American Shipper

FreightWaves Staff Monday, August 18, 2014

Two die in Union Pacific crash

   After the crash, which occurred Sunday morning, a fire erupted from one of the train engines, but the police said it wasn’t threatening the train’s cargo. Area residents had been evacuated, but most returned to their homes at around midday.

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Monday, August 18, 2014

Globe Tracker and reefer monitoring specialist partner on reefer visibility tool

   The asset tracking solutions provider Globe Tracker International has begun a partnership with Refrigerated Transport Electronics, a developer and manufacturer of monitoring products for the intermodal refrigerated container industry, the companies said Monday.    The joint solution developed by the two companies is aimed at providing wireless tracking, monitoring and remote management of refrigerated […]

Read More »
Chris Dupin Monday, August 18, 2014

Zim Line targeted in Oakland demonstration

   Members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union did not cross a picket line thrown up at the Port of Oakland Sunday evening by several hundred persons protesting Israeli military action in Gaza, the Oakland Tribune reported.    The protesters were trying to prevent the Zim Line ship Zim Piraeus from being worked. Zim is […]

Read More »
Chris Gillis Sunday, August 17, 2014

Turkish pharmaceutical shipper charged in cancer-drug smuggling

   Sabahaddin Akman, owner of the Istanbul, Turkey-based firm Ozay Pharmaceuticals, pleaded guilty to charges of smuggling misbranded and adulterated cancer treatment drugs into the United States, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which helped investigate the case.    Akman pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in […]

Read More »
Chris Dupin Sunday, August 17, 2014

From trolley to ‘eHighway’

California funds study of hybrid dray trucks powered by overhead wires to achieve cleaner air.    The demise of the electric trolley car network that once crisscrossed Los Angeles is an important and controversial chapter in the history of public transportation, even becoming a subplot in the 1988 movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit.    Now […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

Avoiding disaster

   In mid-August, the International Civil Aviation Organization convened the first meeting of the special task force authorized to study aviation safety in conflict zones, a need that arose after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 17 in eastern Ukraine on July 17.    In addition to its own experts, ICAO brought together leaders […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

WTO’s Bali honeymoon over

India’s refusal to sign trade facilitation agreement perpetuates feeling trade body is broken.    Bali is a popular honeymoon destination. But for the World Trade Organization, Bali represented a watershed moment in the rebuilding of its reputation as a global force for negotiated trade between nations.    It was there, in December 2013, WTO members […]

Read More »
Chris Gillis Sunday, August 17, 2014

Supply chain careers, an unfortunate best kept secret

   Ask most American high school seniors what they plan to study in college, and you will likely get answers such as accounting, engineering, education and pre-med, to name a few. Supply chain management? Probably not even on their radar.    The reason generally is lack of knowledge at that age. Some young people may […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

Cold ironing 101

   It sounds simple enough.     Pull ship up to dock.     Plug power cord into socket and—voilà—electricity to run everything from refrigeration to computers.    But the process of delivering high-voltage shore power to a large commercial vessel requires a careful minuet between the crew and longshoremen to ensure it is done safely.   […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

AMECS faces challenge from rival developer

   The potential commercialization of AMECS is complicated by a patent infringement dispute between Ruben Garcia and a company called Clean Air Engineering-Maritime Inc., which is conducting a pilot test of a barge-mounted exhaust capture system at the Port of Los Angeles.    Clean Air Engineering-Maritime was formally founded in 2009 by Nicholas Tonsich, who […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

Georgia takes bite out of cargo crime

By John Tabor, Lost Prevention Expert and Principal, AllStates Supply Chain    April 15 marked an important date in the secure movement of freight around the U.S. Southeast, yet few if anyone in the industry knows what changed on this historic date. On that day, Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia signed the Georgia Cargo Theft […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

Shore power disruptor?

Small Calif. firm wants to commercialize cheaper, clean-air alternative to electrifying berthed vessels.    In an effort to reduce air pollution, West Coast ports and shipping lines have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to install electric substations on docks and retrofit vessels with equipment that can receive power from shore. The new infrastructure is […]

Read More »
FreightWaves Staff Sunday, August 17, 2014

The ultimate global logistics challenge

By Walter Kemmsies, chief economist, Moffatt & Nichol    A few years ago the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated the size of the world’s middle class and forecast how it would grow. (The OECD’s middle class forecast, along with the U.S. Census Bureau’s world population estimates, is shown in the corresponding chart.) […]

Read More »
Chris Dupin Sunday, August 17, 2014

Commentary: Exercising ‘just-in-case’ logistics

   As of mid-August, there has been remarkably little information coming out of talks between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Administration over a new contract to replace the six-year pact that expired July 1.    How to pay for the Affordable Care Act’s tax on high-cost healthcare plans has been one […]

Read More »