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Feb 15, 2016

DEUTSCHE POST - DHL - FORWARDING UNIT * Germany - May be sold

* Bonn - Report: Deutsche Post may sell, spin-off of troubled forwarding unit

-- Deutsche Post DHL is said to be mulling a sale or spin-off of its troubled freight forwarding unit to focus on its key express delivery and mail businesses... Japan Post is tipped as a potential buyer of DHL Global Forwarding as it accelerates its international expansion following the $5.1 billion acquisition of Australia-based freight forwarder Toll Holdings last year... Deutsche Post may seek a partnership, create a joint venture or sell either part of the complete operation, Reuters said... Deutsche Post has declined to comment, but is expected to clarify the situation when it publishes its fourth quarter results and annual report on March 11... Deutsche Post booked a 345 million euros ($386 million) impairment charge on DHL Global Forwarding in November after the group abandoned Net Forwarding Environment, its troubled in-house IT system... The forwarding business swung to an operating loss of 337 million euros in the third quarter from a year-earlier profit of 71 million euros, taking losses of the first nine months to 280 million euros against a 222 million euros profit last time... 
Post Tower, Bonn, Germany - JOC, by Bruce Barnard - Feb 15, 2016

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Feb 20, 2015

INTELLIGENCE in TRANSPORT * Panama Canal's expansion - * Brazil: Doubt about safety of mega-ships

* Panama - New Canal

-- A video released by the Panama Canal provides a second update on the progress of the Panama Canal’s expansion project... More than 400ha of concrete have so far been poured over both construction sites with around 4200ha of dirt and rock excavated to designated disposal areas...The largest infrastructure project since the waterway’s original construction, the Panama Canal Expansion Program will create a new lane of traffic along the Canal through the construction of a new set of locks, doubling the waterway’s capacity. The new locks will have three chambers, water-saving basins, lateral filling and emptying system & rolling gates... Video source: expansion.pancanal.com - Panama City, Panama - Port Technology International -18 Feb 2015 


* Sao Paulo / Brazil - Brazilian pilots in megaship safety row
-- Brazilian pilots have expressed concerns relating to the safety of mega-ships that berth at the Port of Santos, as well as other Brazilian ports... Brazilian pilots claim that insufficient dredging at Santos makes it unsafe for vessels such as the CMA CGM Tigris, which is 300 metres long and 48.2 metres wide, to navigate the port’s channel... Conapra, the Brazilian national pilots association, is pressing the Brazilian Navy to restrict longer and wider vessels that require greater drafts... Claudio Loureiro, Executive President of Centronave, which represents foreign-flag shipowners operating in Brazil, has blasted Conapra’s idea to reduce the size of ships berthing at the port from 336 metres down to 266 metres, saying that there could be “dire consequences” for Santos... The move by Conapra is “retaliation” against attempts by the government to regulate pilot services in Brazil and reduce their excessive costs, according to the JOC... Santos Port Authority is about to announce a new tender for dredging and, once completed, the gap between what size of vessel is allowed and what the pilots are happy with will likely narrow... Santos, SP, Brazil -Port Technology International (UK) -18 Feb 2015

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Feb 16, 2015

TRUCK SALES PROGNOSIS * USA: Say goodbye to the classic white boxy U.S. Postal truck

* DC - The Postal Service wants to change over its fleet by 2018


-- The classic white boxy U.S. Postal Service truck that's been roaming American streets for decades just received a Agency's Request for Information for a "Next Generation Delivery Vehicle" it hopes will replace the existing fleet by 2018... The RFI documents spotted online: It could be one of the largest fleet purchases ever. According to specifications released to potential bidders Jan. 20, the Postal Service would buy 180,000 vehicles at $25,000 to $35,000 apiece, valuing the contract at $4.5 billion to $6.3 billion.  Automotive News suggests the specified needs could be met by European-style vans. This class of slimmer vans, with its ability to take tighter turns, also has the potential to help city planners design safer streets... The agency has scheduled a meeting with potential bidders next week in Washington. It says it will pick vendors this summer to build prototypes, which will undergo tests in 2016 before a contract is awarded in early 2017... (Image Wiki Commons: The classic USA postal truck) -Washington, DC, USA -City Lab, by Eric Jaffe -Feb 13, 2015

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Feb 14, 2015

INTELLIGENCE IN TRANSPORT * USA / Canada / China

(Photo: The Royal Canadian Pacific's Rocky Mountaineer, traveling between Vancouver and Calgary)  

 * USA / California - More signs of West Coast port woes spurring cargo shift to opposite coast
When U.S. West Coast port congestion clears, there are increasing signs that shippers’ frustrations with shipment delays of weeks will spur them to permanently re-route freight through the East Coast, much like they did in 2002 following a 10-day marine terminal lockout... JOC -11 Feb 2015 

  * USA / Virginia - Container volume a record for month of January 
The Port of Virginia last month posted its highest January container volume, handling 191,996 loaded and empty 20-foot-equivalent units, a 15 percent year-over-year increase... JOC -11 Feb 2015

  * USA / DC - FMC scrutinizing demurrage fees related to port congestion 
As part of a broader report on U.S. port congestion due this summer, federal maritime regulators will outline whether the increase in demurrage charges hitting shippers are unreasonable, and outline potential remedies... JOC -12 Feb 2015

  * China / Shanghai - U.S. East Coast spot rates break the $5,000 barrier 
The U.S. East Coast spot rate hit $5,049 per FEU this week as rising demand for the all-water service pushed rates to record levels, according to the latest reading of the Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI)... JOC -13 Feb 2015

  * Alberta / Canada - CP intermodal shippers face reduced service if union strikes 
Canadian intermodal shippers could see a reduction in Canadian Pacific Railway service if a union representing 3,300 locomotive engineers, conductors and train workers follow through with their threat to strike later this week if the railroad doesn’t meet their contract demands... JOC -11 Feb 2015

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Mar 20, 2012

Camera's Scanning License Plates * UK

* Behind On Your Insurance? Could That Keep You From Buying Gas?

(Photo: Jack Colker Union 96 gas station in Beverly Hills)
Palo Alto,CAL,USA -The Car Connection, by Richard Read -Mar 20, 2012: -- If your daily commute involves a toll bridge or highway, you may already be familiar with cameras that read license plates to extract turnpike fees. Now, the British government is exploring ways to use similar devices to keep uninsured motorists off the roads -- by preventing them from filling up in the first place...  According to a report in the Mirror, officials in the U.K. are looking at high-tech cameras as a way to reduce the number of uninsured motorists. Such cameras are already installed at gas stations across the country, where they use number plate recognition software to scan and record the license plates of cars who pull in to fill up...  If a plate isn't registered to someone with adequate insurance, the motorist wouldn't be allowed to gas up...

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Oct 12, 2009

INTELLIGENCE on TRANSPORT* France - Freight needs to come off the roads and on to rail

Over the next eight years, we need to take a million trucks off the roads to reduce congestion and cut greenhouse emissions



Paris France -The Independent (UK), by Guillaume Pepy, SNCF chairman -11 Oct 2009: ... Free movement of goods and people is non-negotiable in this day and age... The seeds of change are already in place... one freight train carried by rail produces at least 80 per cent less carbon dioxide than if it was moved by road. Yet in Britain, freight road trips rose by 38 per cent in the 1990s alone while air freight grew by 7 per cent. More than 60 per cent of all goods are transported by road, compared to just 7 per cent by rail... Freight transport is now an urgent and absolute priority. Over the next eight years, we need to take a million trucks off the road, reduce congestion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions... Estimates in the UK suggest that a national high-speed rail network could ultimately reduce carbon emissions by one million tonnes a year – if the whole of Europe adopted high-speed rail, the impact would be extraordinary – for passengers, for companies, and for the planet... To make this happen requires investment, ingenuity and innovation... The freight industry is as conscious of the need for change as anyone – but it needs to know that transportation can be as effective by rail as it is by sea and air. Ease of use is paramount. Decent infrastructure, fast trains and well-run systems will make change happen... The financial costs may seem high right now. But the costs of delay are even higher. We need to take freight off the roads, out of the air and on to the railways. And we need to start work right here, right now... (Video from YouTube, by NThusiast -29 Sept 2008: "Freight Train Paradise Thionville -Lorraine/France-": Some freight trains at Thionville in France with multi-current SNCF Sybic BB 26000 series -with EC Iris-, Belgian SNCB/NMBS 1300, German DB BR185 and French electric locomotives BB 37000)

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Apr 7, 2009

TRUCKING INDUSTRY INTELLIGENCE * USA - USPS market test could add a new player for LTL-like services

Washington,DC,USA -Logistics Management,by Jeff Berman -2 April 2009: -- In a filing submitted to the Postal Regulatory Commission, the United States Postal Service (USPS) said it will kick off a market test on May 6 to provide service that will resemble a less-than-truckload (LTL) network... According to the filing, the LTL-like market test cannot exceed 24 months, with total revenues not anticipated to exceed $10 million. The USPS said it will leverage its national transportation network that serves its processing facilities, which are primarily comprised of approximately 440 sectional center facilities and more than 40 bulk mailing centers. USPS does not have an asset-based transportation network, as it contracts out its over-the-road trucking business...


* Port of L.A. Starts Second Intermodal Incentive - Program to encourage ocean carriers to move more containers by rail

Los Angeles,CAL,USA -The Journal of Commerce, by John Gallagher -Mar 26, 2009: -- The Port of Los Angeles is launching an incentive program to encourage ocean carriers to move more containers by rail into the port... Starting May 1, the Intermodal Container Incentive Program will pay $20 per TEU for each additional container brought in by rail that exceeds their 2008 level... Intermodal rail cargo accounts for over 40 percent of the total container volume at Los Angeles, the nation’s largest container port... The container incentive program is the second of two year-long cost intermodal incentive programs initiated by the port this year. An intermodal discount program retroactive to Jan. 1, 2009, gives terminal operators a 10 percent discount on each container they transport to or from the port by rail. The program is expected to cost $13 million dollars... (Port of LA photo by wirralwater @ Flickr)

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Aug 11, 2008

INTELLIGENCE * UK - Soaring fuel prices and green pressures herald comeback for Britain's waterways

Tesco and Eddie Stobart are among firms taking to the water to beat congestion and reduce costs

London,England,UK -The Independent, by Hannah Godfrey -10 August 2008: -- Britain's waterways are on the brink of an astonishing revival – and some of the UK's biggest trucking firms are leading the way. The UK's long-neglected latticework of canals and rivers, which once helped to jump-start the industrial revolution, are poised for a renaissance... Growing traffic jams, rising fuel prices and environmental pressures are driving the boom, according to industry experts, to such an extent that many shipping and barge companies say they have received more inquiries about transporting goods by water in the past 18 months than they have had in 20 years. Some companies that have traditionally used roads are now appointing managers to mastermind their expansion on to water... Eddie Stobart, one of the country's biggest road-haulage firms, has invested in a port on the Manchester Ship Canal and plans to expand its waterways routes... (Picture by PA - Tesco, one of several major firms now using the UK's waterways, transports wine on barges from Liverpool to its bottling plant in Irlam, Manchester, taking 50 lorries a week off the region's roads)

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Aug 6, 2008

REEXAMINING BUSINESS MODEL * USA - FedEx Downshifts

RETHINKING OPERATIONS: Punishing fuel costs and a shaky economy is forcing FedEx Express to

Washington,DC,USA -Aircargoworld, by Michael Fabey -5 Aug 2008: -- While harboring hopes the U.S. economy will turn around and fuel prices will start to level off, FedEx is positioning itself for what company officials say is an altered industry landscape... Frederick W. Smith, FedEx chairman, president and chief executive officer, said in the wake of the company's first quarterly loss in several years that FedEx is rethinking its foundation express operations and even the way it gears up for international traffic... "FedEx Express has not bought a unit of capacity for the domestic express business in years and years and years," Smith told investment analysts in a conference call on the company's earnings... Instead, Smith said, the world's largest air express operator is looking at a new era of air shipping that includes still lighter reliance on aircraft for shorter hauls and a focus on fitting the domestic network into a global supply chain... He said FedEx's expansion into trucking services positions the company for the changes but his remarks suggest more changes in company strategy could be coming...

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Aug 5, 2008

Thousands of lorries off roads * UK - New £15m sidings will take off

Derbyshire,UK -Railnews -5th August 2008: -- New PCA wagons at Lafarge’s Hope works, where £15 million has been spent in upgrading facilities... Lafarge Cement, in partnership with Freightliner Heavy Haul, is set to take 6,800 lorry loads off the road each year – 130 each week – with completion of its £15 million rail investment at its Hope works in Derbyshire’s Peak District next month... The new facility incorporates a million pound state-of-the-art laboratory and a £400,000 control room for 24-hour monitoring of an annual production of 1.3 million tonnes of cement for the Midlands and South East. It also houses offices and meeting rooms...

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