O'Neil says slow ahead as EU acts THE head of the International Maritime Organisation sought yesterday to head off any knee-jerk reactions to the Erika disaster just as details emerged of a Brussels plan to rid Europe of single-hull tankers.
UK tonnage tax heralds new era says Dunlop BRITISH shipping is on the threshold of a new era with the introduction of new tonnage tax, it was claimed last night.
NCL in share issue bid to reduce Star holding THE battle for Norwegian Cruise Line continued to rage yesterday, with a proposal by the existing NCL board to issue 120m new NCL Holding shares in a bid to water down Star Cruises' large stake.
CP Ships cuts drives fourth quarter recovery CANADIAN Pacific accompanied record fourth quarter profit with confirmation that a "solid recovery" was under way at its CP Ships liner shipping subsidiary.
Carlsson slates oil companies A LEADING tanker owner has accused the oil industry of undermining a safety measure which could prevent disasters such as the Erika occurring.
Slater says day of class societies may be over THE days of classification societies in their present form could be numbered, a prominent member of the shipping industry has warned, writes Tony Gray.
Columbia demands action on blacklisting COLUMBIA Shipmanagement has demanded an explanation from European port state control authorities in order to clear up a hangover left by the inclusion of one of its vessels on the Paris memorandum of understanding's 'millennium bug' blacklist.
Stolt Achievement The 37,000 dwt chemical tanker Stolt Achievement, which is on her maiden voyage, will be christened in Singapore next Wednesday by Jill Pickering, the wife of Stolt Nielsen's transportation managing director. The Stolt Achievement is the only one of the three chemical tankers originally ordered from Ateliers et Chantiers du Havre to have been completed. Her sister, the Stolt Perseverance, which was launched by ACH in October, is to be completed by another yard.
China Shipping CL: 21 PC post-panamax pour 1 mia. de USD Sur la scène du liner containérisé, nous avons déjà assisté à l'apparition de nouveaux venus qui sont parvenus à se maintenir et à se développer dans les trafics, mais jamais encore nous n'avons enregistré progression aussi fulgurante que celle que connaît le nouvel armement chinois "China Shipping Container Line", qui dépend du China Shipping Group. Déjà bien implanté dans le trafic Europe-Asie et le transpacifique, l'armement s'est désormais engagé à réceptionner 21 PC de type post-panamax, qui seront pris en grande partie en affrètement à long terme, et qui représentent un investissement global de près d'un milliard de dollars.
Teamwork Agencies va s'intégrer dans le réseau IMPS "L'exercice 99 s'est déroulé en dents de scie, avec des pointes positives et des pointes négatives. En ce qui concerne l'aspect positif, je mentionnerai la forte expansion de Yang Ming dont le trafic containérisé a progressé de 47%. Cet armement a traité à Anvers avec ses divers services 75.000 TEU". C'est ce que nous a déclaré Frank Torfs, directeur général de Müller-Thomsen Antwerpen à l'occasion de la traditionnelle réception de Nouvel-An donnée jeudi dernier avec la société soeur Müller Liner Agencies.
Quel sera le sort de Rickmers? Depuis quelques semaines, les rumeurs vont bon train en ce qui concerne une vente éventuelle de l'armement Rickmers, la filiale de Hapag-lloyd spécialisée dans l'exploitation de services axés sur le conventionnel/breakbulk. Comme de coutume, la direction de H-L se refuse à commenter des rumeurs, ce qui est compréhensible. Il n'en reste pas moins vrai qu'à l'issue de la dernière conférence de presse donnée à la fin septembre à Londres, cette même direction ne cachait pas qu'elle s'interrogeait sur l'avenir de cette filiale dont les résultats vont en déclinant ces dernières années.
After struggling for two years on how to make its stock ticker symbol into a recognizable brand, the company formerly known as FDX Corp. scrapped the FDX name in exchange for its best asset, the FedEx brand. FedEx now blankets the company, erasing almost all traces of what used to be Caliber System. RPS is FedEx Ground. Roberts Express is FedEx Custom Critical. Caliber Logistics is FedEx Global Logistics. The rebranding is part of a $100 million effort to boost lagging sales and make doing business with FedEx easier. All sales and marketing functions for all the operating companies are being combined to give customers a single point of access.
Time is one commodity that long-haul truckers never find in short supply - time to think, time to reflect, time to plot. What Jim Johnston and Todd Spencer did with their time behind the wheel was to recognize that the best way to oppose public policy they think wrong is to propose better policy. Thus was born the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, whose objectives often are quite different than those of the American Trucking Associations and the Teamsters union.
Third-party logistics companies are trying to establish alliances with "vertical markets" to change the way they interact with customers. These vertical markets need 3PLs because, according to one consultant, "a lot of dot-com companies don't have the strategic expertise" when it comes to logistics. So the fight is on among 3PLs to be among the last standing as the market matures.
USFreightways, Rosemont, Ill., the parent of five regional LTL carriers and other transport offerings, is expanding its truckload presence with acquisition of two carriers. The largest is Minneapolis-based Transport Corp. of America, which will become the second largest operating unit within USF after USF Holland. USF posted a breakout fourth quarter and posted record annual earnings of $104.2 million last year, compared with $71.4 million earnings in 1998. Analysts said expanding into truckload gives USF another chance to "cross-sell" its services.
Reliant Energy Inc. has secured a $1 billion, multiyear contract with Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway for hauling coal from the Powder River Basin to an electric generating plant outside Houston. The parties say it's a case where a railroad "buildout" by the power company created head-to-head competition between the Union Pacific Railroad and BNSF. With transportation costs accounting for at least half of the cost of a ton of coal, the deal is being held up to show what is possible when railroads actually compete for business.
It's "Rates Roulette" in the maritime industry again as shippers and carriers place their bets on where rates will go this year. The Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement confirmed it's raising rates on reefer cargoes on Feb. 1. The Far Eastern Freight Connection is raising rates to the Asia and Europe trades by $150 per TEU on April 1 and by $250 per TEU on Aug. 1. But rates from Europe to Asia will not be decided until an FEFC meeting in Japan late this month. Europe-Asia trades are unbalanced and the Asian financial crisis recovery adds another unknown to the equation.
Emery Worldwide finally has hit its stride with its roster of guaranteed heavy weight services. After dumping low-margin customers and convincing current and new customers on the value of time-definite, money-back guaranteed air freight options, the tactic is paying off. Where in the past customers complained about unreliable service, NEC America is full of accolades for Emery. NEC, a major automotive supplier, faces $20,000 penalties for every minute a production line is shut down due to a late shipment. After weeding through a number of transportation providers, NEC thinks it's found its match with Emery.
Although many of us complain about our airline experiences, few of us have any idea of the hoops companies must jump through to keep their planes stocked and prepared for their customers. British Airways, long known for its customer service, has gone further by revamping its onboard supply chain, reducing costs and improving customer service in the process. BA completed its rollout last October, said Peter Huskinson, supply-chain development manager at British Airways. The onboard supply chain is separate from any other BA supply chain, such as for cargo or engineering issues.
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