LONGSHORE SECURITY OFFICERS POSSIBLE STRIKE AT PORT OF PORTLAND

Posted on November 21, 2012 by tfli.com

Longshore security officers plan to strike at the Port of Portland Nov. 25 if talks Friday don’t produce a contract. This move would freeze millions of dollars worth of freight, and will have a deep impact at Portland’s Port. The strike will be done by 25 officers who work at the gates of three terminals and will generate an outsized effect and as a respect to these 25 officers the rest of the members of the union are refusing to cross their picket lines.

 

 These Negotiations have been ongoing since June 30,2011, they might reach agreement today in a session with a mediator. Or further 11th-hour talks could produce a contract — an unlikely prospect, however, given an unfair-labor-practice complaint the Port filed Thursday accusing Local 28 of bargaining in bad faith.

 

One thing that you can count on is that the union’s longshore division, which includes terminal workers, are entitled to respect picket lines — including those established by the union’s warehouse division, which covers the security officers said by spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent

 

If you would like to read more please visit this website.

www.longshoreshippingnews.com

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Highway bill compromise raises broker bond to $75,000

Posted on November 15, 2012 by tfli.com

Part of the tentative highway reauthorization deal that the House and Senate conference committee ironed out increases minimum bond required of transportation brokers to legally operate. Language in the tentative agreement raises the surety bond minimum to $75,000 from $10,000, where it had been since the deregulation era. Freight forwarders are likewise be subject to the surety requirements.

The bill also stipulates that surety providers must notify the U.S. Department of Transportation of any surety cancellation, to be posted to the DOT website, and must pay uncontested claims within 30 days. In the event of broker or forwarder business failure, providers are required to publicly advertise for claims for sixty days following notification of business failure and surety cancellation. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association and the Transportation Intermediaries Association, a brokers’ group, jointly supported an increase in the bond minimum level to $100,000, but opposition from smaller brokerages, organized around the Association of Independent Property Brokers and Agents, helped bring the level down a bit. AIPBA had favored a bond minimum level of $25,000

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Tacoma Rail rolls past hard times

Posted on November 15, 2012 by tfli.com

As the City of Tacoma grapples with its $63-million recession hangover with layoffs and cutbacks, one branch of city government, its municipal railroad, Tacoma Rail, may be putting hard times behind it.

Credit a combination of a rush of new business as well as timely deals to shed expenses for the turnaround. While the city plans to lay off 217 workers in other departments, Tacoma Rail is hiring. While general government revenues have declined, Tacoma Rail’s are rising.

Tacoma Rail is a rarity, a city-owned railroad. With 204 miles of track, Tacoma Rail is the largest municipally-owned and operated freight railroad in the country. Tacoma Rail is part of Tacoma’s Public Utilities operation that includes Tacoma Power and Tacoma Water. Tacoma Rail serves industrial customers on the Tacoma Tide flats, in the Frederickson Industrial Development in south Pierce County and in the Nelly Valley in South Tacoma. It also provides switching service for the ports of Olympia and Tacoma and their terminals. It is the Port of Tacoma’s burgeoning business that has improved the railroad’s fortunes in recent months. The arrival of a handful of new shipping lines at the Port of Tacoma beginning in July is largely responsible for that boost in Tacoma Rail’s business. The Grand Alliance consortium of shipping lines helped the Port of Tacoma raise its benchmark container shipping volumes by 37 percent in September compared with September 2011. The Grand Alliance moved to the port’s Washington United Terminal from Seattle after the port and Washington United Terminals operator, Hyundai Merchant Marine, promised more efficient, less costly container handling than Seattle. Tacoma Rail benefits because it moves the long container trains between the port’s terminals and the mainline railroads, Union Pacific and BNSF. In July alone, Tacoma Rail’s port volume increased by more than 50 percent. The railroad has hired five new workers to handle the increased volume. Next year the workforce at Tacoma Rail is expected to reach 101, up from the low of 89 workers at the recession’s nadir. The new business comes after a deep decline in port business beginning in 2008 when the port’s volume declined by 25 percent and with it the rail switching business that it fostered.

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Hanjin Shipping Posts Net Loss of $43.3 Million

Posted on November 8, 2012 by tfli.com

Hanjin Shipping reported a net loss of 47.3 billion South Korean won (about US$43.3 million), compared with a net loss of $1.1 million in the previous quarter and a net loss of $78.7 million in the same quarter in 2011.

In the first nine months of 2012, the company posted a net loss of $354.4 million, compared with last year’s net loss of $458.5 million from January to September.

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Quarterly container volume best in a year; transportation, logistics M&A activity robust

Posted on November 8, 2012 by tfli.com

International container volume in North America increased 3.9 percent during the second quarter, marking the best quarterly results in a year, according to the Intermodal Association of North America’s (IANA) “Intermodal Market Trends and Statistics Report” issued last month.

In absolute terms, the quarter also served as the international segment’s highest second quarter since 2008, IANA officials said in a prepared statement. U.S. container volumes picked up nearly 4 percent during the quarter, with increases near 3 percent on the West Coast and 5 percent on the East Coast.

In comparison, Canadian container import volumes continued to make great strides, particularly on the West Coast, where imports through the ports of Prince Rupert and Vancouver posted nearly 20 percent year-over-year gains in the quarter.

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East Coast ports reopening, air service returning to normal after Hurricane Sandy

Posted on November 8, 2012 by tfli.com

Logistics capabilities along the Eastern Seaboard are beginning to reopen in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Air service was expected to resume Tuesday afternoon, and freight railroads, which were unaffected by the massive storm, are running. Some key ports that were closed, such as Baltimore and Norfolk, Va., also reopened Tuesday. That isn’t to say there won’t still be troubles created when Sandy made landfall Monday evening and pushed its way inland, leaving tens of millions without power, shutting New York stock exchanges for two consecutive days, dropping heavy snow in West Virginia and leaving at least 39 dead in its wake.

The storm has passed, but we’ll still be subject to whatever delays are caused by the aftermath. It’s hard to guess what that is yet.

Power issues still plague New York and its port. Getting workers to ports and on trucks also could be an ongoing problem.

Trucks will be impacted less by traffic and more because of the lack of drivers. Power outages and idled public transportation could keep workers from reaching their jobs.

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MEARSK EXPECTED GROWTH

Posted on October 25, 2012 by tfli.com

Maersk expects only modest growth for container shipping-paper

FRANKFURT Oct 24 (Reuters) – Danish group A.P. Moller-Maersk said it did not expect the problems of overcapacity in container shipping to return to pre-crisis levels with only modest growth expected in the next few years. Growth rates of around 10 percent, the average before the financial crisis, are a thing of the past, daily Hamburger Abendblatt reported Soron Skou telling an industry association in Hamburg.

“We expect an average of 5 to 7 percent growth in transportation volumes in the near-term,” he said. “We must learn to live with overcapacities.”

The oil and shipping group said earlier this month it would cut investments in its container shipping unit Maersk Line following low demand for its core Asia to Europe trade.

Ship owners are struggling with an oversupply of vessels, high bunker fuel prices and world economic turmoil, forcing banks to pull back from shipping finance amid a four-year-long downturn that is likely to extend well into 2013. France’s Societe Generale, Germany’s Commerzbank and HSH Nordbank AG are among the financial institutions that have reduced their exposure to the shipping industry, selling significant portions of their maritime portfolios.

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New California reefer regulations significantly affect our industry

Posted on October 25, 2012 by tfli.com

New California reefer regulations significantly affect brokers and forwarders nationwide

 New regulations from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) will take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, and as a result, transportation brokers and freight forwarders will face significant implications. Trucking companies who operate reefer containers in California should already be familiar with the new law, which requires all refrigeration units to be tested and registered with CARB before transport in California.

Changes for Brokers and Forwarders

Starting Jan. 1, any company that arranges, hires, contracts for, or dispatches reefer-equipped trucks, tractor-trailers, shipping containers, or railcars for the transport of perishable goods on California highways or railways, must verify that the carrier is using a CARB-compliant container. The requirement applies to brokers and forwarders irrespective of where their actual business is located. While brokers and forwarders are not required to physically inspect the container, they must verify CARB compliance. CARB suggests that carriers provide their ARBER certification page to show that the dispatched unit is 100% compliant. CARB recommends that brokers and forwarders provide notice to their carrier base that only those listed in the database will be considered when arranging freight that travels in California.

Significant Penalties for Non-Compliance

If a broker or forwarder is found in violation of CARB’s regulation, they may be cited and subject to a penalty of $1,000 per occurrence, per the provisions set forth in the California Health and Safety Code. CARB also urges that if a carrier is found in violation, the broker should ensure no further hiring of that carrier. Brokers and forwarders should also note that CARB provides for penalties of $1,000 each for the shipper, consignee and the driver of the vehicle. This is in addition to the penalties assessed against the trucking company and the broker or forwarder. The fact that shippers and/or consignees may likely hold the broker or forwarder liable for any penalties they incur could serve to multiply the exposure for brokers and forwarders.

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CONTAINER VOLUME JUMP 40 PERCENT IN SEPT.

Posted on October 18, 2012 by tfli.com

Tacoma’s container volumes jump nearly 40 percent in September

Container volumes through the Port of Tacoma continued to climb in September, posting a 37 percent gain over the same month last year. Port terminals handled 195,718 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units) last month compared to 142,920 in September 2011.

For the year, container volumes are up more than 11 percent to 1,220,615 TEUs.

Tacoma’s container volumes continue to reflect the addition of the Grand Alliance and its associated services in July, as well as strong volumes from our established customers. We saw 113 vessel calls in September, an increase of nearly 32 percent compared with the same month last year.

With peak shipping season well under way, our import container volumes surged nearly 22 percent year to date as retailers stock up for the holiday shopping season. The National Retail Federation forecasts holiday sales will increase 4.1 percent this year.

A record Washington apple crop is contributing to Tacoma’s increased export container volumes, which grew 14 percent year to date. Meanwhile, domestic volumes were down less than 1 percent for the year.

In other cargo news, breakbulk volumes remain strong, up nearly 84 percent, and intermodal lifts grew more than 28 percent year to date. Logs continue to lag, down 41 percent, and autos dipped for the second straight month, down 4 percent.

 

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IMPORTER FRAUD PROTECTION PROGRAM

Posted on October 18, 2012 by tfli.com

IMPORTER FRAUD PROTECTION PROGRAM

 

When an importer identity is compromised, they are often unaware until U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issues a notice of detention following a cargo exam. If a criminal obtains your tax ID and address, and files entries against your bond, your legitimate business may be on the hook.

 

HOW THE FRAUD PROTECTION PROGRAM WORKS

Once you sign up for the Fraud Protection Program, you will received an email if the surety detects suspicious activity related to a potentially unauthorized use of your importer number. This can happen, for example, if a new filer makes entry against your continuous bond. If you received an e-mail, it will detail the bond number, entry number and the filer code. You can also opt-out of these notifications at any time. These reports can help you detect whether a broker you normally don’t use has made an entry on your behalf without a valid power attorney.

For more further information contact your broker and inquire about this program. 

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