Summary for May 26 - May 30, 2008:
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Monday, May 26, 2008
Memorial Day, no Today's Cargo News Tuesday, May 27, 2008 ATA April Truck Tonnage Index falls 1.1%ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello said the upward revision to March’s tonnage was very positive, but warned that freight remains mixed. “Truck tonnage hasn’t grown since January of this year on a month-to-month basis, suggesting the overall economy remains very soft,” he said. Costello added that rapidly rising fuel prices are by far a bigger problem for the motor carrier industry than freight volumes. “Surging fuel prices are weighing heavily on consumers,” he said. Trucking serves as a barometer of the U.S. economy because it represents nearly 70% of tonnage carried by all modes of domestic freight transportation, including manufactured and retail goods. Carriers with at least five trucks are going out of business at an accelerating pace. In the first quarter, 935 of these larger operators shut down, the ATA reported, up from 385 a year earlier and the highest quarterly failure rate since the 2001 recession. Website: American Trucking Associations http://www.truckline.comAPL opens redesigned Oakland terminalAPL, a leading global container shipping line, last week celebrated completion of two years of reconstruction at its Oakland, Calif., marine terminal, doubling cargo-handling capacity without expanding its footprint. The project has also improved terminal operating efficiency, permitting future cargo volume growth in Oakland while minimizing environmental consequences, APL said. The company renamed its terminal Golden Gateway Central in the ceremony attended by Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums and others. The $68 million renovation, jointly funded by APL and the Port of Oakland, is the outgrowth of a long-term lease extension signed by the carrier in 2006. It’s expected to have significant impact for the port and the city of Oakland. For example, by adding capacity, APL said, additional shipping services can now be routed into Oakland. That would mean additional jobs for the city. APL currently employs 500 people in Oakland. Global Gateway Central is one of four marine terminals operated by the company in the U.S. The others are located in Los Angeles, Seattle and Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Website: APL http://www.apl.comAker begins shuttle tanker productionAKER AMERICAN Shipping May 27 began production of the company’s first shuttle tanker. When this vessel is completed, Aker American Shipping will become the first company in the United States to own a U.S. flag shuttle tanker for use in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico, an area within jurisdiction of the Jones Act. This double-hulled, environmentally friendly tanker, which will be fitted with additional equipment to increase maneuverability, will receive oil from floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessels and transport it from deepwater areas without pipeline access to refineries on the Gulf Coast. “With the increasing demand for oil, and considerable resources in the Gulf of Mexico, this tanker will be an important part of the United States’ energy infrastructure,” said Rob Kurz, Aker American Shipping president. “Shuttle tankers represent an exciting new market, and we are looking forward to opportunities to own more of these vessels,” Kurz continued. Upon completion, Aker American Shipping will lease the vessel to OSG America, which has in turn time-chartered the vessel to Petrobras America Inc. for use in transporting crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Website: Aker American Shipping Wednesday, May 28, 2008 DHL, UPS in agreementUnder the plan, DHL and UPS have agreed to develop a contract whereby UPS will provide air uplift for DHL Express U.S. domestic and international shipments within North America. In addition, DHL will align its U.S. Express infrastructure to existing shipment volumes by redesigning its ground line haul network to better match capacity with customer requirements. The impact on service levels will be minimal with less than 4% of shipments affected, Deutsche Post said. In 2008, the company expects an underlying EBIT loss of $1.3 billion in U.S. Express. Through the expected cost savings of around $800 million in 2010 and around $1 billion in 2011, the underlying EBIT will improve accordingly, the company said. The agreement, when finalized, would be expected to extend for 10 years and produce up to $1 billion in additional annual revenue for UPS. The company said it would begin phasing in a limited amount of volume in 2008 with ramp up in 2009. Websites: DHL U.S. Express UPS http://www.ups.comCrowley marks 400,000th Toyota to Puerto RicoCROWLEY Maritime Corp. in a news release said that its liner services group last week in Puerto Rico unloaded the 400,000th Toyota vehicle the company has transported to the island for the automaker since 1994, when the two companies began their exclusive partnership. “Crowley prides itself on having the number one team of auto transportation specialists in the market, which is the reason why Toyota of Puerto Rico has exclusively trusted us to transport vehicles from the United States for the past 14 years,” said Roberto Lugo, Crowley’s vice president of Puerto Rico services. Crowley has consistently maintained the high quality logistics and security standards needed to transport automobiles during this longstanding partnership, the company said. As a testament, Toyota Logistics Services has awarded Crowley with six consecutive Excellence in Service awards. Jacksonville-based Crowley Maritime Corporation, founded in San Francisco in 1892, is a privately held family- and employee-owned company that provides diversified transportation and logistics services in domestic and international markets. Website: Crowley Maritime Corp. http://www.crowley.comABF endorses ATA sustainable future programABF FREIGHT System Inc. May 27 announced its support of a sustainability program to reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. Introduced by the American Trucking Associations, the far-reaching program of initiatives is designed to provide essential freight transportation services to the North American economy while reducing societal impact under the banner “Trucks Deliver a Cleaner Tomorrow.” “Because ABF implemented many of the program’s initiatives more than 30 years ago, we can attest to the numerous benefits that accrue from widespread adoption of these measures,” said Bob Davidson, ABF president and CEO. “Since 1976, ABF has voluntarily limited the maximum speed of its trucks, which reduces fuel consumption and emissions, partially offsets fuel economy degradation of the newer engines, and contributes to our impressive safety record.” continued Davidson. “By limiting our trucks to a maximum speed of 62 mph, each ABF truck annually emits 33.5 fewer tons of carbon dioxide than identical trucks operating at 68 mph,” said Gary Hunt, ABF vice president, equipment and maintenance. The ATA is committing itself to a series of measures that together can reduce fuel consumption by 86 billion gallons and CO2 emissions of all vehicles by 900 million tons in the next 10 years. Website: ABF Freight System Inc. Thursday, May 29, 2008 International Transport Forum 2008 opensMore than 600 attendees from politics, industry, science and civil society will focus on important strategic transport issues at the three-day event. It is the only global platform for transport ministers, the organizers said. “The transport sector is facing a most difficult challenge, as it must find the right balance between strengthening transport and trade on one hand and reducing transport-related greenhouse gases and dependence on crude oil on the other hand,” said Jack Short, secretary general of the forum. Transport ministers and senior officials from 52 countries are participating in the forum. An exhibition on energy and transport as well as numerous other events are taking place simultaneously with the forum. A detailed program can be found at www.internationaltransportforum.org/forum2008.html. The winners of a competition for young scientists who have devoted their research to the reduction of greenhouse emissions will also be announced in the presence of the transport ministers at the gala dinner May 29. EPA honorees include LA/LB ports, Foss MaritimeTHE TWIN ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles as well as Foss Maritime Co. are among the 11 winners of the eighth annual Clean Air Excellence Awards by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This year’s award winners will be recognized by the EPA for their outstanding accomplishments in improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., the EPA announced May 28. This year’s Southern California winner is for regulatory policy innovations at the Port of Long Beach and the Port of Los Angeles. The ports developed the five-year San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, which outlines strategies to reduce air emissions and associated health risks from port-related sources. The ultimate goal for the ports is to reduce emissions and associated health risks from heavy-duty vehicles, oceangoing vessels, cargo-handling equipment, harbor craft and railroad locomotives involved in port operations. Seattle-based Foss Maritime Co. is being honored for introducing the first hybrid tugboat that uses a diesel engine and batteries to run more efficiently, the announcement said.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency http://www.epa.gov/air/caaac/recipients.htmlKuehne + Nagel support Legrand in AlgeriaKUEHNE + NAGEL, one of the world’s leading logistics companies, May 29 announced that it has been awarded a contract by Legrand, the global specialist in products and systems for electrical installations and information networks, to handle the supply of its products to clients in Algeria. Under the terms of the new agreement, Kuehne + Nagel is entrusted with the end-to-end physical flows management of goods out of Legrand’s in-house international distribution center at Verneuil-en-Halatte, Picardy / France, to customers in Algeria. The solution implemented and managed by Kuehne + Nagel includes pick-up of containers and isolated pallets, road shuttling to Marseille port, LCL (less than container load) consolidation and transport by sea to Algiers, as well as customs and import declarations management. “This partnership with Legrand will allow us to expand and strengthen the management of goods flows between Europe and the Maghreb countries Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, one of our strategic development areas for the coming years,” said Tobias Jerschke, a senior vice president for K + N. Web site: Kuehne + Nagel http://www.kuehne-nagel.comFriday, May 30, 2008 Weyerhaeuser may sell shipping line, railroadsFederal Way, WA.–based Weyerhaeuser said it has not confirmed a timetable for completing this process. During the transition, Westwood Shipping Line will continue full operations, including serving customers in more than 20 ports in Japan, Korea, China and North America with a fixed-day, weekly sailing schedule, the company said. Westwood is a wholly owned subsidiary that operates four ConBulk vessels used by customers to ship forest products and containerized and oversized cargo. The company’s four short line railroads are the DeQueen & Eastern; Columbia & Cowlitz; MSV; and Golden Triangle railroads. Weyerhaeuser uses the four short line railroads primarily to service mills in Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi and Washington. In addition, some third-party customers also use the lines for select transportation needs. Web site: Weyerhaeuser Co. http://www.weyerhaeuser.comPort of LA releases draft SEIS/EIR reportTHE PORT of Los Angeles, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has released the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement/Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIS/SEIR) for the proposed Pacific LA Marine Terminal LLC Project on Pier 400. The release of the draft document begins a two-month public-comment period that will end at 6:00 p.m. on July 29. The terminal project will “will help Southern California meet its rising demand for oil while conforming to environmental and security regulations that would be among the strictest ever imposed on an oil facility in San Pedro Bay,” port authorities said. The new terminal would be the only crude-oil terminal in Southern California capable of accommodating fully loaded, deep-draft, very large crude carrier (VLCC) oil tankers and would enable the tankers to off-load their oil more efficiently, reducing impacts on air quality, water quality and marine transportation. The port will also hold a public meeting at the Port Administration Building in San Pedro on June 26 at 6:00 p.m., at which port staff will present an overview of the proposed project and receive public comments. Website: Port of Los Angeles http://portoflosangeles.orgCummins president/COO retiresCummins Inc. May 29 announced that Joe Loughrey, president and COO, will retire from Cummins in March 2009. Effective this Aug. 1, Loughrey will become Cummins vice chairman and remain a member of the Board of Directors until his retirement. Loughrey has been president and COO of Cummins, the world’s largest independent diesel engine manufacturer, since May 2005. During Loughrey’s career, Cummins — based in Columbus, Ind. — has grown into a Fortune 250 company that serves customers in more than 190 countries and territories through a network of 5,000 distributor and dealer locations. Loughrey, who also serves on the company’s Board of Directors and on the Board of the Cummins Foundation, joined Cummins in 1974. “Joe’s 35 years with the company provide us with a remarkable legacy,” said Tim Solso, Cummins chairman and CEO. “Without his tireless efforts, his unrelenting pursuit of excellence and his extraordinary personal commitment to Cummins, the company would not have achieved the success it has today.” Website: Cummins Inc. http://www.cummins.com |