Gulf Shipper articles from February 2007

Gulf Shipper archives from February 2007

Bayport's birthday.
February 5, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar The long wait over, Houston's new container terminal is ready to open After months of delay, the first phase of Houston's new Bayport Container Terminal is scheduled to open on Feb. 8. The new terminal's...

Texas ports cheer Bayport.
February 5, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Houston's new terminal could spawn feeder services Throughout Texas, smaller ports view the Port of Houston Authority's new Bayport Container Terminal as a plus that will bolster their own expansion plans by...

Open for business.
February 5, 2007... When CMA CGM's Blue Whale ties up at the Port of Houston this week for its christening ceremony on Thursday and the ribbon cutting for the port's new Bayport Container Terminal, a new era in container volume debuts in the Gulf of Mexico. ...

MOL enters cyberspace.
February 5, 2007... In an effort to streamline contract negotiations with customers and give shippers an up-to-the-minute look at rates and services, MOL has instituted an Internet-based contract program. Dubbed the Contract Viewer, the new program allows MOL...

New ship joins Tropical Shipping fleet.
February 5, 2007... A 236-foot long ship with a draft of nearly 10 feet was christened late last month by Riviera Beach, Fla.-based Tropical Shipping. Built in Indonesia last year, the Tropic Dawn will enable Tropical Shipping to better serve shallow ports in...

BBC upgrades Andino Express.
February 5, 2007... BBC Chartering & Logistics has upgraded its Gulf-west coast South America service with a new vessel dedicated to the trade route. The BBC Weser joined the Andino Express earlier this month, departing Houston on the trade lane's southbound...

Sea Star shuffles deck.
February 5, 2007... Sea Star Lines of Jacksonville, Fla., made changes to its development team last month, promoting two in-house managers and hiring an employee from Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, the company said in a press release. Maria Metzer, a former...

Contractor sues port.
February 5, 2007... The Hancock County, Miss., Port and Harbor Commission is being sued for more than $2 million by a construction firm claiming it was unfairly pulled from a job to repair railroad tracks at the Port Bienville Industrial Park. Jackson Track...

Louisiana ports partner for security funding.
February 5, 2007... The Port of New Orleans and four other lower Mississippi River ports have joined forces in an effort to secure one larger piece of the Department of Home-land Security port security grant funding pie, rather than many smaller pieces. New...

Founder retakes Swift Transportation.(Company overview)
February 5, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher The trucking industry is anxious to see if Jerry Moyes will be as successful at making money in a freight market mired in an economic slump as he was at fighting his way back to the top of truckload heavyweight Swift...

Inland port gains steam.
February 5, 2007... With coastal container ports constantly struggling to free up room for the millions of containers that pass across their docks, the move to build inland container yards is gaining steam. By this summer, a new 81-acre yard will be completed...

Cotton exports to rise in 2007, but slide overall.
February 5, 2007... Global cotton consumption is forecast to reach record levels this year but the United States' long-held position as a top producer is beginning to decline, the Department of Agriculture has reported. Cotton manufactured at non-U.S. mills is...

The Kavanagh legacy.
February 12, 2007... Roger Kavanagh made Intermarine a household name in the project carrier world with his emphasis on first-class customer service, a first-class staff and first-class equipment. He pioneered on-demand liner service and served as mentor to many...

A farewell to Roger Kavanagh.(Company overview)
February 12, 2007... BYLINE: By Janet Plume Intermarine founder fondly remembered as industry titan Roger P. Kavanagh III, who died on Jan. 29 of cancer at age 54, distinguished himself professionally as an innovator and pioneer who built Intermarine into...

Operation Gulfport recovery.
February 12, 2007... BYLINE: By Janet Nodar Mississippi port, coastal economy still struggle A year ago, Don Allee, the Port of Gulfport's executive director, was hoping the port would handle 100,000 TEUs in 2006, but a lot of stars would need to be...

Pascagoula's tonnage climbs.
February 12, 2007... Katrina insurance lawsuit still pending Tonnage at the Port of Pascagoula has recovered from the ravages of Hurricane Katrina, which caused approximately $15 million worth of damage to the port in August 2005. From January to November 2006,...

Shallow-draft Louisiana port draws tenants.
February 12, 2007... The Port of Iberia, La., wants its ship channel dredged to 16 feet in the next five years, a 30 percent increase over its current depth of 12 feet. But that's not keeping new tenants away. The Army Corps of Engineers recently agreed to...

Delcambre Canal needs dredging, ports say.
February 12, 2007... Two neighboring ports on Louisiana's coast want the Army Corps of Engineers to dredge the Delcambre Canal, which silted up during Hurricane Rita. The Twin Parish Port Commission in Delcambre, La., won support for the project from the Port of...

Seaboard adds a vessel.
February 12, 2007... Seaboard Marine Corp. of Miami has increased its fleet by one, the company announced recently, with the purchase of the Karonga from Dritte Oceania of Germany. The 510-foot long ship, which was renamed the Seaboard Reliance, is familiar to...

Averitt expands in Milwaukee.
February 12, 2007... In an effort to expedite deliveries of small parcels from the Great Lakes region to the south, Averitt Express has opened a new distribution center in Milwaukee, company officials said. The Milwaukee operation first opened in 1997. The new...

Rail proponents: reopen spur.
February 12, 2007... A 140-year-old rail spur between Houston and Galveston, abandoned in 1967, could be back on track within five years, carrying passengers and freight. Texas' oldest line, the Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad line, is gaining...

Texas city officials plan to move rails.
February 12, 2007... Automobile drivers in Harlingen, Texas, are tired of waiting at railroad crossings while trains pass, so city and county leaders are planning to move the tracks. In a project that could cost more than $90 million, the city and county have...

Wallenius Wilhelmsen names Mexico logistics chief.
February 12, 2007... Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has appointed Alejandro Meza country manager of Mexico. He will be in charge of Mexico operations, including end-of-the-line operations at two automobile plants and four distribution centers. Meza will also...

AmeriCold hires Murray.
February 12, 2007... AmeriCold has appointed Michael J. Murray executive vice president of sales. The Atlanta-based third-party supplier of temperature-controlled, supply-chain solutions operates 103 facilities nationwide. The company handles 30 million tons of...

Gulf groundswell.
February 19, 2007... With the exception of Venezuela, South America's volatile economies appear headed for an unprecedented run of near stability that's nurturing record trade with the Western Hemisphere's southern continent. The nearly 790,000 TEUs that moved...

Retailers: soft landing ahead.
February 19, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Growth slowdown forecast for 2007 Economists estimate consumers account for some two-thirds of spending in the U.S., and at some $2.3 trillion in 2006, retail spending accounts for more than half of consumer...

South America: Sustainable growth.
February 19, 2007... BYLINE: Laura Mecoy Gulf-South America trade is on steady expansion track Within six months of launching its Andino Express liner service from Houston to South America's west coast in April 2005, BBC USA increased its frequency from...

Panama Canal raises rates, again.
February 19, 2007... The Panama Canal Authority has announced more price increases, claiming it needs to keep pace with the costs of expanding the canal, and stabilize rates for the next three years. The proposal, which the authority will take comments on until...

International Shipholding posts profit.(Financial report)
February 19, 2007... Rebounding from a year of millions of dollars of losses caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita, New Orleans-based International Shipholding Corp. last month reported a fourth-quarter profit of $4.4 million. Although the shipping company posted...

New system to simplify trailer mileage checks.
February 19, 2007... Checking mileage on truck trailers could become easier with the development of a computer-based monitoring system, two companies in the logistics field announced earlier this month. Instead of manually looking at the hubodometer of every...

Wilh. Wilhelmsen changes managers.
February 19, 2007... Wilh. Wilhelmsen ASA has adjusted its corporate management, appointing three new vice presidents and naming a new chief executive for its logistics operation. Arid Iverson, a 28-year veteran at Wilh. Wilhelmsen, is the new president and...

SAS Cargo hires Knudsen as vice president.
February 19, 2007... Nile Pries Knudsen, director of freight for DHL since 2001, has been hired by SAS Cargo as vice president and head of global sales, the company announced earlier this month. Knudsen, 46, will lead SAS Cargo's 160-member sales staff, which has...

UP abandons Mexico waiver bid.
February 19, 2007... Facing fast-growing opposition, Union Pacific Railroad has dropped its request to have U.S. regulators allow an intermodal train from Mexico to bypass normal U.S. safety inspections after it enters the U.S. at Laredo, Texas. "We're not...

Reining in free trade?
February 26, 2007... The news that the U.S. trade deficit reached a record last year is nothing new. With a $764 billion deficit, 2006 marked the fifth year that the distance between imports and exports expanded to a new high. But the trade imbalance has become...

Strong steel.
February 26, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Ballooning steel imports from Asia have prompted domestic steel interests to push for increased trade protection. But steel traders argue that China and other Asian manufacturers are merely displacing other countries'...

Serving the steel industry.
February 26, 2007... Two Houston firms fill specialized niches Ranger Steel Supply Ranger Steel Supply is the largest privately held steel plate distributor in the U.S, according to President Ron Whitley. Started by his father in 1958, the company reached $100...

ABX seeks freighter charters.
February 26, 2007... ABX Air may be making some headway in its goal to become less dependent on the flying it does for DHL. The former airline operation at Airborne Express, now a separate company, said it is "in discussions" with All Nippon Airways for the...

Texas airports handle record cargo.
February 26, 2007... Last year, Dallas-Forth Worth International Airport and Forth Worth Alliance Airport saw more international cargo pass though their doors than ever before. Buoyed by its record-breaking year in the international cargo business, the...

Intermarine selects Grikitis as president.
February 26, 2007... New Orleans-based Intermarine announced this month that it has named Andre Grikitis president and chief executive. Grikitis takes the helm from Roger Kavanagh, the company's founder, who recently died after a lengthy battle with cancer. A...

KCS rearranges marketing staff.
February 26, 2007... Kansas City Southern's sales and marketing department received a slight facelift earlier this month when the company promoted two veteran managers. Steve Evans became assistant vice president for sales and marketing, U.S. carload business,...

Norton Lilly International names Burton CFO, COO.
February 26, 2007... Norton Lilly International this month appointed Jim Burton as its new chief financial officer and chief operating officer. The Mobile, Ala.-based ocean shipping firm recently created this position to help with its international expansion. ...

Vantage expands.
February 26, 2007... Vantage Cos. of Houston has purchased approximately 41 acres of land to expand its Bayport, Texas, distribution center. The company plans to begin construction of a 775,000-square-foot warehouse in April. This will be Phase 2 of development...

Mexico sees infrastructure key to growth.
February 26, 2007... BYLINE: Alan M. Field For several years, there have been predictions that ports on Mexico's Pacific Coast could provide an alternative to Los Angeles and Long Beach for container shipments to U.S. points. Whether Manzanillo, Lazaro...