Gulf Shipper articles from June 2007

Gulf Shipper archives from June 2007

Big squeeze.
June 4, 2007... Rickmers Group Chairman Bertram R.C. Rickmers had sobering news for attendees at the 2nd Annual Breakbulk Europe Transportation Conference & Exhibition held in Antwerp last month. The breakbulk and project cargo industry is moving cargo at...

Gulf-Far East container trade grows.
June 4, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Two services dominate Container traffic between the Gulf and the Far East increased 28 percent in 2006 to 239,344 TEUs, up from 187,141 in 2005. CMA CGM's PEX 3 service is still the lead player in this trade. Zim...

Project cargo aplenty.
June 4, 2007... BYLINE: Janet Nodar Chipolbrok begins new Gulf-Far East service This month, Chipolbrok will start a new monthly westbound breakbulk service from Houston and New Orleans via the Panama Canal to the Far East. The service will discharge...

NYK Line to haul iron ore from Brazil to China.
June 4, 2007... NYK Line won a 20-year contract from Companhia Vale do Rio Doce to transport iron ore from Brazil to China beginning in 2011. The contract will result in more than 1.3 million tons of iron ore leaving Brazil for China on a new 300,000-ton...

Intermarine gets the fourth of six new heavy-lift vessels.
June 4, 2007... Intermarine took delivery of the Industrial Dream last month at the Port of Marghera, Italy. The fourth of six heavy-lift vessels the company has received from the ENVC shipyard in Portugal, it is 8,000 deadweight tons with dual 250-metric-ton...

AIG acquires MTC Holdings.
June 4, 2007... Marine Terminals Corp., one of the largest independent terminal operators in the U.S., was purchased last month by insurance giant American International Group. The sale expands AIG's reach in the maritime trade as the company agreed late...

Corps of Engineers: MR-GO should close.
June 4, 2007... The Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet, a 76-mile shortcut for ships destined for the Port of New Orleans, should close, the Army Corps of Engineers announced. Heeding the call of all who sustained severe flooding damage after Hurricane...

Lake Charles leases land to pipe company.
June 4, 2007... The Port of Lake Charles, La., has agreed to lease 20 acres of land to Sheehan Pipe Line Construction Co. for use as an equipment staging area. The six-month lease will provide Sheehan space to store supplies it is shipping into the area for...

Georgia port to see more Mercedes-Benz autos.
June 4, 2007... The Port of Brunswick, Ga., will soon see more than 50,000 additional Mercedes-Benz vehicles passing through its docks. The company announced plans to consolidate its North American imports through a preparation center near the port. The...

KCS promotes Harrison to assistant VP.
June 4, 2007... Kansas City Southern promoted Carl Harrison to assistant vice president, information technology and business solutions. He will have responsibility for financial information systems for KCS and its U.S. and Mexican subsidiaries. Harrison...

Specialized Crane and Rigging Association elects new members.
June 4, 2007... The Specialized Crane and Rigging Association elected a new slate of officers for the next year. It appointed John Ward of Twinsburg, Ohio-based All State Freight Systems, as president. Ward will help set policy for the international trade...

A level playing field.
June 11, 2007... In an interesting indication of the eroding status of the U.S. as a world power, Chinese central bank leaders recently announced plans to have the euro make up a larger share of its $1.2 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. The euro is...

Investment vehicles.
June 11, 2007... BYLINE: Peter Leach Equity firms see port terminals as hot assets Global investment funds have discovered transportation infrastructure in a big way. With investment banks able to muster capital beyond the fondest dreams of public...

Louisiana Airport Authority plans new air-cargo airport.
June 11, 2007... The Louisiana Airport Authority is looking for new powers to limit the amount of information the public can see as it pushes forward with a plan to build an air-cargo airport near Donadsonville, the Baton Rouge Advocate has reported. ...

Louisiana exports continue to increase.
June 11, 2007... Exports from Louisiana ports continue to climb this year, as the state rebounds from the devastating 2005 hurricane season, according to a report commissioned by the World Trade Center of New Orleans. The World Institute of Strategic...

Corpus Christi official: Ease US-Cuba trade restrictions.
June 11, 2007... The U.S. should allow unrestricted travel to Cuba by representatives of port authorities and increase U.S. exports to the communist nation, Ruben Bonilla, chairman of the Port of Corpus Christi, said during testimony before the International...

WRDA could become law by summer.
June 11, 2007... The long-awaited Water Resources Development Act is finally moving toward congressional approval after the House and Senate approved the bill. It could be on President Bush's desk by the summer. The bill, which some say could cost $26...

Berg Steel finalizes plan for Alabama steel mill.
June 11, 2007... Another day, another steel plant for Alabama -- at least that is what it seems these days as the state announced the finalization of a deal to bring Berg Steel Pipe Co. of Panama City, Fla., to Mobile. During a signing ceremony late last...

IKEA to open distribution center in Savannah, Ga.
June 11, 2007... Swedish furniture giant IKEA will open a new distribution center near the Port of Savannah, Ga., on June 27 at the Savannah International Trade Park. The 685,000-square-foot center, which was built on 115 acres of land, will process inventory...

Distribution centers sprouting in Midwest.
June 11, 2007... BYLINE: David Biederman Midwest cities that once were pillars of a heavy manufacturing economy have turned to newer industries such as biotechnology, life sciences and renewable fuels for growth and jobs. Now many are adding logistics to...

Fair, free trade.
June 18, 2007... Speakers and attendees at The Journal of Commerce China Trade & Logistics Conference earlier this month were amazingly open about the good and not-so-good aspects of U.S.-China trade. The Journal of Commerce is a sister publication of Gulf...

Survival of the fittest.
June 18, 2007... BYLINE: John D. Boyd Asset-heavy intermodal companies gain business It is testing time for U.S. intermodal companies. For years, the market was consistently strong for firms that sell combined rail-truck freight transportation, and the...

Brownsville Navigation District appoints Campirano port director.
June 18, 2007... Eddie Campirano, a longtime employee of the city of Brownsville, Texas, was selected as the Brownsville Navigation District's new port director, beating out two other finalists who had experience running ports, the Brownsville Herald reported....

Burke to continue to serve on volunteer board at Houston port.
June 18, 2007... Jimmy A. Burke, a member of the Port of Houston Authority Commission since 1999, was reappointed to the volunteer board and will serve another two years, the authority announced. The Harris County Mayors' and Council's Association unanimously...

Law closes loophole in dredging-related lawsuits.
June 18, 2007... Dredging shipping channels in Texas used to be an expensive endeavor because of a loophole in the Jones Act. That loophole allowed lawsuits relating to injuries sustained from a dredging project to be filed in any Texas court, regardless of...

GPAA semi-annual meeting.
June 18, 2007... The Gulf Ports Association of the Americas held its semi-annual meeting, hosted by the Port of Brownsville, at South Padre Island near Brownsville, Texas, in May. Deep-water and shallow-draft ports from Manatee to Brownsville in the U.S....

No labor problems anticipated at West Coast ports next year.
June 18, 2007... West Coast ports are still paying a price for the 10-day lockout during 2002 labor negotiations. The port closures and ensuing chaos accelerated the trend toward all-water services from Asia to the Gulf Coast and the East Coast. Overall, it...

Bill boosts Florida port ID program.
June 18, 2007... Florida's universal port identification card program was stalled earlier this year by the federal Transportation Worker Identification Credential. But now an amendment to an appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security would...

High-tech security boat enters Mississippi River waters.
June 18, 2007... The Port of South Louisiana christened a new $1.3 million security vessel this month that will patrol the 54-mile port district. The PSL Responder, a 57-foot-long Dauntless-class vessel can reach speeds of more than 30 knots and has onboard...

TNT Freight Management becomes Geodis Wilson.
June 18, 2007... TNT Freight Management, an Amsterdam, Nether-lands-based logistics provider with offices in Houston and New Orleans, is no longer using that name. The company announced this month that it would take on the name of its parent company Geodis...

Importers, Customs to work to boost benefits of paperless entry.
June 18, 2007... BYLINE: R.G. Edmondson Slightly more than half of the import entries processed by Customs and Border Protection flash through a computer system untouched by human hands. An importer or customs broker receives an electronic file of cargo...

Short-term solutions.
June 25, 2007... Stage 1 construction of the Panama Canal's $5 billion expansion is expected to begin by summer's end, two months ahead of schedule, with dredging on the Pacific side of the canal. But that won't be soon enough for ports in the U.S. Gulf...

Panama Canal expansion creates business opportunities.
June 25, 2007... BYLINE: Rose Horowitz US companies seek their share of $5.25 billion project It's early in the game for U.S. and international companies to claim success in the $5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal, but business executives are...

US-Panama trade agreement ratification expected.
June 25, 2007... BYLINE: Rose Horowitz Panama's thriving economy boosted further by canal expansion Panama's economy is booming and ranks as one of the fastest growing in Latin America. The Panama economy grew 8 percent last year and is expected to...

Sea Star promotes Ortiz.
June 25, 2007... Sea Star Line this month promoted Jennifer Ortiz to Southeast district sales manager. Based in the company's Jacksonville, Fla., headquarters, she will report to Ned LaGoy, assistant vice president of sales. Ortiz was hired into Sea Star's...

Sea Star Line expands, promotes Lewis.
June 25, 2007... Sea Star Line created a new sales position this month to match a new service it will launch in July. Pete Lewis became director of eastern Caribbean sales to help secure business for a service that will connect two Florida ports with four...

US-Mexico trucking plan attacked.
June 25, 2007... BYLINE: Ari Natter The Department of Transportation may have been hoping to quell a controversy with the publication last week of new details about its new cross-border trucking program, but the new information only brought a new round of...

Port Manatee expects forest product imports to rebound.
June 25, 2007... Port Manatee is showing some symptoms of the U.S. housing slump that has hurt ports focused on the shipment of forest products. But Port Manatee officials say the worst is in the past. The addition of new service, coupled with construction...

Tampa port needs new commissioner.
June 25, 2007... The Tampa Port Authority is reviewing applications for a new port commissioner after Chairman Steve Pinney resigned, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported. Pinney was forced to leave the Tampa area after his employer relocated his position to...

Funding for Louisiana 1 in question.
June 25, 2007... A recently released federal study detailing the damages suffered by Port Fourchon as a result of the offshore oil and gas industry has a group in favor of widening and elevating Louisiana 1 considering a possible lawsuit, the New Orleans...

North American trade grows.
June 25, 2007... Trade between Mexico and the U.S. by rail, truck and pipeline continued to rise as more than $24.7 billion worth of goods crossed the border in March, a 2.1 percent increase from March 2006, a federal Department of Transportation study found....

TWIC delays could continue.
June 25, 2007... The deadline for mariners and other port workers to possess their Transportation Worker Identification Credential cards could be pushed back following the announcement of another delay in the controversial anti-terror program. The...