South Pacific demise hits Tasman trades TRANS-TASMAN trades ha-ve been left in chaos following the collapse this week of major operator South Pacific Shipping, which was in an alliance with P&O Nedlloyd.
NSB and DAL switch P&I clubs GERMANY'S Niederelbe Schi-ffahrt (NSB) and Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL) have not renewed their protection and indemnity insurance with the Liverpool & London P&I Club.
'Good year' for Miami despite finance turmoil THE busy Port of Miami was rocked last year by financial scandal and lost its long-time port director, yet 1997 proved "a very good year for the port", according to new recently-installed director Charles Towsley.
World steel output to fall WORLDWIDE steel production is forecast to fall during 1998 with Japan expected to lead the cutbacks, according to SSY Consultancy and Research in their latest monthly shipping review.
Rail merger set to boost Vancouver THE merger of Canadian National Railway (CN) with Illinois Central (IC), creating North America's fifth largest railway system, will generate new business for the Port of Vancouver in the highly-competitive Asian market, analysts say.
Boston port on course to match cruise call record THE Port of Boston has already received commitments for 60 ship calls at its Black Falcon Cruise Terminal - just two short of the record 62 calls set just last year.
Clarkson gloomy on outlook for east Asia shipbreaking IN the face of demolition constraints at Alang and Pakistan, industry figures warn that east Asia will not re-emerge as a shipbreaking centre to take up the slack.
Great White Whale behind schedule Demolition work on the former P&O cruise liner Canberra, affectionately nicknamed the Great White Whale, is far behind schedule at the Pakistan breakers yard where she is spending her last days. Thanks to her draught it has proved impossible to follow the usual practice of winching the vessel on to the beach to cut her up, and she is now stuck in sand some 400 yards from the shore. Dismantling is proceeding only with difficulty, with the breakers claiming that they are losing money because of interest on the sum borrowed to purchase the ship. Launched at Harland and Wolf in Belfast in 1961, Canberra sailed over 3m mile and carried over 1m passengers during her illustrious career. She also found fame when she served as troop carrier and hospital ship during the Falklands war.
Russians top P&I exodus SOVCOMFLOT, one of Russia's largest owners, is moving nearly 50 ships out of the UK Club amid acrimonious allegations of a breach of the protection and indemnity group'sprice-fixing agreement. Many other fleets are on the move in today's annual renewal of liability insurance for most of the world's fleet.
Takeover brass walk A WAVE of resignations has swept through senior managers at American President Lines following its acquisition by Neptune Orient Line. Five of APL's top eight executives have quit or will depart shortly, including chairman Joji Hayashi.
Fight hits futures bid THE FIGHT among London brokers to win supremacy over the establishment of a tanker futures index has come in for sharp criticism from the other side of the Atlantic. A leading New York broker claims squabbling in London has set back efforts to establish a swaps market by a year.
Clarksons in clear RELIEF IS sweeping through Clarksons, the world's largest shipbroker, after legal proceedings against it were dropped in a case of alleged fraud involving the Kuwait Oil Tanker Company. But the hearings go on. Former executives of KOTC face a grilling in the London High Court over claims the tanker giant lost $120 million.
Bad rates side-step ITALIAN bulk giant Coeclerici has come up with a novel way of using its bulkers. It has secured a deal in the Persian Gulf to lighter Capesize ships hauling iron ore from Brazil and Norway.
The constant drumbeat of complaints about poor service by Union Pacific Railroad continued in Houston as more than 300 shippers met to blow off steam. UP's latest plan to relieve congestion in Texas enlists the help of rival Burlington Northern Santa Fe. Critics of the plan, and there were many, claim that it is another attempt by UP and BNSF to inhibit competition. Shippers attending the meeting complained that UP's service recovery from the depths of last fall had been short-lived, with service again worsening since early in the year.
The perennial fight between airports and airlines over passenger facility charges could result in a stop-gap reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration unless a compromise is reached soon, Senate Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Slade Gorton, R-Wash., says. Airports say they would rather cope with a one-year FAA reauthorization than settle for anything less than lifting the current $3 cap on PFCs. Airlines say PFC increases are not needed.
The Big Four LTL carriers delivered on achieving the earliest conclusion to National Master Freight Agreement negotiations since Jimmy Hoffa began the national bargaining concept in 1960. How did they do it? The old-fashioned way, it appears. Both sides met face to face every day from Jan. 8 in a cooperative manner that one labor relations expert called a "textbook" case of how to negotiate respectfully without letting personalities get in the way. Hostility was kept to a minimum and now the tentative accord goes to a vote by the 125,000 Teamsters in the freight industry.
Kansas City Southern and the Texas Mexican Railway have a plan of their own to relieve congestion and enhance competition in Houston. The plan, unveiled as shippers gathered for the latest gripe session on poor rail service in the region, is designed to be less sweeping, and thus more politically palatable, than a Railroad Commission of Texas plan rejected last week by the Surface Transportation Board. Central to the plan is the call for Union Pacific to divest its line between Houston and Beaumont, Texas.
United Parcel Service has decided, in front of any federal mandate, to no longer accept Class 5 hazardous materials, or oxidizers, for shipment by air. The change comes at a time when the Department of Transportation is weighing the comments generated by its proposal to ban all oxidizers from passenger aircraft. The proposal has been met with a great deal of opposition from shipper and airline groups that believe a total ban will not solve the real problem of undeclared shipments. UPS's ban goes into effect March 1.
Sea-Land Service tried and failed to get the U.S. government to change the rules to allow it to take a bigger piece of a $250 million military contract. Sea-Land wanted a larger minimum cargo guarantee while the government wanted to be free to negotiate with other carriers on price and availability. Sea-Land argued that the government's request for proposals did not adequately spell out how the military's Joint Traffic Management Office would make its decision on volume allocations.
Seven years after it made a U-turn on its industrial trade policy, the Republic of India is proving to be a draw for international companies looking to establish a foothold in the region, including transportation companies. UPS Worldwide Logistics has just signed a preliminary agreement to create a joint venture in India. The third-party provider estimates India's logistics expenditures to be $100 billion annually with a growth of 30 percent per year.
Manugistics has acquired ProMira Software, a leading provider of supply-chain planning tools for "manufacturers of complex products." The $68 million buyout will help open new industrial markets for Manugistics. ProMira focuses on industries such as high technology, electronics, motor vehicles and automotive parts. Manugistics has a stronger base in the chemical, food and pharmaceutical industries.
Even by Brazilian standards, conditions in the country's ports are out of control. In Santos, the country's largest and one of the busiest in Latin America, workers held a two-day strike, crippling operations. Once that was settled, workers in Suape and Recife struck over wages, and more strikes are expected in March. While the official reasons for the strikes involve pay, benefits and job security issues, the common beat driving most of the actions is Brazil's attempt to turn its ports over to the private sector.
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