Gulf Shipper articles from October 2008

Gulf Shipper archives from October 2008

Buyer's market.
October 6, 2008... In the midst of a financial industry meltdown of historic proportions last week, the one figure of calm at the center of the storm turned out to be the transportation guy. Of course, it's a bit easier to take the longer view if you count your...

Panama's hub ambitions.
October 6, 2008... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH More than just a toll collector One country, two oceans and a wealth of opportunity. That's how Panama sees itself as the country positions itself as the commercial and financial hub of the Americas - a veritable...

CAFTA-driven growth reveals gaps.
October 6, 2008... BYLINE: RICHARD KNEE AND STEPHANIE NALL Central American infrastructure lacking Hauling cargo from Central America or the Caribbean is relatively easy, but ship space is tight in the U.S. outbound trade to the region, and moving goods...

Carriers boost Latin freighter service and capacity.
October 6, 2008... AMX Cargo, a subsidiary of Mexican air cargo company Aeromexpress, launched its first flights out of its Miami base to San Juan and Santo Domingo last month. Using B767-200 freighter aircraft leased from ABX Air, it serves the destinations...

New Gulfport plans have public approval.
October 6, 2008... After two public hearings last month, ambitious new plans to make the Port of Gulfport one of the largest ports in the U.S. appear to have the initial approval of Gulfport residents and business leaders. The port was excoriated for an earlier...

St. Bernard receives disaster recovery funds.
October 6, 2008... The U.S. Department of Commerce will award $9.3 million in disaster recovery grants to several Louisiana entities, including the Port of St. Bernard, according to New Orleans newspaper The Times-Picayune. The port will receive $1 million for...

Port of Galveston open for business.
October 6, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Despite a ferocious pummeling from Hurricane Ike during the wee hours of Sept. 13, the Port of Galveston was working cargo vessels again on Sept. 22, only nine days later. The first cargo ship to return to the port was...

Politics may stunt US poultry exports to Russia.
October 6, 2008... BYLINE: ALAN M. FIELD Threats to near $1 billion trade a potent weapon When bilateral political ties deteriorate, exporters are often the first to suffer. That lesson was driven home again recently when Russia announced two moves that...

Gulf poultry exports 'consistent'.
October 6, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Little effect from Russian threats Saber-rattling may be enlivening the international stage as far as Russian poultry exports go, but thus far that is having little effect on the work-a-day Gulf Coast. Management at...

Slip, sliding away.
October 13, 2008... Anticipating the next roller-coaster swing in today's antsy global economy is akin to predicting the weather; no matter what happens next, you can count on it changing soon. Commodities have taken a downturn in recent weeks as the U.S....

Room to grow.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: DAVID BEIDERMAN Gulf ports continue to add breakbulk capacity The heavy-lift/project cargo market is in the midst of a remarkable run. Gulf Coast ports and carriers, among the prime beneficiaries of the trend, are hoping that...

Up and running.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Post-Ike Galveston on road to recovery Eight or nine vessels carrying wind energy cargo for Mitsubishi Power Systems are expected to call at the Port of Galveston this month in spite of the damage Hurricane Ike...

Steel imports slide.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: ROBERT R. FRUMP Gulf feels the economic pinch Houston, Brownsville, Beaumont buck the trend Despite a general drop in U.S. steel imports this summer, the ports of Houston, Brownsville and Beaumont will post increased...

Exports bolster US steelmakers.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM ARMBRUSTER High prices overseas prompt exporters to look abroad The domestic steel industry fared surprisingly well in the first half of the year, and exports were a big part of its success. Net shipments in the...

Global steel production up 5.6 percent through August.
October 13, 2008... Global steel production up 5.6 percent through August Total world production of crude steel was 926.3 million metric tons in the first eight months of 2008, a 5.6 percent increase over the same period in 2007, according to the...

Back to the future.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: CAPT. ALISTAIR MACNAB Breakbulk cargo liners 'worthy successors' to cargo liners of the '70s Everything old is new again." We often hear the refrain -- but should we attach the sentiment to ocean shipping? That's a stretch,...

Galveston port chief granted emergency authority.
October 13, 2008... Steve Cernak, director of the Port of Galveston, has been authorized to sign off on emergency repairs of up to $55 million until Nov. 3, the Galveston Daily News reported. Under normal circumstances, the port director is required to get...

Container record set at Port of New Orleans.
October 13, 2008... The MSC Stella loaded and discharged a record 2,870 containers at the Port of New Orleans last month at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal. During the same week, 31 cargo vessels, including 15 container ships, called at the port.

Connaughton draws praise, but prospects are slim for confirmation.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON With a record of waking up a dormant Maritime Administration, what could Sean T. Connaughton do as chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission? Earlier this month, the White House announced President Bush's...

Alexander & Baldwin buys Houston distribution center.
October 13, 2008... Alexander & Baldwin has completed the acquisition of the Republic Distri-bution Center, a 313,000-square-foot facility near the Port of Houston's container terminals. The Republic center in Pasadena, Texas, was completed in 2007 by Johnson...

Hurricane Ike devastates Galveston Seafarer's Center.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: JANET NODAR Storm wipes out years of records, damages historic building Hurricane Ike "got us from the bottom up and the top down," said Chaplain Karen Parsons, who has run the Galveston Seafarer's Center since 1992. "Nothing...

International trade may be headed for a new era.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: PAUL BINGHAM With the collapse of the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Round of trade negotiations in July, we may be headed to a more protectionist future with lower trade growth. While this may be the case, there...

Shock to the system: Contracting consumer demand means painful shipping season ahead.
October 13, 2008... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH Demand for container and dry bulk vessels is drying up The psychology of fear is rolling out across the globe as credit markets seize up, and it's affecting global trade, which has grown at double-digit rates...

Zim adds 4,038-TEU vessel to AGX service.
October 13, 2008... The largest container ship ever to call at the Port of Tampa arrived last month when Zim Integrated Shipping Services' Kaohsiung made its inaugural call. The 4,038-TEU Kaohsiung is part of Zim's Asia-Gulf Express (AGX) service, which provides...

Chiquita signs 11-year lease with Port of Wilmington, Del.
October 13, 2008... A new 11-year, multimillion-dollar land-lease between Chiquita Fresh North America and the Diamond State Port Corp. will keep the produce importer at the Port of Wilmington, Del., until July 2019. In 2007, Chiquita made 52 ship calls at...

Chief executive Widdows to lead WSC.
October 13, 2008... The World Shipping Council announced that Ron Widdows, group president and chief executive of Neptune Orient Lines, was elected chairman of the board of directors. Widdows succeeds Adolf Adrion, chief executive of Hapag-Lloyd, who has...

Treasure trove of trade data.
October 20, 2008... If you're looking to slice and dice export trade data from your area, the Commerce Department can help. You can use a Commerce Department Web site, www.trade.gov/metrodata, to check the value of export sales for 369 "metro" areas, as defined by...

U.S. truckers find overseas investment a risky business.(Company overview)
October 20, 2008... BYLINE: JOHN GALLAGHER The financial crisis that's putting a new squeeze on freight transportation also is shining harsh light on overseas investment by U.S.-based trucking companies, pushing companies to take a new look at how and where...

Four plead guilty in Puerto Rico antitrust case.
October 20, 2008... Four former executives of Horizon Lines and Sea Star Line have agreed to plead guilty and serve jail sentences for participating in what the Justice Department said was "a wide-ranging conspiracy to rig bids, fix prices and allocate market...

Wetzel takes helm at University of Houston's College of Technology.
October 20, 2008... Elizabeth Wetzel has been named managing director at the Center for Logistics and Transportation policy at the University of Houston's College of Technology. Wetzel will build upon the successes achieved by founding director Joy Lloyd, who is...

Matson's reach.
October 20, 2008... BYLINE: WILLIAM HOFFMAN Company plans to expand into top echelon of logistics service providers Matson Global Distribution Services' acquisition of West Coast asset-light warehousing, distribution and packaging company Pacific...

Zim Canada calls at Mobile Container Terminal.
October 20, 2008... The 3,000-TEU Zim Canada lifted about 1,600 TEUs during the first official vessel call at the new Mobile Container Terminal. Zim's weekly Asia-Gulf Express has moved from smaller facilities at the Alabama State Port Authority to MCT. The AGX...

WGMA protests Aransas-Corpus Christi Pilots' rate increase request.
October 20, 2008... The West Gulf Maritime Association this month filed an objection to a rate increase request made by the Aransas-Corpus Christi Pilots Association in September. The protest was filed with the Board of Pilot Commissioners for the Port of Corpus...

Del Monte returns to Galveston.
October 20, 2008... The Del Monte Fresh Produce terminal at the Port of Galveston reopened on Oct. 6, just three weeks after Hurricane Ike came ashore on Sept. 13. The first vessel to return was the Valencia Carrier, which discharged breakbulk bananas. Three...

New Orleans settles with insurer for Katrina damages.
October 20, 2008... After nearly two years of negotiations and legal battles, the Board of Commissioners of the Port of New Orleans has settled its lawsuit against property insurer FM Global. The port did not release the amount of the settlement, but several...

Hub Group founder Phillip C. Yeager dies.
October 20, 2008... BYLINE: Joseph Bonney Most men with families to support wouldn't have the confidence to resign from a job a year short of a pension, in order to bet their future on an unproven idea. Then again, most men aren't like Phillip C. Yeager. ...

American Airlines Cargo Division transports King Tut exhibit.
October 20, 2008... American Airlines Cargo Division shipped more than 130 priceless artifacts, some weighing as much as 1,750 pounds, from London to the Dallas Museum of Art for the exhibit Tutankhamun and the Golden Age of the Pharaohs. The exhibit will be in...

FedEx earnings decline 22 percent.(Financial report)
October 20, 2008... FedEx said net earnings fell $384 million, or 22 percent, during its fiscal first quarter, which ended Aug. 31. The company said that an accelerating decline in domestic express traffic cut into operating margins. The company said it is...

Breakbulk notes.
October 27, 2008... The JoC Breakbulk Transportation Conference and Exhibition held this month in New Orleans was a resounding success with a record attendance of more than 2,100 shipping and transportation executives from around the world. Between the panel...

European move threatens use of vessel-sharing agreements.
October 27, 2008... Just when they thought their disagreements with the European Union over antitrust regulation had been resolved, container lines were hit between the eyes with a surprise notice from the EU's Competition Directorate. The DG Comp proposal...

Bear container market.
October 27, 2008... BYLINE: PETER T. LEACH The strong growth container shipping has enjoyed for five years is shifting into reverse as the credit crunch impacts all the major economies, according to the annual forecast released by Drewry Shipping Consultants....

US box slump continues.
October 27, 2008... The slump in containerized imports is expected to continue for at least the next six months, according to the October Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and the economic forecasting firm Global Insight. Port Tracker...

Tampa hosts regional seminar.
October 27, 2008... Port plans container terminal expansion Earlier this month, the Port of Tampa co-hosted a second annual seminar on the Tampa region's potential as a container distribution center hub for Florida and the Southeast.  Nearly 100...

Coalition pushes candidates to support changes in US economic policies.
October 27, 2008... A group of business, labor and agricultural organizations have formed an ad hoc coalition to pressure candidates for public office to support changes in U.S. international economic policies. Fixing those policies, it said in a recent statement,...

Port of Freeport promotes Benavidez.
October 27, 2008... Rick Benavidez has been promoted to the position of director of security and safety at the Port of Freeport. Benavidez has more than two decades of law enforcement and security experience. He came to Freeport originally in 2004 as port...

Tyndal elected committee secretary.
October 27, 2008... Steve Tyndal, Port Manatee's senior director of trade development and special projects, has been elected to a two-year term as secretary of the American Association of Port Authorities' Harbors, Navigation and Environment Committee. The...

Global trade management software offers multiple benefits for exporters.
October 27, 2008... BYLINE: ALAN M. FIELD A sales manager at a global corporation gets a hot lead about a potential buyer in the Middle East. He needs to know if he can do business with this guy, or if this prospect is on the U.S. government's denied-party...

Breakbulk attendees help rebuild homes in New Orleans.
October 27, 2008... For the second year, attendees at The Journal of Commerce's Breakbulk Conference helped rebuild storm-damaged homes in New Orleans. Thirty-six volunteers signed up to paint and landscape three homes in the Holy Cross section of the city, which...

FDA takes action to end 'port shopping'.
October 27, 2008... BYLINE: ALAN M. FIELD Whenever the U.S. Food and Drug Administration refuses to admit food into the U.S. because of safety or quality concerns, that food must be exported from the U.S. or destroyed on the spot. For decades, however, some...

US aims to stop illegal trafficking of tree and plant products.
October 27, 2008... BYLINE: R.G. EDMONSON The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has published for comment an implementation and enforcement plan for extensions to the Lacey Act that Congress included in the 2008 farm bill. New requirements...

A330 gets return ticket.
October 27, 2008... BYLINE: JESSICA BINNS Freighter assembly moves from Alabama to France after Boeing protest suspends military contract Airbus's decision to build its new A330 freighter in Mobile, Ala., has been caught in military crossfire. The...