American Shipper

   Less than five months after it declared bankruptcy, charter aircraft operator Southern Air has emerged from bankruptcy as a restructured company.    According to Chief Executive Officer Daniel McHugh, the process has allowed Southern Air to shed debt, improve operations and become financially flexible.    “Today, we are well-positioned both financially and operationally to continue to build […]

March container volume at the Port of Los Angeles plummeted 22.6 percent year-on-year, including a 28.8 percent drop in inbound cargo, while Long Beach’s volume rose 5.4 percent, despite a 0.5 percent drop in loaded imports.

   Kuehne + Nagel has opened an office in Mobile, Ala., to focus on aerospace, oil and gas, and marine providers, further cementing the logistics firm’s expansion in the southern United States.    Alabama is home to more than 400 aerospace companies, a strong base for K+N’s “Supply the Sky” program, according to officials. The program, […]

   U.S.-flag Great Lakes vessels carried 2.2 million tons of dry-bulk cargo in March, a decrease of 7 percent compared to 2012.    However, the fleet’s March float was marginally ahead of the month’s 5-year average, the Lake Carriers’ Association reported.    Iron ore shipments for the fleet rose slightly – 25,000 tons – compared […]

   DB Schenker has acquired 100 percent of the shares of long-term partner Euro-Line Panamericana in Panama.    The German logistics firm will operate the business under Schenker (Panama), S.A. Euro-Line is one of the top freight forwarders for ocean imports in Central America.    The new Schenker subsidiary will have its head office in […]

Lawmakers worry whether the Transportation Security Administration will be able to efficiently handle the renewal of large numbers of Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC) expiring this year.

   Cathay Pacific Airways experienced a 5.3-percent, year-over-year drop in cargo tonnage last month, but saw an increase in passenger traffic.    Cargo traffic for Cathay and Dragonair finished the month at 136,504 tons with a 66.4 percent load factor, which represents a 1.9-point drop from March 2012. Revenue tonnage declined as well, falling by […]

   Communications company Parallel Infrastructure is looking to widen its focus after signing 21 new short-line and regional railroad agreements in the past year.    New development efforts may confront different types of infrastructure and future agreements could focus primarily on the properties of public sector entities.    “We continue to expand our footprint nationwide, […]

   The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday in the American Trucking Associations’ ongoing challenge to the Port of Los Angeles to impose a comprehensive licensing scheme on trucks hauling freight in and out of the port.    A transcript of the argument can be read here.    “We believe it is clear that in 1980 […]

Lawmakers yesterday blasted plans by the Obama administration to modify food aid programs to allow more local and regional purchasing of food, citing negative effects on both farmers and the U.S. merchant marine.

The U.S. Commerce and State departments have proposed a number of amendments to two export control guidelines to redefine the export of aircraft, associated munitions items, and gas turbine engines.

   The Federal Aviation Administration needs to address weaknesses in its aircraft data collection to ensure the continued safety of the U.S. aviation market, according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office.    More reliable data should be collected about runway overruns at the nation’s airports, airborne losses of separation, annual flight hours […]

Jerry A. Bridges, former head of the Virginia Port Authority, and Bernard Groseclose, who resigned as CEO of the South Carolina Ports Authority in 2009, lead the list of eight candidates for the top job at the Jacksonville Port Authority.

Bill Shuster, the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman, has formed a special panel of six committee members to create a national infrastructure strategy across all freight transport modes.

   Since October U.S. Customs has seized more than a dozen imported Land Rover Defender off-road utility vehicles for violating federal road safety standards, including two early last month at the Port of Norfolk in Virginia.    The agency said it is aware of vehicles with altered vehicle identification numbers to make them appear at least […]

The agency said industry user fees would fund 94 percent of the proposed budget increase, including new fees to support the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) and strengthen the FDA’s ability to oversee imported food.

   The U.S. Department of Agriculture has extended its agreement to help the Federal Aviation Administration develop aviation biofuels for another five years.    The two agencies initially linked up in October 2010 to look into deriving aviation fuel from green feedstocks like forest and crop residues.    USDA, FAA and other supporting members hope to […]

“Efforts to increase eastbound freight rates by ocean carriers operating between Asia and West Coast North America (WCNA) remain ineffectual with new services planned rather than laying up unwanted vessel capacity,” the firm said.

   APL is planning to take four of its U.S.-flag ships out service – the President Adams, President Jackson, President Polk and President Truman — citing reduced need for transport by the U.S. military and the economic slowdown.    “The market place has been under extreme pressure with the wind down of both Iraq and Afghanistan. In […]

   Information technology is still predominantly conducted outside of the cloud in Australia, according to research by the global analyst firm Ovum.    A recent survey of 63 chief information officers in Australia found that three-quarters of IT activities were provided by in-house IT departments.    “It is always difficult to assess the true rate of […]