New threat to Croatian shipyards CROATIA has been warned it could face resistance from foreign customers and suppliers to a plan to restructure its debt-laden shipbuilding industry.
Missile parts 'found on ship' TURKISH officials yesterday claimed to have found what could be missile parts on a Maltese-flagged cargoship transiting the Dardanelles.
New York in free trade zone drive A NEW drive to attract European firms to its foreign trade zone has been launched by the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Anti-Indonesian protest About 200 East Timorese students shout "Viva Timor lest [East Timor]" yesterday in an anti-Indonesian protest at the East Timor University campus in Dili. They said they would suspend demonstrations demanding a referendum on independence from Indonesian rule while they waited for the results of talks with regional legislators.
US Navy ship repair work under review A REVIEW of US Navy policies and procedures for allocating shiprepair work to public and private shipyards has been launched by the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of the US Congress.
Firms win reserve force deals A TOTAL of 39 "performance-based" contracts worth some $1.1bn over the next five years have been awarded to 10 shipping firms for the management of 89 US Maritime Administration Ready Reserve Force vessels, writes Joel Glass.
New rules for EU safety training EUROPEAN Union ministers are to be asked to pass a European Directive harmonising examination requirements for safety advisers on the transport of dangerous goods across Europe.
Piracy risk highest in Asian waters SOUTHEAST Asia remains the most dangerous area for merchant shipping, according to the latest monthly report from the Maritime Liaison Office, although several incidents in northern Europe were also reported.
Saint John sugar refinery to close THE sugar refinery at the Canadian port of Saint John, New Brunswick, is to close next year because of overcapacity in the industry.
Shell warns of Y2K problems "DONT expect to get away without problems in the year 2000," warned Malcolm Gosling of Shell Trading & Shipping at the Meeting the Challenge of the Year 2000 conference today.
Aker RGI chief wants controlling stake KJELL Inge Rokke, chairman of the Norwegian investment company Aker RGI, wants to become majority shareholder of the company.
Hong Kong's exports drop sharply HONG Kong's exports to Japan, Singapore and several European countries with weaker economies recorded double digit falls in the first quarter of the year.
Germans buy Credit Bank's shipping arm DEUTSCHE VerkehrsBank has bought the international ship and aircraft financing portfolio of The Long-Term Credit Bank of Japan.
S&P downgrades Pegasus Shipping STANDARD & Poor's has lowered its corporate credit and senior secured debt ratings on Pegasus Shipping (Hellas) to single 'B' minus from single 'B'.
Millennium bug 'could herald Asian meltdown' "THE Millennium bug could be the last straw effectively triggering total economic meltdown in the Far East," according to Robin Guenier, chairman of Taskforce 2000.
Navy commander to head Sri Lanka's ports A FORMER Sri Lanka Navy commander has been appointed head of the country's port authority.
Crowley reported to be breaking cabotage laws BRAZIL'S government is reported to be investigating reports from local shipowners that Crowley Maritime is breaking Mercosur's cabotage laws.
Blue Star rewarded for air sampling BLUE Star Line has been presented with a prestigious Environmental Hero Award by the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.
Clearing agents cause cargo chaos CARGO clearance work has come to a halt at Mumbai and Jawaharlal Nehru ports on India's west coast following an indefinite strike by clearing and forwarding agents.
Study to assess deepening of the Columbia River A STUDY into the feasibility of deepening the Columbia River's navigation channel from 40 ft to 43 ft has been sponsored by the states of Washington and Oregon.
Kandla Port chairman details cyclone damage A CYCLONE that hit the Indian port of Kandla last week caused Rs2bn ($48m) damage, according to the Port Trust's chairman.
India launches rescue for drifting tanker INDIA'S Coast Guard has launched an operation to save an oil tanker adrift in the Bay of Bengal, 120 nautical miles off the coast at Chennai.
Woman dies in attempt to re-enact film scene A NORWEGIAN woman in her thirties is presumed dead after an attempt to restage a scene from the Hollywood film Titanic had turned sour.
Italian cabotage consortium breaks up LINEE Marittime Veloci, a consortium of 11 private Italian lines providing regular ferry services in the Gulf of Naples, has ceased operating after just one year's operation.
TACA: 1,2 mia. de BEF d'amende par armement? Selon certaines sources, le DG IV envisage d'imposer des amendes aux membres du TACA qui s'élèveraieent à 35 mio. de dollars (1,2 mia. de BEF) par armement, du moins pour les plus grands. Ce lundi, un comité s'est réuni afin de déterminer s'il fallait soutenir cette proposition. Par la suite, c'est le collège des commissaires européens qui devra se prononcer. On ne peut donc prédire si ce montant sera maintenu ou ramené à des proportions plus modestes, mais quoi qu'il en soit, les membres du TACA entameront une procédure d'appel.
Les inspections "mobiles"ne doivent pas perturber la concurrence Jeudi prochain, les ministres européens des Transports discuteront pour la première fois de la proposition de la Commission européenne pour l'introduction d'inspections techniques par sondage le long des routes. Les ministres ne peuvent conclure qu'un accord politique, le Parlement européen devant encore se prononcer.
Le Transitforum menace de bloquer à nouveau le Brenner L'association Transitforum, qui réunit des écologistes et des communes bordant l'autoroute du Brenner en Autriche, menace de bloquer à nouveau cette liaison transalpine si ses exigences ne sont pas satisfaites. 7.000 membres de l'association ont bloqué le trafic des camions par le Brenner vendredi et samedi dernier, avec l'assentiment des autorités politiques du Tyrol. Le trafic de voitures de tourisme n'a pas été entravé.
L'Euro: un avantage pour le port d'Anvers Au cours de la récente mission portuaire anversoise, qui fit successivement escale à New York, Chicago et Montréal, il fut question çà et là au cours de rencontres avec des représentants de divers milieux impliqués dans les transports maritimes de l'impact éventuel de l'euro, la future devise unique européenne.
Newcastle takes the Toll way Toll Port Logistics and R&H Transport have been selected for the development of a multimillion dollar cargo distribution centre at the port of Newcastle's Eastern Basin. As part of the centre, a 5600 square-metre warehouse complex and a dedicated rail spur will be built as part of stage one, catering specifically for general cargo and specialised container trades.
Half of Patrick's workers could go The real cost of the dispute between Patrick and the Maritime Union of Australia will hit home this week with as many as half of Patrick's workers affected. Members of the MUA as well as their supervisors who belong to the Australian Maritime Officers union will feel the effect of the changes.
Levy bills dubious says MUA MUA national secretary John Coombs believes forthcoming Patrick waterfront redundancies should be paid for out of the company's available funds or if that was not possible, by reinstituting and modifying the recently suspended Stevedoring Industry Levy collected by the Stevedoring Industry Finance Committee on container and bulk cargo movements.
Lang Corp profits take a big dive Lang Corp has posted a $26.1 million net loss - including abnormals - for the six months ended March 31, which compares to profit of $15.1 million in the previous corresponding period. Even without abnormals the company posted a $1.1 million loss. Lang said the result for the Patrick Stevedoring operations for the current period were lower than last year's result and it blamed this on inefficient work practices the company's inability to deal commercially with loss-making activities and high levels of industrial disputation.
Leave us out says Sea-Land In its Senate Inquiry submission, Sea-Land Terminals noted that the bills were designed to raise funds for loans of around $250 million to the major stevedores to cover the cost of redundancy payouts to their waterside workforces as part of the waterfront reform process. Sea Land said that as it ran an efficient operation in Adelaide, it did not need or intend to rationalise its workforce there.
The nation is now served by four Class 1 railroads - CSX, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. The Surface Transportation Board's approval of the $10.2 billion carve-up of the 10,700-mile Conrail system to NS and CSX shrinks the nation's major roads to a foursome. In STB Chairman Linda Morgan's words, this move is the "next step in restructuring rail service." Captive shippers hope it isn't merely the next step in shoddy rail service, in the wake of the problems associated with the UP's recent absorption of Southern Pacific. CSX and NS officials swear it isn't, insisting it means as much as $1 billion in net benefits in selective freight-rate reductions.
The $217 billion TEA-21, for Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century, is law. Among the big winners could be the intermodal industry. TEA-21 instructs state highway departments and metropolitan planning organizations to direct an unspecified sum to improve 1,925 miles of road links between major highways, rail yards, marine terminals and airports. These intermodal connectors are "choke points" of freight transportation arteries, intermodal officials say.
Preston Trucking Co. is going private in a management buy-out by three of its top executives after five years under the aegis of Yellow Corp. Preston eked out a $100,000 profit last year, its first profitable year as a Yellow subsidiary. Led by its president, David J. Letke, the "new" Preston hopes to build lane density and freight volumes to provide a profitable mix. Preston officials were in Chicago meeting with the Teamsters union over a contract that most likely would continue to keep Preston's 3,500 Teamsters operating under a wage differential from the remainder of the unionized freight work force.
The Canadian Transportation Agency's ruling on the dispute between the Canadian Wheat Board and Canadian Pacific Railroad will not be handed down until Sept. 30. A three-month delay was granted in the dispute that goes back to early 1997, when heavy snow blocked CP's mainline for days. The Wheat Board claims CP gave grain second-class treatment after the storm and is hoping the CTA's ruling will pave the way for a lawsuit against the railroad.
Today, Philadelphia's Holt shipping empire is much different from what it was when it began with just one man, one truck and one family in 1926. Nowadays, the reach of Thomas Holt and his family stretches south to South America and east to Europe. While other U.S. shipping companies have been cutting back and are in retreat, the Holt companies have been expanding and forging ahead.
Couriers beware. The Federal Aviation Administration isn't finished with you yet. In a report released after an exhaustive review by the FAA and DOT's inspector general's office, compliance is still not nearly where it is supposed to be. In two rounds of tests, airlines improved dramatically in fine-tuning their procedures for acceptance of courier shipments, but couriers still were not up to par on rules governing accepting packages from shippers or tendering them to airlines. A third round of spot checks by the FAA is forthcoming.
It has been one year since retired Vice Adm. Edward. M. Straw left his post as director of the Defense Logistics Agency to take the helm of Ryder Integrated Logistics. Straw is candid about what he found to be RIL's strengths and weaknesses. He was impressed with RIL's operational expertise and dedicated staff. But he also found a company that had built too many "unique solutions" for its customers. RIL's operations were structured geographically, with each office responsible for supplying all services to customers. Straw has refocused RIL toward specific industries and boosted staff training. RIL also is getting a new technology solution -- i2 Technologies' supply-chain software - to complement alliances with Andersen Consulting and IBM Global Services.
With the blending of its warehouse and transportation products completed, McHugh Software International is extending its reach through acquisition, partnerships and overseas expansion. The Waukesha, Wis.-based company recently launched a dedicated European operation and acquired Gagnon & Associates, a Minneapolis-based supplier of labor management software and industrial engineering consulting services.
After years of being eclipsed by Halifax and East Coast U.S. ports in the high-profile container trade, the Port of Saint John, New Brunswick, is teaming up with three railways in a bid to get back into the box business.
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