Regional News : Gulf Coast

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) said Thursday that weekly rail traffic posted their highest numbers for 2010 in both rail carloads and intermodal volume for the week ending Aug. 28. U.S. railroads originated 302,358 carloads for the week, up 5.8 percent compared with the same week in 2009, but down 11.3 percent from the same week in 2008. Intermodal traffic totaled 237,194...

Kansas City Southern said Thursday its rail network has fully recovered from the impacts of Hurricane Alex and related tropical storms that interrupted service on its system in Mexico. KCS said it projects near 20 percent revenue growth in the second half of 2010. “August volumes represent the highest number of monthly carloadings to-date in 2010" and were 13.7 percent over August 200...

A preliminary determination by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Import Administration has found that $514 million of aluminum products imported from China in 2009 were unfairly subsidized. As a result of the preliminary determination, importers of Chinese aluminum extrusions will be required to post cash deposits or bonds at rates determined by the Import Administration. If Commerce makes a...

The U.S. Commerce Department will lead a trade mission to Baghdad, Iraq, in October. Francisco Sánchez, undersecretary of commerce for international trade, will lead the mission, which will include about 15 U.S. companies. This will be the first trade mission to Iraq since the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq. Some of the companies included in the mission will be America Cargo T...

Mediterranean Shipping Co. said it will implement general rate increases in the transatlantic on Oct. 1. MSC said the rate for cargo moving from the United States, Mexico or Canada to Northwest Europe, including the United Kingdom, will increase $200 for 20-foot containers and $300 for 40-foot containers. For cargo moving to Scandinavia or the Baltic, the increase will be $300 for 20-foot...

Norfolk Southern Corp. said it plans to open the Heartland Corridor next week after completing a three-year project to upgrade its rail route between Hampton Roads, Va., and Chicago by modifying 28 tunnels and other facilities to accommodate double-stack containers. Set to open Sept. 9, the new gateway will eliminate about 250 route miles and a day or more of transit time from current tra...

A congressional watchdog agency said the Commerce Department’s Commercial Service requires better management controls if it’s going to successfully help the White House achieve its goal of doubling U.S. exports in the next five years. The Government Accountability Office found the Commercial Service’s workforce has declined about 14 percent from its peak in 2004 through attrition -- “affe...

Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard A. Lidinsky has forwarded a wide-ranging set of recommendations for revising the Shipping Act of 1984 to the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation. Lidinsky Included in the recommendations to committee Chairman Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, R-Md., are six proposals: • Bring container and chassis lessors within the ambit of...

While export control reform is well underway in the United States, the Obama administration on Tuesday warned exporters that enforcement of the regulations remains a top priority. The reform, announced by the White House on April 20, calls for significant changes to the way the federal government processes export licenses for controlled U.S.-made military and commercial items. The plan al...

The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security wants input from the industry to develop an updated set of proposed best practices for how companies may avoid becoming involved in the illicit transit, transshipment and re-export of items subject to the Export Administration Regulations. BIS said it’s especially interested in receiving industry feedback regarding new transshipmen...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the nation will export $107.5 billion in agricultural commodities in fiscal year 2010, the second-highest year on record. “This a $3 billion increase from the May forecast, and an $11 billion increase over last year. And agriculture is one of the only major sectors of the American economy with a trade surplus -- expected to be $30.5 billion this yea...

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday launched a new organizational performance management system. The system, FDA-TRACK, will monitor more than 100 FDA program offices through data from key performance measures established each year. That data will be gathered monthly, analyzed and presented each quarter to FDA’s senior management. The public will also be able to track this da...

Port Freeport in Texas has elected Thomas S. Perryman to port commission chairman. Perryman has been a port commission member since 1991 and is in his fourth term. He is president of Perryman Property Investments LLC, and also serves as chairman of Clute, Texas-based First State Bank Corp. ...

Hanjin Shipping said Tuesday it will discontinue providing chassis in Miami and Philadelphia on Oct. 1, and gradually expand the program to other U.S. regions. “In line with what has been in force in the rest of the world, we believe that the implementation of this new policy will immediately improve terminal productivity and cargo transit time at U.S. terminals as well by reducing idle t...

NYK and OOCL said Monday they would increased container freight rates in the transatlantic. NYK Line said effective Oct. 1 it would implement a general rate increase on cargo moving under NYK independent tariffs to and from North Europe and the United States or Canada by $150 per 20-foot container and $300 per 40-foot container. OOCL also said its rates will increase Oct. 1. The gener...

The Federal Maritime Commission said it has executed compromise agreements with six companies, recovering $218,750 in civil penalties. The agreements were reached with a vessel-operating common carrier and five ocean transportation intermediaries and range from $100,000 to $15,000. Compromise agreements and amounts are: • Network Shipping Ltd., Coral Gables, Fla. FMC staff allege ...

Global container terminal operators had their "toughest year ever" in 2009, said Drewry Shipping Consultants. But in a few years terminals may once again face a capacity crunch, the London-based consultants said in a summary of its Annual Review of Global Container Terminal Operators 2010. "Global economic trends meant that container throughput at the world’s ports fell for the first ...

Maersk said Friday it will further raise transatlantic rates on Oct. 1, as part of a plan announced at the end of last year. The routes and rate increases are: • North Europe/United States, eastbound and westbound, $250 per 20-foot dry container, $350 per 40-foot dry container, and $500 for 40-foot reefer boxes. • North Europe/Canada, eastbound and westbound, $250 per 20-foot dry ...

The U.S. Justice Department said Friday it has closed its investigation into the proposed merger of UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, and Continental Airlines, effectively allowing the merger to proceed. The decision by United, the third-largest U.S. carrier, and Continental, the fourth-largest, to transfer takeoff and landing slots and other assets at Newark Liberty Airport in New Je...

Intermodal volumes hit their highest point ever last week according to the American Association of Railroads. AAR said 236,406 trailers and containers moved on U.S. railroads, a 22.4 percent increase from the same week in 2009 and up 2.6 percent compared with 2008. 2008 may be the more significant comparison considering that the recession had yet to take full hold and freight demand ...

The U.S. Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration (ITA) on Thursday announced a list of 14 proposals it says would strengthen the administration of the nation’s antidumping and countervailing duty laws. Antidumping (AD) duties are levied on foreign firms that are investigated and found to sell their products in the United States at prices below their home market price or c...

The Maritime Cabotage Task Force said Wednesday its members remain committed to the oil cleanup in the Gulf of Mexico. While the Deepwater Horizon well has been capped, it’s estimated that 1 million barrels of oil from the spill may remain in the Gulf waters. “The need for considerable cleanup effort remains,” said Mark Ruge, counsel to the Washington-based task force. “The U.S. marit...

The U.S. Transportation Department’s Maritime Administration on Wednesday Rear Adm. Philip H. Greene Jr. has been appointed to superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in Kings Point, N.Y. Greene comes to the academy from the U.S. Navy, where he was director of the Navy Irregular Warfare Office. There he developed and employed a global maritime preventive security strategy. ...

The Greenbrier Cos. said Wednesday it has received orders for more than 1,000 new double-stack intermodal platforms, and will also re-engineer and modify about 1,100 double-stack platforms to carry 53-foot containers. Value of the new railcar orders and refurbishment work is about $130 million. The company also has orders for more than 700 new covered hopper cars, but is in discussion...

Greatwide Logistics Services has named former Con-way executive Tyler Ellison group president of transportation management and sales, the company said last week. Ellison spent the past two years as president of Con-way Multimodal, which continued to increase revenue and profits during the recession, according to Greatwide. Con-way Multimodal provides shippers access to a range of managed ...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has finalized interim entry rules for certain softwood lumber products exported from any country into the United States. The final rule implements Title VIII (Softwood Lumber Act of 2008) of the 1930 Tariff Act, which requires the White House to create and maintain an importer declaration program for the import of certain softwood lumber and softwood lum...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has lowered the eligibility age for taking the customs broker license exam from 21 to 18 years old, effective Sept. 27. In the United States, adulthood is considered 18 years old and CBP said it’s consistent with the requirement that an application for an individual broker's license must be submitted within a three-year period after the applicant takes a...

Intermarine said it had taken delivery of the first in a series of multipurpose, heavy-lift ships. Industrial Freedom is the first of four “F Class” ships the company is having built in China. The 14,1000-deadweight-ton ships each have two 400-metric-ton cranes, combinable for 800-ton lifts, and one 80-ton standard crane. The have a "house forward" design to give greater flexibili...

CEVA Logistics, a large global supply chain management company, said last week it is offering an express cross-border transportation service for the oil and gas industry between the U.S. Gulf Coast and Alberta, Canada. The third-party logistics provider already offers project cargo transport from Mexico to Ontario in its role as a freight forwarder that hires specialized trucking companie...

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has received 10 license applications and changes for review. The FMC received non-vessel-operating common carrier license applications from Concept Cargo Freight & Logistic, Doral, Fla. (Marcos A. Bacan, president); Finlay’s International Shipping & Trade, Baldwin, N.Y. (Wendy A. Finlay, president); Kesco Logistics, Jamaica, N.Y. (Geoffrey Tice, presid...