American Shipper

FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

‘Change agent’

Knatz, former L.A. port director, leaves this month after a four-decade career at SoCal ports.    There’s never a quiet time to be head of the Western Hemisphere’s biggest container port.    But it would be hard to find a more consequential eight-year stretch than the one Geraldine Knatz presided over as executive director of the […]

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FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

Getting a grip

Transition to new chassis management model is “painfully slow process.”    The transition to a new chassis management model in which a new set of middlemen have taken over from where ocean carriers left off is still evolving and technical problems are being worked out.    “It has been a painfully slow process,” acknowledged Phil […]

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FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

Like making a restaurant reservation

By Eric Kulisch and Jon Ross New portal allows truckers to reserve chassis on day leases.    There aren’t any apparent commonalities between fine dining and drayage, but it turns out there’s one link: technology.    Just as a prospective diner can hunt for a reservation at a favorite restaurant at precisely the time and day […]

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Chris Dupin Thursday, December 19, 2013

UPS 20-year drive to optimization

Express carrier’s “turn data into insight” initiative is topped by ORION rollout.    Anyone who has received a parcel delivery from UPS knows its drivers carry small handheld computers that the company calls “delivery information acquisition devices,” or DIADs.    They are just the most visible evidence of a 20-year project at the company to […]

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Chris Dupin Thursday, December 19, 2013

Uncharted waters

If the liner industry consolidates will that benefit or hurt shippers?    Shippers and liner carriers enter 2014 amid potentially great change in container shipping.    Last June, Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co., and CMA CGM announced plans to join forces on the major box trades in the second quarter of 2014, creating a vessel-sharing agreement […]

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Chris Dupin Thursday, December 19, 2013

Another shoe dropping

   When Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co., and CMA CGM announced in June their intention to form the P3 Network, many analysts figured it was just a matter of time until other carriers responded to the challenge.    In early December the six containership companies that belong to the G6 Alliance said they also want […]

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FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

Package wars

   Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos’ disclosure on 60 Minutes Dec. 1 that Amazon was studying the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to deliver small packages in urban areas was met with skepticism by some supply chain experts.

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FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

Military drawdown hurts civilian carriers

   In November, two airlines that are part of the U.S. Military’s Civil Reserve Air Fleet — a group of commercial airlines that provide the Defense Department with planes for short-notice, large-scale cargo and troop deployments — announced they had weathered significant operational blows due to a curtailing of military spending on air freight capacity. […]

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FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

Handicapped chances for trade liberalization

   Reaching consensus on improvements to the global trading system will take at least a decade despite continuing efforts by many developing countries to reach an agreement, William Reinsch, president of the National Foreign Trade Council, said Nov. 18 in Seattle at a conference organized by the Washington Council on International Trade.    The failure […]

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FreightWaves Staff Thursday, December 19, 2013

Ripping off the Band-Aid

   If you’re a logistics or compliance manager or director chances are the idea of upgrading or migrating to a new technology has at least crossed your mind for 2014.       Whether or not that investment takes place depends on a multitude of factors, namely: whether there’s buy-in for logistics or compliance automation at […]

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FreightWaves Staff Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Weather delays impact Great Lakes U.S.-flag movement

   The Lake Carriers’ Association announced yesterday that U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters experienced a decrease of 4.7 percent in dry-bulk cargo compared to a year ago, with weather delays being the key factor in the decreases.     The total tonnage was 8.7-percent below November’s long-term average and down 11.2 percent from the 9.8 million tons […]

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FreightWaves Staff Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Report: EU states lagging in maritime compliance

   Some flag states in the European Union have failed to comply with rules regarding maritime standards, according to a recently released European Commission compliance report.    Current EU rules set specific standards for flag states that are to be in place by January. Despite some states’ progress, Portugal, Ireland and all landlocked flag states […]

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FreightWaves Staff Wednesday, December 18, 2013

IAG Cargo expands Constant Cargo network

   IAG Cargo announced today the expansion of its Constant Climate network into airports in Prague, Vienna, Las Palmas, Basel and Zurich.     As IAG Cargo’s offering for temperature-controlled pharmaceuticals, the expansion of Constant Climate into these locations allows it to support businesses operating from key pharmaceutical hubs, most notably Switzerland, the company said.   […]

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FreightWaves Staff Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Yamaha outsources European warehouse operations to Yusen

   Yamaha Motor Europe and Yusen Logistics Benelux have announced a deal that will allow Yusen to take over some of Yamaha’s European warehouse operational activities in January.     Yusen Logistics Benelux will take control of the warehouse function in the European spare parts distribution center of Yamaha Motor Europe at Schiphol-Rijk, the Netherlands. As […]

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Chris Dupin Wednesday, December 18, 2013

Same Players, Different Rules: FMC examines shipping alliances

   Members of the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission met with regulators from China and the European Commission on Tuesday as all three review plans by container shipping companies to form new or expanded mega-alliances.    While most of the discussions were held privately by the regulators, FMC Chairman Mario Cordero and members of the delegations […]

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