CHR

   Maritime industry officials in Virginia remain actively involved in efforts to promote the development of offshore wind farms and say the Port of Virginia represents an ideal staging area for the massive equipment and infrastructure necessary to produce energy from wind.    The port has lay-down space for wind towers, blades, cable and other hardware and equipment at its 285-acre Portsmouth Marine Terminal, which recently was converted to a breakbulk and roll-on/roll-off cargo...

   Three-fourths of global logistics companies are unable to get the prices they deserve for their services, according to the findings of the Global Pricing Study 2012 , conducted by strategy and marketing consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners.    The causes, managers say, are a price-aggressive competitive environment and a prevalence of standardized products. The study incorporated responses from 151 people in the transportation and logistics sectors throughout Europe, Asia, North...

   The Virginia Port Authority has an aggressive timetable for making structural changes designed to improve the competitiveness of the Port of Virginia and justify the recent rejection of private bids offering guaranteed income to operate the port for up to 48 years, officials said at Thursday's Virginia Maritime Association conference in Norfolk.    The VPA Board of Commissioners expects to announce how it will reorganize the VPA and Virginia International Terminals (VIT), the...

   Crowley Maritime said its petroleum services group is entering the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market by acquiring Carib Energy, a Coral Springs, Fla.-based company that was founded in 2011 to export LNG to industrial facilities in the Caribbean and Latin America.    Carib Energy plans to export LNG in 40-foot tank containers, which it says allows it to serve markets that do not justify or cannot receive large tanker ships of LNG.    Crowley said its acquisition is ...

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has proposed to amend its rules to allow the import of fresh jackfruit, pineapple, and starfruit from Malaysia into the continental United States.    As a condition of entry, all three commodities would have to be irradiated for insect pests, inspected, and imported in commercial consignments. There would also be additional, commodity-specific requirements for other pests associated with jackfruit, pin...

   National Shipping of America (NSA) will start a new fortnightly service between Puerto Rico and the Port of Houston on May 29.    The company will operate its “Isla Verde Express” service using National Glory , a U.S. flag-ship with a capacity of 570 TEUs, including 96 plugs for refrigerated containers.    Torey Presti, the president of NSA, said the ship has been on charter to APL for four years as a feeder ship, and operated in several different areas—in the Arabian Gu...

   Kenji Hashimoto, American Airline’s president of cargo, expressed confidence this week in the carrier’s previously announced timeline for its $11 billion merger with US Airways.    While American hasn’t commented publicly on how stringent the approval process may be, Hashimoto alluded that the carrier is confident approval will come within the stated timeframe.    “I think it’s telling that we said in February, we’re going to aim for the third quarter, and we’re still say...

   The World Trade Organization on Tuesday finalized its selection for the next director general to replace Pascal Lamy, whose term ends Aug. 31.    Roberto Carvalho de Azevêdo of Brazil was picked, making him the first diplomat from Latin America to lead the WTO, which was set up in 1995.    Nine countries presented candidates for the post in December 2012, and it had recently come down to Azevêdo and Mexico’s Herminio Blanco.    Azevêdo, a Brazilian career diplo...

   Dockworkers in Hong Kong have decided to end a 40-day strike after securing a promise of a 9.8 percent wage increase and improved working conditions.    The Union of Hong Kong Dockers (UHKD) said it had received on Monday a written confirmation jointly signed by the four contractors at Hongkong International Terminal - Everbest, Comcheung, Lem Wing and Pui Kee - via the Hong Kong Labor Department that confirms the 9.8 percent increase in the basic wage for all their employees ...

   Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) said five ships it will build for China Shipping Container Lines will be capable of carrying 18,400 TEUs.    The ships would appear to be even larger than the 20 "Triple E" ships being built by DSME shipyard for Maersk Line, which Maersk has said will have a capacity of 18,000 TEUs.    Hyundai said the order from China Shipping is valued at $700 million.    China Shipping's ships will feature an electronically-controlled main ...

   Juan Kuryla has rejected the Port of Jacksonville's offer to serve as its executive director, opting to remain at the Port of Miami where he has been deputy director since 2009.    The sudden development was disclosed during a special meeting this morning of the Jacksonville Port Authority. Kuryla    Details about his change of heart remain unclear, but search firm Heidrick & Struggles said Kuryla had been granted a better offer to stay in Miami. In an interview ...

   Thirty-four national trade associations representing port authorities, water carriers, retailers and other shippers, the construction industry and unions, along with dozens of state-level business groups, signed a letter this week urging members of the U.S. Senate to support quick passage of the Water Resources Development Act.    The Senate Environmental and Public Works Committee unanimously approved the bill in late March and forwarded it for Senate consideration. It spells...

   President Obama on Thursday nominated long-time campaign contributor and Chicago businesswoman Penny Pritzker to be secretary of commerce and Michael Froman to lead the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. Froman    Froman is currently the deputy national security adviser for international affairs. He played a key role in negotiations on free trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia and Panama. He takes over from Ron Kirk, who recently resigned, and has represented the ...

   Freight and shipping interests in California are decrying plans by ports in the state to adopt general rate increases in accordance with California Association of Port Authorities (CAPA) recommendations.    CAPA recommended the 11 ports in the state raise tariffs by 1.7 percent by July 1 as part of its annual rate increase guidelines. Recent or pending hearings on the increase are occurring in Oakland, Los Angeles and Long Beach, the three biggest container ports in California. &nb...

   The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America has come out against a U.S. Customs proposal to improve due process procedures for suspending a broker's entry-filer code, saying that going after the code is a back-door way of trying to take away a broker's license and is unconstitutional.    Customs and Border Protection has been frustrated for years with the amount of time it takes to deactivate filer codes for problematic brokers.  In a Notice of Pro...

   After showing relatively strong numbers toward the end of 2012, worldwide air cargo activity is down 1.1 percent for the first three months of 2013, according to recent data by the International Air Transport Association.    Last month, freight tons carried fell 2.3 percent worldwide, year over year, on a 0.3 percent capacity drop.    Net activity declined, when capacity additions were taken into account, in nearly every region of the world except for the Middle Eas...

   Massive changes to the U.S. export control regime are beginning to be made by the Obama administration, but the automatic budget cuts that kicked in March 1 are limiting the Bureau of Industry and Security's ability to educate shippers about the new rules and how to follow them, Eric Hirschhorn, undersecretary for industry and security at the Department of Commerce, said.    Speaking last week during a webinar produced by American Shipper, the head of BIS said the agency has ...

Ports, terminals prepare for challenges from bigger ships, expanding alliances. By Chris Dupin    Ports and terminals in the United States and worldwide will have to accommodate growing numbers of larger containerships in the years ahead.    Later this year, Maersk is expected to put the first of 18,000-TEU “Triple E” ships into service in the Asia-Europe trade, and West Coast ports have already been visited by giant vessels such as the MSC Beatrice and MSC Fabiola , with capacities ...

   Drewry said ocean carriers are planning to add 12 percent more vessel capacity to the Asia-East Coast North America (ECNA) trade by May despite lack of cargo growth.     "It seems like suicide, but new cargo sources may be envisaged,” the Londobn-based consultancy said.    Drewry estimated that in March carriers operating between Asia and ECNA were operating at only 67 percent utilization eastbound, and 56 percent westbound.    In the latest...

   Nils Andersen, chief executive officer of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, said while the 20 “Triple E” containerships that the company is building will result in a big infusion of capacity in the Asia-Europe trade “we will put them in over a prolonged period and we will take out a number of vessels in other categories, smaller less efficient vessels, and take them into other trades so we will not add capacity.”    He made his remarks on NBC television . The Maers...

   Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member economies are on track to meet their target of a 10 percent improvement in the region’s supply chain performance by 2015, in terms of time, cost and uncertainty, according to an internal assessment released Sunday.    APEC trade experts met last week in Indonesia to strengthen supply chain performance among the member economies ahead of higher level meetings between APEC trade ministers and senior officials meetings this week.  ...

   To increase their cargo presence, officials at the Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport have their sights set on attracting Latin American carriers, perhaps even convincing some to leave their standard hub, Miami International Airport, according to the Metro Atlanta Chamber’s Bob Pertierra.     He pointed out recently in comparing the two cities and their prospects for growth, Atlanta has 15 Fortune 500 companies, while Miami has only one.    “When you lo...

   The Canadian Shipowners Association has expressed concern that the vessel general permit published by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last month could threaten the commercial viability of its members' ships and impact the operations of the industries they serve .    EPA on March 28 issued a final vessel general permit regulating discharges from commercial vessels to replace the 2008 permit due to expire on Dec. 19, 2013.    The new vessel general permit (VGP...

   With the completion of the Panama Canal upgrade two years away, greater cooperation is needed by all stakeholders to ensure the transportation industry can handle the increased freight flow, according to Phillip Byrd, president and chief executive officer of Bulldog Hiway Express.    Byrd testified Wednesday before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on behalf of the American Trucking Associations.    When complete, the Pa...

   President Obama’s budget for fiscal year 2014 includes $4.8 billion in gross discretionary funding for the Army Corps of Engineers' Civil Works program, offset in part by a proposal to cancel $100 million in unobligated carryover of funding appropriated prior to fiscal year 2013.    Jo-Ellen Darcy, assistant secretary of the Army for civil works, said the budget “continues the administration's emphasis on maintaining the nation's waterborne transportation system, red...

   Leading U.S. business organizations announced the formation of the Business Coalition for Transatlantic Trade (BCTT) on Capitol Hill Wednesday, outlining the key benefits of a wide-ranging trade deal between the United States and European Union.    The deal, dubbed the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), was first highlighted by President Obama during his State of the Union speech in February.    Members of the coalition include the U.S. Chamber of...

   The International Longshoremen’s Association said its members overwhelmingly approved a new, six-year master contract.    The contract covers some 14,500 workers at 14 ports that handle containerized cargo along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts.    The settlement ends more than a year of negotiations between employers, represented by the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) and ILA. With the assistance of the offices of the Federal Mediation and Conciliatio...

   With U.S. Customs officials saying they hope to minimize the impact of federal spending cuts on cargo processing, import volume at the nation’s major retail container ports is expected to increase 2.7 percent in April over the same month last year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released Monday by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.    “The impact of sequestration isn’t yet fully known, but Customs officials are working hard to manage their r...

   U.S. trade advocates said Friday they are encouraged by early progress on an International Services Agreement currently being discussed between 47 nations.    The voluntary agreement is intended to align the nations within the framework of the WTO, with a focus on rules and market access for service industries.    Coalition of Service Industries President Peter Allgeier and National Foreign Trade Council Vice President for Global Trade Issues Jake Colvin spoke at an NFTC ...

   Drewry is forecasting that companies in the container shipping industry will have a collective operating profit (earnings before interest and taxes, or EBIT) of $6.2 billion in 2013, compared to $280 million in 2012.    Referencing its Container Forecaster report , Drewry said “carriers themselves are the biggest risk to this forecast. While there are significant profit gains to be had through cost-cutting, if lines were to lose their pricing discipline and enter into a new rate w...

   CSAV, the Chilean container shipping company, said it will invest $570 million in its business, building seven new ships and paying back a $258 million loan at a steep discount.    The company said it will buy seven 9,300-TEU ships that will be built by Samsung Heavy Industries.    When the ships are delivered, the company will increase its owned fleet to 55 percent from 37 percent today and just 8 percent at the beginning of 2011.    The company...

   Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell on Tuesday gave conditional approval to the March 26 decision by the Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners not to outsource port operations to private investors for decades and instead restructure the existing organization to make the VPA and its Virginia International Terminals operating arm more efficient.    Many assumed the final decision rested with the VPA, but McDonnell administration officials insisted the governor had the final ca...

   Importers, exporters and other members of the trade community can expect continuity at U.S. Customs and Border Protection in the wake of the retirement of Commissioner David V. Aguilar on Sunday, Allen Gina, assistant commissioner for international trade, said Wednesday in a Webcast to members of the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT) at their annual conference in Rhode Island.    Deputy Commissioner Thomas S. Winkowski has become the acting commissioner, a...

   Six U.S. government agencies on Wednesday joined together to kick off a new pilot program to expand federal export assistance to small businesses.    The program, U.S. Global Business Solutions, hopes to add 50,000 small businesses to the nation’s exporter base by 2017.    Small Business Administrator Karen Mills said the pilot program will also aim at expanding the base of financial institutions and service providers that facilitate exports, adding an anticipated 250 tra...

   The City of Long Beach is appealing to the Los Angeles City Council not to approve the Southern California International Gateway rail yard project recently forwarded by the Port of Los Angeles.    On Wednesday, the Port of Long Beach Harbor Commission formally went on record supporting the city's position, saying the Port of Los Angeles had not done enough to mitigate the impact of noise and diesel emissions from trucks serving the proposed BNSF Railway facility on the residen...

   The planned merger of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) and Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA) is expected to go forward on April 14, said Brian Conrad, executive director of the two container carrier discussion agreements.    Speaking Tuesday at the 17th annual Northeast Trade and Transportation Conference of the Coalition of New England Companies for Trade (CONECT), he said carrier revenues are lower than they were in 2011 and are "still ...

   The freight payment and audit services provider Trendset has alerted its clients to an internal fraud and embezzlement issue which could affect payments the provider was supposed to make on behalf of its shipper customers to their transportation carriers.    Trendset Chief Executive Officer Gary Selvaggio said in a letter to customers last week, which obtained by American Shipper, that a “trusted employee” engaged in a fraud and embezzled funds from the company’s bank account...

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service today announced recent results of the agency's efforts to support exports of U.S. agricultural products, and they’re expected help increase exports of U.S. cattle, poultry products, and pears by over $85 million a year.    APHIS noted the opening of export markets to Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia for U.S. day-old chicks and hatching eggs, increasing U.S. exports by an estimated $25 million a year. &nb...

   Air cargo volumes grew modestly in February, hitting a 2.5-percent rise over last October’s low point and showing an adjusted 2-percent year-over-year growth.    Before the shifting date of the Chinese New Year and impact of 2012’s leap day were taken into account, year-over-year volumes showed a 6.2-percent decline in February.    In the first two months of the year, international volumes are down by 1 percent on a 0.8-percent decline in capacity, year over year. Domest...

   The liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. said Tuesday it has agreed to sell a 35 percent stake in its terminals business , Terminal Investment Ltd. (TIL), to the New York-based private equity group Global Infrastructure Partners for more than $1.9 billion.    The price, MSC added, includes certain payments contingent on TIL’s future performance. Closing is expected to take place in the middle of 2013 and is subject to obtaining the relevant approvals.    “TIL has, or...

   The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission announced Saturday that Richard A. Lidinsky Jr. has resigned as chairman and Commissioner Mario Cordero of Long Beach, Calif., who joined the FMC in June 2011, will take his place, starting today, April 1.    Lidinksy, who remains one of the five commissioners, said "it has been a great honor to serve as chairman for the president’s first term and I am proud of the changes we have brought to our agency so it can better serve the American exporte...

   Walter Kemmsies, chief economist of Moffatt & Nichol, said Thursday he is forecasting import cargo volumes in the peak season this year could be 5 percent higher than in 2012, but cautioned the economic outlook is cloudy because of government policy uncertainty.    One of several speakers at the Port of Long Beach’s annual Pulse of the Port Peak Season Forecast , Kemmsies indicated 2013 GDP growth forecasts range between 0.4 percent and 4.4 percent. As a result import cont...

   The International Air Transport Association and International Federation of Freight Forwarders (FIATA) have approved the standard for the multilateral electronic air waybill, making bilateral agreements between airlines and freight forwarders unnecessary.    Airlines and forwarders can now enter into a single agreement with their respective agencies that permits acceptance of e-air waybills from the other party.    Trials for the multilateral standard began in October, an...

   Government and maritime industry leaders in Southern California, in a meeting with U.S. Maritime Administrator David Matsuda, made the case Tuesday for expanding the use of a federal trust fund beyond its traditional purpose of funding maintenance dredging of navigation channels to include other types of projects that improve the efficiency of ports, Rep. Janice Hahn, who organized the roundtable discussion in Los Angeles, told American Shipper .    Matsuda, who was in to...

   The Virginia Port Authority Board of Commissioners unanimously voted Tuesday to restructure the state-owned operating company, Virginia International Terminals, instead of outsourcing cargo and vessel-handling operations at the Port of Virginia to private terminal management firms, the VPA said in a statement.    But the issue of whether to give operating rights at the port to a private company will not be fully settled until Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell weighs in.    Sta...

   CMA CGM said it will open an inland port in Iraq's Abu Ghreib area, near Baghdad, in June.    The French liner carrier said it will manage and operate the terminal, giving customers the opportunity to clear their cargo through customs near Baghdad instead of Umm Qasr.    "This important upgrade shows the intention of the CMA CGM Group to facilitate its customers’ business in Iraq and to strengthen its roots in this flourishing market," the company sai...

   The proposed merger between the container liner companies Hapag-Lloyd and Hamburg Süd has been called off.    A brief statement from the shareholders of Hapag-Lloyd - the Albert Ballin investment group and the German tourism company TUI - on Sunday indicated the merger had been put on hold at the request of the Oetker Group, the parent company of Hamburg Süd.    The statement, which was provided only in German, indicated the owners had not been able to agree on ...

   The Port of Jacksonville said Hanjin Shipping has decided not to go ahead with plans to build a new container terminal at Dames Point on the St. Johns River.    However, the Northeast Florida port said as a result of announcements in the past week the number of liner companies offering services to and from Jacksonville and Asia will jump from nine to 15 as the G6 and CKYH Alliances adjust their services.    Roy Schleicher, interim chief executive officer a...

   Rep. Dan Lipinski, D- Ill., has introduced legislation which aims to stop foreign manufacturers from skirting U.S. Customs duties by creating a better information-sharing network between the industry and government.       A Government Accountability Office analysis has found that these companies have cheated the U.S. government out of $600 million in duties since 2001. Manufacturers work around customs fees by undervaluing goods, misclassifying products or ...

   Local government and industry officials at three ports on the opposite end of the spectrum in California are lobbying members of Congress and U.S. Customs to adjust how the agency is implementing forced budget cuts because reductions in manpower to clear cargo are beginning to harm the maritime industry, with potential losses of millions of dollars per day just around the corner.     Port stakeholders say their unique circumstances mean that Customs and Border Protection's ini...

   The American Trucking Associations argued Friday in front of a panel of judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s hours of service rule changes should not be implemented.    General counsel for the ATA argued the existing rules are sufficient and changing the rules, which will go into effect July 1, is “baseless.” Prasad Sharma, who is representing the ATA, also said the changes were “agenda-driven rather than...

   The G6 Alliance, which announced earlier this year that it would expand beyond the Asia-Europe trade lane, has revealed port rotations for six services between East Asia and the U.S. East Coast, starting in May.    According to a press release issued by members of the G6, more than 50 ships with capacities between 4,500 and 8,000 TEUs will deployed on six strings covering about 30 ports in Asia, the U.S. and Canadian east coasts, Central America, Caribbean, Indian Su...

   Building on the success of an ocean-import security pilot designed to increase trade efficiency, the United States and Canada on Thursday reached an agreement in principle to move ahead with a trial program for pre-inspecting U.S.-bound trucks in Canada instead of at the border.       The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Canada's Ministry of Public Safety are teaming up on cargo security and host of other border management projects as part of the Beyond...

   Friday, March 15, marked the one-year anniversary of the entry into force of the U.S.-South Korea free trade agreement and, so far, the White House is pleased with the results.    Notable U.S. export increases occurred in the transportation sector, which experienced a 24 percent increase to $5 billion; sales of “Detroit 3” cars in Korea increased 18 percent, and overall U.S. passenger vehicle exports to Korea increased 48 percent, said Acting U.S. Trade Representative Demetrios Mar...

   The Port of Stockton said Wednesday it has selected Seattle-based SSA Marine, a large global operator of marine cargo terminals, to manage a dedicated facility created for a new barge service that will haul export and import containers to and from the Port of Oakland, 75 miles away on the San Joaquin River.    The container-on-barge service has been in the works for more than three years, but port officials now anticipate opening for business in early spring. The M-580 service ("M...

   Soren Skou, chief executive officer of Maersk Line, said if there's insufficient demand by shippers for transport when its 18,000-TEU "Triple-E" containerships enter service later this year between Asia and Europe, the company will trim capacity.    “As we introduce new and larger ships, if the market is not growing we will pull out other capacity to make the balance for us,” said Skou in an interview published in the company's in-house magazine Maersk Post .    The comp...

   In the fourth quarter of 2012, the turnover rate for drivers at large truckload carriers hit 90 percent, a 14-point drop from the previous quarter, according to the American Trucking Associations’ Trucking Activity Report .    At smaller carriers, turnover dropped from 94 percent to 76 percent during the quarter, but averaged out to 82 percent for the year, the highest finish since 2007.     Larger carrier driver turnover at the end of the year was at its lowest poi...

   Representatives from the International Longshoremen’s Association and U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) have approved a tentative six-year master contract.    "I am extremely pleased to announce that today the parties have approved their tentative agreement for a successor master agreement," said U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service Director George H. Cohen, in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon. "In doing so, the parties have successfully concluded lengthy, comple...

   Liner carrier APL has discontinued offering ocean service in the transpacific using 53-foot containers.    "The economics just didn't work," said Gene Seroka, chief executive officer of APL Americas. "We'll keep watching it, but at this time it's just not a viable option."    He said it was difficult to find exports to match inbound cargo arriving in the containers.    APL first rolled out the "ocean-capable" 53-foot containers in the fall of 2007, and disconti...

   A bicameral effort to facilitate trade of low-value shipments is underway with the introduction in the U.S. House of Representatives of a bill that would raise the minimum value at which customs duties are imposed on imported goods.    Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., reintroduced legislation (H.R. 1020) similar to that last session that would set the threshold at $800 instead of the current $200 for having to declare goods for customs purposes and pay duties and fees. A "de minimus...