Florida Shipper articles from September 2007

Florida Shipper archives from September 2007

The Los Angeles blessing.
September 3, 2007... All of us in Florida shipping ought to thank our deities that California is out there, way out there, and we can learn valuable lessons from its ports without enduring the costs. Take Los Angeles, please. The TraPac container terminal in...

Gulf bulk.
September 3, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar A core value in Tampa, Manatee and Panama City Bulk imports and exports of grain, petroleum products, fertilizers and orange juice concentrate often take a back seat to breakbulk and container cargo at Gulf ports,...

Bulky choices.
September 3, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Breakbulk cargo is often left behind in favor of 'sexy' containers The boom in infrastructure projects in emerging global markets is putting severe pressure on the ability of ports in developed and developing...

Protesters decry CSX inland port.
September 3, 2007... Protesters recently gathered for a rally in Lakeland, Fla., to protest the planned CSX intermodal truck and train hub, which would be built 20 miles away in Winter Haven. They oppose the hub because it will use a rail line that runs through the...

Mexico enacts 24-hour rule.
September 3, 2007... For the first time, a nation other than the United States has established an onerous rule to regulate trade and collect fees under the guise of national security. Beginning on Sept. 1, Mexican Customs began enforcing a 24-hour rule for...

Union Pacific breaks ground on Texas intermodal hub.
September 3, 2007... Union Pacific Railroad has broken ground on a new $90 million intermodal terminal in San Antonio, along the Interstate 35 corridor. The 300-acre rail port at I-35 connects rail lines traveling to and from the West Coast and Mexico. The...

Hurricane Dean devastates agriculture and tourism.
September 3, 2007... Hurricane Dean took a more southerly direction than anticipated, missing Jamaica and Grand Cayman, then just missing Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Cancun as its wind diminished in strength. Nevertheless, Dean's full force plowed into the...

Centurion Air Cargo collecting Peru earthquake relief items.
September 3, 2007... Centurion Air Cargo is collecting packaged donations for the victims of August's devastating earthquake in Peru. Centurion serves Peru and 15 other destinations in Latin America from Miami International Airport. Peru victims need winter...

Taiwan makes deals with Honduras, El Salvador.
September 3, 2007... Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian has been on a tour to shore up support among Caribbean and Central American nations after Costa Rica dumped Taiwan for China. In Honduras, he pledged a $5 million loan and other assistance to help fight poverty....

Carnival to bankroll pier in St. Maarten.
September 3, 2007... Carnival Corp. has signed a 20-year deal with the St. Maarten government and Port of St. Maarten to finance a new cruise ship pier. Carnival Corp. will provide $34.5 million in financing for the pier's construction and guaranteed a certain...

SeaCargo Americas returns on Sept. 16.
September 3, 2007... Residents of Florida and visitors from across the hemisphere will share the opportunity to get up close and personal with the region's leaders in trade transportation during the Sept. 16-18 SeaCargo Americas International Congress and...

Sandler & Travis boosts Mexico team.
September 3, 2007... Sandler & Travis Trade Advisory Services has hired Claudia Medellin Moreno as managing director of STTAS de Mexico Servicios de Comercio Exterior. Medellin is an attorney who practiced in the area of international trade and customs in the...

Lindell, Dolan join Tampa port board.
September 3, 2007... Carl Lindell Jr. and Brian Dolan were recently sworn in as Tampa Port Authority commissioners following their appointment by Gov. Charlie Crist. Lindell is owner and chairman of Lindell Investments and Lindell Investments II. He was most...

Econocaribe strengthens Northeast sales force.
September 3, 2007... Econocaribe has added Patricia Berrios to its Northeast sales team. Berrios lives in Queens, N.Y., and her outside sales responsibilities will be primarily focused in the Queens and Long Island areas, including JFK airport. Berrios has...

Horizon Lines acquires Aero Logistics.
September 3, 2007... Horizon Lines has acquired Aero Logistics, a full-service, third-party logistics provider headquartered in San Francisco, Calif. The acquisition came a week after Horizon Lines, based in Charlotte, split its business into two wholly owned...

Long past time.
September 10, 2007... By serendipity, this issue talks about infrastructure and security needs and, more importantly, who will pay should we ever agree on the things we "need." This is the 50th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System, a gift from the...

A taxing debate.
September 10, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo and Rick Eyerdam Who pays for future improvements? In Tampa, Fla., the region's retailers are thrilled at the possibility that CSX will build an intermodal hub in Winter Haven. In Lakeland, protestors lined...

The 100 percent mandate.
September 10, 2007... BYLINE: Michael Fabey Air-cargo industry wonders who will pick up the screening tab Air-cargo industry experts say there's precious little time to meet the 36-month deadline for 100 percent screening of belly cargo on passenger...

Women in Trucking membership reaches 500.
September 10, 2007... Women In Trucking, a nonprofit organization created to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry and a more female-friendly environment, announced that on Aug. 30, less than six months after its inception, the organization had...

Crowley getting greener.
September 10, 2007... At the end of August, Crowley Trucking Inc. announced that it has joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, a voluntary collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the freight industry designed to increase energy...

CSI ports grow to 52 with Balboa.
September 10, 2007... U.S. Customs and Border Protection declared on Aug. 27 that Balboa, Panama, has qualified as the 52nd port to become operational in the Container Security Initiative. The program to detect and deter weapons of mass destruction targets and...

Trade links sought between Caricom and Africa.
September 10, 2007... Caribbean Community countries are on the verge of forging new trading and cultural ties with Africa, Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur said recently. Speaking at the opening of the Africa Diaspora Global Conference in Barbados, Arthur...

Dominican Republic textile exports decline.
September 10, 2007... The Dominican Republic, which has not completely implemented the requirements of the Central America Free Trade Agreement, has been listed among the countries in the Central American region whose textile exports to the U.S. fell the most in the...

Microenterprise Forum set for El Salvador.
September 10, 2007... The Inter-American Development Bank will host the 10th Microenterprise Forum, a conference on a vital economic sector for Latin America and the Caribbean, Oct. 3-5 in San Salvador, El Salvador. According to the bank, microenterprises are...

Seaboard Marine to revive New Orleans terminal.
September 10, 2007... Seaboard Marine Ltd. and the Port of New Orleans have agreed to a six-year lease for France Road Berth 1. The announcement that the France Road Container Terminal will be reactivated came on the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The...

Star Cruises sells half interest in NCL, links with PGA.
September 10, 2007... NCL Corp., the parent company of Norwegian Cruise Line and NCL America, announced on Aug. 17 that Apollo Management paid $1 billion in cash to buy 50 percent of the stock of Star Cruises, NCL's sole shareholder. The deal was announced during a...

China chooses RFID for national ID.
September 10, 2007... BYLINE: Ning Xiao For the first time, China has become the world's largest market for radio-frequency identification by value. This year, the spending on RFID in East Asia will be $2.7 billion of $4.96 billion spent globally. The majority...

Dazed and confused.
September 10, 2007... BYLINE: Bill DiBenedetto China's sudden scrutiny sends NVOs scrambling For carriers and some non-vessel-operating common carriers, the Chinese government's recent crackdown on required licensing and bonding procedures for...

Whale song.
September 17, 2007... It is time to consider whether the mere presence of marine mammals in the ocean near a shipping lane is sufficient to mandate a change in the course or speed of vessels. We had this discussion in Florida, where the West Indian Manatees...

Loose ends: Florida ports and carriers face bright but uncertain future.
September 17, 2007... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam In Florida, it is often difficult to sort the soothsayers from the cheerleaders and more difficult to sort them out from among the planners and the leaders. Florida attracts tens of thousands of new, older citizens...

Florida ports dominate cruise industry.
September 17, 2007... Florida's economy enjoyed a $5.8 billion benefit from cruise industry spending in 2006, maintaining the top position as the U.S. cruise port capital, according to the Contribution of the North American Cruise Industry to the U.S. Economy in...

Ports gave economy $2 trillion push in 2006.
September 17, 2007... Deep-water seaports and the businesses related to them generated approximately 8.4 million American jobs in 2006 and added nearly $2 trillion to the economy, according to a new study by Martin Associates, a Lancaster, Pa.-based business...

Trade lanes shift to East Coast.
September 17, 2007... More Asian freight will be shifted to East Coast ports from overburdened West Coast destinations in this year's peak season, according to the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement, which reports booming inter- and intra-Asia trade. "Most...

Port Tracker forecasts congestion-free October.
September 17, 2007... North American ports are gearing up for the busiest month of the year in October, and they are expected to handle record container volumes without experiencing serious congestion problems. The Port Tracker, which is published monthly by the...

New Jamaican leader questions Caricom course.
September 17, 2007... In September, the incumbent government of Jamaica Prime Minister Portia Simpson-Miller's People's National Party was defeated by Bruce Golding, leader of the Jamaica Labor Party. Golding has already rejected a key position held by the...

Call centers booming in Caribbean.
September 17, 2007... The Associated Press is reporting that AOL -- a unit of Time Warner Inc. -- and other telemarketing giants have joined to make the Caribbean "a new global hub for call centers." According to AOL, Jamaica is one of the leaders with about...

Bernuth to continue Puerto Cabezas calls.
September 17, 2007... On Sept. 7, Hurricane Felix hit Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, hard. But Miami-based ocean cargo carrier Bernuth Lines, the port's only client, has continued to call at the port with supplies, according to company officials. Bernuth's agents...

More Chinese aid allocated for Caribbean states.
September 17, 2007... Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi announced on Sept. 7 that the Chinese government will offer 4 billion yuan (about $550 million) of low-interest loans in the next three years to Chinese firms to encourage them to invest in Caribbean countries,...

ILA challenges Puerto Rico port plan.
September 17, 2007... The International Longshoremen's Association has released a statement warning that "400 jobs will be lost and Puerto Rico's economy will be greatly affected if the Puerto Rico Ports Authority's current ill-conceived plan for the development of...

Freight forwarder liability.
September 17, 2007... BYLINE: Peter Quinter A prominent freight forwarder recently agreed to settle export violation allegations by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security by paying a $250,000 penalty. Export control regulations...

DHL wins Wal-Mart pact.
September 17, 2007... Express carrier DHL announced a new three-year agreement with Wal-Mart Stores to provide air express and ground shipping to support 4,000 stores throughout the United States. While Plantation, Fla.-based DHL did not disclose financial...

Lufthansa, DHL partner on all-cargo carrier plan.
September 17, 2007... Lufthansa Cargo, Europe's largest airfreight operator, and global express delivery group DHL are seeking regulatory clearance to set up a joint cargo carrier. The two companies are expected to shortly reveal details of the plan after...

Credit crunch.
September 24, 2007... He deserves the credit, so I want point out that our sister company, PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions, has a senior economist who predicted the problems in the U.S. housing industry long ago. Dr. Michael Andrews warned about the negative...

Air care: Inspection routine worries air-cargo carriers.
September 24, 2007... BYLINE: Ian Putzger During the next three years, the airfreight industry faces difficult decisions on how and where to deploy screening technology for cargo security -- a challenge that poses several tricky questions. Will airline...

C-TPAT wins landslide approval.
September 24, 2007... The Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism has won a loyal following among a majority of its importers, carriers and intermediaries, according to a survey commissioned by Customs and Border Protection. Some 38.4 percent of business...

Customs debuts ACE sequence.
September 24, 2007... U.S. Customs and Border Protection implemented the first set of entry summary, accounts and revenue capabilities within the Automated Commercial Environment, according to the trade experts and Sandler, Travis and Rosenberg. These capabilities...

EU issues draft rules for liner shipping.
September 24, 2007... The European Union recently published its long-awaited draft guidelines for how the ocean liner industry should be structured in Europe when exemption from antitrust for liner conferences ends in October 2008. The abolition of liner...

Antigua Port Authority names Dublin manager.
September 24, 2007... The Antigua Port Authority designated Agatha Carol Dublin acting general manager. She fills the vacant slot previously held by Leslie Williams. Following a 22-year career in the airline industry, the certified security administrator joined...

Jamaica FFA elects Chambers.
September 24, 2007... At its 13th annual general meeting, the Freight Forwarders Association of Jamaica unanimously elected Antoinette Chambers, manager of JLB International Ltd., to the post of president, according to local reports. In her inaugural speech,...

Conflict between cargo and cruise aired.
September 24, 2007... The difficult situation of operating resort island port terminal berths for both cruise and cargo operations bubbled to the surface during the Third Sea Cargo Americas conference as some lines identified Barbados as a port state where cargo...

Dominican exports decline.
September 24, 2007... Dominican exports to the U.S. decreased 4.9 percent in the first half of the year to a total of $2.1 billion. But an increase in imports from the U.S. caused a net trade gain of 4.4 percent to $4.9 billion, according to an analysis from Latin...

Bernuth increases landing fees.
September 24, 2007... On Sept. 30, Bernuth Lines will raise changes on some of its Caribbean island destinations. Its landing fee for St. Maarten will increase by $40 for 20-foot containers and $80 for 40-foot and 45-foot boxes. For St. Maarten, St. Vincent and...

China connection: Logistics firms finding partners in China.(Company overview)
September 24, 2007... Sinotrans, China's largest logistics company, and National Retail Systems, a provider of logistics services based in Secaucus, N.J., have formed a joint venture to offer integrated factory-to-store logistics solutions for U.S. retailers. Called...

Restructuring Martinair: The course to profitability.
September 24, 2007... BYLINE: Mike Seemuth Dutch airline Martinair, majority shareholder of Tampa Airlines, plans to restore the profitability of the Colombia-based all-cargo carrier and to restructure its ownership. Amsterdam-based Martinair announced a...

US, Japan expand air pact.
September 24, 2007... BYLINE: Hisane Masaki Japan and the U.S. agreed to expand their air services agreement for the first time in nearly a decade, Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transportation announced on Sept. 14. The agreement allows UPS...

Antigua-Barbuda signs aviation agreement with MIA.
September 24, 2007... Newspapers in the Caribbean are describing a major advance within Antigua and Barbuda's aviation industry with the official signing of an International Sister Airports Agreement between Antigua's V.C. Bird International Airport and the Miami...

Ports gain from Crist funding focus.
September 24, 2007... Amid state spending cuts and a tax revenue crisis, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has recommended accelerated funding for Florida port projects worth nearly $50 million. Crist has directed the state Department of Transportation to "accelerate"...

Tampa wins AAPA environmental award.
September 24, 2007... The Tampa Port Authority and the Port of New Orleans earned top honors from the American Association of Port Authorities for projects they undertook this year in environmental improvement and facilities engineering. Tampa won the 2007...

US shifting inspection burden to importers.
September 24, 2007... BYLINE: Bill Mongelluzzo A change in U.S. policy will task importers with learning more about how their goods are manufactured or processed overseas as the government strives to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products. ...