Gulf Shipper articles from December 2008

Gulf Shipper archives from December 2008

High seas threat.
December 1, 2008... While the U.S. is preoccupied with the national recession, the threat posed by Somali pirates halfway around the world deserves renewed attention. These lawless hijackers trolling the entrance to the Gulf of Aden have become increasingly...

Post-election hopes high in Central America.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: LETICIA LOZANO Recession-driven reality may come as a shock Like millions of people around the world, Central Americans are gleeful with hope that Barack Obama's victory at the polls in November and his inauguration as the...

Central America's ports: aiming for prime time.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: RICHARD KNEE Growth demands port expansion and modernization Work to expand and upgrade ports in Central America is coming in fits and starts as port authorities and national governments grapple with governance and social...

US trade community braces for Obama policy.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: ALAN M. FIELD Cabinet appointments will reveal likely direction During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama sounded like a fire-and-brimstone anti-trade populist. He promised to revise the North American Free Trade...

Longoria, Lanier reappointed to Houston's board of commissioners.
December 1, 2008... Janiece M. Longoria and Elyse Lanier will be returning to the Port of Houston Authority's board of commissioners, the port announced recently. Port authority commissioners serve two-year terms without pay. Initially appointed in September...

Sustaining sustainability.
December 1, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN Wal-Mart keeps green initiatives under way, seeks to eliminate product returns by 2012 Wal-Mart is sustaining its sometimes-costly pursuit of sustainability despite slower than expected sales and the threat of a...

SeaBridge Freight promises new service.
December 1, 2008... SeaBridge Freight said it will begin its "marine highway" short-sea transportation service on Dec. 1, between the Port of Brownsville, Texas, and Port Manatee, Fla. It will operate a 600-TEU container-on-barge on a weekly rotation with four-day...

Maersk to lay up box ships.
December 1, 2008... Maersk Line is "very likely" to lay up container ships in 2009 to counter the deepest market downturn in three decades. The vessels likely would be withdrawn from the market in the first half of the year, Maersk Line Chief Executive Eivind...

Report: 150,000 TEUs idle in Asia.
December 1, 2008... A dozen container ships with capacities ranging from 5,000 to 8,500 TEUs were believed to be lying idle at the ports of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai last month, according to AXS-Alphaliner, a Paris ship broker. Alphaliner said it expected...

Carriers' conundrum.
December 8, 2008... Those who were around for the shipping industry's mid-1980s bust recall the sight of a half-dozen United States Lines' Econships, the largest container ships then afloat, tied up for months at idle piers in Manhattan and Brooklyn. The...

Layups of ships reflect deterioration in world's container trade.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach If current trends continue, Ron Widdows said, he'll soon be able to see much of the world's container ship fleet from his office window in Singapore. The chief executive of Neptune Orient Lines is joking, but it's...

Port Freeport recognized for excellence in financial reporting.
December 8, 2008... For the 18th year in a row, the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting has been awarded to Port Freeport by the Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada. An Award of Financial Reporting...

Port of Lake Charles to receive $49 million for dredging.
December 8, 2008... The Army Corps of Engineers said it will set aside $49 million from the 2009 Consolidated Security Disaster Assistance and Continuing Appropriations bill to dredge the Calcasieu Ship Channel back to project depth. Last September the Lake...

Port of New Orleans to sell property.
December 8, 2008... The Port of New Orleans is negotiating to sell 28 acres near the Industrial Canal to commercial real estate developer Edwards Avenue Partners. The property has been appraised at $2.6 million, according to port spokesman Matt Gresham. ...

Biggest ships create port quandary.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO East Coast ports are looking to the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2014 with a mix of fear and optimism. While it is generally accepted that the expanded canal's ability to accommodate the new generation of...

Samways named managing director of AA Cargo.
December 8, 2008... American Airlines Cargo has announced that Roger Samways will be managing director of global accounts and sales strategy. Samways replaces Linda Brown, who is retiring following a distinguished career leading AA's Cargo Global Accounts...

Ports America appoints chief development officer.
December 8, 2008... Ports America has appointed Nasir Khan as its new chief development officer. Khan will be responsible for leading the company's future investments and expansion in marine terminals. Prior to joining Ports America, Khan served as director of...

CMA CGM, Maersk Line plan to launch two joint services.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: JOSEPH BONNEY Maersk Line and CMA CGM will launch two joint services next May - a pendulum service joining Asia and the U.S. East Coast and Pacific Northwest, and a Panama Canal service linking China and Korea with the East Coast....

WWL adds Americas-Oceania sailing.
December 8, 2008... Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics last month increased its ocean service from the Americas to Australia and New Zealand from three to four sailings per month. In March 2009, the four monthly calls between the Americas and Oceania will be scheduled...

DHL cancels US network.(Company overview)
December 8, 2008... UPS, FedEx battle Post Office for parcels The world's largest national economy is not large enough, it appears, for three private parcel carriers. DHL's announcement in November that it will scrap its domestic air and ground delivery...

DHL promises priority to shipments to US.
December 8, 2008... International shipments to the U.S. will continue to be delivered to 100 percent of the ZIP codes where the company currently delivers, according to a recent statement from DHL following the announcement that it will suspend domestic U.S....

Wastepaper woes.
December 8, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO U.S. wastepaper exports collapse, robbing carriers of a key backhaul As Chinese manufacturers raced to fill their orders before the government shut factories to clear the air for the Beijing Olympics, their...

A new export market?
December 15, 2008... Imported automobiles are now stacking up at many West Coast ports, where they are piling up on car lots because auto dealers don’t have room for them. Toyota is using a huge construction site at the Port of Long Beach that...

Ripped off.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: Robert Frump Fakes and counterfeits steal business from U.S. exporters Tim Demarais, a vice president of ABRO Industries, was cruising through the exhibits at the Canton Trade Fair in the fall of 2002 when he spied a...

Agility's Tucker dies.
December 15, 2008... Sherry Tucker, a veteran executive at Agility Project Logistics, died on Dec. 1, in Houston, after a courageous battle with breast cancer. She was 51. Tucker served in numerous senior positions during her 12 years at Transoceanic...

How to fund the repair of US highways and infrastructure.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: CHARLES W. CLOWDIS JR. In spite of the influx of an additional $8 billion into the U.S. Highway Trust Fund, there still is an infrastructure funding gap in the United States. Privatization is one possible answer for...

Paying the freight.
December 15, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM B. HOFFMAN Economic woes prompt shippers to outsource payment services, search for other ways to cut costs As freight shipments get scarcer, one mainstay of the shipping industry that may be gaining ground in...

HUD approves Gulfport revised master plan.
December 15, 2008... Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour announced late last month that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved Gulfport’s revised master plan, which includes elevating the port to 25 feet above sea level and...

Truck exports, steel imports up at Houston.
December 15, 2008... Vehicle exports are on the rise at the Port of Houston. Toyota Tundra pickups made at a San Antonio plant are being exported from Houston for the first time now that the economic slowdown is hurting U.S. sales, according to the...

Looking for good news.
December 22, 2008... The global economy stinks. That just about sums it up. Carriers are laying up ships; the charter market for container ships is tanking; many of the nation’s trucking companies are in desperate shape; and global air cargo ...

Is the expansion of the 'Big Ditch' Just a 'Big Pitch'?
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: ROBERT R. FRUMP Plans proceed, but the economy and “Freight Pain” beg the question: Is the world still flat? Gulf ports say the containers will come. The expansion of the Panama Canal — the “Big...

Gulf port expansion plans range from 'pie in the sky' to 'bird in the hand'.
December 22, 2008... The Panama Canal expansion has caused Gulf ports to dream big and then some, with plans ranging from a joint terminal run by Galveston and Houston on Pelican Island to massive terminals on new manmade islands proposed south of New...

Global lenders sign off on $2.3 billion for Panama Canal.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH Senior officials from development agencies in Asia, Latin America, Europe and the U.S. have signed off on $2.3 billion in financing for the Panama Canal’s expansion project. The meeting of five...

From the Rio Grande to Patagonia: US economic woes hit south of the border.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: LETICIA LOZANO Latin American auto industry, others brace for a rough ride Latin Americans always suspected that the good times would not last forever. Predictions of an end to the commodity boom and the unpredecented...

Charter rates hit new lows.
December 22, 2008... Container ship charter rates have fallen to new lows as demand by carriers for tonnage evaporates amid stagnant or declining cargo volumes on key routes. Charter rates, which have retreated by as much as 35 percent for some ship...

JoC parent reorganizes.
December 22, 2008... United Business Media Ltd. announced it will reorganize its Commonwealth Business Media division, parent of Gulf Shipper, into two separate market-focused businesses, as of January 2009. The two new businesses will be established...

Thousands must re-apply for TWIC after contractor error.
December 22, 2008... Power outages, other problems also slow progress Some 3,000 workers will have to re-apply for their Transportation Worker Identification Credential because of a computer error by a contractor, according to the House Homeland...

Christmas with Customs.
December 22, 2008... BYLINE: JENNIFER R. DIAZ If you don’t find any presents under your tree on Christmas morning, blame it on Customs and Border Protection. Santa started his run early because he heard the wait coming down from Canada can be a...

S.O.S.
December 29, 2008... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH Container ship lines struggle to survive what could be an extended bust What will the container shipping industry look like when it emerges from its current funk? When will global containerized trade resume its...

Growing steel imports from China upset producers in the US.
December 29, 2008... BYLINE: ALAN M. FIELD After more than four years of banner prices and profits, U.S. steel producers are hurting. Demand is slack and prices are low because sales of automobiles and appliances are down and residential construction is weak....

Box slide hits 16th month.
December 29, 2008... Year-over-year cargo volume at the nation's major container ports declined for the 16th straight month in November, as the moribund economy contributes to what will likely be the slowest year since 2004. The monthly Port Tracker report,...

Customs publishes interim 10+2 rules.
December 29, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON  National Association of Manufacturers says new version "much more workable" Customs and Border Protection has finally published the interim rules for its much-anticipated Importer Security Filing, better...

Global air cargo down 7.9 percent.
December 29, 2008... International air cargo traffic tumbled 7.9 percent in October from the same month last year. That was the biggest monthly decline since 2001, the International Air Transport Association reported. The fifth consecutive month of...

Cathay Pacific Airways shrinks cargo operations.
December 29, 2008... Cathay Pacific Airways is scaling back its cargo business as part of a broad effort to cut costs during a time of shrinking demand. The airline, the world's fifth-largest freight carrier, will park two 747-400 converted freighters for a...

Satellite tracking system tested.
December 29, 2008... To enhance inland rail supply-chain visibility, the Port of Tacoma is testing a satellite system that tracks intermodal containers from the time they leave waterfront terminals until they reach their destinations in the Midwest and eastern U.S....

CN's Harrison has master plan for North American railways.
December 29, 2008... BYLINE: MARK WILSON Hunter Harrison, president and chief executive of Canadian National, has a grand plan for North American railways. During a keynote speech to the third annual Canada Maritime Conference, held in Vancouver, British...

Restoration and recovery: Galveston regroups from Hurricane Ike.
December 29, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Coming back from Hurricane Ike, which hammered Galveston on Sept. 13, has been "a long strange road," said Steve Cernak, executive director of the Port of Galveston. Cernak vividly remembers Gary LaGrange, executive...

Lawsuit over Gulfport plan.
December 29, 2008... Plans by the state of Mississippi to spend $570 million to expand the Port of Gulfport are being challenged in a new lawsuit filed by housing advocates. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Washington contends the money was diverted from...

Mobile Propeller Club donates $21,500.
December 29, 2008... The Port of Mobile Propeller Club presented the U.S.S. Alabama Battleship Commission and the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico with donations of $4,500 and $17,000 at the organization's annual Christmas party this month. Bill...