Gulf Shipper articles from December 2007

Gulf Shipper archives from December 2007

A pluralistic Latin America.
December 3, 2007... Costa Rica last month joined its four neighbors and the Dominican Republic as part of the Central America Free Trade Agreement with the United States. A thin majority of Costa Rican voters backed CAFTA in a national referendum in October, which...

The value of the vessel.
December 3, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Global market impacts bulk shipping in the Gulf High demand for commodities across the globe, a short supply of bulk vessels and a bumper harvest had stevedores, carriers and freight forwarders feeling some pressure...

The Baltic roller coaster.
December 3, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Baltic Dry Index hits historic highs We economists take the Baltic Dry Index seriously because it represents spot rates," said Paul Bingham, a principal at economic forecasting firm Global Insight. The BDI is the...

Port of South Louisiana:.
December 3, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Bulk cargo connection on the Mississippi River The Port of South Louisiana stretches for 54 miles along the Mississippi River, from just past the New Orleans International Airport through St. Charles, St. John the...

Free trade poised to grow in Central America.
December 3, 2007... BYLINE: Leticia Lozano When Costa Rica ratified a Central America-wide trade agreement with the U.S. in October, it was a huge boost for Washington in Latin America. Building on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the popular...

Cahill sworn in as New Orleans port commissioner.
December 3, 2007... The Port of New Orleans commission swore in Valerie Cahill, an investment banker from Jefferson Parish, last month, the port announced in a press release. Cahill, who was nominated for the spot by the AFL-CIO, will take over for Conrad Appeal...

Port of Lake Charles appoints Brinkman director.
December 3, 2007... Donald Brinkman Jr., a 10-year engineering veteran, has joined the senior management team at the Port of Lake Charles, La. He was named director of engineering, maintenance and development. The state licensed engineer has an extensive work...

TWIC comes to Baton Rouge.
December 3, 2007... The Port of Baton Rouge, La., joined a fast-growing list of ports introducing the federal government's Transportation Worker Identification Credential to their docks. Port workers, longshoremen, truckers and anyone else who needs access to...

Industrial Dolphin joins Intermarine's fleet.
December 3, 2007... New Orleans-based Intermarine recently took delivery of the Industrial Dolphin, the fifth of six new heavy-lift vessels the company ordered this year. The ship joined Intermarine's services in Portugal in mid-October and was immediately...

Freeport, Spain developer enter talks.
December 3, 2007... The Port of Freeport has begun negotiations with a Spanish-based terminal operator and developer to construct the port's new Velasco Terminal. Negotiations center on a proposed public-private partnership between the port and Madrid,...

First shipment arrives at Galveston's new FTZ.
December 3, 2007... The Port of Galveston, Texas, saw the first benefits from increasing the size of its foreign trade zone as the first foreign shipment of bulk barite under the new trade zone arrived at the port. M-I LLC, a company co-owned by Smith...

Port of Tampa signs up Andino Cements USA.
December 3, 2007... A Dominican Republic-based construction materials company has signed a new lease with the Port of Tampa. Andino Cements USA agreed to a 40-year lease agreement that will base the company's operations at the Port Redwing facility, a terminal...

The Chavez defeat.
December 10, 2007... President Hugo Chavez's unsuccessful bid to become president for life through a series of constitutional amendments suffered defeat earlier this month, but democracy doesn't have a lot to crow about. Chavez has been a vocal advocate of the...

Port Manatee's seagrass saga.
December 10, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Successful environmental project goes hand-in-hand with expansion Moving seagrass from one side of Tampa Bay to the other, and getting it to grow once it's been moved, is more of a challenge than one might expect....

Seafreight appoints Ross executive VP.
December 10, 2007... Seafreight Agencies announced the promotion of David Ross to executive vice president. Ross will be charged with management of the company's Caribbean, north coast South America and Panama container services. He will also lead the agency's...

Blair joins Tampa port commission.
December 10, 2007... The Tampa Port Authority Board of Commissioners witnessed the swearing-in of Brian Blair at its November board meeting. The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners voted on Nov. 8 for Blair to represent the BOCC on the port authority...

Agility beefs up marketing team.
December 10, 2007... Logistics company Agility announced the promotion of Christopher Logan to chief strategy and marketing officer. The new role expands on Logan's previous job duties. He will focus on developing and executing Agility's 2010 growth strategy. Logan...

Panalpina's CFO resigns.
December 10, 2007... Jurg Honegger will relinquish the role of chief financial officer of Panalpina, the global freight forwarding and logistics company announced last month. Honegger will leave the company next year to begin a new career. The company has not...

CBM appoints new magazine chief.
December 10, 2007... Commonwealth Business Media, parent company of Gulf Shipper, appointed Liam Power as vice president of the Magazine Group, replacing Peter Tirschwell, who will remain with the company as senior adviser. Power joined CBM in March as vice...

Crowley shuffles management.
December 10, 2007... Two long-time employees of Crowley Maritime Corp. were promoted as part of a company restructuring. Rocky Smith and John Douglass, who will oversee contract towing and transportation in the Gulf region, were promoted to senior vice...

Hurst to oversee warehousing at APL Logistics.
December 10, 2007... APL Logistics is expanding its warehouse business and has created a new executive-level position to oversee warehouse operations. John Hurst, an 18-year logistics veteran, was named vice president of warehouse management services for APL...

Horizon Lines trims profit projection.(Financial report)
December 10, 2007... Horizon Lines, the largest Jones Act ocean carrier, on Nov. 19 revised downward its profit projections for fourth-quarter and full-year 2007. The Charlotte, N.C.-based company now expects fourth-quarter operating revenue of $310 million to...

Texas firm to expand Colombian refinery.
December 10, 2007... CB&I, a Texas-based engineering and construction firm focusing on the energy and natural resources industries, was awarded a new contract for a refinery-expansion project in Cartagena, Colombia. The contract, awarded to the company by...

International air cargo soars; domestic falls.
December 10, 2007... BYLINE: Michael Fabey The airfreight business increasingly looks like two separate industries in the United States. International air cargo is taking wing as imports from Asia and trade with Europe increase. In contrast, domestic air-cargo...

Houston port commission allocates millions for environmental projects.
December 10, 2007... The Port of Houston Authority Commission agreed to spend more than $18 million on environmental and security projects late last month, which will result in new fiber optics, air-quality monitoring and dust suppression. The most expensive...

Melons arrive at Tampa.
December 10, 2007... The tropical melon season began at the Port of Tampa when the Sierra Lara brought a shipment of cantaloupes and honeydew melons imported by Altobaso USA from Guatemala. They were part of a weekly service operated by Norwegian-based Green...

Steel imports up in October.
December 10, 2007...  U.S. steel imports increased by 13 percent from September to October but remain 30 percent lower than last year, according to the American Institute for International Steel. The group found that 2.7 million tons of steel came into the...

Farewell the pay phone.
December 17, 2007... AT&T's announcement this month of plans to withdraw completely from the pay phone market by the end of next year will be a life-changing event for more people than one would imagine. Pay phones have been gone for some time from the usual...

A call to arms.
December 17, 2007... BYLINE: David Beiderman Employee shortage hamstrings booming project market A critical shortage of skilled and unskilled workers has spurred the breakbulk-project cargo industry to action. Shippers, carriers and third-party logistics...

Maersk's former US chief to join tanker group.
December 17, 2007... Tommy Thomsen, former head of Maersk's U.S. operations and former partner in the Danish carrier's parent company, will join Copenhagen-based Clipper Group/Clipper Wonsild Tankers on Jan. 1. Thomsen spent 29 years with A.P. Moller-Maersk,...

Baton Rouge port hires attorney.
December 17, 2007... The Port of Baton Rouge has hired its contracted private attorney as its new full-time director of corporate and legal affairs, the Advocate of Baton Rouge reported. Port officials said the decision was made to ensure the port has full...

Port of Tillamook Bay names Van Borssum general manager.
December 17, 2007... Robert Van Borssum, former executive director of the Port of Port Lavaca-Point Comfort, Texas, was appointed general manager of the Port of Tillamook Bay in Oregon. Van Borssum, who served as leader of the Texas port for 13 years, will replace...

World economy slowing.
December 17, 2007... Economists, in a new survey, predict the global economy will lose momentum in the last quarter of the year in every major region. Their forecasts for the coming six months have been significantly revised downwards, according to the latest ICC/...

Security vessel wins award.
December 17, 2007... The Port of South Louisiana's new security vessel, the PSL Responder, was honored this month by WorkBoat magazine during its 28th International WorkBoat Show in New Orleans. The vessel was built by SeaArk Marine of Monticello, Ark. The...

Crane-mounted security device passes test.
December 17, 2007... VeriTainer Corp.'s new container security device, which can scan containers as they are loaded and unloaded from a vessel, successfully completed its second field test, the company announced. VeriTainer Corp. said its VeriSpreader device...

Rising fuel prices cause change in shipping practices.
December 17, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher The specter of $100-a-barrel oil is hitting the ledger desks of carriers and shippers seeking ways to budget for the high cost of fuel in 2008. Carrier executives believe that unless oil-producing countries...

New company formed to advise on global shipping.
December 17, 2007... Mallory Alexander International Logistics has created a new company, M-Pact Solutions, which will develop strategies and provide tactical advice to global shippers. M-Pact Solutions aims to supply "objective and strategic operating advice"...

Flanagan acquires Lake Charles terminal from Ports America.
December 17, 2007... Flanagan Stevedoring Group has purchased Ports America Inc.'s stevedoring and terminal operations at the Port of Lake Charles, the companies announced. The deal includes the renaming of the Lake Charles operation to Lake Charles Stevedoring...

Report: Tampa needs $1 billion upgrade.
December 17, 2007... The Port of Tampa should spend as much as $1.5 billion over the next 20 years to ensure it keeps up with competition in the maritime trade, a draft master plan presented by the port shows. Prepared by Norbridge, a Reston, Va.-based...

Corpus Christi's warehouse keeps budget cool.
December 17, 2007... Despite its continued money drain on the Port of Corpus Christi's budget, a cold-storage warehouse on the South Texas docks will continue operations for the next several years, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times reported. Since it opened in...

Governor urged to make La. ports top priority.
December 17, 2007... Some state business leaders and port executives are strongly encouraging Louisiana's Governor-elect Bobby Jindal to make port funding and international trade his top priority when he takes office next year, the New Orleans Times-Picayune...

CMA CMG acquires U.S. Lines.
December 17, 2007... U.S. Lines was purchased by the CMA CMG Group this month in a deal that will give CMA CMG control of five new businesses and 113 employees. U.S. Lines had previously worked as a vessel-sharing partner of ANL, a subsidiary of CMA CGM Group....

Hamburg Sud buys Costa Container Lines.
December 17, 2007... Hamburg Sud has purchased Costa Container Lines, which is the smaller partner of GF Group, the company announced. The deal, effective Dec. 1, also includes the operations of Calmedia Agenzia. Costa Container Lines generated more than $640...

Crystal ball gazing.
December 24, 2007... This year's end comes with a flood of economic forecasts as varied as any this reporter has ever seen. For every doomsday prediction of recession, stagflation or economic ruin, there is another call for a rebound in U.S. housing, credit and...

Ships and hunger: US food aid and US-flag vessels.
December 24, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar It seems like a sensible and compassionate idea: Send surplus U.S. food across the ocean on U.S. vessels. Feed the world's hungry and, concomitantly, support U.S. farmers and bolster the U.S.-flag fleet. And since 1954,...

Cargo preference laws.
December 24, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Keeping the U.S. flag afloat Cargo preference laws require 75 percent of all U.S. food aid to be shipped on U.S.-flag vessels, which are comparatively expensive to operate and charge higher freight rates than...

Public Law 480 ports in the Gulf: Houston and Lake Charles.
December 24, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Overall, Public Law 480 programs include about 1 million metric tons of packaged (bagged) goods a year, said Jim Dorrian, senior director of project cargo and food aid at Maersk Line Ltd., the U.S.-flag subsidiary of...

Trucks will continue to dominate, but face rough road ahead.
December 24, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher Trucking's largest industry group predicts the business will hold on to and even slightly expand its share of domestic freight shipping over the next 12 years, despite the challenges of rising costs and a shortage of...

Former Gulf executive takes Indiana job.
December 24, 2007... Peter Laman, who held numerous positions within Continental Grain Co. and its successor, Cargill, along the Gulf Coast was recently selected to run the Port of Indiana-Burns Harbor, the port announced. The one-time New Orleans resident...

Intermarine promotes Seeg to head Asian operations.
December 24, 2007... Intermarine named Richard Seeg managing director for Asia. He will be based at the company's Asian headquarters in Shanghai. Seeg's appointment marks a new focus for the company on expanding its services in Asia. Seeg, a nine-year veteran as an...

Louisiana to spend surplus on transportation.
December 24, 2007... The Louisiana Department of Transportation has decided to use a budget surplus to help fund long-needed repairs on state roadways and at state ports, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. The surplus was generated by hurricane rebuilding...

Mineta calls for unified federal maritime agency.
December 24, 2007... BYLINE: Rick Eyerdam Former Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta called for the consolidation of all U.S. government maritime agencies and functions into a single body with a dedicated funding source and a West Point-style service...

Australia's BBI buys ICS.(Company overview)
December 24, 2007... The global investment firm Babcock & Brown has acquired Jacksonville, Fla.-based ICS, a provider of perishable and dry warehouse services, as well as stevedoring and transportation services at the ports of Jacksonville, Mobile, Ala., and New...

MTC acquires Mexican intermodal hub.
December 24, 2007... MTC Holdings, a San Francisco-based terminal operator, has purchased an inland multimodal facility in Mexico that will be serviced by Kansas City Southern de Mexico. The terminal, Puerto Mexico, is located in an industrial zone of Toluca,...

Maersk shows profit.
December 24, 2007... BYLINE: Bruce Barnard Maersk Line, the world's largest ocean container carrier, swung to a pretax profit of $626 million in the first nine months of the year from a loss of $125 million in the 2006 period. The gain was driven by...

Sails power cargo ship to Houston.
December 24, 2007... Hamburg, Germany's Beluga Group decided to take a step into the past to ensure its future this month as it became the first cargo shipping line to use a sail to power a vessel. The Beluga SkySails left Denmark on Dec. 14, destined for the...

Largest US refinery to rise in Port Arthur.
December 24, 2007... Construction of the largest oil refinery in the U.S. began this month in Port Arthur, Texas, as two foreign companies joined forces to work on the Motiva Enterprises refinery. The $7 billion project is a joint investment between Royal Dutch...

Pricey food.
December 31, 2007... Anyone who has done price-comparison shopping at the grocery store recently realizes that food prices are rising sharply. While climbing shipping costs have certainly contributed to this trend, there are many other factors at work as well. ...

What goes around comes around: Long supply chains can create opportunity cost.
December 31, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach Near-sourcing may be the wave of the future When the global quotas on imports of textiles from China expired at the end of 2004, the textile industry braced itself for a massive shift in production to China. With...

Louisiana must focus on ports, study says.(Report)
December 31, 2007... A new report analyzing Louisiana's port system determined the state needs to take "serious measures" to bolster its maritime assets or face a loss of business from neighboring competitors, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reported. Drafted...

Port Arthur plans expansion.
December 31, 2007... The Port of Port Arthur will spend $2.8 million to purchase 78 acres of land from Kansas City Southern Railway, which will double the size of the port and triple its waterfront access, the Port Arthur News reported. The land purchase will...

Operational Technologies wins FTZ status.
December 31, 2007... Operational Technologies Corp., a San Antonio-based logistics company, recently won approval from Customs to proceed with foreign-trade zone operations at the Port of San Antonio. The company, which provides supply-chain management services,...

Houston's Kornegay wins Engineer of the Year award.
December 31, 2007... The executive director at the Port of Houston, H. Thomas Kornegay, was honored this month as the Houston area's "Engineer of the Year." He won the honor based on a vote by representatives from various Houston-area engineering organizations. The...

Ozburn-Hessey opens center near Atlanta airport.
December 31, 2007... Ozburn-Hessey Logistics opened a new international service station this month in Atlanta to offer a one-stop-shop for logistics services, and expand the company's international operations. It will provide customs brokerage and freight...

Transport not only costs in shipping, companies find.(Company overview)
December 31, 2007... BYLINE: Paul Page When Dayton Superior sought to straighten out a convoluted distribution system and rein in logistics spending, the construction materials shipper didn't even think about looking at transportation costs until it took a...

MOL cuts capacity to US East Coast.
December 31, 2007... Japanese carrier MOL announced additional winter capacity plans for the trade between Asia and the U.S. East Coast via the Panama Canal. In late November, MOL announced it would withdraw more capacity to the U.S. West Coast and earlier than...

TACA raises eastbound rates, but rescinds hike in fuel surcharge.
December 31, 2007... The Trans-Atlantic Conference Agreement announced a substantial general rate increase for eastbound shipments, but dropped plans to raise its bunker fuel surcharge. The general rate increases will be $400 for 20-foot containers, $500 for...

Persian Gulf region gets more tanker ships.
December 31, 2007... United Arab Shipping Co. said it has signed contracts with SLS Shipbuilding Co. of South Korea for eight 45,000-ton chemical tankers. The deal also includes options for two more vessels. The contract, signed on Dec. 9 by subsidiary United Arab...

Cargo theft: $50 billion in annual losses worldwide.
December 31, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Victims collaborate to tackle problem The cargo thieves who broke into a Cranbury, N.J., warehouse were surprised to discover the freight they planned to steal had already been shipped. But rather than leave...