Pacific Shipper articles from January 2009

Pacific Shipper archives from January 2009

Bailing.
January 5, 2009... As this is written, it wasn't quite 2009, and the prospect of a difficult year has me wondering about many things as ghosts of Christmases past, present and future hover. I wonder why there have to be nearly 80 days between the election of...

Metro Vancouver facing strike by truckers.
January 5, 2009... Port Metro Vancouver, Canada's busiest ocean gateway, last week faced a second strike threat to its container, bulk and automobile traffic. Truckers who haul containers to and from the port's terminals complain that trucking companies are...

Idled capacity up as rates tumble.
January 5, 2009... Over 200 container ships likely will be laid up in the New Year as charter ship owners and ocean carriers adjust to weakening cargo demand, plunging freight and vessel hire rates, and an influx of new ships onto key liner-trade routes. ...

US probes Chinese export subsidies.
January 5, 2009... The Department of Commerce announced its preliminary findings in its anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese exporters of kitchen-appliance shelving and racks from China. The agency found that several Chinese exporters have received net...

Oberstar proposes short-sea funds.
January 5, 2009... The chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee wants to give short-sea shipping a $30 million jolt as part of the comprehensive economic stimulus package that Congress will consider when it convenes in January. Rep....

Mexico to cut tariffs on industrial products.
January 5, 2009... Mexico will cut tariffs on capital goods and other industrial imports to lower costs for Mexican manufacturers who have been hurt by the recession in the United States, Finance Minister Agustin Carstens announced. The cuts are aimed in...

How long? How deep? How bad?
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: Rosalind McLymont Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, issued a warning in November to trade ministers from the organization's 153 member countries. "The market for trade finance has severely...

Where's the economy going?
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: RICK EYERDAM The state of the global economy has a lot of economists and others offering forecasts on what will happen.   Boeing said that world air cargo growth will expand at a 5.8 percent annual rate over the next...

Latin America outlook for 2009:.
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: John Price The recent financial crisis has shaken business confidence across the globe. Emerging markets are victim to a financial meltdown that is largely not their doing. Latin America witnessed the erosion of its enviable...

The picture is bleak for ocean carriers.
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH   APL is amont the carriers that have laid up ships this year. What will the container shipping industry look like when it emerges from its current funk? When will global containerized trade resume its...

Trucking keeps on churning.
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: JOHN GALLAGHER   Shippers will have fewer LTL carriers to choose from by the end of 2009.Photo: ABF Freight System At the start of 2008, trucking executives looked forward to an end to the economic downturn by the...

Gas too cheap?
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN Logistics is by definition a challenging profession, and after a year of rollercoaster fuel prices and deepening recession, the coming year looks to be downright daunting. "2008 will be a year to remember," said...

Road work ahead.
January 5, 2009... BYLINE: ARI NATTER If anyone is likely to break out the party hats this New Year's Eve, it's those who spent 2008 hammering home the need to put infrastructure high on the national agenda. After years of feeling neglected - just like...

Stuart joins Tacoma as environmental manager.
January 5, 2009... The Port of Tacoma has hired Ron Stuart as its environmental project manager-air quality. In this position, Stuart will manage port-related diesel and greenhouse gas emissions-reduction programs, including implementation of the Northwest...

Labor official 'Brokenrail' dies.
January 5, 2009... James Brunkenhoefer, the longtime top national legislative director for the railroad conductors' United Transportation Union, died on Dec. 19 after suffering a stroke. He was 61. Widely known as "Brokenrail," he had been the top federal...

Eight days and counting.
January 12, 2009... In little more than a week, when President-elect Barack Obama takes office, the world will be waiting for his first actions aimed at fixing an economy mired in recession. The new administration will need to move swiftly and boldly to jolt...

Idled vessels increase.
January 12, 2009... Idled ocean container capacity has reached 550,000 TEUs, with 210 vessels out of work as carriers continue to cut or suspend services in the face of sharply falling demand on key liner trade routes. The idle capacity, up from 420,000 TEUs...

Air cargo plunges.
January 12, 2009... Cargo business for U.S. airlines went into free-fall in November, according to new figures from the Air Transport Association that showed freight traffic declining at a rate the industry hasn't seen since the 2001 terrorist attacks. ...

Progress reported in British Columbia talks.
January 12, 2009... The threat of a work stoppage at Canada's Port of Vancouver seemed less likely after a marathon collective-bargaining session. Negotiators for British Columbia waterfront employers and 450 unionized ship and dock foremen who oversee more...

Truckers strike at Cochin.
January 12, 2009... A strike by truckers that began Tuesday at India's Port of Cochin has halted cargo movements to and from its container terminal managed by DP World. Truckers are protesting a recent decision by the port authority to levy parking charges...

Pandas fly to Taiwan.
January 12, 2009... Taiwanese carrier EVA Air, parto fo the Evergreen Group, flew Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan from Chengdu in mainland China's southwest Sichuan province to their new home in Taipei, Taiwan. EVA transported the two endangered pandas on a specially...

Cutting back on green.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: STEPHANIE NALL California container ports find themselves in unfamiliar territory this year. The Southern California ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have instituted hiring freezes after years  growth in cargo and staff....

Carriers seek authority to control capacity.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO AND R.G. EDMONSON Facing heavy losses that could extend into 2010 or beyond, container carriers in the eastbound trans-Pacific trade are asking the Federal Maritime Commission for expanded authority to discuss cuts...

Congress takes up infrastructure spending.
January 12, 2009... The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee identified $85 billion in infrastructure spending recommendations for an economic stimulus recovery package Congress is crafting. And in the Senate, Democrats are looking at business tax...

Evergreen to cut US jobs.
January 12, 2009... Evergreen Shipping Agency (America), agent for Evergreen Marine Corp., will consolidate some North American offices and reduce staff in the face of the downturn in the global ocean shipping business. "The worldwide economic turmoil has...

WTO retains Lamy.
January 12, 2009... Pascal Lamy, director-general of the World Trade Organization, will continue in his position after his four-year term expires on Aug. 31, because no one has emerged to challenge him for the job, a WTO spokesman said. Nominations for the...

Horizon Lines faces lawsuit.
January 12, 2009... Horizon Lines Inc. said it will "vigorously defend" itself against a securities class-action lawsuit related to alleged price-fixing in its Puerto Rican shipping operations. The company said the lawsuit, brought by individuals who have...

Coos Bay disputes rail line price.
January 12, 2009... The Oregon International Port of Coos Bay is back before the Surface Transportation Board over a closed rail line it agreed to buy, asking the regulators to knock at least $9 million off the selling price. The STB last month set a "final"...

Tacoma tests rail tracking.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: BILL DIBENEDETTO It's a brave new world indeed when a cargo container can send you an e-mail that tells you where it is. The Port of Tacoma is testing a global positioning system tracking device that could take supply-chain...

Single laser can measure cargo package dimensions.
January 12, 2009... Laser scanning technology can now read the dimensional weight - or the space a cargo package occupies - with a single laser, providing a faster and more accurate tool for determining proper freight charges. The system, developed by...

Shipments by value plunged in November.
January 12, 2009... The value of shipments of manufactured goods plummeted in November by the largest percentage since the series was first published on its current basis in 1992, according to an updated government report. Shipments of all manufactured goods...

10+2: Controlling your destiny.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: RICK BRIDGES The interim Importer Security Filing, better known as the 10+2 rule, has raised many concerns, but one that has received little attention is the requirement that the filings must be secured by a bond. This bond, just...

India changes port tariffs.
January 12, 2009... India's Tariff Authority for Major Ports has taken action on tariffs levied at several ports. The authority ordered a 34 percent reduction in tariffs currently levied by PSA-Sical Terminals Ltd., the private terminal operator at the Port of...

Shanghai growth slows.
January 12, 2009... The global financial crisis slowed growth at the Port of Shanghai in 2008. The port complex handled 28 million TEUs, an increase of 7 percent from 2007, Shanghai International Port (Group) Co. said. Total cargo tonnage grew 4.5 percent to...

Farm groups lobby for food origin labeling.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: Alan M. Field Shortly before Thanksgiving, the Food and Drug Administration opened an office in China, the FDA's first outside the United States. The opening reflected the FDA's new global strategy to protect U.S. food imports by...

US beef producers hot over COOL flaws.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: Alan M. Field For U.S. cattle producers, the concept of country-of-origin labeling seemed simple: Require all muscle cuts of beef to be labeled with their countries of origin, much like the labels affixed to televisions and...

Company disputes Customs' shrimp testing.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON Erwin Sutanto is frustrated. Customs and Border Protection is challenging the country of origin of his company's product based on laboratory test results, but has been unwilling to discuss the laboratory testing that...

New US inspection policy could delay Canadian produce imports.
January 12, 2009... Customs and Border Protection will put into effect a new protocol for inspecting Canadian fruits and vegetables that may cause an increase in hold and inspection rates for those commodities, the agency said. The standardized automated...

Russia, US reach poultry pact.
January 12, 2009... BYLINE: STEPHANIE NALL For U.S. poultry producers, Russia is by far the largest overseas market - and perennially the biggest question mark in the industry because Russian rules and market-entry provisions change so often. Just before...

DHL taps Puerto Rico medical market.
January 12, 2009... DHL Global Forwarding opened a dedicated facility in Carolina, Puerto Rico, to serve the life science market. The Life Science Competency Center enhances an existing facility. It is designed specifically around the shipping requirements...

Oakland dock spat resolved.
January 12, 2009... Steel bridge parts stuck aboard a Chinese vessel in Oakland for nearly a week were offloaded after three unions vying for the right to handle the cargo reached a compromise. The parts had been kept onboard the Chinese vessel Zhen Hua since...

Yusen opens Mexico Subsidiary.
January 12, 2009... Yusen Air & Sea Service Co., the core logistics arm of NYK Line, announced that it has established a Mexican subsidiary to strengthen its local services in that country. Yusen Air & Sea Service (Mexico) S.A. de C.V. is capitalized at 5...

KCS seeks permit to build bridge into Mexico.
January 12, 2009... Kansas City Southern filed an application on Dec. 30 at the U.S. State Department for a presidential permit to build a new rail bridge at Laredo, Texas, into Mexico. The railroad already has an aging bridge there, which runs across the Rio...

Wurster takes the helm at San Diego.
January 12, 2009...   Board Chairman Mike Bixler, left, welcomes new port President Charles Wurster, Standing: (left to right) Retiring port President Bruce Hollingsworth and incoming Board Chairman Stephen P. Cushman. San Diego's Board of Port...

Simonsen to manage Tacoma accounting operations.
January 12, 2009...   Jorgann SimonsenThe Port of Tacoma named Jorgann Simonsen manager of accounting operations, responsible for accounts payable, accounts receivable, billing and payroll. Prior to joining the port, Simonsen spent nine years with...

Two join WSC board.
January 12, 2009... The World Shipping Council has appointed two new board members to fill the unexpired terms of retiring directors J.W. Park of Hanjin Shipping and Klaus Meves of Hamburg Sud. Chief Operating Officer Y.M. Kim of Hanjin was elected to complete...

Ripley Watson Jr., transportation reporter, dies.
January 12, 2009... Ripley Watson Jr., who worked as a reporter for The Journal of Commerce during a journalism career that spanned more than three decades, died on Dec. 28 in Westminster, Md. He was 86. Watson worked for 19 years at The Associated Press and a...

Bad karma breeds good karma?
January 19, 2009... If there's a balance in the way the universe works, Seattle -- and not just the Port of Seattle -- is owed big-time on that particular scorecard. The city's and port's amazingly bad run that started in late 2007 continues with no visible...

LA box count down 6 percent.
January 19, 2009... The Port of Los Angeles closed out its weakest year in more than a decade with total container volume in December dropping 15.2 percent from the same month the year before. For 2008, container volume at the largest U.S. port declined 6...

Drewry sees tough year ahead.
January 19, 2009... This year will be the toughest test yet for the global container shipping industry and further casualties among operators are a real possibility, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants, which issued the warning in its latest quarterly...

NAFTA trade declines 2.1 percent.
January 19, 2009... NAFTA-related surface trade fell 2.1 percent in October in the first decline since February 2007 at a pace unheard of in the last five years. The sharp slide ushered in a soft peak season, suggesting further declines in November and...

Carriers divert ships from Vancouver.
January 19, 2009... The diversion of container ships from Canada's west coast Port Metro Vancouver has become "significant" as marathon collective bargaining continues between waterfront employers and union foremen. Another in a series of day-long bargaining...

Competitive answer to recession?
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM ARMBRUSTER As President-elect Barack Obama and his advisers worked on their strategy for the new administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued its own agenda on international business issues. "The comprehensive...

Chamber report emphasizes worker assistance.
January 19, 2009... As part of its effort to find common ground with the Obama administration and Congress, the Chamber of Commerce's trade agenda puts a high priority on trade adjustment assistance. It ranked sixth place on the report's 14-point list. ...

Shippers ready to fight carriers' capacity control bid.
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON     What are they thinking? Why would the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement be asking for the authority to discuss capacity at a time when the political and economic forces seem to be aligned...

Gas tax hike back on table.
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: ARI NATTER A second federal commission is poised to call for a fuel tax hike to raise funds for U.S. highways, but only until some sort of vehicle mileage tax can be deployed. That would put a gas tax increase back on the table...

About face.
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN   ProLogis is selling its assets in China and Japan, including this Tokyo facility. Commercial real estate developer ProLogis insists its retreat from China's warehousing markets is all about reducing...

Repair, not replace.
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN If the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts, it is even more true that the whole doesn't work without some of its parts. In the current economy, those parts are becoming even more important as making...

Wilmington, Del., handles Chilean fruit.
January 19, 2009... The Port of Wilmington welcomed this season's first shipment of Chilean winter fruit onboard Pacific Seaways' chartered reefer vessel, the Royal Klipper, on Dec. 19. During the 2007-08 season, 150,000 pallets of Chilean fruit with a retail...

US provides details on origin labeling.
January 19, 2009... The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced details of the final regulation for the mandatory country-of-origin labeling (COOL) program required by the 2002 and 2008 farm bills. The final rule will become effective on March 16. ...

WCA launches perishables partnership.
January 19, 2009... The WCA Family of Logistic Networks has created the WCA Perishables Partnership (including produce, vegetables, seafood, flowers, frozen foodstuffs and biotech goods). The WCA Perishables Partnership includes selected independent...

Manufacturers turn to Vietnam.
January 19, 2009... U.S. carriers have not exactly flocked to Vietnam in the aftermath of the open-skies agreement concluded in early October, but forwarders and express operators are ramping up their presence in the market. In response to gloomy market...

Hong Kong: Gateway to the Chinese market.(Industry overview)
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: RICHARD KNEE If you want ready access to the Chinese market and a business-friendly operating environment, set up a regional headquarters in Hong Kong, the head of the Hong Kong-U.S. Business Council suggests. Though Hong Kong...

PierPass members retain Saturday gate hours -- for now.
January 19, 2009... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO When business was booming at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, there was strong support for longer hours at terminal gates. Now that cargo growth has slackened, terminal operators are finding that cutting...

FMC's stand on clean-trucks plan upsets California legislators.
January 19, 2009... Members of California's congressional delegation have asked the Federal Maritime Commission to drop its challenge to the Los Angeles-Long Beach clean-trucks program, especially its opposition to the concession requirement that calls for...

Trans-Freight adds warehouse capacity.
January 19, 2009... Trans-Freight Express, which operates warehouses and distributes coffee products, a variety of dry household commodities, vehicles and machinery, has leased a 96,395-square-foot distribution facility in Rancho Dominguez, Calif., to double its...

Tunnel pegged to replace Seattle's elevated roadway.
January 19, 2009... Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and other city, county and port officials have endorsed a $4.24 billion plan to replace a major north-south traffic artery through downtown Seattle with a deep-bored tunnel. The tunnel project is the result...

Metro Vancouver to add shore power.
January 19, 2009... Port Metro Vancouver will be the first port in Canada to implement shore power for cruise ships, beginning with the 2009 cruise season at Canada Place. The shore power installation at the homeport of the Vancouver-Alaska cruise represents a C$9...

APL moving to Phoenix.
January 19, 2009... Neptune Orient Lines, parent company of carrier APL Ltd., will move its Americas headquarters to Phoenix from Oakland during the second half of 2009. The liner operator, which has been based in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 100...

Long Beach welcomes Cap Andreas.
January 19, 2009... The Hamburg Sud ship Cap Andreas made its first port call at Long Beach on Dec.10 at the ITS Terminal, and received a commemorative plaque noting the occasion from officials of the Port of Long Beach. Left to right: Russell Fox, Hamburg Sud;...

United Fresh hires supply-chain executive.
January 19, 2009... Tom Stenzel, United Fresh Produce Association president and chief executive, announced the appointment of Dan Vache, former vice president of sales, food division, at Sensitech Inc., as head of its new supply chain logistics and technology...

Stefflre is new IANA chairman.
January 19, 2009... The board of the Intermodal Association of North America announced the election of Greg Stefflre, chief executive of Rail Delivery Services, as its chairman for 2009. Stefflre succeeds Theodore Prince, principal of T. Prince & Associates...

Chiarello fills NYK Logistics Americas post.
January 19, 2009... Tetsuichi "Tony" Nozaki, president and chief executive of NYK Group (Americas) Inc., announced the appointment of Anthony Chiarello as executive vice president and chief operating officer of NYK Logistics (Americas) Inc. Chiarello will...

Song takes helm of Hyundai North America.
January 19, 2009... Y.I. Song took office as the new chairman and chief executive of North American operations at Hyundai Merchant Marine. Song succeeds Y.K. Kim, who returned to the company's headquarters in Seoul as head of global container activities. Song...

Orris steps down at Pacer.
January 19, 2009... Donald C. Orris has stepped down from his role as interim president, intermodal segment, at Pacer International. Orris will stay with the company as an executive vice president, providing advice and assistance to Michael E. Uremovich,...

Stimulating delays.
January 26, 2009... Looking back at what is written down in black and white can sometimes make one feel foolish. For example, last July I wrote this: Shippers reconsidering their supply chains will soon have 160 new reasons to avoid Southern California. ...

Matson to cut staff by 10 percent.
January 26, 2009... Matson Navigation Co. will reduce the size of its work force by 10 percent as part of a wide-ranging cost-reduction program announced by its parent, Alexander & Baldwin. The cuts are in addition to a hiring freeze put in place last fall...

Ports' clean-truck fees to begin on Feb. 18.
January 26, 2009... The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles on Feb. 18 will begin collecting a $35 per-TEU fee to support their clean-trucks program. Revenue from the fee, which could total $1 million a day for both ports combined, will be used to subsidize...

Port volume declines slightly at Redwood City.
January 26, 2009... At the mid-point in the Port of Redwood City's 2009 fiscal year, total tonnage for all commodities during July 1-Dec.3 1 was 663,412 metric tons. This was a decrease of 2,857 metric tons, or less 1 percent lower than the first half of fiscal...

Container volume falls 12.3 percent at Tacoma.
January 26, 2009... The Port of Tacoma closed out 2008 with a 12.3 percent drop in container volume in December to 146,175 TEUs. That was the port's worst percentage drop of the year and its third-lowest monthly container total for the year. For 2008, the...

Blue state.
January 26, 2009... BYLINE: STEPHANIE NALL Bad economic news abounds everywhere, but recently the state of Washington got a little shot in the arm. Late last year, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation released a study showing that Washington is one of...

Grays Harbor bucks downward trend.
January 26, 2009... BYLINE: STEPHANIE NALL   The Port of Grays Harbor hopes to enter the auto business. Washington's container business may be in a slump, but one of the state's smaller ports is seeing new business in autos and bulk commodities....

BNSF launches express box service.
January 26, 2009... BNSF Railway is offering express international container service from the ports of Seattle and Tacoma, Wash., to Memphis, Tenn., and Chicago. At first, one full train will depart weekly from either port to either destination on a schedule...

Tacoma may downsize terminal plans.
January 26, 2009... BYLINE: BILL DIBENEDETTO   The Port of Tacoma may scale back plans for a  new terminal. What a difference 18 months and a recession can make. Rewind, if you will, to a scene played out in July 2007: The Port of Tacoma...