FBI ship repair probe continues According to Thomas J. Pickard, Assistant Director in charge of the Justice Department's Criminal Investigative Division, an interagency probe of the ship repair industry is continuing ... and additional charges will be forthcoming.
Tesoro charters a Hvide tanker Tesoro Petroleum Corporation subsidiary, Gold Star Maritime Company, has entered into a charter for a 46,000-dwt double-hull tanker with Hvide Marine Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Buy-backs by Seacor Smit The Board of Seacor Smit Inc. has increased its previously announced securities repurchase program by $55.0 million
R&B Falcon completes $250 million project financing for new generation semi How is the new generation of ultra deepwater semis being financed? Here's one example.
P&O denies '7bn bid from Carnival P&O sources yesterday firmly denied a report it had rejected an informal '7bn ($11.2bn) bid from Carnival Corp.
Ukraine urged to protect seafarers THE director of the New York-based Center for Seafarers' Rights will urge the Ukrainian government this week to take urgent steps to protect the welfare of its seafarers.
Orient Overseas gets Asia boost STRONG demand on transpacific and intra-Asian routes helped boost interim pre-tax profits at Orient Overseas (International) to US$5.7m.
Flotation by Miami Cruiseline MIAMI Cruiseline Services, the world's leading provider of duty free retail shops on cruiseships, plans to sell up to $125m of shares in an initial public offering.
Sea-Land deal 'good news' for industry THE $800m price that A P Møller has agreed for Sea-Land's international shipping business makes interesting reading for the rest of the liner industry.
Lehd Møller to manage integration programme VAGN Lehd Møller, senior vice- president at A P Møller, has been promoted to executive vice president projects and will be participating in managing the process of integrating Maersk and Sea-Land activities, writes Janet Porter.
VLCC 'double standards' blasted AN Oslo shipping expert has warned that energy majors' double standards on VLCCs of more than 25 years of age could lead to a depressed tanker market for the next five years.
A&P wins second major MOD contract BRITISH shiprepair group A&P has won its second major contract from the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) in a little under eight weeks, securing the '3.8m ($5.7m) refit of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) forward repair ship Diligence.
Rates are going up early for LTL shippers. Carriers are raising rates well ahead of the traditional Jan. 1 rate hikes in part to get additional revenue for the peak fall shipping season and also to alleviate any concerns about Y2K problems, they say. Most of the rate hikes are in the 5 percent range for noncontract traffic, although several carriers say they are taking pains to adjust revenue on a lane-by-lane basis according to their costs. Virtually every one of the largest eight LTL carriers plans a rate hike, with most coming in early September.
Only twice over the past generation have railroads been in retreat in the public policy arena. Both times the protagonist blowing the bugle and helping to lead the charge has been an unassuming, soft-drawling civil engineer and attorney from Louisiana, Bob Szabo, who heads a captive shipper lobby named Consumers United for Rail Equity. What Szabo is optimistic of achieving from Congress is statutory assurance of more transportation choices for captive shippers.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based VirtualVineyard.com is positioning itself to take a growth spurt owing to a fresh infusion of venture capital funding it secured in June. New Millennium Partners, G.E. Capital and Media One added $30 million to VirtualVineyard's pot, bringing its total venture capital funding to $50 million. Other investors include Alpine Technology Ventures, Inroads Capital Partners and Applied Technology. As the online wine market heats up, the business of delivering the product continues to be frustrating for carriers. "Once we pulled back the layers of the onion, we found it pretty onerous at best," Ken Turnbull of DHL Worldwide Express said of the wine shipment business.
Thomas J. Donohue has found a rewarding life after 13 years of running the American Trucking Associations. As CEO of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Donohue is living large as the nation's No. 1 business lobbyist. Besides increasing membership and lobbying clout in the oldest American business federation, Donohue has increased the transportation presence within the chamber. Admitting his hectic travel schedule is "crazy," Donohue still finds lobbying on Washington's largest stage a lot of fun.
The California Public Utilities Commission claims that Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway is not a viable competitor along UP's central corridor between the Midwest and Northern California, and along the I-5 corridor between Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. What's the remedy? The CPUC would like to see the STB authorize a third carrier to restore competition, better service and lower rates. The comments were filed in response to UP's and BNSF's annual status reports on service progress in the UP-SP merger.
Ports are jubilant that the Water Resources Development Act was passed by Congress Aug. 5, but some harbor-deepening projects still could be buried in the shifting sands of national dredging policy. Among other things, the legislation authorizes federal navigation projects at the nation's ports. WRDA's passage means that port navigation projects have cleared a major hurdle, but the funding race is far from over. Will the president sign off on a budget that includes the same generous level of funding for navigation projects? Calculating the odds will be more difficult than usual next year given the fast-approaching presidential elections. In the interim, ports are stepping up their lobbying efforts.
World Airways is clinging to turnaround hopes by slashing its employee salaries by 10 percent, reducing its lease payments and eliminating the DC-10 from its fleet. The airline, teetering on the edge of financial ruin, made a small profit in the second quarter after selling its interest in an unrelated company to produce a one-time gain. For the first six months of the year, the airline is more than $5 million in the hole, but is banking on the renewal of a military contract along with wetleasing contracts to keep it from going under. The airline, which is trying to avoid filing for Chapter 11 protection as its parent company was forced to do last February, is seeking concessions from everyone from its pilots to bondholders to aircraft lessors.
There's a new kid on the block: FutureNext Consulting. The McLean, Va.-based company, which opened its doors last Nov. 8, is geared specifically for midmarket manufacturers, distributors and retailers—those with revenue between $50 million and $1 billion—who need supply-chain consulting and implementation services. The company was formed by David Patterson, chief executive officer, Michael Caggiano, president, and Loren Burnett, chief operating officer, with an investment of $75 million from Chicago-based private equity investments firm GTCR Golder Rauner LLC. Now the company has over 325 employees with offices in McLean, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Jose, Calif., St. Louis, Bethesda, Md., and Warren, N.J.
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