C.R. England, Inc. Wins EPA SmartWay(SM) Environmental Excellence Award
Award Recipients Reduce Emissions, Improve the Environment and Companies' Bottom-line
SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- C.R. England, Inc., a global transportation provider located in Salt Lake City, today received an Environmental Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency SmartWay(SM) Transport Partnership for its leadership in conserving energy and lowering greenhouse gas emissions from its transportation and freight activities. The award was announced at the American Trucking Association's Annual Management Conference & Exhibit in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"SmartWay has been a valuable and important resource for us. Through this partnership we have realized our goal of improving the environment through decreasing fuel consumption, improving efficiency, and saving money," said Mitch England, Director of Fuel. "We would encourage all those in the transportation industry to consider joining SmartWay.“
C.R. England saved 49,023,390 gallons of fuel and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 544,160 tons by implementing fuel saving strategies such as reducing maximum speed and idle time on all trucks, utilizing technology to reduce deadhead and out of route miles, and adding aerodynamic equipment to the trucks and trailers.
"EPA is pleased to recognize these SmartWay Partners with a 2009 Excellence Award. I commend C.R. England for its leadership in promoting sustainable transportation practices through the SmartWay Transport Partnership," said Margo T. Oge, Director of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA. "These actions demonstrate a commitment to a cleaner environment and more secure energy supply."
C.R. England was one of 37 companies and organizations, from among the Partnerships' more than 2100 Partners, to receive this distinction. Together, through the SmartWay Partnership, these companies, will eliminate six million tons of carbon dioxide that contribute to global warming, and save more 540 million gallons of diesel fuel - an economic savings of at least $2 billion a year. For more information about SmartWay visit: www.epa.gov/smartway . For more information about the SmartWay Award recipients, visit:
www.epa.gov/smartway/awards07.htm
www.crengland.com
SOURCE C.R. England, Inc.
Wake Up Call: Low Rates Unsustainable 2009-10-08
The entire shipping industry must be prepared for significant rate increase action as carriers struggle to survive, especially in the hard hit Pacific trade lanes. Following a dramatic downturn in cargo volumes in 2008, ocean freight rates have nose-dived, triggering huge financial losses among the carriers. No-one could reasonably expect these low freight rates to continue. Already carriers are parking vessels, reducing service and consolidating in efforts to stem the bleed. If North American importers and exporters hope to have direct, frequent capacity on the Pacific trade lanes, rates must be restored to compensatory levels.
In an announcement Tuesday, the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) issued new voluntary guidelines that called for an additional $1,000 per FEU for intermodal shipments to interior U.S. destinations and on all-water services from Asia to the East Coast. The guidelines also call for lines to institute general rate increases of $800 per FEU for Asia to U.S. West Coast shipments. The TSA announcement also suggests a peak season surcharge of $400 per FEU to come into effect August 1, 2010 "to address higher cargo handling, equipment positioning and contingency planning costs during periods of peak cargo volume". Lastly, the guidelines call for "full collection of fuel and other accessorial charges".
Source: CIFFA
LA Postpones Collecting Port Cargo Fee 2009-10-16
Local media reported that the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday agreed to postpone the collection of a cargo fee that's supposed to generate $1.4 billion for bridge, railway and road improvements around the Port of LA. The infrastructure fee was adopted by the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in January 2008, but was never collected because of the national recession and the fact that no specific construction projects were ever approved. The proposal initially called for placing a $15 fee on all loaded 20-foot cargo containers entering or leaving the ports by truck or train beginning January 1, but collection was delayed to July 1, and the fee was cut to $6. The City Council's action follows an earlier move by the Los Angeles Board of Harbour Commissioners to delay the fee collection yet again until July 1, 2010, and examine whether to charge a different amount. Port officials have said that they are also studying whether to completely take the fee off the books.
Source: CIFFA
CTSA Lines Take Action to Restore Rates, Stem Carrier Losses 2009-10-13
Ontario - October 12, 2009 - In a move to restore Asia-Canada freight rates to compensatory levels, address rising operating costs, and provide some degree of financial recovery for the members, member container lines in the Canada Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (CTSA) have adopted a 2010 guideline revenue program for 2010. Specific elements of the program, to take effect as contracts or other rate agreements are renewed but by no later than May 1, 2010, include:
A general rate increase (GRI) of US$800 per 40-foot container (FEU) for Vancouver local and door cargo, and US$1,000 per FEU for intermodal, mini-landbridge and all other Canadian cargo, with per formula increases for all other sizes.
A $400 peak season surcharge (PSS), effective from August 1, 2010, to address higher cargo handling, equipment positioning and contingency planning costs during periods of peak cargo volume.
Full collection of fuel and other accessorial charges.
CTSA executive administrator Brian M. Conrad acknowledged that the scheduled increases are significant, and that customers are under tremendous cost pressures as well. But he stressed that the increases must be viewed in the context of dramatic volume and rate declines seen in early 2009. CTSA lines voiced cautious optimism about the hopes for an improving Asia-Canada freight market in 2010-11, but indicated that ongoing uncertainty forces lines to keep their focus on conserving cash, building a stronger balance sheet, and establishing a sustainable rate environment.
Source: CIFFA
Revealed: The ghost fleet of the recession
By Simon Parry
Last updated at 6:34 PM on 13th September 2009
The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year
The 'ghost fleet' near Singapore. The world's ship owners and government economists would prefer you not to see this symbol of the depths of the plague still crippling the world's economies The tropical waters that lap the jungle shores of southern Malaysia could not be described as a paradisiacal shimmering turquoise.
They are more of a dark, soupy green. They also carry a suspicious smell. Not that this is of any concern to the lone Indian face that has just peeped anxiously down at me from the rusting deck of a towering container ship; he is more disturbed by the fact that I may be a pirate, which, right now, on top of everything else, is the last thing he needs.
His appearance, in a peaked cap and uniform, seems rather odd; an officer without a crew. But there is something slightly odder about the vast distance between my jolly boat and his lofty position, which I can't immediately put my finger on.
Then I have it - his 750ft-long merchant vessel is standing absurdly high in the water. The low waves don't even bother the lowest mark on its Plimsoll line. It's the same with all the ships parked here, and there are a lot of them. Close to 500. An armada of freighters with no cargo, no crew, and without a destination between them.
Simon Parry among the ships in southern Malaysia My ramshackle wooden fishing boat has floated perilously close to this giant sheet of steel.
But the face is clearly more scared of me than I am of him. He shoos me away and scurries back into the vastness of his ship. His footsteps leave an echo behind them. Navigating a precarious course around the hull of this Panama-registered hulk, I reach its bow and notice something else extraordinary.
It is tied side by side to a container ship of almost the same size. The mighty sister ship sits empty, high in the water again, with apparently only the sailor and a few lengths of rope for company. Nearby, as we meander in searing midday heat and dripping humidity between the hulls of the silent armada, a young European officer peers at us from the bridge of an oil tanker owned by the world's biggest container shipping line, Maersk.
We circle and ask to go on board, but are waved away by two Indian crewmen who appear to be the only other people on the ship. 'They are telling us to go away,' the boat driver explains. 'No one is supposed to be here.
They are very frightened of pirates.' Here, on a sleepy stretch of shoreline at the far end of Asia, is surely the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history. Their numbers are equivalent to the entire British and American navies combined; their tonnage is far greater. Container ships, bulk carriers, oil tankers - all should be steaming fully laden between China, Britain, Europe and the US, stocking camera shops, PC Worlds and Argos depots ahead of the retail pandemonium of 2009. But their water has been stolen.
They are a powerful and tangible representation of the hurricanes that have been wrought by the global economic crisis; an iron curtain drawn along the coastline of the southern edge of Malaysia's rural Johor state, 50 miles east of Singapore harbour. 'We don't understand why they are here. There are so many ships but no one seems to be on board,' said local fisherman Ah Wat It is so far off the beaten track that nobody ever really comes close, which is why these ships are here.
The world's ship owners and government economists would prefer you not to see this symbol of the depths of the plague still crippling the world's economies. So they have been quietly retired to this equatorial backwater, to be maintained only by a handful of bored sailors. The skeleton crews are left alone to fend off the ever-present threats of piracy and collisions in the congested waters as the hulls gather rust and seaweed at what should be their busiest time of year.
Local fisherman Ah Wat, 42, who for more than 20 years has made a living fishing for prawns from his home in Sungai Rengit, says: 'Before, there was nothing out there - just sea. Then the big ships just suddenly came one day, and every day there are more of them. 'Some of them stay for a few weeks and then go away. But most of them just stay. You used to look Christmas from here straight over to Indonesia and see nothing but a few passing boats. Now you can no longer see the horizon.'
The size of the idle fleet becomes more palpable when the ships' lights are switched on after sunset. From the small fishing villages that dot the coastline, a seemingly endless blaze of light stretches from one end of the horizon to another. Standing in the darkness among the palm trees and bamboo huts, as calls to prayer ring out from mosques further inland, is a surreal and strangely disorientating experience. It makes you feel as if you are adrift on a dark sea, staring at a city of light. ck and forth.
Now 12 per cent are doing nothing. You may wish to know this because, if ever you had an irrational desire to charter one, now would be the time. This time last year, an Aframax tanker capable of carrying 80,000 tons of cargo would cost £31,000 a day ($50,000).
Now it is about £3,400 ($5,500). This is why the chilliest financial winds anywhere in the City of London are to be found blowing through its 400-plus shipping brokers. Between them, they manage about half of the world's chartering business. The bonuses are long gone. The last to feel the tail of the economic whiplash, they - and their insurers and lawyers - await a wave of redundancies and business failures in the next six months. Commerce is contracting, fleets rust away - yet new ship-builds ordered years ago are still coming on stream.
http://www.joc.com/node/413441
FedEx Raises Rates as Profit Falls 53 Percent
JOC Staff | Sep 17, 2009 2:07PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Effective 3.9 percent price increase comes as express, trucking revenue slide
FedEx reported a $181 million profit Thursday for its fiscal quarter ending Aug. 31 that was down 53 percent from a year ago, but the carrier also saw improving demand in its express business and announced a rate increase for expedited shippers.
FedEx said the 5.9 percent price increase for domestic and U.S. export express shipments would take effect Jan. 4, 2010, and the fuel surcharge would be reduced at the same time by two percentage points, making the rate hike effectively 3.9 percent.
FedEx saw its express revenue decline 23 percent in its fiscal first quarter compared to the same period a year ago, and the FedEx Express operating profit fell 70 percent to $104 million, largely because of declines of more than 20 percent in yield. But domestic express volume actually grew slightly and FedEx said a 4 percent drop in International Priority shipping was better than the company had expected.
Those results were offset by weakness in the FedEx Freight trucking segment, where revenue fell 27 percent and shipments per day declined 14 percent compared to last year. Both figures marked a slim improvement on the previous fiscal quarter, but yield in the LTL business fell 14 percent after an 11 percent decline in the previous three-month quarter, suggesting prices in the domestic trucking market are still falling.
But FedEx also defied the downward trends in its FedEx Ground parcel segment, where the operating profit actually grew 7 percent to $209 million and volume was almost flat, slipping just 1 percent.
Industrial Production Climbs in August
Thomas L. Gallagher | Sep 16, 2009 5:26PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Second consecutive month of increase after long decline
Industrial production climbed 0.8 percent in August, in the second consecutive month of growth for the sector as the nation’s factories, mines and utilities get back to work after a long decline.
Industrial output rose 0.8 percent in August, following an upwardly revised increase of 1.0 percent in July, said the Federal Reserve Bank in its monthly report. Production in manufacturing expanded 0.6 percent in August, and the index excluding motor vehicles and parts increased 0.4 percent. The gain in July for manufacturing was revised up 0.4 percentage point, to 1.4 percent. The Fed also revised upward factory output for April through June.
Production at mines moved up 0.5 percent in August. The output of utilities gained 1.9 percent, as temperatures swung from an unseasonably mild July to a slightly warmer-than-usual August.
At 97.4 percent of its 2002 average, total industrial production was 10.7 percent below its level of a year earlier.
In August, the capacity utilization rate for total industry advanced to 69.6 percent, a level 11.3 percentage points below its average for the period 1972 through 2008.
Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at
tgallagher@joc.com.
Buffett Sees No Bounce, U.S. “On the Mend”
John D. Boyd | Sep 16, 2009 4:42PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Economy has leveled along bottom, he says, though much better than last year
Famed U.S. investor Warren Buffett thinks the economy has “plateaued” along a bottom after a sharp decline, with little sign of recovery.
“We have not bounced,” Buffett said in a CNBC television interview, “but we've quit going down.”
Buffett’s holdings, mainly through his Berkshire Hathaway investment firm, include insurance companies such as Geico, a large stake in BNSF Railway plus positions in some other railroads, and consumer foods giant Kraft.
He said he closely watches activity reports from the businesses he invests in plus weekly rail and truck freight traffic indicators.
Despite the lack of solid recovery, “we’re on the mend,” Buffett said. In terms of fundamentals, he said the U.S. economy is “immeasurably better” than a year ago.
“We’re through the worst of it in residential real estate in all probability,” he said, and “some of the toxic assets have been flushed through” that had threatened the stability of the global financial system.
Some economists and business executives fear the United States could suffer a double-dip recession if consumer demand remains too weak once some near-term stimulus wears off.
Buffett, though, said “I think the odds are very much against getting significantly worse” unless there is some strong external shock to the economy. “We’re past the critical point,” he said.
See “Traffic Slips at Large Railroads” See “Short Line Volume Ebbs”
Contact John D. Boyd at
jboyd@joc.com.
Trans-Pacific Ocean Rates Jump 10 Percent
Peter T. Leach | Sep 16, 2009 2:24PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Increase reflects across-the-board efforts by all container lines to raise rates
The average spot rate jumped 10.3 percent this week for shipping a 40-foot container from Hong Kong to Los Angeles, according to Drewry Shipping Consultants weekly survey of spot market prices paid by freight forwarders and non-vessel-operating common carriers.
The average rate, which excludes terminal handling charges in Hong Kong, hit $1,486 this week, up $140 per FEU from $1,346 in the week ended Sept. 13. The rate was still down by 28.5 percent from the average rate of $2,078 per FEU in the same week last year.
“In the past year, container freight rates have been even more volatile than the stock market,” said Philip Damas, division director of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.
He said the lowest spot rate being paid this week is $1,300 per FEU and the highest is $1,650.
The average spot rate, which is published weekly by The Journal of Commerce, plunged below $1,000 per FEU in May of this year and dropped as low as $871 per FEU for five consecutive weeks in July and August before rebounding by 49.2 percent in the week ended Aug. 9.
This week’s average spot rate of $1,486 is 70.6 percent higher than the lows hit during those July-August doldrums. The increase reflects the across-the-board and largely successful efforts by all container lines to raise rates on all their global routes and services since that low point.
This week four major carriers increased rates, and one, Evergreen, added to its bunker charge as the momentum of price hikes takes hold around the world.
Maersk Line will increase rates as of Oct. 1 on its services between the Eastern Mediterranean/Black Sea and West Africa.
Mediterranean Shipping Co. will raise rates on all services from Asia to Europe, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea as of Oct. 1.
Evergreen’s rate increases apply from Canada as well as from the U.S. East Coast, Gulf and Pacific Coasts to Asia and Europe.
Just eight days after raising the rates on eastbound cargo shipped from North Europe and the Mediterranean to Asia, CMA CGM announced a rate increase in the opposite direction.
Contact Peter T. Leach at
pleach@joc.com.
Trans-Pacific Carriers to Raise Bunker Charges
Bill Mongelluzzo | Sep 14, 2009 8:38PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
WTSA guidelines call for increases on Oct. 1
Shipping lines that carry U.S. exports to Asia will increase their bunker fuel surcharges on Oct. 1 according to a formula the members of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement adopted last year.
The WTSA Monday published voluntary guidelines calling for an increase of $132 per 40-foot container on shipments from West Coast ports and $258 per-FEU from East and Gulf Coast ports for dry cargo.
The guideline for refrigerated cargo is an increase of $186 per-FEU from the West Coast and $342 per-FEU from East and Gulf Coast ports.
Bunker fuel surcharges are based on the previous 13-week period. The new surcharges reflect the price of bunker fuel from June through August. The WTSA formula tracks average bunker fuel loading prices at Hong Kong and Los Angeles for the West Coast and Hong Kong and New York for the East and Gulf coasts.
While recognizing the price-sensitive nature of U.S. exports to Asia, especially agricultural exports, WTSA Executive Administrator Brian M. Conrad said bunker fuel surcharges address a specific cost in carriers' operations.
"It is distinct from rates, follows a set formula and is not intended to be either increased or mitigated to offset movement in freight rates," Conrad said.
He noted that in the period June through August, bunker fuel prices to the West Coast increased to $446 per metric ton from $386. Bunker prices to the East and Gulf coasts increased to $452.50 from $387, he said.
WTSA is a discussion agreement of 10 carriers in the westbound Pacific trade. Its guidelines are voluntary and the WTSA has no enforcement powers
LA/Long Beach to Drop Fee Shuffle for Clean Trucks
Bill Mongelluzzo | Sep 11, 2009 7:52PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Inefficient payment, reimbursement scheme falls to shipper complaints
The ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles intend soon to eliminate a reporting requirement that cargo interests said was an unnecessary and costly administrative burden associated with the ports' clean-truck program.
If the harbor commissions approve the measure, importers and exporters whose containers are moved by clean trucks will no longer have to "claim" the shipments under the PortCheck program established by marine terminal operators at the two ports.
"We've been listening to our industry partners, and this proposal is the direct result of their feedback," said Alex Cherin, managing director for trade relations and port operations in Long Beach.
At present, all importers and exporters must claim their shipments and pay a $35 per-TEU fee under the ports' clean-truck program. PortCheck, which manages the program on behalf of the ports and terminal operators, then refunds the fee to those shippers whose containers are pulled by compliant trucks.
Cargo interests complained vociferously to the ports that as a result of this reporting requirement they took on the administrative cost of assigning staff specifically to report a shipment and pay a fee that was later refunded to them. The process was especially burdensome to shippers whose containers moved on intermodal through bills of lading because normally those cargo interests do not get involved in the shipment until it reaches the destination.
PortCheck is now able to process shipments without requiring such reporting, said Bruce Wargo, president of PortCheck. Thanks to a software change that will be installed at all 13 container terminals in the harbor, the system can now detect when a compliant truck calls at a marine terminal, he said.
Also, the clean-truck program has been so successful in attracting low-polluting trucks to the harbor that the fee is now assessed on only 15 percent of all shipments, Long Beach reported.
Trucks of model year 2007 or newer are exempt from the fee. Also, containers handled at on-dock rail yards are exempt. Long Beach reports that the number of compliant trucks introduced into harbor service since the clean-truck program began on Oct. 1, 2008, has far exceeded expectations. Some 85 percent of the moves are exempt from the clean-truck fee today, Long Beach reported.
The ports hope to implement the new policy on claiming containers by Nov. 1.
Contact Bill Mongelluzzo at
bmongelluzzo@joc.com.
Three Carriers Suspend All-Water Service
JOC Staff | Aug 26, 2009 1:13PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Lines cut capacity on trans-Pacific lanes with pressure to increase rates
Three container lines will suspend a joint service between Asia and the U.S. East Coast, the carriers announced Wednesday, cutting back capacity on trans-Pacific lanes where liner companies have been pressing to pump up long-depressed rates.
CMA CGM, Hyundai and Maersk said they will drop the all-water loop through the Panama Canal after the last eastbound departure Sept. 27 from China. But CMA also insisted the move is only a suspension of service in response to market demand that it expects to recover.
“This rationalization of port coverage and slot supply corresponds to the actual trend demand observed on the Asia-U.S. market since beginning 2009. Suspension of services is in our mind a temporary move. We are fairly confident that the North America trade will rebound in the near future,” said Jean-Philippe Thénoz, CMA CGM vice president North America lines.
Rates have grown more than 50 percent on some trans-Pacific spot lanes as carriers have announced “rate restoration” price increases and capacity cuts.
The three lines provided eight vessels of 5,100 20-foot equivalent unit capacity to operate the loop calling such ports as Ningbo, Shanghai, Qingdao, Pusan, Balboa, Savannah, New York and Miami. Future coverage of the ports will be through existing services already operated independently or in other
CMA CGM, Maersk Combine Latin America Services
Thomas L. Gallagher | Sep 14, 2009 4:52PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
Single service to connect East Coast S.A., Central America, Caribbean
CMA CGM and MAERSK Line are combining their respective Brazilian Express Service (Brazex) and North Coast Express (NCX) connecting the East Coast of South America to Central America and Caribbean, effective in the second half of September.
The joint project increases coverage in the Caribbean by extending the rotation as far north as Manzanillo, Panama, and Pointe Lisas, Trinidad and Tobago, in addition to the usual calls in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Cartagena, Colombia, Kingston, Jamaica, and Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.
The vessel sharing agreement adds new ports of call in South America by extending rotation to Buenos Aires and Zarate, Argentina, Montevideo, Uruguay, and Rio Grande, Brazil, in addition to current Brazilian main ports already called.
The two carriers will offer a single service operated with four vessels each with an average net capacity of 2800 20-foot equivalent units.
The new rotation will be as follows: Buenos Aires - Zarate – Montevideo - Rio Grande – Itajai – Paranagua – Santos - Port of Spain- Cartagena - Manzanillo - Kingston - Puerto Cabello - Point Lisas - Vitoria - Santos - Buenos Aires
The first sailing begins with the CMA CGM Vitality in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Sept. 20, as a continuation of the current service.
Contact Thomas L. Gallagher at
tgallagher@joc.com.
Economy, Regulation, Fuel Top List of Trucker Concerns
William B. Cassidy | Oct 5, 2009 6:32PM GMT
The Journal of Commerce Online - News Story
ATRI survey finds truckers shifting concerns, priorities in long-lasting recession
The state of the economy and government regulation top a list of trucking industry concerns released by the American Transportation Research Institute.
Driver-related issues, long one of the top three concerns cited by carriers surveyed by ATRI, slipped to sixth place as overcapacity led to a surplus of truck drivers.
ATRI, the research arm of the American Trucking Associations, surveyed more than 4,000 trucking companies for its fifth annual report on the top 10 industry concerns.
An overwhelming number of companies — 51.6 percent — ranked the economy as their primary concern in 2009. The economy ranked second last year.
As health care and environmental regulation progress in Washington, government regulation became the top pick of 13.7 percent, earning the No. 2 spot on ATRI’s list.
Although fuel prices remain much lower than last year, fuel costs were the third-most important issue, with 5.5 percent of respondents citing fuel as their top issue.
Congestion and highway infrastructure ranked fourth, while hours-of-service rules for truck drivers ranked fifth.
After commercial driver issues, environmental issues ranked seventh, while tolls and highway funding were ranked eighth most important in the survey.
Truck size and weight was ranked No. 9 — the first time it made the list.
The tenth most important concern was onboard truck technology, especially the use of electronic onboard recorders, cited by 1.4 percent of the carriers in the survey.
SCE Home