Equipment

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     U.S. aircraft manufacturer Boeing will participate in the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Supply-Chain Finance Guarantee program, which provides competitively priced working capital financing to suppliers of goods or services to U.S. exporters.    Ex-Im Bank approved the Boeing supplier program in September 2011 with an initial capacity of $740 million. The bank can guarantee up to 90 percent of that capacity. Citibank N.A. will serve as the lender operating the program for Boein...

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

     Spyros M. Polemis, chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping, is calling for a moratorium on new ship construction.    Speaking at the a shipping conference in Athens, which was sponsored by the Financial Times of London, Polemis said "until the crisis is over we do need a moratorium on new orders for ships that have no economic purpose.    “Current markets would appear to be demonstrating just how seriously damaging the oversupply of s...

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

     APM Terminals said significant productivity gains have been made at the container terminal it now operates in the Peruvian port of Callao.    APMT, the terminal operating arm of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, assumed control of the port’s North Terminal in July. In that time, “crane productivity has more than doubled to 26.57 moves per hour per crane and gate turnaround time has decreased by 49 percent to 28 minutes in the first 29 weeks of operations.”    The term...

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

     Delta Mariner , the ship that slammed into a bridge across a reservoir on the Tennessee River last month, has resumed its voyage to Port Canaveral.    United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin that charters the ship from Foss Maritime to move rocket components from its manufacturing location in Decatur, Ala. to Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., said Delta Mariner , is expected to arrive in Port Canaveral on Feb. 23...

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

     AirNet Systems, an express air cargo airline based in Ohio, has changed its name to AirNet Cargo Charter Services alongside launching new services around chartered cargo.    The company said its goal is to enhance its express cargo charter airline operations in North America.    “This rebranding sharpens our focus around key market segments that require the services of our high performance airline in the life sciences, banking, security-sensiti...

Monday, February 20, 2012

     Motorola Solutions unveiled its SL Series portable radio and its new XPR 5000 mobile radio to address new issues in the modern logistics environment.    The two devices fall under its MOTOTRBO umbrella that focuses on voice quality, extended battery life, and a large application developer program aimed at increased productivity and enhanced worker safety.    The SL Series weighs less than the average smartphone, and Motorola said it's aimed the slim design at...

Monday, February 20, 2012

     Unisys Corp. is in talks with India’s shipping ministry to provide security systems to domestic ports to avoid traffic congestion and piracy threats, according to a report in India’s Economic Times .    The project involves drawing a port-security roadmap for threats, as well as a vessel traffic management system, with a deal possibly signed by March, according to the report.

Friday, February 17, 2012

     Third-party logistics provider Performance Team will open a container transloading facility at the Port of Charleston to shuttle cargo from ocean containers to truck trailers for distribution throughout the Southeast.    Performance Team will operate from the Wando Welch Terminal's container freight station and handle both import and export cargo.    Performance Team said transloading cargo onsite will increase its efficiency, reduce costs, and...

Friday, February 17, 2012

   The U.S. Justice Department said Massoud Habibion, a U.S. citizen and co-owner of a Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Online Micro LLC, pleaded guilty Thursday in the District of Columbia to conspiracy to illegally export computers from the United States to Iran through the United Arab Emirates.    Additionally, Mohsen Motamedian, 44, a U.S. citizen and co-owner of Online Micro, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.     At a hearing before U.S. District Judge Ellen S...

Friday, February 17, 2012

     A study by Pike Research, a market research and consulting firm, found that intelligent transportation systems (ITS) will continue to see increased investment worldwide despite tightening purse strings.    Pike estimates global investments in smart transport technology will reach $13.1 billion from 2011 through 2017.    ITS, also called smart transportation systems, includes electric vehicles, vehicles with advanced telematics systems, new and ...

Friday, February 17, 2012

     Central Freight Lines, a less-than-truckload carrier based in Waco, Texas, announced Thursday it will test 15 compressed natural gas tractors with the help of a grant from the Houston-Galveston Area Council.    If the Peterbilt tractors perform well under operational conditions, the company said it may buy another 200 of these low-emission trucks for use in South Texas.    The regional coordination agency is using $17.5 million in federal funds to subsidize f...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     The Port of Seattle announced that cargo operations and deliveries returned to normal Wednesday as a contingent of port truck drivers ended a two-week work stoppage to protest pay and safety conditions.    An estimated 300 to 400 drivers that shuttle containers between the port, local warehouses and rail ramps walked off the job Jan. 31 in an effort to get classified as employees instead of independent contractors and draw attention to alleged occupational hazards such...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     Ryder System has appointed Robert E. Sanchez to president and chief operating officer.    Sanchez most recently served as president of Ryder's Global Fleet Management Solutions (FMS). During his 18 years with Ryder, he has held a variety of executive-level positions.     Dennis C. Cooke succeeds Sanchez as head of FMS, which is Ryder's largest global business operation with a fleet of more than 180,000 vehicles at 800 locations and serving more than...

Thursday, February 16, 2012

     Compagnie Maritime Belge (CMB) said it plans to grow its aircraft and aviation services company ASL Aviation Group.    Antwerp-based CMB entered the passenger and cargo aviation business in 1998, and it’s been one of the fastest emerging operations in the company’s transport assets portfolio. CMB is known in the maritime industry for its fleet of post-Panamax-, cape- and handy-size bulk vessels.    ASL is a joint venture between CMB (51 percent) and 3P Air Freight...

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

     President Obama signed into law Tuesday legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration for $63 billion over four years and paving the way for accelerated development of the NextGen air traffic control system.    The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 sets the direction and spending priorities of the agency for the first time in a decade. The previous multi-year blueprint expired more than four years ago, requiring almost two dozen short-term extens...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

     Hamburg, Germany-based bulk logistics services provider Hoyer has expanded its operations in Russia and Ukraine.    The company has opened offices in Moscow and Odessa. In addition, Axel Brewe has been named head of development in Russia and central Eastern Europe.    Brewe will continue to build and expand the existing tank container network, including investments in company vehicles and local infrastructure, Hoyer said.    The Moscow office, initially ...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

     Seattle-based Zonar has announced its new ZTrak solution for companies that need to manage the transfer of assets and track the locations of valuable materials.    Zonar said the service could be used to track equipment, shipping containers, hazardous materials trailers, rental equipment, high security items, and other assets that must stay in certain areas.    The company said it has used the same high-definition GPS imaging and cellular technology...

Friday, February 10, 2012

     APL said it will begin phasing out its U.S. fleet of container chassis during the first half of 2012.     The Singapore-based shipping line expects to stop providing chassis at inland locations by the end of the year, divest itself of chassis at East Coast ports in 2013, and complete the phase out in early 2014.    “This is the direction the container shipping industry is moving,” said APL Americas President Gene Seroka, who is based at the company’...

Friday, February 10, 2012

     According to new research from analyst firm Berg Insight, the number of active remote container tracking units used on intermodal shipping containers reached 77,000 in the last quarter of 2011.    Berg Insight predicts a compound annual growth rate of 66.9 percent, projecting that 1 million trackers will be in use by 2016. This growth would see the penetration rate of tracking systems in the total container population rise from 0.4 percent in 2011 to 3.6 percent in 2016. &n...

Friday, February 10, 2012

     Intelligent Global Pooling Systems (iGPS), a provider of plastic pallets with embedded radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, appointed Meredith Neizer to chief operating officer.    She brings more than 30 years of experience in the supply industry to iGPS.    Neizer joins iGPS from US Foods where she was senior vice president of operations. She has also held senior positions at Martin-Brower, a foodservice distribution company, and at liner carrier Maersk L...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     Owens Corning has an active policy to transport as much of its building materials and supplies as possible on trucks powered by liquefied natural gas engines to save fuel costs, Wayne Johnson, the company's manager of global carrier relations, said Jan. 24 at the Transportation Research Board's annual meeting in Washington.    The Toledo, Ohio-based manufacturer has a contract with Dillon Transport for 25 dedicated LNG tank trucks to haul sand and asphalt to plants in ...

Thursday, February 09, 2012

     Ryder System, a transportation and supply chain management company, has launched its new mobile application, Ryder Locator, to help customers find the nearest Ryder truck rental, maintenance, or fueling location in the United States and Canada.    The app, free and available to iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android users, shows the specific services offered at each location.

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

     The American Shipping Group unit of Saltchuk Resources said it is rebranding itself using the name TOTE Inc.    TOTE will also organize its five businesses into three groups: TOTE Maritime consists of Totem Ocean Trailer Express, which operates a liner service between Washington and Alaska, and Sea Star Line which operates between Florida and Puerto Rico. TOTE Ship Management includes Interocean American Shipping, a technical ship management and ship crewing company. T...

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to reduce a $15 million penalty assessed against a company that moved an oil rig part of the way on its voyage from the Gulf of Mexico to Cook’s Inlet in Alaska on a Chinese ship instead of on a U.S.-flagged Jones Act vessel.     The Jones Act requires cargo to be moved between U.S. ports on ships built and registered in the United States and crewed by Americans.    “It is the decision of the chi...

Monday, February 06, 2012

     OnAsset Intelligence, a provider of machine-to-machine asset monitoring systems, said its existing relationship with Sprint has produced a dual-mode CDMA/GSM asset tracking solution with global functionality.    The dual-mode system allows OnAsset’s tracking devices to work with the majority of wireless networks across North America and Europe.    OnAsset’s SENTRY service can be used to track the location, temperature, pressure, humidity, light, motion, shock...

Monday, February 06, 2012

     Global Aviation Holdings Inc., the parent company of all-cargo airline World Airways, filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S. federal court, citing the need to reduce its cost structure in line with the rest of the industry.    The Peachtree City, Ga.-based company said Chapter 11 reorganization offers the best option for restructuring the company with the least impact on the business.    World Airways operates 13 MD-11 and four 747-400 freighters on an outso...

Friday, February 03, 2012

     Dutch shipbuilder Damen Shipyards delivered three cutter suction dredgers to the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Azerbaijan.     The ministry ordered the three dredgers to clean-up, deepen and maintain the Kura River. Damen was able to build and deliver the dredgers within six months of signing the contract with the Azerbaijan government.    The dredgers will be moved to Nefchala, where the crews will be trained. Afterwards they start work at three d...

Friday, February 03, 2012

   Maersk Inc. said it has entered an agreement to sell its Direct ChassisLink (DCLI) business to Littlejohn & Co., a Connecticut-based private investment firm.    The deal is expected to be completed in March, subject to regulatory approvals and satisfaction of customary closing conditions, Maersk said.    A sale price was not announced, but the company said the deal should not have any impact on the 2012 financial results of the A.P. Moller-Maersk ...

Monday, January 30, 2012

     TNT Express said Monday it has started a service that will simplify and secure the international movements of pharmaceutical products requiring strict temperature control, such as such as vaccines and insulin.    The express carrier said its PharmaSafe service is "designed to tackle the main challenge facing pharmaceutical supply chains: the lack of control and visibility inherent in the involvement of too many parties (typically more than 20 for an air shipm...

Monday, January 30, 2012

   Chemical logistics services provider RichLand-LSP has appointed Graham Wall to managing director with an aim to expand its bulk liquid chemical transport operations in Southeast Asia.    Wall, a 25-year industry veteran, previously worked for Interflow, Trencor, Syrius Group and PD Ports & Logistics and has specific expertise in the development of ISO-tank fleets.    RichLand employs more than 500 employees and has a fleet of over 400 trucks and more than 500 ISO-tank...

Monday, January 30, 2012

     Delta Air Lines has entered a marketing agreement with OnAsset Intelligence, a provider of wireless asset tracking, that will allow its cargo customers to view location information on deltacargo.com .    The agreement offers customers the ability to track and trace cargo in transit on a customized Web page. The service will be offered on all cargo shipments across the Delta and Delta Connection fleets. Together these operate more than 5,000 daily flights across 61...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

     Japan's Daikin Reefer said the container leasing company Cronos Group has become the first customer for its new "Zestia" refrigeration units for containers.    San Francisco-based Cronos took delivery of 500 units in November, which were installed on new 40-foot high cube containers. The boxes were made in Suzhou, China and will be used by MOL.    Matt Dowling, vice president operations for Cronos, said the units have DC-inverter technology and other adv...

Thursday, January 26, 2012

     BNSF Railway has released two new online tools to help existing and new customers compare carload shipping options.    The tools, Carload Shipping Advisor and Serving Carrier Reciprocal Switch Inquiry, allow customers to view shipping options and sort them by price, equipment, and route for multiple origins and destinations.    "All of the features in the Carload Shipping Advisor tool are based on direct customer feedback and designed to meet customer needs," said...

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

     Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx has announced the expansion of its SenseAware product, which provides shippers with near real-time tracking and increased shipment visibility, to all of its customers.    The platform, launched in November 2009, was initially available only to healthcare and life sciences customers. FedEx has now expanded the product to anyone “who can benefit from this added level of visibility and monitoring."    SenseAware is a tracking service that p...

Friday, January 20, 2012

     The U.S. Commerce Department this week initiated an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation of imports of utility scale wind towers from China and Vietnam.    Dumping occurs when a foreign company sells a product in the United States at less than fair value, while countervailable subsidies are financial assistance from overseas governments that benefit the production of goods from foreign companies and are limited to specific enterprises or industries, or are cont...

Friday, January 20, 2012

     Mobile phones and systems are coming to more than 400 Maersk Line vessels over the next two years thanks to a new deal with Ericsson.    Maersk has selected Ericsson to fill the hole in its mobile communications coverage by installing an end-to-end system alongside mobile and satellite communications on its fleet. Maersk Line will have its vessels equipped with Ericsson antennas and GSM base stations, with plans to reach the other 100 or so ships soon thereafter.  ...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

   Pilots are recommending the maximum draft of ships on the Mississippi River be reduced to 42 feet Wednesday morning following the grounding of a vessel at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday at Cubits Gap.    The Rondeau went aground with an outbound draft of 44 feet. The vessel was refloated at about noon. Normally the channel is maintained to a depth so that ships can load to 45 feet, but draft has been limited to 44 feet because of silting in the channels.    The vessel w...

Thursday, January 12, 2012

   Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sánchez will lead the U.S. Commerce Department’s first-ever ports and maritime technology industry trade mission to India, Feb. 20-24.     Representatives from U.S. firms that provide cargo handling equipment, port security, and maritime technology equipment will visit Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai. The companies include AECOM, The Beckett Group, Capacity, ContainerTrac, DSC Dredge, Ellicot Dredges, Great Lakes...

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

   Blue Skies has chosen a time and temperature management system from TempTRIP to preserve its fresh fruit shipments from Africa to the United Kingdom in as little as 48 hours.    Blue Skies, also based in the United Kingdom, has more than 2,000 employees in Ghana, Egypt, South Africa and Brazil and sources and supplies fruit from fields, delivering them to supermarkets in the United Kingdom, Europe and South Africa. The company said it uses air transport to ...

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

     The stern of Rena has mostly submerged after the ship broke in half on Astrolabe Reef, off the coast of Tauranga, New Zealand during a storm over the weekend.    The ship went aground on the reef in October and its condition has been deteriorating in recent months as salvors have worked to remove oil and containers.    Maritime New Zealand, the government agency overseeing the wreck, said the stern section of the containership is perched on the edge of the reef, a...

Friday, January 06, 2012

     Rail equipment maker Greenbrier Cos. said it had a profit of $14.5 million in the first quarter ending Nov. 30, 2011, compared to a loss of $2.3 million in the same period a year earlier.    Revenues for the first quarter of 2012 were $398.2 million, double the $198.9 million realized in the prior year's first quarter.    New railcar deliveries in the first quarter of 2012 were 3,300 units, compared to 1,050 units in the first quarter of 2011.  ...

Friday, January 06, 2012

     Texas-based OnAsset Intelligence said United Cargo is installing its wireless asset-tracking devices on the airline's mainline jet fleet.     This will allow United Cargo’s customers to track the location, temperature, and environmental setting of items being shipped via that fleet.    OnAsset said its SENTRY FlightSafe technology also provides virtual "security-fencing" and suppresses radios during flight to comply with Federal Aviation&n...

Wednesday, January 04, 2012

     Crowley Maritime said it is adding 500 new 40-foot, high-cube containers to its equipment fleet of more than 45,000 units.    The new containers will be used in liner service operations in Latin America, the Caribbean and Puerto Rico.    The addition of the new containers, along with other equipment of various sizes and types last year represents an investment of more than $23 million, the company said.    Since 2003, Crowley has invested nearl...

Thursday, December 29, 2011

   APM Terminals (APMT) said Thursday it had won a 32-year concession to design, build, and operate a new terminal in the port of Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico.    Kim Fejfer, APMT's chief executive officer, said the company will invest $900 million and the project "promises to create significant economic benefits nationwide to lift Mexican business and society through a stronger port."    APMT explained the new port is an important part of its "broad...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

     The U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) has awarded a $450,000 grant to EcoRodovias, a privately held Brazilian intermodal logistics and highway concessionaire company.    The grant will fund a technical assistance program to help EcoRodovias modernize and expand its use of intelligent transportation system (ITS) technologies on its road network in Brazil.    USTDA said in an effort to improve Brazil’s mobility, maintenance and the pace of expansion, certain...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

     Park Ridge, N.J.-based SeaCube Container Leasing Ltd. said it has filed a universal shelf registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to provide the company flexibility to sell up to $75 million worth of securities after the registration statement is declared effective.    SeaCube said it has no current plans to issue securities under the registration statement, which could be common or preferred shares, debt securities, warrants, subscription rights,...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

     The South Korean shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. said it expects new orders to drop 23 percent next year as shipping lines struggle with an oversupply of vessels and falling rates, according to a Bloomberg report over the weekend.    Daewoo, the second largest shipbuilder in the world, said it has expects to book contracts worth $11 billion in 2012, a decline from $14.3 billion of orders received this year.    The lion’s share of the o...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

     Newly minted U.S. Commerce Secretary John Bryson will lead his first trade mission on March 25-30 to India, focusing on infrastructure opportunities.     India plans to invest about $1 trillion in infrastructure during the next five years.    “Selling more made-in-USA infrastructure products to India will help U.S. companies grow and hire more people while helping India meet its ambitious goals to dramatically improve it roads, railway and bridges,” Bryson sa...

Monday, December 19, 2011

     Freight forwarder Dachser said it has been accredited by Envirotainer to handle pharmaceuticals via air freight in compliance with good distribution practice (GDP) guidelines.    The accreditation initially applies to Dachser's facilities in Germany, including Frankfurt, Munich, Münster-Osnabrück and Stuttgart. The company intends to expand its partnership with Envirotainer on a global level, offering dedicated life sciences logistics services.    Sweden-based Env...

Friday, December 16, 2011

   Simon Hegele, a German third party logistics (3PL) services company, has picked TGW Systems to set up a material handling and storage system for Hegel’s new distribution center in Raunheim, Germany, about 25 miles outside Frankfurt.    The system will consist of a five-aisle automatic storage and retrieval system (AS/RS), 10 stations for receiving goods, and at least 12 other variable stations, with the ability to expand to nine AS/RS aisles. The new distribution center i...

Monday, December 12, 2011

     The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) and National Industrial Transportation League are both expressing concern to the Federal Maritime Commission about plans by around 20 liner companies to alter their chassis pool agreement on file with the commission, questioning whether it will improperly extend antitrust immunity to companies not regulated by the Shipping Act of1984. Some of their concerns echo those raised by the Institute of International Container Lessors in...

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

   Carrier Transicold said it debuted a refrigerated container that uses carbon dioxide as a refrigerant gas on Tuesday at the Intermodal Europe Show in Hamburg, Germany.    The company said the new "NaturaLINE" container is engineered to deliver efficiencies equal to its existing "best-in-class" refrigerated container PrimeLINE. It also noted that if the gas leaks, it would cause far less global warming than conventional refrigerants.    "We completed successful ...

Monday, November 28, 2011

   During the next four years, Swiss WorldCargo will introduce new “lightweight” containers to its fleet.     The company said the unit load devices (ULD) will significantly reduce weight and, by extension, lower fuel consumption, costs and CO2 emissions.     Starting in December, the cargo division of Swiss International Air Lines Ltd. will start deploying the containers in its ULD fleet by replacing 150 of its LD3 – AKE devices. By 2014, the whole AKE ...

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

    OceanSaver, a provider of ballast water treatment systems, has appointed Houtan Houshangi as interim chief executive officer.     Houshangi replaces Stein Foss who developed and commercialized OceanSaver BWT system technology. OceanSaver was started in 2003.     “Until a permanent successor to Foss is found, Houshangi will manage OceanSaver’s next stage of growth and further execute the company’s strategic plan while seizing new opportunities,” said Reidar...

Friday, November 11, 2011

   Maersk Container Industry (MCI), the container manufacturing business unit of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, said Friday it has started construction on a new factory in San Antonio, Chile, to produce refrigerator containers for Latin America’s export boom.    The $170 million factory is scheduled to begin operating by the end of 2013, with an expected output of 40,000 reefer containers and 30,000 reefer machines annually.    “We position our investment on the basis of futu...

Friday, November 04, 2011

   CHEP, a global pallet and container pooling and supply-chain services provider, has started a new division aimed at airfreight unit load devices (ULDs).    The new unit, CHEP Aerospace Solutions will become the world’s largest independent network of pooled ULDs and repair centers, the company said. ULDs are used by airlines for transportation of cargo, baggage and mail.    “The new service brings CHEP’s longstanding global experience in pallet and container pooling across...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

   The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration recently fined American Welding & Tank LLC $3.9 million for manufacturing unsafe tanks used to transport and store anhydrous ammonia, a nitrogen-based fertilizer in gas form that is stored under high pressure and is dangerous to breath or touch.    The agency said it followed up on reports of defective tanks and discovered problems with the company’s welding practices and safety procedures.    “When cargo tank manuf...

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

   The American Trucking Associations and Truckload Carriers Association said they have agreed to adopt each other's position as an option in seeking permission to operate heavier trucks on federal highways.    The ATA had been seeking to increase the weight limit for trucks operating on federal interstate highways from 80,000 pounds on five axle trucks to 97,000 pounds on six axle trucks while the TCA had been seeking to change the limit so that five axle trucks would be able to carr...

Monday, October 17, 2011

   Cleveland-based ContainerPort Group said last week that Daniel Corcoran has joined the company as regional vice president for the West, where he will be responsible for the Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Kansas City operations.    Corcoran was most recently president of TTS Terminals, and previously held vice president positions with Pacer Cartage and Triton Transport Services.    CPG operates terminals and facilities in the Midwest, Ohio Valley, and Northeast regi...

Monday, October 10, 2011

   An artist has created an artwork in Memorial Hill Park across the street from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo., using standard freight containers.    At the site, the stacked light colored containers spell out “IOU” and “USA” on the other.    John Salvest said the national debt problem was the inspiration for his piece, which was funded by a nonprofit gallery and sculpture studio. It's become a backdrop for recent protests in the Missouri city.    Sa...