American Shipper

   The North Carolina Ports Authority said Wednesday that Sallaum Lines is including calls in Wilmington, N.C. as part of its regular roll-on, roll-off service between the U.S. East Coast and West Africa.    The Imola Express began loading at the Port of Wilmington Wednesday for its third call. The ship will be used to […]

   Austrailian logistics company the Toll Group has named Grant Devonport as the company’s new chief financial officer.    Devonport, who has spent the last five years with Toll, was most recently divisional commercial manager for the Toll Global Resources Division. Prior to that, he spent two years as CFO at Toll New Zealand, where […]

   The liner carriers Mediterranean Shipping Co. (MSC) and Zim and have agreed to a slot swap agreement on the intra-Europe trade between the Mediterranean and northern Europe. The two lines will exchange slots on MSC’s Israel Express service and Zim’s AME service from mid-November.    The revised rotations are: Israel Express: Haifa, Ashdod, Valencia, […]

   Seago Line, the intra-Europe specialist carrier of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, said Monday that it plans to raise rates on reefer shipments from Egypt to destinations in Europe from November through May.    “In response to rising costs associated with serving this segment, as well as financially unsustainable rate levels, Seago Line will be […]

   The logistics company Logwin said Thursday it has opened a new branch office in Hyderabad, the company’s ninth office in India.    Hyderabad is capital of Andhra Pradesh, and home to a large IT community and India’s pharmaceutical hub. The city is served by an international airport and inland container depot and has direct […]

   The global logistics and freight forwarding company Panalpina saw third quarter operating profit fall 9.5 percent, to roughly $50 million, on a 16.1 percent decline in revenue, to $1.8 billion.    Year-to-date, Panalpina’s operating profit reached $152.6 million, a huge swing from the more than $30 million the company lost in the first three […]

The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to revise its process for designating a U.S. agent.

Refrigerated containers that either passed through or originated in any Vietnamese port are being identified upon arrival at U.S. West Coast ports. Those that were worked on at Kat Lai will be isolated for special handling.

The Maritime Administration has released a study on the higher cost of U.S.-flag ships versus those registered in other countries; roughly 2.7 times the average for similar foreign-flag vessels.

   Vessel operating costs are expected to rise by 3.8 percent in 2011 and by another 3.7 percent in 2012, according to a new survey by international accountant and shipping consultant Moore Stephens.    The survey, based on responses from key players in the international shipping industry, predominantly shipowners and managers in Europe and Asia, […]

   The Grand Alliance carriers will this month pull one of their four services connecting Asia and Europe, according to a note from member Hapag-Lloyd on Monday.    GA lines, which also include NYK Line and OOCL, will pull their Loop D/EUD service from the Nov. 6 sailing. The service, according to American Shipper affiliate […]

   Low ocean freight rate levels on the major east-west trades this year are fundamentally different from those seen in 2009, the maritime analyst SeaIntel said this week.    In its SeaIntel Sunday Spotlight report, the analyst argued certain major container lines have a vested interest in keeping rates low to drive down the number […]

   Evergreen Line said this week it is splitting into two legs an intra-Asia service linking Japan, Taiwan, South China, and Southeast Asia that it introduced in March.    The move is being made to tap into faster-growing trade between China and Southeast Asian nations, specifically Vietnam and Indonesia.    The line will pull its […]

   MCC Transport, the intra-Asia subsidiary line of the A.P. Moller-Maersk Group, has started a new Malaysia feeder, the carrier said Tuesday.    The service, dubbed MA-2, has a rotation of Tanjung Pelepas, Singapore, Kuching, Muara, Kota Kinabalu, and Tanjung Pelepas.

   The liner carrier MOL has significantly increased the size of its vessel deployed on a service linking Japan and Southeast Asia, according to research from American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data.    On the line’s CBE service, MOL has switched out all three vessels, more than doubling the average vessel size from 1,076 TEUs to […]

   Maersk Line said this week it will raise rates on shipments from the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil to the U.S. East Coast from Nov. 27.    The proposed increase, which covers shipments to Miami, Newark, Savannah, and Philadelphia, will be $100 per 20-foot container and $200 per 40-foot or 40-foot high-cube container.

   Maersk Line this week will start assessing a congestion surcharge on cargo moving in and out of Sydney.    The surcharge, $100 per 20-foot container and $200 per 40-foot container, will be assessed from Nov. 3 to all destinations except the United States and Puerto Rico. To those destinations, the surcharge takes effect from […]

   “K” Line said Tuesday it is joining an intra-Asia service linking South Korea with Southeast Asia operated by Korean lines Hanjin Shipping and Heung-A Shipping.    The service, dubbed KPI by Hanjin and Heung-A, has a rotation of Incheon, Xingang, Pyeongtaek, Busan, Manila, Singapore, Jakarta, Manila, Busan, and Incheon. It’s operated with four vessels […]

   Celadon Group’s recent acquisition of Frozen Food Express Industries’ dry van fleet and interest in fellow truckload carrier USA Truck are examples of how new economic pressures could lead to greater consolidation of the fragmented U.S. trucking industry.     In early October, FFE announced it was exiting the dry van transportation business to focus […]