Pacific Shipper articles from December 2008

Pacific Shipper archives from December 2008

Carriers' conundrum.
December 1, 2008... Those who were around for the shipping industry's mid-1980s bust recall the sight of a half-dozen United States Lines' Econships, the largest container ships then afloat, tied up for months at idle piers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The...

STB sets price on Coos Bay rail line.
December 1, 2008... The Surface Transportation Board has decided that the Port of Coos Bay can purchase the Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad's line from Danebo to Cordes, Ore., for $16.6 million. In a prior decision, the STB had ordered the short-line holding...

Korean retailers stock US beef.
December 1, 2008... South Korea's three major discount retailers, E-Mart, Home Plus and Lotte Mart, were scheduled to resume sales of U.S. beef on Thanksgiving Day in Seoul. The retail chains have issued a joint press release announcing the decision and explaining...

Seattle exports plummet in October.
December 1, 2008... The Port of Seattle posted its second-highest container total of the year in October, moving 152,486 TEUs, but that was still off by 14 percent from the same month in 2007. Perhaps most troubling, and a bad omen for Seattle and other ports...

NAFTA shipments set record in 2007.
December 1, 2008... Despite the economic slowdown affecting trade in North America, U.S. freight shipments with Canada and Mexico increased 4.9 percent from $866 million to a record $909 billion in 2007. The shipments have risen further this year, even as the...

Customs publishes 10+2 import filing rule.
December 1, 2008... Customs and Border Protection published its much-anticipated Importer Security Filing rule in the Nov. 25 Federal Register. The interim rule, known as 10+2, will take effect on Jan. 25, 2009, with enforcement to begin one year later. The...

Bridge to recovery?
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: Richard Knee Despite stalled trade-pact negotiations between Washington and Seoul and signs that South Korea's economy is about to tank, the top executive of the Korean-American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles thinks there's...

FMC's clean-truck challenge on legal fast-track.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO If the requirements for operating concessions in the Los Angeles-Long Beach clean-trucks programs are going to encounter a roadblock, it's likely to be at the Federal Maritime Commission. U.S. District Judge...

Carriers continue to trim service.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: 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...

Car carriers say they'll weather the storm.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: RICHARD KNEE Car carriers are keeping their attention firmly focused on the global financial situation, but they seem to be faring better than operators in the container shipping market. There, rates are dropping, ships are being...

China's plan will stimulate equipment shipments.
December 1, 2008... The U.S. isn't the only country that is trying to use a stimulus package to get its economy moving. Last month, China announced a $586 billion spending package, with virtually all of the money going to improve infrastructure around the...

Finding room for ro-ro.
December 1, 2008... The issue of tight capacity that's dogging roll-on, roll-off carriers at sea is also a problem for them on the ground. Most U.S. ports are struggling to find space to handle ro-ro operations. "We need more acreage; it's a little different...

A new gridlock.
December 1, 2008... The slowdown in U.S. auto sales has created a new business opportunity for a handful of ports - parking lot operator. As auto sales have stalled, car dealers are not taking delivery of vehicles already imported and unloaded at ports. ...

After the storm.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: PAUL T. ROSYNSKY The U.S. economic crisis and the devastation from hurricanes Ike, Gustav, Rita and Katrina would make it easy to believe that most shipping industries along the Gulf Coast are struggling. Consumers aren't...

Cutting back.
December 8, 2008... Looking at a pretty dismal economic and trade outlook over the next year, the two major Pacific Northwest container ports, Seattle and Tacoma, are cinching their budget belts. It's budget season for the ports, and the work of each port...

Maersk Line launches multitrade reefer service.
December 8, 2008...   Maersk's reefer service begins early next month. Maersk Line announced that it is launching a newly branded "multitrade" reefer service in January that will combine intra-European cargoes with feeder traffic from around the...

Long Beach postpones fee for transportation projects.
December 8, 2008... The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners last week voted to delay for at least six months the collection of a cargo-container fee intended to help fund road, rail and bridge improvements in the harbor area. The fee, known as the...

Tacoma tests rail-based GPS.
December 8, 2008... The Port of Tacoma last week said it is testing a satellite system that tracks intermodal containers from the time they leave waterfront terminals until they reach their destinations in the Midwest and eastern United States. The system...

BNSF delays fuel surcharges.
December 8, 2008... BNSF Railway said it will postpone a scheduled extension of its mileage-based fuel surcharge program because of volatile fuel market. An increase in the strike price on carload shipments from $1.25 to $2.50 per gallon of highway diesel fuel...

LA-LB terminal operators file clean-trucks petition.
December 8, 2008... Terminal operators at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach asked the Federal Maritime Commission to review a staff decision that delays the start of the port services fee program until Dec. 17. The program would collect a...

Green savings.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: David Biederman The SmartWay Transport Partnership, a federal program that helps transport operators save millions of gallons of fuel and millions of dollars, is reaching out to shippers.  The Environmental Protection...

Marine terminals utilize technology for operations.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO Marine terminal operators are making greater use of optical character readers, radio-frequency identification devices, global positioning satellites and other technology to automate nearly every facet of their...

Growing steel imports from China upset producers in the US.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: 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 weak....

East Coast growth requires depth.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO East Coast ports are looking to the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2014 with a mix of fear and optimism. While it is generally accepted that the expanded canal's ability to accommodate the new generation of...

Evergreen trims services, capacity.
December 8, 2008... Evergreen Line plans to cut capacity by merging two of its direct east-west services from Asia to Europe and from Asia to the United States into one pendulum service with an eastbound and a westbound leg. The existing AUS (Asia-United...

Charter rates hit new lows.
December 8, 2008... Container ship charter rates have fallen to new lows as demand by carriers for tonnage evaporates amid stagnant or declining cargo volumes on key routes. Charter rates, which have retreated by as much as 35 percent for some ship sizes in...

Nordea's shipping exposure 'diversified'.
December 8, 2008... Nordic banking group Nordea Bank, one of the world's largest lenders to the shipping industry, said it has only a "modest" loan exposure to the dry bulk and container shipping segments, which have been hit hard by the global economic slowdown....

Hamburg Sud drops Costa Container brand.
December 8, 2008... As of Jan. 1, Hamburg Sud is replacing its Costa Container Lines brand with the Hamburg Sud name in order to unify its brand. The German parent took over the operations of Costa, the Italian liner specializing in the trades between the...

Freight index falls again.
December 8, 2008... The American Trucking Associations' freight index fell 3 percent in October, the fourth consecutive monthly drop and another sign of the ongoing economic recession. "The cumulative drop in truck tonnage over the last four months suggests...

Rail freight volume up.
December 8, 2008... Freight volume on U.S. railroads increased during the week ending Nov. 22, in comparison with the corresponding week a year ago, the Association of American Railroads reported. But the AAR cautioned that comparisons between the two weeks...

Global air-cargo down 7.9 percent.
December 8, 2008... International air cargo traffic tumbled 7.9 percent in October from a year ago, the biggest monthly decline since 2001, the International Air Transport Association reported The fifth consecutive month of "increasingly severe drops" has...

India freight forwarder promotes international capabilities.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: Kathlyn Horibe India's largest privately owned freight forwarding specialist, Sahil Freight Express, wants to grow its project cargo business in the United States by tapping into the growth in bilateral trade between that country...

Napolitano brings border-state views to DHS.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: ARI NATTER The city of Nogales, Arizona's busiest international border crossing, holds an important clue to Janet Napolitano's views on the balance between trade and security. Nearly 300,000 trucks crossed the border last year...

Container traffic grows at Tokyo.
December 8, 2008... The volume of containers in foreign trade handled by the Port of Tokyo increased in July for the first time in two months, up 1.4 percent year-on-year to 313,212 TEUs, according to preliminary figures released by the Tokyo metropolitan...

Asia air cargo dives 11 percent.
December 8, 2008... Freight traffic for Asian airlines plunged 11 percent in October, the steepest drop for the carriers since 2001, and a new sign that the shipping downturn is getting worse. The decline measured by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines...

Nehru charges approved.
December 8, 2008... India's Tariff Authority for Major Ports has approved inter-terminal shifting and port entry charges currently levied for vessels calling at the Port of Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's largest box gateway. The ruling follows a petition by...

Mumbai extends free time.
December 8, 2008... India's Port of Mumbai announced plans to extend free storage time for containers, granted in 2007, for a further period of one year, ending November 2009. The concessions include three days for import laden boxes, and 15 days for loaded...

Averitt expands in China.
December 8, 2008... Averitt Express expanded the origin points in its Asia-Memphis Express less-than-containerload service to Hong Kong and South China. "This next phase of expansion shows the continued demand for consistent, reliable LCL service from Asia,"...

CMA CGM to invest in Xiamen terminal.
December 8, 2008... A joint venture to develop and operate a deep-water container terminal at the Port of Xiamen, China received government approval. CMA CGM will invest in the construction and management of the terminal with its partners: New World Services...

Collapsible container could transform cargo trade.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: Kathlyn Horibe A collapsible container designed by two professors from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India, could revolutionize the marine cargo sector. In less than four minutes, the container is collapsed...

Amalgamating growth.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: MARK WILSON As the most diversified major marine gateway in North America, Port Metro Vancouver has enough depth and strength to withstand the continent's economic turbulence. True, the pace of container growth halved from the...

Pacer buys clean fleet.
December 8, 2008... Pacer International is deploying a revamped fleet of 230 new trucks to conform to the new environmental requirements at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. The 3PL, through its subsidiaries, will deploy the vehicles beginning in late...

Redwood City dredging aids wetlands.
December 8, 2008... The use of the Port of Redwood City maintenance dredged material to help restore wetlands on adjacent Bair Island is scheduled to begin early this month. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has issued a notice to proceed for the $3.6 million...

Matson to increase Hawaii rates.
December 8, 2008... Matson Navigation Co. will raise its Hawaii rates by $120 per westbound container and $60 per eastbound container, effective Jan. 4. The Oakland-based carrier estimated that this increase will raise rates by an average of 3.9 percent. ...

Maersk Line shifts service from Tacoma.
December 8, 2008... Maersk Line next year will move one of its Pacific Northwest services from the Port of Tacoma to neighboring Seattle, but the world's largest container carrier is not abandoning Tacoma altogether. Maersk, which operates two trans-Pacific...

LA budgets construction spending.
December 8, 2008... The Port of Los Angeles will award an estimated $383.7 million in construction contracts by year-end, fueling a surge of construction activity that it says will support over 6,000 regional jobs. Currently, 18 multiyear construction projects...

Chase the bah humbugs away!
December 8, 2008... Get your Santa hats ready! Every year, the International Seafarers Center of Los Angeles and Long Beach gives those of us in the transportation industry the chance to help seafarers from around the world have a little bit merrier Christmas. ...

Holiday sales.
December 15, 2008... Stanley Marcus was a marketing genius. During a several-decade reign, he turned a small department store in the then-sleepy southern town of Dallas, Texas, into a world-renowned luxury retailer. Two of the ways he did it? He used the lowly form...

Seattle port official disciplines managers.
December 15, 2008... Tay Yoshitani, the Port of Seattle's executive director, issued a plan last week that features disciplinary actions and new compliance policies in response to a recent port probe that found that port employees committed civil fraud on at least...

Portland ends search for private investor.
December 15, 2008... Trade, economic and financial market conditions were responsible for the Port of Portland's decision to suspend its yearlong effort to find a private investor to operate the port's underused Terminal 6 container facility. Because of that,...

Long Beach extends slowdown area.
December 15, 2008... The Port of Long Beach will invest as much as $4 million a year to expand the successful Green Flag Incentive Program and achieve even greater reductions of air pollution from cargo ships that visit the port. The Harbor Commission voted...

Buckling under.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: David Biederman Shippers and carriers of breakbulk and heavy-lift cargo routinely solve the world's most daunting logistics challenges. The question now is how they will respond to what could be their biggest challenge yet: a...

Project cargo challenges rails.
December 15, 2008... There are three primary growth areas in BNSF Railway's project cargo business, said Dave Garin, the railroad's group vice president of industrial products. At the top of the list is equipment related to wind energy. "We have considerable...

Cargo lane ebbs.
December 15, 2008... Lack of investment in waterways could strain project cargo industry when economy recovers As the national gross domestic product tripled capital investment over the past 30 years, investment in public water resources infrastructure...

Building highways, again.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: ARI NATTER The next U.S. secretary of transportation may end up managing the most far-reaching plan for building the nation's roads since the Interstate Highway System was built in the 1950s. President-elect Obama vowed Dec. 6...

Court nixes quick ruling on clean trucks.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO  The question of who will own an operate new, clean trucks has been controversial. 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...

More clean trucks enter harbor fleet.
December 15, 2008... J.C. Penney Co. and PDS Trucking Inc., a subsidiary of Pacer Distribution Services Inc., have taken a step toward achieving their goal to convert 100 percent of the truck fleet handling J.C. Penney imports at the ports of Los Angeles and Long...

TSA fixes enrollment error.
December 15, 2008... The Transportation Security Administration has fixed a Transportation Worker Identification Credential enrollment error that drew fire from the House Homeland Security Committee, the administration reported earlier this month. In a letter...

Pacific Shipper parent reorganizes.
December 15, 2008... United Business Media Ltd. will reorganize its Commonwealth Business Media division, parent of Pacific Shipper, into two separate market-focused businesses, as of January 2009. The two new businesses will be established as follows: *...

Retailers' online gains.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN If there's a silver lining for retailers anywhere in the economic storm, it's online. While in-store sales sagged in the third quarter, online sales were up nearly 6 percent year over year, indicating more...

Little guys win big.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN Shippers in an increasingly creaky economy are deciding that, when it comes to distribution facilities, smaller is better. "We are in a recessionary environment without a doubt," said John H. Boyd, president of...

FDA lists progress on food import safety.
December 15, 2008... The Food and Drug Administration has given itself high marks on boosting the safety of food imports. "Every day, the FDA is working with foreign countries, states and local governments, regulated industry and consumer groups to ensure the...

ColdStoreDesign.com enters China.
December 15, 2008... Following several months of talks, the Netherlands-based group of specialized consultants, architects and engineers of ColdStoreDesign.com has reached a partnership agreement with the China Internal Trade Engineering Design and Research...

Maersk cuts trans-Pacific rates.
December 15, 2008... Maersk Lines has slashed container freight rates from Asia to the U.S. West Coast by nearly a quarter as the American economy slows, according to reports from Hong Kong. "Container shipping rates have come down substantially as demand is...

Maersk transfers intra-Asia services.
December 15, 2008... Maersk Line announced plans to transfer its intra-Asia services to its Singapore-based subsidiary, MCC Transport, beginning in 2009. The Danish carrier said in a statement that it has identified the intra-Asia trade lane as a major growth...

Islamic militants attack box depot in Pakistan.
December 15, 2008... Pro-Taliban militants attacked the Bilal Container Terminal in Peshawar, Pakistan, setting on fire about 100 vehicles destined for U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan. The heavily-armed militants early Dec. 8 stormed the inland terminal in...

US, China reach trade co-op pact.
December 15, 2008... China and the United States earlier this month pledged to deepen their economic ties and expand cooperative efforts to counter the global credit crisis.   The agreement came as the two-day meeting of the Strategic Economic Dialogue...

Hanjin to sign with Jaxport.
December 15, 2008... Jacksonville Port Authority officials have agreed to construct a new 90-acre, $300 million container terminal at Dames Point for Hanjin Shipping.   The authority said it is ready to begin design, permitting and construction of the...

Hong Kong boxes gain.
December 15, 2008... The Port of Hong Kong handled 6.7 million TEUs in the third quarter of 2008, an increase of 7 percent over the same period in the previous year. Laden and empty containers increased by 7 percent and 9 percent to 5.5 million TEUs and 1.2...

Taiwan faceseconomic slump.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: Richard Knee As Taiwan grapples with an economic slump, the island nation can perhaps take some comfort from the fact that its ties with the U.S. will apparently remain strong when Barack Obama moves into the White House,...

Port nabs ailing line.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: JOHN D. BOYD The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay is getting a closed 111-mile rail line after a struggle that has lasted more than a year. The struggle to get it back in service may take at least that long. The port...

Seattle port probe finds fraud.
December 15, 2008... A Port of Seattle special investigation into construction contracting and management practices has found that port employees committed civil fraud on at least 10 occasions between 2004 and 2007. The 76-page report cites various instances of...

Portland prepares plan for transportation improvement.
December 15, 2008... The Port of Portland's 2009 version of its annual Port Transportation Improvement Plan sets goals, priorities and funding estimates for port transportation, access and terminal projects. The PTIP identifies, outlines and prioritizes 5-, 10-...

Some special things in the air.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam The logistical accomplishment of moving the 130-piece, priceless exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs from London to tour the United States was amplified last month when a robust, one piece...

Bay area club honors past officers.
December 15, 2008... The Pacific Transportation Association hosted its annual Past Presidents Luncheon recently at the Marine Memorial Club in San Francisco. Among those honored by the Bay Area group: (Seated- Left to right) Jim Wiltshire, 1984, Marine Terminals...

On edge.
December 22, 2008... This is the time of year when we take a look a back at the last 12 months as we compile our annual chronology issue. Because the vagaries of our production schedule make this my last editorial of the year, I get the first bite at assessing...

Vancouver faces strike threat.
December 22, 2008... A long-brewing labor dispute at western Canadian ports could result in a strike at the start of the new year. Workers at British Columbia ports in the Lower Mainland, Vancouver Island and Prince Rupert have threatened to walk out on Jan. 2...

Seattle, Dalian form EcoPartnership.
December 22, 2008... The Port of Seattle and China's Port of Dalian have agreed to work together and with other public and private sector institutions, including the City of Tacoma, on an EcoPartnership designed to advance environmental and economic sustainability....

US trade aid up 60 percent.
December 22, 2008... The United States increased its annual spending on Aid for Trade programs, or "trade-capacity building" programs, to $2.3 billion during the 2008 fiscal year ending Sept. 30. The spending represents an increase of 60 percent from fiscal...

China loses WTO appeal.
December 22, 2008... The Appellate Body of the World Trade Organization confirmed earlier this month that a Chinese tax measure on imported auto parts violates the trade body's rules.   In its decision, the WTO's top court largely upheld a panel ruling in...

Carriers to share chassis responsibility.
December 22, 2008... A regulation adopted by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration will, for the first time, require railroads and steamship companies owning intermodal container chassis to share safety responsibility with motor carriers. The...

Pacific ports endure weak economy.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Earlier this decade at many ports on the North American Pacific Coast, cargo business was like the local real estate market - there was double-digit growth, year after year after year. But just as the cycle spun the...

Northwest terminals group to increase tariffs.
December 22, 2008... The Northwest Marine Terminal Association, a voluntary group of 14 deepwater ports in Oregon and Washington, announced general tariff rate increases matched to the regional consumer price index ranging from 4 percent to 6.2 percent, depending...

California moves to ban all dirty trucks.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: 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...