Worldwide automotive transport giant Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has announced this week that it will shift its service destination in the United States state of Texas, away from the Port of Houston.  Instead, starting today, the company will sail its services into the Port of Galveston.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen has said that impetus to change the companies sailing destination to the Port of Galveston came about as a desire to see both reduced dwell times and faster delivery times.  The Port of Galveston believed to be ideally suited to Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s needs as the port provides guaranteed berthing and dedicated rail access.

Executive Vice President of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, John Felitto, said on the occasion of the announcement that “By shifting operations to Galveston, our customers will benefit from shorter transit and vessel turnaround times, both critical given the tight tonnage supply in this trade route”.  Felitto also noted that “customers are also increasingly focused on emerging markets, and this change will enable us to connect two very important regions, the Middle East with South and Central America”.

Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has a fleet of more than sixty car carriers and RoRo Vessels, enabling the company to be one of the worlds leading providers of factory to dealer transport solutions for the automotive, agricultural and construction equipment industries.  Serving twenty routes to five continents, the company transports some 4.3 million vehicles annually.

Source: Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics

Dubai based Emirates Sky Cargo has announced that commencing on the thirtieth of March, the carrier will launch non-stop air cargo services from Dubai to Cape Town in South Africa.

The move by Emirates Sky Cargo comes as trade between the Middle East and South Africa has substantially increased, the export market from South Africa including a wide variety of seafood, mainly cut flowers and automotive parts.  Additionally South African wines are also making their presence felt around the world, an export opportunity that Emirates Sky Cargo seeks to capitalise on.

Commenting on the new service, Senior Vice President of Cargo Commercial Operations for Emirates Sky Cargo, Peter Sedgley said that “Emirates Sky Cargo regards the South African market as vital”.  Citing the twice weekly Boeing 747 freighter service that Emirates Sky Cargo already operates into South Africa’s largest and most populous city, Johannesburg as evidence of Emirates Sky Cargo’s commitment, Sedgely also added that “we have enjoyed excellent relationships with South African shippers for more than a decade which we look forward to growing with the introduction of non-stop services to Cape Town”.

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One of the worlds largest international cargo airlines, Singapore Airlines Cargo (SIA Cargo) has announced that they along with Wildlife Reserves Singapore (WRS)  will form a partnership to jointly promote wildlife conservation.

Wildlife Reserves Singapore which is the parent company of Singapore Zoo  has become renowned for its endangered animal breeding programs, with various species being allocated to zoos around the world. 

SIA Cargo from the first of February has and will become and integral of WRS’s efforts with the airline charged with the freightage of wildlife to zoos globally in an effort to boost the gene pool of endangered animals. 

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British Airways World Cargo (BA Cargo) announced on Thursday an increase of the fuel surcharge, the airline applies to all BA Cargo services.

The new surcharge level which will come into effect on the 8th of April will equate to a charge of 0.63 Great British Pounds, 0.95 United States Dollars or 0.95 Euro per kilogram, an increase in six pence per kilogram in the British currency.

In a statement released on the BA Cargo website, the company said that the fuel surcharge increase follows a second consecutive week that the fuel index has been above the level 19 threshold. An index that was developed by BA Cargo to provide customers with more information about the calculation of fuel surcharges.

Adam Carson, senior manager revenue management at BA Cargo added that “Fuel prices continue to escalate which makes it necessary to increase our fuel surcharge by two levels, in line with the index”.

British Airways World Cargo, a worldwide carrier of freight, mail and courier traffic to 200 destinations in more than 80 countries, operates with a mixed fleet of combination passenger/freight and dedicated freight aircraft.

Source: British Airways World Cargo

Rail freight operator Norfolk Southern in releasing its annual report today highlighted with a good degree of satisfaction, its employee safety record.

In addition to receiving, once again, the top industry award for workplace safety, the company is enjoying reflecting over the past year when on the 23^rd of October, the company, having moved tonnes of commodities, did so without single reportable employee injury.

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Norfolk Southern Mr Wick Moorman said of the companies successes that it illustrated “the skills and dedication of Norfolk Southern people as they go about their work of providing transportation service to our nation’s businesses and industries, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”

Norfolk Southern  operates approximately 21,000 route miles in the United States of America, serving every major container port in the eastern United States as well as providing superior connections to western rail carriers.

Source: Norfolk Southern Corporation

North American rail freight operator Canadian National Railway Company has this week announced a raft of upgrades to it’s Canadian and United States rail infrastructure.

The announced upgrades include a $430 Million dollar investment in Western Canada, a $300 million dollar investment in Eastern Canada as well as another $300 Million dollars to be sunk into Canadian National’s presence in the United States.

Representatives from Canadian National have said that the upgrades are to ensure “plant quality and safety” as well as “build capacity and speed”.  The company also says that the enhancements should also improve the productivity of the company’s operations.

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A division of the transport giant A.P. Moller - Maersk Group, Maersk Line has announced that it will withdraw its container shipping service between the East Coast of South America and North America from the 17th of August.

The NASA Route as it is had been known was serviced by both Maersk Line  and Hamburg Süd, however according to Maersk Line, unprofitable cargo volumes on the route, along with the company’s continued effort to optimise its network means that Maersk Line will cease the slot chartering agreement with Hamburg Süd and no longer accept cargo for the route.

Commenting on Maersk Line’s efforts to optimise its network, Vice President of  Maersk Line area line management in North America Vincent Clerc said back in January that a combination of rapidly escalating costs and the growing trade imbalance had put significant financial pressure on carriers, and that “as fuel costs rise, freight rates trend down, and the contribution to round trip compensation from export revenues continuing to shrink, a negative trend in profitability has emerged that is not sustainable”.

Maersk Line remains as one of the leading liner shipping companies in the world, having a fleet of over five-hundred container vessels.

Source: Maersk Line

Australian Federal Member of Parliament, Nola Marino MP, has used a speech in the Australian Parliament to Challenge the government over planned increases to road charges via the Interstate Road Transport Charge Amendment Bill 2008(*).

Representing the Regional seat of Forrest in the South West of Western Australia, Ms Marino claims that the new bill will enable heavy vehicle registration charges to be applied to trucks registered under the Australian government’s Federal Interstate Registration Scheme.  The MP concerned that both the heavy vehicle registration fees and the diesel fuel excise will be increased under the proposals.

The increases it is said are to arise from the application of an annual road cost adjustment formula, a formula that will result in charges higher than the Consumer Price Index.  Ms Marino has said that the increase in charges will most likely effect highly productive multi-combination vehicles such as B-doubles and B-triples, tractor trailers that carry much of the time-sensitive foodstuff freight in Western Australia, where great distances are travelled to regional and remote towns.

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German container line Hapag-Lloyd has today announced that it will implement improvements to its ANP Service in an effort to reduce transit times between major ports in the United States and Australia and New Zealand.

The company has said that will offer its customers significantly shorter transit times from May and June this year by streamlining the services rotation.

Operating via the Panama Canal, the service will utilise twelve, 2,800 Twenty   Foot Equivalent Unit (TEU) container vessels on a rotation that will see the streamlined ANP service depart and return to the Port of Melbourne, via the ports of Port Chalmers, Tauranga, Auckland, Manzanillo/Balboa, Cartagena, Savannah, Philadelphia, Savannah, Cartagena, Balboa, Auckland and Sydney.

Hapag-Lloyd reports that efficiency on the route has been able to be improved after increased cooperation between Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk, for which Hapag-Lloyd is slot charterer.

The new service will commence in May and June upon approval from the relevant authorities.

Source: Hapag-Lloyd

New facilities for Italian tyre Manufacturer Pirelli & C. SpA located in Romania are set to become the cornerstone of a new business agreement between the Pirelli Tyres and CEVA Logistics.

The facility, located some 250 kilometres south-west of Bucharest at Slatina, incorporates both production and warehousing and along with CEVA Romania, allow Pirelli Tyres to efficiently and effectively distribute the company’s product.

Specifically, the arrangement between Pirelli Tyres and CEVA Logistics calls upon CEVA Romania to organise stock placement within the 16,000 square metre Pirelli Tyre warehouse, as well as the removal and eventual distribution of Pirelli tyres throughout Europe and around the world.

Implementations Manager at CEVA Logistics, Joannis Tsilivarakos, commenting on the new cooperation between CEVA and Pirelli, told of a close  collaboration with Pirelli in Western Europe, the two companies having commenced the business relationship back in 1989.  Tsilivarakos went on to say that CEVA “are very familiar with our client’s needs”, and that “when we started the pilot phase, we warehoused 25 different products. But now production has increased and the number of articles has multiplied”.

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