Florida Shipper articles from October 2006

Florida Shipper archives from October 2006

Caribbean goes global: CMA CGM revises Caribbean Basin services.(Company overview)
October 2, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam When John Driscoll, vice president and general manager of CMA CGM (Caribbean) Inc., looks out the window of his office 20 floors above Biscayne Bay, he can see far beyond the Port of Miami and the regular arrivals of...

Carpe diem.
October 2, 2006... You can feel the anticipation among Florida's precarious ports. Jacksonville is on a clear course to greatness. Once the MOL terminal is completed at Dames Point, it can siphon the dissatisfied from Savannah and Charleston so easily that the...

C-TPAT, ISPS get mixed reviews in study.
October 2, 2006... The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism is a good idea, but the costs of membership outweigh the advantages, according to shippers in a survey conducted by the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at Austin,...

GAO report worries about nuclear reaction.
October 2, 2006... The Department of Energy maintains an emergency response capability to quickly respond to potential nuclear and radiological threats in the United States. This capability has taken on increased significance after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001,...

DHS assistant secretary resigns.
October 2, 2006... Randy Beardsworth resigned his position as assistant secretary for strategic plans for the Department of Homeland Security, effective Sept. 29. Beardsworth is the latest in a stream of departures from DHS and the Transportation Security...

Crowley adds capacity for Virgin Islands service.
October 2, 2006... To meet the needs of its customers shipping to the Virgin Islands and Eastern Caribbean during the peak holiday season, Crowley Maritime Corp.'s liner services group has acquired the use of a third container ship, the Pine Valley, to sail...

Emirates Shipping Line selects Seafreight as Jamaican agents.
October 2, 2006... Dubai-registered startup carrier Emirates Shipping Line has appointed Seafreight (Jamaica) Ltd. to represent it in Jamaica. Seafreight (Jamaica) has offices located in the ports of Kingston and Montego Bay. Emirates Shipping offers a...

Yacht haven developments slated.
October 2, 2006... Florida carriers that supply construction materials and provisions to the resorts and residential developments in the region will be pleased to learn that New Hope Holding Co., owner of the Grand Bahama Yacht Club, has purchased the 115-slip...

American, United settle price-fixing suits.
October 2, 2006... United Airlines and American Airlines have settled a class-action lawsuit stemming from an investigation into alleged price-fixing among air-cargo carriers. Unlike Germany's Lufthansa, which on Sept. 11 said it would pay $85 million to...

Basham addresses inspector shortage.
October 2, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Over the next two fiscal years, Customs and Border Protection will replenish the ranks of port inspectors and other front-line personnel responsible for processing trade, Commissioner W. Ralph Basham told members of...

No surprises in the Port Security Act.
October 2, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson No surprises. It seems that the trade community got what it wanted when the Port Security Improvement Act of 2006 was introduced on the Senate floor in August. The bill had been locked in a jurisdictional battle among...

Shoulder to shoulder.
October 9, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Florida ports take a stand For the first time in Florida history, the state's 14 deep-water port directors stood shoulder to shoulder on Sept. 28 and, in a gentlemanly fashion, insisted that the state Legislature,...

Asia trade may face huge shift.
October 9, 2006... BYLINE: William Armbruster Trade preference uncertainty threatens developing nations David Walker, executive vice president for logistics and allocations of Pier 1 Imports, one of Florida's major importers, says he might have to change...

ADB: Asian nations gain in apparel.
October 9, 2006... Developing Asian apparel suppliers are increasing access to world markets, according to a report from the Asian Development Bank. According to the report, now is the time for Asian countries to make necessary changes to further improve...

China's economic invasion: one year later.
October 9, 2006... BYLINE: Tim Kane, Ph.D., Marc Miles, Ph.D., and Anthony Kim Last year the chorus of the consensus told the U.S. that the dollar's exchange rate was due to fall in 2005. Under relentless assault from cheap Chinese imports and facing a record...

China opens security service sector to foreign investors.
October 9, 2006... BYLINE: Alan Field Foreign investments in China's security service industry will be permitted for the first time in 2007, fulfilling one of the country's commitments to the World Trade Organization, a senior Chinese official said. The...

Candidate selection criteria.
October 9, 2006... If you are having difficulty deciding which of the candidates for Congress or the U.S. Senate deserves your vote, you might simply ask how the incumbent voted on May 11, 2005, when Congress passed the Real ID Act as part of the Emergency...

Conferees agree on port security bill.
October 9, 2006... Congressional conferees have reached a deal on port security legislation after coming to an agreement by dropping $4.5 billion in rail and mass transit security provisions that were in the Senate version of the bill. The bill includes key...

Customs boosts fines for agriculture import violations.
October 9, 2006... The civil penalty for failing to declare agricultural items at U.S. ports of entry will increase by $50 to $300 for first-time offenders, effective Oct. 1. Second-time offenders will face a fine of $500. The agency said the key to avoiding the...

Jaxport, Miami, Port Everglades win infrastructure grants.
October 9, 2006... The ports of Jacksonville, Miami and Port Everglades were all found to be at sufficient risk of terrorist attack that the Department of Homeland Security agreed to fund at least some of their grant requests. The DHS did not find requests from...

US needs more from Dominican Republic.
October 9, 2006... U.S. ambassador Hans Hertell has again warned the Dominican Republic that it is losing development opportunities with delays in entering the DR-CAFTA free-trade agreement. Hertell reminded the Dominicans that they still have not been able...

Fitch upbeat on DR prospects.
October 9, 2006... Fitch Ratings has revised its ratings outlook on the Dominican Republic's foreign currency and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDRs) to Positive from Stable. Fitch also affirms both IDRs at "B." According to the Fitch report, "The...

ESPMC-WITASS carriers lower bunker surcharge rates.
October 9, 2006... Caribbean and South America shippers in the trade lane with Europe will get a break in November when the ESPMC-WITASS Conference reduces its bunker surcharge. According to the conference, the reductions will be $235 (from $266) per TEU,...

Caymen cruise tender terminal opened.
October 9, 2006... The opening of the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal is the first step of many to better manage the Cayman Islands' cruise product in coming years according to Minister for Tourism Charles Clifford. Clifford said because of nearly 2 million...

Food imports a concern for Cricket World Cup.
October 9, 2006... With the largest single event to be held in the Caribbean -- the ICC Cricket World Cup -- only six months away, the Jamaican papers are concerned that the local agriculture sector will not be prepared to cope with the increased demand. ...

Cargo carriers cut fuel surcharge.
October 9, 2006... Just like magic as the congressional elections approach and prices dipped at the gas pumps, the world's cargo airlines have also begun to drop fuel surcharges. On Set. 28, American Airlines Cargo joined other carriers in announcing cuts in...

For sale: Chiquita's Great White Fleet.
October 9, 2006... BYLINE: Stephanie Nall Stung by hurricane-related crop losses, new EU tariffs and quotas and now the e-coli virus, Chiquita Brands has put its 12-vessel Great White Fleet on the auction block. Chiquita uses the eight breakbulk reefers...

Help is on the way: Customs' Bashaun vows to bolster ranks of import specialists and inspectors.
October 16, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson It could be that non-vessel-operating common carriers are the canaries in the coal mine when it comes to detecting early signs of port congestion. NVOs' consolidated containers get held for inspection more frequently...

INTTRA launches universal access e-commerce platform.
October 16, 2006... Florida shippers, forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers who deal in full container loads and want to enter the complex Asia trade lanes now have a Web-based e-commerce portal designed by and for the world's major ocean carriers...

Bahamas trade and logistics.
October 16, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Things are much better in the Islands of the Bahamas The World Bank has a wonderful Web site where you can find out most of what you need to know about the logistics necessary to do business in Djibouti and Bhutan,...

Freeport Harbour Co. saga unwinds.
October 16, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam The Freeport Container Port is an aberration, asset and source of recurring controversy among the Bahamians and their business partners. Mediterranean Shipping Co. is part owner and by far the largest customer of...

By the numbers.
October 16, 2006... Official name: Commonwealth of The Bahamas. Geography: 5,382-square-mile area; slightly larger than Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Cities: Capital - Nassau, New Providence.Second-largest city - Freeport, Grand Bahama. ...

The cure.
October 16, 2006... Long ago, I flew down to Aklins in a leaky DC-3 with a rowdy group of fishing writers and Perry Christie, then Bahamas minister of tourism. Also on the flight was "Potluck" Moss, a member of Parliament, and Loftus Roker, the minister of...

TWIC could face legal hurdle, warns congressman.
October 16, 2006... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Small businesses could raise a legal challenge to the Transportation Workers Identification Credential because the Department of Homeland Security did not accurately analyze its financial effect, warned Rep. Don...

Congress shelves WRDA until after elections.
October 16, 2006... A congressional conference committee has put completion of the Water Resources Development Act on hold until after the November elections. Leaders said a final version of the bill was close, but not close enough to be completed before Congress...

DHS to get tough on terminal operators.
October 16, 2006... Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said federal security officials will have "zero tolerance" for port terminal operators who violate cargo search requests. During a visit to Port Elizabeth, N.J., in late September, Chertoff said...

New credentials proposed for merchant mariners.
October 16, 2006... The U.S. Coast Guard has issued two documents affecting the physical examination requirements for merchant mariners. The agency is seeking public comment on proposed medical and physical evaluation guidelines for merchant mariner credentials....

Jamaica feels terror threat.
October 16, 2006... As the Caribbean prepares to host the third-largest sporting event on the global calendar, the Cricket World Cup, Jamaica's Minister of National Security Peter Phillips told security officials that terrorism is a growing threat to Jamaica. ...

Some see passport amendment as payback.
October 16, 2006... The Congress slipped a revision of the U.S. government's planned passport rules into the Homeland Security Appropriations Bill that allows for a delay in the previously announced deadline date - Jan. 8, 2007 - for passports. The rule that...

New Web market to match empty slots with containers.
October 16, 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...

Plan ahead for canal delays.
October 16, 2006... Lock maintenance and improvement work that is essential for the long-term viability of the Panama Canal will begin on Nov. 8 and continue for at least a week, according to the Panama Canal Authority. The center wall culvert of Gatun Locks...

Eukor to call at Port Canaveral.
October 16, 2006... With the arrival of Eukor Car Carriers Inc. later this month, Port Canaveral will have its first regularly scheduled cargo service into the Caribbean. Eukor will export roll-on, roll-off cargo monthly from Canaveral to the Dominican Republic,...

Puerto Rico: An economy at the crossroads.
October 23, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam In May, Puerto Rican Gov. Anival Acevedo-Vila shut down much of the government after it ran out of money. The shutdown lasted two weeks, ending only after the governor and the Legislature agreed to borrow $740 million...

Nominate your leading lady.
October 23, 2006... It is time again to ask our readers to nominate women members of our industry for the edition I call Leading Ladies in Florida Transportation. Our previous honorees are encouraged to complete the cycle and the rest of you are also encouraged to...

Trucker unrest simmers again in British Columbia.
October 23, 2006... The labor calm that came over the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, after a six-week walkout by truckers last summer may soon be shattered. Unrest is growing among the 1,000-plus owner-operators who walked out in 2005. They say hundreds...

Customs wants more import data.
October 23, 2006... By the end of the year, Customs and Border Protection will publish proposed rules requiring importers and carriers to provide additional data to improve screening of high-risk cargo. Customs Commissioner W. Ralph Basham would not give a...

Bahamas developer Butch Kerzner dies in crash.
October 23, 2006... Howard (Butch) Kerzner, the developer and recent purchaser of the Atlantis Resort on Paradis Island, was killed along with three others when the helicopter he chartered for a trip to the airport crashed into a building on the Dominican...

Horizon, Sea Star to lower surcharges.
October 23, 2006... Sea Star Line and Horizon Lines, two of the key carriers in the Puerto Rico trades, will lower their reduced bunker fuel surcharges next month. Sea Star said that as its own fuel costs decrease, it will pass the saving onto its customers...

Port of Mobile woos Fashion Express.
October 23, 2006... Fashion Express Service, which ships clothing from Central America, is considering a move to the Port of Mobile, Ala. The Maersk subsidiary has been operating out of Port Everglades, Fla., since Hurricane Katrina destroyed its New Orleans...

Miami port tunnel alive but unfunded.
October 23, 2006... The $1.2 billion tunnel connecting the Port of Miami to the McArthur Causeway was put on life support this month when the Miami-Dade Commission voted unanimously to find someone else to pay for the truck route. Without the vote, the...

DHL takes 49 percent share in Polar Air.
October 23, 2006... Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc. has agreed to sell 49 percent of its subsidiary, Polar Air Cargo Worldwide, Inc., to DHL in exchange for $150 million in cash. The proposed transaction includes a strategic 20-year commercial arrangement...

Fitch: Jaxport rates "A" and stable.
October 23, 2006... Fitch Ratings has assigned an "A" rating to the Jacksonville Port Authority's $54.9 million port revenue refunding bonds, series 2006, with an added rating outlook of "stable." The rating organization made no mention of the economic problems...

Celebrate, celebrate.
October 30, 2006... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Florida shippers have much to applaud A new era in containerized cargo began in Tampa on Oct. 13 when the 3,000-TEU Emirates Spring docked at the P&O container terminal at the port and unloaded 500 containers of...

Cavalcade of cards begins.
October 30, 2006... MIA warehouse workers now need IDs As has often been the case, Miami International Airport is the first in the nation to require anyone entering warehouse property to qualify for and wear a newly defined "Cargo Warehouse ID." It is...

Too much honesty.
October 30, 2006... Perhaps the leaders of our anti-terror facade are correct in their strategy of misinformation, threats of physical violence and commitment to make even suspected terrorists pay for their proximity to potential evil-doers. If we can't make...

Customs gets ahead of Congress, and loses an institution.
October 30, 2006... BYLINE: Deborah B. Stern Esq. On Oct. 15, 2006, a new institution was created within U.S. Customs and Border Protection - the Office of Trade. It assumes responsibility of all trade policy and program development functions of several...

Marad nominee Sanborn slams port security measure.
October 30, 2006... David Sanborn, a Bush nominee for head of the Maritime Administration and current managing director of the Americas for DP World, has described the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act as fundamentally inadequate. "There's a...

Coast Guard readies sweeping port state controls.
October 30, 2006... Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen told a recent maritime security conference there was still no consensus on how to address the danger of ship-borne bombs in a U.S. port, five years after the Sept. 11 attacks. "The issue of a...

Chiquita launches 'advergame'.
October 30, 2006... Those of us who learned how difficult it was to be Germany, Switzerland or Austria in the 19th century by playing European war board games can now learn what it is like to be a banana Republican. Chiquita has launched an Internet game called...

GAO cites TWIC problems.
October 30, 2006... The Transportation Security Administration should fix problems with the Transportation Worker Identification Credential before awarding the final contract to implement the program, according to a new report by the Government Accountability...

Panamanians vote for bigger canal.
October 30, 2006... Panamanians have voted in a national referendum to approve the proposed $5.25 billion Panama Canal expansion. By law, expansion, or the "third set of locks project," was required a vote in a popular referendum. The Panama Canal Authority...

Crowley upgrades US/Virgin Islands service.
October 30, 2006... Crowley Liner Services has upgraded its peak-season U.S./Virgin Islands and eastern Caribbean service to fixed-day weekly. The 519-TEU container ship Jade has been placed in service to replace the lift-on/lift-off vessel Pine Valley, which...

CSA elects new president, vice president.
October 30, 2006... The Caribbean Shipping Association elected its 14th president on Oct. 16 in Panama City. Fernando Rivera of Puerto Rico was elected unanimously at the 36th Annual General Meeting, Conference and Exhibition held at the Caesar Park Hotel. He...

$2 billion Caribbean loss predicted over passport flap.
October 30, 2006... The Caribbean region stands to lose nearly $2.6 billion in tourism exports and 188,000 tourism-related jobs because of a law that will require U.S. travelers to present passports at their country's border crossings, according to the World...

Jacksonville Port Authority tests private-to-private taking.
October 30, 2006... The first reported lawsuit seeking court review of a federal Bond Amendment has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida seeking to stop the Jacksonville Port Authority from using federal funds to condemn a...