Intermodal

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

   Amware Logistics Services said Tuesday it has acquired Parcel Port, a small non-asset based warehousing, distribution and fulfillment company based in Arizona that has a strong focus on managing e-commerce parcel delivery.    Amware, headquartered in Eagle, Colo., is an Eastern provider of warehousing and transportation services that bought Parcel Port to expand to new locations and take on direct consumer fulfillment for Internet-based and catalog retailers, said Vin Gulisano, Am...

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

   Domestic intermodal volumes continued their upward climb in the first quarter of 2012, according to the latest figures from the Intermodal Association of North America.    Domestic volumes soared 14.9 percent in the quarter, to nearly 1.3 million containers. IANA attributed the rise to market share growth from trucking, “as trucking capacity was tight during the quarter and diesel prices resumed their rise after softening in Q4 2011."    International intermodal volume r...

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

   The intermodal and logistics company Pacer International said it has entered a multiyear agreement to have CSX remain its primary rail carrier in the eastern United States.    It said together with existing agreements between Pacer and CSX, the new deal provides terms of service for shipments in Pacer’s private fleet of more than 18,000 containers.    Dan Avramovich, Pacer’s chief executive officer, said the new agreement would provide the foundation for Pacer ...

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

   WNS Holdings Limited, a provider of global business process outsourcing (BPO) services, has entered a partnership with GT Nexus, which provides cloud-based supply chain services, on a new platform-based BPO offering to shippers and the logistics industry.    The companies have agreed to jointly develop the service around documentation, freight management, contracts, pricing, and analytics with the ultimate goal of improving services and lowering costs.    “The ...

Friday, April 27, 2012

Maersk operation tailored to balance U.S. import and export international container volumes.     By Francis Phillips          Beginning early March Maersk Line launched a premium transpacific eastbound service called Flagship.    It offers weekly day of availability connections between 15 ports in Asia and five inland destinations in the United States, including Chicago, Houston, Dallas/Fort Worth, Memphis, and Northwest Ohio. The inland r...

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

   U.S. intermodal container rail traffic rose 4.5 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2012, according to the latest figures from the Association of American Railroads Time Indicators Report .    Volume reached 2.5 million containers in the January-March period, though the growth dipped slightly in March, to 3.5 percent, on volume of 928,350 containers.    The AAR said March was the 28th consecutive year-on-year monthly increase for intermodal rail traffic. The ave...

Monday, April 23, 2012

   Odyssey Logistics & Technology Corporation (OL&T), a Danbury, Conn.-based logistics service provider, has acquired Interdom Partners, an intermodal services company.    Interdom, based in Palos Heights, Ill., has experienced a double-digit growth over the past three years.    Robert Shellman, OL&T's president and chief executive officer, said his company plans to keep expanding its logistics services through acquisitions. He also noted Int...

Friday, April 20, 2012

   LeanLogistics, a provider of transportation management system applications and supply chain services, has expanded into France by opening an office in Paris.    The office will provide support and sales for its logistics services and technology, such as its On-Demand TMS. LeanLogistics’ On-Demand TMS already supports multiple languages and French regulations and government processes.    Stacy Kannawin, LeanLogistics’ vice president of sales for Europe, said this is just ...

Friday, April 20, 2012

    Intermodal services provider Hub Group said Friday it had a profit of $13.7 million in the first quarter ending March 31, 30 percent more than the $10.5 million earned in the same 2011 period.     Revenue was $739.9 million for the quarter, compared to $485.4 million in the first quarter of 2011.

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

   Two large intermodal projects to better connect the Port of Tampa with road and rail networks are making good progress and will benefit freight shippers such as American Honda Motor Co., which recently began using the port as an import gateway.    Construction of an on-dock rail facility to handle 100-car unit trains of ethanol from the Midwest is scheduled to be completed by the fall, according to the Tampa Port Authority. The multipurpose rail terminal can also serve the ad...

Wednesday, April 18, 2012

   CSX said it had a profit of $449 million in the first quarter of 2012, 14 percent more than the $395 million earned by the railroad in the same 2011 period.    Revenue was $2.97 billion, up 6 percent from the $2.81 billion recorded in the first quarter of 2011 and driven by increased volume, pricing gains and fuel recovery.    Overall volume was up 1 percent in the quarter when compared to the same period last year. Increased shipments in merchandise ...

Friday, April 13, 2012

   The liner carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. said Thursday it will assess an interim fuel surcharge on intermodal shipments from Asia via U.S. East Coast ports.    The surcharges , effective May 11, are: $175 per unit for all rail moves. $235 per unit for all rail/truck moves. $80 per unit for all truck moves that cost less than $400. $145 per unit for all truck moves that cost between $400 and $800. $235 per unit for all truck moves that cost more than $800.

Thursday, April 05, 2012

  Brian Sondey, chairman, chief executive officer and president of TAL International Group, Inc., has been elected chairman of the Institute of International Container Lessors for 2012, He succeeds Peter Younger of Cronos, Ltd.   Organized in 1971, the IICL is a trade association, representing lessors of maritime containers and intermodal chassis. Its member companies, Beacon, CAI, Cronos, Dong Fang, Flexi-Van, Florens, Seaco, SeaCube, TAL International, Textainer, Touax, TRAC Interm...

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

   Rail Logistics-Cold Train will use a dedicated fleet of trucks from Interstate Distributor Co. for short-haul drayage service to and from the Port of Quincy Intermodal Terminal in central Washington.    In early 2010, Rail Logistics launched its Cold Train reefer service between the Pacific Northwest and the Chicago area in partnership with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and the Port of Quincy    Cold Train said the service has grown in popularity and that the partn...

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

   A group of 13 members of Congress from New York and New Jersey are calling on the federal government to approve a $14.48 million grant application to expand a barge system that is used to float cargo rail cars across New York harbor from Jersey City to Brooklyn.    Their letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood supports the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's application for a Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery IV (TIGER) grant. &...

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

   Canadian National this week said it has stated a new steel-wheel-interchange service with CSX over Chicago.    Prior to the agreement, CN and CSX exchanged container traffic in Chicago by truck, instead of directly between railroads.    CN said the service gives container imports moving over CN's network from the ports of Vancouver and Prince Rupert, B.C., efficient access to key Ohio Valley markets.    Jean-Jacques Ruest, CN executive vice-president and chief ...

Monday, April 02, 2012

   Thailand is seeing its logistics costs remain high as the country struggles with transporting goods around its geography. The nation is now looking to rail as a way to address costs and shipments. The nation currently sees 83 percent of moves delivered within the country while rail accounts for only 2 percent.    The country’s National Economic and Social Development Board recently gave a seminar on data for logistics development where its deputy secretary-general Arkhom Termp...

Thursday, March 29, 2012

   International Asset Systems (IAS), a provider of cloud-based applications for intermodal and container shipping, has developed a new set of Business Intelligence (BI) modules for customers to better see their data.    The BI modules will help customers view and analyze all of the data generated in day-to-day repair and dispatch operations, adding in the ability to manage by exception and analyze information faster. IAS is targeting the new application at ocean carriers, shipp...

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

   The private investment firm Littlejohn & Co. said Tuesday that it had completed its previously announced acquisition of Direct ChassisLink, Inc. (DCLI). from Maersk Inc.    DCLI owns or leases about 66,000 chassis and rents them to drayage companies and liner carriers in the United States. It has a network of 129 sites located on or near key ports and other intermodal hubs around the country.    Littlejohn named William J. Shea Jr. chairman an...

Thursday, March 15, 2012

   The U.S. Senate on Tuesday passed a two-year, $109 billion bill reauthorizing Department of Transportation programs for highway infrastructure and safety.    The 74-22 vote in favor of S. 1813, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) was a rare display of bipartisanship in a legislative body that has had difficulty agreeing on anything in the past two years.    The bill allows spending for highway, transit and rail programs to continue at exis...

Tuesday, March 06, 2012

   In a similar vein to its Daily Maersk product on the Asia-Europe trade, Maersk Line has launced a "Flagship" intermodal product, in conjunction with the BNSF Railway, to support three of its weekly transpacific shipping services in the highly competitive corridor between Asia and Los Angeles.      From Los Angeles, Maersk will offer non-stop rail service arriving at an agreed time in five key Midwest and southern destinations, including Chicago, Dallas, Ho...

Monday, March 05, 2012

   Advent and eModal, two leading developers of port community and chassis management software, have merged.    Carl D’Emilio of Advent will be president of the combined companies, which have taken the name Advent Intermodal Solutions, and will be headquartered at Advent’s office in Murray Hill, N.J.    The changing “chassis paradigm,” wherein many liner carriers are reducing their involvement in the chassis business, is one area that will present new opportunitie...

Thursday, February 23, 2012

     The U.S. Transportation Department has awarded a $54.6 million loan to Kansas City Southern Railway Co. to buy 30 new General Electric ES44AC locomotives.    These diesel-electric locomotives, built in Erie, Pa., will help KCS meet increasing economic demand, and are more energy-efficient and produce significantly less carbon emissions than the locomotives they are replacing, DOT said.    “We are seeing President Obama’s commitment to rail boost manufacturing all ...

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

     U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wednesday published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would make substantial changes to the way imported merchandise is transported inland under a bond, enabling the cargo owner to defer payment of duties until it reaches the destination port or is exported.     The primary fixes involve making the in-bond process electronic and tightening up procedures to better track merchandise and prevent diversion. In the past, CBP has...

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 ...

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

     President Obama is proposing a fiscal year 2013 budget for the Department of Transportation of $74 billion, 2 percent, or $1.4 billion, above the 2012 enacted amount.    It's one piece of a $3.8 trillion plan that raises spending to support the middle class through incentives for domestic manufacturing, lower payroll taxes, infrastructure investment and other steps while raising revenue through taxes on the wealthiest Americans and reductions in subsidies for the ...

Monday, February 13, 2012

   Overland Park, Kan.-based RedStone Logistics, which specializes in logistics management services, has acquired privately held Headhaul.com .    Headhaul provides shipment management services via multi-modal, dry van/truckload, refrigerated, flatbed, less-than-truckload (LTL) and over-dimensional shipment operations.    During the next 30 days, Headhaul employees will integrate with the RedStone staff.    As part of the acquisition, RedStone will levera...

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...

Wednesday, February 08, 2012

     Canadian National Railway has opened a new intermodal terminal at Chippewa Falls, Wis.    Located 100 miles east of Minneapolis/St. Paul, CN said it offers Wisconsin and Minnesota customers new options to ship and receive goods in containers.    "This terminal gives companies in the Upper Midwest direct and efficient single-rail-line access to new North American and global markets via our continental network as well as the ports we serve on the Pacific, ...

Thursday, February 02, 2012

     The U.S. Department of Transportation on Tuesday said it will make $500 million available this year in the fourth round of TIGER funding for surface transportation investment.     Infrastructure projects will be evaluated on how they advance the Obama administration's goals of safety, improving the nation's economic competitiveness, livable communities, environmental sustainability, keeping assets in a state of good repair and short-term job creation.    The ...

Wednesday, February 01, 2012

     A new transportation bill was introduced in the U.S. House by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John L. Mica, R-Fla., and other members of his committee on Tuesday.    They said the American Energy & Infrastructure Jobs Act (H.R. 7) would authorize approximately $260 billion over five years to fund federal highway, transit and safety programs, “consistent with current funding levels.”    Mica called it the “largest transportation reform...

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

   The Urban Institute has established a multi-dimensional Infrastructure Initiative designed to inform the public and government officials about the important tradeoffs in developing, operating, maintaining and financing the nation's core systems that support society.    The research effort will examine the fiscal, social and environmental costs and benefits of policy choices at all levels of government related to transportation, electrical, water, sewer, wireless and broadband ...

Monday, January 30, 2012

   DB Schenker Logistics has appointed 38-year rail industry veteran Patrick Zilles to head its intermodal activities.    Zilles, who is based in Essen, Germany, will be responsible for linking different transport modes, in particular DB SCHENKERhangartner. This offering provides shippers a combination of trucking and rail from a single source. Trucks handle pre- and onward-carriage, while trains provide long-distance transport.

Monday, January 30, 2012

     Cleveland-based ContainerPort Group said this spring it plans to open a “mega” multipurpose terminal at Columbus, Ohio.    The new facility will allow CPG to consolidate its trucking, container yard, maintenance (chassis and containers), and cargo transfer services into a single location. The site will have access to both CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads. CPG said it secured land to expand its existing facility to about 70 acres.    CPG ...

Friday, January 27, 2012

     Hub Group said it had a profit of $17 million in the fourth quarter of 2011, 36 percent more than the $12.5 million earned in the same 2010 period.    Revenue for the quarter was $763 million, compared to $480 million in the fourth quarter of 2010.    Hub, which provides intermodal, truck brokerage and logistic services, had a profit of $58 million for the full-year 2011, compared to $43 million in 2010, while revenue in 2011 was $2.75 billion, compared ...

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

     The ability to move larger ships through the Panama Canal will reduce the cost of all-water service between the Far East and the eastern part of the United States, but speakers at a conference held last week in Tampa, Fla. were divided on how significant theimpact of the canal will be on cargo routing.    "We are not the fat hog waiting to be cut," said Dean Wise, vice president of network strategy for the BNSF Railway. "We are not going to sit back and see t...

Monday, January 23, 2012

     Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich played to the local audience in Thursday’s televised primary debate leading up to the South Carolina primary by talking about infrastructure upgrades at the Port of Charleston as an example of how the government could help create jobs.    Gingrich won on the South Carolina primary on Saturday.    The former speaker of the House said he would push for increased off-shore drilling for natural gas and use the royalties to...

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Bentley     Helen Delich Bentley, a former Maryland congresswoman and past chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, has proposed changing the Harbor Maintenance Tax so that it's collected not only on ocean-borne cargo, but on all freight from foreign sources entering the United States.     The tax is not paid by freight entering the United States from Canada or Mexico.    A press release said she made her proposal Tuesday evening in Tacoma, Wash.,&nb...

Monday, January 16, 2012

     The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday reported that U.S. exports of goods and services in November 2011 fell 0.9 percent from the previous month to $177.8 billion.     However, the department noted that November’s exports of consumer goods ($15.7 billion) were the highest on record.    U.S. imports of goods and services increased 1.3 percent to reach $225.6 billion, causing the U.S. trade deficit to increase 10.4 percent to reach $47.8 billion in November. P...

Monday, January 09, 2012

Manuel    Coral Gables, Fla.-based real estate firm Flagler has appointed Manuel A. Fernandez to executive vice president of logistics operations.    In this position, Fernandez will head development of Flagler’s South Florida Logistics Center - a 400-acre intermodal logistics complex adjacent to the Miami International Airport - as well as a newly launched logistics practice.    Fernandez brings to Flagler more than three decades of experience in supply chain and global lo...

Friday, December 30, 2011

   A new terminal that APM Terminals (APMT) is planning to build in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico will have an initial capacity to handle 1.2 million TEUs per year and be able to process as many as 4.2 million TEUs annually when fully completed.    APMT announced Thursday that it had been awarded a 32-year concession to design, build, and operate a new terminal in the Pacific Coast port at a cost of about $900 million.    Last year the port handled about 796,023 TEUs and through N...

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

     Chicago-based Echo Global Logistics, a transportation management company, has acquired all of the outstanding stock of Trailer Transportation Systems (TTS).    The company will now do business as Echo Global.    TTS is an intermodal marketing company based in Rochester, N.Y., and has been in operation since 1981.    For Echo Global, the main benefit of TTS acquisition is an expansion of its rail capabilities and intermodal operations ...

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

   A new transportation management Website has popped up, promising to help shippers, distribution centers, manufacturers, and other companies get better rates from a list of more than 28,000 available carriers.    The RateMyShipment.com site comes from TranZcenter, a logistics and supply chain management services provider, and its head of operations Milton Collier. The network of multimodal carriers covers North America and includes modes like less-than-truckload (LTL), truckloa...

Thursday, December 22, 2011

     Test transmissions and processing of electronic sea and rail manifests for the new Automated Commercial Environment are going well, putting U.S. Customs and Border Protection on track to soon transition transportation providers to the new system, the agency announced Friday.    A sea/rail manifest pilot program involving one rail carrier and one ocean began in November. On Monday, OOCL identified itself as the first liner carrier to migrate to the new system. The ...

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

     CSX will commence on-dock rail service at the Port of Virginia's APM Terminal on Jan. 3, the company said Tuesday.    The Jacksonville, Fla.-based railroad previously offered limited service from the terminal to a small rail yard that required containers to be shuttled back and forth by truck.    In January, the carrier will use the Commonwealth Rail, a short line that shuttles containers between the APMT facility and a marshaling yard in nearby Suf...

Monday, December 19, 2011

By Eric Kulisch    If you don’t watch Fareed Zakharia’s “GPS” program Sunday mornings on CNN , you should. The journalist and foreign affairs analyst gets past the surface noise to provide provocative analysis about what’s really going on at the intersection of global economics and politics.   GPS stands for Global Public Square. It’s a forum for exchanging ideas about the critical issues of the day.    The show offers important lessons for freight executives at the domestic and ...

Friday, December 16, 2011

   Containerized cargo exports from the U.S. will continue to grow more quickly in the next four years than imports, bringing the nation's trade more into balance, said Mathijs Slangen, maritime advisor for the investment banking firm Seabury Group.    Slangen, who made his remarks Thursday during an American Shipper webinar , said by 2015, his firm expects exports will account for about 43 percent of U.S. containerized TEU volumes, "quite a massive increase" from the 30 percent they...

Thursday, December 15, 2011

     U.S. and Canadian officials last week outlined priorities for coordinating customs and cargo security processes, enhancing border infrastructure and harmonizing regulations to increase the efficiency of trade across the border and boost their respective economies.    A Beyond-the-Border action plan as well as new focus areas for a Regulatory Cooperation Council were the primary outcomes of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's visit to the White House. Th...

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...

Monday, November 21, 2011

    The Georgia Ports Authority Board approved a $6.5 million, 6,000-foot extension of the Mason Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) at the Garden City container terminal in Savannah.     The approval follows growing intermodal container volumes. In the four months ending Oct. 30, the facility had 109,036 container moves, 14 percent more than in the same 2010 period.     “We expect rail to account for an increasing percentage of cargo transport at t...

Thursday, November 17, 2011

   IAS said it has unveiled extensions to its IAS DispatchManager product that automates the container haulage work order process from creation to proof of delivery.    The three new IAS modules are designed to help ocean carriers,cargo owners, third-party logistics providers, and motor carriers connect and collaborate more effectively. They are: DispatchOptimizer which helps users identify street turn intermodal transport hauls, reducing costs associated with inefficientdual deadhead...

Friday, November 11, 2011

   DB Schenker made European rail freight history Friday with the first arrival of a regular new weekly container train from Poland to the United Kingdom.    The train is the first regular rail freight service to use the High Speed 1 rail route, the only European sized railway in the United Kingdom. As a result, the train can be loaded with European-sized curtain sided swap bodies, opening up a new freight and logistics market.    The train operates once a week leaving Wroc...

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

   Hub Group said that its Comtrak Logistics subsidiary had acquired assets of Challenge Transportation, an intermodal drayage carrier headquartered in Newark, NJ.    "This acquisition continues to build on our strategic initiative of growing Hub Group's North American drayage network," stated Chris Kravas, chief intermodal officer for Hub Group. "This is Comtrak's third significant acquisition in the past 12 months and will mark the addition of the 26th full service terminal in the ...

Tuesday, November 08, 2011

   U.S. domestic container volume grew 9 percent in the third quarter, its best year-on-year growth of 2011, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s Intermodal Market Trends & Statistics report released Monday.    The report showed that total intermodal volume, including domestic trailers and international containers, grew 1.4 percent in the quarter, the seventh straight quarter in which volume has risen.    “While domestic containers continued to gain...

Friday, October 28, 2011

   Pacer had a profit of $6.6 million in the third quarter ending Sept. 30, a six-fold increase over the $1.1 million in the third quarter of 2010.    Revenues were $375.8 million for the third quarter, 3 percent higher than the $364.8 million recorded in the same 2010 period.    John J. Hafferty, the chief financial officer, said that in addition to increased earnings "we continue to generate positive cash flow, are now debt-free for the first time in our history as a publ...

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...

Monday, October 17, 2011

   Non-asset based logistics provider Transplace on Thursday announced it has acquired Chicago-based intermodal marketing company Celtic International to increase its capabilities in the growing intermodal market.    Privately held Transplace said the combined revenue of the two companies exceeds $1 billion, but officials have previously stated that gross revenue at the Dallas firm as less than $900 million last year. That would put Celtic’s revenue in the $150 million range. Related...

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 17, 2011

   Zonar, a Seattle-based firm specializing in compliance and fleet efficiency information technology applications for the trucking industry, has appointed Chris Hines to executive vice president.    Prior to this appointment, he was president and chief operating officer of the Celadon Group. Hines was also formerly president and chief executive officer of Tripmaster Corp. (now Mix Telematics), and president and CEO of Atipical Holdings, a business he founded.    In addition...