Boom time for oil tanker firms, yards [SINGAPORE] Growing worldwide demand for oil and the subsequent shortage of oil vessels have led to a boom time for oil tanker companies.
PSA-Maersk ties take a beating: report
Austal Ships net profit rises 23.6% to A$29.9m
Air and Land Transport
Six US carriers add new charge to domestic fares [NEW YORK] The top six US airlines have added a new price hike on domestic fares amounting to US$20 (S$34.60) per round-trip ticket -- the fourth increase this year -- to counteract sky-high fuel prices, fare experts said.
Luftansa, BA, KLM shares drop over fuel concerns
Air France, Delta to jointly bid for Air India stake
American, Delta, United get new services to France
Features
Fire brigade in charge of fighting ship blaze: probe
Boom time for oil tanker firms, yards [SINGAPORE] Growing worldwide demand for oil and the subsequent shortage of oil vessels have led to a boom time for oil tanker companies.
PSA-Maersk ties take a beating: report
Austal Ships net profit rises 23.6% to A$29.9m
Air and Land Transport
Six US carriers add new charge to domestic fares [NEW YORK] The top six US airlines have added a new price hike on domestic fares amounting to US$20 (S$34.60) per round-trip ticket -- the fourth increase this year -- to counteract sky-high fuel prices, fare experts said.
Luftansa, BA, KLM shares drop over fuel concerns
Air France, Delta to jointly bid for Air India stake
American, Delta, United get new services to France
Features
Fire brigade in charge of fighting ship blaze: probe
Boom time for oil tanker firms, yards [SINGAPORE] Growing worldwide demand for oil and the subsequent shortage of oil vessels have led to a boom time for oil tanker companies.
PSA-Maersk ties take a beating: report
Austal Ships net profit rises 23.6% to A$29.9m
Air and Land Transport
Six US carriers add new charge to domestic fares [NEW YORK] The top six US airlines have added a new price hike on domestic fares amounting to US$20 (S$34.60) per round-trip ticket -- the fourth increase this year -- to counteract sky-high fuel prices, fare experts said.
Luftansa, BA, KLM shares drop over fuel concerns
Air France, Delta to jointly bid for Air India stake
American, Delta, United get new services to France
Features
Fire brigade in charge of fighting ship blaze: probe
Emery Worldwide names Ratnathicam new CEO Chutta Ratnathicam replaces Roger Piazza, who is retiring.
Fritz to stop issuing credit for customs duties Eliminating the practice is a major element in the restructuring of the San Francisco forwarder, customs broker and logistics provider.
BNSF raises demurrage to speed grain movement Rule change is aimed at freeing more cars for the peak harvest and shipping season.
UPS rips FedEx/Postal Service alliance plan UPS said the deal between its competitors would lower service standards.
Union Pacific to hike freight rates The railroad says sharply higher fuel prices factored into its decision.
Tankers owners awaiting OPEC output boost An expected increase in oil production should create more work for crude carriers.
FMC Web site hacked Click to view hacked site The intruder defaced the agency's site Thursday morning to protest actions against online music provider Napster.
EGL poised for massive sales push
Emery granted summary judgment in postal lawsuit
Some French truckers stop blockades, others continue protest
Insurers in strategic alliance
Oct. 10 deadline for new export rules
Mexican trade minister in apparent suicide
Polar Air Cargo launches new charter service
Cathay sees cargo, traffic improvements
Shanghai terminal tops daily box volume mark
OOCL parent names Sims CFO
Rickmers adds bulk service
Hyde to address forwarders association
Malaysia gently liberalizes road haulage
Bangkok air handler upgrades logistics system, eyes expansion
China all-cargo carrier adds plane as Taiwan sale nears
Panalpina expands combined air/sea service for oil rig
Opec pledges to pump more oil Opec ministers yesterday agreed to pump an extra 800,000 barrels of oil a day (b/d) in a bid to defuse the growing international furore over soaring crude and petrol prices.
IUMI to call for crackdown on crime CRIMINAL gangs are increasingly targeting maritime-linked trade, the International Union of Marine Insurance will hear at its annual conference which begins its main sessions in London today.
Anangel-American back in the black The tanker market may be where most of the thrills are in today's shipping markets but the results of Anangel-American, the quoted vehicle within the Angelicoussis empire, underline that there is also excitment to be had in the dry cargo sector.
Another shaky start for seismic specialist FRENCH seismic exploration specialist, Compagnie Generale de Geophysique, has reported its third consecutive first half loss as it waits for oil company investment growth to pick up speed.
Nordland captain faces court THE Polish master of the cargo ship Nordland was due to appear in a Piraeus courtroom today to face charges of causing a shipwreck and pollution stemming from the accident two weeks ago when his vessel ran aground on the Greek island of Kythira.
Master arrested on pollution charges THE master of the 21-year-old Eurobulker IV, the Ilias Shipping bulk carrier which ran aground off Sardinia, has reportedly been arrested on pollution charges by the Italian authorities, writes Giovanni Paci.
ALZ augmente sa production et procède à une nouvelle approche logistique Dans les deux années à venir, le producteur d’acier inoxydable ALZ (Genk) investira 6,7 mia. de BEF en vue d’augmenter la production de 600.000 tonnes aujourd’hui à un mio. de tonnes fin 2002. C’est ce qu’a décidé le conseil d’administration de l’entreprise, qui fait partie du groupe Arbed. Cette expansion de la capacité de production devrait quasiment doubler la demande de transport d’ALZ. Un nouveau concept logistique est actuellement à l’étude afin de faire face à cette perspective. A l’avenir, les divers flux de marchandises seront scindés, tandis que des infrastructures additionnelles seront créées.
Katoen Natie do Brasil investit 2,6 mia. de BEF dans des projets logistiques Katoen Natie détient au Brésil une part de marché de 90% dans le secteur de la logistique pétrochimique. Via sa filiale Katoen Natie do Brasil, le groupe anversois est actuellement impliqué dans une série d’investissements d’une valeur de 780 millions de BEF, qui font partie d’un programme d’investissement de 2,6 milliard de BEF au total. Ce projet baptisé “The Brazilian Matrix” a été présenté en détail au QG anversois par le président Fernand Huts et les collaborateurs impliqués
Frets aérien et express sont les principaux marchés des futurs TGV-Fret Quelles sont les perspectives du transport de fret sur le réseau européen de lignes à grande vitesse? C’est la question que se sont posées l’union internationale des régions urbaines reliées au TGV et deux provinces néerlandaises, celles de Gueldre et d’Utrecht. Cette étude a mené à la constitution, jeudi dernier à Bruxelles, d’un European High Speed Rail Freight Forum (nom provisoire) dont l’objectif principal sera précisément de mener à bien un programme d’action portant sur six points: coordination et suivi de projets pilotes, promotion, solutions des contraintes financières et techniques, développement de concepts opérationnels, introduction de nouvelles normes de fret par TGV et éliminations des contraintes institutionnelles.
L’industrie norvégienne recherche une meilleure connexion au réseau logistique européen La Norvège doit composer sur le plan des transports avec un certain nombre de handicaps, comme sa situation géographique à l’extrémité du continent et les déséquilibres entre le trafic entrant et sortant, mais les chargeurs de ce pays ont conscience du problème et s’unissent de plus en plus souvent pour y apporter la meilleure solution, par exemple en rassemblant des volumes suffisants pour accroître la fréquence des services maritimes et comprimer leurs coûts logistiques. C’est ce qui est ressorti du séminaire organisé hier à Anvers par l’organisation norvégienne Bulkforum.
"E-business is a lot more than selling. It's about productivity." — Steve Banker, director of supply-chain solutions, ARC Advisory Group, Deedham, Mass., on the evolution of online marketplaces.
What would transportation be without the truck size and weight debate? The Department of Transportation issued yet another report, this time a 700-page tome, on the topic that at first glance pleases railroads and infuriates truckers. Despite being called its "final report to Congress," rest assured this report is anything but. The current freeze on truck size and weight has been in place since 1991 and it's unlikely that any changes will come before TEA-21 must be reauthorized in 2003. That said, the debating, lobbying, methodology-criticizing and name-calling that has existed between the railroads and truckers for a decade is sure to continue.
Surface Transportation Board Vice Chairman Wayne Burkes is one to go along but the lone Republican on the three-member Surf Board some times takes a dissenting position to that of Chairman Linda Morgan, forcing compromise. Burkes was instrumental in shortening the proposed two-year rail merger moratorium to 15 months. He is pushing to add language that would make railroads accountable for promised merger benefits that don't come to fruition. Burkes, who could be named chairman in a Republican administration, frets that there is too little information-sharing at the STB, both internally and externally. He's in favor of opening STB proceedings to the public and posting everything on the agency's website for public view.
The e-business shakeout already has begun and several top Internet watchers are predicting a brutal end to a great many of today's online marketplace startups. The focus is shifting away from the Internet as a sales tool to a vehicle for rooting our inefficiencies and spurring productivity, says one analyst. Another predicts a "fortification" wave to hit over the next two years, forcing the survivors to deliver more specialized services to pickier customers. Online marketplaces will be expected to move beyond basic services and provide sophisticated business tools such as supplier performance monitoring.
At an Internet browser near you: eWorldFreight, another Internet transportation company, this one geared for the buying and selling of transportation assets, not cargo. The site began transacting business in July, said Ronald Van Horssen, chairman and CEO of the company. Currently eWorldFreight is focused on maritime and rail transportation assets, said Van Horssen. TradeOut, a similar company, is broadly focused on excess inventory and idle assets across several vertical markets. It also opened its marketplace to the public in July. A third contender is InterBox, a marketplace focused on the repositioning of containers, owned by International Asset Systems Ltd. Although each company has a marketplace meeting different needs, customers do overlap.
Ocean shippers may be a bit behind the technology curve, but that doesn't mean they aren't enthusiastic about automating what is a very cumbersome and complex network. Ocean shippers, like other shippers, want their product to move from the port and on to a truck or railcar as quickly as possible. By tracking the shipment from the origin using EDI technology, the shipper remains more in control of its own destiny. For now, only the largest shippers can afford the huge investment EDI commands but eventually more ship lines will migrate to the Internet making the information accessible to all.
To accommodate Bridgestone/Firestone's growing list of tire lines being recalled, Ford Motor Co. has shut down three of its vehicle assembly plants. The move is designed to rechannel to the replacement effort 30,000 15-inch tires a month that would have been fitted on freshly minted sport utility vehicles. But the shutdowns also are having an impact on the carriers that rely on the auto manufacturers for a good chunk of their business. Norfolk Southern and Canadian National Railway both are seeing the effects of the move.
FedEx is introducing a new suite of shipper software later this month meant to make express, ground and even shipping with a competitor a lot easier. FedEx's new Ship Manager upgrades, replaces or renames a whole lot of software and web tool introductions made over the past several years. The new suite of services is meant to eliminate the need to have multiple shipping stations for air and ground shipments and allow large customers to rate shop and choose UPS or another competitor while working on a FedEx machine.
New England Motor Freight is upping the service ante in the highly competitive Northeast LTL market, adding same-day service and a new next-day service. The new service pits NEMF against air freight operators and dedicated same-day operations by tweaking its existing route structure to deliver freight faster. The trucking company also is charging more for the service but is still "light years" below air freight pricing. NEMF is skipping the paper trail that comes with a money-back guarantee and instead simply will not charge the customer for the shipment if it isn't delivered on time.
The Suez Canal Authority has announced that it will introduce surcharges on transit tariffs through the Egyptian canal for most major cargo vessels, effective July 15.
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