Pacific Shipper articles from February 2006

Pacific Shipper archives from February 2006

Business As Unusual.
February 2, 2006... It's been an eventful week in the wacky world of mergers and acquisitions. The big news in the watery areas where many of us reside is the bidding fracas between Dubai's DP World and Singapore's PSA International for the London-based port...

Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, Sets Teu Record.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Total cargo volume at the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, increased 4 percent to 83.9 million tons in 2005. Container shipments were up 6 percent to 1.8 million TEUs, a record, the Vancouver Port Authority...

Basham Nominated to Head Customs.
February 2, 2006... President Bush last week nominated U.S. Secret Service Director W. Ralph Basham as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. A 29-year veteran of federal law enforcement, Basham has been director of the Federal Law Enforcement Training...

Hutchison Terminal Plan for Felixstowe Approved.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard The British government last week approved plans by Hong Kong-based Hutchison Port Holdings to build a 1.5 million-TEU-a-year container terminal at Felixstowe, the country's largest container hub. The decision,...

"K" Line and Yang Ming Launch New Loop in Asia-Med Trade.
February 2, 2006... "K" Line and Yang Ming Marine Transport will launch a new joint express loop service in the Asia-Mediterranean trade at the end of this month. The lines will jointly deploy seven 3,500-TEU vessels; five vessels willbe operated by "K" Line,...

Safmarine Sets Third Vessel Service to Angola.
February 2, 2006... Safmarine will launch a new direct multipurpose liner service from the United States to Angola, called the Angorex, at the end of the month. The frequency will be every 21 days with the following port rotation: Houston, Malabo, Soyo,...

Port of Everett, WASH., to Participate in Environmental Management System.
February 2, 2006... The Port of Everett, Wash., recently applied for and was accepted to participate in an environmental management system program through the American Association of Port Authorities. In Washington state, the Port of Everett is the second port...

Alaska - Wild Cards Confront the 'boom Or Bust' State.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto Alaska's importance to the Port of Tacoma, and to a lesser extent the Port of Seattle, is a cause for celebration and concern in the Pacific Northwest, depending on which boom or bust cycle the state finds itself...

Alaska's Wild Cards.
February 2, 2006... * Opening the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and development. The chances are slim after a recent move by Alaska's Sen. Ted Stevens was defeated, but the issue is still active and is strongly supported by the Bush...

Ilwu Finds Political Allies in Call for Clean Air.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall and Bill Mongelluzzo West Coast longshoremen have made environmental cleanup in and around the region's ports a top priority for the coming years -- one that union leadership says labor is willing to press during the...

Customs Reminds Shippers on Wood Packaging Rules.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Customs and Border Protection reminded all importers of products transported on wooden pallets or in wooden crates that the Phase II implementation of phytosanitary regulations began on Feb.1. Noncompliant...

Mead to Resign from Post As Dot Inspector General.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Kenneth Mead, who issued a long string of surprises in often-scathing reports during nine years as inspector general at the Department of Transportation, saved his biggest surprise for last. The veteran...

Cn, Canadian Pacific Agree on Rail Improvements.
February 2, 2006... Canadian National and Canadian Pacific Railwaylast month entered an agreement designed to make rail operations "more fluid" in Canada's Lower Mainland, enhancing service for rail customers and supporting the growth of Pacific Gateway ports and...

Electronic Container Seals Take a Step Forward.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson There is progress to report on two technology fronts in the battle for supply-chain security. Since the beginning of the year, an International Organization for Standardization working group has agreed to an...

Trans-Pacific Carrier Group to Adjust Fuel Surcharges Monthly.
February 2, 2006... Container shipping lines in the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement said they will shift to monthly from quarterly adjusted fuel surcharges on May 1, "in an effort to moderate cost impacts and make the surcharges more responsive to market...

"K" Line Plans Increase in Trans-Pacific Vessel Capacity.
February 2, 2006... Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, known as "K" Line, will increase vessel capacity on three of its weekly trans-Pacific services, once it receives its five new 5,500-TEU container ships. The line's Asia-U.S. West Coast Pacific Northwest service will...

April Deadline Set for Wto Agriculture Agreement.
February 2, 2006... World Trade Organization ministers agreed to an April 30 deadline for resolving a dispute over agricultural markets, including the removal of all export subsidies. The move is a major step forward for developing countries, which are...

Hyundai Merchant Marine Reports Decline in Fourth-Quarter Profit.
February 2, 2006... Hyundai Merchant Marine Co, South Korea's second-largest shipping line, posted an 11 percent decline in fourth-quarter profit, largely because of higher oil prices, according to a Bloomberg report. Hyundai Merchant's net income fell to 110.8...

Orient Overseas Fourth-Quarter Revenue Growth Slows.
February 2, 2006... Orient Overseas (International) Ltd., which operates Asia's seventh-biggest container shipping line, said fourth-quarter revenue rose 2.2 percent, a slower rate of growth as it filled less cargo space. Revenue at OOCL, which is based in...

Yrc Worldwide Posts Increases in Profit and Revenue.
February 2, 2006... YRC Worldwide, known formerly as Yellow Roadway, reported net income of $79.8 million for the fourth quarter, a 26 percent increase over the same period in 2004, and operating revenue of $2.5 billion, compared with $1.8 billion in 2004. ...

Ups's Fourth-Quarter Profit Surged 21 Percent.
February 2, 2006... Led by a 21.5 percent jump in worldwide revenue, package delivery giant UPS reportednet income of $1.1 billion for the fourth quarter of 2005. For the full year, adjusted earnings per share climbed 19.7 percent and the company generated...

S&P Raises Gatx Corp. Credit Ratings.
February 2, 2006... Standard & Poor's Ratings Services raised its ratings on transportation equipment lessor GATX Corp. and its major operating subsidiary, GATX Financial Corp., including raising the corporate credit rating on both entities to "BBB" from "BBB...

Bnsf Sets $2.4 Billion Capital Program.
February 2, 2006... BNSF Railway said it plans a $2.4 billion capital commitment program for 2006, about 10 percent higher than its 2005 spending. For the second consecutive year, BNSF said it anticipates investing about $400 million in track and facilities to...

Egl's Financial Officer Resigns.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: William Armbruster Forwarding and logistics operator EGL Inc. last month said that Chief Financial Officer Elijio Serrano will resign effective Feb. 10 to join a Houston-area oilfield services company. Serrano has been EGL's chief...

Dhl Expects $1.3 Trillion Asia Market by 2020.
February 2, 2006... DHL expects the Asian freight market to grow 83 percent to $1.3 trillion by 2020, nearly double the current $700 billion market. Asia will continue to lead the world air-cargo industry in average annual growth rates, with intra-Asian...

Famous Pacific Continues China Development.
February 2, 2006... Famous Pacific Shipping, the Asia Pacific-based non-vessel operating commoncarrier and freight forwarder, recently strengthened its network in China with three more "A Class" licenses, covering its Fuzhou, Shenzhen and Xiamen offices. "We...

China's Port Box Throughput Increased 23 Percent in 2005.
February 2, 2006... China's ports handled 75.8 million TEUs in 2005, up 23 percent from 2004, the Xinhua news agency reported last month. Communications Minister Li Shenglin told an annual meeting of ministry officials that total cargo handled by the nation's...

Two East China Ports Merge in Bid to Form World's Third-Largest Port.
February 2, 2006... Two of China's deep-water ports, Ningbo and Zhoushan in the east Zhejiang Province, officially merged last month in a bid to forge the third-biggest port in the world. The new port is named "Ningbo-Zhoushan" and started formal operations...

Hapag-Lloyd, Zim to Begin Med-Us Slot Exchange.
February 2, 2006... Hapag-Lloyd and Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. last month announced a slot-exchange agreement in the Mediterranean-U.S. trade. The exchange between Zim's Zim Container Service (ZCS) and Hapag-Lloyd's Mediterranean Gulf Express (MGX)...

China: Flood of Goods to U.S. Continues.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee Quota-capped or not, the pace of imports of clothing and apparel, footwear, textile yarns and fabric from China continues to accelerate, but developments in China and elsewhere point to heightening global competition...

Us, South Korea Close in on Free-Trade Talks.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Alan M. Field South Korea's pledge to reduce its quota system for theatrical films apparently is paving the way for formal negotiations on a bilateral free-trade agreement with the U.S., officials said last month. Although...

First Phase of Huge South Korean Box Terminal Opens.
February 2, 2006... Phase One of South Korea's new mega-terminal, Pusan Newport Co. (PNC), officially opened late last month. South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun presided at the opening ceremony held at the port's quayside to mark completion of the first of...

Ups Considers Rebranding of Overnite.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: John D. Boyd Parcel service giant UPS plans some "rebranding" or renaming of trucking services later this year, stemming from last year's acquisition of Overnite Transportation. D. Scott Davis, the company's chief financial...

Nippon Cargo, AirBridge Venture to Enhance Japan-Russia Trade.
February 2, 2006... The launch of Boeing 747-300SF all-cargo services between Japan and Russia as part of a long-term relationship between Nippon Cargo Airlines and AirBridge Cargo is intended to enhance trade flows between the two countries. The two airlines...

Comtrak Acquisition Gives Hub Presence in Drayage Market.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: John Gallagher Hub Group is relying on its $48 million purchase of a Memphis, Tenn., logistics company to give it a toehold in the $5 billion international drayage market. One of the largest U.S. forwarding and logistics...

Chile's Lan Cargo Plans Expansion in Asia.
February 2, 2006... LAN Cargo, a unit of LAN Airlines in Chile and a major carrier of airfreight between the U.S. and South America, recently named Cristian Ureta as its new chief executive. The airline also carries airfreight to Europe, and between cities in...

High-Tech Key for Mexico Maquiladoras.
February 2, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo The maquiladora industry in northern Mexico is expanding once again, but unlike in its formative years in the 1980s and 1990s, growth is based on modern, just-in-time manufacturing. "The industry has reinvented...

Prince Rupert Box Terminal Gets Green Light.
February 2, 2006... The Prince Rupert Port Authority is building North America's newest container port on the west coast of North America. Port officials said a new C$160 million ($140 million) terminal will be located on the shortest land-sea link to Asia,...

Port of Tacoma Sets Cargo, Teu Records.
February 2, 2006... Fueled by increases in total tonnage, containers, intermodal lifts and grain, the Port of Tacoma completed a record-shattering 2005, according to statistics released by the port last week. And the port is anticipating another record year in...

Us Great Lakes Shipments Decline.
February 2, 2006... Cargo carried by U.S. ships on the Great Lakes in 2005 slipped 3.3 percent to 107.7 million tons from 111.3 million tons in 2004. The Lake Carriers' Association said last week that the 13 American corporations that operate 55 U.S.-flag...

Csav and Maruba Use Tti Terminal Services in Seattle.
February 2, 2006... Total Terminals International was awarded the CSAV-Maruba North America stevedore and terminal services contract in Seattle, with the inaugural vessel arriving at the port's Terminal 46 last month. TTI operates T-46 for the port. Details of...

Tie-Up Station to Expand Panama Canal Capacity.
February 2, 2006... Amid growing ship traffic, the Panama Canal Authority announced the opening of a new tie-up station aimed at building daily capacity on the inter-continental waterway. The station, located at the east side of the Gaillard Cut and just...

Crowley Promotes Klenck to Ship Assist Unit.
February 2, 2006... Crowley Maritime Services promoted Joel Klenck to vice president of ship assist and escort services, a part of Crowley's marine services segment, with overall responsibility for managing the company's growing tug services business from Southern...

Connie Bacon Named Port of Tacoma Commission President.
February 2, 2006... Connie Bacon was named president of the Port of Tacoma Commission late last month. Positions among commissioners rotate yearly, based on procedures approved by the commission in 1999. Bacon replaced R. Ted Bottiger as commission president....

Total Terminals Reaches 1 Million-Teu Milestone at Long Beach Terminal.
February 2, 2006... Total Terminals International reached 1 million container lifts in one year at its Pier T Long Beach container terminal on Dec. 28, 2005, 38 months after the terminal opened in October 2002. The millionth lift was a Hanjin container on the...

Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall A variety of stories is one of the reasons I enjoy my job. Readers of Pacific Shipper can't be squeezed into a small box and typecast. That means our stories must be broad in scope and cover topics on both sides of...

Port of Seattle Takes 2005 Pacific Northwest Container Crown.
February 10, 2006... The Port of Seattle was North America's fastest-growing container port in 2005 with a record 2,088,000 TEUs -- a 17.6 percent increase over 2004. It overtook its chief rival, the Port of Tacoma, as the top box port in the Pacific Northwest last...

Trans-Pacific Lines Propose Rate Hikes.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Shipping lines that carry U.S. exports to Asia intend to increase their rates on cargoes not specified in tariffs in the westbound Pacific. They also plan to increase their rates on consolidated container loads, as...

Cargo Handling, Us Fleet Top Sanborn Agenda.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson David C. Sanborn, former shipping executive and nominee to be maritime administrator, told a Senate committee on Feb. 7 that he will dedicate his tenure to making the U.S. cargo infrastructure "the envy of our trading...

Cupid's Delivery Route.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee If you're among the 52 percent of American men who plan to buy flowers to mark Valentine's Day,you know that Cupid's arrow doesn't always shoot straight. The fresh flowers that you're expecting to find at your...

Ilwu Members' Earnings Grow over East Coast Longshoremen.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Longshoremen on the West Coast have leveraged rapidly growing trade volumes and their union's single-contract strategy to win an earnings premium of as much as 28 percent compared to longshoremen on the East and...

Disappointing Growth Reports Mask Robust Economy.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Michael Andrews In late January, the government reported that real gross domestic product grew a meager 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter -- much less than expected by analysts and the weakest performance in three years. Compare...

Freight with Possibilities.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto and R.G. Edmonson Freight and nationwide freight mobility suddenly has the attention of the Department of Transportation. The DOT last month unveiled a "Framework for a National Freight Policy," which...

Start-Up Costs Hit Matson Earnings.
February 10, 2006... Matson Navigation racked up $223.6 million in revenue in the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, up from $230.5 million in the same period in 2004. However, operating profit slipped to $22.8 million from $25.3 millionin 2004's fourth quarter,...

Survey Finds Us Ports Congestion-Free.
February 10, 2006... Container ports in the U.S. are congestion-free during the seasonal lull, according to the February Port Tracker report released this month by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight. "Looking ahead to the coming 2006 peak season,...

Tote Parent Buys Northern Air Cargo.
February 10, 2006... Anchorage-based Northern Air Cargo was sold to SaltChuk Resources, a Seattle holding company that is the parent of Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE) and Foss Maritime. The purchase price was not disclosed. Northern Air operates a fleet of...

Us, South Korea Plan Trade Talks.
February 10, 2006... U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman on Feb. 2 announced the Bush administration's intent to negotiate a free-trade agreement with South Korea. Portman was joined by South Korea's minister of trade, Hyun-chong Kim, and a bipartisan group...

Customs Cracks Down on Transshipped Textiles.
February 10, 2006... A Customs and Border Protection crackdown on misdirected or fraudulently labeled goods has yielded more than $10 million in seizures in the last four months, the agency reported. Customs has been acting against shippers or importers that are...

Us Trade, Transportation on Collision Course.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo U.S. dependency on just-in-time transportation is on a collision course with its aging port, road and rail infrastructure, according to a national organization that represents state transportation agencies. ...

Dhs's Chertoff Urged to Strengthen Policy Staff.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Homeland security experts are urging Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to increase staffing in the department's new "policy shop." In a letter dated Jan. 24, representatives from eight think tanks...

Honduran Apparel Port Approved to Join Csi.
February 10, 2006... U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced that the Port of Cortes, Honduras, will participate in the Container Security Initiative. Cortes, on the east coast of Honduras, is a gateway for shipments of textiles from South...

Yang Ming Signs Deal for Europe-Gulf Slots with Msc.
February 10, 2006... Yang Ming Line said it has reached agreement with Mediterranean Shipping Co. to charter slots on the latter's Europe-U.S. Gulf service to New Orleans and Houston beginning this month. As a result, Yang Ming will discontinue its current Gulf...

California Weighs Green Bonds for Transport Fixes.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo The California Senate Transportation and Housing Committee this month will hold a series of meetings to prepare for a summer bond issue aimed at raising more than $200 billion for goods movement and other...

Columbia River Dredging Funds in Bush Budget.
February 10, 2006... The president's federal budget proposal to Congress forfiscal year 2007, released last week, includes $15 million for the Columbia River Channel Improve-ment project. That amount "is a good start for the 2007 federal budget process," said...

Canadian National Reports Fourth-Quarter Gains.
February 10, 2006... Canadian National Railway recorded C$373 million (US$325.3 million) in net income and C$625 million (US$545.1 million) in operating income in the fourth quarter, up 14 percent and 19 percent, from the same period in 2004. The company's...

Cnf Fourth-Quarter Profit Up 59 Percent.
February 10, 2006... Transportation and logistics provider CNF said stronger results from two of its operations helped increase fourth-quarter profit 59 percentfrom the year-ago period. Profit applicable to common shareholders rose to $51.2 million, compared...

J.B. Hunt Rebounds with Higher Earnings.
February 10, 2006... Intermodal and trucking services provider J.B. Hunt Transport Services reported $65 million in net earnings for the fourth quarter of 2005, an increase of 44 percent, on revenue of $858 million, which was up 11 percent. The comparison was...

Shippers Concerned over Vague Hazmat Rules from Dot.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Shippers are concerned that a provision buried in the highway bill could result in hazardous materials packages being pulled from less-than-truckload shipments or kept off airplanes by the Department of...

Trucking Customers Likely to Face More Rate Hikes.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Carey With carriers in the less-than-truckload market heading toward a third year of pricing leverage over shippers, some industry observers are starting to whisper that the remarkable run for the truckers may be throttling...

Surcharges Fuel Shipper Fury.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Carey Are fuel surcharge negotiations between shippers and carriers becoming more contentious? Criticisms raised at a recent SMC3 conference suggest this may be the case. "We fired six or seven carriers this (past) year...

The Netherlands -- Where Trade Is Still King.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee The Netherlands is not only a major U.S. trading partner but also one of the few countries with which the U.S. has a merchandise trade surplus. What's more, moving cargo between the two countries is relatively...

Proponents Call for Expansion.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Leticia Lozano Nearly a century after President Theodore Roosevelt stood among the muddy diggers of the Panama Canal and inspired a colossal engineering feat, the current U.S. president, George W. Bush, stood at the waterway's...

Ports Weigh Rail's Environmental Cost-Benefit Ratio.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo As a councilwoman and lifelong resident of the City of Industry, Nancy Ramos appreciates the economic prosperity that industry, railroads and trucking bring to this community of 13,000 residents in eastern Los...

Port of Longview Sells Land to Steel Distributor.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto The Port of Longview, Wash., this month approved the sale of a 35-acre parcel of undeveloped property in the port's West Industrial Park to R&R Trading Inc. of Delta, British Columbia, for nearly $2.2 million. ...

Yuen Joins Board of Management Dynamics.
February 10, 2006... Management Dynamics, a provider of trade-management software services, has appointed Raymond Yuen to its board of directors. Yuen recently retired from John Swire & Sons Co., where he served as the director and chief representative for China...

Hawaiian Harbor Pilot Dave Lyman Dies after Fall.
February 10, 2006... Capt. Dave Lyman died on Jan 29 while working in Nawiliwili harbor. Capt. Lyman fell from a ladder after navigating the cruise ship Island Princess out of Nawiliwili harbor. Lyman, of Nu'uanu, was a 1965 graduate of the California Maritime...

Cosco's Robert Krekel Dies at 50.(Obituary)
February 10, 2006... Robert F. Krekel, executive vice president, operations, at Cosco Container Lines America Inc., died on Feb. 2 of an apparent heart attack. Krekel, 50, spent 17 years at Cosco and previously worked for Norton, Lilly & Co. He was a graduate...

Aapa Awards Inaugural Cruise Honor to Arison.
February 10, 2006... The American Association of Port Authorities selected the late Ted Arison (1924-1999), former chairman of Carnival Cruise Lines, as the winner of its inaugural Cruise Award, in recognition of Arison's leadership and vision in establishing...

Canada to Arm Border Guards.
February 10, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Canada, for the first time, will arm its border officers in a move that will end a series of recent strikes by unionized border personnel that disrupted cross-border trade. The new Conservative government of...

Surface Trade Growth Slows.
February 10, 2006... Surface trade with Canada and Mexico hit $62.9 billion in November, 12 percent higher than in November 2004, but 1.7 percent lower than October's record of $64 billion. The Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics...

Bush Threatens Veto.
February 24, 2006... The White House said that President Bush was unaware of the sale of P&O's U.S. port operations to Dubai's DP World until the deal already was approved by his administration, the Associated Press reported. The administration, again...

Container Ship Charter Rates Steady.
February 24, 2006... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard Container ship charter rates are bottoming out after falling sharply during the past nine months, but brokers said it is too early to call an end to the bear market. They noted that a record number of new ships would...

Hanjin Shipping to Order Five Mega-Vessels.
February 24, 2006... Hanjin Shipping has set a transport volume target in 2006 of 3.3 million TEUs and 49 million tons for container and bulk cargo. Hanjin, in its 2006 business plan, also said that it plans to place orders for five 10,000-TEU container vessels...

Westwood Opens Us-Canada Service.
February 24, 2006... Westwood Shipping in April will begin a coastal service between ports in British Columbia, Canada and Long Beach, operating the newly acquired vessel Westwood Pomona. Westwood, a subsidiary of the forest products company Weyerhaeuser, is...