Pacific Shipper articles from February 2009

Pacific Shipper archives from February 2009

Going underground.
February 2, 2009... The latest in the saga of Seattle's Alaska Way Viaduct is that it's going underground. Maybe. Maybe is always the operative word in Seattle, even after a decision is made. Readers of this space over the last few years may remember that various...

UBM Global Trade announces product changes.
February 2, 2009... The Feb. 23 issue of Pacific Shipper will mark the 83rd anniversary of the weekly trade and transportation magazine. It will also mark the last issue of the magazine in its current form. Beginning in March, news content of Pacific Shipper...

Dockworkers, employers to resume talks in British Columbia.
February 2, 2009... Contract negotiations are scheduled to resume between union foremen and their employers at British Columbia ports. Early last week, the talks appeared stalled. The parties met on Jan. 23 when the British Columbia Marine Employers'...

Tacoma expands transloading operation.
February 2, 2009... The Port of Tacoma said it is expanding its container transloading service to make it available to more shippers. "A growing trend is to de-van at ports of entry and transload into domestic boxes," said Susan Becklund, the port's director...

DHS goes ahead with 10+2.
February 2, 2009... The Importer Security Filing, or 10+2, interim final rule took effect last week as planned, Department of Homeland Security officials confirmed. The rule was one that could have been affected by a White House order that held the...

APL's volumes plunged in December.
February 2, 2009... APL's container volumes dropped by 24 percent in the last six weeks of 2008 compared to the prior year, its parent NOL said. It attributed the sharp decline to the rapid deterioration of demand on all major trade lanes and the company's...

Coast Guard opens intelligence unit.
February 2, 2009... The U.S. Coast Guard commissioned a new unit at Coast Guard Island called the Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center Pacific, or MIFC PAC. The commissioning of this independent unit will improve operational effectiveness and will create a...

New tug cuts pollution.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: STEPHANIE NALL Green Goat, meet the Green Dolphin. Another eco-friendly animal has joined the transportation equipment kingdom. Late last month, Foss Maritime unveiled the world's first hybrid tug at the Port of Long Beach. The...

Taking different green paths.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN If Leo Tolstoy surveyed the shipping scene today, he might say all companies pollute alike, but every company is "green" in its own way. That rough paraphrase of Tolstoy's observation on the differences between...

PNW ports to 'green' more equipment.
February 2, 2009... The ports of Seattle and Tacoma and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency have ponied up $318,000 in additional funding for a program to lower the diesel emissions of port cargo-handling equipment. The money comes on top of $850,000 from the...

Logistics prescription.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN UPS landed a significant catch in health care logistics when pharmaceutical giant Merck decided to let the consolidator handle the bulk of its U.S. distribution business. Drug manufacturers and health product...

LaHood takes the wheel.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: ARI NATTER   Ray LaHood Ray LaHood's confirmation hearing for the post of transportation secretary was going along swimmingly, at least until the subject of earmarks came up. Things got a little testy when Sen....

ATA advocates big green trucks.
February 2, 2009... The American Trucking Associations argues that longer, heavier trucks with engine speed limiters would be greener trucks, but not everyone in the trucking industry agrees. ATA told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Jan....

Business group presses for stimulus.
February 2, 2009... Speaking to a House panel on the day the Senate confirmed a new Transportation Secretary, Thomas J. Donohue, president and chief executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, pushed for investments in transportation infrastructure. Even as...

Transportation panel sets agenda.
February 2, 2009... Infrastructure investment, transportation safety and security, and global climate change will be among the top priorities of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the 111th Congress. "There is almost as much for...

Ports seek share of stimulus.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON   Port officials say they need funding for infrastructure projects on land and water. Listen to the pundits, you'll hear that we're a nation of highways, subways and bridges that are falling down from...

Surveys: Those involved in trade more optimistic.
February 2, 2009... A large majority of small business owners, particularly among those companies that engage in international trade, remain optimistic about their company's financial future despite the current economic crisis, two UPS surveys have found. In...

MOL to scrap 17 ships.
February 2, 2009... Japan's second-biggest shipping company, MOL, will scrap 17 aging ships - 15 automobile carriers and two Capesize bulkers - by the end of March, a company spokesman said. The scrapping comes in response to a sharp slump in demand for sea...

Horizon Logistics offers NVO ocean service.
February 2, 2009... Horizon Logistics LLC has launched an international ocean shipping service to offer supply-chain solutions to U.S. importers and exporters. Horizon Logistics has been licensed by the Federal Maritime Commission to operate as a...

Japan to launch port security program.
February 2, 2009... The Japanese government announced last week that a pilot project of the U.S.-led Megaports Initiative will be launched at the Port of Yokohama, near Tokyo, on March 2. The announcement was made in a joint statement issued by the Foreign...

India to expedite port projects.
February 2, 2009... Indian Shipping Minister T.R. Baalu called on major port authorities to ensure timely implementation of various capacity expansion projects that are currently under development. The directive comes after the minister held a meeting with...

JAL cuts LA cargo flights.
February 2, 2009... Japan Airlines Corp., Asia's largest carrier, will cut the number of weekly cargo flights between Tokyo Narita and Los Angeles from the current five to four and suspend cargo flights on seven other international routes. The moves,...

Freedom from assets keeps middlemen viable.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH Like container carriers, ocean freight intermediaries are seeing their cargo volumes drop. But unlike the carriers, their bottom lines are not dragged into the red by ships that must be laid up or by expensive vessel...

Survival of the quickest.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: JOHN GALLAGHER The fastest segment of the trucking industry is working even faster as the economy slows down and shippers seek less costly alternatives to move their freight. It's suddenly OK to move heavy freight that shippers...

Mexico delays applications for Punta Colonet.
February 2, 2009... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO   Mexican officiials want to expand capacity at their West Coast ports, such as Ensenada, with new projects at Guaymas and Punto Colonet. The government of Mexico is delaying for several months the...

New cranes arrive in Tacoma.
February 2, 2009... Two bright orange cranes arrived at the Port of Tacoma last week and are bound for Washington United Terminals. Ordered from the Shanghai-based ZPMC, the new cranes traveled to Commencement Bay fully-assembled and welded to the ship.

Buffett firm buys more BNSF stock.
February 2, 2009... Berkshire Hathaway, the investment firm controlled by Warren Buffett, spent approximately $271 million in January to purchase 4.36 million shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The investor's stake in BNSF is up to 21.8 percent of...

UP fined for fuel and oil spill.
February 2, 2009... The Washington state Department of Ecology fined Union Pacific Railroad $52,500 for a spill that resulted from the May 2007 collision of two trains near the Nisqually Delta, spilling hundreds of gallons of diesel fuel and lube oil. The...

FMC judge allows petitioners in clean-trucks case.
February 2, 2009...   Some provisions of the Southern California clean-trucks program have been controversial. A Federal Maritime Commission administrative law judge has ruled that petitioners in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach clean-trucks...

Seattle boxes plunged 27.6 percent in December.
February 2, 2009... The Port of Seattle staggered to the finish line last year with its worst month of 2008 by a wide margin, and its worst month since 2004. December container volume plummeted 27.6 percent to 112,135 TEUs, compared with the same month in 2007....

Containers boost cargo tonnage at Prince Rupert.
February 2, 2009...   Despite freight downturns at other ports, Prince Rupert's container levels climbed at the end of the year. Despite a global economic downturn that resulted in traffic decreases at other Pacific Coast ports, the new container...

Attack of the killer Internet.
February 9, 2009... Pacific Shipper has always been a sturdy, if not fashionable, news magazine. It has withstood major earthquakes, squeaked through the Great Depression and survived the attack on Pearl Harbor. Since Feb. 22, 1926, there hasn't been a week that's...

Senator Lines to cease operations.
February 9, 2009... Senator Lines of Germany last Wednesday announced it will wind down its liner services immediately as the deepening slump in container shipping claimed its first high-profile casualty. Senator, which is majority owned by Hanjin Shipping of...

Idle container fleet hits 800,000 TEUs.
February 9, 2009... Idled ocean container capacity has reached a record 800,000 TEUs with 303 ships at anchor as carriers cut or consolidate services on key east-west routes amid declining traffic and freight rates. The unemployed figure represents 6.5 percent...

NAM's Vargo issues warning on protectionism.
February 9, 2009... The Obama administration must make every effort to ensure that the government works for a global standstill on protectionist measures both by the U.S. Congress and by the major U.S. trading partners or the result will be "economic disaster."...

Generating heat at the border.
February 9, 2009... BYLINE: JOHN D. BOYD While the once-hot North American freight economy settles into a deep freeze with its sharpest declines in decades, industry planners still find some hot spots along the U.S.-Mexican border. Traffic is falling...

Widespread conspiracy alleged.
February 9, 2009... BYLINE: JOSEPH BONNEY With a former Sea Star Line executive headed to prison for price-fixing by carriers in the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico trade, the Justice Department says its investigation continues to widen to other domestic shipping...

Japan's ports see drop in trade with the US.
February 9, 2009... The Port of Nagoya in central Japan handled 234,364 TEUs in foreign trade in October, down 1.3 percent from a year earlier, according to a preliminary report released by the Nagoya municipal government. The decline followed an increase of...

Chinese box portsgained in 2008.
February 9, 2009... The top 10 Chinese container ports increased throughput in 2008, but three of them saw declines in December, according to a report from Orient Overseas Container Line. Shanghai, the No. 1 port by volume, handled 27,980 20-foot containers...

Profitable UPS sees gloomy 2009.
February 9, 2009... UPS reported a $254 million net profit despite a troubled fourth quarter, but the world's largest parcel carrier said it is taking actions to prepare for one of the toughest years in its history. UPS said it is freezing management salaries,...

Boxes up 7.5 percent at India's Nehru.
February 9, 2009... Container throughput at the Port of Jawaharlal Nehru, India's largest box gateway, grew 7.5 percent in 2008, amid indications that the slump in trade would have an adverse impact on traffic volumes in the coming months. The west coast port...

U-Freight creates strategy team.
February 9, 2009... U-Freight, a Hong Kong-based forwarder, has created what it calls an elite team to devise and implement strategic initiatives. The team, known as the Navigators, consists of 12 executives from various national offices around the world. The 11...

Product safety testing delayed.
February 9, 2009... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON On Jan. 30, the Consumer Product Safety Commission took a half step back in its enforcement of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. Importers, domestic manufacturers and retailers felt they had an...

Rails on a cutting edge.
February 9, 2009... BYLINE: JOHN D. BOYD Even as they roll in profits, North America's railroads are slashing capacity. Major carriers are laying off thousands of workers, laying up thousands of locomotives and storing tens of thousands of idle freight cars....

Musical chairs over the Pacific.
February 9, 2009... For a sector that long seemed a haven of stability and strong yields, the U.S.-Australia/New Zealand air cargo market is uncharacteristically lively at the moment. On the heels of one freighter operator joining the game, one of the...

Widespread conspiracy alleged.
February 9, 2009... BYLINE: ROBERT R. FRUMP What's the 2009 outlook for piracy? Good - if you're a pirate. But it's not so hot if you are a shipping line, tanker owner, cargo shipper or the Suez Canal Authority. The ancient scourge of piracy appears to...

Poverty and political instability in Somalia foster growth of piracy.
February 9, 2009... BYLINE: ROBERT R. FRUMP The pirates operating in the key trade lanes off the East Africa Coast have a spokesman, but no known Web page with "Career Opportunities" posted. But if they did, it might look like this: "Low risk, high...

Matson posts 30 percent drop in operating profit.(Financial report)
February 9, 2009... Domestic ocean carrier Matson Navigation Co.'s fourth-quarter operating profit declined 30 percent to $21.1 million, mainly because of lower container volume in all of its trade lanes. Matson, a subsidiary of the Honolulu-based Alexander &...

Pacific Islands show mixed economic trends.
February 9, 2009... Pacific Island nations and U.S. territories scattered over hundreds of thousands of square miles of the Earth's largest ocean are showing mixed economic trends. Some have not been impacted by the current international economic crisis; others...

WWL adds service from Tacoma.
February 9, 2009...   Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics will call at Tacoma weekly. Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has launched a monthly service from Tacoma as part of its eastbound Asia to North America to Europe trade. The new service will accept...

Former P&O Ports executive named Vancouver port boss.
February 9, 2009... Port Metro Vancouver, British Columbia, has appointed Robin Silvester president and chief executive. He succeeds Gordon Houston, who is retiring as head of Canada's busiest ocean trade gateway on March 31. Silvester previously worked as...

Buffett boosts his stake in BNSF.
February 9, 2009... Warren Buffett now controls more than 22.6 percent of Burlington Northern Santa Fe, parent of the largest railroad on the continent, based on revenue. New filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that Buffett's Berkshire...

Tacoma port elects officers.
February 9, 2009... The Port of Tacoma Commission elected Clare Petrich president of the five-member panel and elected other officers for 2009. Positions on the commission rotate each year. Petrich replaces Dick Marzano as commission president. Marzano will...

Tacoma's Reed Jones dies.
February 9, 2009... Reed Jones, a Tacoma maritime leader and a senior executive at the Port of Tacoma, passed away on Jan. 7 at the age of 87. Mr. Jones joined the port as sales manager in 1952, at a time when the port had no regular steamship service. He was...

China Shipping (Canada) puts Zhao at the helm.
February 9, 2009... China Shipping (Canada) Agency named Zhao Ying Tao president following the retirement last month of Li Haoran, who served in that position for the past five years. Zhao announced other appointments: -- Brad Carter was promoted to...

Coleman joins Allports.
February 9, 2009... Robert E. Coleman was named director of business development for Allports Forwarding and Allports Inc., an international forwarding and customer brokerage company in Portland, Ore. In 1981, Coleman and Gene Brosterhous teamed up and formed...

Con-way Freight promotes Dell.
February 9, 2009... Con-way Freight, a less-than-truckload carrier and subsidiary of Con-way Inc. promoted Timothy P. Dell to area vice president of sales, western area. In the role, Dell will be responsible for directing the company's sales initiatives in the 11...

NYKCool's CEO to retire.
February 9, 2009... Mats Jansson, chief executive of NYKCool, will retire on March 31 after 15 years in the post. The carrier of refrigerated and temperature-sensitive ocean cargo said Boris Gersling will take over as chief executive, effective April 1. ...

Last words.
February 16, 2009... The Port of Seattle last week said its nonunion workers, about 850 of them, will have to take two weeks of unpaid leave, a move to save money and help offset an expected budget shortfall this year of about $9 million. Even Tay Yoshitani,...

Oakland's boat tour becomes economic victim.
February 16, 2009... The decade-old tradition of free summer boat tours at the Port of Oakland has fallen victim to the economy. Port officials said they made the "difficult" decision to halt the public tours offered each May through October because of...

Customs chief Basham is stepping down.
February 16, 2009... W. Ralph Basham, commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, will step down at the end of February, the agency said last week. Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern will serve as acting commissioner beginning on March 1, according to Customs...

Senate passes stimulus bill.
February 16, 2009... The Senate on Feb. 10 passed an economic stimulus bill by a vote of 61 to 37 with three Republicans supporting it. The $883 billion bill now heads to a House-Senate conference to resolve differences between it and the $819 billion version...

Constricted economy narrows trade deficit.
February 16, 2009... As the volume of international trade tumbled 5 percent in December, the trade deficit narrowed from $41.6 billion in November to $39.9 billion, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. The slowing global economy knocked exports...

DOT tracks freight downturn.
February 16, 2009... Freight movements declined in December for the fourth time in five months, bringing the year to a crashing end with the largest five-month decline since mid-2000. The Transportation Services Index fell 2.3 percent in December, according to...

OOIL to cut shipping capacity.
February 16, 2009... Container traffic for Orient Overseas (International) Ltd. is expected to decline 20 to 30 percent in January and February, as the effects of the global economic downturn hit trade, Chairman Tung Chee-chen said. The Hong Kong-based parent...

Deck officers remain in short supply.
February 16, 2009... The shortage of deck officers continues to be a big problem for ocean fleet owners and managers, according to a new report by Drewry Shipping Consultants. New ship orders may be canceled, existing orders may not be delivered and older...

Heavy-lift holds firm.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: DAVID BIEDERMAN Two months into 2009, the best that can be said for the state of the breakbulk and project cargo shipping industry is that it hasn't been hit as hard as container shipping. Energy and infrastructure projects...

Energy projects keep Pacific ports working.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Despite a slumping economy, wind turbine and other energy projects are keeping ports on the Pacific Coast busy this year. The small Port of West Sacramento, which just two years ago looked as though it could...

Ocean carriers start taking the long way around.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Trying to wring every penny of cost out of their global service networks, container lines are seeking a way around one of their east-west services' main fixed costs - the tolls assessed by the Panama and Suez canals....

Drug companies hoping to get speed from FDA.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson The Green Lane is back. When Customs and Border Protection launched the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, the Green Lane was the unobstructed path through the border for importers demonstrating the very...

Trans-Pacific carriers withdraw capacity control request.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: Joseph Bonney and R.G. Edmonson The Federal Maritime Commission has made new friends. Over the years, the FMC has been reviled by cargo interests for allegedly giving ocean carriers too much leeway under antitrust immunity. Now the...

Bumping toward a bottom?
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: JOHN D. BOYD   Steel prices have nearly doubled since November. The view from America's loading docks, warehouse gates and rail yards is bleak, but some light is trying to pierce the economic gloom. Despite...

Truckers' eastern front.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: JOHN GALLAGHER As Southern California prepares to charge truckers $70 per FEU to defray the cost of a controversial clean-trucks program, a Pennsylvania-based drayage company is working to keep similar programs from infiltrating...

Redrawing the map.
February 16, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN The economy may be in a tailspin from Cheboygan to China, but that hasn't stopped manufacturers from stretching supply chains across continents and "offshoring" production facilities as they seek lower labor costs....

Seattle port to furlough nonunion employees.
February 16, 2009...   Union employees make up approximately 50 percent of the port's work force. The Port of Seattle has directed about 850 nonunion employees to take two weeks of unpaid leave as part of a plan to offset a projected $9 million...

Total volume down at Metro Vancouver.
February 16, 2009... Port Metro Vancouver reports its facilities handled nearly 114.6 million metric tons of cargo in 2008, a drop of 10 percent from 2007. Commodities such as coal, potash and petroleum products experienced moderate increases at the British...

Port volume falls in Mexico.
February 16, 2009...   Veracruz and other Mexican ports saw a collective 12.3 growth in container cargo. More than 264.8 million metric tons of cargo were shipped through Mexico's ports in 2008, according to data compiled by the national port office,...

Cranes arrive in Guam.
February 16, 2009... Three gantry cranes that were purchased jointly last year by the domestic operators Matson Navigation Co. and Horizon Lines have arrived at the Port of Guam. Horizon and Matson entered an agreement to purchase the refurbished cranes for...

Hamburg Sud to shift terminal use in Oakland.
February 16, 2009... Hamburg Sud is transferring calls for its South Seas Service vessels at the Port of Oakland. The service will begin calling at TransBay Container Terminal with the arrival of the Niu Polynesia (Voyage 391) on or about March 6. The last...

LA delays decision on X-ray scanner.
February 16, 2009... Harbor commissioners at the Port of Los Angeles have given a Chinese company another two weeks to prove that a security scanning device being tested at the port works as advertised. The initial decision to purchase the mobile linear...

Long Beach opens port security center.
February 16, 2009... Long Beach opens port security center The Port of Long Beach last week dedicated its new Command and Control Center, which will serve as security headquarters at the busiest U.S. container gateway. The $21 million facility, designed...

San Diego puts brakes on ship speeds.
February 16, 2009... In an effort to reduce pollution, the Port of San Diego wants operators of cruise and cargo ships to reduce ship speeds when entering and leaving San Diego Bay, beginning on March 1. The Board of Port Commissioners unanimously approved a...

LA port police prevent suicide.
February 16, 2009...   Los Angeles port police Sgts. Rosario Ferrara (left) and Daniel Cobos. Two Los Angeles port police officers literally stopped a man from jumping off a bridge by grabbing his pants leg. Around 1 p.m. on Jan. 28, Sgts. Daniel...

Pacer appoints Commiskey VP of automotive.
February 16, 2009... Pacer International Inc. has appointed James K. Commiskey vice president of business development-automotive for its Pacer Stacktrain unit. In his role, Commiskey is responsible for sales and coordinating the marketing effort for Pacer's...