Pacific Shipper articles from September 2006

Pacific Shipper archives from September 2006

Hot Spot.
September 7, 2006... About seven years ago, I bought a refurbished Dell Latitude laptop computer. It served me dependably with virtually no problems despite those involving my life -- a divorce, a job layoff and a dicey and uncertain stint as a freelance writer....

Mary Peters Nominated As Transportation Chief.
September 7, 2006... Mary Peters, a veteran of the Bush administration's Department of Transpor-tation, has been nominated as secretary of the department. If confirmed, the former Federal Highway administrator would succeed Norman Mineta, who resigned in July. ...

Container Terminal Project on Schedule, Budget at Prince Rupert.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Development of a new container terminal at Canada's Port of Prince Rupert is proceeding "on time, on budget," with the first containers scheduled to leave the northern British Columbia port by next September or...

Carson Takes Helm of Boeing Commercial Unit.
September 7, 2006... Boeing Co. appointed Scott E. Carson president and chief executive of its Commercial Airplanes division in Seattle last week, after Alan Mulally left the post to take on the top job at the struggling Ford Motor Co. Carson, 60, is a 34-year...

Regulators Frown at Moller's Tug Bid.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard A.P. Moller-Maersk's $515 million takeover of Adsteam Marine, the Australian tug company, has been thrown into doubt after British competition regulators launched a probe into the deal aimed at creating the world's...

Indian Ports Lower Service Charges.
September 7, 2006... Two ports on India's west coast have lowered tariffs on port service charges. The Port of Mumbai reduced charges for container stuffing and destuffing, storage and midstream stevedoring. The cuts are aimed at boosting container traffic that has...

Niche Ports Flourish.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto and Stephanie Nall Globally, the breakbulk industry handles between 400 million and 450 million tons of cargo every year -- and it's an industry that is expected to grow another 10 percent in the coming years. ...

Portland's T-2 Handles Giant Transformer.
September 7, 2006... Weighing more than 71 Toyo-ta Camrys, the 125-ton elec-tric transformer offloaded from the heavy-lift ship CEC Cristobal at T-2 in March presented planners with a serious logistical challenge. It was too big to fit through the tunnels and other...

Truck E-Manifests Top 10,000 in August.
September 7, 2006... Truckers filed more than 10,000 electronic freight manifests in August, a new monthly high for Customs and Border Protection's Automated Commercial Environment. Lou Samenfink, executive director of the agency's cargo systems program, said...

Customs Brokers Press for Renewal of Gsp.
September 7, 2006... The president of the National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America said U.S. business would suffer if the Bush administration and Congress fail to rapidly renew the Generalized System of Preferences trade promotion program. ...

Pagonis Joins Genco As Chief Operating Officer.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: William Hoffman William "Gus" Pagonis keeps a software application open on his computer that simulates a 3-inch-by-5-inch index card. At Genco -- the Pittsburgh-based logistics provider where Pagonis was just named chief operating...

China Currency Reform Has Little Impact on Us Trade Deficit.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Alan M. Field U.S. Treasury officials and many companies doing business in China are pushing for diplomatic efforts that connect the dots between financial reform in China and expanded opportunities for trade between the two...

10 Percent Annual Growth Seen for Cold Chain Market.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher The volume of temperature-sensitive airfreight is likely to grow at an annual rate of 10 percent a year over the next five years, according to a recent survey of health-care industry and logistics providers. ...

Japanese Market Opens Up to Us Beef.(Industry overview)
September 7, 2006... Orders for U.S. beef in Japan started to trickle in as two nationwide restaurant chains and several more supermarket chains in Japan began offering the imported meat. Despite the fact that surveys show Japanese consumers afraid to eat...

Tsa Approaches Twic Milestones.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson The Transportation Security Administration is approaching two critical milestones in the development of the Transportation Workers Identification Credential. The TSA is going to request contract proposals from a...

Shippers Vow Lawsuit over New Container Fee.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Shippers using Southern California ports aren't happy with newly approved legislation to impose a $30-per-TEU fee on containers handled at Los Angeles and Long Beach. They say that if Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger...

Near-Capacity Panama Canal Causing Supply-Chain Hiccups.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Few things cause more heartburn for ocean carriers than missing a Panama Canal transit appointment. And that goes for shippers, too. The path between the Atlantic and Pacific is a key part of carrier schedules...

New Zealand Lines Seek National Ports Policy.
September 7, 2006... New Zealand shipping companies want government backing for the promotion of coastal shipping and the development of a national ports policy. The move follows a decision by Maersk Line to cut its New Zealand calls to two hub ports and three...

Tnt Expands with Trucker in India.(Company overview)
September 7, 2006... Dutch parcel carrier TNT has acquired trucker Associated Road Carriers India Ltd. No financial terms were disclosed, however. The acquisition of ARC, which operates under the Speedage Express Cargo Services name, is in line with TNT's strategic...

Yantian Opens New Berths.
September 7, 2006... Shenzhen's Yantian Inter-national Container Terminals officially opened two new berths on Sept. 1 with the arrival of Evergreen Marine Corp.'s Hatsu Ethic. The berths span nearly 2,200 feet in length and have a draft of more than 52 feet....

Rail Shippers Find Rate Hikes Outstrip Service.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: John Gallagher The prices shippers are paying to move freight by rail continue to outstrip improvements in service heading into what's expected to be another record peak season. Although the railroads' operating strategies...

Brokers, Carriers Duel over Model Contracts.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Carey Brokers and carriers now have competing "model" contracts to consider when they enter into freight transactions. Just two months after the Transportation Intermediaries Association representing brokers unveiled a model...

Driver Jailed for Logbook Violations.
September 7, 2006... Former Carson Brown Trucking driver Matthew L. Gessner was sentenced to 10 months in prison and three years of probation for falsifying his logbook. He is still facing a vehicular homicide charge stemming from a fatal accident he allegedly...

FedEx Buys Ltl Carrier.
September 7, 2006... FedEx Corp. has completed its acquisition of long-haul, less-than-truckload carrier Watkins Motor Lines. In May, FedEx said it would acquire privately held Watkins, based in Lakeland, Fla., for $780 million in cash.Watkins runs a U.S.-based...

Forward Air Joins Trucking Group.
September 7, 2006... Forward Air, the dominant national operator in the airport-to-airport market that caters to forwarders, joined the American Trucking Associations. It stated that it will work more closely with its industry counterparts in advancing the...

Washington Ports Tap Coleman for State Board.
September 7, 2006... Todd Coleman, deputy executive director at the Port of Vancouver, Wash., was appointed recently to the Washington State Transportation Improvement Board (TIB) as a representative of the state's public ports. The TIB, created by the...

Zinski Fills Tacoma Maintenance Post.
September 7, 2006... The Port of Tacoma last month named Kevin Zinski assistant director of maintenance. In this position, Zinski will help to manage all of the port's maintenance activities, including facilities, cranes, straddle carriers and mobile equipment...

Maersk Restructures Military Logistics Unit.
September 7, 2006... Maersk Line Ltd., the military transport arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk, has realigned its senior management. The carrier said the restructuring will help it better serve customers and expand in target markets. William J. Kenwell will assume the...

Hong Kong: A Business-Friendly Trade Partner.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee While Hong Kong remains perhaps the most business-friendly place anywhere and its trade relations with the United States are still cordial, moving cargo can be tricky at the street level, especially for U.S. importers....

Cougar Ace Heads for Portland.
September 7, 2006... The MOL car carrier Cougar Ace is on its way to the Port of Portland, Ore., for repairs. The vessel, carrying 5,000 Mazda automobiles from Japan to the U.S. West Coast, was disabled by a severe list on July 24 during ballast water operations...

New C-Tpat Rules in Effect.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Foreign manufacturers in the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism will be required to verify annually that their supply-chain partners are following U.S.-approved security measures, according to new minimum...

Southern California's Marine Exchange Declares a 'new Normal'.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Prompted by 2004's severe congestion at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the Marine Exchange of Southern California has been keeping its constituents and the transportation industry regularly updated on the...

Intermarine Expands Service to South America.
September 7, 2006... Intermarine, the project carrier based in New Orleans, announced the opening of a new management office in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the expansion of its liner service from the U.S. Gulf to the east coast of South America. Intermarine...

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lands Ford Contract in Jacksonville.
September 7, 2006... Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has signed a contract with Ford Motor Co. to handle the automaker's vehicle-processing requirements in the Port of Jacksonville. In addition, Ford has extended its current contract to use the logistics company's...

Ottawa Wants to Ease Port Investment Rules.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Canada's new Conservative government wants to ease restrictions on public investment in its largest ports to help keep pace with soaring trade and rival ports in the United States. Transport Canada is redrafting...

Corpus Christi Seeks Improved Transportation Links.
September 7, 2006... Corpus Christi business leaders want the Texas Legislature to upgrade rail and highway links between their port and nearby Naval Station Ingleside, one of dozens of bases nationwide scheduled for closure by the military. The base is scheduled...

Gulf Coast Ports Consider Insurer Lawsuits.
September 7, 2006... The Port of New Orleans has threatened to lodge a complaint against its insurer unless its claim is settled soon, according to port officials. The dock board decided at its recent monthly meeting to file a complaint with the Louisiana Insurance...

Port of Longview, WASH., Hosts Sen. Murray Visit.
September 7, 2006... Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., had a firsthand look at the wind energy business from a port perspective during a tour of the Port of Longview, Wash., late last month. Murray, campaigning for Demo-cratic candidates in November, saw the port's...

Funding Approved for East Coast-Midwest Rail Corridor.
September 7, 2006... Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia and Norfolk Southern Corp. have entered into Memoranda of Agreement with the Federal Highway Administration for $95 million in federal funding for the Heartland Corridor double-stack rail project. The corridor...

New Web Market to Match Empty Slots with Containers.
September 7, 2006... BYLINE: Joseph Bonney It happens every day: A container ship line has slots to fill on an upcoming voyage. Or a shipper needs more capacity than its contract provides. In cases like these, putting buyer and seller together can be...

Back to Business.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Labor Day in the U.S. has always been set aside to pay due respect to the people that make the country work -- that is, everyone with a job. But in our culture, it's also come to symbolize endings and beginnings. ...

Greenbrier Pays $34 Million for Railcar Repair Company.
September 15, 2006... Railcar manufacturer The Greenbrier Companies this month is purchasing most of the operating assets of Rail Car America, a railcar repair company, for $34 million. The sale includes Rail Car America's American Hydraulics division and...

Tsa Makes General Manager Assignments.
September 15, 2006... The Transportation Security Administration shuffled more of its general managers in charge of specific transportation modes. The agency named general managers for airlines, maritime and rail. David Bernier is heading airlines, having...

Hyundai Heavy Industries Lands Cma Cgm Container Ship Order.
September 15, 2006... South Korea's Hyundai Heavy Industries received an order for eight 11,400-TEU container ships with long-time customer CMA CGM, in a deal valued at $1.2 billion. The vessels will be delivered from mid-2009 to mid-2010. They will be equipped...

Panama Canal Expansion Plan Gets Blessing from Fitch.
September 15, 2006... The credit and debt rating agency Fitch Ratings said last week that the potential economic rewards promised by the proposed $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal outweigh the risks. Fitch Ratings analyst Erick Campos told a forum in...

Lufthansa Fined $85 Million in Air-Cargo Price-Fixing Case.
September 15, 2006... Lufthansa, Europe's second-largest airline, last week agreed to pay $85 million to settle charges of price-fixing in a Justice Department probe of the air-cargo industry. The German carrier said the settlement, which is subject to court...

Border Trucking Remains Contentious.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Independent truckers are marshalling opposition to the Department of Transportation's latest plans to give Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. highways. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association...

Us Helps Build Plan for Mexico's Intermodal Network.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Gordon Feller The U.S. is aiding Mexico's plan to develop an intermodal corridor to move shipments from its ports to U.S. markets. Following a request by Mexico for support, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency recently made an...

Projected Driver Shortage a No-Show for Peak Season.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Dan Gatchet began 2006 prepared for the worst. Like many harbor drayage operators, the president of West Coast Trucking in Seattle expected another year of chronic driver shortages, delays at marine terminals and...

Bomb Threats, Pickets Hinder Southern California Port Operations.
September 15, 2006... Bomb threats on Sept. 10 and Sept. 12 closed two terminals at the Port of Los Angeles, and a wage dispute by a crew aboard a bulk vessel disrupted operations for five days at a berth in Long Beach. Cargo-handling operations at APL's...

Long Beach to Test Low-Emission Yard Tractors.
September 15, 2006... The Environmental Protection Agency awarded $300,000 to the Port of Long Beach to develop hybrid yard tractors that are expected to reduce emissions at the port by more than 90 percent. The two-year, $1.2 million project is a public-private...

National Retail Federation Blasts California Box-Fee Plan.
September 15, 2006... The National Retail Federation this month charged that a proposed $30-per-TEU fee on all containers handled at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is illegal and urged California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to veto the bill. The...

California Transportation Commission Allocates $431 Million for Projects.
September 15, 2006... The California Transportation Commission has approved $431 million in new transportation funding for 92 projects throughout the state. Highlights of the CTC's funding allocations include: * Northern California: $71 million was allocated...

Port of Longview, WASH., Sets Steel Record.
September 15, 2006... The Port of Longview set a record this month by unloading its largest volume of steel cargo from one vessel. The Gearbulk vessel Eagle Arrow arrived from China on Sept. 2 loaded with 13,750 tons of steel pipe and tube ranging in size from...

Great Lakes Ore Volume Jumps 16 Percent.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Shipments of iron ore by U.S.-flag vessels on the Great Lakes increased 15.7 percent to 5.5 million net tons in July from 4.77 million tons a year ago, according to data collected by the Cleveland-based Lake...

List Leaves Port of Brownsville.
September 15, 2006... Bernard List was fired as chief executive and director at the Port of Brownsville, Texas, this month. List had been under a probationary contract, which was set to expire on Sept. 11. The Brownsville Navigation District Board voted to...

Group Sees Extraterritorial Laws As Trade Threat.
September 15, 2006... International trade and investment is suffering as countries increasingly apply their laws to business conduct in other countries, the Paris-based International Chamber of Commerce warned. "The so-called extraterritorial application of...

Pacer Acquires LogiMax Warehouse System.
September 15, 2006... Pacer Distribution Services, the warehousing and distribution arm of Pacer International, acquired and implemented an integrated warehouse management system from LogiMax, replacing older legacy systems. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ...

Grimaldi Expands Us-Africa Ro-Ro Service.
September 15, 2006... The Grimaldi Group has added a twice-monthly direct roll-on, roll-off and container service between the U.S. East Coast and West Africa. The service will begin in October. The enhancement of Grimaldi's existing monthly ro-ro service, which...

Transportation Index Declines.
September 15, 2006... The Transportation Services Index in July fell to 111.5, down 0.4 percent from June, and marked the second straight monthly decline, according to the Department of Transportation. The index increased slightly from July 2005. The TSI...

Cosco Signs China Car Deal.
September 15, 2006... Cosco recently entered into a 15-year strategic partnership with 17 Chinese automobile manufacturers to provide shipping and logistics services and to increase its car-carrier fleet. The agreement provides needed capacity for the rapidly...

Fki Logistex Wins Schenker Contract.
September 15, 2006... Schenker, an international provider of air, sea freight and logistics services, awarded FKI Logistex, a provider of integrated material-handling solutions, a contract for a new parcel-sorting system at its distribution center in Stockholm,...

Truckers Face Fmcsa Crackdown.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane Safety officials can immediately take off the road trucks that do not have the proper operating authority, seven years after Congress passed a law. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration last...

Federal Funds Released for Heartland Corridor Rail Project.
September 15, 2006... Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia and the Norfolk Southern Railway Co. entered into memoranda of agreement with the Federal Highway Administration governing the release of $95 million in federal funding for the Heartland Corridor rail...

Usl Upgrades Service to Australia-New Zealand.
September 15, 2006... U.S. Lines has upgraded its bi-weekly service from Los Angeles to Tauranga, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to a weekly service, a move that takes effect on Oct. 5. The bi-weekly service was launched on Aug. 10. To date, all vessels either have...

Senate Works on Port Security Bill.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson The Port Security Improve-ment Act of 2006 will "take a giant step in improving our homeland security," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of its principal sponsors, told reporters this month. The Senate last week...

Marad's Connaughton Sworn In.
September 15, 2006... Sean T. Connaughton took the oath of office as maritime administrator this month. Acting Secretary of Transportation Maria Cino conducted the ceremony at the U.S. Department of Transportation headquarters. Prior to his appointment,...

Us Bans Korean Carrier in Oil-Dumping Case.
September 15, 2006... A South Korean vessel operator was banned from U.S. waters after it pleaded guilty to dumping untreated waste oil and agreed to pay a $500,000 fine. The Sun Ace Shipping Co. of Seoul will pay a $400,000 fine, and the remainder will go to...

South Korea to End Us Beef Ban.
September 15, 2006... South Korea on Sept. 8 announced plans to end a three-year ban on imports of U.S. beef because of concerns about mad cow disease. The decision comes after Washington pressured Seoul to end the ban after Japan resumed beef imports in August....

AmeriCold to Buy Reefer Facilities from ConAgra.
September 15, 2006... A subsidiary of AmeriCold Realty Trust entered into a definitive agreement to acquire from ConAgra Foods four refrigerated warehouse facilities and the lease, with a purchase option, on a fifth facility for $190 million. The five...

Fda Probes Lettuce E. Coli Problem.
September 15, 2006... Federal regulators visited Salinas, Calif., this month to investigate an E. coli problem discovered in Central Coast lettuce. The Food and Drug Administration is trying to determine where the bacteria are coming from, which has been a mystery...

Report Finds Mixed Progress on North American Trade, Security Measures.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Measures to increase border security and facilitate trade between the United States, Canada and Mexico are working or are "on track" to being implemented, a new report found. But the report prepared for President...

Tsa Invites Bids for Twic Support.
September 15, 2006... The Transportation Security Administration has selected eight companies to submit bids for the system that will support the Transportation Workers Identification Credential. The winner will build and maintain the program's database,...

Shippers Slam Box Scanning Proposal.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Emily Rehring Feliz The Supply Chain Security Coalition urged the Senate to vote down the 100 percent scanning amendment in the port security bill, saying the proposal is "unrealistic, a diversion of resources and potentially...

Los Angeles Hires Community Team.
September 15, 2006... The public relations and legislative affairs division at the Port of Los Angeles has hired three new team members to help extend port-related community interaction and legislative activity in support of current and upcoming port initiatives....

Tacoma Appoints Reilly, Soderstrom to Container Terminal Posts.
September 15, 2006... The Port of Tacoma recently named Michael Reilly director, container terminal contracts, and Anna Soderstrom, container terminal services specialist. "I believe that Mike's negotiating and team leadership experience will help us achieve...

Target Logistic Hires Two.
September 15, 2006... James (Jim) Gould, a 21-year veteran in the air-cargo industry, has been appointed Northeast regional manager at Target Logistic Services, a leading international freight forwarder and logistics provider. Gould will operate from Target's...

Outlook for Mexico: New President, Same Economic Policies.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Richard Knee From the trading community to the halls of academia, Felipe Calderon Hinojosa's victory in Mexico's hotly contested presidential election is seen as beneficial to trade and to business in general. But...

Cosco Pacific First-Half Profit Plunges.
September 15, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Cosco Pacific Ltd., the terminal-operating arm of the Cosco Group, said fiscal first-half profit fell 36.5 percent on lower earnings at its terminals and an affiliated container maker. Net income dropped to...

None.
September 15, 2006... none

Hutchison to Build, Operate Box Facility at Ecuador's Port of Manta.
September 15, 2006... Hutchison Port Holdings was granted the concession to build and operate a new container terminal at the Port of Manta in Ecuador. The Hong Kong-based company, a division of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., in a release said the port is capable of...

Hamburg Sud Expands in China.
September 15, 2006... Hamburg Sud said it has formed a wholly owned subsidiary, Hamburg Sud (China) Ltd., to supervise all liner activities within Central and North China and Shanghai. The German carrier said the Shang-hai-based unit will allow it to continue...

Mol Adds Ship to Psx Service.
September 15, 2006... MOL (America) Inc. has added a second P-Class vessel, MOL Prestige, to its Pacific Southwest Express service. The Prestige has a declared capacity of 6,350 TEUs and a service speed of 26 knots. It joins its sister ship, MOL Partner, in the...

South Pacific Islands' Cargo Volume Small But Healthy.
September 15, 2006... Cargo volume from the U.S. to the South Pacific islands of Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and Tahiti among others, while relatively small compared to other international shipping lanes, remains healthy, a manager at freight forwarder Dependable Global...