Florida Shipper articles from April 2006

Florida Shipper archives from April 2006

Skeleton Crew.
April 3, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam While Congress was busy insulting U.S. allies in the Middle East and the White House was busy spending the last of its political capital on a secure and democratic Iraq, the only U.S. agency dedicated to protecting the...

Ultimate CSI.
April 3, 2006... We wasted $75 million on a Department of Homeland Security study that found U.S. ports remain vulnerable to terrorist weapons of mass destruction. The Arab hysteria will extract $400 million each year for port security "grants," to be...

Congressmen kill port security bonus.
April 3, 2006... During consideration of a supplemental appropriations bill for war and hurricane costs, the House of Representatives rejected an amendment by two votes that would have proven that lawmakers really want to improve port security by adding an...

SSA Marine seeks future advice.
April 3, 2006... The Seattle papers are reporting that SSA Marine, the largest U.S.-owned port terminal operator, is considering either selling out or purchasing additional cargo terminals. The move was announced 11 days after a Dubai company dropped plans to...

China caught bypassing quotas.
April 3, 2006... U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized textile products valued at $6 million since Feb. 24, 2006, bringing the 2006 total to more than $20 million. In the past four weeks, 26 seizures were made, according to Customs, which said most...

Houston to challenge MIA for perishables.
April 3, 2006... According to a report in the Houston Business Journal, the Houston Airport System has teamed up with Trammell Crow Co. to develop a refrigerated cargo facility to challenge Miami International Airport for South American perishable cargo. ...

Port Everglades Terminal completed.
April 3, 2006... The Port Everglades Terminal, owned by Mediterranean Shipping Co., the world's second-largest shipping company, and its terminal management company celebrated the completion of its Greenfield development on March 23. MSC signed a 10-year...

Kingston Maersk terminal ahead of schedule.
April 3, 2006... On March 17, Jamaican Prime Minister P.J. Patterson welcomed the Olivia Maersk, the first vessel of Maersk Line to dock at the Kingston Container Terminal under a five-year, $210 million contract, according to local papers. The agreement,...

Hamburg Sud to switch South Florida call.
April 3, 2006... German ocean carrier Hamburg Sud will consolidate its South Florida activities when its weekly U.S./east coast South America service (ABUS) starts calling at Port Everglades instead of at Miami. The last call of the ABUS service at Miami...

Importers challenge WTO apparel limits.
April 3, 2006... U.S. retailers and apparel importers are urging the World Trade Organization to continue negotiations aimed at opening global textile and apparel markets. The industry groups, responding to reports that the WTO might eliminate apparel from...

Official says Panama Canal capacity good until 2012.
April 3, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo The Panama Canal Authority will deploy new technology and operational improvements to handle growing traffic until it is expected to reach full capacity in 2012, according to the director of engineering projects at...

Seafarers' adds board members.
April 3, 2006... Seafarers' House at Port Everglades has recruited four new members to its 2006 board of directors. Anitra Lanczi Esq., a partner with Shutts & Bowen; Arthur C. Novacek, president and chief executive of Eller & Co.; Betty Ann Rogacki, vice...

AAPA names Port Person of the Year'.
April 3, 2006... Sen. Susan M. Collins, R-Maine, was honored as the American Association of Port Authorities' "Port Person of the Year" for 2006. The AAPA selected Collins to receive its most prestigious annual award because of her strong advocacy in Congress...

NYK Line introduces new chairman.
April 3, 2006... Saburo Yamagata will become the new chairman of marine transportation and logistics provider NYK Line (North America) Inc. He will assume the responsibilities previously held by Hiroyuki Shimizu, who will return to NYK Tokyo headquarters in the...

Gilmore promoted at Dole.
April 3, 2006... Dole Food Co. has promoted Peter Gilmore to vice president, eastern seaboard sourcing. In his new role, Gilmore will be responsible for sourcing product on the U.S. East Coast for Dole's North American Fresh Fruit Division, Worldwide Vegetable...

Hager and Carnes join Schenker.
April 3, 2006... Hans-Jorg Hager, chairman of the management board of Schenker Deutschland AG, and Joseph L. Carnes, president of BAX Global Inc., have joined the management board of Schenker AG, Essen. Hager represents the land transport business unit, while...

Shipping Council, Coast Guard form security pact.
April 3, 2006... The World Shipping Council said its liner members have entered into a new cooperative agreement with the U.S. Coast Guard to improve port security. Under the agreement, the Council's members will work with the Coast Guard to help implement...

Domestic Shipping.
April 10, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Intermoadal disconnect:  Trucks and trains and coastal shipping Containers and loaded truck trailers travel easily by sea from the far corners of the globe. But once the cargo hits U.S. ports, the existing...

The Maritime and Trucking Initiative.
April 10, 2006... Let's declare the passing of short-sea shipping as a marketing name and do some better marketing. Let's call it the Maritime and Trucking Initiative or The Sustainable Highway Initiative because coastal shipping only works when the truckers who...

Sanborn's proudest day.
April 10, 2006...   David Sanborn decided to remain as a DP World executive. But he did so with touching regret, according to his letter to President Bush, provided here in full: "It is with deep regret that I must request the withdrawal of my...

Panama managers debate construction plans.
April 10, 2006... News sources in Panama are reporting a change in attitudes about Panama's plans to expand the Panama Canal and to build a huge commercial port. It might be incompatible, managers of the canal said, but port promoters say there is no conflict....

Fund creates CSME uncertainty.
April 10, 2006... Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer said on March 29 that he thinks the Caricom Regional Development Fund has become a negative factor for Antigua & Barbuda. He said his island nation and the other members of the Organization of Easter Caribbean...

Expect above-average hurricane season.
April 10, 2006... William Gray, the nation's hurricane expert out of Colorado State University, predicts 17 named tropical storms for the 2006 season. That is more storms than he predicted last year at this time for the record 2005 season. In the 2005...

CAFTA arrives for Honduras and Nicaragua.
April 10, 2006... President Bush issued a proclamation March 31 to implement the U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) in Honduras and Nicaragua effective April 1. "We have worked closely and intensively with all six...

First steps to deployment of Transportation Worker Identification.
April 10, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson The Transportation Security Administration on April 1 solicited qualified bidders as the first step to implementing the long-delayed Transportation Worker Identification Credential. The TSA's request was posted at...

DOT finds most truck crashes caused by autos.
April 10, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Carey Passenger cars are responsible for the majority of two-vehicle crashes with large trucks, the federal Department of Transportation has found. In a "Large Truck Crash Causation Study" released on March 24, the DOT...

Train speed improves.
April 10, 2006... BYLINE: Thomas L. Gallagher North American railroads improved service overall in the week ending March 18 compared to the same week a year ago. Week-to-week changes in speed (the movement of cars while on rail lines) and dwell time (the...

Horizon Lines to add five vessels.
April 10, 2006... The aging Horizon Lines fleet will get a burst of youth next year when it takes delivery of five new chartered vessels. The 2,800-TEU ships will reduce the average age of the carrier's active fleet to 20 years. That compares with...

Customs and ICE flunk terror test.
April 10, 2006... By land or by sea, U.S. federal agencies have failed to improve the search tools and techniques necessary to avert a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction smuggled across its borders. This stinging conclusion comes from two recent...

Asia Windfall.
April 17, 2006... BYLINE: William Armbruster Entering the Occidental free-trade zone The rising flood of imports surging across the Pacific has stirred public anxiety across the U.S., especially in regions and industries that have lost jobs by the...

Do's and Don'ts of conducting business in China.
April 17, 2006... Companies doing business with China can reap rich rewards, but the results can be calamitous if they are not careful. To help them achieve success and avoid disaster, the Web site for the Commerce Department's China Business Information Center,...

Roll-on, Roll-Off: Rolling along.
April 17, 2006... BYLINE: William Armbruster Vehicles and construction equipment drive the roll-on, roll-off market With the two largest U.S. automakers, General Motors and Ford, struggling, plus Toyota poised to surpass GM as the world's largest auto...

Ramping up.
April 17, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo The bull market for the roll-on, roll-off segment of the ocean shipping industry may be reaching maturity, but carrier executives are confident that 2006 will be another profitable year for vessel operators. ...

The Year of the Chassis Pool.
April 17, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach After years of debate and disagreement, 2006 may bring widespread efforts from ocean carriers to pool their fleets of intermodal chassis in an attempt to improve efficiency and cut costs ahead of new federal safety...

Next.
April 17, 2006... We can now add the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the list of U.S. federal agencies that have failed to improve the techniques necessary to avert a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction smuggled across U.S. borders. You...

China rivalry fuels Japan's FTA drive.
April 17, 2006... BYLINE: Hisane Masaki Japan is revving up its drive toward free-trade agreements with trading partners, largely fueled by an intensifying rivalry with China, a rapidly ascendant economic as well as military power. As the World Trade...

US tells ports and carriers to increase security.
April 17, 2006... The Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection division has published new, stiffer minimum-security requirements for the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism that forces trucking companies, ports and ocean cargo...

FBI slipping on port security.
April 17, 2006... Now we can add the Federal Bureau of Investigation to the list of U.S. federal agencies that don't exactly shine when it comes to averting a terrorist attack using weapons of mass destruction smuggled across U.S. borders. The Justice...

Hurry to Puerto Rico.
April 17, 2006... Calling it "an unprecedented event for investors and entrepreneurs from the U.S. and the Caribbean" and describing an "urgent need," the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce offered two weeks notice of its impending "conference on investment and...

60-day clock starts on air controller contract.
April 17, 2006... The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association were unable to reach any common ground. They have invoked the next step in their negotiations, leaving Congress 60 days to pass a law before the FAA's last...

Sanborn to head DP World Americas division.
April 17, 2006... David C. Sanborn has been promoted to head the newly restructured Americas division of DP World. The company has consolidated management of its four marine terminals in Canada and South America. Previously, Sanborn was DP World's director of...

Tropical Shipping expands in Grenada.
April 17, 2006... Tropical Shipping, in collaboration with Geo. F. Huggins & Co. (Grenada) Ltd., has opened a less-than-container-load warehouse facility and offices in St. Georges, Grenada. The 10,000-square-foot warehouse is scheduled to open for business...

Chiquita banana volume down in North America, Europe.
April 17, 2006... Chiquita Brands International last month said that in its core European Union, Switzerland, Norway and Iceland markets, banana prices increased 5 percent on a local currency basis, but were down 3 percent on a U.S. dollar basis during the first...

Vessels without reservations held up at Panama Canal.
April 17, 2006... The Panama Canal Authority said an unusually high number of arrivals have delayed transit through the waterway by five days for ships without reservations. "Present congestion is due to abnormally high arrivals, in addition to an...

Japan proposes 16-nation Asian free-trade zone.
April 17, 2006... Out-flanked by China and concerned over plans for a free-trade pact between the U.S. and South Korea, Japan has announced plans to organize an Asian free-trade zone that would include at least one-third of the world's population and rival the...

East Coast can expect no Southern California fallout.
April 17, 2006... The Southern California port, rail and harbor trucking industries will handle the strong growth projected for peak-season 2006 without experiencing significant congestion, according to industry executives who addressed a conference this month...

DHS to launch Secure Freight pilot in 2006.
April 17, 2006... The Department of Homeland Security will launch the pilot program for the Secure Freight Initiative before the end of 2006, Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson told the House Homeland Security Committee on April 4. Jackson told the committee...

Basham plans no major Customs changes.
April 17, 2006... If he receives Senate confirmation as the next commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, W. Ralph Basham sees "no need for a dramatic change of course" for the agency. "Rather, as you have told me, the next commissioner will have to...

Agriculture shippers hit filing changes.
April 17, 2006... Agriculture shippers say proposed changes to the new Automated Export System by the Department of Homeland Security will throw up new barriers to foreign sales of U.S. crops. In a letter to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez and Secretary...

The new normal.
April 24, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower Canada plans to mirror U.S. Customs' newly upgraded Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism campaign that makes motor carriers and ocean cargo carriers responsible for the supply-chain security measures taken by...

New C-TPAT rules worry truckers.
April 24, 2006... BYLINE: Courtney Tower U.S. and Canadian trucking officials said tougher security requirements could drive some carriers out of the cross-border market. The stiffer requirements issued by U.S. Customs and Border Protection as part of...

Jacksonville's growth means new opportunities.(Company overview)
April 24, 2006... In early March, Caribbean Shipping Services and Eagle Logistics Systems, two of the Port of Jacksonville's stalwart consolidators and logistics providers, called off their planned merger. Part of Atlanta's AJC Logistics, Eagle offers...

Horizon completes ship finance.
April 24, 2006... On April 1, Horizon Lines Inc. announced that its major operating subsidiary, Horizon Lines LLC, closed the definitive long-term charters and related agreements with Ship Finance International Ltd. and its subsidiaries to lease five newly...

Landstar nearly doubles net.
April 24, 2006... Hurricane relief work drove a 36 percent increase in fourth-quarter revenue earned by Landstar System to a record $800 million. Net income was a record $43 million, up from $24.6 million last year. The fourth-quarter revenue included $138...

ITL to manage Railrunner container-on-rails operation.
April 24, 2006... RailRunner N.A., the developer and marketer of a container-based intermodal transport system, said it has contracted with International Transport Logistics to manage its operations in Jacksonville, Fla., the southern terminus of RailRunner's...

Crowley and Toyota celebrate 150,000th Jacksonville Toyota.
April 24, 2006... More than 300 Crowley and Toyota Logistics Services employees gathered to celebrate the shipment of the 150,000th Toyota vehicle to Puerto Rico from Jacksonville. The ceremony and luncheon took place at Crowley's Talleyrand terminal, where the...

FEC sees busy 2006.
April 24, 2006... Florida East Coast Railway flexed its financial strength in both the fourth-quarter and full-year 2005, despite the effects of three hurricanes that wrecked havoc on the railroad and Florida's economy. Revenue in the fourth quarter at the...

Crowley christens new ATB tank vessel.
April 24, 2006... Crowley Maritime Corp. last month christened the first of six new 185,000-barrel Articulated Tug-Barge tank vessels that the company will take delivery of over the next two-and-a-half years. The vessels christened were the 9,280-horsepower tug...

Jaxport containers going more glob.
April 24, 2006... Nordana Line (USA) Inc. has moved two of its regular cargo services from Savannah, Ga., to Jacksonville, adding at least 25 port jobs to Northeast Florida, creating more than half-a-million dollars in new annual revenue for the Jacksonville...

Land of opportunity.
April 24, 2006... Jacksonville is a place that reflects Florida's peculiar penchant for opportunities seized and opportunities missed. Jacksonville was Henry Flagler's spring board. He dug the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway all the way to Miami and used the fill...

China to ease investment rules.
April 24, 2006... As China gradually implements the reforms it is required to make as part of its accession to the World Trade Organization, experts say it is becoming easier for foreign companies to invest in and export to the Asia superpower. In May 2005,...

WTO: Global exports top $10 trillion.
April 24, 2006... Global merchandise exports in 2005 increased 13 percent from the previous year, topping $10 trillion for the first time ever, the World Trade Organization said in a release on April 11. Germany remained the world's largest exporter in terms of...

Wal-Mart hot for RFID.
April 24, 2006... Wal-Mart will continue to explore the supply-chain benefits of radio-frequency identification under the Wal-Mart Information Systems Division's new leader, the company said in a prepared statement. Rollin Ford, Wal-Mart's new executive vice...

Katra, Wilhelmsen team to launch 'floating port'.
April 24, 2006... India's Katra Group has joined hands with Norway-based marine transport company Wilh. Wilhelmsen to launch a "floating port," according to reports in the Indian press. The floating port is said to be a 250-meter ship with...

Port of Los Angeles funds greenbelt, mitigation projects.
April 24, 2006... The Port of Los Angeles will spend $3.1 million in community aesthetic mitigation funds to design and build a Wilmington Youth Sailing Center and an additional $5.2 million to create a greenbelt on North Gaffey Street in Northwest San Pedro....

Politics may toughen air-cargo security.
April 24, 2006... Legislation to require physical inspection of all cargo booked on passenger planes is likely to gain traction because of election-year politicking, a top spokesman for the air-cargo industry warned. The House approved such legislation in...

US, Peru sign trade agreement.
April 24, 2006... The U.S. and Peru have signed a trade agreement that lowers or equalizes tariffs. Upon implementation of this agreement, 80 percent of consumer and industrial products and more than two-thirds of current U.S. farm exports to Peru will...

Sea Star Line imposes fuel surcharges.
April 24, 2006... Sea Star Line began a Puerto Rico fuel surcharge on March 1, ranging from $375 on 20-foot containers to $420 on 53-foot containers and up to $160 on automobiles. On April 23, Sea Star also increased intermodal fuel charges in the 19...

Dominican consul explains shipping costs.
April 24, 2006... When the Dominican Republic is invested in CAFTA after July 1, those wishing to ship vehicles to the Dominican Republic must visit Dominican consuls in the U.S., Europe, Canada and Puerto Rico and pay them to work in coordination with freight...

Vermont cows excel in Cuba.
April 24, 2006... Vermont's secretary of agriculture, Steve Kerr, is unhappy because U.S. exports to Cuba are being squeezed by the Bush administration's imposition of tighter economic sanctions. At the same time, Kerr and others have told the local farm...

China's apparel exports declining to EU and US.
April 24, 2006... China's textile and clothing exports declined in the first two months of the year, with annual growth falling below 20 percent, according to China's customs data. Apparel exports to the EU and U.S. fell sharply in February, partly because...

Apparel 6 percent more expensive.
April 24, 2006... Importers in the U.S. have been charged an extra 6 percent for all Chinese apparel products in the first month compared with the whole of last year. This is in contrast with last year where China reduced prices 14 percent from 2004 unit...

Higher prices this year.
April 24, 2006... After increasing in January, China's clothing exports to the EU were down 11.8 percent in February with the two-month average up 1.2 percent over the first two months of the year. In addition, average unit prices of apparel shipped to the...

China's exports of textiles, apparel rise worldwide.
April 24, 2006... Total textile and apparel exports from China gained 15.3 percent in the first two months, at $16.8 billion. In February, total clothing and textile exports were only up 4.3 percent to $6.6 billion, however, while imports surged 23 percent...

Active RFID boosts supply chain.
April 24, 2006... BYLINE: William Hoffman Not all radio-frequency identification technologies are created equal. Active RFID tags, chips, readers and infrastructure are catching on as standardized wireless local-area networks rise in reliability and drop in...

Zim upgrades Tampa service.
April 24, 2006... Zim Integrated Shipping Services has upgraded its Tampa call from feeder service to a mainline port of call with its new Asia-Gulf Express service. The AGX service rotation is Shanghai, Ningbo, Busan, Colon, Kingston, Tampa, Mobile,...

Florida International Terminal chooses Tideworks Technology.
April 24, 2006... Seattle's Tideworks Technology Inc., a provider of full-service terminal management and planning software solutions for terminal operators, was selected by Florida International Terminal to provide terminal operations solutions and professional...