MagAccordian

Suppliers and wholesalers grapple with consolidation, regulatory hurdles. By Jon Ross    In early March, word trickled out that executives at the world’s biggest liquor supplier, U.K.-based Diageo, had taken a long look at the company’s supply chain and were hoping to drain off excess expenses.    Refocusing its supply chain, an effort that could cost upwards of $150 million, would eventually save the company about $90 million a year and help it refocus its efforts in new market...

   Ocean carriers are reaping big savings through slow steaming and using larger vessels, but a Germanischer Lloyd official said significant additional benefits can be realized through adopting improved technology.    Speaking at the Connecticut Maritime Association’s Shipping 2013 meeting, Albrecht Grell, GL’s senior executive vice president of maritime solutions, said despite the glut of vessels, “ECO ships offer benefits in container shipping large enough to justify orders beyond w...

Franchise-based ICAT sees value in switching out its 12-year-old IT system. By Eric Johnson    ICAT Logistics earlier this year overhauled its information technology platform — a much needed development considering the company was working on a 12-year-old legacy system.    As chronicled by American Shipper in August 2012 ( Franchised logistics ), ICAT has a unique franchise-based model, one that provides a certain amount of autonomy to its network of agencies.    The n...

Shipowners expect higher fuel costs under U.S. low-sulfur rules.    By Chris Dupin       As the United States prepares to begin enforcing its new low-sulfur fuel requirements for ships operating in coastal waters this month, experts are worried about the availability and cost of fuel both now and as the environmental regulations ratchet up in the years ahead.    “There is concern that the current refiners may not be able to produce sufficient stock to supply ...

   The 44-year old insurer TT Club is now offering coverage for a new group of customers—shippers.    Dan Negron, senior underwriter at TT Club’s office in Jersey City, N.J., said for years the company has insured the liabilities of intermediaries, such as freight forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers, if they damage or lose their customer’s cargo, but “it was historically left to the customer to find another avenue to insure his goods on a direct damage basis, if he did...

   The major benefit of current technology trends like cloud computing and heavily integrated systems is that companies have more data at their fingertips than ever before, but that comes with the pitfall of figuring out how to manage it all.     Often data is parsed out to one business segment or another in a company, losing its cohesive value and potential use as a cost savings tool.    One area where this breakdown has become increasingly apparent is with new technol...

Forwarders heavily fined in EU price-fixing investigation.    By Eric Johnson       In September 2010, half a dozen major global air freight forwarders agreed to a collective $50 million in settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice over price-fixing allegations between 2002 and 2007.    The forwarders involved could be excused for believing those penalties would set some sort of benchmark for similar ongoing investigations in the European Union, Au...

"Recalculating” — That’s a familiar phrase to drivers who use global positioning units to get from place to place. If a traffic jam or detour causes a change in plans, the unit can help drivers still find their way efficiently to their destination.    Damco, the third party logistics arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk, said a new product it rolled out in March — Damco Dynamic Flow Control (DDFC) — was developed to give shippers an automated tool that can help adapt their supply chains to changing busine...

IT firm promises aggressive TMS expansion over the next three years.    By Geoff Whiting       After SAP released its Transportation Management (TM) 8.0 in June 2011, it made good on a lot of promises and requested improvements for its existing system.     SAP has heavily marketed and enhanced the platform, folding it into an aggressive roadmap for its operations over the coming years.    At its Supply Chain Management 2012 summit this March, H...

By Eric Kulisch    The soap opera that is the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization process returns for another episode this month, with money to run the aviation system set to be cut off unless Congress acts.    The FAA has been operating for more than four years without a long-term permission slip from Congress to invest in aviation infrastructure and technology, such as the NextGen air traffic control system. The agency has stumbled along with the help of 20 short-te...

Brauner family continues contribution to forwarder industry. By Chris Dupin   A customs broker and freight forwarder doesn’t have to be a giant to be a leader in the industry.   That could be said about Brauner International, an 80-year old family firm based in Jersey City, N.J., whose executives are well known in both the New York area and within national forwarding groups.   The firm was started by Curt Brauner in 1931, an immigrant who apprenticed in the business in Germ...

Federal agencies step up enforcement of anticorruption laws. By Darryl W. Jackson It would be difficult to overstate how important it is for companies that are engaged in international trade to comply with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) today.    Enforcing the FCPA is now a top priority of U.S. law enforcement agencies, which have recently increased their efforts at a considerable pace. International anticorruption efforts are also increasing. As a result, companies that commit FCPA ...

Tight capacity has shippers worried about near-term shortage. By Eric Kulisch    The commercial truck scarcity predicted for the past two years is starting to become reality, forcing shippers to rethink how to keep their supply networks functioning smoothly.    U.S. truck capacity is so tight that analysts and trucking executives are warning of serious shortages at the slightest sign of improvement in the economy.    “Sometime in 2012 there is a reasonable probability of sp...

BIS releases new best practices to help U.S. exporters prevent illicit shipment diversions. By Chris Gillis    Transshipment, or the practice of routing cargo through a regional hub port en route to the country of ultimate destination, is a common means for efficiently moving international commerce.    But it has also been used to divert some shipments into the wrong hands.    U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security recently published a new set of best pr...

Riding China’s rising consumerism while avoiding a supply chain wipeout. Eric Johnson     One Billion Customers is how former Beijing Wall Street Journal bureau chief James McGregor described China in his 2005 book on doing business in the rapidly rising Asian power.   The lure of a population base three times that of the United States is a powerful one for retailers who increasingly see China as a destination and not just a production point for goods.   American Shipper last fall ex...

   On Feb. 2, 2005, the bulker Cape Flattery , loaded with cement, ran aground on a submerged coral reef off Barbers Point, Oahu, Hawaii.    Cape Flattery Ltd., as the vessel’s owner, was liable for the cost of removing the vessel from the reef, and hired Titan Maritime to salvage it.    Titan succeeded in removing the Cape Flattery from the reef and eliminating the threat of oil discharge, but the reef was damaged at some point in the ship’s grounding or removal.  &nb...

Newly elected ILA President Harold Daggett lays out ambitious agenda for union. By Chris Dupin    The contract between the International Longshoremen’s Association and the terminals and carriers along the East and Gulf coasts that employ its members expires in a year, on Sept. 30, 2012. Negotiations for a new pact could begin this fall with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX), the group that represents management in master contract talks.    In contrast to the 1960s and 1970s,...