Golden Ocean fleet faces two-way split Frontline and Bentley Investments look set to carve up the VLCC fleet of Golden Ocean between them following an outbreak of peace in their battle to gain control of the junk bond company.
NYK commits to seven-vessel handysize renewal NIPPON Yusen Kaisha, the Japanese shipping giant, has committed to a seven-vessel renewal of its handy and handymax fleet through charter deals to keep this sector of its dry bulk fleet at about 50 ships, writes Matthew Flynn, Tokyo.
TMM reshaping pays off MEXICAN transport giant Transportacion Maritima Mexicana announced net income of $9m for the second quarter, compared with losses of $115.5m in the same period last year.
London to offer more cover for US lawyers LONDON is likely to provide an increasing share of professional indemnity cover for US lawyers, Lloyd's chairman Max Taylor has forecast.
WALLENIUS Lines' pure car/truck carrierFalstaff 52,000 gt WALLENIUS Lines' pure car/truck carrierFalstaff 52,000 gt has drydocked at the A&P Falmouth shipyard, southwest England for routine repairs, writes David Barnicoat.
Court backs bill of lading 'cancer' alarm A HIGH Court judge who slammed what he branded the "cancer" of ante-dated and false bills of lading in international trade has been backed by the Court of Appeal where another judge warned: "Highwaymen in commerce forfeit the right to just and equitable treatment."
Charter dispute keeps Canadian arms at sea A CARGO of Canadian military equipment returning from Kosovo - including 580 tanks - has become embarrassingly embroiled in a commercial dispute between two shipping companies.
Penguins taste freedom again Penguins taste freedom again at a beach near Cape Town following the rescue and clean up operation launched by conservation groups and volunteers after the ore carrier Treasure sank close to their breeding grounds recently northwest of the city.
Une tranche provisoire de 1,5 mio. d'écopoints libérée pour le transport routier par l'Autriche Pour empêcher que le transit routier par l'Autriche, notamment par le Brenner, soit impossible à partir de l'automne, la Commission européenne a décidé de libérer une tranche provisoire de 1,5 mio. d'écopoints sur un total de 3,7 mio. d'écopoints. Cette solution avait été proposée par Loyola de Palacio, la commissaire européenne aux Transports.
Eurotunnel Fret améliore l'utilisation de la capacité du Chunnel La forte croissance (de 42%), au cours du premier semestre, du trafic de camions assuré par Eurotunnel Fret est due à différents facteurs, le principal étant sans aucun doute la mise en service de deux nouvelles navettes. Cette augmentation de la capacité a entraîné celle de la demande. Mais on notera aussi la fiabilité du système, l'attrait du marché britannique pour des produits "exotiques" (continentaux...) et l'utilisation croissante d'éléments continentaux dans la fabrication de produits finis en Grande-Bretagne, notamment dans l'industrie automobile. Eurotunnel cherche constamment à améliorer la qualité de son produit et à rendre le trafic ferroviaire plus fluide, donc plus efficace.
Groupeco va intervenir sur le marché intérieur russe Depuis 1992, la société française Groupeco intervient déjà dans les échanges entre l'Europe de l'Ouest et la Russie. Elle va très prochainement franchir une nouvelle étape grâce à la création d'une société de droit russe qui lui permettra d'étendre ses activités au marché des transports intérieurs.
Vice President Al Gore joined other politicians, both Democratic and Republican, to help the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department celebrate its 10th anniversary. Labor unions may not be able to match corporate cash donations to political candidates, but when their still sizable PAC donations are leveraged with voter registration campaigns, get-out-the-vote drives and voter influence, the inescapable conclusion is that organized labor packs a powerful wallop at the ballot box.
Department of Transportation legal-eagle Nancy McFaddon has climbed an enviable career ladder. At just 41 years of age, she's already had top posts at the Justice Department and DOT, and now she's taken on a new role as deputy chief of staff for Vice President Al Gore. A straight-laced Washington law firm was her political launching pad; from there she moved to Little Rock, Ark., to help elect Democratic nominee Bill Clinton as president in 1992. Eight years later, she's a key advisor to yet another man wishing to be president.
Twelve large shippers are experimenting with sharing truck capacity through an online exchange managed by Nistevo.com. Nestle USA, Nabisco, Con-Agra and General Mills are just a few of the mega-shippers signed up to match shipments and destinations with available trucks. Shippers are in the driver's seat, which has eased the entry into the online auction world for some first-timers like General Mills. They can choose which shippers they wish to work with and limit the number of carriers they will put their goods on. The idea behind the shared information is to eliminate backhaul mileage and improve load planning.
American Freightways is not sitting still. The Harrison, Ark.-based LTL carrier, just off the second-highest gain in net income in its 18-year history, has expanded to Arizona, its 40th state. AF also opened its first center in California, a small terminal in Calexico. It's all part of AF's overall strategy to expand to 48-state coverage within three to five years. AF and other LTL carriers also are enjoying increased freight levels because of Maquiladora operations in Mexico, where several rivals are expanding their presence.
United Parcel Service continues to thrive as a publicly traded company, recording a $695 million profit for the second quarter. The package delivery giant showed significant gains in all of its product offerings. International express shipping surged almost 13 percent, topping the $1 billion revenue mark. UPS, despite the tremendous financial results, decided it is bearing too much of the increasing cost of fuel and will pass on to its customers a 1.25 percent fuel surcharge beginning Aug. 7. UPS has paid $100 million above what it had planned for fuel since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, FedEx Ground quickly copied the UPS move, adding the same surcharge to its packages.
Three years ago printing company R.R. Donnelley & Sons decided to take control of its supply chain, and it's glad it did. Thanks in large part to the Canadian National-Illinois Central merger, it has been able to secure better rates and service from alternative rail sources. Along the way it has named Canadian National Railway, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway and St. Lawrence & Atlantic Railroad as its preferred carriers. At the same time, the company made it clear that it can't tolerate poor rail service, which explains why its use of rail overall is declining.
Rate hikes are coming. The strength of the Asian economy is giving ocean carriers in the transpacific the confidence to boost westbound rates. In 1998-99, fewer than 40 percent of containers going back to Asia carried any cargo. That trend is reversing, with Korea and China leading the charge. Carriers are taking the opportunity to recoup some of the losses suffered throughout the two-year Asian flu. Shippers, nevertheless, are upset by the $125-to-$500-per-FEU increase.
The second quarter was good for most supply-chain and enterprise software companies. The lone exception was Baan Co. N.V., which continues to struggle despite numerous restructurings and has been staving off an acquisition by Invensys. Supply-chain companies i2 Technologies, Manhattan Associates and QRS reported positive results, as did enterprise software companies SAP AG and PeopleSoft. Baan announced that it expects to report operating losses of between $85 million and $95 million, and has experienced seven successive quarters of operational losses. In spite of these statements by Baan, Invensys plc announced that it will honor its bid to acquire Baan under an amended offer.
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