Call for wider port truck regulation         

  

 

August 30, 2010 - Proponents of wider port trucking industry regulation applauded last week's California district court ruling that upheld components of the Port of Los Angeles' Clean Truck Program.

 

The decision, supporters say, could benefit efforts to regulate trucking in other ports.

 

The decision, which the American Trucking Associations has said it will appeal, "bolsters the standing of burgeoning clean port programs across the nation," said Melissa Lin Perrella, senior attorney with the Natural Resources Defense Council's Southern California Air Program.

 

"Now we must pass my legislation, the Clean Ports Act, in order to bring federal law up to date with the current realities of our ports and the needs of U.S. truck drivers, and to ensure that future legal challenges do not impede environmental progress," said Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.

 

Teamsters President James P. Hoffa said, "We plan to continue our work with federal lawmakers to clarify transportation law so ports nationwide don't needlessly suffer expensive obstacles to cleaning up their operations. This can only be achieved if the financial responsibility for fleet replacement is shifted off the backs of low-wage workers and onto the broad shoulders of the industry where it belongs." 
 

Cass Freight Index Grows 8.3 Percent in August      

    

 

September 2, 2010 - U.S. shipping measure expands as key manufacturing data shows improvement

The closely watched Cass Freight Index for U.S. shipping jumped back into positive territory in August, increasing 8.3 percent from the month before and joining other signals of returning industrial growth.

The Cass shipments index recovered in August after sliding in July on a month-to-month basis for the first time in seven months, and it grew 16.5 percent over the same month a year ago.

Shippers also paid more to move goods in August as the Cass index for expenditures increased 7.6 percent over July and was up 33.4 percent over the same month a year ago. That marked the strongest year-over-year growth in the expenditures index since the recovery began at the start of the year and pushed that index to its highest point since September 2008.

The new freight index from Cass Information System followed reports Wednesday showing manufacturing growth in the United States and China accelerated in August, lowering fears that the fragile economic recovery was skidding to a halt.

Port Tracker report predicts
jump in September box numbers         

  

 

September 8, 2010 -  WASHINGTON DC - Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to be up 16 percent in September over the same month last year, but 2010 has already hit its peak and numbers will decline through the remainder of the year, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released today by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

 

U.S. ports handled 1.38 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units in July, the latest month for which actual numbers are available. That was up five percent from June and 25 percent from July 2009.

 

It was the eighth month in a row to show a year-over-year improvement after December broke a 28-month streak of year-over-year declines. One TEU is one 20-foot cargo container or its equivalent.

 

August was estimated at 1.35 million TEU, a 17 percent increase over last year. September is forecast at 1.32 million TEU, up 16 percent from last year; October at 1.3 million TEU, up nine percent; November at 1.2 million TEU, up 11 percent; and December at 1.11 million TEU, up two percent.

 

January 2011 is forecast at 1.06 million TEU, down two percent from January 2010. The first half of 2010 was estimated at 6.9 million TEU, up 17 percent from the same period last year. The full year is forecast at 14.5 million TEU, which would be up 15 percent from the 12.7 million TEU in 2009, which was the lowest since the 12.5 million TEU reported in 2003.

 

The 2010 number remains below the 15.2 million TEU seen in 2008 and the peak of 16.5 million TEU seen in 2007. While October is the traditional peak month of the annual shipping season as retailers bring in merchandise for the holiday season, July's figures appear likely to stand as the peak for 2010.

 

The shift was mostly due to backlogs built up due to the lack of shipping capacity earlier in the year after ship owners took vessels out of service during the recession.

Maersk Says Slow Steaming Here to Stay   

   

Even as the global economy recovers slow steaming "remains a win-win-win situation," said Maersk Line CEO Eivind Kolding.

"It is better for our customers, better for the environment, and better for our business," Kolding said.

Maersk's management liner board has agreed to continue slow steaming because it will improve scheduled reliability, cap fuel costs and reduce the carrier's carbon foot print.

The cost savings also will enable Maersk to increase spending on innovation and improved service, including enhanced efficiency at its terminals, Kolding said.

"While some customers have complained about longer inventory time -- in essence, with Maersk Line ships as floating warehouses -- the analysis is that slow steaming helps prevent bottlenecks on terminals."

A ship that reduces its speed by 20 percent will use 40 percent less fuel, thereby reducing CO2 emissions, Maersk said in a briefing on slow steaming.

To maintain the same service frequency and compensate for lower average speed, one to two extra vessels are added per route or string.
Despite the extra ships, Maersk has cut its CO2 emissions by around 7 percent per container transported over the past 18 months.

Maersk argues that schedule reliability improves because slow speed allows ships to continuously adjust speed in order to deliver cargo exactly on time.

The carrier said the concept of slow steaming was originally a hard sell to engine manufacturers. It took off in 2007 and was a key factor in Maersk cutting its CO2 emissions 12.5 percent per container from 2007 to 2009.

Maersk said its goal is to reduce CO2 emissions by 25 percent in 2020.

 

By Bruce Barnard
The Journal of Commerce

   

 

August 25, 2010 -China and India remain the top low-sourcing options in Asia but are expected to face competition by Indonesia and other new players in the region.

Sharul Nizam, head of group procurement at Time Dot Com Berhad says, "If we look at as Asia perspective, for the next five years I foresee there will be a new country emerging as an alternative to both countries." He cites the country to be Indonesia.

However, he does not expect too many changes in the procurement environment throughout Asia.

"The rising cost of delivered goods or freight cost will continuously give pressure to the total cost and this is very much related to the oil price," he feels.

That said, Nizam believes geographical proximity will be the ultimate factor for outsourcing. He feels Asia will be less of a focus for US companies as they turn to Mexico - a closer alternative. 
 

New Zealand port resumes ops after 7.1 magnitude quake       

  

Lyttelton port in New Zealand restart operations after quake T

 

September 7, 2010 - The Lyttelton Port of Christchurch (LPC) in New Zealand has resumed full operations after 'extensive' checks by structural engineers following a 7.1 magnitude quake.

"The container terminal was able to resume full cargo operation at 1500 hour Sunday and there have been limited effects on forecasted shipping movements," said LPC.

"LPC is working with all parties to ensure the effects on shipping and cargo transfer through the port are as minimal as possible."

A 7.1 magnitude earthquake, with the epicentre approximately 40 kilometres from LPC, struck New Zealand in the early hours on Saturday, September 4.

The port said that it's engineering and maintenance staff will continue to access the damage to infrastructure, power supply and other services.
"The cost to repair the damage to the port is likely to be tens of millions of dollars," the port added.
 

 

Liverpool boosts container capacity        

    

 

September 6, 2010 -  The Port of Liverpool's Royal Seaforth container terminal is to have 5,000 additional ground slots in use by the end of next month.

Expansion of the terminal's capacity follows a recent £1.1m investment in IT which has led to a 30 per cent improvement in vehicle turnaround times.

David Huck, head of port operations, said: "We have increased our stacking area by some 22 per cent, and now by the end of October we will have on stream an additional 5,000 ground slots."

And Stephen Carr, head of business development, said: "Liverpool now records the fastest turnaround times of any UK port - with 95 per cent of truck drivers processed though the port within an hour, and 65 per cent within 30 minutes."

"We have a long-term investment plan that delivers increased capacity in phases over the next 18 months along with the in-river Post-Panamax terminal, which will be operational in 2014.

 

 

Transportation plan unveiled        

  

 

September 8, 2010 -  President Obama has announced a comprehensive infrastructure plan to expand and renew the nation's roads, railways and runways.

The proposal is among a set of targeted initiatives Obama discussed briefly Sept. 6 at a Labor Day speech and was set to outline further in Cleveland Sept. 8 to support the nation's economic recovery and facilitate long-term sustainable growth.

The "Renewing and Expanding America's Roads, Railways and Runways" plan is intended to combine a long-term vision for the future with new investments. The plan would front-load a significant portion of the new investments in the first year to jump-start the economy and boost employment, and would stress reform in the way America invests in transportation, focusing on enhancing competition, innovation, performance and real analysis, while moving away from earmarks and formulas.

Over the next six years, the plan would include rebuilding 150,000 miles of roads, constructing and maintaining 4,000 miles of rail coast-to-coast and rehabilitating or reconstructing 150 miles of runway while putting in place a NextGen system designed to reduce air travel time and delays. Obama proposes to pair these short-term projects with a long-term framework to reform and expand the nation's investment in transportation infrastructure.

Since the end of last year, when the last long-term surface transportation legislation expired, these investments have been continued on a temporary basis, even as the trust fund to finance them has fallen into insolvency. The long-term framework includes these proposed reforms:

· Infrastructure Bank. Obama proposes to fund a permanent infrastructure bank that would leverage private, state and local capital to invest in projects that are most critical to economic progress, a departure from spending on infrastructure through earmarks and formula-based grants that are allocated more by geography and politics than demonstrated value. Instead, the bank would base its investment decisions on clear analytical measures of performance, competing projects against each other to determine which would produce the greatest return for American taxpayers;

· A transportation program to ensure a sustained and effective commitment to a national high speed rail system over the next generation;

· Streamlining, modernizing and prioritizing surface transportation investments, consolidating more than 100 different programs and focusing on using performance measurement and "race-to-the-top"-style competitive pressures to drive investment toward better policy outcomes; and

· Expanding investments in areas like safety, environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and livability - helping to build communities where people have choices about how to travel, including options that reduce oil consumption, lower greenhouse gas emissions and expand access to job opportunities and affordable housing.