Cargo Business Newswire Archives
Summary for August 22- August 26, 2011:
Submit Your Press
Releases Here!

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Top Story

India to pour $60 billion into ports

India will invest $60 billion in its ports by 2020. The move, spurred by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is a part of his $1 trillion plan to improve India’s transport infrastructure, easing perpetually clogged ports to spur economic growth. His ambitious goal is to raise India’s GDP gains by an unprecedented 10 percent within a decade, to compete with China on a level playing field.

DP World Ltd. and AP Moller-Maersk A/S have invested in the P.M.’s plan to deepen berths to facilitate large container ships and raise India’s cargo capacity from the current 963 million tons to 3.1 billion tons by 2020, significantly increasing traffic and the country’s import/export capability.

- Bloomberg

Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Maersk, NOL may lower U.S. holiday surcharge

Due to high fuel prices and lower-than-expected retail orders, container lines may fall under their holiday and back-to-school projections on Asia-U.S. routes.

Peak season surcharges from A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, Neptune Orient Lines Ltd.’s APL Ltd. and other container lines usually start in June. This year they were postponed until mid-August due to excess capacity. It’s possible the lines will not receive the $400 per 40-foot-box charge they anticipated on shipments to West Coast ports.

- Bloomberg

Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com

China Shipping executive jumps ship to Cosco Group

Ma Zehua, vice president of China Shipping Group has been named managing director of the board of directors of China Ocean Shipping Co., or Cosco. Ma, who left Cosco in 2006 to take a job with China Shipping Group, is returning to the state owned shipping giant at a time of weak global trade, in hopes he will help strengthen company management.

- Fox Business

Read the full story: www.foxbusiness.com

POLA/POLB have highest cargo growth potential

Of all U.S. ports, the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have the best chance for global cargo growth, according to the Jones Lang LaSalle seaport index. The international commercial real estate brokerage rated the 12 busiest U.S. ports on a number of factors, such as cargo volume and investment in distribution and warehouse resources.

- Los Angeles Times

Read the full story: latimesblogs.latimes.com

Ancient wine jars found on Roman ship

A U.S.-Albanian archaeological team discovered a well-preserved Roman cargo ship, which dates back to the 1st century B.C., off the Albanian coast. 300 wine jars, used to transport wine and oil, were found.

- Boston Globe

Read the full story: www.boston.com

 

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Top Story

U.S. oil reserves bypass domestic vessels

The Obama administration, in an attempt to move U.S. oil reserves fast to stimulate the economy, has allowed almost all the oil to ship on foreign-owned vessels, circumventing the Jones Act. U.S. ship owners are up in arms, saying the administration has waived the federal law 46 times, moving 30 million barrels of American crude within U.S. borders on foreign-flagged tankers. The domestic shippers claim it took potential work from at least 400 American sailors and 30 cargo ships, during a time of unprecedented unemployment in the country.

- New York Times

Read the full story: www.nytimes.com

U.S. road construction bill still alive

The White House is revisiting a stalled highway bill, shifting from the idea of a national infrastructure bank to a road construction bill that could get Americans to work more swiftly by utilizing existing programs. The Democrat-backed, two-year, $109 billion bill would maintain existing funding levels, and has support from labor and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The Republicans are countering with a six-year, $230 billion bill, reducing funding levels by a third and counting heavily on monies collected from the current federal gas tax.

- Wall Street Journal

Read the full story: online.wsj.com

COSCO to up investments in overseas ports

State-owned port operator and container leasing company COSCO Pacific Ltd plans to acquire more holdings in foreign ports, according to a company executive. COSCO Pacific plans to buy terminals from parent company China COSCO Holdings and others. Its latest target is the container terminal at Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s largest port.

- Reuters

Read the full story: www.reuters.com

Panama excavation on track for 2014

Excavation is well underway for the $5.25 billion Panama Canal project, which is projected to double the cargo that passes through it annually. The construction of the third, wider set of locks will affect global shipping stakeholders, opening the shortcut to more traffic and newer, 50 percent wider Panamax vessels. This is the Canal’s first expansion in its 100-year history, and its opening in 2014 is expected to significantly impact U.S. East Coast ports.

- New York Times

Read the full story: www.nytimes.com

2,000-year-old Roman port found in Wales

Archaeologists from Cardiff University uncovered a major 2,000-year-old port at Caerleon, an excavated Roman fortress discovered in Wales last year. Sitting on the banks of the River Usk, the well-preserved port remains include the main quay wall, landing platforms and wharves. The important find will help to define the role of Wales and Great Britain in the Roman Empire.

- BBC

Read the full story: www.bbc.co.uk

 

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Top Story

DP World profit soars

DP Worlds’s profit quadrupled year on year, from $176.6 million to $705.3 million, the company announced today. Dubai’s state-owned port operator sold its Australian operations for $1.5 billion, netting a $436 million gain from the deal. Discounting the Australian deal, the company netted $281 million from cargo growth alone, for a 36 percent profit gain. Cargo growth was attributed to cost cuts, traffic to new sites in China and Chile, and trade in the Americas, Asia and Africa.

-Bloomberg

Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Federal court: Chicago shipping locks stay open

A federal appeals court yesterday rejected a request by five Great Lakes states to close the Chicago shipping locks. The request was made on the basis that the locks were letting Asian Bighead Carp, an destructive invasive species, into Lake Michigan. The states wanted the feds to temporarily close the Chicago locks until a carp-control solution could be found. The court found that there was no imminent threat from the carp, and that it could not be proven that closing the locks would keep the fish out of Lake Michigan.

Asian carp are known to decimate native fish populations by outcompeting them for food. The states Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin sued the government to close the locks because of concerns the carp would negatively impact the region’s commercial and recreational fishing industries.

- Chicago Tribune

Read the full story: www.chicagotribune.com


U.S. trucker shortage indicates rise in cargo

The demand for trucked freight shipments is on the rise while the industry’s driver shortage threatens to span three years, potentially the longest shortage on record. If the trend continues at its current pace, by next year it will reflect a 10 percent shortfall in the long haul trucker workforce.

The good news is that because cargo demand has outstripped driver supply, it points to a recovery in the U.S. freight industry, which hit a low demand point in 2009 due to the recession.

Trucker salaries, currently $40K for entry-level long haul drivers and $70K for seasoned drivers, are expected to increase 30% by 2014. Federal safety regulations that limit driver work hours require companies to hire more employees. Adding these issues to costly emissions standards, increasing diesel prices and the average truck driver tenure of one year puts an added strain on the industry, making it harder to maintain its competition levels with rail.

- Bloomberg

Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Maersk cancels Syrian oil shipment

Citing U.S. sanctions and safety considerations, shipping and oil concern A.P. Moller-Maersk canceled an agreement to load naphtha this week at a Syrian refinery. Maersk is the first known company to quit doing oil deals with Syria, but others may follow suit as the European Union is expected to set their own sanctions on Syrian oil by the end of next week.

- Reuters

Read the full story: af.reuters.com

Invasive beetle revisits PONY/NJ

The U.S. Customs Service recently found invasive beetles in two shipments of Pakistani rice at the Ports of New York and New Jersey. The khapra beetle, which is a serious pest that feeds on dry grain, was a problem in the U.S. in the fifties and sixties before efforts to eradicate it proved successful.

- The Star Ledger (N.J.)

Read the full story: www.nj.com

 

Friday, August 26, 2011

Top Story

China to Sue ConocoPhillips Over Oil Spills

China’s State Oceanic Administration will sue U.S. oil company ConocoPhillips for two June oil spills in Bohai Bay, according to state news agency Xinhua. The spills happened in China’s largest offshore oilfield, Penglai 19-3, and involved 3200 barrels of oil and drilling fluid, spreading over 324 square miles. ConocoPhillips China operates Penglai. The spills have spread to local beaches and damaged fish farms, earning the wrath of Chinese environmentalists. The Chinese government response to the oil spill is a delicate matter, as it wants to attract more American oil companies to China.

- The New York Times

Read the full story: www.nytimes.com

Roadrunner to buy Private Logistics for $97.5M

Publicly traded trucking company Roadrunner Transportation Systems has agreed to buy Prime Logistics for $97.5 million. Roadrunner, based in Cudahy, WI, will gain better logistics and freight consolidation capacity from the deal. - Bloomberg Businessweek

Read the full story: www.businessweek.com

Brazil steelmaker’s port bid to quadruple ore output

Brazilian steelmaker Usiminas will bid for a lease on a $1 billion port terminal to be built in the state of Rio de Janeiro. The company, only one of several companies poised to bid on the state government lease, looks to quadruple its iron-ore production through the deal.

A 25 year-lease for 245,400 square meters in the Port of Itaguai will be leased to a dry bulk operator that has the capacity to build and operate the port terminal, to move 25 million metric tons a year. Usiminas, Brazil’s second largest steel producer, stands to gain the most from the potential lease arrangement, because they do not currently have dedicated port access.

- Bloomberg

Read the full story: www.bloomberg.com

Dynamic shipping container installation

An eye-catching shipping container building in Berlin showcased the Tommy Hilfiger brand for a fashion trade show. Made of recycled cargo containers, the stunning temporary structure was built by Artdepartment-Berlin. The containers were refurbished at Bootsmanufaktur, a shipyard that also rebuilds old boats.

Inhabit.com

Read the full story: inhabitat.com

Invasive beetle revisits PONY/NJ

The U.S. Customs Service recently found invasive beetles in two shipments of Pakistani rice at the Ports of New York and New Jersey. The khapra beetle, which is a serious pest that feeds on dry grain, was a problem in the U.S. in the fifties and sixties before efforts to eradicate it proved successful.

- The Star Ledger (N.J.)

Read the full story: www.nj.com





[ TOP ]