russell Bruner and James A. McNamara get awards)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... J. Russell Bruner, president and chief executive of Maersk Inc., and James A. McNamara, director of public relations for the International Longshoremen's Association, have been selected to receive the maritime industry's "Good Scout" award....

Truckers remain in driver's seat.(RADAR SCREEN)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... U.S. truckload and less-than-truckload carriers will continue to take advantage of pricing power this year, according to a quarterly survey of shippers by Credit Suisse analyst Jason Seidl. The investment bank's survey for the first quarter...

Carrier rates may drop despite rising volume.(RADAR SCREEN)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Could the eastbound Pacific container trade be headed for a repeat of 2002? Carriers that year expected the U.S. economy to slow and imports from Asia to drop precipitously following the terrorist attacks of the previous September. They...

Hone your supply-chain skills in cyberspace.(Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals University)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Logistics professionals can take courses related to supply chain through a new selection of self-study courses being offered online by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals University in conjunction with Accenture's Supply...

Results of the JoC pulse.(RADAR SCREEN)
April 17, 2006... Do you expect to see an increase in U.S. shipments to China this year? Yes 67% No 33%

Clarkson enjoys a good year.(Clarkson PLC)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Clarkson PLC, holding company for the Clarkson ship-broking and shipping services company, said its pretax profit last year jumped 16 percent to 26.8 million British pounds ($46.8 million). In his review of the year, Chief Executive Richard...

Port of Halifax is not in Quebec.(Canada. Halifax Port Authority)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Karen Oldfield, president and chief executive of the Port of Halifax, recently traveled to India with officials of the Canadian Retail Shippers Association. Halifax has been working to expand its Suez Canal services and sees the Indian...

New C-TPAT rules worry truckers.(Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism )(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... U.S. and Canadian trucking officials say tougher security requirements could drive some carriers out of the cross-border market. Stifler requirements issued last month by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as part of the Customs-Trade...

Election-year push for air-cargo security?(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Legislation to require inspection of all cargo booked on passenger planes is likely to gain traction because of election-year politics, a spokesman for the air-cargo industry warned. The House approved such legislation in 2003. but the lack...

US-China trade seen changing drastically.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... The huge trade deficit the U.S. is running with China will force changes in Chinese trade that will be set off by a major revaluation of the yuan, according to Ernest Preeg, senior fellow in trade and productivity for the Manufacturers...

DP World promotes Sanborn.(David C. Sanborn )(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... David C. Sanborn has been promoted to head the newly restructured Americas division of DP World The move came after President Bush withdrew Sanborn's nomination to head the Maritime Administration amid the congressional uproar over the Dubai...

Bill could block South Carolina port.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... South Carolina is considering legislation that would stop the South Carolina State Ports Authority from developing a container port on the Savannah River without the approval of state legislators. The state's Supreme Court ruled this month...

FedEx Freight boosts rates.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... FedEx Freight, the less-than-truckload trait of FedEx Corp., said it would increase its general rate by 5.95 percent on April 24. The increase will apply to interstate and intrastate traffic and select shipments between the U.S. and Mexico...

Shock waves: U.S. importers of fireworks feel impact of explosions aboard container ships.
April 17, 2006... Whenever there is a calamity at sea and hazardous cargoes are even remotely suspected as the cause, U.S. fireworks importers shudder. They know that in the ensuing months some shipping lines will refuse to accept their bookings, cargo...

To share or not to share: DHS-census dispute delays start of mandatory use of Automated Export Systems.(SUPPLY CHAIN SECURITY)
April 17, 2006... A dispute over new export cargo security regulations has put the Census Bureau at odds with Customs and Border Protection. Just before Census was to issue its final version of new foreign trade regulations, Customs and the Department of...

Hot market, cool freight: packaging and tracking technology improves the efficiency of refrigerated shipments.(SPECIAL REPORT: REFRIGERATED SHIPPING)
April 17, 2006... Some of the hottest logistics markets today are in the cold supply chain. New technologies, coupled with shipper demands and changing transportation patterns, are boosting the profile of the $15 billion-a-year market. And booming global trade...

Chilling out: with Zim and Yang Ming aboard, Portland turns its attention to the Japanese reefer trade.(Yang Ming Line,Zim integrated Shipping Services )
April 17, 2006... The Port of Portland's comeback is well under way, but there's still work to be done. The reefer market could be the next notch in its belt. The port scored a major coup last month when Zim integrated Shipping Services signed on to move...

Room to grow: a multimillion-dollar project continues the decade-long revival of New York Container Terminal.(PORTS)
April 17, 2006... Maneuvering his GMC sport-utility vehicle over a rutted path surrounding five parallel rail tracks being laid at New York Container Terminal, Jim Devine makes a bold statement: "We will have unquestionably the best intermodal facility on the...

Trucks and trains are not the same.(INTERMODAL INSIGHTS)
April 17, 2006... The seeming national pastime (forgive me, baseball commissioner Bud Selig) of complaining about rail service continues with some new and some old complainants. UPS is transferring some service-sensitive traffic from rail intermodal...

'The Wal-Mart effect': suppliers, carriers are squeezed as retailers try to slash inventories.(SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT)
April 17, 2006... A multibillion-dollar inventory correction at the world's largest retailer is rattling shippers and carriers by cutting into shipments and earnings. Wal-Mart's latest attempt to curb inventory--cutting as much as $6 billion within 100...

A seller's market: ProLogis sees lower warehouse vacancies, higher rents in major markets in 2006.(SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT)
April 17, 2006... Continuing demand for distribution center space combined with unusual restraint among builders of new warehouses means lower warehouse vacancies and higher rents for third-party logistics providers and shippers in 2006. ProLogis, a major...

Air cargo.(BY THE NUMBERS)
April 17, 2006... Traffic and capacity International scheduled services Percent change from same month previous year International freight Freight ton-kilometers Percent change by carrier, grouped by carriers' base of operations ...

Spotlight: port of Seattle.(international trade)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Import containers have exceeded exports at Seattle since 1997. The port's TEU volume is down 10.6 percent from a decade ago, but its import volume doubled, producing an overall volume increase of 38.9 percent. Last year, the port posted...

JOC-ECRI Industrial Price Index.(The Journal of Commerce--Economic Cycle Research Institute Industrial Price Index )(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... The Journal of Commerce--Economic Cycle Research Institute Industrial Price Index (JoC-ECRI IPI) is a leading indicator of inflation rates. The index is based on prices of a broad assortment of raw materials used in industrial production. The...

Containerized ocean trade.(BY THE NUMBERS)(Statistical table)
April 17, 2006... CONTAINERIZED OCEAN TRADE In TEUs Loaded containers only Current January-Current month Imports month 2005 2004 % change Port of Long Beach Feb ...

U.S. Foreign trade.(BY THE NUMBERS)(Statistical table)
April 17, 2006... U.S. FOREIGN TRADE In millions of dollars, via all modes of transportation to/from the U.S. January-December Imports 2005 2004 % change Total ...

Rail cargo.(BY THE NUMBERS)(Statistical table)(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... RAIL CARGO Weeks 1-13 ending April 1, 2006 Loadings, in Units 2006 2005 % change Intermodal-total 2,936,806 2,781,254 5.6% Trailers 722,638 713,877 1.2% ...

Hurricane warning.(OTHER VOICES)
April 17, 2006... The 2005 hurricane season brought the transportation industry some of the worst problems it has encountered in decades. The immediate effects, of course, were no surprise to those familiar with the disruption of business inherent with any...

With Jonathan Gold: Retail Industry Leaders Association.(QUESTIONS & ANSWERS)(Interview)
April 17, 2006... Jonathan Gold has been busy on Capitol Hill recently. Gold, vice president for global supply-chain policy of the Retail Industry Leaders Association, has testified on importers' behalf before congressional committees considering new...

In China, full-speed ahead.(logistics)
April 17, 2006... It seems painfully obvious and repetitive to say it, but if there is one word that still comes to mind on the subject of logistics in China, it's opportunity. We have long known that China and opportunity are synonymous. According to...

From a vision to a revolution.(50 Years of containerization)(Malcom McLean )(Brief article)
April 17, 2006... Sometimes cliches are true. It's often said that containerized shipping changed the world. While containerization didn't transform the global economy by itself, there is no question that it has had an enormous impact. Globalization and...

'The world is a box': the containerization of yesterday paved the way for the global trading system of today.(The Impact)
April 17, 2006... Every time it rains in New York City, legions of sidewalk vendors appear as if by magic on Manhattan street corners, selling umbrellas at prices so low that unprepared pedestrians can hardly afford to pass them up. The vendors, who are...

Betting the store: Malcom McLean risked everything to realize the dream that consumed him.(containerization )(Excerpt)
April 17, 2006... Malcom P. McLean never claimed to have invented containerization. He often said the term could apply to anything that was put into a cardboard box. "Containerization is just a blowhard word that doesn't mean anything," he once told an...

The science of stacking: how modeling clay proved seaborne boxes could work.(The Technology)
April 17, 2006... Containerization's technology has been described as being more "Popular Mechanics" than rocket science, but it still required plenty of engineering and ingenuity. The ships, cranes and automation systems that make modern containerized...

Not a zero-sum game: how containerization created a larger pie, with more slices.(The Marketing)
April 17, 2006... Before containerization, the joke used to be that longshoremen's wages on the Manhattan docks were $20 a day and all the Scotch whisky you could carry home. Breakage, pilferage, delays and high costs made some goods prohibitively expensive to...

Another page of history ...(50 Years of containerization)(Calendar)
April 17, 2006... 1957: Malcom McLean's Pan-Atlantic Steamship Co. launches modern containerization with sailing of Ideal X, carrying 58 33-foot containers from Newark, N.J., to Houston. 1957: The first cellular container ship enters service with...

Golden history.(50 Years of containerization)
April 17, 2006... Fifty years ago, Malcom McLean's innovation, the Ideal X, sailed from Newark, N.J., for Houston, launching the container era. In the intervening years, the container has literally changed the world. Today, advanced electronics--consumer and...

Pop quiz.
April 10, 2006... Question 1: Which of the following is a true statement? The Department of Homeland Security: 1. Screens 100 percent of cargo containers that require inspection. 2. Inspects 100 percent of cargo containers that it screens. 3....

Box fleet expected to grow nearly 17 percent.(RADAR SCREEN)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... The global container fleet will grow 16.7 percent by the end of the year, according to the latest forecast by BRS-Alphaliner. The Paris ship broker expects deliveries to reach 1.4 million TEUs, or an enormous 120,000 TEUs per month. In terms...

Panama Canal expansion plan nears.(RADAR SCREEN)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... The Panama Canal Authority is preparing to submit to Panamanian President Martin Torrijos its long-awaited master plan to build a third set of locks that would be able to handle post-Panamax vessels larger than the current limit of 965 feet...

ILWU, employers discuss new dispatch system.(International Longshore and Warehouse Union)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is willing to allow some of its members to bypass the dispatch hall and report directly to their work assignments each day, but employers and the ILWU have differing views as to how that move...

Results of the JoC pulse.
April 10, 2006... Results of the JoC Pulse How would you describe the U.S. logistics real estate market? Booming 26% Active 28% Flat 21% The bubble has burst 25%

Secure Freight Initiative advances.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Secure Freight Initiative Advances: The Department of Homeland Security will launch the pilot program for the Secure Freight Initiative by year-end, Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson told the House Homeland Security Committee. Jackson told the...

Container ship charter rates firm.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Container Ship Charter Rates Firm: Container ship charter rates are rising again following a nine-month decline as carriers sign on for longer contracts and cargo volumes continue to grow at double-digit rates. Ship brokers, however, are...

Investors urged to look beyond China.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Investors Urged To Look Beyond China: Although it appears investors have eyes only for China, trade officials say other Asian nations also offer tremendous investment opportunities. U.S. commercial attaches from throughout Asia, addressing...

Koch embraces foreign shipping partners.(Chris Koch)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Koch Embraces Foreign Shipping Partners: Chris Koch, president and chief executive of the World Shipping Council, told the House Committee on Homeland Security that the U.S. should welcome foreign companies such as DP World as partners in...

IKEA to build China hub.(INGKA Holding B.V.)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... IKEA To Build China Hub: IKEA Group, the largest furniture retailer in the world, said it will build a $120 million Asia-Pacific logistics center in the Fengxian district of Shanghai. The center, the Swedish company's biggest in the...

Global airfreight increases.(THE WEEK)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Global Airfreight Increases: International air-cargo volume rose 5.4 percent in February, according to the International Air Transport Association. For the first two months, international freight traffic increased 5.3 percent, after a year of...

Program speeds BNSF trains.(Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp.)(Brief article)
April 10, 2006... Program Speeds BNSF Trains: BNSF Railway said a new locomotive-fueling process at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is helping to speed up trains. It also boosted on-dock container loadings by 23 percent over 2004, BNSF said. The...

Custom made: China is adopting more trade-friendly regulations, but change won't occur overnight.(SPECIAL REPORT: CHINA TRADE AND LOGISTICS)
April 10, 2006... On a recent visit to China, Renee Stein, director of global trade policy for Microsoft, was talking with a senior official of China's General Administration of Customs. They were in a meeting to discuss the details of import valuation, but...

Tread carefully: companies doing business in China need to take special care to avoid supply-chain risks.(SPECIAL REPORT: CHINA TRADE AND LOGISTICS)
April 10, 2006... A worker at a vehicle component-manufacturing site in China copied key technology and set up a competing business. Merchandisers at the Chinese sourcing office of a U.S. garment firm took millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks from...

Tough sledding: air-cargo carriers are adding services to China's interior, but intermodal shortcomings keep most close to major gateways.(SPECIAL REPORT: CHINA TRADE AND LOGISTICS)
April 10, 2006... Last December, Lufthansa Cargo added a secondary Chinese metropolis to its network. In tandem with Air China, which provides the aircraft and takes half the space on the service, the German carrier now flies twice a week to Chengdu, an...