Week In Review : Shippers

Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard A. Lidinsky has forwarded a wide-ranging set of recommendations for revising the Shipping Act of 1984 to the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. Lidinsky Included in the recommendations to committee Chairman Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, R-Md., are six proposals: • Bring container and chassis lessors within the ambit of...

Member lines of the Canada Transpacific Stabilization Agreement said last week they will raise their currency adjustment surcharge to 6 percent beginning Oct. 1. The surcharge will drop to 5 percent in September, after being at 6 percent since May. CTSA member lines are APL, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen, Hapag-Lloyd, Hyundai Merchant Marine, “K” Line, NYK Line, OOCL, Yang Ming and...

Ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. said last week it will raise rates from Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong to all Australian ports beginning Sept. 15. The rate increase is $250 per TEU. ...

While export control reform is well underway in the United States, the Obama administration on Tuesday warned exporters that enforcement of the regulations remains a top priority. The reform, announced by the White House on April 20, calls for significant changes to the way the federal government processes export licenses for controlled U.S.-made military and commercial items. The plan al...

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security wants input from the industry to develop an updated set of proposed best practices for how companies may avoid becoming involved in the illicit transit, transshipment and re-export of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. BIS said it’s especially interested in receiving industry feedback regarding new transshipmen...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the nation will export $107.5 billion in agricultural commodities in fiscal year 2010, the second-highest year on record. “This a $3 billion increase from the May forecast, and an $11 billion increase over last year. And agriculture is one of the only major sectors of the American economy with a trade surplus -- expected to be $30.5 billion this yea...

Chief Customer Officer Vincent Gulisano officially left Greatwide Logistics Services on Aug. 21 to become chief executive officer of ParcelPort, a small non-asset-based warehousing, distribution and fulfillment outfit based in Arizona. Gulisano told AmericanShipper.com he wasn’t actively looking for a new job, but that the opportunity to have an ownership stake and lead a company was too ...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday launched a new organizational performance management system. The system, FDA-TRACK, will monitor more than 100 FDA program offices through data from key performance measures established each year. That data will be gathered monthly, analyzed and presented each quarter to FDA’s senior management. The public will also be able to track this da...

Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. plans to shift its fruit import business from Camden to Gloucester City, N.J. Robert W. Palaima, president of Delaware River Stevedores, Del Monte's stevedore, said his company was told the importer of bananas, melons and pineapple would move its business several miles south to a facility operated by Holt Logistics at the Gloucester Marine Terminal. Palaima...

China Merchant Holdings will partner with Sri Lanka conglomerate Aitken Spence to develop and operate a new terminal in the Port of Colombo, Reuters reported Tuesday. The deal, worth $450 million, will see China Merchants and Aitken Spence form a joint venture to build the first of three planned 2.5 million-TEU terminals in the key South Asian transshipment port. The terminal is planned t...

Hanjin Shipping said Tuesday it will discontinue providing chassis in Miami and Philadelphia on Oct. 1, and gradually expand the program to other U.S. regions. “In line with what has been in force in the rest of the world, we believe that the implementation of this new policy will immediately improve terminal productivity and cargo transit time at U.S. terminals as well by reducing idle t...

NYK and OOCL said Monday they would increased container freight rates in the transatlantic. NYK Line said effective Oct. 1 it would implement a general rate increase on cargo moving under NYK independent tariffs to and from North Europe and the United States or Canada by $150 per 20-foot container and $300 per 40-foot container. OOCL also said its rates will increase Oct. 1. The gener...

OOCL said it will increase rates on cargo moving from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Philippines, the Indian Subcontinent and Middle East to Australia by $300 per TEU on Oct. 1. ...

Emirates Shipping Line said Tuesday it will become a participant in the ASEAN–Gulf-Indian Subcontinent (AGI) service launched earlier this month by a consortium of Evergreen, Simatech and OOCL. The port rotation of the service is Laem Chabang, Singapore, Tanjung Pelepas, Port Klang, Colombo, Jebel Ali, Karachi, Mundra, Colombo, Port Klang, Singapore and Laem Chabang. Emirates' partici...

The Surface Transportation Board has scheduled an oral argument for Sept. 28 in a challenge by Arizona Electric Power Cooperative to the rates BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad charge to carry coal to its generating plant near Cochise, Ariz. The utility is challenging rates from New Mexico and the northern part of the Powder River Basin, in Wyoming and Montana. The hearing of or...

Allen DHL intends to expand its presence in China with the assistance of Ken Allen, global chief executive officer of DHL Express, who has joined the board of its DHL-Sinotrans joint venture in that country. DHL and Sinotrans, the largest logistics firm in China, have partnered for 24 years, Allen will work closely with Jerry Hsu, president of DHL Express Greater China, to take advanta...

DHL Global Forwarding said it has launched a weekly less-than-containerload service from Auckland, New Zealand, to Singapore, where shipments can be transshipped around the world. The direct service will provide customers with faster transit times, the company said. The service will be operated by Danmar Lines, DHL’s in-house non-vessel operating common carrier. DHL, which handles...

Global container terminal operators had their "toughest year ever" in 2009, said Drewry Shipping Consultants. But in a few years terminals may once again face a capacity crunch, the London-based consultants said in a summary of its Annual Review of Global Container Terminal Operators 2010. "Global economic trends meant that container throughput at the world’s ports fell for the first ...

Maersk said Friday it will further raise transatlantic rates on Oct. 1, as part of a plan announced at the end of last year. The routes and rate increases are: • North Europe/United States, eastbound and westbound, $250 per 20-foot dry container, $350 per 40-foot dry container, and $500 for 40-foot reefer boxes. • North Europe/Canada, eastbound and westbound, $250 per 20-foot dry ...

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it has closed its investigation into the proposed merger of UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, and Continental Airlines, effectively allowing the merger to proceed. The decision by United, the third-largest U.S. carrier, and Continental, the fourth-largest, to transfer takeoff and landing slots and other assets at Newark Liberty Airport in New Je...

The U.S. Trade and Development Agency has awarded the Paraguayan government a $391,000 grant to update its aviation master plan and to position the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport for potential concession. The South American country’s goal is to improve passenger service and increase operational efficiency. The master plan will offer potential business opportunities to U.S. airpor...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will allow, under certain conditions, the commercial import of fresh mango fruit from Pakistan into the United States. Based on the findings of a pest risk analysis, APHIS has determined the application of one or more phytosanitary measures will be sufficient to mitigate the risk of introducing certain plant p...

The Georgia Ports Authority said the largest vessel ever to call on the Port of Savannah arrived Friday when the 8,500-TEU CMA CGM Figaro docked at Garden City Terminal. The port authority’s Executive Director Curtis J. Foltz said the ship's arrival was "a view into the future of shipping between Asia and the U.S. East Coast," once the new locks on the Panama Canal become operational in 2...

Container carrier Zim said it had second quarter net income of $3 million compared to a $186 million loss in the second quarter of 2009. The Israeli carrier said revenue for the quarter ending June 30 was $933 million, 72 percent higher than the $543 million in the comparable quarter of 2009. Average freight rates in the second quarter was $1,328 per TEU, 26 percent higher than the $1...

The International Association of Independent Tanker Owners said its council will be invited at its October meeting to appoint Joseph “Joe” Angelo as managing director, to succeed Peter Swift as managing director when he retires Dec. 31. In addition, Katharina “Kathi” Stanzel has been named deputy managing director. Intertanko membership is open to non-oil companies and non-state-contr...

Intermodal volumes hit their highest point ever last week according to the American Association of Railroads. AAR said 236,406 trailers and containers moved on U.S. railroads, a 22.4 percent increase from the same week in 2009 and up 2.6 percent compared with 2008. 2008 may be the more significant comparison considering that the recession had yet to take full hold and freight demand ...

Freight Handlers, a provider of unloading and product handling services, promoted Ryan Wall to president and chief operating officer. Wall, formerly chief leadership officer, will report to Chuck Wall, co-chairman, chief executive officer and founder of the Fuquay-Varina, N.C.-based company. Ryan Wall succeeds J.B. Wall, who now holds the positions of principal and co-chairwoman. He j...

The U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) on Thursday announced a list of 14 proposals it says would strengthen the administration of the nation’s antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Antidumping (AD) duties are levied on foreign firms that are investigated and found to sell their products in the United States at prices below their home market price or c...

Australia-based global logistics company Toll Group said its operating profits rose 7 percent to $413 million in the financial year ending June 30. Revenue for the company, parent of Toll Global Logistics (TGL), also rose 7 percent to $5.7 billion. The TGL business saw operating profit increase 10.9 percent to $89 million, despite revenue decreasing 6.3 percent to $1.1 billion. Its forwar...

Savi Technology, a Lockheed Martin company and provider of wireless supply chain technologies, appointed William Clark to senior vice president and chief marketing officer. Clark has more than 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the technology market. He was executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Deltek. He has also held senior management positions at Novell...

Vestas-American Wind Technology Inc. has placed Torben Andersen in charge of its supply chain management. The company is the North American subsidiary of global wind turbine maker Vestas, based in Denmark. Andersen was chief operating officer for Vestas in Beijing. He has held other senior management positions at Vestas in China and Indonesia in recent years, according to North Americ...

A federal judge ruled Thursday that contentious components of the Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program -- including an employee-driver mandate for drayage companies -- were legal. It is a huge victory for the port and a major defeat for the American Trucking Association, which had filed suit against the port in 2008, alleging the clean truck plan violated the interstate commerce clause...

The Port of Jacksonville said Thursday that Rick Ferrin has stepped down as executive director. Ferrin The agency's board of directors named Chris Kauffmann, chief operating officer, as interim executive director, and asked port management to initiate the search for a permanent successor to Ferrin. Ferrin, who has led the port for 13 years, will "serve in a new position where he will e...

Ocean carrier NYK Line said last week is has withdrawn from all trades involving Iran. The decision was made in consideration of “the current political and business difficulties related to Iran,” the line said in a customer notice. “All services to Iran have been suspended and cargo in-transit to Iran by NYK equipment is also not allowed.” On Thursday, the line also said it has formal...

The Maritime Cabotage Task Force said Wednesday its members remain committed to the oil cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. While the Deepwater Horizon well has been capped, it’s estimated that 1 million barrels of oil from the spill may remain in the Gulf waters. “The need for considerable cleanup effort remains,” said Mark Ruge, counsel to the Washington-based task force. “The U.S. marit...

Two Scandinavian carriers said Thursday they are jointly transporting a shipment of iron ore from northern Norway to China via Russian and Arctic waters, the so-called Northern Sea Route. Tschudi Shipping Co. and Danish Nordic Bulk Carriers are working in partnership with Russian Rosatomflot (the Russian national ice-breaking fleet), to provide two icebreaking vessels to escort the bulk c...

The Greenbrier Cos. said Wednesday it has received orders for more than 1,000 new double-stack intermodal platforms, and will also re-engineer and modify about 1,100 double-stack platforms to carry 53-foot containers. Value of the new railcar orders and refurbishment work is about $130 million. The company also has orders for more than 700 new covered hopper cars, but is in discussion...

Greatwide Logistics Services has named former Con-way executive Tyler Ellison group president of transportation management and sales, the company said last week. Ellison spent the past two years as president of Con-way Multimodal, which continued to increase revenue and profits during the recession, according to Greatwide. Con-way Multimodal provides shippers access to a range of managed ...

Iron ore shipments for U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes totaled 6 million net tons in July, a nominal increase compared to June. The Lake Carriers’ Association (LCA) said the volume was a 72 percent increase over a year ago, although loadings were down about 6 percent compared to the month’s five-year average. “July loadings at U.S. ports increased 70 percent compared to ...

Matsuda The American Society of Transportation and Logistics said Maritime Administrator David T. Matsuda will deliver the opening keynote address at the Yangtze Mississippi Strategic Cooperation Forum in Chongqing, China on Oct. 18. The forum will include discussions about inland waterways transportation and economic development. The forum is jointly organized by the American Society ...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has finalized interim entry rules for certain softwood lumber products exported from any country into the United States. The final rule implements Title VIII (Softwood Lumber Act of 2008) of the 1930 Tariff Act, which requires the White House to create and maintain an importer declaration program for the import of certain softwood lumber and softwood lum...

The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday that Maj. Gen. Kevin A. Leonard has been appointed to commanding general of the Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC). Leonard replaces Maj. Gen. James L. Hodge, who will command the Sustainment Center of Excellence at Fort Lee, Va. Hodge took command of SDDC June 30, 2008. Leonard has served in a variety of joint and oper...

Weber Distribution, a Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based third party logistics services provider, has appointed Carl W. Neverman to vice president of client solutions for the confectionary industry. Neverman has more than 30 years in the logistics industry, 17 with Weber. In his new role, he will be responsible for developing new business and managing the needs of Weber’s confectionary accoun...

Containerships will continue to operate at slower speeds even as the economy improves, Maersk Line said in an article for its weekly newsletter. “Maersk Line will continue slow steaming even as market conditions turn to the better –-- slow steaming is here to stay,” says Morten Engelstoft, chief operational officer. Maersk said in 2007 it began slow steaming, a practice that "involves...

Chilean carrier CSAV said Tuesday it will commence a new service in mid-September connecting the Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia and key ports in China with Long Beach. The standalone service, offered by the line’s CSAV Norasia subsidiary, will operate with 11 3,500-TEUs vessels provided by CSAV. It is a unique service in that it will provide direct connection from four ports in the I...

Ocean carrier Mediterranean Shipping Co. said Tuesday it is rearranging the rotation of its North Atlantic service between Northern Europe and the U.S. East Coast. From Aug. 28, the westbound leg of the service will call first at New York from Europe. Previously, Boston was called prior to New York. The new rotation will be Bremerhaven, Felixstowe, Antwerp, Le Havre, New York, Boston,...

Intermarine said it had taken delivery of the first in a series of multipurpose, heavy-lift ships. Industrial Freedom is the first of four “F Class” ships the company is having built in China. The 14,1000-deadweight-ton ships each have two 400-metric-ton cranes, combinable for 800-ton lifts, and one 80-ton standard crane. The have a "house forward" design to give greater flexibili...

A senior executive at Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co. told Bloomberg news service Monday the company plans to achieve 30 percent of its sales, or about $7.5 billion, from wind turbine manufacturing and sales by 2020. Currently, the South Korean industrial giant generates 99 percent of its revenue from ship and offshore equipment construction. Koh Young Youl, Daewoo’s chie...

CEVA Logistics, a large global supply chain management company, said last week it is offering an express cross-border transportation service for the oil and gas industry between the U.S. Gulf Coast and Alberta, Canada. The third-party logistics provider already offers project cargo transport from Mexico to Ontario in its role as a freight forwarder that hires specialized trucking companie...

Ryder System said Anthony G. Tegnelia, president of global fleet management solutions, will retire March 1, 2011 after more than 33 years with the company. Starting Sept. 1, Tegnelia will be officially succeeded in his role by Robert E. Sanchez, who has served as Ryder’s executive vice president and chief financial officer since October 2007. Sanchez has been with Ryder for 17 years. ...

Longistics, a Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based third party logistics firm, has appointed Lou Tapper to vice president of global business development. In this role, Tapper will manage the global marketing and sales strategy for Longistics as the company expands into emerging markets. He will also oversee the marketing sales operations for Longistics. Tapper brings 18 years of experie...

Container line Hapag-Lloyd has joined a Far East/Australia service operated by ANL, China Shipping and OOCL, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data. Hapag-Lloyd has become a slot buyer on the AANA service, which has a rotation of Yokohama, Osaka, Busan, Shanghai, Ningbo, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Yokohama. The service is operated with five ves...

Danaos Corp. said Monday it took delivery of two ships earlier this month, boosting its fleet to 49 ships. The ships will be chartered to France's CMA CGM and Taiwan's Yang Ming, both existing Danaos customers. The CMA CGM Racine, built at Sungdong Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, and the YM Maturity, built at Hanjin Heavy Industries & Construction Co., have carrying capacities of 6...

Hapag-Lloyd will add a vessel to its Mediterranean Gulf (MGX) service in September, according to a release Monday from the Port of New Orleans, one of the ports the service calls. The service, which Hapag-Lloyd runs in concert with CSAV, operates with six vessels averaging 3,323 TEUs, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data. In September, the service will go to seven vessels....

Mediterranean Shipping Co. said Monday it is raising rates on all shipments from Southeast Asia to Australia beginning Oct. 1. The increase, $300 per container, applies to container moving from ports in Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia to all Australian ports. ...

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Federal Aviation Administration on Monday gave Nigeria its top rating for aviation safety. The African country has achieved a Category 1 rating under the FAA’s International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) program, which means Nigeria complies with international safety standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization. ICAO is the United...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin will host a conference with other agencies and select members of the trade community to discuss ways to ensure the safety of imports, a CBP spokesperson confirmed. The event is billed as a roundtable discussion among agency heads to improve interagency collaboration and communication for the purpose of stopping unsafe imports fro...

Xe Services, the private security contractor formerly known as Blackwater, has agreed to pay $42 million to settle charges of violating arms export control laws, the State Department said Monday. The department said Xe committed 288 violations of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations involving the unauthorized export of defense items and provision of defense services to foreign-en...

The California State Assembly last week passed a resolution urging the federal government to create a national freight policy, adding to the chorus of those seeking such a framework to upgrade and secure the nation’s goods movement network. The resolution, SJR 33, specifically asks U.S. Congress to adopt a uniform federal interest in improving the flow of cargo through California’s airpor...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has significantly increased its license fees under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (PACA), effective Oct. 1. Specifically, annual license fees of $550 will be raised to $995. Fees for branch locations are increased from $200 for branch locations in excess of nine, to $600 for each branch location. The maximum amount a licensee will pay per ye...

COSCO Pacific, which has interests in some 21 terminals in China and around the world, said it had revenue of $222.7 million in the first half of 2010, 40 percent more than in the same 2009 period. Throughput at those terminals was 22.4 million TEUs, 18.7 percent more than in the same 2009 period. The company pointed to a forecast by China's Ministry of Transport that China’s containe...

The Port of New Orleans saw a 60 percent increase in containerized volume in the first half of 2010, the port said Monday. The port handled more than 200,000 TEUs through June and said it is on pace to top 400,000 TEUs for the year at the Napoleon Avenue Container Terminal in 2010. The port said it expects to augment capacity by adding two container gantry cranes in early 2011, and $1...