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ILA Ends NY-NJ Work Stoppage |
Negotiations to start Monday after protest of shipper's move to non-ILA terminal
September 29, 2010 - The two-day work stoppage at the six container terminals in the Port of New York and New Jersey ended early Wednesday afternoon when the Philadelphia ILA local whose picket lines had caused the shutdown of the terminals called off the picketing.
The Philadelphia longshoreman had started picketing the terminals in New York Harbor at 8 a.m. Tuesday to protest the pending move by Del Monte Fresh Produce of 75 ship calls a year from an ILA terminal in Camden, N.J. to a non-ILA facility in Gloucester, N.J. that is owned by the Holt family.
One of the dockworkers on the picket line outside the gates of the APM Terminal in Port Elizabeth, N.J., said Philadelphia ILA Local 12391 had called off the picketing and would start negotiations on Monday, but he did not specify what those negotiations would involve.
The ILA said in mid-afternoon Wednesday it asked pickets from the Philadelphia local to leave the terminals. "Aware of the concerns of the rank-and-file members and sensitive to the impact of the picketing on the industry, the ILA has convinced the individual pickets to leave the various terminals in the port of New York and New Jersey," it said in a statement issued by its office in New York.
The ILA said it promised the pickets it would meet immediately with United States Maritime Alliance and New York Shipping Association representatives to address the loss of jobs. It said it anticipated that as soon as the pickets leave, normal operations will resume.
The New York Shipping Association had not received official word in the early afternoon that the work stoppage at the six terminals was over, said Beverly Fedorko, an NYSA spokesperson. The NYSA had gone to a federal court in Newark on Tuesday to seek an injunction against the work stoppage.
U.S. District Judge Dickinson Debevoise ordered New York and New Jersey ILA members to observe a ruling by an arbitrator on Monday and return to work. The New York Shipping Association said its attorneys would be returning to U.S. District Court on Wednesday to seek enforcement of the court's order.
"ILA workers in the Port of New York and New Jersey are penalizing ocean carriers and marine terminal operators who have absolutely no involvement or relationship whatsoever with the issues that may be occurring in the Port of Philadelphia," said NYSA President Joseph Curto.
"If the union's strategy is to gain support and sympathy, it appears that the opposite result is occurring. What we have occurring is a classic example of "biting the hand that feeds you. This action is causing deep economic harm to many innocent parties," Curto said in a statement Wednesday.
The Philadelphia ILA claimed the move by Del Monte will cost the union 200 jobs. Jim Paylor, a vice president of the national ILA who is president of ILA Local 1566 in Philadelphia, told The Journal of Commerce earlier this month that the ILA planned to attack Del Monte's move "on all fronts."
The pickets by Philadelphia ILA members had shut down work at all six container terminals in New York Harbor starting Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. including the New York Container Terminal on Staten Island, APM Terminals and Maher Terminal in Port Elizabeth, N.J., the Port Newark Container Terminal, Global Marine Terminal in Bayonne, N.J., and the Red Hook Container Terminal in Brooklyn. The only terminal that remained open was the passenger cruise terminal.
Journal of Commerce
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| Workers join European austerity strikes |
Workers across Europe have staged a co-ordinated day of action to protest against pay and budget cuts
September 30, 2010 - Workers across Europe have staged a co-ordinated day of action to protest against pay and budget cuts - crippling major transit hubs and even hospitals.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators from across the EU converged on the streets of Brussels, and up to 5,000 protesters marched in Warsaw.
Spanish unions staged a general strike and trade unions called protests in 11 other capitals to oppose measures such as spending cuts and pension and labour market reforms.
'This is the start of the fight, not the end. That our voice be heard is our major demand today - against austerity and for jobs and growth,' John Monks, head of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), told marchers in Brussels.
Labour reforms were being pushed through by Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero as part of plans to save Europe's fourth-largest economy from a bailout - like the one that saved Greece from bankruptcy.
The stop-work action disrupted the country's transport system - with airlines affected.
Trade unions said 10 million people, or more than half the workforce, walked out of their jobs.
But the government said less than 10% of public administration workers and 20% of Madrid transport workers were on strike.
Rafael Garcia, a 42-year-old Spanish plumber, said he gave up a day's pay to join the strikes.
'I hope that it is going to be a success because the future of labour relations will be determined by what happens,' he said.
'There has been a serious deterioration in our rights and if the working class does not react we are going to have a very bad time.'
Minor scuffles between police and protesters broke out in Madrid, where hundreds of marchers waved flags, blocked streets and forced some shops to shut.
Unions said 23 million jobs have been lost across Europe since the global downturn began.
In Ireland, a cement truck plastered with anti-bank slogans was driven right up to the gates of Parliament.
The ornate wrought-iron entrance was not badly damaged but police arrested the 41-year-old driver.
Public hostility is running high amid surging debts, a series of emergency budgets and a soaring bill for propping up the nation's debt-crippled banks.
Every protest will be watched carefully by Europe's governments to see just how many people the unions can muster.
A smaller than expected turnout would suggest unions do not have the support or the backing to call more strikes.
On the other hand, big numbers could indicate that Europe is facing a winter of discontent.
Big Pond News
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| Maersk looks more to Africa, S America |
September 27, 2010 - Maersk Line is increasingly serving Latin America and Africa with ships sailing directly from Asia to tap accelerating growth in those markets, the Financial Times reported.
Many of the ships that Maersk Line has on order over the next two years are designed to meet growing African and Latin American demand, Maersk Line chief Eivind Kolding said.
"The tonnage that we have on order and will get delivered over the next two years is very much suited for the South America and Africa market, so that's the direction that we already are moving," Kolding said.
The global shipping industry is recovering this year from a disastrous 2009 when the Maersk group suffered its first loss. There are signs that the pace of recovery is slowing.
"It's really the west and the old economies that have a growth issue," Kolding said. "It's not the rest of the world."
The fast emerging market growth could reduce the importance of such hubs as Algeciras in Spain and Salalah in Oman where Maersk's Asia-Europe services collect and discharge many containers going to and coming from Africa.
In the short run, Maersk Line would idle some ships to meet slowing demand, it said.
"There will simply be too much capacity in the market, so our response is that we take out some capacity from the start of October," Kolding said.
Cargonews Asia
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Chennai becomes first e-terminal in India | |
September 27, 2010 - The Chennai Container Terminal Ltd (CCTL), operated by DP World, has become the first e-terminal in the country, reported The Hindu.
During his first visit to the Chennai Port Trust, Shipping Minister G K Vasan inaugurated the e-terminal and two new twin lift super-post panamax cranes.
The simplified and convenient online services offered by CCTL to its valued customers include Electronic form 13, Electronic SSR, web access, web-based CRM, invoice and account statements on the web, customer relationship management and web/SMS based container tracking system.
Ennarasu Karunesan, director and CEO, DP World Chennai, said the "technological innovation is one way of providing better customer service. We will create infrastructure and processes that best serve our customers to give them the ultimate service and customer delighted approach."
The new cranes have a lifting capacity of 65 metric tonnes in twin mode that will reduce turn around time of ships. The other salient features of the crane include programmable logic control - fully customisable and high speed of operations with an outreach of 56m, capable of handling large size vessels (22 rows across).
"With the induction of these new cranes, more service windows will be available with improved productivity of more than 35 moves that would benefit the EXIM trade at large with global best service levels," Karunesan said.
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5.1 quake hits off Taiwan | |
September 29, 2010 - TAIPEI - A 5.1-MAGNITUDE earthquake struck off Taiwan's east coast on Wednesday, the island's Seismology Centre said, but there were no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning.
The quake hit at 1.33am (1733 GMT Tuesday) about 11km from the city of Hualien at a depth of 19.2km, and was followed by five aftershocks.
Taiwan lies near the junction of two tectonic plates and is regularly hit by earthquakes.
In September 1999, a 7.6-magnitude quake killed around 2,400 people in the deadliest natural disaster in the island's history.
AFP
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ATA Economist Predicts Supply Crunch Like Industry's Never Seen | |
September 28, 2010 - Even though he doesn't expect the economy to grow very quickly, the American Trucking Associations' chief economist says we're heading into "a supply side story the likes of which we have probably never seen in our industry." The result will be higher rates, and the best drivers in demand like they've never been before.
In a webinar for members of the National Industrial Transportation League Monday, ATA's Bob Costello said he does not believe we are in for a double-dip recession. Corporations are sitting on a "mountainload" of cash, he points out, and there is still about $150 billion of fiscal stimulus in the pipeline.
"I do think we're in for some subpar growth," he said, predicting the economy will not hit 3 percent growth in gross domestic product (the level considered "normal" by most economists) in any quarter until the end of next year.
Even though the number of truckload loads (not tonnage) fell 24 percent from peak to trough, "we are well on our way up," Costello said. "Things are well off the bottom."
Costello showed a graph illustrating how different types of freight have improved in the first seven months of this year compared to the same period of 2009. Dry van, the largest part of the market, is up 5.4 percent, flatbed freight 6.8 percent, temperature-controlled freight 7.1 percent, and tank freight up 9.3 percent.
Even better, he said, is the average truckload revenue per mile, up 4.2 percent in July compared to a year ago -- the largest gain we've seen in the modern era coming out of a recession, Costello said.
The supply side of the supply/demand equation "is very different than anything we've seen in the past," Costello said. "And I think at the end of the day it means truck volumes don't have to grow that much for this industry to do well."
"In general, we all saw the historic drop in demand while it was happening. What we didn't see was an even more historic drop in demand. I don't think it's going to take much of an increase in demand for us to get tightness out there, particularly on the truckload side."
Trends for tightening
Costello identified a number of reasons for this tightening in supply, or capacity:
* Fleet size. Fleets today are 14 percent smaller on average than they were at the height three years ago.
* Trucking company failures. While not as high as we would have thought, thanks to low used truck values keeping finance companies from foreclosing, Costello said there are still many fleets that have gone out of business. Now that used truck values are improving, he said, "I don't think failures are going to skyrocket, but I wouldn't expect them to plummet to very low levels, either."
* Class 8 truck sales are "well below any reasonable replacement rate," he said. "We continue to dispose of more trucks than we are bringing online."
* We have exported a significant number of used Class 8 tractors over the past few years, to countries such as Russia and Nigeria.
* Truck utilization has improved. "We've been able to absorb the additional demand with the existing fleet, but that's not going to go on forever."
* The driver shortage is returning already.
* "We cannot underestimate the impact of government regulations, not only on supply, but on the addition of supply in this industry," Costello said.
The federal government's new CSA 2010 enforcement regime, he said, is going to result in "the free agency of trucking. The cream of the crop drivers are going to know who they are. They're going to walk into management's office and say, 'I wnat to be paid more or I'm going to go somewhere else.'" New hours of service regulations and a broader mandate for electronic logs will likely cut productivity, he said.
"All of these things not only increase costs, but they limit industry supply and increase the barriers to entry. All of these things in the near and the long term mean it's going to be harder to add to industry capacity."
Driver turnover has already started to increase, he noted. After peaking at 136 percent in late 2005, the turnover rates for large truckload fleets fell to 39 percent in the first quarter of the year. But in the second quarter, the turnover rate for these carriers rose to 49 percent.
All this will mean higher rates for carriers.
The Owner-Operator and Small Fleet
One of the questions that came up during the webinar was the fate of the owner-operator and small fleet. Costello admitted that the cost pressures do tend to hit smaller fleets harder, and of course the smallest fleet out there is the owner-operator.
"That said, I don't see owner-operators going away," he said. "I know a lot of fleets like owner-operators. It's a great way for them to add capacity without making those truck purchases. They're going to have to pay them more, but I don't think the owner-operator is going to go away."
Costello pointed out that there are tens of thousands of fleets out there. "It's going to be a challenge for them, they've got to get better at what they're doing, but I don't see owner-operators and small fleets going away."
Trucking Info
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European transport prices went up by 13.5% in Q2 2010 | |
September 28, 2010 - The fourth edition (August 2010) of the Transport Market Monitor (TMM) by TRANSPOREON and Capgemini Consulting reveals that the road transport and haulage market is on the road to recovery. For the first time, price levels equal the levels of the pre-crisis period (H1 2008) - nevertheless they are still 2.2% under the level Q2 2008. The significant increase in demand for transport services is one of the main drivers for the price increase.
This latest edition of the TMM shows that:
- Transport prices increased by 13.5% in Q2 compared to Q1 2010
- However, quarterly price levels are still 2.2% under the level Q2 2008
- Capacity index decreased by 44% in Q2 compared with Q1 2010 which helped drive price increase
- Decreased capacity index is caused by a positive economic trend: higher sales, increasing production volumes and shippers re-stocking their supply chains
Based on these price developments traditional long-term sourcing strategies may not bring the expected financial benefits that logistics managers are aiming for. The Transport Market Monitor shows new strategies are needed to realize benefits in the current market dynamics. These transformations are likely to accelerate in light of the economic outlook but also by the sustainability polices that are now firmly fixed in company policies.
Erwin den Exter, Principal Consultant at Capgemini Consulting, said: "We have seen a significant price increase during the second quarter, especially during the first months. The increase slowed down in June, but we still see an increasing trend".
Peter Förster, Managing Director of TRANSPOREON, added: "Taking into account today's market dynamics, traditional sourcing strategies may not bring the expected financial benefits that logistics managers are aiming for. In 2006 we had a similar situation, many tried to fix the prices for a longer period as they had expected prices to increase even more in the following year. In 2007 they realised the opposite: they were stuck in high 2006 prices whereas the market prices had decreased significantly in the meantime. Clearly, new sourcing strategies along with the right IT tools are needed to maximise the benefits of this dynamic market."
Capgemini Supply Chain Newsletter
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Global safety information exchange launched | |
September 29, 2010 - The International Air Transport Association (IATA), along with three governmental aviation safety organizations, today signed an agreement to launch the Global Safety Information Exchange. Creating a comprehensive global information exchange to improve safety is the most ambitious private/public safety partnership in aviation history.
IATA, together with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the US Department of Transportation (DOT), and the Commission of the European Union (EC), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create the framework and path forward to launch the Global Safety Information Exchange. The MOU signing took place following the opening session of the ICAO Assembly and was signed by IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani, ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin, US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, and EU Vice President Siim Kallas.
"Air is the safest way to travel. We achieved this level of safety precisely because governments and industry have cooperated transparently to identify risks and implement solutions. Today's agreement takes the long history of cooperation to a new level by tearing down silos around the data that we have and sharpening our focus on the greatest risks to aviation safety," said Giovanni Bisignani, IATA's Director General and CEO.
"We have a long history of working together with governments using global standards to lower the accident rate. In 1945, there were 9 million passengers and 247 fatalities. In 2009, 2.3 billion people flew with 685 fatalities. Every fatality is a human tragedy and reminds us that we must do better. Today's agreement signals a new era of multilateral cooperation between industry and government to make the skies safer," said Bisignani.
The four organizations will start their cooperation by selecting the safety information each group currently collects, which would be the most relevant to the goal of improving safety by risk reduction. IATA will make the largest contribution of airline data by providing de-identified information from the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) program. This will include de-identified information from the 345 airlines that are on the IOSA registry (230 IATA members and 115 non-members). IOSA sets the standard of safety for airlines and aggregated IOSA audit information will complement audit information from the other partners in developing global safety priorities.
A steering group will be formed and will have representatives from each of the four organizations. ICAO will act as the coordinator of the information exchange.
The 2009 global accident rate, measured in hull losses per million flights of Western-built jet aircraft, was 0.71. Through the first six months of 2010, the accident rate was 0.64. Compared to 10 years ago, the accident rate has been cut 36% from the 1.11 rate recorded in 2000.
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Panama Canal Toll Hikes Cause Concern | |
Higher tolls on doubled capacity may drive away some carriers
September 28, 2010 - Rising tolls at the Panama Canal are causing some industry officials to question whether increased costs will cause carriers to avoid the canal after a third set of locks allows transits by bigger ships after 2015.
By announcing a series of toll increases the Panama Canal Commission has signaled it intends to maximize revenue instead of cargo volume, Frank Harder, president of the Tioga Group, told the annual East Coast Maritime Conference sponsored by The Journal of Commerce.
Tampa Port Director Richard Wainio, a former chief economist and executive at the old Panama Canal Commission, said Panama has done a "great job" operating the canal since taking over from the U.S. but that continued toll increases could meet resistance from customers.
"They obviously have pushed that curve very significantly, further than we would have recommended," Wainio said. He said total fees for a Panamax container ship can be "well over $300,000. If you double and triple the capacity of those ships and you raise tolls at the same time, just do the math ... I think they should be very careful."
"I think it would be foolish for anybody to undersell the sophistication of the Panama Canal Authority as it relates to pricing," said James R. Brennan, partner in Norbridge. "I think you have to assume they know what they are doing."
Wainio agreed that Panama officials are "very sophisticated" about pricing and said they appear to have room to raise rates further before affecting demand. "I do think they know what they are doing," he said. "Just be careful, that would be my message.".
Journal of Commerce
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Railroads Urge Congress to Reject Heavier Truck Effort | |
Administration's temporary funding request would exempt heavier trucks in some areas
September 23, 2010 - The railroad industry is urging Congress to block an Obama administration move to permanently allow Maine and Vermont to let trucks weighing 100,000 lbs. operate on their interstate highways.
The administration has asked Congress to make current heavier-weight pilot projects permanent, in a continuing funding resolution that would extend federal spending authority past Sept. 30 for many federal programs.
Current law limits truck weights on interstates to 80,000 lbs. with allowance for special exceptions such as during a natural disaster or when farmers are hauling harvest loads. Maine and Vermont were allowed to test the heavier weight limit for their extensive logging industries.
But the AAR, which represents the nation's largest freight railroads and some others, said the proposal "could provide impetus to trucking interests in the Northeast and along the East Coast to lift the federal truck weight ban elsewhere."
AAR President and CEO Edward R. Hamberger said 100,000-lb. trucks could take "a siphon a significant percentage of freight traffic from the country's railroads," depriving the railroads of revenue they need to invest in their privately owned track networks while adding to highway congestion.
He said the Department of Transportation has found "that trucks weighing 80,000 to 100,000 pounds pay just half of the cost of the damage they do to the nation's highways."
Hamberger said the heavier trucks "exact a serious wear and tear toll on America's already overextended highways, while much of the repair cost "is paid by taxpayers and not the trucking companies."
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| Shanghai hits record monthly box tally |
September 28, 2010 - The port of Shanghai's total container throughput in the first eight months of 2010 stood at more than 19 million containers, making it the largest container port in the world.
Shanghai's container throughput in August reached 2.6 million TEUs, up nearly 21 percent compared to the same period last year, and setting a new monthly record.
China Daily
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| Abu Dhabi and Dubai Ports to be Connected Via Rail |
Dubai's bankruptcy hasn't stopped the United Arab Emirates making multi-billion dollar infrastructure investments
September 29, 2010 - The United Arab Emirates is no stranger to innovation--especially infrastructure-related--and the country has just announced that a 1,500 kilometer railway will be built, connecting ports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The project will cost an estimated $11 billion--pretty high, given that Dubai just went bankrupt not too long ago.
It seems that in hard times huge infrastructure investments are hoped to pay off and add a little juice to local economies. Afterall, Amtrak also announced yesterday that they're planning a $117 billion dollar high speed rail line, connecting major Northeastern hubs, such as New York, Philadelphia, and Boston.
As for funding, the UAE is considering a public-private partnership model and the central actor, the Union Railway, is consulting UBS for financial guidance.
"Linking Jebel Ali to Khalifa Port is very important, not only for the project but also for the U.A.E. logistics as a whole," Union Railway CEO Richard Bowker said.
Fast Company
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| Ocean cargo: The Shipping Act of 2010 signals end to cartels |
The bill also will empower the FMC to mediate contract disputes...something shippers have long waited for
September 23, 2010 - As widely expected, the Federal Maritime Commission is likely to be given more authority next year to end ocean carrier pricing collusion.
The Shipping Act of 2010, introduced by Rep. James L. Oberstar, D-Minn., yesterday will abolish carrier antitrust immunity and prevent carrier executives from convening so-called "discussion groups" used to formalize rate strategy.
The bill also will empower the FMC to mediate contract disputes...something shippers have long waited for.
"The carrier's freewheeling market share approach to contracts is what took rates down in the first place," said Jon Monroe, president of Monroe Consulting in Shanghai. "But the real frustration was the lack of communication and the lack of a real partnership."
As reported in LM, a draft of this bill had been endorsed by a large coalition of shippers this summer. U.S. exporters of agricultural goods had been especially vocal in their support of legislation that might also encourage carriers to provide more containers for westbound deployment.
Oberstar, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, apparently had been listening.
"Even under the current regulatory scheme, immunity for agreements has long outlived its usefulness," he said in a statement.
Michael Berzon, chairman of the National Industrial Transportation League's ocean committee, told LM last month that U.S.shippers were making a compelling argument.
"If enacted, the end of the limited anti-trust immunity would follow the action taken by European regulators," he said. "Since the elimination of the EU Block Exemption, it prohibits consultation by groups of carriers to discuss rates in the European trades."
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