American Shipper

   The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday published a new rule designed to increase airline safety by requiring greater qualification standards for co-pilots.    The final rule mandates that first officers for U.S. airlines hold a commercial pilot certificate requiring them to log 1,500 hours of flying time before becoming a co-pilot. Previously, they needed […]

   Non-vessel-operating common carrier Shipco Transport has started direct less-than containerload services from New York to Rio de Janeiro and Itajai (Navegantes), Brazil, with its WorldWide Alliance partner Allink Transportes Internacionais.    The NVO said the new services will “significantly improve transit times from U.S. North East, Midwest and Pacific Northwest origins feeding into the […]

   The liner carriers APL, ANL, and Hanjin Shipping said Tuesday they will cooperate on a new service linking Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.    The weekly service, to be called the NAX, is due to start Sept. 1 and will see each of the carriers provide two 2,200-TEU ships. It will have a rotation […]

A fire Friday aboard a Boeing 787 Dreamliner parked at London’s Heathrow International immediately led to concerns that lithium battery problems on the new aircraft had resurfaced, but British investigators have ruled this out.

The truck brokerage and third-party logistics company said Monday it acquired 3PD Inc. in a deal worth $365 million. Based in Atlanta, 3PD was founded in 2001 to capitalize on the last-mile logistics segment serving retail shippers.

The Swiss forwarding giant achieved a 3.3-percent, year-over-year revenue increase during the first half of 2013, ending the period at CHF 10.39 million ($10.94 million). For the second quarter, revenue increased 1.4 percent.

Some private fleets have seen a 10-percent degradation in utilization since the federal government’s new hours of service regulations were imposed on July 1. The hit seems to have less of an impact on the over-the-road fleets.

   French liner carrier CMA CGM said it will upgrade its round-the-world “Panama Direct” service from fortnightly to a weekly frequency, starting with the departure of CMA CGM Manet from Tilbury on Sept. 18.    The service will call these ports in the following rotation: Tilbury, Rotterdam, Dunkirk, Le Havre, New York, Savannah, Kingston, Cartagena, Papeete, […]

   Silk Way Airlines, an all-cargo carrier based in Azerbaijan, has ordered two Boeing 747-8 freighters with a list price of $704 million, Boeing said Thursday.    Silk currently operates Boeing 747-400 and 767-300 freighters, providing service to Europe, the Middle East and Far East via the Central Asian nation.    The new aircraft offers 16 percent more cargo space […]

   Yusen Logistics, the freight forwarding and logistics subsidiary of the NYK Group, said Monday it has started a new less-than-containerload (LCL) service from Hong Kong to Rotterdam.    The direct service sails from Hong Kong every Sunday and arrives at Rotterdam 26 days later, and is supported by a domestic distribution network service to […]

   The first week-long round of talks for U.S.-European Union Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) ended Friday in Washington.    “It’s been a very productive week,” said EU Chief Negotiator Ignacio Garcia-Bercero in a statement. “We have been striving already for many months to prepare the ground for an ambitious trade and investment deal that will […]

   Container volume at the Port of Los Angeles fell 7.2 percent in June, completing a first half in which volume fell 7.4 percent.    The port handled 646,650 TEUs in June and 3.7 million TEUs during the first half. The neighboring Port of Long Beach, which hadn’t released its June statistics as of Monday, has […]

   The United States on Friday said it has fully implemented the recommendations and rulings of the World Trade Organization in a dispute brought by Mexico on the U.S. dolphin-safe labeling program.    The United States informed the WTO of its compliance in a communication to be circulated to WTO members.    “I am pleased […]

   The Transported Asset Protection Association has turned its focus to South Africa, hosting a regional conference in Johannesburg and penciling in another training session and conference in 2014.    TAPA is also pushing to develop a chapter of the organization in the country.    The group is concerned about the large amount of cargo […]

   DHL Express Chile has unveiled a 10,000-square-meter headquarters facility in Santiago, Chile, designed to help the company address growing volume demands in the South American country.    The facility is located five minutes from the Santiago International Airport.     The state-of-the-art complex includes automated sorting capabilities, enhanced safety features and an adherence to environmentally sustainable […]

   CenterPoint Properties has purchased a seven-acre logistics facility and container yard in Commerce, Calif., from an undisclosed seller.    The purchase price was not released.    The property is two miles from intermodal rail yards operated by BNSF and Union Pacific, and it is in close proximity to the Los Angeles and Long Beach […]

   The ship classification society Nippon Kaiji Kyokai (ClassNK) said it will expedite its investigation of the break-up of the containership MOL Comfort, but said the inquiry will be complicated by the fact that both halves of the ship have now sunk.     The ship broke in half on June 17, and the stern sank […]

   Her September departure makes it likely that U.S. Customs and Border Protection will continue without a political appointee at its helm for the immediate future.

   The outlook for trade from China is weak, but surprisingly some shippers have reported difficulty obtaining space on eastbound transpacific container services out of North China ports.    Earlier this week, the Associated Press reported that China’s economy “might be cooling even more sharply than expected,” citing data from the country’s General Administration of […]

   U.S.-flag Great Lakes freighters carried 10.1 million tons of dry-bulk cargo in June. Cargo traffic is being hampered by low rainfall totals and dredging neglect that has forced lakers to carry less than their full capacity.