Merali firm struck by double blow India's Merali ship-ping family has suffered a double blow with the sudden death of patriarch Roshan Merali only days after the operation of one of his vessels was heavily criticised by a US court.
Minoan Lines seeks $175m cash to fund passenger expansion plans CRETE-based Minoan Lines has unveiled plans to raise Dr50bn ($175m) through a capital increase later this year in order to fund the group's expansion, particularly in the Adriatic and domestic Greek ferry trades.
Hutchison Westports turns to Eurobonds for expansion Hutchison Westports group, parent of the ports of Felixstowe, Thamesport and Harwich, plans to raise '325m ($520m) in the Eurobond market to support its ambitious expansion programme.
Cosco is marked down by Moody's US ratings agency Moody's Investors Service has forecast that the financial position of Chinese shipping giant Cosco is set to deteriorate as result of weaker industry fundamentals and a slowdown in Sino-American trade.
Focused strategy is the Americana way Frank Halliwell is willing to concede that his business strategy appears to be counter-intuitive. After all, with the world's liner trades crowded with desperate owners clambering over one another for the privilege of carrying that last box for next-to-nothing, consolidation is surely inevitable and size the best guarantee of surviving the mayhem.
Copenhagen in Malmö talks A working group comprising representatives from Copenhagen and Malm' ports is expected to progress today on a proposal to merge the port operations of the two harbours into one entity.
Asian owners accelerate hull market plans THE Asian Shipowners Forum ship insurance committee yesterday unanimously decided to set up a new marine hull insurance market to be run out of both Hong Kong and Singapore. The proposal, approved by shipowner associations from China, Chinese Taipei, Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong and the Federation of ASEAN Shipowners Associations, will be put to the eighth annual ASF meeting in Japan in May.
Energy insurance market strengthening at last Global offshore and onshore energy insurance markets are finally showing signs of hardening after an extended period of fierce competition and overcapacity.
Nedlloyd Districenters ouvre des centres de distribution à Ternat et Milmort Depuis peu, Nedlloyd Districenters exploite deux centres de distribution supplémentaires à Ternat et Milmort (Herstal), ce qui porte à sept leur nombre en Belgique. La localisation de ces centres est partiellement due à la présence dans les régions en question de Van Gend & Loos qui, jusqu'avant la grande réorganisation du groupe Koninklijke Nedlloyd, effectuait des activités de stockage pour les clients de Nedlloyd. Ces activités ressortissent maintenant complètement à Nedlloyd Districenters, qui exploite ces centres comme des entrepôts publics.
Le Parlement européen discute le rôle des ports et des terminaux intermodaux dans le réseau des RTE Le Parlement européen à Strasbourg discute aujourd'hui la modification d'une ordonnance (11692/96/UE) du Conseil des Ministres de l'UE du Transport et du Parlement concernant les ports maritimes, les ports intérieurs et les terminaux intermodaux et concernant la liaison multimodale entre l'Espagne et le Portugal et le reste de l'Europe.
La fusion des activités PVC de BASF et de Solvay implique une réduction de capacité de production à Anvers Suite à l'intégration des activités PVC (polychlorure de vinyle) européennes des entreprises chimiques BASF et Solvay dans la joint-venture Solvin à partir de la mi-1999, les entreprises arrêteront respectivement leurs activités de production de VCM/PVC et de DCE (diochlorétane) à Anvers. Celles-ci représentent une capacité totale de 380.000 tonnes et 110 emplois. D'autre part, la joint-venture offre quelques avantages à Anvers.
L'UE va enquêter sur le rachat de trans-o-flex par la Deutsche Post La Commission européenne a annoncé qu'elle n'a pas encore donné son feu vert à la prise de contrôle de trans-o-flex par la Deutsche Post, et qu'elle a prolongé de quatre mois le délai d'enquête. Il y a quelques semaines, un actionnaire de la société de messagerie - Industrial Information GmbH - a décidé de vendre sa participation aux postes allemandes, qui deviendrait ainsi majoritaire avec 75,2% des actions. C'est la première fois que les autorités européennes émettent des doutes quant à un volet de la stratégie expansionniste de la Deutsche Post.
André Graillot: "One of Le Havre's trumps is speed". The port of Le Havre can boast not only of speed but also its location and water depth, according to its director general.
Maritime
CMA is launching a new service between Asia and North Europe this month by extending its Asia-Mediterranean service.
MOL shows the flag in the trans-Atlantic trade.
HUAL starts new liner service between USA and Dominican Republic.
André Graillot: "One of Le Havre's trumps is speed". The port of Le Havre can boast not only of speed but also its location and water depth, according to its director general.
Maritime
CMA is launching a new service between Asia and North Europe this month by extending its Asia-Mediterranean service.
MOL shows the flag in the trans-Atlantic trade.
HUAL starts new liner service between USA and Dominican Republic.
André Graillot: "One of Le Havre's trumps is speed". The port of Le Havre can boast not only of speed but also its location and water depth, according to its director general.
Maritime
CMA is launching a new service between Asia and North Europe this month by extending its Asia-Mediterranean service.
MOL shows the flag in the trans-Atlantic trade.
HUAL starts new liner service between USA and Dominican Republic.
André Graillot: "One of Le Havre's trumps is speed". The port of Le Havre can boast not only of speed but also its location and water depth, according to its director general.
Maritime
CMA is launching a new service between Asia and North Europe this month by extending its Asia-Mediterranean service.
MOL shows the flag in the trans-Atlantic trade.
HUAL starts new liner service between USA and Dominican Republic.
André Graillot: "One of Le Havre's trumps is speed". The port of Le Havre can boast not only of speed but also its location and water depth, according to its director general.
Maritime
CMA is launching a new service between Asia and North Europe this month by extending its Asia-Mediterranean service.
MOL shows the flag in the trans-Atlantic trade.
HUAL starts new liner service between USA and Dominican Republic.
Six teams of logistics graduate students spent two days streamlining a multinational company's supply chain in the second annual University of Tennessee logistics case competition. The going was fierce as the six teams competed to create the best supply-chain management solution. The four judges were tough but tactful. They urged the students to use creative solutions beyond traditional transportation solutions.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, may have jeopardized the hasty reauthorization of the Surface Transportation Board in her attempt to slam the door on legislative relief for captive rail shippers. Hutchinson, up for reelection next year, may have angered shipper-friendly senators so that quick passage of STB reauthorization may not be a sure thing. Forecast: bare-knuckled, ego-bruising, mean-spirited legislative combat in the world's greatest deliberative body.
Shipper groups are asking the Surface Transportation Board for greater participation in the classification process if the National Classification Committee is to retain its antitrust status after this year. Meanwhile, shipper and carrier attorneys are clashing over NCC attorney William Pugh's insistence on referring to shipper groups' positions as solely those of their Washington attorneys. Pugh claims the groups do not represent the positions of all shippers, but denies he meant to denigrate the attorneys.
Spend a few minutes with USF Logistics CEO Doug Christensen and it becomes apparent he's not cut out to be a desk jockey. Christensen is often in motion - and he gets results. USF Logistics just acquired Processors Unlimited, a reverse logistics company. It has its sights on being more than a transport company, with Christensen saying his company is "perfectly balanced" in transportation, warehousing and cross-docking.
Last year the National Grain and Feed Association, eight North American Class 1 railroads and seven shortlines came up with an agreement under which the carriers would use mandatory, binding NGFA arbitrations to resolve specific types of disputes with rail grain users. At a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee hearing, the NGFA proposed the agreement include rail tariff reasonableness, damages incurred by shippers when a carrier fails to provide promised services, failure to pull cars in a reasonable time and issues related to force majeure situations. The railroads appear to be listening.
Shippers are praising the overtures to the Ocean Shipping Reform Act that will deregulate the maritime industry May 1. Peter Gatti, policy director of the National Industrial Transportation League, says the Federal Maritime Commission has removed the "regulatory box" that earlier rulemakings had placed around the legislation. In another attempt to explain the uncharted waters of maritime deregulation, Oakland, Calif.-based APL has published a white paper to explain the legislative changes and outlook for the brave new world to ocean shippers.
The U.S. Postal Service refuses to give up. Although it controls less than 6 percent of international express mail, USPS has forged an alliance with international shipping giant DHL Worldwide Express to help beef up its market share. The new cooperative service, Priority Mail Global Guaranteed, begins April 12. It will provide small business shippers with a two-day delivery guarantee for documents bound for 19 countries in western Europe. Initially it is available only from 11 U.S. cities. The cost saving is relatively meager and shippers have to go to the post office to send it, so it's questionable whether the new offering will make a dent in the stranglehold FedEx and United Parcel Service have on international express mail.
Carriers, got a question about a credit history of a shipper, forwarder or broker? The information you need may be only a click away. The CreditExchange, which began as the Transportation Credit Exchange in 1991, offers companies a fast way to check potential customers' credit histories over the Internet. Launched on the web last November, CreditExchange is among the wave of transport-related companies using the Internet to replace older means of delivering database information to customers.
Moving freight through Latin America can be a logistical nightmare. A web of different rules, regulations and customs combined with different duties and transportation infrastructure - or lack thereof - can make even the most routine shipment an experience. Whether it's a trade heavyweight like Brazil or a hungry lightweight like Costa Rica, the rules are all different and at times exasperating. But the potential of these trade markets is what keeps everyone sitting at the Latin table.
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