American Shipper

    American Shipper’s International Transportation Management Systems (ITMS) Benchmark Study, published November 2010 (available for free at www.AmericanShipper.com/ITMS), demonstrated that shippers use an average of about four-and-a-half IT systems to manage international transportation, while best-in-class firms or “winners” actually use more.      More technology isn’t necessarily a good thing. Most likely these shippers have adopted […]

APL Logistics rebuilds domestic intermodal business a decade after selling double-stack business to Pacer. By Chris Dupin    It’s back to the future at APL Logistics as the company rebuilds its domestic intermodal business a dozen years after selling it to Pacer International.    APL, as American President Lines, pioneered double-stack intermodal rail and 53-foot […]

Soviet era-built AN-124s still reign as world’s dominant super-heavy haulers. By Chris Gillis    The world’s biggest commercial cargo planes, the Antonov 124s, didn’t feel the downdraft of the most recent global recession.    The planes’ handful of operators mostly benefited from pre-existing long-term project cargo transport contracts, which often take several years to complete, […]

Sputtering recovery translates into fewer shipments. By Eric Kulisch    Growth has been choppy since the U.S. economy pulled out of recession two years ago, alternating between lukewarm and anemic expansion.    Most economists have minimized the likelihood that the U.S. or global economies will fall into decline again, but economic data and shipment volumes […]

  Congress has introduced legislation that would impose a national policy for regulating discharges of ballast water to prevent the introduction of invasive species. The bill, H.R. 2840, also aims to regulate incidental “gray water” discharges from ships ranging from oily water separator effluent and refrigeration and air condensate effluent.    Reps. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., […]

   Liner carrier CSAV will end its Marco Polo service between India, the Middle East and South Africa as it joins a similar Mediterranean Shipping Co. service as a slot buyer, according to American Shipper affiliate ComPair Data.    The last voyage of the service is to depart Thursday from Durban.    In July the […]

Balling    Niels Kim Balling, 60, a shipping executive and consultant has died.    Balling was a managing director at Econships, a management advisory for transport and logistics headquartered in Hong Kong.    He had been a managing director at MISC Integrated Logistics and group vice president at MISC Bhd, a general manager and director […]

Eng    Eng Aik Meng, former president of Singapore-based liner carrier APL, has joined an Indian-based health care conglomerate as its new chief operating officer, according to news reports.    Eng will be charged with developing Fortis Healthcare’s business outside of India, primarily across Asia and Australia.    He left APL at the end of […]

   The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has approved certification of Envirotainer’s RKN e1 electrical heating and compressor cooling air cargo container.    Envirotainer, pioneer of the world’s first active temperature-controlled container in 1995, has experienced significantly increased demand for its RKN e1 since it was first approved by the European Air Safety Agency (EASA) in […]

   Houston’s Ellington Air Cargo Facility, a property adjacent to the Ellington Air Field, is ready for development, said Project Director Mark Briggs.    “The Ellington Air Cargo Facility is the first of its kind in Houston,” Briggs said. “Not only does it offer the lowest cargo tariff in the Houston Airport System, it also […]

   Singapore Airlines Cargo has added Jakarta to its freighter network and increased its weekly frequencies to Auckland, Shanghai, Sydney and Xiamen.    The new weekly Boeing 747-400 freighter service to Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport started on Sept. 5. It is to be increased to twice weekly during the winter.   The carrier said the Jakarta […]

   Russian Railways subsidiaries RZD Logistics and TransContainer will cooperate in a joint venture to offer shippers express container trains.    The express service is being tested on the route between Yekaterinburg and St. Petersburg.    Fast container trains will offer a convenient and reliable shipping service to Urals-based steel exporters, said According to RZD […]

   The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday in two separate votes approved extensions to Federal Aviation Administration and surface transportation programs that were due to expire in the coming days.    The FAA bill will keep aviation programs running through the end of January while authorization for highway and transit programs is extended through March […]

   Transportation and energy ministers from 21 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, including the United States, on Tuesday agreed to continue initiatives for cleaner and more energy-efficient transportation in the region.    The announcement came during the first-ever joint Transportation and Energy Ministerial Conference held in San Francisco by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the […]

van der Jagt    Nicolette van der Jagt, the long-time secretary general of the European Shippers’ Council, will become director general of CLECAT, the European association for forwarding, transport, logistics and custom services.    She will succeed Marco Sorgetti, who is leaving CLECAT to become the director general of FIATA in Zurich, effective Jan 1. […]

   A.P. Moller’s freight forwarding and supply chain management subsidiary Damco has begun providing customers with an online calculation of carbon dioxide emissions.    The new information is available online at myDamco, the browser-based customer interface with Damco, and will enable customers to track carbon dioxide emissions for all products shipped by ocean and air. […]

   Marine terminal equipment manufacturer Cargotec has opened a marine service company in Klaipeda, Lithuania.    The new company, MacGregor BLRT Baltic UAB, is a joint venture owned by Cargotec (51 percent) and Western Shipyard (49 percent).    “In Baltic, cargo access equipment repairs and annual maintenance are mainly carried out during dry docking repairs […]

Analysis: Daily Maersk a tough act to follow

   The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee has criticized the Department of Homeland Security for its handling of Jones Act waivers in a report accompanying the DHS Appropriations Act (H.R. 2017).     The Jones Act requires goods moving between U.S. ports be moved on U.S. crewed, flagged and built vessels, but the Senate said, “U.S. vessels, […]

   California’s clean fuel regulations and voluntary slowdowns by shipping companies have substantially reduced air pollution caused by commercial cargo ships near the state’s shore, according to a study published online Monday in Environmental Science & Technology.     The study, led by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), examined a containership operating under a […]