Pacific Shipper articles from August 2006

Pacific Shipper archives from August 2006

Tunnel Vision.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto About 20 months ago in this space, I wrote about the debate surrounding Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, a major north-south span that hugs the waterfront through the city's downtown. The debate still rages. And...

Port of Tacoma Considers Electric Vehicles.
August 3, 2006... The Port of Tacoma is looking into switching to fully electric vehicles as the transport of choice for various port operations. "With gasoline and diesel prices above $3 per gallon, the Port of Tacoma -- like many other large for...

Cougar Ace under Tow.
August 3, 2006... Salvors have begun towing the MOL car carrier, Cougar Ace, crippled since July 24 off Alaska. On Aug. 1, the tug Emma Foss rigged a test tow to the vessel, which is listing to port at nearly 90 degrees and drifting northeast at minimum...

Blair, Schwarzenegger Visit Port of Long Beach.
August 3, 2006... British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger used the Port of Long Beach as a backdrop last week as they announced a plan to sidestep President Bush in a drive to reduce air pollution. On July 31, they stood in front of...

Zim's Stramer Dies of Heart Attack.
August 3, 2006... Tommy Stramer, president of Zim America Integrated Shipping Services Ltd., died suddenly on July 29 in Norfolk, Va., where he lived. Stramer, 59, died of a heart attack after playing tennis, according to Gordon Kay, vice president of...

Ups Opens First Retail Centers in China.
August 3, 2006... UPS last week opened two UPS Express retail centers in Shanghai, the first retail endeavor launched by UPS in China. The centers are located in central business districts of Shanghai, one in the Shanghai Stock Exchange building and the other in...

Cranes Flock to Pacific Northwest.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto Over the past two years, a flock of new post-Panamax container cranes have glided dramatically into one Pacific Northwest port or another. All of the region's major ports and even some smaller ones have taken...

Employers to Seek More Automation from Ilwu.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo West Coast marine terminals have used hard-won provisions in their current longshore labor contract to implement technology that has enabled them to handle peak-season traffic with minimal congestion. Now they're...

Dhl, Lufthansa Cargo Sign Security Partnership Agreement.
August 3, 2006... DHL Global Forwarding and Deutsche Lufthansa Cargo signed a strategic air-cargo security partnership agreement last month to develop standard operating procedures that support customer and government security requirements. DHL said the...

Mol to Use Solar Power at Japanese Terminal.
August 3, 2006... MOL and its International Container Terminal Co. unit plans to equip the Ohi container terminal in Tokyo with a solar-powered generator. The generator will be installed at berths three and four of the Ohi container wharf, which are leased...

Container Lines to Pay $3.25 Million in National Marine Sanctuary Settlement.
August 3, 2006... The owners and operators of the foreign-flagged container vessel, Med Taipei, agreed to pay $3.25 million to the U.S. to resolve allegations that 15 containers lost overboard in 2004 resulted in long-term damage to the Monterey Bay National...

Industry Offers Advice on Security Bill.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson A broad coalition of supply-chain interests has presented the Senate leadership with guidelines for new security legislation. In a letter to Majority Leader Bill Frist of Tennessee and Democrat Harry Reid of...

Usda Data Shows Hike in Refrigerated Space.
August 3, 2006... General refrigerated storage capacity in the U.S. continues to grow. It totaled 3.21 billion gross cubic feet on Oct. 1, 2005, an increase of 2 percent since the previous survey was conducted two years prior, according to the U.S. Department of...

Delaware's Port of Wilmington Plans Container Upgrades.
August 3, 2006... The Port of Wilmington, Del., one of the nation's top reefer ports, plans to spend $11.4 million to reconstruct a berth to accommodate larger ships. The 78-year-old berth No. 4 is the largest single expenditure of the $13.4 million the port has...

Yrc Worldwide Profits Jump 21 Percent.
August 3, 2006... YRC Worldwide said a good economy and its own cost-cutting initiatives helped it improve revenue and earnings in the second quarter by double digits. YRC reported net income for the quarter of $92.2 million, up 21 percent over last year,...

China Service Hurts Matson Profit.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Matson Navigation Co. said second-quarter revenue growth failed to offset weaker operating profit because of the start-up costs for the line's service between South China and the West Coast. Matson, a unit of...

Horizon Lines Posts Second-Quarter Profit.
August 3, 2006... Horizon Lines, the largest domestic ocean container company, posted a $6.4 million profit in the second quarter, reversing a net loss of $4.1 million in the year-ago quarter. Excluding one-time items related to its initial public offering...

Nol Revenue Per Container Drops.
August 3, 2006... Singapore's Neptune Orient Lines said the volume of containers handled by its vessels in the four-week-period from June 3 to June 30 grew 5 percent to 165,200 FEUs over the same period last year. But the shipping line said that during the...

Thinking Globally Can Help Locally on Bottom Line.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Alan M. Field Cutting a company's costs and meeting environmental standards are mutually exclusive goals, right? Wrong, say a growing number of companies that are retooling their products and processes in ways that make their...

Southern Europe: Future Logistics Hub?
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee Reginald Neyrinck, an executive with a real estate developer specializing in the logistics sector, thinks southern Europe will be prime territory in the next five to 10 years. Peter Schauer, head of U.S. operations for...

Bridging a New Connection.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: John Gallagher While Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF Railway fight over dwindling intermodal space in Los Angeles, much smaller Kansas City Southern is slowly but steadily developing an international land bridge through Mexico that...

Rail Tax Credit Proposed.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall One factor in the decision by Kansas City Southern to invest in Mexico is the congestion and lack of capacity on railroads in the western U.S., especially in Southern California. John Bowe, APL Ltd.'s president for...

Port to Spend $55 Million Renovating Terminal to Triple Throughput.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Stephen Hessenauer says there is a cardinal rule in the maritime industry: The street should never meet the ship. That means trucks that haul containers on streets and highways should be kept separate from the...

Southern California on-Dock Rail Heading for Record Year.
August 3, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo On-dock rail volume at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is on track to set another record this year as shippers and ocean carriers shift more intermodal container moves to the harbor from off-dock rail...

Long Beach Green Deal Formalized in Japan.
August 3, 2006... Top officials from the Port of Long Beach traveled to Japan to formally sign a long-term terminal lease with shipping line Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Ltd. ("K" Line) and container terminal operator International Transportation Service Inc. On...

Seattle Port Police Name Santiago "Officer of the Year".
August 3, 2006... The Port of Seattle Police Department has presented its 2006 "Officer of the Year" award to Officer Jose Santiago. The 31-year veteran was nominated by his colleagues, and selected by the department's command staff. "This is about...

Harland Promoted at Crowley.
August 3, 2006... Crowley Maritime Corp. has promoted Bruce Harland to vice president of the company's West Coast, Alaska and international contract services. He will remain domiciled in Seattle and continue to report to John Douglass, senior vice president and...

Apl, Oakland Ink Deal.
August 3, 2006... Jerry Bridges, executive director of the Port of Oakland; John Bowe, APL Ltd.'s president for the Americas; and Anthony A. Batarse Jr., president of the Board of Port Commissioners, celebrate aboard the APL Philippines. The carrier and the port...

Long Beach Names Baratta Risk Management Director.
August 3, 2006... The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners has named Richard S. Baratta, the former risk manager for Mazda North America, to a newly created position as director of risk management. The position was created as part of the port's...

Business at the Forefront.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Geraldine Knatz did something unexpected recently: She said the Port of Los Angeles is ready to move forward with port development projects that will help port customers increase their business. Because Los...

Peak-Season Box Volume to Last Through October.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Retailers in the United States expect container volumes to surge this month and maintain peak levels through October. "The ports are now in peak season, with August volumes expected to be near the peak level...

Long Beach Hires Coast Guard Admiral.
August 10, 2006... The Port of Long Beach hired a retired Coast Guard officer for the newly created position of deputy executive director. Ret. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Kevin J. Eldridge will be the port's No. 2 executive. Last week, the Board of Harbor...

Salvors Begin to Pump Out Cougar Ace.
August 10, 2006... Salvors last week planned to begin pumping water out of the car carrier Cougar Ace in an effort to right the vessel, which has been listing off Alaska for several weeks. The Coast Guard said the MOL vessel had been towed to the Bering Sea,...

Bax Global Opens Satellite Hub in Tokyo to Manage Epson Parts.
August 10, 2006... BAX Global has opened a new satellite hub in Tokyo to manage the distribution of Epson printer spare parts in the domestic market. BAX has been managing Epson's Global Parts Center since it was relocated from Japan to Singapore several...

Shippers Demand Perfection.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Chris Barnett Shippers that depend on express services -- including medical products, pharmaceuticals, aviation and entertainment companies -- won't accept any excuse for late delivery Pray hard that you never have a customer...

Spinoff Improves Supply Chain for Sara Lee Branded Apparel.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: William Hoffman To paraphrase a U.S. government official, shippers don't get to work with the supply chains they want, they work with the supply chains they have. Many factors determine how a company's particular history influences...

Senate Confirms New Marad Chief, Four Others.
August 10, 2006... The Senate this month confirmed five appointees to transportation-related positions in the Bush administration. Several of the nominees had been under a "hold" reportedly placed by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont. Sean T. Connaughton was...

Vietnam Hails Approval of Trade Bill.
August 10, 2006... Vietnam expressed satisfaction that the Senate Committee on Finance approved a bill to normalize Vietnam-U.S. trade relations. Le Dung, a spokesman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, said, "It is obvious that granting (Permanent Normal...

Post-Disaster: U.S. Developing Transport and Supply Chain Recovery Plan.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Reaction to Hurricane Katrina has caused the government to focus on an overlooked aspect of supply-chain security, and that could have a positive effect: how transportation infrastructure and the supply chain will...

Piers: Us Container Imports to Increase 9 Percent This Year.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Containerized imports will grow 8.8 percent this year, 7.6 percent next year and 6.4 percent in 2008 as the dollar resumes its decline and the U.S. economy enters a period of slower growth, according to the PIERS...

Egl Pays $4 Million Fine to Us.
August 10, 2006... EGL has paid the United States $4 million to settle potential civil claims under the False Claims Act based on the company's alleged inflation of invoices for military cargo shipments to Iraq. Houston-based EGL, operating as Eagle Global...

Nit League Rejects Liners' Ec Data-Sharing Plan.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach The National Industrial Transportation League says revised proposals by ocean carriers for an information-sharing system that would replace the conference system still would give carriers too loose a rein. The...

Maersk to Launch World's Largest Container Ship.
August 10, 2006... Maersk Line, the world's largest ocean container carrier, is poised to pull even farther ahead of its rivals this week with the launch of the world's largest container ship. The vessel, due to be delivered to Maersk this month, will be able...

South Korean Ship Orders Surged 33 Percent Through June.
August 10, 2006... Hyundai Heavy Industries, the world's biggest shipyard, and other South Korean shipbuilders posted 33 percent more orders through June compared to the same period last year, boosted by demand for tankers and liquefied natural gas carriers. ...

E.R. Schiffahrt Adds 8,200-Teu Vessel.
August 10, 2006... E.R. Schiffahrt has deployed the latest in its series of new super post-Panamax container vessels, the 8,204-TEU E.R. Toronto. The Hamburg-based operator, part of the Nordcapital Group, said the addition of the Toronto brings its fleet of...

Us Beef Back in Japan.
August 10, 2006... After months of international negotiations and lobbying, U.S. beef is back on the shelves in Japanese stores -- but U.S. producers aren't counting their export dollars yet. Surveys have found that a majority of Japanese consumers have...

Food Marketer Outsources Security Screening.
August 10, 2006... International food marketer AJC International is using technology from JPMorgan Chase Vastera's new Restricted Party Screening and Resolution Services to help improve trade compliance, eliminate staff research time and keep its complex global...

Ffex Profit Slumps.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Carey Frozen Food Express Industries said declining truckload and less-than-truckload freight volume hurt its second-quarter results. The Dallas-based refrigerated carrier reported net income of $2.1 million, down from...

No Slowdown for Ltl Truckers.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Carey Trucking companies usually are leading indicators of the economy. If freight flow slows, it stands to reason that markets are stagnating and shippers are cutting back. There are various signs that the overall...

Us Rail Traffic Mixed, But Intermodal Sets Record.
August 10, 2006... U.S. railroads carried an estimated combined volume of 34.2 billion ton-miles in the week ended July 29, up 0.9 percent over last year, the Association of American Railroads reported. It was a record-breaking week for intermodal traffic, but a...

Domestic Airfreight Revenue Grew, But Volume Fell in 2005.
August 10, 2006... Domestic airfreight and express revenue reached a record $31.3 billion last year, but traffic volume was lower than in 2000, according to a recent release by the Air Cargo Management Group. Revenue in 2005 increased 4.7 percent over 2004,...

FedEx, Postal Service in New Mail Pact.
August 10, 2006... FedEx Express, FedEx Corp.'s major subsidiary, and the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) this month an-nounced a new agreement for domestic air transportation of mail through 2013. The Postal Service and FedEx Express signed a seven-year contract...

Oocl Parent Posts Decline in First-Half Earnings.
August 10, 2006... Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. this month said its after-tax profit declined 9.2 percent in the first half of 2006 to $280.5 million, compared with $308.9 million earned in the same period a year ago. The Hong Kong-based parent of Orient...

'K' Line, Mol Lower Forecasts.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Major Japanese shipping lines "K" Line, MOL and NYK cut their profit forecasts early this month after lower freight rates and soaring bunker costs eroded net income in the fiscal first quarter. "K" Line reported...

Shipping Unit Aids Wilh. Wilhelmsen's Second-Quarter Profit.
August 10, 2006... Driven by its shipping segment, Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA maritime group posted strong results in the second quarter and the first half, despite the financial woes of its part-owned French logistics company, Global Automotive Logistics. GAL was...

Profit Surges at Pacer International.
August 10, 2006... Aided by higher volumes in its retail intermodal unit, Pacer International reported that its second-quarter net income jumped more than 215 percent over last year's second quarter to $14.5 million. Operating income increased to $25.2...

Tnt Income Up 10.7 Percent.
August 10, 2006... As TNT focuses on the mail and express business, it is seeing improvement. Revenue totaled $3.4 billion across all business segments, up from $3.2 billion a year ago, an increase of 5.8 percent. The company broke a record for margin its Express...

Harbor Police Promoted in San Diego.
August 10, 2006... San Diego Harbor Police Lieutenants Don Claypool and Kimberly Fives were promoted at the Port of San Diego to the rank of captain. As captains they will oversee a variety of assignments under policy direction from the chief of Harbor Police....

Victoria, British Columbia, Harbor Authority Names Board Members.
August 10, 2006... The Greater Victoria Harbour Authority welcomed two new board members in July. Mark Lindholm, managing director of the Lindholm Group of Companies, replaced Paul Ridout as one of two appointees by the Victoria/Esquimalt Harbour Society...

Evergreen's Chang Awarded Cbe.
August 10, 2006... Chang Yung-Fa, founder and group chairman of Taiwan's Evergreen Group, was appointed Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his services to shipping and British economic interests. The honor was conferred...

Taiwan Tightens Economic Ties with China.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee Even though political tensions between Taiwan and China persist, their economic ties appear to be drawing tighter, and a top executive of a U.S. logistics company active in Asia said carriers and other freight service...

Taiwan Cargo Flight to China Makes History.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Manik Mehta By any other measure, it would be routine: a charter cargo flight between two nations. But when a Boeing 747-400 operated by Taiwan's China Airlines landed at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport recently, it was...

New Taiwan Cargo Flight to China Makes History.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Manik Mehta By any other measure, it would be routine: a charter cargo flight between two nations. But when a Boeing 747-400 operated by Taiwan's China Airlines landed at Shanghai's Pudong International Airport recently, it was...

China, North Korea to Boost Shipping Along Yalu River.
August 10, 2006... China and North of Korea recently reached an agreement to boost cargo shipping along a river on their shared border in North Asia. Under the terms of the deal signed in Changchun, the provincial capital of Jilin in northern China, which...

New Container Port Planned for Fremantle.
August 10, 2006... Plans for a new container port that will nearly double the capacity of Western Australia's Fremantle port were released recently for public comment. The proposal involves the construction of a 1.6-mile man-made island in Cockburn Sound,...

Fourth Jawaharlal Nehru Terminal to Boost Volume by 4 Million Teus.
August 10, 2006... The Indian government is planning to develop a fourth container terminal featuring a 1.2-mile-long quay at Mumbai's Jawaharlal Nehru port. A statement, quoting the minister for shipping, road transport and highways, Shri Baalu, said a...

Fraser Surrey Docks for Sale.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower The Hong Kong owner of Fraser Surrey Docks in British Columbia is looking to sell the Vancouver-area terminal, which handles breakbulk and container cargo, Gino Crisanti, chief executive, confirmed. Owner Victor...

Halifax Expects to Meet Targets Despite Flat Container Growth.
August 10, 2006... Canada's Port of Halifax said first-half container tonnage was flat compared to a year ago, but that the eastern Canadian port remains on target to meet its full-year goals. In a report issued this month, the Halifax Port Authority said...

Fast Drivers Qualify for Hazmat Shipments.
August 10, 2006... The Transportation Security Administration issued an interim rule that allows commercial drivers who are licensed in Mexico or Canada, and who have received a card under the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program, to transport hazardous and toxic...

Port of Tacoma Issues $100 Million in Bonds.
August 10, 2006... The Port of Tacoma has issued $100 million in 30-year revenue bonds with an effective fixed interest rate of less than 4 percent. John Wolfe, the port's deputy executive director, said the bond revenue will be used over the next year to...

Port of Portland Abandons Intermodal Railyard Plan at Industrial Site.
August 10, 2006... The Port of Portland last week said it scrapped an intermodal railyard plan for the Reynolds Industrial site on the Columbia River. "Due to community concerns and lack of market interest, we have decided not to move forward on the...

Charleston Posts Slight Growth in Containers.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach The Port of Charleston handled record container volume of 1.98 million TEUs in the fiscal year ended June 30, but volume was only 0.4 percent more than the 1.97 million TEUs handled in 2005, the South Carolina State...

Rotterdam's Container Growth Slows.
August 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard The Port of Rotterdam, Europe's biggest container hub, boosted box traffic by only 2 percent in the first half of the year, significantly less than the growth posted by its rivals in the Le Havre-Hamburg port range....

Uruguay Port Approved.
August 10, 2006... Uruguay's President Tabare Vazquez this month approved the construction of a $300 million port at Puntas del Chileno in Maldonado. "This is a $300 million project proposed by the private sector as part of the program to reactivate Uruguay's...

Dp World Plans $100 Million Investment in Argentina.
August 10, 2006... DP World, the Dubai-based global terminal operator, is set to expand significantly in Argentina, further increasing its presence in Latin America. Sultan bin Sulayem, chairman of the DP World holding company Dubai World, revealed the plans...

Qingdao Gantry Cranes Get 'green' Conversion.
August 10, 2006... The Chinese port of Qingdao says it is the first in the world to have successfully converted the diesel-powered engines of its rubber-tire gantry cranes into less polluting electric-powered ones. Port authorities in the mainland city...

World Shipping Council Challenges New Rfid Box Standards Group.
August 10, 2006... The International Container Standards Organization is an "unnecessary and counterproductive" initiative, according to the World Shipping Council. In a recent commentary, the liner industry group said the recently created ICSO appears to be...

Tnt Plans Land Network Linking China with Vietnam, Se Asia.
August 10, 2006... Pang Fuxing, vice president of TNT China, said recently that the Dutch mail and express delivery firm plans to connect China with Southeast Asia through an overland transportation network starting from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. ...

Tiers Or Tears.
August 17, 2006... Heading into the five-year anniversary of the terror attacks in New York and Washington, a sinking feeling of frustration and failure overshadows whatever progress has been made in preserving and securing life, liberty and the pursuit of...

Equity Group to Sell Most of Its Stake in Horizon Lines.
August 17, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Castle Harlan Partners IV, the private equity investment firm that owned Horizon Lines outright prior to an initial public offering last fall, plans to sell much of its remaining stake in the largest U.S. container...

Greek Line to Pay $500,000 Fine for Oil Leak.
August 17, 2006... Danaos Shipping pleaded guilty last week to illegally discharging oil at the Port of Long Beach from one of its ships and obstructing a Coast Guard investigation into the oil leak. As part of a plea agreement, Danaos agreed to be sentenced...

Cosco to Begin China Straits India Service.
August 17, 2006... Cosco unveiled plans to launch a new container shipping service sailing from China to Southeast Asia and onto India later this month.The service will be known as the China Straits India Service. The port rotation will be: Shanghai, Ningbo,...

Us Eases Twic Financial Burden.
August 17, 2006... The Transportation Security Admini-stration is scaling back the financial requirements for transportation facilities and vessels where workers will need the Transportation Workers Identification Credential. In an e-mail sent to Capitol Hill...

Reefer Service Consolidation.
August 17, 2006... BYLINE: William Armbruster and Bill Mongelluzzo No trade in the refrigerated container shipping business illustrates the effects of carrier consolidation as graphically as that between the United States, Australia and New Zealand. Gyrations...