Florida Shipper articles from June 2006

Florida Shipper archives from June 2006

Ice cycles.
June 5, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Shippers importing pricey seafood from Chile and popular libido drugs from Puerto Rico are constantly shopping for carriers that offer the most secure links in the cold chain to protect freshness and assure potency....

Round of applause.
June 5, 2006... This week we say thanks for a job well done to Chuck Towsley who selected this moment to ditch the job as director of the Port of Miami in favor of consulting. I am guessing that the choice was simple. He could get paid a reasonable amount...

US extends tonnage tax.
June 5, 2006... Taxes on the tonnage of vessels arriving at U.S. ports have been extended until Jan. 1, 2011, as part of President Bush's permanent tax-relief measures. The Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005 also extends tonnage tax...

MOL president visits Jacksonville.
June 5, 2006... The Business Journal of Jacksonville is reporting that when Jacksonville becomes the major East Coast hub for ocean cargo carrier MOL, the deal will create 1,800 direct jobs, 3,800 indirect jobs and an $870 million economic impact, according to...

Haiti secures funding source.
June 5, 2006... At the recent 36th annual conference of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB), the board of governors announced that Haiti could become a full-fledged member. CDB President, Compton Bourne, in his closing address during the final session...

Love boat antics targeted.
June 5, 2006... InterAct Public Safety Systems, a leading provider of public safety and homeland security information technology solutions used by local, state, national and international government agencies, has announced a partnership with Creative Cruise...

Seaboard Marine increases Central America service.
June 5, 2006... On May 29, the sailing of the MV Hafentor from the Port of New Orleans marked the inaugural sailing of Seaboard Marine's direct service from the Port of New Orleans to Honduras and Guatemala, also serving the garment centers of Nicaragua and El...

Bahamas looks to China for trade.
June 5, 2006... Bahamas Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell told reporters in Nassau at the end of May that trade between the Bahamas and China is poised to increase further. "The volume of trade is now close to $150 million annually," Mitchell told...

NOAA predicts 13 named storms.
June 5, 2006... The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is urging all residents of the Atlantic coast region and the Caribbean Basin to begin preparations for another active hurricane season. "For the 2006 North Atlantic hurricane season,...

DHL readies storm-response team.
June 5, 2006... At the official start of the 2006 Hurricane Season, DHL announced the DHL Disaster Response Team Americas, based out of the DHL Americas corporate headquarters in South Florida. The DHL Disaster Response Team Americas will provide...

TT Club publishes storm damage guide.
June 5, 2006... The TT Club has launched a loss-prevention initiative in the form of a 45-page guide to help port and terminal operators minimize the damage caused by tropical storms and hurricanes. According to the insurer, last year's Atlantic hurricanes...

Broward picks Brangaccio.
June 5, 2006... Following a long tradition, the Broward County Commission has selected a county administrator to manage county government, including its Port Everglades department and airport department with no experience in either area. The commission...

Trinity adds new manager.
June 5, 2006... Trinity Shipping Line has added Miggy Soto to its staff as accounting and administrative manager. She has been asked to asses the company's current accounting policies and recommend efficiencies for accounting and operations. According...

Terminal operators need IT to boost productivity and service.
June 5, 2006... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo Terminal operators are using information technology to increase productivity, but they do not want to degrade service to shippers and truckers in the process. Increasing container throughput per-acre is...

Smart packaging worth $4.8 billion by 2011.
June 5, 2006... The global smart packaging market is forecast to grow to about $4.8 billion in 2011 and reach $14.1 billion in 2013, according to a new report from market research firm NanoMarkets. The company's market report, Smart Packaging Markets:...

UPS upgrades trade tools.
June 5, 2006... UPS announced enhancements to its Web-based tools for international trade last month. Small businesses now have access to tracking, delivery services, billing and international shipping forms from a single page at MyUPS.com. The new "My UPS"...

Day of reckoning.
June 12, 2006... BYLINE: Andrew Held Wood-packaging rules take effect July 5 The day of reckoning for full enforcement of wood-packaging rules is fast approaching. As of July 5, the U.S. will require immediate re-export of all goods if their wood...

EU rescinds barking rule.
June 12, 2006... Tree bark is the stickiest issue to affect implementation of ISPM 15, the rule that governs treatment of wood-packaging materials used in international transport. Initially, the European Union, China, Australia and other countries chose to...

Memories of chestnut blight stir action.
June 12, 2006... U.S. foresters fear that the spread of introduced pests and pathogens such as the Asian longhorned beetle, the hemlock wooly adelgid and the emerald ash borer will echo the devastating loss of the chestnut tree in the early 20th century. ...

Countries that have adopted ISPM.
June 12, 2006... The European Union and the following countries have adopted ISPM 15 as their standard: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, China, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, India, Jordan, South Korea, Lebanon, Mexico,...

Tiny connections.
June 12, 2006... For "security reasons" Congress has threatened to bar Dubai and other future foreign purchasers of port properties. The most frequently identified potential purchaser of Dubai's U.S. P&O holdings is the Carlyle Group. Recently, Carlyle was...

Dubai buying into suburbs.
June 12, 2006... Dubai-based Emaar Properties has acquired John Laing Homes, a leading U.S. homebuilding company in a deal valued at $1.05 billion. Emaar paid $1.05 billion in an all-cash transaction that brings the United Arab Emirates control of the...

Interim director for Miami port.
June 12, 2006... Bill Johnson, a veteran of more than two decades of Miami-Dade County politics, has been appointed interim director of the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami, according to a memo distributed by the office of the county manager and Andria Muniz,...

TSA demands major changes in air-cargo security.
June 12, 2006... The Transportation Security Administration has given the air-cargo industry only six months to phase in changes in its new air-cargo rule. The new rules will require background checks of freight forwarder employees, expand secure areas at...

Consolidated transport ID card proposed.
June 12, 2006... New background checks under the soon-to-be-released federal air-cargo security rule will set air-cargo workers back $28 apiece. According to a copy of the rule, the Transportation Security Administration expects more than 82,000 workers to...

Houston seeks to break Miami's stranglehold on perishables.
June 12, 2006... Miami has long been the dominant U.S. airport for perishable shipments from Latin America. But with Miami struggling to keep up with surging volume, other airports are competing for a slice of the business. Houston Airport System, the operator...

Carriers back expansion of Panama Canal.
June 12, 2006... International liner companies are backing a plan to expand the Panama Canal to accommodate the newest generation of container ships. Expansion is needed if the canal is to remain a viable corridor for trade between Asia and the U.S., the...

DR won't be CAFTA ready.
June 12, 2006... Miguel Cocco, customs chief general for the Dominican Republic, told the local media in late May that the Dominican Republic will not be ready to implement its CAFTA responsibilities on July 1 as planned. Instead he predicted a four-month...

Congestion surcharge added for Jamaica.
June 12, 2006... The Government and the Shipping Association of Jamaica (SAJ) and the West India Transatlantic Steam Shipping (WITASS) lines have decided to reintroduce a congestion surcharge and increase terminal handling charges. The London-based WITASS...

Caribbean Shipping Association meets.
June 12, 2006... The Caribbean Shipping Association's fifth annual Shipping Executives Conference was held in Willemstad, Curacao, May 22-24. CorahAnn Robertson-Sylvester, president of the Caribbean Shipping Association, describes the Shipping Executives...

Central America losing T-shirt tussle.
June 12, 2006... Although still dominating the U.S. T-shirt import market, Central America continues to face pressure from Asian competition and has had little help from the Central America Free Trade Agreement. In the first quarter, U.S. T-shirt imports...

Senate confirms Basham for top Customs job.
June 12, 2006... The Senate on May 26 confirmed W. Ralph Basham as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection. Basham, a 29-year Secret Service veteran, was chief of staff of the Transportation Security Administration. He also worked as director of the...

Defendants seek ILA case dismissal.
June 12, 2006... Defendants last month asked a federal judge to dismiss a civil racketeering lawsuit that seeks to oust top officials of the International Longshoremen's Association and put the union and its benefit programs under government control. The...

Ready when you are.
June 19, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson China's customs: changing for the better On a recent visit to China, Renee Stein, director of global trade policy for Microsoft, was talking with a senior official of China's General Administration of Customs....

Small shippers' friend in government.
June 19, 2006... BYLINE: Thomas Moore When Ditmar Gorges, executive vice president of Falcon Waterfree Technologies, was looking to establish critical partnerships and to develop sales in China, he received help from the U.S. Commercial Service, a unit of...

Crowley and China top the numbers game.
June 19, 2006... In 2003 and for many years before that, Honduras was the Port of Miami's top trading partner. A million tons of textiles turned into T-shirts and other apparel flowed between Florida and the clogged little port of Puerto Cortes in Honduras. ...

New ships for Horizon.
June 19, 2006... For several years, the question has hung over Horizon Lines: When and how will the domestic ship line update its aging fleet? This month, Horizon provided an answer by announcing plans to charter five 2,800-TEU ships to be delivered by...

Convergence of opportunity.
June 19, 2006... In the bowels of the world's great vessels, there are tens of thousands of young men and women who have already made the choice to leave the land behind and earn a living at sea. They work long hours for modest pay. But their expenses are...

Canada and Caribbean connectedness.
June 19, 2006... BYLINE: Sir Ronald Sanders A most remarkable conference on strengthening Canada's relationship with the Caribbean took place recently. It was remarkable for several reasons, the least of which was not because it was initiated by an...

House approves DHS spending bill.
June 19, 2006... The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a $32.08 billion spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, absent a provision requiring all containers to be scanned at overseas ports. The House Rules Committee gave Rep. Edward...

Carolina textile group hedges bet with Vietnam.
June 19, 2006... The Greensboro, N.C.-based International Textile Group has announced plans to build a cotton manufacturing complex in Da Nang, Vietnam, about 600 miles from Hanoi. The announcement came right after the U.S. signed a trade agreement that...

Johnson era begins at Port of Miami.
June 19, 2006... Miami-Dade Assistant County Manager Bill Johnson began his term as director of the Dante B. Fascell Port of Miami on June 6. He replaced, at least temporarily, Charles A. Towsley, who led port operations for the past eight years. Johnson...

US air exports set record in 2005.
June 19, 2006... The U.S. shattered records for air exports in 2005. The Colography Group, in releasing two of its annual reports on the U.S. airfreight and expedited trucking markets, noted that domestic ground parcel traffic also set records last year. ...

New industrial park comes San Cristobal.
June 19, 2006... The president of the Commission to Reform Public Enterprises in the Dominican Republic, Fernando Rosa, has announced plans for the government to build a new industrial park that will house small and medium-sized industries in the province of...

Caribbean Development Fund confronts Caricom leaders.
June 19, 2006... The Caricom Development Fund was the major issue on the agenda for the Fourth Special Meeting of the Council for Finance and Planning in Barbados early this month. Caricom is divided with a group of smaller states belonging to the...

Caricom reinstates Haiti.
June 19, 2006... The Caribbean Community known as Caricom lifted its 28-month suspension of Haiti at its recent meeting, opening the door to Haiti's participation in the Caribbean Single Market Economy. The 15-member Caribbean Community suspended Haiti's...

Retailers call 100 percent cargo inspection impossible.
June 19, 2006... The National Retail Federation is urging the U.S. House of Representatives to reject amendments calling for 100 percent inspection of U.S.-bound air and ocean cargo, saying the proposals would disrupt commerce and are too unworkable to...

TSA to raise peak surcharge.
June 19, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach The Transpacific Stabilization Agreement said its 11 member carriers would raise the planned peak-season surcharge to cover increased costs. The planned surcharge will rise from $400 per FEU from Asia to the...

Panama Canal tonnage up.
June 19, 2006... The number of vessels passing through the Panama Canal increased during the second fiscal quarter, as did total tonnage, but many ships had to wait longer to transit the waterway, the Panama Canal Authority said. Canal Waters Time, the...

Survey sees little threat of peak congestion.
June 19, 2006... Major container ports in the U.S. are operating smoothly, and importers foresee little risk of the congestion that has jammed gateways in the past, according to the June Port Tracker released by the National Retail Federation. "The ramp-up...

Baltimore port renamed to honor Helen Bentley.
June 19, 2006... Maryland will honor a longtime supporter of the maritime industry by renaming its largest hub the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore. Gov. Robert Ehrlich made the announcement earlier this month at an event recognizing the 300th...

Evans to head new business for Schneider Logistics.
June 19, 2006... Schneider Logistics announced that Dave Evans has joined the company as director of new business development. In the position, Evans will expand the company's customer base in the western U.S., developing new business for Schneider's...

NRS taps Scorsune.
June 19, 2006... National Retail Systems, a provider of retail logistics services in North America, has appointed Thomas C. Scorsune as senior vice president, global logistics. "In recent years, the growth of our company has been rapid and steady due to...

Other moves.
June 19, 2006... ASTAR Air Cargo announced the promotion of Rob Miller to the position of director, employee relations. Miller previously served as manager of financial planning and division controller, employee relations. Pacer has promoted Tom Shurstad...

Heads up: Get ready for global tariff revisions.
June 26, 2006... BYLINE: Larry Ordet, Esq. The more than 190 countries using the Harmonized System nomenclature for classifying goods in trade are slated to implement significant changes to their tariff schedules as of Jan. 1, 2007. The revisions will...

Electronics industry tops Hong Kong exports.
June 26, 2006... Florida's largest trading partner is Hong Kong and Hong Kong's electronics industry is its biggest export moneymaker, accounting for 48 percent of its total exports last year. Electronics exports in 2005 increased 18 percent. While sales to the...

Return of the LASH.
June 26, 2006... Toward the end of my first year embroiled in reporting on Florida shipping, I was impressed with the essential logic that led to containerization. It came to me in a flash one night. If containers are good, then barges loaded with containers,...

Textile group opposes Vietnam pact.
June 26, 2006... American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition, speaking for the U.S. textile industry, has expressed strong opposition to the recently signed U.S.-Vietnam bilateral market access agreement. "There are no adequate safeguards in this deal. In...

Cargo insurance added online.
June 26, 2006... Discount Shipping Insurance, from Tarzana, Calif., has added cargo insurance coverage to its online instant policy program. Users can visit the Web site -www.dsiinsurance.com - to purchase immediate cargo trip policies using their credit card...

Survey says: Late arrivals are common.
June 26, 2006... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Despite claims that most container ships operate on fixed-day weekly schedules, more than 43 percent of vessels operated in liner services arrive one or more days late, according to a new survey by London-based...

New American Airlines cargo portal open.
June 26, 2006... Unisys has announced that American Airlines Cargo is now live and accepting bookings through the Unisys-operated Cargo Portal Services, or CPS, a leading electronic booking and shipment management service for the air-cargo industry. The...

Target Logistic chooses Arce Campos.
June 26, 2006... Target Logistic Services, an international freight forwarder and logistics provider, is expanding operations into Central America with the selection of Arce Campos as its exclusive agent. Arce Campos is headquartered in the Costa Rican...

High hopes for Caribbean sugar.
June 26, 2006... Ethanol, a cleaner-burning alternative fuel that can be made expensively from corn and cheaply from sugar cane, was a central topic among leaders from Central America, Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic at a recent meeting in the...

Zoellick hopes for CAFTA completion.
June 26, 2006... A number of steps must be taken before the U.S.-Central American Free Trade Agreement can enter into force in the Dominican Republic, but the U.S. hopes it will take place very soon, according to Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick. ...

US shifts course on WTO textiles policy.
June 26, 2006... U.S. textile producers said they support a move by the Bush administration calling for the World Trade Organization to give textiles "special consideration" in the current round of world trade talks. The shift in policy announced June 14...

Customs: security, trade are twin goals.
June 26, 2006... In his first public address since he was confirmed as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, W. Ralph Basham moved to allay concerns in the international trade community that he would focus more on enforcement of Customs regulations...