TOTE orders two new RO/RO's from NASSCO Totem Ocean Trailer Express (TOTE), Anchorage, Alaska, has entered into a $300 million agreement with NASSCO to build two RO/RO (roll-on/roll-off) ships for the Alaska trade. Deliveries are scheduled for mid and late 2002.
Ugland family plans buyback Car carrier specialist Ugland International yesterday announced a strategic U-turn with a plan to return to private hands in the next three months.
Maltese flagged tanker, Histria Seatide . . . The 85,250 dwt Maltese flagged tanker, Histria Seatide, ran aground in the Sea of Marmara off Istanbul yesterday while carrying crude oil from Russia's Novorossisk port to Augusta in Italy. Port officials said there were no indications of oil leakage from the vessel, which the crew was trying to free under her own propulsion.
Carnival and NCL swap values across a chasm To say that Mickey Arison and Kristian Siem do not see eye-to-eye is an understatement.
Refinancing plan frees $44m over next two years Reluctant bid target NCL Holding has unveiled a $500m refinancing that will free $44m of cash for expansion over the next two years, writes Tony Gray.
Owners hope for new trade rules EUROPEAN shipowners are confident that a set of global rules covering maritime services will be agreed eventually despite the collapse of World Trade Organisation talks at the weekend.
Polish Ocean Lines escapes POL-Atlantic debt liability POL-ATLANTIC has finally been declared bankrupt, almost a year after the carrier was forced to suspend its transatlantic service because of mounting losses, writes Janet Porter.
Asian crisis halves 1998 seaborne trade growth Growth in seaborne trade was cut by half last year in the aftermath of the Asian crisis, according to Unctad's Review of Maritime Transport 1999.
Hong Kong sees 3%-4% box rise CONTAINER throughput at Hong Kong port is set to grow by 3%-4% next year, according to Modern Terminals (MTL) managing director Erik Christensen.
The world is going nuts, or at least that part of it that uses almonds. Production of the oval-shaped nut is expected to increase supplies worldwide by 30 percent over last year. This country produces 75 percent of the world supply of almonds and those responsible for that growth are forever looking for new ways to use the product. The supply peak puts more emphasis on shipping direct to customers, which is where logistics expertise is valued.
Entreaties by three home-state utilities and an iron-ore shipper convinced Minnesota's Jim Oberstar, the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, to become the latest lawmaker to demand railroad reform as part of a deal to keep the Surface Transportation Board in business. Oberstar's involvement is of substantial strategic importance as until he introduced his bill it appeared no shipper-friendly legislation would gain a committee hearing. Although two other committee members, Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., and Jack Quinn, R-N.Y., earlier introduced similar though less extensive bills, the Republican leadership has declined to schedule hearings. But Committee Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., and Ground Transportation Subcommittee Chairman Tom Petri, R-Wis., are unlikely to snub Oberstar as they have Nadler and Quinn.
Never heard of B2B? Get used to it. It's geek shorthand for business-to-business electronic commerce, which is coming to mean a whole lot more than online auctions and digital versions of consumer catalogs. Some enthusiasts are calling it the most radical innovation since the invention of the assembly line. The recent announcements by Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. that they would put their supply-chain operations online is just the tip of the iceberg of the B2B e-commerce revolution.
New England Motor Freight continues to rake in industry awards. Arthur Andersen recently awarded NEMF its "best practices" award, which comes on the heels of individual awards won by NEMF Chairman Myron P. "Mike" Shevell. Once a bankrupt LTL carrier, NEMF has blossomed under the 65-year-old Shevell with a philosophy that excellent customer services win shipper loyalty for the long run.
Plans for a major container port at Quonset, R.I., are on hold. The private development group that was working to build the port wants compensation from Rhode Island for what it claims are broken promises and a breach of contract. The developers, Boston-based Quonset Point Partners LLC, claims that Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Almond backed off a pledge to support the project and said the state bureaucracy never would have approved plans anyway.
That sigh of relief you may have heard could have come from the headquarters of the Union Pacific Railroad. The Surface Transportation Board declared the UP's service crisis over. The UP's service-plagued merger with Southern Pacific is now actually "producing benefits to the shipping public," according to the STB. Shippers agreed. The National Industrial Transportation League noted that its members are saying the UP's service woes of 1997-98 are largely over and that rail service "appears to have returned to normal levels." Not only that but competition between the Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the UP-SP now "seems to be vigorous," according to the NIT League. There are dissenters, however. The California Public Service Commission has claimed the UP-SP merger has not produced benefits and is actually hurting shippers.
It's that time of year again when companies look for ways to thank their best customers for another year of support. The flurry of purchases in December mean huge volumes for companies that do relatively little business during the other 11 months of the year. San Francisco's Boudin Bakery and New York's Manhattan Fruitier are two companies that are gearing up for huge holiday seasons both through catalog sales and brand new websites. Both companies are relying on United Parcel Service to deliver the goods and, because of the perishable nature of bread and fruit, all of it is going by air.
Kansas City Southern Rail Network is happy and its customers are happy. Why? Because the railroad's use of the Internet for such services as shipment tracing and bills of lading has made it easier for KCS's customers to do business with it while at the same time reducing the railroad's costs and time associated with customer service. The KCS website went live a year ago and since then has been a resounding success, according to Pete Nygren, manager, customer service systems, electronic data interchange for KCS.
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