Gulf Shipper articles from May 2008

Gulf Shipper archives from May 2008

Airfreight fright.
May 26, 2008... BYLINE: MICHAEL FABEY Cargo companies look for deals, leaner operations to weather rest of 2008 as profits plummet, costs rise The roller-coaster ride for air cargo companies zipped into high-G forces in the first quarter as many...

Minding the fleet.
May 26, 2008... BYLINE: MICHAEL FABEY Maintenance concerns growing: Cargo carriers in regulators' sights Freighter operator Atlas Air will pay a $95,000 fine to the Federal Aviation Administration over a maintenance issue, according to documents...

Researchers predict growing demand for airfreighters.
May 26, 2008... Two respected research organizations released long-term forecasts for the freighter aircraft market. U.K.-based OAG calculates the current worldwide freighter fleet at 1,879 aircraft. Half of them are widebodies. Counting orders for an...

Bunker prices threaten carrier service, WSC warns.
May 26, 2008... The soaring cost of bunker fuel threatens the ability of ocean carriers to maintain their current level of service to the United States unless they can recover the cost, the World Shipping Council warned. The Washington-based container...

Intermarine to raise surcharges.
May 26, 2008... Intermarine, the agent for Industrial Maritime Carriers and West Coast Industrial Express, increased bunker and Panama Canal surcharges on all services to and from South America and the Caribbean on May 24. The new bunker surcharges are for...

Justice Department probe to include Alaska, Hawaii, Guam.
May 26, 2008... The investigation by the Department of Justice into the pricing practices of carriers operating in the Puerto Rico trades has been expanded to include all domestic trades, including Alaska, Hawaii and Guam. The news about the widening of the...

Wilh. Wilhelmsen profit plummets.(Financial report)
May 26, 2008... Norwegian carrier Wilh. Wilhelmsen said its net profit after taxes and minority interest for the first quarter ended March 31 plunged 95 percent to $1.6 million from $35.9 million in the same quarter last year because of unrealized expenses....

'Breakbulk will never die'.
May 26, 2008... Macnab looks back on maritime career, looks forward to teaching When Capt. Alistair Macnab first set sail on his shipping career of more than 50 years, breakbulk shipping was king. There were no containers to worry about, portable...

Gulfport rebuilds covered storage space.
May 26, 2008... The Port of Gulfport has restored about 57 percent of the 700,000 square feet of warehouse space destroyed by Hurricane Katrina's storm surge in 2005. A second phase of the ports' 230,000-square-foot Shed 50 Complex was re-opened in early...

Port of Houston wins export service award.
May 26, 2008... The Port of Houston Authority received the 2007 President's E-Star Award in recognition of its support of export growth in the U.S. business community. The port is one of only four U.S. organizations to receive the award for 2007. The E-Star...

Port of South Louisiana breaks ground.
May 26, 2008... The Port of South Louisiana has broken ground on a 40,000-square-foot transit storage facility at its Globalplex Intermodal Terminal in Reserve, La. Plans include a pile-supported floor with large load capacity, thick concrete walls and a...

Workers at two more Louisiana ports begin TWIC enrollment.
May 26, 2008... Port and longshore workers, truckers and others at the ports of Houma and Morgan City began enrolling in the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Worker Identification Credential program this month. Workers can now enroll for TWIC...

Fueling hunger.
May 26, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN Higher energy prices fuel worldwide food crisis Escalating food prices that prompted rice rationing at large U.S. retailers and restrictions on agricultural exports by several countries could lead to...

Feeder ports.
May 26, 2008... There's growing speculation about how the new all-water services from Asia to the Gulf and East Coast will shake out. East Coast ports continue to capture Asian market share with new all-water services, but people including Chuck Raymond at...

Tweaking TWIC.
May 19, 2008... There is an interesting debate unfolding in Florida involving the port worker badge program known as the Transportation Security Identification Credential or TWIC. The Transportation Security Administration recently extended the deadline...

Gulf-Europe trade up 4 percent.
May 19, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Rising exports offset falling imports Trade between the Gulf of Mexico and northern Europe, typically characterized as "mature," meaning flat and unexciting, has picked up a little thanks to a weak-dollar-fueled...

Correction.(Correction notice)
May 19, 2008... The article "Shipping Through Bankruptcy" (May 12, 2008 issue) incorrectly reported Raymond Wisniewski, president and chief executive of National Retail Systems, as saying NRS was helping Linens 'n Things through bankruptcy.

Port of Galveston auctions used equipment.
May 19, 2008... Aside from a few containers handled by Del Monte, the Port of Galveston is putting container handling on the shelf, at least for the next few years. "We've crossed the Rubicon," said Capt. John Peterlin, senior director of marketing and...

Houston joint venture targets empties.
May 19, 2008... Ports America Texas and Barbours Cut Intermodal Services announced a joint venture to operate their combined empty-container yards near the Port of Houston's Barbours Cut Container Terminal. The partners will each own 50 percent of Integrated...

Lines in Puerto Rico trade face class-action suit.
May 19, 2008... A class-action civil lawsuit is seeking treble damages for alleged antitrust violations by four carriers in the Puerto Rico trade. They already are the subjects of a Justice Department anti-trust investigation into pricing practices. ...

TWIC deadline extended.
May 19, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON The Department of Homeland Security has delayed the date for all port workers to have a Transportation Worker Identification Credential in hand from Sept. 25, 2008, to April 15, 2009. Post-deadline, all ports...

Betty Vernon retires.
May 19, 2008... Betty Vernon, a 39-year veteran of the shipping industry and one of Gulf Shipper's first Outstanding Women in Transportation, retired in early May. A farewell party was held for her at Sherlock's Pub outside Houston. Early in her career,...

Gulf Ports Association of the Americas holds spring meeting.
May 19, 2008... The Gulf Ports Association of the Americas held its spring meeting in Gulfport/Biloxi this month. Approximately 75 port and associate members registered for the three-day meeting.

PIERS names O'Keefe product marketing manager.
May 19, 2008... Colleen O'Keefe has been promoted to product marketing manager at PIERS Global Intelligence Solutions, a sister company of Gulf Shipper. O'Keefe will oversee the ongoing development, enhancement and extension of PIERS Trade Profiles and...

Starving for Doha Round.
May 12, 2008... Sometimes it takes a catastrophic event to bring people to their senses. That's why it's not so odd to believe that the global food shortage could help kick start the all but dead-and-buried Doha Round trade negotiations. Doha...

Shipping through bankruptcy.
May 12, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN With retailers struggling, financial risks are growing for troubled sector's transport and logistics providers When Sharper Image filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, the upscale electronics...

As the economy slides, shippers seek supply-chain gains by managing less inventory.
May 12, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN If the U.S. economy is slipping into recession, experts say a couple of decades of improvements in inventory management strategies and technologies may help shippers weather the rough patch and be in a better...

Retailers are developing private labels to boost profits, but delivery times miss expectations.
May 12, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN Retailers are increasingly turning to private label merchandise to bolster profit margins in fiercely competitive markets. But they're finding the gap between actual and expected transit times for freight is a...

Booking nightmares.
May 12, 2008... BYLINE: BILL ARMBRUSTER The boom in U.S. exports shipped by ocean vessels has created an unexpected dilemma. Shortages of vessel space and equipment have led to serious abuses of the booking system -- abuses that affect all parties in...

CMA CGM hires Dianora.
May 12, 2008... CMA CGM (America) LLC has hired Christopher J. Dianora as director of inbound trans-Pacific services. He will be based at CMA CGM's U.S. headquarters in Norfolk, Va. Dianora has spent more than 25 years in the shipping industry....

Horizon Lines promotes Avara.
May 12, 2008... Horizon Lines has promoted Michael T. Avara to senior vice president and chief financial officer. He succeeds Mark Urbania, who is leaving after four years as CFO to pursue other opportunities in the private equity investment area, the...

Paayman, Malpas join the Alabama State Port Authority.
May 12, 2008... Adams Promoted James K. Lyons, director and chief executive at the Alabama State Port Authority, has appointed two vice presidents and hired a new risk manager to meet expanding administration needs at the port. "Our revenues, in a few...

Hoist hires directors for international sales.
May 12, 2008... Mike McMaster and Mike Kelly have joined Hoist Liftruck as its new international development team. The duo will create a global presence for the company, setting up new distributors and increasing international sales. Hoist Liftruck is a...

Intermarine's new Kavanagh dock dedicated.
May 12, 2008... Intermarine's new Kavanagh dock, located at Industrial Terminal on the Houston Ship Channel, was dedicated in late April. Greg Stangel, vice president at the company, introduced President and Chief Executive Andre Grikitis, who gave the...

Terminals ill-equipped for largest ships, expert says.
May 12, 2008... Shipping lines are already deploying 10,000- to 14,000-TEU vessels, but terminal operators are not ready for the giant ships, according to a European industry analyst. "Marine terminal performance today is not in line with what...

Justice Department probes carriers in Puerto Rico trades.
May 12, 2008... BYLINE: JOSEPH BONNEY The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into pricing practices in the Puerto Rico trade and possibly other U.S. domestic routes. Federal agents seized documents and other materials on...

Sea Star Line issues statement.
May 12, 2008... Sea Star Line released the following statement in regard to the antitrust probe: "The Department of Justice is conducting an investigation into allegations of possible antitrust violations. Sea Star Line LLC is cooperating fully with the...

Bridge that never was.
May 5, 2008... The saga of the $21 million bridge that never came to be at the Port of Brownsville has finally been laid to rest. Conceived as a means to connect the Port of Brownsville with rail lines in Matamoras, Mexico, the bridge seemed a slam dunk for...

Steeling for change: Shifting fundamentals affect the Gulf.
May 5, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Steel prices are high worldwide. The dollar keeps falling. Ocean freight rates on the tramp vessels that bring most steel to the U.S. remain high. Soaring fuel costs increase the burden. All this has added up to a...

Forest products in the new millennium: Tight capacity, new sources and new products change the game.
May 5, 2008... BYLINE: DAVID BIEDERMAN It's a mixed bag for the forest product industry in the Gulf. The housing crunch continues to drive down construction-related imports. However, its impact has been muted by rising import volumes of wood pulp and...

Untangling the breakbulk supply chain: Breakbulk 'trace and track' catching up to container technology.
May 5, 2008... BYLINE: LAURA MYERS Do shippers, carriers and forwarders who move steel, windmills, reactors, forest products and many other breakbulk cargoes throughout the world lack the logistics advances available through business-to-business...

DHS makes its mark on transportation system.
May 5, 2008... BYLINE: ARI NATTER Shippers question whether benefits match the costs Created in the aftermath of the deadliest terrorist attack ever on American soil, the Department of Homeland Security was constructed as an emblem of the nation's...

Senators support valuation rule.
May 5, 2008... Seventeen senators have signed a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff with their "serious concerns" about a proposed reinterpretation by Customs and Border Protection of a valuation rule. The group, led by Sens. Gordon...

Agribusiness companies accuse China, Canada of dumping.
May 5, 2008... Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill and Tate & Lyle Americas filed petitions with the Department of Commerce and the U.S. International Trade Commission on April 16, alleging that imports of citric acid and some citrate salts from Canada and...

Chipolbrok adds new call at Port of Philadelphia.
May 5, 2008... Chinese-Polish project and heavy-lift carrier Chipolbrok America announced on April 15 that one of its triple-deck breakbulk vessels will start making a monthly vessel call at the Port of Philadelphia. The vessel, which has a lifting...

Marad chief says short-sea is taking hold.
May 5, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON The advent of a container-on-barge service between Hampton Roads and the Port of Richmond, Va., is the kind of project that will help the Maritime Administration demonstrate the value of "marine highways" to the...

Horizon's Raymond backs Marine Highway plan.(Conference notes)
May 5, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON Horizon Lines, which has already stated its intention to set up a coastal network of short-sea ships that would carry containers to and from the largest U.S. gateway ports, is working with maritime unions to design...

Alabama State Port Authority refinances bonds.
May 5, 2008... The Alabama State Port Authority board of directors has decided to refinance $60,455,000 in Series 2006-C auction rate securities. These have been subjected to volatile interest rate changes during the recent market turmoil triggered by the...

Three TWIC enrollment centers open in Texas.
May 5, 2008... Transportation Worker Identification Credential enrollment centers at the ports of La Porte, Galveston and Freeport, Texas, have begun enrolling port employees, longshoremen, truckers and other waterfront workers. Workers are encouraged...

Brownsville Navigation District cleared of charges in bridge case.
May 5, 2008... The Brownsville Navigation District board has been cleared of criminal wrongdoing in the case of the $21 million bridge that was planned to connect the Port of Brownsville, Texas, to the Mexican city of Matamoros. According to the...