Logistics Management (Highlands Ranch, CO) articles from June 2002

Logistics Management (Highlands Ranch, CO) archives from June 2002

For the first time, the federal government is undertaking a formal, detailed study of the cause of truck crashes. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... For the first time, the federal government is undertaking a formal, detailed study of the cause of truck crashes. Joseph M. Clapp, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), told attendees at the shipper group...

If you work with temperature-controlled products, you'll find a wealth of useful information in two publications from the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW). (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * If you work with temperature-controlled products, you'll find a wealth of useful information in two publications from the International Association of Refrigerated Warehouses (IARW). The 2001 IARW Productivity Benchmarking Report examines...

Navieras de Puerto Rico, the troubled U.S.-flag ocean carrier. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * Navieras de Puerto Rico, the troubled U.S.-flag ocean carrier that specialized in the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico trade, has been sold to Sea Star Line LLC of Jacksonville, Fla. The consolidated operation, which will serve Puerto Rico, the U.S....

A new pan-European crime-prevention service hopes to reduce the billions of dollars in losses experienced by European shippers and motor carriers each year. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * A new pan-European crime-prevention service hopes to reduce the billions of dollars in losses experienced by European shippers and motor carriers each year. Eurowatch is a service of TriMex International Ltd., a London-based company that uses...

As might be expected in tough economic times. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * As might be expected in tough economic times, sales of warehouse management systems (WMS) stumbled last year. The market research firm ARC Advisory Group of Dedham, Mass., reports that worldwide revenues from WMS sales and service fell to...

It didn't take long for the effects of steel import restrictions to be felt. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * It didn't take long for the effects of steel import restrictions to be felt. According to figures released by the Port of Houston Authority, steel imports plummeted almost immediately after tariff increases of up to 30 percent were imposed in...

Yet another transportation portal will open up on the Web later this year. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * Yet another transportation portal will open up on the Web later this year. Unisys Corp. says it has formed a collaborative venture with three aircargo carriers to offer an Internet portal for freight forwarders. United Airlines Cargo,...

A new product from Maersk Data USA could solve one of the transportation industry's thorniest problems. (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * A new product from Maersk Data USA could solve one of the transportation industry's thorniest problems. Last month, the company launched "DrayWatch," an Internet-based solution for tracking containers during local drayage movements. "The time...

What do you do when you need your own exclusive-use warehouses and you need them fast, but your budget is limited? (Up Front).
June 1, 2002... * What do you do when you need your own exclusive-use warehouses and you need them fast, but your budget is limited? The New Jersey National Guard faced that problem when it found itself with a serious shortfall of storage space. The Guard...

Driving highway safety. (Viewpoint).
June 1, 2002... Joe Clapp, the former Roadway Express executive who now heads up the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, is on a mission to make the nation's roads safer. Clapp has been on the stump of late, describing the state of regulatory...

Trucking. (Market Watch).
June 1, 2002... A new analysis of both seasonal and long-term trends suggests that shippers who rely on trucking services wont be troubled much by rate inflation over the next few years. Indeed, less-than-truckload (LTL) rates are expected to increase just...

Rail. (Market Watch).
June 1, 2002... Linehaul operators reduced rates by another 0.2% in April-- the third monthly rate drop in a row. As a result, average rates are down by 1.3% from the start of the year. Inter-modal rail rates inched up 0.2%, while other rail rates slid about...

Water. (Market Watch).
June 1, 2002... Average rates for shipping freight over water fell 0.9% in April. Rates for inbound deep-sea foreign transportation of freight slipped 1.8% from March to April, while outbound liner rates dipped 1.3%. Over the same one month period, the cost to...

Air. (Market Watch).
June 1, 2002... As more shippers shift cargo away from the airlines, air transport companies face a much altered business landscape. The huge jump in the Bureau of Labor Statistics' price index for scheduled aircargo- transportation services does not appear to...

Warehousing services. (Carrier Costs and Demands Affecting Transportation Service Prices).
June 1, 2002... Average rates being charged by warehouse owners apparently are falling as demand weakens. Vacancy rates for industrial warehouse space have risen to 9.9%, according to Cushman & Wakefield, a real-estate services firm. At the same time, rents...

Wood pallets. (Carrier Costs and Demands Affecting Transportation Service Prices).
June 1, 2002... Last time we wrote about wood pallets, we cautioned shippers who buy in bulk that prices would be on the rise. And though prices did indeed increase in 2002, the rate of inflation was only 0.54%. And that was the inflation peak. In April 2002,...

UPS-Teamsters talks enter critical phase: the Teamsters have authorized a strike against UPS if contract issues aren't settled before the current agreement expires. (News & Analysis).
June 1, 2002... Negotiations toward a new contract between United Parcel Service (UPS) and the International Brother hood of Teamsters have reached a critical juncture. In late May, the two sides began intensive talks over the contract known as the...

DOT sets tougher motor carrier entry standards. (Regulation).
June 1, 2002... The days of easy entry into the motor carrier business may soon be over. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued an interim final rule setting stricter minimum requirements for all...

Intermediaries claim ocean carriers violated shipping law. (Maritime).
June 1, 2002... Two trade groups representing transportation intermediaries have asked the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) to determine whether ocean carriers in the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) have violated the Ocean Shipping Reform Act...

Industrial production still lags. (News Capsule).
June 1, 2002... April marked the fourth straight month that industrial production rose, but levels are still 2 percent below last year's. Meanwhile, capacity utilization, at 75.5 percent, was 6 points below the average for 1967-2001. Industrial...

ATA seeks to conduct background checks on all drivers. (Security).
June 1, 2002... The American Trucking Associations (ATA), the Alexandria, Va.-based organization that represents motor carriers, has proposed that Congress authorize the organization to conduct background checks on all truck drivers. Like the group's earlier...

Canada Southern Railway Co. (CASO). (Border Lines).
June 1, 2002... A plan that would create a trucks-only bridge on the U.S-Canadian border took an important step forward when a private-sector partnership recently agreed to purchase the former Niagara River railway bridge, which runs between Niagara Falls,...

Under the joint border-security management agreement signed by Canada and the United States in February. (Border Lines).
June 1, 2002... Under the joint border-security management agreement signed by Canada and the United States in February, U.S. Customs agents have been stationed in the ports of Halifax, Montreal and Vancouver, while Canadian Customs agents are now working in...

Even as both countries focus on border-security concerns, the United States and Canada continue to consider ways to improve cross-border traffic flows. (Border Lines).
June 1, 2002... Even as both countries focus on border-security concerns, the United States and Canada continue to consider ways to improve cross-border traffic flows. In April the governments of Canada, the United States, Michigan and Ontario launched a study...

NAFTA notes.
June 1, 2002... Kuehne & Nagel has opened a new logistics facility in the high-tech manufacturing center of Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The 10,000-square-meter distribution center includes a temperature-controlled area and offers state-of-the-art information...

Stowability and handling come under scrutiny. (Bohman on Pricing).
June 1, 2002... When the trucking industry's National Classification Committee (NCC) establishes or revises commodity classification ratings, which are published in the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC), it is allowed to consider only the following...

DOT seeks to tighten hazmat rules. (Currie on Hazmat).
June 1, 2002... Until Sept. 11, 2001, the possibility that someone would intentionally use hazardous materials for diabolical purposes seemed remote. But it is indeed a risk. As the Department of Transportation (DOT) has pointed out: "In the wrong hands,...

Emerson retools. (Cover Story).
June 1, 2002... Though it already had a successful LTL management program in place, industrial giant Emerson wanted something more. One of its units came up with a Web-enabled pool distribution plan that could cut 10 percent off the company's $110 million...

Capacity crunch: cutbacks in air capacity and new surcharges have made it harder for shippers to get the space they need at prices they want to pay.
June 1, 2002... Last year may have been the worst in the history of the airfreight industry. About the best thing anyone in that line of business can say about 2001 is "Thank goodness it's over." Even before the tragic events of last September, airlines were...

The seven deadly sins of reverse logistics: you may think your company is doing an adequate job of managing returned goods, but can you be sure you haven't been snared by one of these pitfalls? (Supply Chain Management).
June 1, 2002... Have you committed a deadly sin? We're not talking about pride, sloth or greed. We're talking the seven deadly sins of reverse logistics--the process of managing product recalls and returns. Returns have always been a fact of business...

Isn't it time for an integrated, end-to-end solution? (Special Advertising Section).
June 1, 2002... With so many technology options at their fingertips, companies often get caught up in the race to have the coolest technology, and don't realize that a truly streamlined operation and maximum return on investment can normally only come from an...

Case study: STL Group of Companies; STL Group of Companies lets Epicor manage it all. (Special Advertising Section).
June 1, 2002... Not many companies can brag that they have a "type-one" environment, but STL, Inc., of St. Louis, Mo., can. At STL, once salespeople enter their orders, those orders flow automatically to inventory, shipping and billing. The 30-person sales...

Case study: BC Hot House Foods Inc.; Epicor's integrated solution meets BC Hot House Foods Inc.'s "growing" needs. (Special Advertising Section).
June 1, 2002... At the BC Hot House Foods Inc. distribution and packing center in British Columbia, Canada, the air is crisp and sweet with the smell of fresh tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Hundreds of thousands of vegetables tumble down a maze of conveyor...

The time for an end-to-end solution is now. (Special Advertising Section).
June 1, 2002... When it comes to helping distributors integrate the right software solutions into their operations, no one comes close to Epicor. BC Hot House Foods Inc. and STL are just two of the more than 15,000 customers that Epicor has assisted since the...

Border patrols: increased trade restrictions sparked by the war on terrorism have spurred interest in global trade software. But vendors have yet to come up with a must-have package. (Software).
June 1, 2002... The tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, have forced many multinational companies to make investments in global trade software. Take Abbott Logistics BV. An arm of Abbot Laboratories based in Zwolle, the Netherlands, Abbott Logistics BV distributes...

Logisticians without borders: with 13 new countries preparing to join the European Union, it's clear that more trade and customs barriers are about to come tumbling down. What will that mean for shippers? (European Update).
June 1, 2002... Europe's economic geography is about to undergo a significant change: Ten countries in Eastern and Southern Europe are striving to complete the requirements for membership in the European Union (EU) next year. The countries that may complete...

Shippers group names carriers of the year: NASSTRAC members honor seven motor carriers for outstanding service and contributions to the industry. (Industry Awards).
June 1, 2002... For members of NASSTRAC--an association of shippers who manage their companies' less-than-truckload and parcel shipping--carrier recognition has become an annual event. In each of the past 16 years, members have selected several...

Radio tags monitor freight containers in real time. (New Products & Services).
June 1, 2002... The SmartSeal radio tag links with Web-based software for real-time monitoring of all types of freight containers. The fiberoptic cable loop instantly detects security problems and alerts personnel when a cargo container has been tampered with,...

Hazmat program meets OSHA rules. (New Products & Services).
June 1, 2002... The HAZWOPER: Emergency Response Training for Employees program fulfills the emergency-response requirements of OSHA's HAZWOPER (hazardous waste operations) regulations. Training materials detail what is required of team members prior to,...

Keep shipping containers dry. (New Products & Services).
June 1, 2002... Container Dri II desiccant bags reduce dewpoints and control condensation inside shipping containers by allowing water vapor to enter the interior, where it is transformed into a thick gel. The bags also prevent rust, corrosion and damage to...

Modular shipping/receiving areas boost security. (New Products & Services).
June 1, 2002... Modular shipping and receiving areas provide secure, comfortable working environments that protect facilities from outsiders. The modular construction is simple to adjust and reconstruct. Access to docks is easily controlled, and drivers are...

Shipping to a trade show? Get a carnet. (International Insights).
June 1, 2002... A traffic manager at a mid-sized manufacturing company gets a call from the marketing department telling him that the company will be exhibiting at a trade show in Germany in three weeks. The marketing staff wants to take along all kinds of...

3PLs the state of outsourcing: the latest incarnation of an old idea begins to mature. (Special Supplement).
June 1, 2002... The concept of logistics outsourcing can be traced back most as far as anyone cares to research it. The Bible, in Genesis, Chapter 41 recounts the use of storehouses for the safekeeping of grains and other crops. In Europe, a number of...