Pacific Shipper articles from August 2005

Pacific Shipper archives from August 2005

Paying the Freight.
August 4, 2005... The highway bill that Congress sent to the White House late last month says volumes -- in terms of sheer document heft and the money it envisions -- about the recognition of freight mobility. The measure, known formally (and a tad...

P&O Nedlloyd Profits Double.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard P&O Nedlloyd nearly doubled its profit during the first half of the year on surging liner freight rates that compensated for a marginal increase in cargo volume. The Anglo-Dutch carrier, which is being taken over...

Us Loses Round in Canada Lumber Dispute.
August 4, 2005... The World Trade Organization has ruled that the U.S. failed to prove some of its claims that certain Canadian softwood lumber exports have been unfairly subsidized. The Aug. 1 ruling will not end the long-running dispute but is expected to...

Temporary Fix for Vancouver Trucker Strike?
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Courtney Tower In a bid to end the five-week independent trucker strike at the Port of the Vancouver, British Columbia, the Vancouver Port Authority last week said it would require trucking companies to sign up for an interim...

Gao Cautions on Short-Sea Shipping.
August 4, 2005... The Government Accountability Office has sounded a note of caution about the Department of Transportation and Maritime Administration's efforts to promote short-sea shipping. In "Short Sea Shipping Option Shows Importance of Systematic...

Northern California Ports:.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Paul T. Rosynsky The way Port of Oakland Maritime Director Wilson Lacy sees it, the San Francisco Bay is an untapped resource in the global shipping industry. With its access to nearly a dozen ports, relatively open waters and...

Halship Launches Reefer Feeder Service.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Tom Peters Halifax-based Halship Inc. is launching a cargo service between Argentia, Newfoundland, and Boston. Halship, which operates a feeder service between Halifax; Portland, Maine; and Boston, signed a joint-venture...

Report: P&O to Sell Cold-Storage Division.
August 4, 2005... Ports and ferries group P&O reportedly is poised to sell its refrigerated warehousing division, Cold Logistics. The price is a reported $351.5 million. The 49-year-old business is not thought to be core to P&O, following a major restructuring...

Cognizant, Us Cold Storage to Build Rfid Center in Dallas.
August 4, 2005... Cognizant Technology Solutions, a provider of information technology services, announced last month that it is partnering with a long-time customer, US Cold Storage, a leading cold-storage and frozen-food logistics provider, to build an RFID...

Southern to Build Truck Maintenance, Storage Center.
August 4, 2005... Southern Refrigerated Transport, based in Ashdown, Ark., is building a $13 million truck maintenance, storage and office complex that could eventually employ 1,500 people. The facilities, planned on 45 acres five miles east of downtown...

Highway Bill Rolls to White House.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane The House voted to approve the highway bill on July 29 on a 418-to-8 vote. The Senate then sent it on to President Bush with a 91-to-4 vote. Only four senators voted against the bill, objecting to many of...

Measure Would Give Short-Sea Shippers a Tax Break.
August 4, 2005... Congress may get a new look at short-sea shipping if a bill to exempt coastwise shipping from the Harbor Maintenance Tax begins the legislative process in the fall. Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Fla., filed H.R. 3319, the Short Sea Shipping Tax...

Customs Expands Truck-Manifest System.
August 4, 2005... Customs and Border Protection has formally introduced the Automated Commercial Environment truck-manifest system on the southern border. In an announcement in the July 29 Federal Register, Customs said ACE was deployed on July 25 at a...

PierPass Easing Congestion Worries at Los Angeles-Long Beach.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Shippers are creatures of habit, but their behavior can be changed with the right mix of incentives and penalties. That's what terminal operators in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have discovered in...

California Fees Could Spur New Logistics Paths.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Can a modern inbound supply chain be designed without California in the mix? Shipper groups are telling legislators that retailers and manufacturers will look hard at new logistics paths if California approves...

Exel Posts 55 Percent Increase in Profit.
August 4, 2005... Exel reported in July that its revenue grew 45 percent to $6.4 billion in the first half of the year and profit soared 55 percent to $160 million. The British logistics giant used the release of the strong earnings report to put down rumors...

Truckload Carriers' Revenue Grows, But So Do Costs.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Carey Truckload carriers saw their revenue soar again in the second quarter, but industry observers said warning signs in the latest results suggest industry costs are growing faster than pricing and capacity is coming on...

Postal Service Enhances Pacific Rim Service.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Shippers sending goods between the United States and parts of the Pacific Rim can now do so with a date-certain guarantee -- and without an integrator. The U.S. Postal Service last month launched a program...

Deutsche Post Outlook Helped by Dhl.
August 4, 2005... German mail and logistics company Deutsche Post said second-quarter operating profit rose 21 percent, boosted by its DHL express and logistics units. The German postal monopoly also reiterated its annual goals. Earnings before interest and...

Cp Increases Vancouver Capacity.
August 4, 2005... Canadian Pacific Railway recently completed a capacity expansion project serving the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia. The project, near Swift Current, Saskatchewan, extended the double-tracked mainline by more than 5,200 feet,...

Bnsf Railway Reports Big Gains in Operating and Net Profits.
August 4, 2005... Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. reported huge gains in operating and net income for the second quarter, posting its 13th straight quarter of year-on-year volume increases and sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit freight revenue growth....

Gatx Operating Profit Jumps 75 Percent.
August 4, 2005... GATX Corp., which provides lease financing and related services to rail, air and marine companies, posted a huge increase in operating profit during the second quarter, but its net profit was flat. Operating revenue jumped almost 17 percent...

C.H. Robinson's Profit Aided by Truck Business.
August 4, 2005... Citing volume growth in its truckload and less-than-truckload businesses, C.H. Robinson Worldwide reported a 53 percent increase in net income during the second quarter to $49.3 million. Revenue increased 30.4 percent to $1.4 billion. The...

Yellow Roadway's Profits Surge.
August 4, 2005... Yellow Roadway reported a 62 percent jump in net income and a 54 percent increase in operating income for the second quarter on a healthy 25 percent increase in revenue to nearly $2.1 billion. The results included subsidiary Yellow...

Csx Reports 8 Percent Rise in Revenue.
August 4, 2005... CSX reported second-quarter surface transportation revenue of $2.2 billion, up 8 percent compared to the comparable 2004 period and the 13th-consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth. Revenue was led by strong coal and merchandise...

Cold-Chain Warehouses Face Safety, Security Issues.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson The "cold chain" in international trade is a subset of the supply chain that trades in refrigerated and frozen-food imports. Warehouse operators that are links in this cold chain recognize that they must do their part...

Dhl in the Rfid Mix.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: William Hoffman The race to deploy radio-frequency identification technology is moving into a new stage, with a major carrier jumping into the mix, which may prompt shippers to take a fresh look at the technology. In June, DHL...

More Players Enter Rfid Market.
August 4, 2005... As radio-frequency identification technology gains more widespread usage in the supply chain, more software providers are jumping into the market. Eric Peters, former Manhattan Associates executive vice president of strategy and business...

Three Arrested at Abx Cargo Hub.
August 4, 2005... The Transportation Security Administration is investigating an incident in which three people jumped a fence to get onto the grounds of the ABX Air cargo hub at the Wilmington, Ohio, airport late last month. The airline, which flies mostly...

Pacer Stacktrain Boasts C-Tpat Certification.
August 4, 2005... Pacer Stacktrain said its new certification under the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program will help cut down on cargo examinations and delays at the Mexico and Canadian borders. The division of Pacer International manages...

Canada Reviews Air-Cargo Security.
August 4, 2005... Transport Canada last month began informal meetings with carriers, shippers, intermediaries, labor and other government agencies to review its air-cargo security measures. The meetings will allow government and industry to make...

Sale Talks for Cp Ships.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach CP Ships confirmed late last month "it is in discussions with other companies regarding a possible transaction." The brief announcement by the London-based carrier came amid press reports that it is in...

Eu Approves Maersk-P&O Deal.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard European Union regulators have approved A.P. Moller-Maersk's $2.8 billion takeover of P&O Nedlloyd. In return for that approval, Copenhagen-based Maersk agreed to sell P&O Nedlloyd's Europe-South Africa operations...

Olives Reign in Spain.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Richard Knee Agriculture accounted for less than 4 percent of Spain's gross domestic product in 2004, but food and kindred products are a staple of the country's export prowess. So it's no wonder that a severe drought...

Aapa Seminar Will Focus on Shallow-Draft Ports.
August 4, 2005... The American Association of Port Authorities' inaugural Shallow-Draft Ports seminar in October is an effort to improve the maritime industry's understanding of inland waterways and ports, and point out ways to better utilize them. "The...

Apl Sets Up New Unit in Turkey.
August 4, 2005... APL and APL Logistics, the container-shipping and logistics units of Singapore's NOL Group, established a new organization in Turkey to handle their business activities, according to a press statement. APL Transportation & Logistics, as the new...

Cafta: A Boon for New Investments.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Alan M. Field At ProNicaragua, the government investment agency in Managua, phones rang steadily during the last days of July. The reason: the impending vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Central American Free Trade...

Taca Confirms Rate Increases in Eastbound, Westbound Trades.
August 4, 2005... The Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement on July 29 confirmed its plans to raise eastbound tariff rates. Rates for dry and temperature-controlled containers will increase by $160 per 20-foot and $200 per 40- and 45-foot unit, effective Oct....

FedEx Enters $1 Billion Credit Facility.
August 4, 2005... FedEx Corp. has entered into a $1 billion five-year credit agreement with a syndicate of banks that includes Bank of America Corp. The new facility replaces and consolidates a $750 million credit agreement. Other banks in the syndicate...

Hong Kong Council Closes Miami Economic Office.
August 4, 2005... Citing a growing sophistication and improved relations with Latin America, Hong Kong's economic agency has closed its Miami branch. The Hong Kong Trade Development Council announced it would handle the region from its New York office. The...

Lax Sets Record in Airfreight.
August 4, 2005... Los Angeles International Airport posted record freight traffic for the first half of the year. Through June, the airport handled 996,580 tons, surpassing the previous mark of 979,395 tons handled in the first half of 2000. After a...

Halifax Attracting More Far East Business.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Tom Peters The Halifax Port Authority is starting to reap benefits of its marketing strategy to attract more business from the Far East. China Shipping Container Lines recently decided to include Halifax in its new...

Gpa Posts Record Cargo Volumes.
August 4, 2005... The Georgia Ports Authority said it achieved record results in fiscal 2005. The GPA said it handled 1.76 million TEUs, with volume at the Port of Savannah, the nation's fifth-largest container port, growing 12 percent for the full fiscal year...

Baton Rouge Suspends Port Chief.
August 4, 2005... BYLINE: Janet Plume Commissioners at the Port of Baton Rouge have suspended Roger Richard, the port's chief executive, with pay pending a probe into his accumulation of compensatory time and spending. Jay Hardman, managing director,...

Washington State Ecology Department Calls for Better Spill-Response Capacity.
August 4, 2005... Shipping companies and oil-handling facilities should take immediate steps to increase the number of boats available to respond to oil spills in Puget Sound and along Washington's coast, according to Jay Manning, the state's ecology director....

Cruise Ships Plug in at Port of Seattle.
August 4, 2005... New equipment that allows two of the nine cruise ships that currently call at the Port of Seattle to plug into shore power means the vessels can turn their engines off while docked, reducing cruise ship air emissions by about 30 percent. ...

Long Beach Board Approves $411 Million Budget.
August 4, 2005... The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners gave initial approval to a $411.1 million budget proposal for the 2005-2006 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. The vote was unanimous. The proposed budget is $40 million or 8.8 percent lower than the...

Parker to Replace Barber at FedEx.
August 4, 2005... FedEx Express named James R. Parker to replace Donald O. Barber as head of the company's air operations. Barber, who has led the company's air operations since 1998, retired on July 31. Parker is currently vice president for aircraft...

Greenbrier Names Nussrallah to Head European Operations.
August 4, 2005... Greenbrier Cos. appointed John Nussrallah president of its European operations. Nussrallah is a railroad industry professional with over 35 years' experience. He previously held senior management positions with Trinity Industries' railcar...

U-Freight Partner Opens Branch Office in Australia.
August 4, 2005... U-Freight's Australian partner, Intramar Pty Ltd., recently expanded its network with the opening of a new branch office in Adelaide. The company also appointed Philippe Gravier as its new manager in Adelaide. Gravier joins the company...

Associated Global Systems Names Four to Managerial Posts.
August 4, 2005... Associated Global Systems appointed new managers at various locations throughout the United States. Ralph Giasi is Associated's new second shift manager at its Los Angeles station. He joins Associated from Pacer Global Logistics, and will be...

Oh, What a Fee(ling).
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall To anyone who feared that the start of PierPass at Southern California's twin ports would bring commerce to a halt, here's some advice: Relax, take a deep breath. Trucks are calling at the gates, railcars are...

Spending Spree Ends for Container Ship.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard Orders for new container vessels have crashed in the past few weeks as ocean carriers and charter shipowners call a halt to a record-breaking spending spree that threatens to create a glut of tonnage on major liner...

Prince Rupert Awards Terminal Management Services Contract.
August 12, 2005... The Prince Rupert Port Authority awarded the project management services contract for the first phase of the Fairview Container Terminal conversion to engineering firm Moffatt & Nichol. Moffatt & Nichol is "familiar with the Fairview...

Canadian Task Force to Examine Trucker Strike.
August 12, 2005... The Canadian government has set up a task force to review the recently ended port container truckers' strike that halted the flow of local containers through the Port of Vancouver for more than a month. Industry Minister David Emerson, at a...

Manson Construction to Build Everett's Rail/Barge Transfer Facility.
August 12, 2005... The Port of Everett commission last week selected Manson Construction Co. to construct the Rail/Barge Transfer Facility, which will be used to transport large aerospace parts, as well as other possible cargoes. Seattle-based Manson...

Despite China's Looming Shadow, Vietnamese Apparel Exports Continue to Increase.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Marty Graham Vietnam is using foreign direct investment and marketing and manufacturing flexibility to ward off the threat to its textile-manufacturing sector posed by China. When the decades-old global textile quota system expired...

Weak July Sales Reflect Tepid Initial Back-to-School Demand.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto Retailers' same-store sales last month fell below expectations mainly because sultry summer weather across the nation weakened demand for back-to-school goods, according to a Dow Jones MarketWatch report. The...

Virtual Container Yard Debuts Next Year in Southern California.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo It's been called an Internet dating service for empty containers. A "virtual container yard" scheduled to debut early next year in the Los Angeles area will provide an electronic bulletin board for posting of...

Red Tape Hinders Us-Canada Cross-Border Trade.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Trade crossing the U.S.-Canada border is hindered by too many new regulations, managed by too many government agencies, a recent report out of Canada said. Delays to goods crossing from Canada to the U.S. have...

Singapore, South Korea Sign Trade Pact.
August 12, 2005... Singapore and South Korea this month signed a free-trade agreement, Seoul's first with an Asian neighbor. After nearly 10 months of negotiations, South Korea's Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Ban Ki-moon and Singapore's Trade and...

Us-Australia Fta Expands Opportunities for Us Exporters.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Rosalind McLymont The recently signed U.S.-Australia Free Trade Agreement will increase opportunities in the Australian market for U.S. manufacturers, farmers, service providers, owners of intellectual property and investors. ...

First-Quarter Profit Jumped 37 Percent at Mol.
August 12, 2005... MOL said first-quarter profit rose 37 percent on higher volumes, while net income rose to 31 billion yen ($279 million) in the three-month period that ended June 30, compared to the same period a year ago. Sales gained 11 percent to 308.3...

Oocl Parent Reports Increased Profit.
August 12, 2005... Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. reported a 15 percent increase in first-half net profit as shipping volume and freight rates rose. But the Hong Kong company, parent of Orient Overseas Container Line, said margins could be squeezed in...

S&P Report: Us Steel Consumption, Prices to End 2005 Lower.
August 12, 2005... Decreased demand and higher import volume will lead to lower overall spot steel prices in 2005 compared to 2004, according to a Standard & Poor's semi-annual survey on the industrial metals industry, published on Aug. 4. In addition, the...

Teamsters to Monitor Allied's Reorganization Proceedings.
August 12, 2005... The Teamsters union took steps to protect the jobs, wages and benefits of its members following Allied Holdings' Chapter 11 federal bankruptcy filing on July 31. Allied Holdings (and its subsidiaries) is the largest Teamsters car haul...

Top Tankers Files Universal Shelf Registration.
August 12, 2005... TOP Tankers Inc. announced this month that it has filed a $250 million universal shelf registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing will allow TOP Tankers to periodically offer common stock, preferred...

Up, Csx Set Dedicated Perishables Service Across the Us.
August 12, 2005... Union Pacific and CSX will jointly offer a dedicated produce unit-train service between Washington state and New York, according to an announcement this month. The service, slated to begin in the first quarter of 2006, will offer 124-hour...

A.P. Moller-Maersk Secures 95 Percent of P&O Nedlloyd Shares.
August 12, 2005... A.P. Moller-Maersk has secured 95.6 percent of the share capital of Royal P&O Nedlloyd. Maersk's bid of 57 euros per P&O share expired on Aug. 4. It had tendered a total of 51.5 percent of all outstanding shares in P&O Nedlloyd at that time....

Boeing to Sell Canadian Facility to Arnprior Aerospace.
August 12, 2005... Boeing Co. on Aug. 3 announced it is selling its operations in Arnprior, Canada, to Arnprior Aerospace Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Consolidated Industries Inc. Terms of the sale were not disclosed. Boeing said the transaction will...

Expeditors Reports Increases in Revenue and Profit.
August 12, 2005... Expeditors International of Washington posted double-digit increases in revenue, operating income and net profit for the second quarter. Net profit increased 18.7 percent to $44.6 million during the period, on operating revenue of $927.9...

Bax Global Posts Growth in Revenue and Profit.
August 12, 2005... Spurred by growth in the Americas and Asia Pacific regions, BAX Global scored double-digit increases in revenue and operating profit in the second quarter. The subsidiary of Brink's reported a revenue increase of 17 percent to $681.4...

Egl Post 10 Percent Decline in Second-Quarter Profit.
August 12, 2005... Eagle Global Logistics said its net profit fell 10 percent in the second quarter despite a surge in gross revenue as rising costs and "a difficult pricing environment" cut into the forwarder's margins. EGL, which recently announced a...

Software Write-off Hits Pacer's Operating Income.
August 12, 2005... Third-party logistics and freight transportation provider Pacer International recorded a 7.8 percent increase in revenue to $464.6 million for the second quarter, but operating income decreased 44.3 percent mainly because of an $11.3 million...

Tnt Has Flat Second Quarter.
August 12, 2005... TNT, the Dutch postal and logistics provider, said second-quarter net profit was unchanged but would take a pretax charge of 140 million euros ($169.7 million) for the full year because of restructuring of its loss-making French operations. ...

Ssa Global to Acquire Epiphany for $329 Million.
August 12, 2005... SSA Global Technologies moved to enhance its position in the enterprise resource planning software market by acquiring Epiphany, a California-based specialist in customer resource management systems, for $329 million. SSA Global said the...

Ace Slated for Additional Canada-Us Crossings.
August 12, 2005... Customs and Border Protection will launch electronic filing of truck manifests at two of the busiest U.S. border crossings next month. The Automated Commercial Environment will be launched at North America's busiest crossing, the Ambassador...

Shakeout Predicted in Rfid Vendor Markets.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: William Hoffman In the midst of the massive hype over radio-frequency identification technology's promise for supply-chain management, it was easy to miss a recent announcement by one small Boston-based company. Venture-backed...

Homeland Security Says Customs Targeting Needs Improvement.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Customs and Border Protection should improve the data that is fed to the Automated Targeting System and the use of examination results to refine ATS targeting rules, according to the Department of Homeland Security...

Pallet Standard Enforcement Begins on Sept. 16.
August 12, 2005... The United States, Canada and Mexico on Sept. 16 will start enforcing an international standard that requires heat treatment or fumigation of wood pallets, crates and other packing material to prevent the spread of a host of wood pests and...

"K" Line Reports Drop in Profit.
August 12, 2005... Japanese ocean carrier "K" Line reported a profit of 15.5 billion yen, a drop of 9.9 percent, and sales of 221 billion yen, up 11 percent, in the first quarter of 2005 compared to the same period a year ago. The company said earlier that...

Fledgling Terminal at Busan Receives First of New Cranes.
August 12, 2005... Pusan Newport Co., the South Korean terminal operator, said it has taken delivery of the first of a trio of new ship-to-shore cranes. A vessel from Chinese crane maker ZPMC arrived earlier this month. Pusan Newport has ordered 26 cranes...

Evolving Trade with Taiwan.
August 12, 2005... BYLINE: Richard Knee When William Chiao visited Taiwan recently, he was pleasantly surprised to see bottles of U.S.-produced cranberry juice on grocery shelves. To Chiao, who is president of a freight intermediary firm, Caretrans...

P&O Expands Port Operations in Russia.
August 12, 2005... P&O Ports said it has reached an agreement with Vostochny International Container Services, its joint-venture partner, to double the size of its port operations at Vostochny, Russia. P&O initially owned a 25 percent stake in VICS, which...