Gulf Shipper articles from January 2007

Gulf Shipper archives from January 2007

Slowdown tightens LTL demand.(Company overview)
January 29, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher Con-way Freight cuts earnings forecast The trucking industry continues to post signs pointing to a turbulent winter that will keep prices cool well into 2007 as less-than-truckload carriers continue to expand...

Politics vs. security.
January 29, 2007... This month, the Department of Homeland Security gave a preview of how it will award 2007 port security funds. While no final amounts were guaranteed, the DHS listed pools of money that specific ports could compete for -- a list of funding...

WRDA supporters await update.
January 29, 2007... BYLINE: R.G. Edmonson Water bill faces uncertain future For those who hoped the 109th Congress would pass a new Water Resources Development Act, watching the 2006 version of the bill die in the final legislative days was an exercise...

Eight highest-risk port regions compete for grants.
January 29, 2007... The eight highest-risk ports and port regions in the U.S. have been invited to apply for some $120 million in port security grants from the Department of Homeland Security, according to the American Association of Port Authorities. Other...

What's in the warehouse?
January 29, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Despite best intentions, warehouse management systems are underused The concept of the warehouse may be almost as old as civilization itself, but a new wave of technology has vastly improved the warehouse's...

Former head of Sears Logistics Group to close Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference.
January 29, 2007... William "Gus" Pagonis, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant general and former head of Sears Logistics Group, will give the closing presentation at The Journal of Commerce's 7th Annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference, in Long Beach, Calif., on...

UPS promotes Abney and Gershenhorn.
January 29, 2007... UPS has promoted David Abney from president to chief operating officer of UPS International and to president of UPS Airlines. In his role as chief operating officer, Abney will be responsible for international operations, U.S. package...

Gulf States Maritime Association elects new board.
January 29, 2007... Paul Clancey has been elected chairman of the Gulf States Maritime Association for 2007. Clancey serves as Gulf district manager for Trans-marine Navigation Corp. In addition, Spencer D. Sens, general manager for Inchcape Shipping Services,...

Bonilla re-elected chairman of Port of Corpus Christi.
January 29, 2007... Port of Corpus Christi commissioners voted unanimously to re-elect Chairman Ruben Bonilla. The attorney is serving his sixth year in this position. Vice Chairman Bernard Paulson and Secretary Mike Carrell were also re-elected.

Associated Terminals christens newest floating crane.
January 29, 2007... Associated Terminals recently christened its newest floating crane, the derrick barge Glenn S, on the Mississippi River at the Hilton Riverside dock in New Orleans. The Glenn S is comprised of a Gottwald HPK 330 crane mounted atop a...

Port of Brownsville seeks director.
January 29, 2007... The Port of Brownsville's board is reviewing applications for the position of port director, which has been open since September. Acting Director Donna Eymard said 20 to 25 applications had been reviewed by the port's attorney and would be...

Global Maritime Ministries serves seafarers and port personnel.
January 29, 2007... New ministry center dedicated at the Port of New Orleans The Rev. John Vandercook Sr. Center for Maritime Ministry and Education dedicated its new building in New Orleans this month. The 8,000-square-foot center for the more than...

Texas DOT studies all-truck toll road.
January 29, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Driving force is projected growth in container trade A truck-only toll road proposed by the Texas Department of Transportation would stretch 140 miles from the Port of Corpus Christi in the Gulf to the Port of...

YRC Worldwide reorganizes Yellow, Roadway management.
January 29, 2007... YRC Worldwide Inc. has announced plans to bring management of its Yellow Transportation and Roadway divisions under one organization, YRC National Transportation. The Overland Park, Kansas-based company appointed Mike Smid as president and...

TVA considers switching coal shipments from barge to rail.
January 29, 2007... Low water and rising barge rates may lead the Tennessee Valley Authority to build a rail unloading facility at its Allen Fossil Plant, which is five miles from downtown Memphis on the Mississippi River. The three coal-fired units at Allen...

Distribution reinvention.(Company overview)
January 22, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Shipper slashes DC network The world's largest maker of household products is reinventing the way it ships products around the globe, cutting its distribution network in half and pushing more of its products...

CAFTA boosts US exports.
January 22, 2007... BYLINE: Alan M. Field Agreement has prompted diverse cargo range Although the lion's share of attention has been on textiles and apparel, the Central America Free Trade Agreement will yield much more significant benefits for other...

Supply-chain efficiencies.
January 22, 2007... The eternal search for a better mousetrap will always have shippers looking for ways to increase the efficiency of their supply chains. The process has become much more complex than the simple choice between centralization and...

Gulf Shipper parent acquires AIG.
January 22, 2007... United Business Media PLC recently announced that its Commonwealth Business Media division, the parent company of Gulf Shipper, acquired United Kingdom-based Aviation Industry Group Ltd. for $11.6 million. AIG organizes 21 annual...

Exports power Latin America.
January 22, 2007... Economic growth continues Latin America enjoyed widespread growth in 2006, with Argentina, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic as the top leaders, according to the latest report by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the...

Countdown to TWIC.
January 22, 2007... BYLINE: Earle Eldridge ID card debate continues; TSA posts final rules The Transportation Security Administration's final rules for its Transportation Worker Identification Credential aren't the final word in the debate over the...

Crowley christens heavy-lift barge.
January 22, 2007... The Marty J, the first of three heavy-lift 455 Series barges being built for Crowley Maritime Corp., was christened recently at Gunderson Marine in Portland, Ore. Tom Crowley Jr., chairman, president and chief executive of Crowley, said the...

Reefer certification group formed.
January 22, 2007... Six specialized reefer-shipping companies have formed the 360 Quality Association, aimed at developing quality standards for transporting perishable goods. Great White Fleet Ltd., Green Reefers ASA, NYK LauritzenCool AB, Seatrade Group NV,...

Free trade held key to burgeoning steel imports.
January 22, 2007... Steel imports reinforced hurricane recovery at the Port of New Orleans in 2006. Imports were up 59 percent during the first nine months of 2006, from 2,165,929 tons to 3,443,950 tons. David Phelps, president of the American Institute for...

FMCSA proposes chassis rules.
January 22, 2007... The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is proposing rules to resolve the long-standing dispute between chassis owners and truckers over safety and maintenance of intermodal equipment. Under the proposal, intermodal equipment...

Mexico to spend billions on infrastructure.
January 22, 2007... Newly elected Mexican President Felipe Calderon said his government has allocated money to upgrade its transportation sector, with infrastructure and services that compete at the international level. Various estimates peg combined investment...

Missouri River barge traffic dries up.
January 22, 2007... The 2006 shipping season on the Missouri River was the weakest in 55 years as low water levels forced companies to find other avenues for freight. The Army Corps of Engineers estimates that less than 200,000 tons of cargo moved down the river...

Retail cargo growth to slow.
January 15, 2007... Container volume for the retail market is forecast to continue to grow this year as a greater percentage of U.S. merchandise is imported, according to Port Tracker, a report issued by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight. But the...

Steel, forest products forecast to slow in 2007.
January 15, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Gulf's biggest breakbulk cargoes begin to slip 2006 was a robust year for steel imports at Gulf ports, while imports of forest products were steady as the national housing market peaked and headed into a late-year...

Caution: Thin ice ahead.
January 15, 2007... There's a lot of thin ice in the global pond these days for transportation specialists to maneuver around. The U.S. economy's blustery winds have lightened to a fitful breeze. Signs of downturns are evident in imports of steel and forest...

Saddle Creek adds transport.
January 15, 2007... Alongside visibility and global reach, shippers increasingly look for service providers that can offer flexibility in transportation and logistics services. Saddle Creek is the latest company to expand its portfolio with that goal in mind....

Grimaldi acquires Finnlines.
January 15, 2007... Grimaldi Compagnia di Navigazione SpA recently paid $33.9 million to buy 50.1 percent of the shares of Finnlines. On Dec. 29, the Naples, Italy-based shipping company, purchased 1.5 million shares of the Finnish carrier. Finnlines is the...

Retail cargo growth to slow.
January 15, 2007... Container volume for the retail market is forecast to continue to grow this year as a greater percentage of U.S. merchandise is imported, according to Port Tracker, a report issued by the National Retail Federation and Global Insight. But the...

KCS appoints financial officers.
January 15, 2007... Kansas City Southern has named Edward E. Scott assistant vice president of capital investment accounting and Nathan L. Poundstone assistant vice president of financial reporting. Both officers will report to Michael K. Borrows, vice president...

Continental hires Li.
January 15, 2007... Continental Airlines has appointed Wyn Li as country director of Hong Kong, Macau and southern China. He will oversee all sales and marketing activities and handle the overall leadership of that region. Prior to Li's position at...

Catoosa port buys tract.
January 15, 2007... The Tulsa-Rogers County Port Authority is buying 525 acres of land that could lead to a major expansion of the Tulsa Port of Catoosa. After years of on-and-off negotiations, the port authority is purchasing the Bird Creek property along the...

DuPont returns to Gulfport.
January 15, 2007... DuPont will resume its imports of ilmenite ore at the bulk plant at the Port of Gulfport, Miss. For the past three decades, DuPont has imported the hazardous ore and railed it to its titanium dioxide plant at DeLisle, Miss. The ore was...

Cement plant set for Manatee.
January 15, 2007... Schwab Ready Mix Inc. of Fort Myers, Fla., is planning to build a 5,000-square-foot cement plant close to Port Manatee, Fla. The batch plant will convert sand, gravel, cement and other materials into concrete for building. Concrete batch...

Housing, car manufacturing slowdowns hurt imports.
January 15, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd Slumps could sidetrack 2007 rail boom A sharp drop in the motor vehicle and lumber markets took thousands of carloads off the rails last year, and the trend is worsening as weakness spreads in the automotive and...

Rail renaissance? Railroad rebound faces test in 2007.
January 8, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd Rail companies and their shippers may find out in 2007 if the "railroad renaissance" of recent years is for real. So far, carriers have weathered without much trouble a spreading slump in freight traffic that has...

A secure gridlock.
January 8, 2007... Transportation bottlenecks may well become the norm rather than the exception this year as government tightens already paralyzing rules on travel and transport. In the week before New Year's, about 3,000 passengers were removed from a...

Boeing delivers first 747-400ER.
January 8, 2007... Boeing last month delivered the first 747-400ER freighter to Guggenheim Aviation Partners, known as GAP, which will place it in the service of Dutch mail and express services giant TNT. According to Peter Bakker, chief executive of TNT,...

New all-cargo service links Houston, South Korea.
January 8, 2007... This month marks the launch of the first direct all-cargo air service out of Houston by a Korean airline. Korean Air Lines Co. is scheduled to begin a semiweekly, all-cargo service on Jan. 25 between Houston's Bush International Airport;...

US trading partners face new tariffs.
January 8, 2007... BYLINE: Alan Field Six foreign trading partners could lose duty-free access to the U.S. market for some of their key exports because of a revamped trade program that President Bush signed into law on Dec. 20. Brazil, Cote d'Ivoire,...

Democrats turn to transportation security.
January 8, 2007... BYLINE: Angela Greiling Keane From ports to railyards to truck lots, 2007 promises to be the year of transportation security. Fresh from passing a $5.5 billion port security bill this fall, the new Congress is likely to turn its...

Kuehne & Nagel offers perishable logistics service.
January 8, 2007... Kuehne & Nagel last month introduced a new business line in the Netherlands - Kuehne & Nagel Perishable Logistics - that offers perishable ocean freight and airfreight activities out of three locations, the company said. Previously,...

Box ship charter rates hit bottom.
January 8, 2007... Container ship charter rates are bottoming out after an 18-month retreat as ocean carriers look for additional tonnage to keep pace with surging cargo volumes on key trade lanes, and to launch new services on secondary routes. Brokers...

Radiance exits Port Manatee.
January 8, 2007... Radiance Shipping Lines no longer calls at Port Manatee, Fla., but reportedly is still on charter in the Caribbean. Radiance, which launched a roll-on, roll-off service to the Yucatan a year ago, was allowed to move its ship from Port Manatee...

McClash takes reins at Port Manatee.
January 8, 2007... Joe McClash has been elected chairman of the Manatee County Port Authority. He succeeds Ron Getman. A 16-year veteran of the port authority board, McClash served as chairman in 2003, as first vice chairman in 2000 and 2001, and as second...

New commissioners named at Port of Tampa.
January 8, 2007... Steven Pinney was named chairman of the board of commissioners at the Port of Tampa, Fla. Pinney, who is senior vice president of phosphate operations at Mosaic Co., will serve a four-year term along with two other new commissioners. ...

Port Manatee wins Gulf Guardian Award.
January 8, 2007... Port Manatee, Fla., was recognized for its environmental leadership during the Third National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration last month in New Orleans. The Environmental Protection Agency's Gulf of Mexico Program...

Canadian ports to merge this year.
January 8, 2007... Pending expected approval by the Canadian government, the Port of Vancouver, British Columbia, and two other Lower Mainland ports on Canada's west coast are proceeding on merger plans to improve competition with U.S. ports for trans-Pacific...

Buyers' market: Shippers have the edge in truck-pricing battle.
January 8, 2007... BYLINE: John Gallagher Consolidation could prove a silver bullet in 2007 for a trucking industry battling a slowing economy, weak prices and a cooling demand for freight service that began in 2006. While shippers have been benefiting...

Shipowner pleads guilty in Mobile mishap.
January 8, 2007... The owner of a container ship involved in a fatal accident last year at the port in Mobile, Ala., recently paid a $375,000 fine after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges. Rickmers Reederei owns the Zim Mexico III, which struck a...

Maine academy honors Bendixen.
January 1, 2007... Maine Maritime Academy alumna Sandra Bendixen was honored recently for her "outstanding" effort to save two critically injured longshoremen. Bendixen, Class of 2005, received a commendation and plaque from her employer, Interocean...

Ready for business.
January 1, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Gulf ports gearing up for containers From January through September this year, 1,364,009 20-foot containers crossed the docks of ports along the Gulf of Mexico. Despite hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Gulf Coast...

Moving on, up.
January 1, 2007... The New Year is a time for fresh beginnings, a time when we can sit back and take a long view of the road ahead without being encumbered by the day-to-day frustrations and petty challenges that normally bog us down. 2007 promises to...

China Airlines expands Houston service.
January 1, 2007... Three months after launching freighter service between Taipei and Houston, China Airlines is adding a Sunday morning flight, the Houston Airport System said. In September, China Airlines launched its Boeing 747-400F cargo service at Bush...

Goliad Air leases Texas air park.
January 1, 2007... Goliad County, Texas, recently agreed to lease its industrial air park to Goliad Air Inc., an aircraft service company, for two years. Under the agreement, Goliad County will collect a monthly $700 payment for the first year and $1,000 a...

New capital for Greatwide.
January 1, 2007... BYLINE: William Hoffman Dedicated carrier builds through private equity backing Private equity firms can't seem to get enough of transportation and logistics companies, as new investors in Dallas-based Greatwide Logistics Services...

Rising demand for ro-ro.
January 1, 2007... BYLINE: Peter T. Leach The ships can carry anything that moves on wheels, so the roll-on, roll-off industry is virtually carrying everything, everywhere. As the emerging markets of China, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East...

Maine academy honors Bendixen.
January 1, 2007... Maine Maritime Academy alumna Sandra Bendixen was honored recently for her "outstanding" effort to save two critically injured longshoremen. Bendixen, Class of 2005, received a commendation and plaque from her employer, Interocean...

Weyeneth to fill Panalpina post.
January 1, 2007... Panalpina Group appointed Karl Weyeneth chief executive for North America. Weyeneth will take office on Feb. 1, succeeding Peter Merath, who will retire on Jan. 31 after more than 40 years with the group. Weyeneth, 42, has extensive...

OH Logistics promotes Spieth.
January 1, 2007... Ozburn-Hessey Logistics veteran Bob Spieth was named president of contract logistics. Spieth has been with OH Logistics for seven years, serving in various roles including chief information officer and executive vice president of operations....

West Africa, Southwest Louisiana representatives discuss trade.
January 1, 2007... The Port of Lake Charles recently hosted a conference to discuss trade opportunities among Liberia, Cameroon, Gabon and Southwest Louisiana. Participation in the conference included board members and staff from the Lake Charles Harbor...

Liberty Property acquires Houston warehouses.
January 1, 2007... Liberty Property Trust has acquired the Williams Port Industrial Center in Houston, but did not disclose financial terms of the deal. The transaction closed in September, but was not announced until recently. The Malvern, Pa.-based...

Zachry sues Port of Houston.
January 1, 2007... Zachry Construction Corp. has filed a lawsuit against the Port of Houston Authority over a series of delayed payments, the Houston Business Journal reported. The privately held construction and industrial maintenance company in San Antonio,...

Cotton stimulates barge traffic.
January 1, 2007... High energy costs and a boom in cotton is spiking barge transportation in Memphis, Business Tennessee magazine reported. Just a few years ago, inland shipping was nearly dead. In 2004, Fullen Dock and Warehouse began loading cotton onto...

MARC 2000 and Waterways Council plan merger.
January 1, 2007... The board of the Midwest Area River Coalition has approved the merger of the coalition and the Waterways Council Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, the Waterways Council will retain the right to continue to use the name MARC 2000 to...

New Tenn-Tom barge facility planned.
January 1, 2007... The Lowndes County Port Authority in Columbus, Miss., has purchased land for a new barge-unloading facility, which it is negotiating to lease to the county's newest manufacturer, the SeverCorr steel mill. The port authority in September...

More funds approved for Vicksburg bridge crane.
January 1, 2007... The Delta Regional Authority said it would provide $200,000 in grants to Warren County, Miss. to help replace the bridge crane at the Port of Vicksburg. The Vicksburg Post reported that acting through the Warren County Port Commission, the...