Pacific Shipper articles from July 2005

Pacific Shipper archives from July 2005

Cost Vs. Value in Supply Chain.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall 2004: Fuel prices shot up. The truck driver shortage increased. U.S. railroads didn't have enough capacity. West Coast ports didn't have enough longshoremen on the payroll, and ships sat untouched in harbors for up...

Port of Vancouver Truck Strike.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Courtney Tower As the trucker strike at the Port of Vancouver entered its fifth day at press time, no talks were scheduled between the truckers and motor carriers. At last week's midpoint, containers continued to move...

Port of Seattle Industrial-Development Project Gets Nod.
July 1, 2005... The Seattle Port Commission last week narrowly approved a plan to add more jobs, industries and public benefits to property formerly used to store imported cars and fishing nets at the north end of the port. The vote was 3-2. The...

Taca Extends Suspension of Surcharge.
July 1, 2005... The seven-member Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement said the suspension of a congestion surcharge at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach would continue through July 31. The published surcharge is $200 per 20-foot container and $400 for...

Hanjin Freight Rate Index Up in May.
July 1, 2005... Hanjin Shipping Co, Asia's fourth-largest container line, said its freight rate index rose in May, helped by growing demand in the U.S. and Europe for products made in China and other Asian countries. The index, calculated by dividing total...

Foretelling Fortunes of Logistics Providers.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto Logistics has always been the foundation of transportation. Get the arrangements, timing and connections correct, and everyone in the supply chain prospers. Today that basic mission is more important and more...

Supply Chains in Real Time.
July 1, 2005... Data visibility and traceability are keys to operating an efficient supply chain, according to white papers submitted at the 11th Annual Global Trade, Transportation and Logistics Conference last month at the University of Washington. ...

Evergreen Considers Yangtze River Operations.
July 1, 2005... Taiwan's Evergreen Group sent top officials to Wuhan to study the local investment climate and transport market, with the idea of investing in the fast-growing area, according to a Xinhua report. The news report said the shipping giant is...

P&G Building Its Own Logistics Network in China.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: William B. Cassidy Procter & Gamble has no trouble finding trucks in Cincinnati. Shanghai is another story. "In the U.S., we can go to Schneider National and ask for more trucks, and usually we'll get them," said Mick Barr,...

Trucking Networks Go Global.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Carey The country's largest trucking companies are sending a message that trucking no longer stops, or starts, at the border. Within hours of each other, Yellow Roadway and Schneider National announced major investments in...

Highway Lobbyists Shuttle to Washington.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane When the last highway bill was stalled before being passed, local and state officials flew in from around the country to tell Congress why they needed highway money and needed it now. Fast forward from 1997 to...

California Wants More Highway Money.
July 1, 2005... The nation's most politically powerful state asked the highway bill conference committee to make the formula for sending highway money to states more generous. The bulk of California's congressional delegation sent a letter to conference...

Biden Seeks Hazmat Override.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: John Gallagher Federal lawmakers are turning up the heat on rail carriers, shippers and the Department of Homeland Security with new legislation designed to shift the burden of rerouting hazardous materials from city councils to...

Cases Reported of Bird Flu, Mad Cow.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Two animal diseases that have significantly disrupted world trade over the past several years reappeared on the world stage during the last week of June. The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed on June 24...

Warnaco Group Chooses Cargo Connection Logistics.
July 1, 2005... Cargo Connection Logistics Holdings last month announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Cargo Connection Logistics Corp., was chosen by the Warnaco Group to be the apparel company's exclusive U.S. receiving station in the Northeast. ...

Bax Global for Sale?
July 1, 2005... The Brink's Co. reportedly has subsidiary BAX Global on the sale block, according to media reports. Brink's neither confirmed nor denied the report, however. BAX Global owns its own fleet of 18 freighters, and operates with more than...

Wto Cuts Apple Growers a Slice of the Japan Market.
July 1, 2005... The World Trade Organization last month ruled that Japan has used unwarranted scientific restrictions to bar imports of U.S. apples. The decision was a big win for Washington and Oregon apple growers, and capped a 20-year battle over...

FedEx Reports Big Gains, But High Fuel Costs Loom.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto FedEx Corp. reported solid gains during the fiscal 2005 fourth quarter and year-end for its business segments, but its stock took a hit anyway late last month after the company missed consensus earnings per share...

Port of Shenzhen Joins Csi.
July 1, 2005... China's Port of Shenzhen will be the 37th operational port to join the Container Security Initiative, a maritime security-screening program for containers destined for U.S. ports. Robert C. Bonner, commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border...

Shenzhen Expects Capacity to Soar to 25 Million Teus by 2010.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo South China's Shenzhen port complex, one of the largest trading gateways for the U.S., expects to nearly double its container capacity by 2010 to 25 million TEUs. Shenzhen port and city officials, on a recent...

Inventories Swell Along with Congestion.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Alan M. Field As global supply chains have become longer and less predictable, companies have been carrying higher-than-ideal levels of inventory, according to the annual State of Logistics Report issued last week by the Council of...

Customs Group Urges Security Cooperation.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Delegates to the World Customs Organization's annual meeting approved the ambitious Framework for Security and Trade Facilitation on June 23. It has been touted as a blueprint for managing trade in the 21st century....

Trading with Australia.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Richard Knee The free-trade agreement between the U.S. and Australia hasn't entirely ended shoving matches between them. A spat over possible pork-import restrictions Down Under underscores the point. The Australian...

Air Canada Boosts China Freight Operations.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Ed McKenna In a dramatic ramping up of its all-cargo operations, Air Canada is poised to increase the frequency of its just-launched all-cargo service to China and introduce wide-body domestic freighter service. The new...

S&P Upgrades Cnf Rating.
July 1, 2005... Standard & Poor's Ratings Services recently revised the outlook on its ratings on CNF Inc. to positive from stable, while affirming the "BBB-minus" corporate credit rating and other ratings on the transportation and logistics company. The...

Pricing Power Shifts to Truckers.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo With costs increasing and demand for trucking capacity exceeding supply, motor carriers are once again calling the shots when it comes to pricing. "The days when you can dictate to the carrier the price you...

Ntsb Faults Up in Crash with Bnsf.
July 1, 2005... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane The National Transportation Safety Board faulted Union Pacific Railroad for a 2003 crash in Washington state in which the conductor and engineer were seriously injured. The NTSB found that the two UP...

Airbus Chooses Mobile.
July 1, 2005... One of the world's largest airplane manufacturers has chosen Mobile for its first U.S. manufacturing plant,a $600 million refueling tanker project that will create up to 1,250 jobs in the Alabama port city. The European Aeronautic Defence...

Nc Ports Solicit Bids for Terminal Development.
July 1, 2005... The North Carolina State Ports Authority is soliciting bids up until July 8 for engineering design services for a construction of a marine terminal on Radio Island, adjacent to the port authority's existing Port of Morehead City in Carteret...

New Cranes Arrive in Savannah.
July 1, 2005... Two new super post-Panamax cranes arrived at the Port of Savannah's Ocean Terminal on June 18. The cranes began their 47-dayvoyage aboard the 505-foot custom-made ship, Dock Express 10, at the Port of Tianjin, China. The cranes, which...

Los Angeles Port Seeks $30 Million in Security Grants.
July 1, 2005... The Port of Los Angeles has asked for $30 million in the newest round of the Homeland Security Grant Program. The nation's busiest port seeks funds for surveillance and access-control systems, portwide security system networking,...

South Carolina Ports Set Spending Plan.
July 1, 2005... The South Carolina State Ports Authority Board adopted a $159 million capital-improvement plan to boost operational efficiencies and security. The board also approved the fiscal year 2006 financial plan. The Port of Charleston set a record...

Port of Kalama Adds Warehouse Using State, Federal Grants.
July 1, 2005... A partnership between the Port of Kalama, Wash., the Cowlitz County government and the U.S. Department of Agriculture recently resulted in the addition of a new building to the port's Kalama River Industrial Park. Funding assistance for the...

Port of Detroit Back in Business.
July 1, 2005... Detroit's Marine Terminal, which was shut down a year ago by a financial crisis, has reopened under new management and a new name. The Ambassador Port Co., an affiliate of Detroit millionaire Manuel Moroun's CenTra Inc., recently paid off...

Oakland Woos First Calls.
July 1, 2005... Repercussions from last season's congestion in Southern California continue as the Port of Oakland celebrated the start of a new service. MOL America Inc. placed Oakland at the top of its rotation as first port of call on the U.S. West Coast...

Oakland Welcomes Mol.
July 1, 2005... Officials at the Port of Oakland welcomed MOL after the carrier made the Bay Area's container port the first call on a service that previously called in Southern California. The MOL Expeditor, the first vessel in the new service to call at the...

Westin Steps Down at Kalama Port.
July 1, 2005... Kalama Port Commissioner Milford Westin has stepped down after many years of service. Westin is moving from the port district, which, by law, disqualifies him from holding the office. Westin joined the port commission in 1978 after he was...

Hamburg Sud Promotes Two.
July 1, 2005... Hamburg Sud promoted two managers within its inter-American service sector. Effective this month, Bruno Crelier, director of inter-American services product management in Hamburg Sud's North America headquarters in Morristown, N.J., assumes a...

Student Wins Crowley Award.
July 1, 2005... Crowley Maritime Corp. has presented its annual Seamanship Award to California Maritime Academy student Christian Barron. The Seamanship Award is given each year to the California Maritime graduate who best exhibits excellence in seamanship....

Got Oil?
July 8, 2005... Over the recent holiday weekend, two headlines brought to mind the chicken-egg conundrum: "Oil prices jump more than $2 a barrel" and "Record travel expected for July 4 weekend." There's a lesson or two there, if not already apparent: Oil...

Initial Vancouver Truck Strike Talks Collapse.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Negotiations to end a strike by 1,200 independent container truckers at two Vancouver, British Columbia, area ports collapsed last week as motor carriers refused to raise pay rates, drivers said in a statement. ...

Weekend Goes Smoothly for West Coast.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Marine terminal operators in Los Angeles-Long Beach made it through one of the most difficult weekends of the year without experiencing any congestion or vessel backlogs. This is in marked contrast to the July...

Cn Unions Ok Two Pacts.
July 8, 2005... Canadian National Railway Co. said Teamsters Canada Rail Conference members have ratified two five-year agreements affecting more than 1,600 workers. Increasing wages, improving benefits and addressing work-life issues, the contracts cover...

Ups Tech Enhancement Expands Inbound Visibility.
July 8, 2005... UPS last week unveiled a technology enhancement that automatically notifies customers of every package in the UPS system moving to their location. The software, called UPS Quantum View Inbound, represents the most recent addition to the...

FedEx Plans Second Asia Hub at Guangzhou Airport.
July 8, 2005... FedEx Corp. could sign an agreement early next month to make Guangzhou's Baiyun Airport in China its second Asia-Pacific hub, according to news reports out of Hong Kong last week. Citing a source close to the negotiations, The Standard...

Is the Party over for Container Lines?
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Ocean shipping has never been the darling of Wall Street: Financial markets have not lavished the attention on carriers they spread on Internet stocks or high-tech companies. The industry was always just there in...

PierPass: Small Shippers Want Credit Too.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo The new program to keep terminal gates open on nights and weekends at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will begin operation on July 23. But if you're a small shipper, you may want to bring your credit card....

Pacer Global Logistics Gets Award from Sony.
July 8, 2005... The Carson, Calif., division of Sony Logistics of America, which operates Sony Electronics' largest distribution complex in the United States, has awarded its first-ever "Best Intermodal Carrier Award" to Ohio-based Pacer Global Logistics. ...

Highway Bill Gets Another Extension.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Congress adjourned for the July 4 holiday recess without coming to an agreement on a new highway bill. But before leaving town, lawmakers passed the eighth extension of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st...

Cafta Clears Senate.
July 8, 2005... The U.S. Senate approved the Central American Free Trade Agreement by a vote of 54-45 on July 1, clearing the second-to-last hurdle prior to implementation. The House of Representatives plans to vote on the pact later this month. The...

Shippers Wary About Proposed End to Minimum Insurance Rule.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Shippers fear they will bear more of the brunt for lost or damaged goods if a federal requirement for motor carrier insurance coverage is lifted. Buried in a proposed change to the federal truck...

Ubs Downgrades P&O Stock on Lower Growth Forecast.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Saying that the gains brought by P&O's restructuring are now complete, UBS downgraded the British port and ferry operator's stock from "neutral" to "reduce." In a report issued early this month, UBS analyst...

Wto Says Merchandise Trade Jumped 9 Percent in 2004.
July 8, 2005... The world's real merchandise trade grew 9 percent in 2004, the best performance since 2000 and the third-highest rate over the last decade, the World Trade Organization said in its annual world trade report released July 1. Global gross...

Seabulk International and Seacor Holdings Complete Merger.
July 8, 2005... Seabulk International Inc. and Seacor Holdings Inc. jointly announced this month that they have completed the merger of Seabulk into the Seacor family in a stock and cash transaction. Under the terms of the merger, Seabulk's stockholders...

U-Freight Buys Majority Stake in Comax.
July 8, 2005... International freight services and logistics group U-Freight this month bought a majority stake in the Comax Group. Comax has an annual turnover of approximately $11 million and has offices in the key ocean hubs of Shanghai, Shenzhen and...

Kvaerner Sells Stake in Us Shipyard.
July 8, 2005... Aker ASA has purchased Kvaerner ASA's 54.7 percent stake in Aker American Shipping for 981.5 million Norway kroner, or $150.3 million. Aker also said it has raised $125 million in a private placement share issue. Following the completion...

Three Bid to Operate Guam Cargo Terminal.
July 8, 2005... Three companies are vying to take over terminal operations at the Port Authority of Guam. SSA, Portek International Ltd. and International Container Terminal Services Inc. submitted bids by the July 1 deadline for proposals. A new law...

Railroads Rely on Intermodal for Revenue Growth.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Railroads will find a way to meet the demands of shippers for more intermodal capacity because intermodal represents their best prospects for future revenue growth, according to industry analysts. Intermodal...

Global Air-Cargo Volume Dipped in May.
July 8, 2005... Global air-cargo volumes declined in May for the second month this year amid recent increases in oil prices, according to the International Air Transport Association. "The slowdown in cargo traffic demonstrates that the high price of oil...

Driver Shortage Slackens, But it's Still a Struggle.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Bill Carey The driver shortage appears to be slackening at the nation's largest truckload carriers, but trucking companies of all sizes, especially those with smaller fleets, are still struggling to find drivers. More pay...

A.P. Moller-Maersk to Sell Maersk Air.
July 8, 2005... A.P. Moller-Maersk said it plans to sell the passenger and charter activities of its small European airline, Maersk Air, to Fons Eignarhaldsfelag hf, of Iceland. The agreement will enable the shipping company to focus on its more...

Dhl Gets Homeland Security Contract.
July 8, 2005... The Department of Homeland Security has awarded a logistics-services contract to DHL that could be worth up to $60 million over the next five years. The award was made as part of Homeland Security's strategic sourcing initiative, which...

Gecas Expands Freighter Conversion Program.
July 8, 2005... General Electric Commercial Aviation Services is expanding its passenger-to-freighter aircraft-conversion program to include four Boeing 747-400s. GECAS is a unit of GE Commercial Finance and owns and manages the largest aircraft portfolio...

Gatx Financial Enters $525 Million Credit Facility.
July 8, 2005... GATX Financial Corp. has entered a new, five-year $525 million credit facility, an unsecured revolving account that will mature in June 2010. It replaces a $445 million three-year revolving credit facility previously in place at GATX Financial,...

Equity Investor Buys Majority Stake in Ozburn-Hessey.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: William B. Cassidy Ozburn-Hessey Logistics, one of the nation's largest private third-party logistics providers, plans to get larger faster with major financial backing from a new stakeholder. A New York-based equity investor...

Wal-Mart to Build Footwear Logistics Center in Fujian.
July 8, 2005... The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, recently commissioned the construction of a footwear logistics center in Quanzhou City in Fujian Province, China, Xinhua reported. The $12.1 million project is a joint venture between Wal-Mart and...

Wilson Logistics Changes Name to Tnt Freight Management.
July 8, 2005... Wilson Logistics Group, which was acquired by TNT last August, has changed its name to TNT Freight Management. The company said in a statement that TNT Freight Management would be able to supply and combine freight services, information...

Outlook Dims for Free-Trade Pacts.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: William Armbruster The U.S.-Chile Free Trade Agreement has been a winner for both countries, according to trade experts. But the outlook for the free-trade agreement with the Dominican Republic and Central America remains...

Foreign Trade Grows 25 Percent at Port of Shanghai.
July 8, 2005... China's Port of Shanghai handled $131.9 billion in foreign trade in the first five months of this year, up 25 percent year-on-year. The total included $79.5 billion in export volume, up 36.2 percent over the year-ago level, and $52.5...

Tsunami Doesn't Dampen Trade with Indonesia.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Richard Knee Devastated by an earthquake and tsunami last December, Indonesia nonetheless saw its trade with the United States increase in each direction, with U.S. merchandise sales to that country from January to April rising to...

Carriers to Add New All-Water Routes.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Shippers hankering for new ocean capacity can look forward to several new all-water alternatives to carry their cargoes from China and Southeast Asia to the U.S. East Coast ports. Container lines are lining up to add...

Breakbulk Booms in San Francisco.
July 8, 2005... A plan by the Port of San Francisco to focus its marketing efforts on breakbulk commodities is showing results. The port said last week that it is on pace to handle 264,000 short tons of breakbulk cargo, primarily steel, lumber and newsprint,...

Port of Miami Plans Spanish, Mandarin Web Site Translations.
July 8, 2005... The Port of Miami said it will offer translated versions of its new Web site later this year, with translations in Spanish and Mandarin. Andrea Muniz, the port's public affairs officer for intergovernmental affairs and promotions, told...

Cma Cgm Begins Use of Eco-Containers.
July 8, 2005... none

Trade, Security Bolstered under Nafta Plan.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: Courtney Tower The United States, Canada and Mexico plan to integrate more closely measures to boost trade while better protecting land borders, seaports and airways against terrorist attack. In June, government officials of...

Port, Container Security Could Remain Weak Link in Supply Chain.
July 8, 2005... BYLINE: John Gallagher Port and container security will continue to be a weak link in the supply chain if the federal government does not act to decrease the risk, the 16th annual State of Logistics Report said. The report focused...

Singapore Boosts Maritime Security.
July 8, 2005... Singapore will require small harbor and pleasure craft to be fitted with transponders as part of security measures to counter terror and piracy threats, the Maritime and Port Authority said on July 1, according to an Agence France-Presse report...

Transport Canada Helps Fund Short-Sea Study.
July 8, 2005... Transport Canada will contribute nearly $26,000 in funding for a study on short-sea shipping between points on North America's east coast. The study, to be conducted by the Faculty of Management of Dalhousie University, will examine the...

Panel to Review Virginia Terminal Operations.
July 8, 2005... A committee appointed to examine the operations of Virginia International Terminals, the nonprofit entity that manages Virginia's marine terminals, met for the first time this month to set its mission and agenda. The six-member panel,...

Ny-Nj Port Authorizes Additional on-Dock Rail Tracks.
July 8, 2005... The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey last month approved a contract to build two additional tracks at the Elizabeth Port Authority Marine Terminal's on-dock rail facility. The contract calls for the demolition of four buildings and...

Metro Supports High School Training.
July 8, 2005... Metropolitan Stevedore Co. donated $20,000 to International Trade Education Programs to fully sponsor 40 students, enrolled in Banning High School's Global Safety and Security Academy, to attend California Maritime Academy's five-day Basic...

Pilot Air Hires Ng.
July 8, 2005... Pilot Air Freight, a worldwide provider of transportation and logistics services, hired Raymond C. Ng to fill the position of general manager of business development for Asia. Ng, formerly of Airborne Express, comes to Pilot with 20 years...

Boeing Names McNerney.
July 8, 2005... Boeing Co.'s board of directors elected W. James McNerney Jr. chairman of the board, president and chief executive. James A. Bell, who has served as president and chief executive on an interim basis, will remain chief financial officer, and...

Long Beach Elects Topsy-Elvord.
July 8, 2005... The Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners elected former Vice Mayor Doris Topsy-Elvord as the board's president for a one-year term beginning immediately. The commissioners also voted James C. Hankla vice president of the five-member...