American Shipper

   The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials announced Friday that Executive Director John Horsley and Jack Basso, director of program finance and management, plan to retire effective Feb. 1, 2013.    Both men have strong reputations for skillfully representing state interests in infrastructure development and ensuring continued federal support for highway aid programs. […]

Ericsson de Panama S.A. of Panama City has agreed to pay a civil penalty of $1.753 million to settle 262 violations of the U.S. Export Administration Regulations.

   The Freight Stakeholders Coalition, made up of 18 organizations representing both U.S. shippers and carriers, last week called for a national freight program and policy in the Surface Transportation Authorization bill.    In a letter to House and Senate Conferees on Surface Transportation Authorization, the group laid out a 10-point platform on freight mobility […]

   DHL said Monday it’s starting a new less-than-containerload service from Shanghai to Dubai, the third service to be offered between China and the United Arab Emirates.    “Our new services from Shanghai to Dubai are a direct response to a rise in cooperation in recent years between China and these new emerging economies in […]

BlueWater Reporting shows capacity in the past year has trended up between North America and the east coast of South America and down to the west coast of South America. By Eric Johnson    It’s not easy to ascertain confidence levels on north-south container trades.    Rate indexes and growth forecasts tend to focus wholly […]

Plans to increase toll charges for the Panama Canal are “rushed, excessive and likely to cause further problems for shipping companies” given the fragile state of economic recovery, said the shipowner group.

Port authorities and shippers express concern that a prolonged strike on the Canadian freight railway will take its toll on their businesses and the national economy.

This is a another South American trade extending the partnersahip between CMA CGM and MSC, offering the French liner a direct connection between the east coasts of North and South America.

   The liner carrier MOL (America) said Thursday it has added another metric to its list of monthly key performance indicators.    The line will report on a new category called “missed vessel connection due to rail error ratio.”    On a monthly basis, MOL will release the results, which measure the percentage of containers that […]

   Swiss WorldCargo, a division of Swiss International Air Lines, has started a new weekly non-stop flight between Zurich and Tampa, Fla.    The service is operated in partnership with Edelweiss Air using Airbus A330 planes.    The air carrier also has U.S.-bound flights to New York (JFK and Newark, N.J.), Boston, Chicago, Miami, Los […]

   C.H. Robinson Worldwide has appointed Christopher O’Brien to senior vice president of transportation.    He joined the Eden Prairie, Minn.-based third party logistics services provider in 1993. Since then, he has held numerous positions including sales and account management; on-site account manager at a major grocery retailer; manager of the Raleigh, N.C. office; general […]

   Non-vessel-operating common carrier Troy Container Line has launched a new interactive Website, www.TroyLines.com, focused on easing the use of its tools by freight forwarding customers.    Troy initiated the new site because customers are already turning to the Web for bookings and it needed to present a clean, easy-to-use offering that wouldn’t frustrate them.   […]

   Orange Business Services has secured a deal to provide liner carrier Zim with a single global network for its MPLS-based communications.    MPLS is a scalable data-carrying telecommunications network.    In specific, Orange will provide Zim with a system that provides back-up and information support, and a single communications and cloud-based platform for its vessels. […]

   RedTail Solutions, a provider of managed cloud services to mid-market suppliers and manufacturers, has released two new tools around warehouse management and third party logistics services.    RedTail EDI handles business-to-business e-commerce between suppliers and partners, and the company said it’s expanding the volume of transactions that can be supported. Synching this with the RedTail Warehouse […]

   Damen Shipyards Group of the Netherlands has taken over the shares of Swedish ship repair and maintenance yard Oskarshamnsvarvet in Oskarshamn.    The acquisition includes the full continuation of the repair yard and personnel. “The takeover of Oskarshamnsvarvet fits right into our strategy to increase Damen’s network of ship repair yards in Europe,” said René […]

   The Virginia Port Authority said China has agreed to allow log hardwood and softwood exports from the state to resume for a six month pilot program.    The Virginia Forestry Association said in 2011 Chinese officials found nematodes in pine log shipments that they identified as coming from Virginia and South Carolina, and banned […]

   Too many random security inspections of ocean containers fall on trusted shippers who are supposed to receive fewer exams for making investments to ensure their international shipments aren’t compromised by criminals or terrorists en route to the United States, a U.S. Customs official conceded last month.    Companies certified for following high security standards throughout their […]

   Confidence in European-based ocean and air cargo markets has fallen in May, according to the latest results from the Stifel Nicolaus Logistics Confidence Index.    The investment services company created the index with U.K.-based research company Transport Intelligence in March to better understand trends in the global ocean and air markets,    The index surveys international […]

Chinese national Qiang Hu was arrested in Massachusetts for illegally supplying U.S.-origin parts to end-users in China in violation of U.S. Export Administration Regulations and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

   Sometimes buying a new warehouse management system doesn’t cut it, so after the problems it had last year the U.K.-based fashion retailing chain SuperGroup has decided to become a third-party logistics company.    SuperGroup entered a two-year contract with logistics firm Wincanton, which will help with the development of its supply chain from a […]