NOL aims to expand Asia-Europe trade European operations a weak point in its global container shipping network
Lockout by employers shuts down Vancouver port
First phase of Sandakan port's expansion completed
Sale of ECT wrapped up
Air and Land Transport
HK needs China business to secure future as air cargo hub It must negotiate for bilateral rights for dedicated China freighter flights or lose out to rivals like Shanghai
Cathay's Sept passenger load down slightly
BA may announce dividend cut
No new model planned for Mitsubishi Australia
Features
Industry refuses to grow up KL should not follow UK plan for a tonnage tax on shipowners, says Malaysian shipping firm's manager
NOL aims to expand Asia-Europe trade European operations a weak point in its global container shipping network
Lockout by employers shuts down Vancouver port
First phase of Sandakan port's expansion completed
Sale of ECT wrapped up
Air and Land Transport
HK needs China business to secure future as air cargo hub It must negotiate for bilateral rights for dedicated China freighter flights or lose out to rivals like Shanghai
Cathay's Sept passenger load down slightly
BA may announce dividend cut
No new model planned for Mitsubishi Australia
Features
Industry refuses to grow up KL should not follow UK plan for a tonnage tax on shipowners, says Malaysian shipping firm's manager
NOL aims to expand Asia-Europe trade European operations a weak point in its global container shipping network
Lockout by employers shuts down Vancouver port
First phase of Sandakan port's expansion completed
Sale of ECT wrapped up
Air and Land Transport
HK needs China business to secure future as air cargo hub It must negotiate for bilateral rights for dedicated China freighter flights or lose out to rivals like Shanghai
Cathay's Sept passenger load down slightly
BA may announce dividend cut
No new model planned for Mitsubishi Australia
Features
Industry refuses to grow up KL should not follow UK plan for a tonnage tax on shipowners, says Malaysian shipping firm's manager
New Cunarder will be "world's largest passenger ship" Larry Pimentel, president & CEO of Carnival Corporation's Cunard Line Limited, says that general arrangement plans for Cunard Line's much anticipated, Project Queen Mary ship have now been finished. The company expects to name the vessel and builder by year's end.
Shipowners seek on-line access to seafarer certification data The International Shipping Federation (ISF) wants governments that issue seafarers' documentation to maintain electronic registers of certificates. To prevent fraud, it wants companies to have on-line access to these registers
Grand Alliance to switch ECT service THE Grand Alliance is temporarily moving one of the five Europe/Asia services handled by Rotterdam to the rival port of Antwerp because of a series of problems and delays at leading Dutch container stevedore Europe Combined Terminals.
Dole America master says sorry THE Norwegian master of the reefer Dole America has apologised for her collision with the Nab Tower lighthouse off Portsmouth and blamed the accident on the presence of several fishing vessels and a preponderance of red lights.
BP Amoco profits surge by 72% OIL major BP Amoco yesterday reported a 72% surge in third quarter profits driven by stronger oil prices and cost efficiencies generated by last year's Amoco purchase.
Bid for Arco clears Alaskan hurdle BP Amoco has been given the green light by the Alaskan state governor, clearing the first hurdle in its $26.8bn bid to acquire the Atlantic Richfield Company (Arco), writes Alison Smith.
Grimaldi ferry arm to float GRANDI Navi Veloci, the cruise ferry section of Grimaldi Group Genoa, has at last officially applied for flotation on the Milan Stock Exchange.
Container Shipping
ResidenSea in bid to broaden appeal RESIDENSEA, promoter of floating resort The World, plans to introduce cheaper part-ownership and timeshare of onboard apartments to broaden the appeal of the novel project.
Denholm service proves an asset to the lenders SHIPS are expensive. Those with a legitimate financial interest in them are often understandably concerned about how well assets are being looked after.
Financier Carl Lindner, who controls Chiquita Brands and the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, also controls the majority of Amtrak common stock, even though you can't get a banana daiquiri in an Amtrak bar car or buy a seat at a Reds game from an Amtrak ticket agent. Although the Department of Transportation-owned preferred stock assures Lindner could never gain ownership of Amtrak's assets or the Northeast Corridor, the government may have to pay Lindner off before Amtrak can be restructured financially in preparation for operating without federal subsidies.
Jim Whittinghill, who uses stories and PAC dollars to influence Congress on behalf of the American Trucking Associations, says, "PACs make friends and get you in the game of electing open-minded lawmakers," but "you've first got to have a true and logical position. It's truth and logic that win the votes."
After working closely together for four years, FDX Corp. and the international consulting firm KPMG have formed a strategic alliance to develop new business-to-business supply-chain logistics solutions on a global basis. Within a few months the two companies will begin introducing "a whole suite of products" aimed at different sized companies in different industries, according to Scott Rosenberger, a consulting partner at KPMG. In announcing the alliance, FDX said the two companies will bring customers a complete supply-chain solution, including design, implementation and execution.
The Teamsters union's second job action in four months against Overnite Transportation Co. will have no lasting impact on operations or customer loyalty and has only served to harden the anti-Teamster faction within the nation's largest nonunion LTL trucking company, its top officer said. Leo H. Suggs, Overnite's chairman, CEO and president, told Traffic World that the Teamsters "would go broke before we will" if the labor dispute comes down to an economic war of attrition. Overnite is owned by Union Pacific Corp., a $10 billion conglomerate. The Teamsters represent around 4,000 workers at 22 of Overnite's 166 terminals nationwide.
Shipper groups met recently with the Surface Transportation Board to voice their complaints about continued service problems on Norfolk Southern and CSX following their takeover of Conrail in June. Instead of showing improvement, service measurements supplied by the railroads do not accurately portray the types of service delays - transit times doubled, in some cases - that the merger is causing, shippers said. Although shippers were not asking for anything as drastic as an emergency service order, which was issued during UP's crisis, the board did say it would consider asking the railroads for transit time data that would remain confidential.
Low ocean freight rates are here to stay unless carriers can find a way out of the market-driven price cycle, says Mark Page, director, London-based Drewry Shipping Consulates Ltd. Carriers' strategy of trying to recoup losses with opportunistic increases and surcharges is not sustainable, he said. The carriers' brightest hope is deregulation, which will pave the way for more creative business strategies. The more sophisticated carriers, Page says, will be able to use deregulation to better exploit their multimodal assets.
There's nothing like a good rumor to rejuvenate interest and stimulate speculation about what the industry will look like a year down the road. At this year's Scott & Stringfellow Transportation and Logistics Conference, the talk swirling around the possible acquisition of AEI by Danzas had everyone pondering what a marriage of these two freight forwarding giants would do to change the industry's landscape. While consolidation long has been a fact with larger companies gobbling up regional freight forwarders all around the globe, the new focus is on what the world will look like once huge mergers and acquisitions among some of the largest companies start to occur. Deutsche Post started the ball rolling with its purchase of Danzas two years ago, and the possibilities of further industry consolidation seem endless.
For the first time in its seven-year history, transportation communications company HighwayMaster Communications is making money. It all started last year with the hiring of Chief Executive Officer Jana Bell, who promptly revamped the company, brought on new people and reduced costs. The first evidence of the company's turnaround came in February, when it announced profitable results for 1998 and the fourth quarter. In August, the company announced that its second quarter also was profitable. Now, said Todd Felker, senior vice president of sales and marketing for HighwayMaster, the company is more focused, infrastructure has been built and a new management team has been brought in by Bell.
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