Pacific Shipper articles from November 2007

Pacific Shipper archives from November 2007

Keeping up with the Greens.
November 5, 2007... Pacific Shipper is a weekly news magazine that has covered international trade and transportation for 81 years. Our focus really hasn't changed over the years. The best description of what I look for is news about goods needing to be moved to...

Cosco official: Bunker charges must float.
November 5, 2007... Cosco Container Lines plans to insist on floating bunker surcharges in next year's trans-Pacific contract negotiations, said Howard Finkel, the carrier's executive vice president of trade. Finkel said soaring fuel costs, coupled with higher...

APL to deploy first 53-foot ocean containers.
November 5, 2007... On Nov. 7 APL Ltd. will take delivery of the first ocean-capable 53-foot containers to be introduced into international shipping. The larger, stronger containers could have a significant impact on supply-chain economics, including...

Nike shifts to LNG vehicles for harbor trucking.
November 5, 2007... Nike Inc. and its affiliate, Converse, are switching a significant portion of their harbor trucking business in Southern California to vehicles powered by liquefied natural gas to reduce pollution. Nike estimated that the LNG trucks, to be...

TWIC schedule too slow, TSA told at hearing.
November 5, 2007... The Transportation Security Administration announced plans to extend enrollment in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential to 38 deep-water and inland ports by Dec. 31, but the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee said...

Coming unraveled: Ports trim truck plan, but vote is delayed.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall The far-reaching and ambitious plan by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to clean the truck fleet in the harbor has been trimmed back - at least temporarily - by public controversy and the threat of litigation....

KCS maps cross-border rail bridge.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd Kansas City Southern Railway will try to win approval next year from U.S. and Mexican authorities to build a new cross-border rail bridge over the Rio Grande River southeast of Laredo, Texas. The company is the...

Horizon Lines' profit holds steady.(Financial report)
November 5, 2007... Revenue gains helped Horizon Lines increase adjusted earnings in the third quarter despite adverse market conditions in the Puerto Rico trade that weakened volumes. Net income was $1.6 million, compared with $52.9 million in the third...

Global projects send breakbulk rates soaring.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Shippers of equipment for gigantic energy, mining and power projects are in a bind. On the one hand, business has never been better as they build more and bigger engineering projects worldwide. On the other hand, the...

US meat, poultry find favor in the Middle East.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: Richard Knee Recent worries in the Middle East about avian influenza reportedly have increased exports of U.S. beef liver, hearts and kidneys to the region, and may have spurred an increase in U.S. poultry shipments as well. Vessel...

Port projects planned in India.
November 5, 2007... Larsen & Toubro Ltd., India's largest construction and engineering company, announced plans to invest about $750 million to develop two ports on the country's west and east coasts. Officials said the company would build the proposed...

Grand Alliance carriers merge Pacific loops.
November 5, 2007... The three carrier members of the Grand Alliance -- Hapag-Lloyd, Orient Overseas Container Line and NYK -- are merging two of their trans-Pacific services into one seasonal loop, the Winter CCX. The merger of the NCX and CCX loops is a...

Feeder operators end Kandla surcharge.
November 5, 2007... Feeder operators serving India's western Port of Kandla decided to withdraw the congestion surcharge of $100 per TEU imposed earlier on cargo feedered to and from the port as of April 20. The withdrawal comes after the situation at Kandla...

MOL to begin calls at Hibiki.
November 5, 2007... Japan's MOL said its CBW service would start calling at the Port of Hibiki on its Japan-Thailand route. The service links West Japan and South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand. Hibiki opened in April 2005 in the Kita-Kyushu area, a...

US exports to Australia and New Zealand surge.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: Richard Knee Finding space on ships heading to Australia and New Zealand is reportedly not a problem -- at least, not yet -- even with the U.S. dollar's decline spurring a growth in exports to those countries. But getting the...

Battle for the green.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: Ari Natter and John Gallagher     The trucking industry is making environmental policy a top priority its legislative agenda next year and rolling out an ad campaign centered on promoting the industry's...

Seattle dreams green.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: William B. Cassidy and Bill DiBenedetto The Port of Seattle is trying to polish its image with a new logo that reflects a greener identity. This month, port officials unveiled a logo based on three colored bars of light blue, green...

West Coast employers want longer work shifts from ILWU.
November 5, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo West Coast employers and longshoremen have been tight-lipped about the issues they will raise in contract talks early next year, but Jim McKenna, president of the Pacific Maritime Association, has broken the...

LA considers creating marine research institute.
November 5, 2007... With a grant of $50,000 in matching funds from the Annenberg Foundation, the Port of Los Angeles is initiating a "visioning process" with the Southern California Marine Institute to explore the potential of creating a world-class marine...

Port plans property moves in Vancouver, Wash.
November 5, 2007... The Vancouver Port Commission is moving ahead with two real estate transactions. One is a land exchange with the city of Vancouver involving about an acre of property, and the other is the authorization of eminent domain action for a larger...

San Francisco signs pact for cruise ship repairs.
November 5, 2007...   San Francisco's dry dock can accomodate the largest cruise ships. Photo: Port of San Francisco The Port of San Francisco, Princess Cruises and BAE Systems San Francisco Ship Repair have reached a tripartite agreement that will...

Kurt Beckett to lead external affairs at Port of Seattle.
November 5, 2007... In the first new staff announcement since taking over as the Port of Seattle's chief executive, Tay Yoshitani said Kurt Beckett joined the port on Nov. 1 as external affairs director, a new position. Beckett comes to the port after serving...

Pacer promotes Bailey.
November 5, 2007... Pacer International has promoted Adriene Bailey to executive vice president, strategy and organizational development. Reporting to Michael Uremovich, Pacer's chairman and chief executive, Bailey will lead the company's newly consolidated...

Paying next step for LA-Long Beach clean trucks.
November 6, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Having approved plans to replace more than 16,000 old, polluting trucks with low-emission vehicles by 2012, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles will now figure out how to pay...

Fiscally responsible.
November 12, 2007... President Bush vetoed the 2007 Water Resources Development Act last week, the annual effort to get a potpourri of dredging, flood control and other Army Corps of Engineers projects authorized. In the time-honored tradition of the way things...

Container traffic lags 2006.
November 12, 2007... Traffic at the nation's major retail container ports dropped below last year's levels for the second month in a row in September, and is expected to continue either flat or below last year's levels for the remainder of the peak shipping season,...

Tacoma begins TWIC sign-up.
November 12, 2007... Port of Tacoma employees, longshore workers, port truckers and other port workers last week were among the first in the Pacific Northwest to enroll in the Transportation Worker Identification Credential program. The biometric ID card...

Maersk reefer software to reduce emissions.
November 12, 2007... Maersk Line last Tuesday announced that it is introducing a new technology for refrigerated containers that uses substantially less energy and reduces carbon dioxide emissions. The carrier's QUEST (Quality and Energy Efficiency in Storage...

Pay-as-you-go ecology measure introduced.
November 12, 2007... A company in Denver is offering online retailers and customers a new way to calculate and offset the carbon emissions of their shipping consignments. ShipGreen offers a software module that can be integrated with a retailer's Web site so...

House overrides Bush veto of waterways legislation.
November 12, 2007... A $23 billion bill that would authorize funds for 900 Army Corps of Engineers water projects and other maritime trade endeavors is on its way to becoming law after the House of Representatives voted last Tuesday to override President Bush's...

Container ship collides with Bay Bridge.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall A container ship leaving the Port of Oakland en route to Busan, Korea, collided with a support pier of the Bay Bridge early Wednesday morning. The collision apparently caused no damage to the bridge, the 5,447...

Renewing the debate:.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Next up: Solar panels for cruise terminal S. David Freeman is the former head of the Tennessee Valley Authority. He's worked at the Environmental Protection Agency, been the top guy at public utilities in...

Where's the money?
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Having approved plans to replace more than 16,000 old, polluting trucks with low-emission vehicles by 2012, the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles will now figure out how to pay for the $1.6 billion...

Plugging in the port.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: S. David Freeman Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has placed great emphasis on his dream of making Los Angeles the greenest city in the world. We can safely assume that if Los Angeles can kick its oil habit, so can Shanghai,...

Weather not only obstacle to Northwest Passage shipping.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach   Even with global warming, conducting maritime operations in the Arctic will continue to present severe hazards. Before shippers can begin to use the new Arctic maritime route connecting Asia to Europe and...

APL debuts 53-foot ocean box.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Importers who consistently ship large volumes of freight to inland U.S. destinations may be able to reduce transloading costs with APL Ltd.'s new "ocean-capable" 53-foot containers in the trade from South China to...

Expeditors hires law firm in Justice Department probe.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto Expeditors International of Seattle has hired a law firm to represent it in connection with a Department of Justice probe of freight forwarder business practices. The freight forwarding and logistics company...

GAO dismisses Ryder protest of DOD contract with Menlo.
November 12, 2007... The Government Accountability Office has dismissed Ryder Integrated Logistics' protest of the U.S. Transportation Command's huge transportation contract award to third-party logistics provider Menlo Worldwide. Called the Defense...

Import safety bill would revoke brokers' licenses.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson     Members of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America have mounted a grassroots effort to eliminate language in an import safety bill that would revoke brokers' licenses...

Bush seeks tougher rules for dangerous imports.
November 12, 2007... President Bush last Tuesday recommended upgraded inspection rules to bar dangerous product imports from entering the United States. The proposals were among 50 recommendations made by an advisory panel headed by Health and Human Services...

Larger cold warehouses subject to security rules.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Refrigerated warehouses that store more than 10,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia must comply with new Department of Homeland Security Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards. Robert B. Stephan, assistant...

Washington apple shipments keep pace with 2006.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto     Washington state apple growers have shipped about 12 million 42-pound cartons of apples this season, about the same amount shipped at this point a year ago. Good weather, enough workers...

Lines plan rate hikes, floating bunker charges.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: William Armbruster The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, which represents 14 container lines serving the trade from Asia to the U.S., has announced a five-point plan designed to increase their revenue amid rising operating...

Weekly rail traffic mixed.
November 12, 2007... U.S. bulk rail traffic managed a mild gain in the latest week -- the fourth complete week in October -- but intermodal continued its firm downtrend, the Association of American Railroads said. Freight carloadings edged up 0.8 percent in the...

NAFTA surface trade grows.
November 12, 2007... Surface trade between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners in Canada and Mexico increased 4 percent to $69.2 billion in August, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics said on Oct. 31. The numbers easily...

Japan's trade surplus with US shrinks.
November 12, 2007... Japan's merchandise trade surplus with the United States totaled 4.19 trillion yen ($36.3 billion) in the first half of fiscal 2007, down 5.5 percent from the same period a year ago, according to preliminary figures released by the Finance...

Mumbai cargo grows 12 percent.
November 12, 2007... India's leading cargo hub, the Port of Mumbai, handled 32.99 million tons of cargo in the April-October period, up 12 percent from 29.4 million tons in the same period last year. Details about containerized cargo handled during the period...

Far Eastern Freight Conference sets congestion charge.
November 12, 2007... The Far Eastern Freight Conference will levy a surcharge of $145 per 20-foot container for all cargo moving through United Kingdom ports from Asia as of December to recoup extra costs resulting from congestion on the waterfront and at inland...

Asia-Australia carriers to increase bunker fuel surcharge.
November 12, 2007... The Asia Australia Discussion Agreement will hike its bunker surcharge because of the increase in global fuel prices. Effective Nov. 16, the surcharge for shipments from China and Hong Kong to various ports in Australia will increase to...

Concor plans inland box depot.
November 12, 2007... State-owned intermodal logistics provider Container Corp. of India, announced plans to set up an inland container depot at Baddi in the country's northeastern state of Himachal Pradesh. Officials said the company will invest about $4.5...

High marks for Central America's ports.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Richard Knee     One of the big selling points for the Central America Free Trade Agreement is quick turnaround for manufactured products made with U.S. components or materials. But much of the advantage is being...

Rails use intermodal slowdown as work break.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo   A pause in intermodal growth gives railroads an opportunity to improve service. The U.S. Class 1 railroads in 2007 will likely finish the year with a decrease in intermodal traffic compared to 2006....

Foss tugs switch to cleaner fuel.
November 12, 2007...   Foss is switching to ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel. Foss Maritime Co. has switched its tug fleet to ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel from low sulfur diesel fuel to reduce particulate emissions and other pollutants. Foss, based in...

Seattle port to acquire two BNSF rail lines.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto The Port of Seattle Commission has approved a three-way deal with BNSF Railway and King County that lays the groundwork for the port's acquisition of the 42-mile Eastside rail corridor from BNSF for $103 million....

Prince Rupert says its 'ship came in'.
November 12, 2007... BYLINE: Courtney Tower   The Cosco Antwerp made the first call at Prince Rupert's Fairview Container terminal. North America's newest container port on Nov. 1 completed the loading of its first ship, the 5,400-TEU Antwerp...

Conference attendees volunteer in New Orleans.(Conference news)
November 12, 2007...   Jim Maloney, Port of San Francisco   Shirlene and Denny Thibault, Kuehne & Nagel. Thirty-five attendees at the 18th Annual Breakbulk Transportation Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans gave up their Sunday on Oct. 28...

Consider the alternative.
November 19, 2007... Nearly two years ago, the brand-new and shiny green Hatsu Sigma made its maiden call at the Port of Los Angeles. Officials of the Evergreen Group used the visit to invite the media and selected dignitaries aboard to talk about the vessel's...

Soaring fuel costs reshape ocean shipping.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach The soaring price of bunker fuel is causing a profound shift in ocean shipping toward the sustainability of ocean services and away from the traditional industry focus on supply and demand for vessel capacity, a...

Panama Canal expansion gets environmental approval.
November 19, 2007... The Panama Canal Authority said it has received approval from the National Environmental Authority of Panama of the environmental impact study of construction of the third set of locks for the waterway. The approval came after months of...

Veto override of water bill could mean new projects.
November 19, 2007... The override of President Bush's first veto may send billions of dollars flowing toward inland waterways, port and other waterborne commerce projects, and might also bode well for passage of the upcoming Transportation Appropriations bill. ...

Diesel fuel prices continue to climb.
November 19, 2007... In the sharpest spike in the last two years, the U.S. average retail price for diesel fuel shot up 12.2 cents to $3.425 per gallon during the week ended Nov. 10, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Diesel jumped 56...

Where's the container?
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: William Armbruster Suppose you're a U.S. company with an opportunity to break into the export market for the first time, or to expand your overseas sales if you're already exporting. It's all because the weak dollar has given you...

US trade deficit narrows.
November 19, 2007... U.S. exports, boosted by a weaker dollar, reached record heights in September, and the U.S. trade deficit narrowed to its smallest level since May 2005, the U.S. Commerce Department reported. The U.S. trade deficit shrank to $56.5 billion in...

Bay oil spill triggers talk of new regulations.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall A Nov. 7 accident and massive oil spill in San Francisco Bay has led to calls for the Coast Guard to change the way commercial vessels operate in heavy fog. The Cosco Busan, operated by Hanjin Shipping and owned...

Report details 10 steps to national transportation policy.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: Joseph Bonney Two longtime intermodal transportation specialists said one way to break a political logjam on national transportation policy would be to create a blue-ribbon commission similar to the one that provided Congress with...

Financial picture brightens for container carriers.
November 19, 2007... New company earnings reports show that the financial picture improved during the third quarter for some container lines as higher freight rates reversed last year's lackluster results. Hapag-Lloyd, operator of the world's fifth-largest ocean...

USDA issues guidelines for produce inspections.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson When Bill Thomas was growing up in Philadelphia, grapes were something you saw in stores one season a year. While grapes today are a year-round staple in produce aisles, it's up to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's...

Senate overrides veto of Water Resources Act.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson The Senate voted 79-14 to override President Bush's veto of the Water Resources Development Act of 2007. It was the first veto override of Bush's presidency. The law will take effect immediately since the House voted...

House approves Peru free-trade pact.
November 19, 2007... The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a free-trade pact with Peru, bringing President Bush to the brink of his first trade victory since Democrats took control of Congress. The House voted 285-132 to approve the agreement, which was...

Customs completes e-manifest installations at land border crossings.
November 19, 2007... Customs and Border Protection this month installed equipment at Piegan, Mont., the last land border crossing to receive the automated truck manifest system under the Automated Commercial Environment. The agency now has the e-manifest system...

Carriers to seek rate hikes, new contract schedules.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo If conditions in the major east-west trade lanes in 2008 mirror what took place this year, container lines should be able to force through some rate increases in the U.S. import trade from Asia. That's not to...

APL deploys new 53-foot ocean containers.
November 19, 2007...   The 53-foot boxes are designed and strengthened for use at sea. Photo: APL APL has begun loading the first of its new 53-foot ocean-capable containers on one of its trans-Pacific services. The containers are designed...

Port of Kandla tops cargo record.
November 19, 2007... The Port of Kandla in western India handled a record 36.6 million tons of cargo in the April-October period, up from 28.6 million in the same period in 2006. Container volume totaled 94,522 TEUs. Volume in the March-October period, the...

Offshore container terminal plan gets green light in India.
November 19, 2007... India's Cabinet has approved construction of an offshore container terminal for handling large vessels at the Port of Mumbai. The terminal will be built by a consortium of Gammon India, Gammon Infrastructure and Dragados SPL of Spain. ...

Hutchison to build deep-water port in Pakistan.
November 19, 2007... Hutchison Port Holdings has signed an agreement with Karachi Port Trust to build a new deep-water container terminal in Pakistan. The Hong Kong-based terminal operator said the new terminal would be the first phase of a new port in Karachi....

NYK's logistics unit opens office in Chennai.
November 19, 2007... Yusen Air & Sea Service Co. said its Indian subsidiary, Yusen Air & Sea Service (India) Pvt. Ltd., has opened a sales office in Chennai. The core logistics unit of Japan's biggest shipping line, NYK, said in a statement that the Chennai...

In trade with Japan, food sales are key.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: Richard Knee   Pork is a big-volume U.S. export to Japan. The dollar's decline is apparently having no effect on the flow of cargo between the U.S. and Japan. But other factors are, especially where U.S. exports of...

Cross-border standoff.
November 19, 2007... BYLINE: Ari Natter Saying it would be a "colossal waste of money for U.S. taxpayers" to walk away now, the Department of Transportation plans to keep fighting for cross-border trucking -- despite legislation that would put an end to the...

Matson to increase fuel surcharge.
November 19, 2007... Matson Navigation Co. is increasing its previously announced fuel surcharge by an additional 3 percentage points and is postponing the effective date to Dec. 14, 2007. The company said it was taking these steps because fuel-related costs...

Washington state voters reject huge transportation package.
November 19, 2007... Voters in western Washington state rejected a huge package of road and rail congestion-relief projects. The road and transit ballot measure, Proposition 1, was highly controversial because of its scope, its $50 billion cost over the next...

Distribution center tax approved.
November 19, 2007... Voters in Redlands, Calif., overwhelmingly approved a measure to impose an annual tax on distribution centers. The measure, which is projected to bring in about $245,000 a year to the cash-strapped city, was approved by 70.5 percent of...

IWW/SDS demonstrate at Port of Tacoma.
November 19, 2007... Members of the Industrial Workers of the World and Students for a Democratic Society staged a one-hour night-time demonstration at the Port of Tacoma's Maersk Terminal earlier this month, calling for union representation of security workers at...

Oregon short-line shutdown has Congress asking why.
November 19, 2007... When an Oregon short-line railroad suddenly shut down and sent shippers scrambling, some members of Congress became suspicious of the reasons behind the closure. The Central Oregon & Pacific Railroad was in the process of getting a $40...

Global Cold Chain Alliance promotes Rosenbusch.
November 19, 2007... Corey Rosenbusch was promoted to the position of vice president of the Global Cold Chain Alliance. He was formerly the senior director of policy and programs and has been with the alliance for two years. In his new post, Rosenbusch serves...