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| Concrete sector raises HOS issues in House hearing |
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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The U.S. Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new hours of service rules, which require truckers to take a 30-minute rest every eight hours and impose a 34-hour restart for truckers, goes into effect in less than two weeks. With the impending deadline fresh in their minds, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing Tuesday to get to the heart of the changes, what they will mean to trucking companies, and how they will affect the f...
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| Court upholds Ex-Im Bank support to Air India |
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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
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The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday rejected a request by Delta Air Lines to vacate the U.S. Export-Import Bank’s support of sales of U.S.-manufactured aircraft to Air India. The court has asked Ex-Im Bank to further explain its financing decision for the Air India transactions, but it chose to leave undisturbed the bank’s financing of the Air India transaction and did not question the bank’s flexibility in carrying out its statutory mandate. ...
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| U.S. Bank offers new fuel card for truckers |
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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U.S. Bank has unveiled its Over the Road Plus card, an expansion of its Over the Road card offering, which enables drivers to easily purchase fuel at thousands of truck stops and other retailers. The new card enhances U.S. Bank's offerings by adding checking services to use where the card is not accepted, pre-approval per-diems, and funding for emergency repairs. Fleet managers can, through a program tied to the card, manage fuel limits and gallons per fill up. “By...
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| May ore loads on Great Lakes down over a year ago |
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Shipments of iron ore on the Great Lakes totaled 6.4 million tons in May, an increase of 15.1 percent compared to April, the Lake Carriers’ Association said. However, the association noted the amount was a decrease of 6.6 percent compared to a year ago. Loadings also trailed the month’s long-term average by 4.8 percent. Shipments from U.S. ports totaled 5.8 million tons, a decrease of 2.9 percent compared to a year ago. The May total included 380,000 tons shipped t...
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| Packaging facility to open in Mumbai |
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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The Sahil Group and Sahil Freight Express will open the 44,000-square-foot packaging and warehousing facility in Mumbai by Sept. 1. The owners are currently looking for a joint-venture partner to help operate the facility, which is located near the Mumbai and Nhava Sheva ports. In specific the partner should specialize in delivering packaging to customers in India and globally, primarily in the healthcare, automotive, telecommunications and aviation industries, an...
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| Analyst sees potential for FedEx |
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Early aircraft retirement, a $1.7-billion profit improvement program and improvement in its express segment are reasons why Cowen and Co. is anticipating slightly better performance from FedEx stocks when the company releases its fiscal fourth-quarter numbers Wednesday morning. Cowen predicts a lower earnings-per-share number than most analysts, but sees the steps FedEx is taking in the market as hallmarks of an improving company. Modal shift is affecting FedEx, but Cowen still ...
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| Liebherr expands in Miami |
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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
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Austrian crane manufacturer Liebherr has opened a new $20 million sales and service center in Miami off Okeechobee and the Florida Turnpike. It will serve as a major hub for Liebherr’s maritime cranes division and further strengthen its business relations to Central and South America and the Caribbean regions, said Gernot Schranz, president of Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co. Liebherr called the 430,000-square-foot property ideal, stating the port of Miami and Miami Inter...
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| Ag fee 'galling' to Canadian truckers |
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Monday, June 17, 2013
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The Canadian Trucking Alliance has voiced concerns over the cross-border trucking fees collected by the U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and is worried they may soon increase. Truckers pay a fee of $5.25 to the U.S. agency every time they cross the border, according to the alliance, and a recent study that shows the fees aren't generating enough revenue could lead to a larger fee. The fees are assessed whether or not the carrier is carrying ...
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| USDA takes steps to further balance sugar surplus |
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Monday, June 17, 2013
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced actions to manage the domestic sugar surplus, as required by law, while operating the sugar program at the least cost to the government. “Record-breaking yields of sugar crops and a global surplus have driven down U.S. sugar prices and USDA is required to act to stabilize the domestic market. Today’s actions are designed to manage the sugar program while minimizing federal sugar program expenditures,” the department said. ...
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| Menzies workers vote to strike |
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Monday, June 17, 2013
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Close to 90 percent of the union workers who voted have decided to strike at Menzies World Cargo. The Heathrow-based workers are upset their pay has been frozen for the last two years. “Our door is always open, but time is running out," Oliver Richardson of Unite, Britain's largest trade union, said in a statement. "Unless we get some movement in the next few days we will have no choice but to announce a strike date. It is completely unreasonable for a successful co...
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| Truckers celebrate C-TPAT reporting changes |
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Friday, June 14, 2013
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Canadian and U.S. truckers have complained about punitive measures following C-TPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism) security breaches, and the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to make suspension or removal from the program not immediate. The department has also published a document outlining the measures it will take when security breaches occur. Carriers had been concerned about the lack of transparency involved in security-b...
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| Supreme Court strikes down parts of clean truck program |
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Friday, June 14, 2013
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The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of the American Trucking Associations (ATA) in the group’s effort to turn back the Port of Los Angeles' efforts to regulate the drayage trucking industry. In 2007, the port created a Clean Truck Program that required trucking companies operating at the port to enter into concession agreements. The concession agreements made a number of requirements on drayage companies including these five: that they be emplo...
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| Cargill expands use of electronic bills of lading |
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
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The U.S. agribusiness Cargill said Thursday it has expanded its operational use of CargoDocs, an electronic bill of lading (eB/Ls) solution, to include agricultural shipments from South America. Cargill first used the solution on a shipment of grain from Houston to Veracruz, Mexico in March. Electronic Shipping Solutions (ESS), a provider of shipping and trade document and data solutions, is partnering with Cargill to include new trade routes from Argentina and Bra...
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| Midwest truck rates to rise |
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
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For the next few weeks, increased activity in the Southern Midwest due to the wheat harvest season will drive up rates, according to bulk freight industry watchers. Many carriers in the area will be tied up as part of harvest programs that pay double the usual truck rates. Wheat harvest season will start within the week in Northern Texas and Southern Oklahoma, according to reports. Some in the industry are predicting a larger-than-usual crop for Kansas. ...
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| Ohio feed shipper bets on CNG |
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
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TruStar Energy will build a compressed natural gas fast-fill station for Kalmbach Feeds near the company's Ohio manufacturing plant. The station, which will allow two vehicles to fuel up simultaneously, is slated for completion in early November. Kalmbach Feeds, an animal feed distributor, is planning to transition its entire fleet to CNG in the next decade. "Regarding CNG, there has always been the discussion of whether to buy CNG trucks or wait until ...
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| DHL unveils new cold-chain product |
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
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DHL Global Forwarding has launched a temperature-controlled, high-visibility air freight service targeted at the life sciences and healthcare industries. DHL Thermonet uses Smartsenor RFID technology to ensure constant monitoring of temperature-sensitive shipments during transport, and customers can even ask add on the SmartSensor XP option, which will transmit temperature data from the goods surrounding the customer’s shipment. All the data is uploaded to the Internet for easy...
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| FAA searching for unleaded jet fuel |
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is asking fuel producers worldwide for help in transitioning the aviation industry to unleaded fuel. The administration is seeking a way to replace the current 100 octane low-lead fuel for most of the general aviation fleet by 2018. Parties have until July 1, 2014, to submit proposals. By September 2014, the FAA will choose 10 participants for phase-one laboratory testing. Two fuels from this first phase will move on t...
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| U.S. imports drop 2% in May |
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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U.S. containerized import volume in May fell 2.2 percent year-on-year but was still the highest volume of imports so far in 2013, according to statistics from the trade intelligence firm Zepol. “For the first two months of the year imports were up 7 percent over 2012, but in the last five months imports are only up 0.04 percent overall,” said Zepol’s Chief Executive Officer Paul Rasmussen. “With holiday orders being placed soon, we’ll likely see increased imports...
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| EU paves way to Single European Sky |
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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The number of flights in the European Union are predicted to increase by 50 percent in the next 20 years, and the European Commission has taken action today to jumpstart its Single European Sky solution to this pending capacity issue. The commission recently proposed updating the Single European Sky regulations and amending rules governing the European Aviation Safety Agency. The proposals, which are grouped under the name, SES2+, are to lead to better safety and oversight, enh...
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| Boeing sees need for 35,000 planes by 2032 |
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Tuesday, June 11, 2013
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With both passenger and cargo traffic expected to grow 5 percent annually moving forward, the global airline industry will need more than 35,000 new planes at a cost of $4.8 trillion over the next 20 years, according to Boeing’s Current Market Outlook . The largest amount of demand will come in the single-aisle category, with Boeing predicting a need for 24,670 planes at a cost of $2.29 trillion. The manufacturer predicts the least amount of demand will come for large, wide...
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| Great Lakes coal loads fall 11.3% in May |
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Tuesday, June 11, 2013
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Shipments of coal on the Great Lakes totaled 2.6 million tons in May, a decrease of 11.3 percent compared to a year ago, according to the Lake Carriers’ Association. Coal loads from Lake Superior ports totaled 1.6 million tons, just slightly below the level of a year ago. Included in that total were 250,000 tons loaded in Superior, Wis., and transshipped to Québec City for loading into oceangoing colliers. Exports to Europe from Superior total 536,000 tons through May, the asso...
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| Drewry says transatlantic trade 'continues to disappoint' |
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Monday, June 10, 2013
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Cargo volumes moving from North America to North Europe picked up in the first quarter, but are “unsustainable due to the austerity measures being taken by most European governments,” according to an article in the current edition of Drewry’s Container Insight Weekly . Drewry said exports from North America to North Europe improved significantly in the first quarter, with “average monthly cargo flow reaching 176,000 TEUs, up by 14 percent compared to the previous quarter, or 5 ...
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| Express carriers to help shape U.S. export policy |
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Monday, June 10, 2013
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The Express Association of America (EAA), representing the four largest integrated express carriers, DHL, FedEx, TNT and UPS, said it is forming an Export Committee to manage policy issues that effect shipping products from the United States. “Over the past year, the U.S. government has made significant changes to the export controls regime for dual-use items and also is discussing changes to the information requirements for all products being exported,” Michael Mullen, executi...
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| Trade nominee faces Senate confirmation panel |
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Friday, June 07, 2013
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President Obama’s nominee for U.S. Trade Representative, Michael Froman, spent Thursday on Capitol Hill telling the Senate Committee on Finance that his goals of promoting growth and bolstering the economy will be achieved by renewing Trade Promotion Authority and making sure pending free-trade agreements come to fruition. Obama tapped Froman, who has been serving as deputy national security advisor for international trade and economics, to run the agency on May 22. According to...
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| Seaspan sees big demand for efficient ships |
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Friday, June 07, 2013
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Gerry Wang, the chief executive officer of Seaspan, one of the world’s largest builders and charterers of containerships, told financial analysts that while freight rates are depressed, there is no shortage of demand for efficient new vessels. Referencing the price war on the Asia-Europe trade, he said ships are still loading up by 75-80 percent, and said in other industries it might be possible to make money by increasing prices, but “because of some stupidity” among operators...
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| VPA gates to open late June 12 |
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Friday, June 07, 2013
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Port operations will be put on hold for a half day on June 12 at the Port of Virginia so that port management and users can talk with longshoremen about market conditions, industry trends and efficiency at the port, the Virginia Port Authority announced this week. The meeting will be held in Portsmouth at 8 a.m., and terminal gates will be closed until noon. The date was chosen because vessel traffic that day will be light, Hampton Roads Shipping Association Presid...
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| Stifel: Shipper TMS use leads to 'surgical' truck pricing |
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Friday, June 07, 2013
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The way truckload carriers price their services has been affected by increased usage of transportation management systems (TMS), the transportation and logistics research group of the investment bank Stifel Nicolaus said in an industry wrapup Friday. “(Truck) pricing has become more technical/surgical as the usage of Transportation Management Systems has become more widespread across the universe of shippers,” the group wrote. “The days of shippers living year after year w...
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| Brazil offers ship-efficiency grant |
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Friday, June 07, 2013
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The Brazilian government has launched a $41 million real ($19.24 million) grant program intended to boost its competitiveness in the shipbuilding industry by generating new technology and equipment for vessels. According to a statement, the goal is to increase jobs in shipbuilding as well as increase the efficiency of the ships themselves. Individual proposals, which must be submitted by June 21, will be capped at $3.3 million real. “Proposals will be selected...
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| Yucatan cucumber exports rise |
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Friday, June 07, 2013
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Grup Maritim TCB, a global marine terminal operator, said Mexican cucumber exports to the United States and Europe from its terminal at Puerto Progresso on the Yucatán peninsula reached a record high of 1,490 TEUs during the harvest season between November and April. The containers held about 30,000 tons of the vegetable. The previous export record was 1,271 40-foot containers in the 2008/09 season.
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| Japanese retailer buys U.S. logistics firm |
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Thursday, June 06, 2013
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The Japanese online retailer Rakuten is set to acquire Las Vegas-based online fulfillment firm Webgistix for an undisclosed amount. Rakuten Chief Executive Officer Hiroshi Mikitani unveiled the deal at an e-commerce event in Chicago. Webgistix’s five facilities located throughout the U.S. will give the Japanese retailer a large footprint in the country. According to new reports from the conference, Mikitani hopes to expand Rakuten to 27 countries in the...
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| FCA use grows as shippers seek more control |
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Thursday, June 06, 2013
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Shippers are increasingly using the free carrier (FCA) Incoterm in their freight contract rather than the free on board (FOB) designation, according to an executive with Ryder. In a blog entry this week , Lee Williams, director of business development for the retail division of Ryder Supply Chain Solutions, wrote that companies sourcing in Asia are turning to the FCA designation to start taking more control of their supply chain. Using FCA essentially means the buye...
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| ICS: Green regulations could cost $500 billion |
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Thursday, June 06, 2013
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Masamichi Morooka, the chairman of the International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), said this week that new legislation to protect the environment could potentially cost the shipping industry $500 billion between 2015 and 2025. “As many companies struggle to survive during the difficult years ahead, we must persuade governments to avoid placing yet more straws that risk breaking the shipowner’s back — and the straws to which I refer are the impending costs of environmental legislat...
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| Cass: Freight voulmes up in May |
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
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North American freight volumes rose by 2.9 percent last month when compared to April, while expenditures stayed relatively flat, with an increase of .04 percent, according to the May issue of the Cass Freight Index Report . Compared to the same month last year, however, May’s shipment volume declined by 0.3 percent; expenditures also dropped, showing a 2.6-percent decline. Rail, and the shipment of crude oil, had a lot to do with increased volumes in May. Cru...
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| Chairman: Collaboration key for global air cargo group |
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
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As the new chairman of the Global Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG), Oliver Evans wants to build on the momentum created over the past two years and pave a clear path forward toward conquering new challenges. Evans, chief cargo officer of Swissport International Air Lines, assumed his new role when he recently took on the chairman position at The International Air Cargo Association. Atlas Air's Michael Steen served as the first GACAG chairman. GACAG, formed in 2011,...
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| Drewry: Liner rate war could hurt service |
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
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Drewry cautions that shippers may see a deterioration in service if the current price war in the ocean container industry continues. “The carrier financials that have so far been published for the first quarter of 2013 present the same mixed bag of results that typified 2012. Some carriers made a little money but more lost cash, meaning that the industry at large started 2013 in the red,” said the London-based firm, which has just published the latest edition of its monthly Sea...
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| FedEx speeds up aircraft retirements |
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
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In a nod to sluggish global economic activity, FedEx Express will accelerate the retirement of 66 older aircraft and 308 related engines that are less fuel efficient and less reliable than newer planes, the company said Monday. During the previous year ended Feb. 28, the FedEx airline spent $3.8 billion on fuel for its 660 aircraft. Last October, FedEx announced a $1.7 billion cost-cutting initiative. The express carrier will take a $100 million impairment charge o...
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| Saltchuk buys Alaska trucker Carlile |
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Wednesday, June 05, 2013
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Saltchuk Resources, a Seattle-based family of transportation and petroleum distribution companies, has acquired Carlile Transportation Systems, one of the largest trucking and logistics companies in Alaska. Carlile’s 700 employees will join Saltchuk’s national team of 5,500 workers. Carlile will remain a standalone company headquartered in Anchorage. "As with all of the Saltchuk companies, we will reinvest in Carlile’s assets, pursue growth opportunities, and build ...
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| Washington Notebook: DOT selects experts for Freight Advisory Committee |
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
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The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday named 47 professionals from industry, academia, labor, safety advocacy and government to its inaugural Freight Advisory Committee, which will provide advice and recommendations for improving the national freight transportation system. Its first order of business will be to help the department create a national freight transportation strategy, as required by last year's MAP-21 surface transportation law. The DOT said it sought to ...
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| New tankers could be run on LNG |
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
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Continuing interest by U.S. shipping companies in natural gas to power ships was highlighted by the announcement by General Dynamic's NASSCO shipyard in San Diego last week that four, 50,000 DWT Jones Act product tankers that it is building for American Petroleum Tankers will be "LNG-conversion-ready." The contract includes options to build four additional ships. Construction of the first tanker is scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2014, with deliveries scheduled to beg...
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| Maersk announces rate hikes |
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
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Maersk Line said it will implement rate hikes on several trades: A general rate increase (GRI) for dry cargo moving from the Middle East, India and Pakistan to the United States and Canada will take effect on July 3. The increase will be $300 for 20-foot containers, $400 for 40-foot standard containers, $450 for 40-foot, high-cube containers, and $505 for 45-foot containers. A GRI for dry and reefer shipments from the Far East to the United States will take effect July 1. For cargo mo...
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| New ship design aimed at intra-Asian trade |
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
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Intra-Asian regional container traffic is forecast to reach 75 million TEU in 2016, up nearly 32 percent from 2012's 57 million TEU, says Germanishcher Lloyd (GL), which writes about a new containership design aimed at the market in the latest issue of its Nonstop magazine . "Container traffic in Asia is forecast to grow faster than elsewhere in the world up until 2016. It is assumed that this trend will continue despite apparent moderate growth in China," the ship classificatio...
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| FMC publishes OTI reform rule notice |
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
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The Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) last week published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rule regarding Ocean Transportation Intermediaries (OTI) in the Federal Register , potentially changing the way OTIs are licensed and financially regulated. The proposed rule, first put forward in mid-May , also requires foreign non-vessel-operating common carriers (NVOs) to establish U.S. offices. The notice in the Federal Register , published May 31, starts a 60-day notic...
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| Executive moves |
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Tuesday, June 04, 2013
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NOL Group, the Singapore parent of the liner company APL, has appointed Tom Behrens-Sørensen to its board of directors. Behrens-Sørensen’s career included a 30-year tenure at A.P. Moller-Maersk, where he held several senior leadership roles. NOL said he led Maersk's expansion into China from 1994 through 2009. Based in Beijing, Behrens-Sørensen is a co-founder of the European Union Chamber of Commerce and of the Danish Chamber of Commerce in China. He has been...
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| Drewry: 'Big 3' have advantage in transpacific |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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An article in the latest issue of Drewry Container Weekly contends that the three largest container shipping lines, Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM, "now have such big economies of scale in the transpacific that they can ride out the current eastbound freight rate war more comfortably than the rest of the pack, should they choose to do so." In an article entitled " Top three muscle out others, " the London-based consultants write that the three carriers deployed vessels that averaged 3...
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| IATA bumps up global profit estimate |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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The International Air Transport Association bumped up its global airline profitability by $2.1 billion to a projected $12.7 billion in 2013. The industry generated $7.6 billion in profits last year. Despite the increase, and a new prediction of $711 billion in revenues this year, the industry’s profit margin will remain low at 1.8 percent. In 2010, the industry saw a profit margin of 3.3 percent, its highest since 2001 and best since 2007’s profit margin of 2.9 percent. This ye...
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| U.S., France team up to stop fake electronics |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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An enforcement blitz by U.S. and French Customs officials resulted in the seizure of 480 shipments of potentially harmful counterfeit electronic components, U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently announced. Operation Core Systems, conducted between Nov. 1 and April 30 targeted fake computer and electronic components such as semiconductors, computer networking equipment, hard drives and memory cards that often don't meet performance standards of the original equipment and ha...
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| Railroads, shippers spar over competitive switching |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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The American Association of Railroads (AAR) and National Industrial Transportation League (NIT League) last week sparred over proposed changes in railroad regulation. The AAR, which represents the country's "Class 1," or largest freight railroads, last week claimed they "could lose revenue up to 80 percent of their entire annual capital budgets if a forced competition scheme" proposed by the NIT League was adopted . The comments from the railroad association are in ...
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| CMA CGM reports 1Q profit |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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CMA CGM, the world’s third largest container shipping group, said it had a profit of $102 million in the first quarter compared to a loss of $240 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter was $3.8 billion, six percent more than the $3.6 billion recorded in the first three months of 2012. The company said the increase resulted from a 3-percent growth in volumes carried (2.7 million TEUs in first-quarter 2013 compared with 2.6 million TEUs in...
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| Peru port orders cranes |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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Euroandinos Port Terminals at the Port of Paita in Peru has ordered one super post-Panamax ship-to-shore crane and two rubber tire gantry stacking cranes from Liebherr Container Cranes Ltd., the Irish company said. The container cranes are scheduled for delivery late this year. The ship crane has a maximum load capacity of 55 tons with a twin-lift spreader. It can reach 51 meters across the water and 17 meters back to the wharf. The order follows one fo...
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| UPS Freight hikes rates 5.9% |
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Monday, June 03, 2013
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UPS Freight, which offers truckload and less-than-truckload service, said Friday it will increase spot market rates 5.9 percent in North America, effective June 10. The increase, which is in line with previous annual adjustments, also applies to accessorial charges. Large customers typically can negotiate discounted rates. - Eric Kulish
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| NJ bill targets independent contractor trucking |
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Friday, May 31, 2013
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The New Jersey Senate on Thursday approved by a vote of 21-17 a bill, called the Truck Operators Independent Contractor Act, which its sponsors say would prevent trucking companies from misclassifying truckers as a way of avoiding workers’ rights laws and the employer responsibilities, including unemployment and Social Security contributions. Under the bill, “drayage,” or short-distance truckers and parcel delivery drivers could not be classified as “independent contractors,” un...
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| Commerce finds subsidized Asian shrimp imports |
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Friday, May 31, 2013
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The U.S. Commerce Department has found shippers of certain frozen shrimp in China, India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam receive government subsidies, while those in Ecuador and Indonesia do not. In its China investigation, Commerce preliminarily determined that the sole respondent, Zhanjiang Guolian Aquatic Products Co., Ltd. and its cross-owed affiliates, received a subsidy rate of 5.76 percent. All other producers and exporters in China have also been assigned a preliminary s...
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| UPS opens Chinese healthcare facility |
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Friday, May 31, 2013
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UPS has made a “significant expansion” to its Asian healthcare network by opening a 22,000-square-meter healthcare facility in Hangzhou, China, according to a press statement. The new facility, which was designed to meet the specific needs of pharmaceutical companies, features a fully automated tracking system. It is staffed by an on-site quality assurance team. "With many healthcare companies demanding rigorous supply chain solutions in China, we are seeing increas...
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| Don't increase truck weight limits, group says |
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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Truck sizes and weight limits should not be increased as a result of the Department of Transportation’s weight-limit study, according to the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. Officials from the organization made their thoughts clear during the DOT’s first public information session Wednesday in Washington on its comprehensive truck size and weight limits study, an analysis required by the MAP-21 bill. Three additional input sessions are planned. Attend...
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| Mexico activates new audit for textile imports |
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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The Mexican government is stepping up its implementation of recently introduced streamline audit procedures for the verification of textile products entering the country. The procedures seek to avoid the illegal transshipment of textiles and other products under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The new approach uses a sampling method with the intent to reduce the amount of paperwork, cost and time for U.S. companies to comply with the rules. Francisc...
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| U.S. gains upgraded ‘mad cow’ risk classification |
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) has upgraded the United States’ risk classification for bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or “mad cow” disease, to negligible risk. “This is a significant achievement that has been many years in the making for the United States, American beef producers and businesses, and federal and state partners who work together to maintain a system of interlocking safeguards against BSE that protect our public and animal health,” sai...
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| IATA: Global air freight up slightly in April |
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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Global air cargo activity ticked up in April by 1.4 percent, year over year, after a 2.6-percent decline in March, according to the International Air Transport Association. Capacity rose by 1.2 percent. In the first four months of the year, activity has declined 0.6 percent, year over year, and capacity has basically been flat. “The small improvement in April means that economic conditions have not deteriorated to the point of starting a market contract...
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| U.S. trade with neighbors drops 4% in March |
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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Trade value among the United States, Mexico and Canada hit $95.6 billion in March, a 4 percent decline from March 2012. Trucks carried 60 percent of the goods traded, with rail accounting for 16.5 percent of the goods moved, vessels taking on 8.1 percent of the cargo, and air transporting just 3.7 percent of the freight. Seven percent of the goods traded moved by pipeline. Trade between the United States and Canada finished March at $54.3 billion, a 2 percent d...
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| PECO opens new PA depot |
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Thursday, May 30, 2013
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PECO Pallet has opened a new depot in Hazleton, Pa. The facility, located about 95 miles north of Philadelphia, offers services such as sorting, repairing, storing, and reissuing of pallets. It will be fully ramped up by July 1, the company said.
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| CN to speed up track work for frac sand customers |
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Wednesday, May 29, 2013
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The Canadian National Railway said Tuesday it will accelerate the upgrade of 74 miles of track in Wisconsin to handle growing demand for sand shipments used in hydraulic fracturing of shale formations by oil and gas developers in the Bakken region of North Dakota, Montana, and southern Canada, and elsewhere. The railroad is investing $33 million to install heavier gauge track capable of supporting rail cars weighing 286,000 pounds between Wisconsin Rapids and Blair, which will i...
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