Pacific Shipper articles from April 2008

Pacific Shipper archives from April 2008

Calling all tourists: Hawaii and Alaska want you -- and your money.
April 7, 2008... BYLINE: Richard Knee A falling dollar used to be a good economic component for Hawaii. High energy prices traditionally heralded an uptick in the Alaskan economy. This time around, the two youngest U.S. states find themselves stuck with...

Cage match?
April 7, 2008... As this was written, the 10 commissioners at the Puget Sound's two top container ports, Seattle and Tacoma, were preparing to meet for a rare joint study session to talk about a number of items of mutual interest. They gathered on April...

Agreement reached on TraPac expansion.
April 7, 2008... A project to expand and modernize the TraPac terminal at the Port of Los Angeles moved one step closer last week after a decade of delays after environmental groups signed off on a deal struck by Los Angeles Councilwoman Janice Hahn to create a...

FMC delays talks in clean trucks plan.
April 7, 2008... Last Wednesday, the Federal Maritime Commission made it official: Officials at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach cannot begin discussing details of their Clean Trucks Program with port tenants for at least 45 days. Before officials...

Modest growth seen for US box volume.
April 7, 2008... The traditional winter slack shipping season in the eastbound Pacific is coming to an end, but the growth in container volumes in the months ahead will be modest at best, according to the April Port Tracker. Port Tracker, published monthly...

Canadian port bans 250 polluting trucks.
April 7, 2008... A total of 250 trucks were barred from the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, as the first North American port clean trucks program went into effect last week. The Vancouver Fraser Port Authority suspended model-year-1988 and older...

MOL, Seattle reach box deal through 2013.
April 7, 2008... MOL, which is shifting a major portion of its container volume to the Port of Tacoma from the Port of Seattle this year, has reached an agreement with Seattle that will keep some of its box traffic in the port for a longer period, through 2013....

Opportunity or challenge?
April 7, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM ARMBRUSTER   A lack of containers in the country's midsection mean som exports must be trucked hundreds of miles before being transloaded. Vessels are not made of rubber, and they cannot stretch." So says...

Koch criticizes proposals for box tax to pay for US roads.
April 7, 2008... Congress may try to shift the burden of funding the maintenance and expansion of public highway infrastructure onto containerized imports and exports when it has to reauthorize the highway spending program next year. Chris Koch, president...

NYK Group forecasts profit growth.(Financial report)
April 7, 2008... Japan's largest shipping line by revenue, NYK Group, forecasts profit to increase 17 percent in the next fiscal year on higher cargo volume. The company said it would add vessels as pretax profit at its container unit is expected to more...

Wallenius Wilhelmsen expands ro-ro service.
April 7, 2008... Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics will begin to offer ocean transportation to automakers in its North America-South America trade. Beginning on April 28, WWL will add two pure-car-truck-carriers (PCTCs) to its existing roll-on, roll-off service...

Mexico trade gap widens.
April 7, 2008... Mexico posted a trade deficit of $1.997 billion in February, nearly three times bigger than expected, the Mexican government reported. Analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast the deficit at $696 million. Total exports increased 16.5...

McCain advocates FTA with EU.
April 7, 2008... Republican presidential candidate John McCain said the United States should build on the North American Free Trade Agreement by negotiating a new free-trade deal with the 27 member states of the European Union. "I am an unashamed and...

Russia trade surplus doubles.
April 7, 2008... Russia's foreign trade surplus in the first two months of the year totaled $36.7 billion, 1.9 times more than for the same two-month period in 2007, the Economic Development and Trade Ministry said in a review of the country's economic...

Japan signs ASEAN pact.
April 7, 2008... Japan has signed a free-trade agreement with the Associ-ation of Southeast Asian Nations that will eliminate tariffs on 93 percent of its imports from those countries, measured by value, within 10 years. Meanwhile, the six major ASEAN...

WTSA carriers roll out quarterly bunker surcharges.
April 7, 2008... The Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement announced a schedule of recommended quarterly increases in member carriers' bunker fuel surcharges, aimed at restoring their existing bunker fuel surcharges to guideline levels that more...

ProLogis signs lease with China 3PL.
April 7, 2008... Industrial property developer ProLogis will lease a distribution facility near Beijing to a China third-party logistics company that serves the South Korea electronics giant Samsung. The Denver-based developer said Jinji Total Logistics'...

US-Malaysia trade pact to face further delays.
April 7, 2008... The new Malaysian trade minister, Muhyiddin Yassin, said his government is in no rush to conclude negotiations for a free-trade pact with the United States. The Bush administration said it hopes to negotiate such a treaty before the...

Railroads sued over fuel surcharges.
April 7, 2008...   Shippers have sued all major rail carriers alleging collusion. Photo: Port of Tacoma Leading grain and ethanol shipper Archer Daniels Midland sued the top five U.S. railroads over how the carriers set their fuel surcharges. The...

EU-US open skies in effect.
April 7, 2008... The Air Transport Agreement between the European Union and the United States went into effect on March 30. For the first time, European airlines will be able to fly without restrictions from any point in the EU to any point in the U.S. "This...

Exporters eager to use new Customs computer system.
April 7, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON Trade facilitation through automation is not just for Customs any more. Now comes the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Public Health Inspection System. PHIS is an agency-wide...

Twin ports say twin trucking plans are OK.
April 7, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO Although they comprise a single harbor complex, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach can operate under two separate clean-trucks programs, the presidents of the two harbor commissions say. Los Angeles...

Portland receives grant for security fence.
April 7, 2008... The Port of Portland has received a $220,000 federal grant to upgrade security fencing at its Terminal 4 cargo facility on the Willamette River. The 280-acre T-4 is a multipurpose bulk and breakbulk facility that has seven ship berths. It...

Everett, Todd Shipyards enter 45-year lease deal.
April 7, 2008... The Port of Everett, Wash., commission has approved a 45-year lease with a newly formed subsidiary of Todd Shipyards Corp. for large vessel repair services at the port's terminals. Todd named the new subsidiary Everett Ship Repair & Drydock...

Vancouver Fraser port considers north shore rail improvements.
April 7, 2008... BYLINE: MARK WILSON   couver Fraser Port Authority is considering rail improvements to help grain and forest product exporters. Photo: Vancouver Fraser Port Authority After agreeing to give as much as C$50 million (US$49...

Seattle OKs plans for truck parking site.
April 7, 2008... The Port of Seattle has designated land at a small terminal on Harbor Island as an interim overnight parking site for about 250 trucks. The move, approved by the Seattle Port Commission, is viewed as a temporary solution to reduce truck...

Fog, human error cited in Cosco Busan spill.
April 7, 2008... The decision to sail in heavy fog was a critical factor when the container ship Cosco Busan struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge last November. In a preliminary assessment into the causes of the Nov. 7 incident, the Coast Guard said that...

Troubling TraPac.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall About a decade after the idea was first floated, MOL's TraPac terminal at the Port of Los Angeles can now be expanded and improved. The development was on hold for years because of environmental opposition, which is...

Economist predicts loss of warehouse jobs.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Southern California's Inland Empire, home to the massive warehouse and distribution complex that serves the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, is about to experience its largest loss of jobs in 44 years,...

Container crane arrives at Portland's T-6.
April 14, 2008... The Port of Portland's fourth post-Panamax container crane arrived at its Terminal 6 container facility last week. Zhenhua Port Machinery Co. of Shanghai completed construction of the crane earlier this year, and the heavy-lift vessel...

Port officials oppose San Diego initiative.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall The San Diego Board of Port Commissioners is beginning a legal challenge of a proposed ballot initiative that could replace the busy Tenth Avenue Marine Terminal with hotels, restaurants and a sports stadium. ...

Customs won't develop anti-terror trade database.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Customs and Border Protection has decided not to offer a contract for development of the Global Trade Exchange, Commissioner W. Ralph Basham said last week. "After evaluating the submitted proposals, and...

Exports aid Port of Tacoma.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto The Port of Tacoma's early-year container slide slowed in February, but not enough to overcome January's double-digit drop-off. The slight comeback was aided by a nearly 15 percent jump in full international...

Selling the 'right to pollute'.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO As they rush to comply with a proliferation of anti-pollution requirements, freight transportation companies resemble a horse wearing blinkers. They see the finish line for compliance but are blind to moneymaking...

HOW CAP-AND-TRADE WORKS.
April 14, 2008... * A state, federal or international regulatory body sets a cap for allowable pollution. * A company invests in equipment or facilities that exceed those requirements, and earns pollution credits. * These credits are sold to other...

Green groups agree to TraPac expansion.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO After extended delays, the Port of Los Angeles has signed an agreement that clears the way for expansion of MOL's TraPac container terminal. The agreement didn't come cheap -- it will cost the port about $39...

Seattle, Tacoma push for collaboration.
April 14, 2008... Port commissioners at the rival ports of Seattle and Tacoma met in a rare joint study session and set the stage for increased cooperation on a range of issues, including transportation infrastructure, security and the environment. The...

Anthrax scare prompts tests on container at Long Beach.
April 14, 2008...   Investigators at the Port of Long Beach found no evidence of contamination in an outbound container scrawled with the message, "Anthrax a gift from Osama." The box, bearing Hanjin markings, was isolated at Pier T. Two teams...

Long Beach, Rotterdam sign environmental agreement.
April 14, 2008... Officials with the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Rotterdam Authority have signed a comprehensive exchange agreement to further promote environmental best practices and technologies. The agreement was signed during a trade mission by...

Longshoreman killed in Long Beach mishap.
April 14, 2008... An investigation is under way into the death of a 73-year-old longshoreman who died on April 5 after being struck by a forklift at California United Terminals at the Port of Long Beach. Carlos Rivera of Wilmington, Calif., was fatally...

PMA, ILWU talks progress.
April 14, 2008...   The contract for Pacifci Coast dockworkers expires this summer. Photo: Port of Long Beach In the first update on contract negotiations between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association...

IMO reaches accord on fuel sulfur limits.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: BRUCE BARNARD The International Maritime Organization has approved a landmark deal to limit the sulfur in bunker fuel. The agreement will significantly curb air pollution but also sharply drive up costs for shipowners. ...

Port chiefs seek global rules for cold-ironing.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach generated much skepticism in the maritime industry when their 2006 Clean Air Action Plan included a requirement that eventually will require berthed container ships to...

Hamburg Sud revenue grew 12 percent in 2007.
April 14, 2008... Germany's Hamburg Sud Group said total revenue increased 12 percent in 2007 to 3.6 billion euros ($5.7 billion) on a double-digit increase in container volumes. The Hamburg-based container shipping group, which includes Brazil's Alianca,...

New Safmarine vessel makes first US call.
April 14, 2008... Safmarine has named three new vessels as part of its ongoing fleet renewal program. On March 28, the carrier named the Safmarine Nyassa at the Volkswerft shipyard in Stralsund, Germany. The vessel is the second in a series of five...

Bush sends Colombia trade agreement to Congress.
April 14, 2008... Despite strong opposition from Democrats, President Bush sent a controversial free-trade agreement with Colombia to Congress. The administration views the pact as a crucial piece of its foreign policy before Bush leaves office next year....

Supply-chain management turns into Olympic effort.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO U.S. importers have developed a keen interest in the Beijing Summer Olympics, but not because they're sports fans. They're watching to see whether Beijing's notoriously polluted air, which regularly exceeds the...

Teamsters ratify pact with UPS Freight.
April 14, 2008... Newly unionized drivers and dockworkers have ratified a five-year contract with UPS Freight. The contract, which according to the Teamsters union was ratified by more than 89 percent of workers who have signed union authorization cards,...

Pacer Stacktrain expands to full BNSF network.
April 14, 2008... Pacer International is offering expanded intermodal services through its Pacer Stacktrain unit on BNSF Railway's full network within the United States. The new Pacer Stacktrain BNSF Double Stack Service increases capacity in key intermodal...

Rail traffic slipped in March.
April 14, 2008... Carload and intermodal rail freight weakened in March, but the month ended with a stellar week for coal and grain, the Association of American Railroads reported. Railroads originated 1.3 million carloads of freight in March, down 0.1...

China, New Zealand sign trade accord.
April 14, 2008... China and New Zealand signed a free-trade agreement in Beijing last week, the first such trade accord that China has signed with a developed country. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark witnessed the...

India port traffic gains 12 percent.
April 14, 2008... Throughput at major ports in India grew 12 percent in fiscal 2007-08, which ended on March 31, according to data released by the Indian Ports Association. The country's 12 major ports, six each on the west and east coasts, handled 519...

Panama Canal Authority awards largest dredging contract.
April 14, 2008... The Panama Canal Authority has awarded the third and largest expansion contract for dredging of the Pacific Ocean entrance of the waterway. The contract, which opens the next phase of the multibillion-dollar expansion, was awarded to...

Evergreen to launch new weekly Japan-US shuttle.
April 14, 2008... Evergreen Line announced plans to launch a new service, the Japan-America Shuttle Service, linking Japan and the U.S. Pacific Coast, effective in May. The fixed-day weekly service will deploy four 2,800- to 3,000-TEU vessels, the carrier...

Zim adds call at Port of Hong Kong.
April 14, 2008... Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. said its recently established East-West Express Service (EWX), connecting major Asian and North European ports, will call at Hong Kong on its westbound schedule, then head to Europe. The first vessel...

Citrus exports blossom.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: STEPHANIE NALL Photo: Stephanie Nall Orange juice may have the nickname of "liquid sunshine," but Mother Nature doesn't always smile on citrus growers. In 2005 and 2006, hurricanes decimated harvests in Florida and the Gulf....

Bringing fresh food to paradise.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: MIKE SEEMUTH Having fresh fruit on the menu is part of the tropical vacation experience offered at the many resort hotels in Hawaii -- even if it means importing refrigerated fruit from such places as Ecuador, Mexico and Peru when...

A changing environment:.
April 14, 2008... BYLINE: RICHARD KNEE Photo: Doug Webster If you're shipping produce to Australia or New Zealand, include a little extra time at the export gateway in your order-delivery cycle and maybe a little extra money in your transportation...

Going global?
April 21, 2008... Just when you thought it might be safe to grudgingly acknowledge that the U.S. is in a recession, some experts say the disease is going global. For those of us in and around the transportation industry, or struggling to pay the mortgage, avoid...

Horizon's Raymond backs Marine Highway plan.(Conference notes)
April 21, 2008... Horizon Lines, which has already stated its intention to set up a coastal network of short-sea ships that would carry containers to and from the largest U.S. gateway ports, is working with maritime unions to design a viable labor model for a...

Marad chief says short-sea is taking hold.
April 21, 2008... The advent of a container-on-barge service between Hampton Roads and the Port of Richmond, Va., is the kind of project that will help the Maritime Administration demonstrate the value of "marine highways" to the U.S. transportation system,...

Unisys gets Los Angeles TWIC contract.
April 21, 2008... The Port of Los Angeles awarded a three-year contract to Unisys Corp. to design and manage the access system for the Transportation Worker Identification Credential. Under the contract, Unisys will plan, design, develop and manage a field...

Catellus to develop mixed-use facility near Stockton airport.
April 21, 2008... Catellus Development Group, a unit of the distribution facility developer ProLogis, said last week that it has been selected as master developer for a 550-acre mixed-used project located near the Stockton Metropolitan Airport. Catellus,...

Getting the word out to keep independents on the road.
April 21, 2008... BYLINE: Paul T. Rosynsky If the success of Sharon Banks' organization is any indication, the opportunities available for independent owner-operator truckers to clean their rigs are ample and welcome. Banks is the chief executive of...

Wide-span electric cranes at work in Seattle railyard.
April 21, 2008... BNSF Railway says it will increase its container throughput capacity and speed up truck turnaround times while doing good things for the environment with the introduction of four wide-span electric gantry cranes at its Seattle International...

LA program catapults port trucking into the green economic revolution.
April 21, 2008... BYLINE: Chuck Mack and Tom Politeo You know the winds of change are blowing when the buzz on Wall Street and the presidential campaign trail is the "green economy" revolution. Today, many companies are feverishly searching for ways that...

'Green growth' at ports coming into focus.
April 21, 2008... BYLINE: NANCY PFEFFER About a year and a half ago, I wrote a column titled "A new paradigm," which argued that public permission to expand freight infrastructure was no longer a given. Communities near ports and inland facilities had...

Delta, Northwest prepare to merge.
April 21, 2008... In what could be the first of a wave of airline consolidations, Delta Air Lines is set to merge with Northwest Airlines, creating the world's biggest airline valued at about $17.7 billion. The new airline will operate under Delta's flag...

EU calls scan-all a trade barrier.
April 21, 2008... The European Union said this month that 100 percent scanning of all containers bound for the U.S. has a high risk of disrupting trade without appreciably improving security. An April 4 letter from Robert Verrue, director general of the...

Hyundai upgrades Asia-Mideast services.
April 21, 2008... Hyundai Merchant Marine upgraded its service network in the trade between Asia and the Middle East earlier this month. The carrier deployed five 4,600-TEU vessels in its Korea-Middle East Service, compared with 2,200-TEU vessels earlier,...

Maersk Line, MISC to share ships in Southeast Asia-New Zealand trade.
April 21, 2008... Maersk Line announced that it has entered a vessel-sharing agreement with MISC Berhad in the trade between Southeast Asia and New Zealand as a means of maintaining its existing service on that route. The service, which will start on June 9,...

Deutsche Bahn plans public offering.
April 21, 2008... Germany is set to privatize Deutsche Bahn, Europe's biggest rail and logistics company, later this year after ending a decade-long stalemate over plans to sell part of the state-owned firm to private investors. The sale of 24.9 percent of...

Project carrier adds call at Port of Philadelphia.
April 21, 2008... Chipolbrok America, the Chinese-Polish project and heavy-lift carrier, has announced that one of its triple-deck breakbulk vessels will start making a monthly vessel call at the Port of Philadelphia. The vessel, which has a lift capacity of...

US no longer requires armed guards for arriving ships.
April 21, 2008... The U.S. Coast Guard has modified a rule that mandated armed guards for vessels arriving at U.S. ports from some foreign countries. Previously, conditions of entry required armed guards for vessels arriving from foreign ports that do not...

India sets target for export growth.
April 21, 2008... India's Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said the government has set an export target of $200 billion for fiscal 2008-09, up from $160 billion originally set for fiscal 2007-08. He said the country's total exports for fiscal 2007-08, which...

Four carriers plan India-China service.
April 21, 2008... Ocean carrier Tokyo Senpaku Kaisha of Japan announced plans to launch a new service between India and China in conjunction with Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Regional Container Lines, effective in May. The weekly fixed...

Japan-ASEAN pact finalized.
April 21, 2008... Japan and the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations have completed the signing of a free-trade agreement, the Japanese Foreign Ministry announced last week. The ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement is the...

China trade surplus up.
April 21, 2008... China's trade surplus for March totaled $13.4 billion, up from a surplus of $8.6 billion in February. But the surplus for the January-March period declined to $41.4 billion from $46.4 billion in the first quarter of 2007, China Customs...

China, Chile sign trade agreement.
April 21, 2008... China and Chile have signed an agreement that deregulates investment in service industries. The deal will open up 23 service industries in China's booming economy to investment by Chile, China's Ministry of Commerce said. The agreement...

Express reefer service catches on.
April 21, 2008... BYLINE: BILL DIBENEDETTO High-speed, refrigerated, cross-country express service Railex recently celebrated its first year of operation by breaking ground on its third distribution center. The new center, located in Delano, Calif., puts...

Roadway, YRC Logistics launch ocean service from China.
April 21, 2008... YRC Worldwide is beefing up its international business by opening water routes to and from Asia, even as its domestic operations struggle in a weak trucking economy. Joining a growing push by trucking companies to snag Asian freight, YRC...

Truckers seek fuel surcharge legislation.
April 21, 2008... Spurred by soaring fuel prices, the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is reviving a bid for fuel surcharge legislation. This time, it hopes to win support from shippers. Unlike previous bills that would have created a mandatory...

UP plans expanded use of new braking technology.
April 21, 2008... Union Pacific Railroad is planning its first use of a new electronically controlled pneumatic brake system on some intermodal trains, which could go into service sometime this summer. It breaks new ground in the industry, which has long...

Still vibrant.
April 21, 2008... BYLINE: William Armbruster and Stephanie Nall Margaret Fong was in a mood for reflection last summer at receptions in Washington, New York and San Francisco marking the 10th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty. "Many...