Gulf Shipper articles from July 2008

Gulf Shipper archives from July 2008

The eroding China price.
July 7, 2008... More than one U.S. retailer is reviewing the continued weakness of the U.S. dollar, combined with soaring bunker prices, and concluding there is a need to consider near-sourcing, a trend in which the manufacturing plant moves physically closer...

Unintended consequences?
July 7, 2008... BYLINE: ROSALIND MCLYMONT Tighter rules on visa applications for foreign visitors are costing U.S. companies billions of dollars in lost sales Inviting a customer or potential customer from a foreign country to your office or factory...

Has it helped or hurt?
July 7, 2008... BYLINE: Herbert A. Sample The great NAFTA divide Wade Elliott, senior director of marketing at the Tampa Port Authority, lauds the North American Free Trade Agreement. It has eased the export of fertilizer from his docks to Canada,...

Trade show woes.
July 7, 2008... One of the biggest trade shows in the U.S. is the Consumer Electronics Show held every January in Las Vegas. This year's show attracted 141,000 visitors, with 28,000, or 20 percent, coming from outside the United States. Elizabeth Hyman,...

Types of business-related visas.
July 7, 2008... Visas often used by businesses include: B-1 Visa. Temporary Visitors for Business. Used by foreign business personnel to engage in legitimate business activities. Duration: Six months to a year. Visa Waiver Program (In place of B-1...

US confirms anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel.
July 7, 2008... Steel imports on the decline The United States International Trade Commission approved an earlier decision to slap high anti-dumping and anti-subsidy tariffs on imports of some steel products from China last month. The USITC determined...

Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District announces new board officers.
July 7, 2008... The Lake Charles Harbor and Terminal District last month elected a new slate of officers for 2008-2009. The seven-member board elected the following officers: Harry Hank, president; Kay Barnett, vice president; Mark Abraham,...

Campirano passes probation period at Port of Brownsville.
July 7, 2008... Eduardo A. Campirano has successfully completed a one-year probationary period as port director for the Brownsville Navigation District (Port of Brownsville, Texas), and Brownsville's board of commissioners has extended his contract to 2010....

Congressional leaders attempt to block HUD money from Port of Gulfport.
July 7, 2008... A dozen members of Congress sent a stinging letter last month to the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee in an attempt to prevent Mississippi from granting $600 million in Hurricane Katrina-recovery funds to the Port of Gulfport. The...

AAPA announces communications winners.
July 7, 2008... The American Association of Port Authorities has selected 22 seaports for honors in its 2008 communications awards program. Among them, Port Freeport, Texas, won awards of merit for advertising and for its 2007 hurricane preparedness guide....

Is wind the answer?
July 14, 2008... Anyone who is not thinking about the high cost of fuel prices today is living in a vacuum. Higher transportation costs are pushing up the price of everything from groceries to construction materials, with little in our everyday lives left...

Wind energy booms: Texas leads the way.
July 14, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Lack of transmission grid, tax credit challenge industry Wind energy continues to be big business in the Gulf. Texas is leading the way in wind farm development, and Texas ports with lots of space are handling much...

Demand for wind power grows on every coast.
July 14, 2008... BYLINE: BILL DIBENEDETTO  Project forwarders specialize in renewable energy It's a rarity these days, but sometimes things seem to converge in a poetic-justice sort of way. Last month, a vessel powered partially by the wind,...

DOE, manufacturers line up to boost wind energy projects.
July 14, 2008... The U.S. has been the fastest-growing wind power market during the past three years, according to the Department of Energy. Wind power capacity increased 46 percent in 2007, and $9 billion was invested in new plants that year. A DOE report...

Big changes loom because of oil price hikes.
July 14, 2008... BYLINE: PETER TIRSCHWELL What does $150 per barrel or $5-per-gallon diesel mean for the international supply chain? What if petroleum prices climb higher still? Prices have been on a steady ascent for well over a year, but it seems only...

US poultry exports set record.
July 14, 2008... U.S. poultry exports to Russia, China and Mexico are setting records for volume and value, although egg exports have fallen off. A weak dollar and rising Chinese demand are "driving the bus," Toby Moore, vice president of communications for...

US companies sign 30 contracts with China.
July 14, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM ARMBRUSTER U.S. companies, including Ford, General Motors and Chrysler, signed 30 contracts with China in June. The contracts call for Chinese purchases and investments valued at $8 billion, and U.S. purchases and...

Lake Charles pilots, oil companies settle dispute.
July 14, 2008... The Lake Charles pilots have reached an agreement with Citgo Petroleum, ConocoPhil-lips and Port Aggregates Inc. to cut their tariff by more than 5 percent, according to the Times-Picayune. The new rate, which took effect on July 1, was...

Maersk suspends one Asia-Europe service to save fuel.
July 14, 2008... Maersk Line announced it will temporarily suspend one of its Asia-Europe services in early July in a bid to control operating costs in the face of rising fuel bills. The world's largest ocean container carrier said the move to suspend the...

Sherman joins Venable LLP.
July 14, 2008... International trade lawyer Michael D. Sherman has joined Venable LLP's Washington, D.C.-based international trade practice group. Sherman has practiced international law for three decades. His practice focuses on administrative law and...

Container crossroads?
July 14, 2008... BYLINE: JOSEPH BONNEY Unless you're a fisherman or oil-and-gas worker, chances are you've never been to Venice, La., a small town 90 miles downstream from New Orleans. To get there, you take a state highway that parallels the curving...

New Orleans cargo volumes down in 2008.
July 14, 2008... New Orleans' general cargo volume was off 26 percent during the first four months of the year, to approximately 2 million tons from 2.7 million tons during the same period of 2007. A steep drop in steel imports hit the port particularly hard....

Houston port commissioners approve Bayport wharf contract.
July 14, 2008... The Port Commission of the Port of Houston Authority approved a $100.5 million contract for a new wharf at Bayport Container Terminal last month. McCarthy Building Companies will build the 1,330-foot wharf. The vote on the decision was delayed...

A concept whose time has come - maybe.
July 14, 2008... BYLINE: BILL MONGELLUZZO Leasing companies are willing to let exporters take empty containers, but carriers don't like the idea U.S. exporters have plenty of customers. What they need are containers. Export demand is growing by 20...

Target Logistic Service to become Mainfreight.
July 14, 2008... Target Logistic Service's Dallas and Houston facilities changed their names to Mainfreight this month, reflecting the title of Target's new global parent. New Zealand-based transportation company Mainfreight acquired Target Logistics Service...

Business and labor seek to make infrastructure a top campaign issue.
July 14, 2008... Infrastructure may not have the urgency of the energy crisis or the controversy of the war in Iraq, but the head of the country's largest business organization wants to put it among the top campaign issues for the presidential candidates. ...

Too much ado.
July 18, 2008... There is much ado in New Orleans over the Port of Gulfport's $600 million windfall from Housing and Urban Development block grant funds. Many Mississippians were upset when HUD approved the state of Mississippi's request to divert money...

Junkyard riches.
July 18, 2008... BYLINE: PAUL T. ROSYNSKY High steel prices lead to booming scrap metal business Asia's ongoing industrialization and booming economies in some Middle East countries have begun to reverberate in an unlikely place: the scrap yard. Unable...

Brownsville's barge traffic booming.
July 18, 2008... Steel and scrap are typical cargoes During a typical month, 30 barges discharge cargo at the Port of Brownsville, most of which is bound for Mexico. But times are no longer typical. The port had 34 barges in May. In June, barge numbers...

Texas, Port of Galveston sign industrial development loan.
July 18, 2008... This month, the Port of Galveston and the state of Texas closed on a $28.1 million infrastructure improvement loan through the Texas Industry Development Loan Program, which provides long-term capital at below-market rates for strategic...

Veto of bill hurts Port Manatee.
July 18, 2008... The business incentive zone for Port Manatee advocated by Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash died when Gov. Charles Crist vetoed a transportation bill submitted by Miami legislator Marco Rubio. The Port Manatee component of the vetoed...

Dow Chemical enters surcharge game.
July 18, 2008... BYLINE: PENELOPE BROWN For Dow Chemical, the solution to skyrocketing transportation costs comes down to this: If you can't beat them, join them. The country's largest chemical manufacturer and a leading shipper of materials and...

A.R. Savage & Son unifies brand.
July 18, 2008... A.R. Savage & Son Inc., a Tampa, Fla.-based company that provides ship agency, charterer agency, ocean freight forwarding, terminal, rail and transloading services as well as consulting services, announced that it has unified its operating...

Widdows takes the helm of NOL.
July 18, 2008... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH Ron Widdows, president and chief executive of APL, has been appointed group president and chief executive of its parent, Neptune Orient Lines, replacing Thomas Held in that post, the Singapore-based group announced...

Ports America Group promotes Tilden, Edwards.
July 18, 2008... Ports America Group announced the promotion of Douglas A. Tilden from chief executive to chairman. Stephen Edwards, who currently serves as president, was given the additional title of chief executive. Tilden was promoted to chief executive of...

West Gulf Maritime Association hires director of maritime affairs.
July 18, 2008... The West Gulf Maritime Association has hired Niels Lyngso to a newly created position. In the post of director of maritime affairs, Lyngso will focus on expanding the effectiveness of WGMA's maritime affairs efforts, the association announced....

McGowan to head human resources for CMA CGM America.
July 18, 2008... CMA CGM (America) LLC has appointed Mark McGowan director of human resources. McGowan will be responsible for overseeing compensation and benefits, human resource information systems, recruiting and employee relations. He began his career with...

Drop in Asian imports hurts US exporters.
July 18, 2008... BYLINE: JOSEPH BONNEY Widdows says ship capacity is key issue in Pacific Trans-Pacific carriers are praying for a recovery in the U.S. import trade. Ron Widdows says exporters should be, too. Why should exporters care about...

BBC chartering increases fuel surcharge.
July 18, 2008... BBC Chartering LLP has announced a bunker surcharge increase effective July 31 and applicable to all southbound and northbound shipments from or to U.S. Gulf ports, Veracruz, Tampico and Altamira, Mexico, and the east coast of South America,...

International Shipholding added to Russell indexes.
July 18, 2008... International Shipholding Corp. announced that its stock, trading on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker symbol ISH, has been added to the Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes. The Mobile, Ala.-based company, which is controlled by the...

Rickmers expands order for heavy-lift ships.
July 18, 2008... Rickmers-Linie has increased the size of its order for new multipurpose heavy-lift vessels from 10 to 14 so it can further expand its fixed-schedule liner service network, the Hamburg-based project and breakbulk cargo carrier announced. ...

Intermodal slump could mark a sea change for distribution.
July 18, 2008... BYLINE: JOHN D. BOYD This is the time of year when intermodal container traffic from Asia to the West Coast normally ramps up toward the autumn peak season. But the 2008 summer rush is suffering from weak traffic flows and a darkening...