JoC Week articles from December 2008

JoC Week archives from December 2008

Weak link.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER T. LEACH Just when supply-chain managers were hoping that the trillions of dollars being injected into the global banking system would loosen the strings choking trade finance, another danger has risen. International...

FMCSA unveils roadability rules.(Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration)
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY BILL MONGELLUZZO The rules took nearly a decade to develop, but the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has finally released safety requirements for providers of intermodal chassis that are generally acceptable to the...

No easy answers.
December 22, 2008... BY ALAN M. FIELD Less than a year ago, economists were buzzing about the theory of Odecoupling,O the idea that the rapidly emerging economies of Asia and Latin America were no longer dependent on the ups and downs of the U.S. and...

Taiwan to China, nonstop.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD In the world of international trade and transportation, TaiwanOs economic relationship with China has long been a bizarre anomaly: China accounts for 40 percent of TaiwanOs exports, and TaiwanOs accumulated...

More haze over clean trucks.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY BILL MONGELLUZZO Harbor truckers in Los Angeles-Long Beach are looking ahead to Jan. 1, 2010, and theyOre getting nervous. Barely a year from now, the nationOs busiest container ports will swing into the next phase of...

Next target: highway trucks.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY BILL MONGELLUZZO The tug of war between harbor truckers and environmentalists over the Los Angeles-Long Beach clean-trucks program is only a curtain raiser for a much broader effort by California to reduce pollution and fuel...

From bricks to clicks.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY WILLIAM HOFFMAN If thereOs a silver lining for retailers anywhere in the economic storm, itOs online. While in-store sales sagged in the third quarter, online sales were up nearly 6 percent year over year N an indication that...

Better things ahead?
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOHN D. BOYD The good thing about hitting bottom: ThereOs nowhere to go but up. Some rail experts think that might be the case with rail freight, which in November had its biggest decline since the Association of American...

Elections and economics.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY BARRY HOROWITZ Fortunately for me, I got a week back home after my return from France, before leaving with port colleagues for China. That trip coincided with the U.S. election, which my colleagues and I tracked from Dalian on...

An idea thatOs come and gone.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER TIRSCHWELL Watching the economic meltdown over the past several months, one struggles not to feel irrelevant. As events have unfolded this fall, the logistics and supply-chain world has seemed at times as the farthest...

Better safe than sorry.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY More than 4,600 container ships are scattered around the worldOs oceans, and for the most part theyOre an invisible fleet. TheyOre essential cogs in the global trade machine, but they do their job in relative...

RADAR SCREEN.
December 22, 2008... Babcock & Brown seeks terminal investors Babcock & Brown, the troubled Australian investment company, is trying to sell minority stakes in some or all of the terminals owned by BBI Euroports, one of itsEinfrastructure funds. BBI Euroports...

THE WEEK.(International Longshoremen's Association to reject proposal to Maersk Line)
December 22, 2008... Charleston ILA Rejects Maersk Proposal: International LongshoremenOs Association locals at Charleston have rejected a proposal to allow Maersk Line, the portOs biggest customer, to switch from ILA labor to nonunion terminal workers. Maersk,...

Weak link.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER T. LEACH Just when supply-chain managers were hoping that the trillions of dollars being injected into the global banking system would loosen the strings choking trade finance, another danger has risen. International...

THE WEEK.(FedEx Corp. to cut capital spendings)(Nippon Yusen KK plans for increasing fleets)(Financial report)(Brief article)
December 15, 2008... Maersk Cuts Rates, Others Follow: Maersk Line has slashed Asia-to-U.S. container freight rates by nearly a quarter as the U.S. economy slows, a high-profile shippersO organization says. OContainer shipping rates have come down substantially...

Vietnam rising.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD BY ALAN M. FIELD Less than a decade ago, Dung Quat Bay, halfway between Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, was known for its pristine beaches and panoramic scenery. Today, that idyllic landscape is being...

Vietnam: Just the facts.
December 15, 2008... Area: Approximately 132,000 square miles, slightly larger than New Mexico. Coastline: About 2,150 miles. Natural resources: Phosphates, coal, manganese, bauxite, chromate, offshore oil and gas deposits, forests and hydropower. ...

Crossed circuits.(Gillette Co. and P&O Nedlloyd into cases)
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY R.G. EDMONSON In September 2004, Gillette Co. was shipping a container load of razors from Boston to Philadelphia to be loaded aboard the P&O Nedlloyd container ship Contship Australis for export to the United Kingdom. The...

Hard landing for air cargo.(Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. builds the facility to meet the cargo demands)
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY PAUL PAGE AsiaOs air cargo operators are pulling back freight operations on a scale the region has not seen before. Responding to a steep downturn that it says could get worse, Cathay Pacific Airways began scaling back its...

Real-time without RFID.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD What if you could determine the location of trailers, railcars, pallets or other transportation assets anywhere, without waiting until they pass a fixed tracking device? That way, youOd always be able to know N...

Truck fees may start soon.(1984 Shipping Act)
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY BILL MONGELLUZZO Shippers using old trucks to haul containers in and out of the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach may be on the verge of having to pay a $35-per TEU fee, even though the legalities remain unsettled. Any...

On hold at Portland.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY BILL DIBENEDETTO Trade, economic and financial market conditions were responsible for the Port of PortlandOs decision to suspend its year-long effort to find a private investor to operate the portOs underused Terminal 6...

Confusing math, confusing times.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY GARY FERRULLI I find some of what I read in carrier financial reports to be confusing, at best. LetOs start with the carrier that for months, if not well over two years, has made monthly public reports that state Ovolumes are...

Customs gets it right.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY JAMES GIERMANSKI Customs and Border Protection got it right with its changes to the Importer Security Filing, or 10+2, program. After objections by virtually everyone, it seems Customs finally listened to the trade. ...

Sanity on infrastructure.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY LAWRENCE H KAUFMAN One message came through in the presentations and all-important corridor conversations at last monthOs annual meetings and trade show of the Intermodal Association of North America and the National Industrial...

Squeeze play.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY As the industry prepares to close the books on a dismal 2008, thereOs already speculation about which companies will still be standing at the end of 2009. If anyone has an optimistic prediction about the...

RADAR SCREEN.(port facility to be constructed)(freight transportation rates)(China issues foreign exchange policy)
December 15, 2008... Title XI could figure in economic stimulus Government policy to address the nationOs economic ills could be a boon for the U.S. maritime industry, according to maritime attorney Rolf Marshall. He sees the Omaritime issue flowing from the...

Ready to talk.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY When the International LongshoremenOs Association and waterfront management sit down in February to open negotiations on a new contract for Atlantic and Gulf ports, theyOll be joined by an unwelcome third party....

ILA bargaining: a 50-year evolution.(International Longshoremen's Association)(Brief article)
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY The current system for negotiation of longshore labor contracts in East and Gulf coast ports has evolved over a half century in which containerization has grown to dominate general cargo handling.E The ILAOs...

SOS.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER T. LEACH What will the container shipping industry look like when it emerges from its current funk? When will global containerized trade resume its growth? Will the volume grow fast enough to absorb the surplus of vessel...

Troubled times.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER T. LEACH Talk about timing! The table compiled by AXS-Alphaliner ranking the Top 50 Global Container Fleet Operators last year appeared in the Dec. 10 issue of the JoC, with a cover story headlined: OThat sinking...

THE WEEK.(United States. Federal Maritime Commission)
December 8, 2008... Terminals Oppose Delay Of Truck Fee: Terminal operators at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are asking the Federal Maritime Commission to review a staff decision that delays the start of the port services fee program until Dec. 17. The...

Greatest hits.(Chrysler L.L.C.)
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY TED PRINCE Arlo Guthrie has often made hits of songs by other artists. Recent news reminds me of two songs he made popular a generation ago. The pleas for financial aid from the Detroit automakers is reminiscent of Tom...

Bad things in small packages.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY R.G. EDMONSON The pirates of the Gulf of Aden have become notorious for using small boats to attack large ships. The terrorists who held Mumbai in thrall for three days arrived by a small boat. Terrorists used small boats to...

Community organizers.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD For all the talk about advanced new tools that provide greater OvisibilityO into the global supply chain, improving operational efficiency often comes down to contacting the right people right away, and jointly...

Cold steel.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD After more than four years of banner prices and profits, U.S. steel producers are hurting. Demand is slack and prices are low because sales of automobiles and appliances are down and residential construction is...

Big interest in smaller DCs.(distribution center)
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY WILLIAM HOFFMAN Shippers in an increasingly creaky economy are deciding that, when it comes to distribution facilities, smaller is better. OWe are in a recessionary environment without a doubt,O said John H. Boyd,...

Ports at a crossroads.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOHN MCLAURIN Where are the San Pedro ports headed? Asked this question, I was reminded of a letter I used to write on occasion to my parents when I was in college. It was very short and to the point: OSituation bleak, but not...

Opportunities in tough times.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER TIRSCHWELL The possibility of a lengthy and deep recession is forcing companies to look closely at their supply chains for cost-saving opportunities. According to Peter Levesque, the Hong Kong-based senior vice...

Freight and friends.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY At a Chicago press conference last month, a local television reporter asked Barack Obama how the president-elect would use the federal budget to help his friends and supporters back home in Illinois. ...

RADAR SCREEN.(United States. Maritime Administration)
December 8, 2008... What to do about pirates? Marad, carriers hold talks The U.S. Maritime Administration is hosting a series of meetings to discuss piracy in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean. According to a trade association rep who attended, a...

THE WEEK.
December 1, 2008... CKYH Cuts Capacity Again: The CKYH alliance of Cosco, OKO Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin said it would cut capacity on its Asia-North Europe services by another 30 percent this month. The cuts were the second in the trade announced in just over a...

Eight carriers extend cooperation.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY AND PETER T. LEACH As they head into what most expect to be a year to forget, container ship lines are redrawing their service maps by trimming capacity and forming operating alliances with competitors to provide...

Reality check.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY LETICIA LOZANO Like millions of people worldwide, Central Americans are full of hope that Barack ObamaOs victory in November will bring about a new era in politics, trade, international relations and human rights. Mindful...

The best-laid plans...
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD When Congress ratified the Central America Free Trade Agreement in 2005, U.S. textile and apparel industry executives hoped it would usher in a new era in which suppliers from Central America played a more...

Prime-time players?
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY RICHARD KNEE Work to expand and upgrade ports in Central America is coming in fits and starts as port authorities and national governments grapple with governance and social issues. OAll of the Central American ports have...

Good food and more.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY BARRY HOROWITZ Since mid-October, I have been a whirlwind and roller coaster combined. The world financial system has careened wildly and, at times, seemingly uncontrollably; the U.S. has survived yet another test of the...

A more transparent CFIUS.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALAN M. FIELD Nearly three years after a political uproar scuttled DP WorldOs acquisition of P&O PortsO U.S. operations, the Treasury Department has finally released its new regulations governing the approval of future...

Sidetracked in SC.(Shipyard Creek Associates )
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY ALLYSON BIRD A proposed intermodal transfer yard that would link trucks to trains near a new container terminal at Charleston has become entangled in a fight between state agencies and private companies. Shipyard Creek...

FMC, ports meet in court.(Federal Maritime Commission)
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY BILL MONGELLUZZO If the requirements for operating concessions in the Los Angeles-Long Beach clean-trucks programs are going to encounter a roadblock, itOs likely to be at the Federal Maritime Commission. U.S. District...

Busy month for STB.(Surface Transportation Board )
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOHN D. BOYD The Surface Transportation Board is moving to settle several long-running cases in the next several weeks with decisions that could affect the rail freight industry for years. The cases could redraw the North...

Tax cuts vs. competitiveness.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY DAN GARDNER Toward the end of the U.S. presidential campaign, both candidates spoke repeatedly about how their brand of tax cuts would create outsource-proof jobs for American workers. While this tactic has an obvious appeal,...

Two straws in the wind.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY PETER TIRSCHWELL The drop in fuel prices is putting on hold a major aspect of supply-chain reinvention that would have been a natural consequence of oil prices remaining at $147 per barrel or scaling even loftier heights. This...

Roadblock for truck rules.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY JOSEPH BONNEY: As the Southern California port truckers case has moved to the courtroom, the Federal Maritime Commission has moved into the driverOs seat. For months, it appeared that the FMC would stay out of the fight...

RADAR SCREEN.(Customs and Border Protection)
December 1, 2008... 10+2 marks a milestone for importers, Customs If youOre stressed out after six years of regulations to make the global supply chain more secure, there really is light at the end of the tunnel. The new Importer Security Filing rule that...

OSoft landingO.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BY R.G. EDMONSON Well, itOs here. Customs and Border Protection published its Importer Security Filing rule last week. After all the speculation, consternation and anxiety expressed by the trade, the introduction was almost...