An Eagle Transport gas tanker and a UPS truck are two of what is believed to be six trucks that have been shot at whilst travelling on Interstate 95 in Florida.

The incidents which are believed to have all taken place in St Johns County Florida have concerned local law enforcement with the Sheriff’s office trying unsuccessfully to locate the shooter by air.

Sergeant Chuck Mulligan from the Sheriff’s office has said that there is an ongoing investigation into the incidents.  Law enforcement have recovered some bullet fragments that will now be tested, it is believed that a high powered rifle was involved.

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The massive amount of flooding that has devastated parts of America’s mid west region is having an increasingly costly effect on the regions river freight industry.

More than one-hundred barges are reported to be stranded on the upper Mississippi, with those barges prevented from reaching their intended destinations by the devastating natural disaster.

Carrying cargoes of  various items from grain to fertilizer, scrap metal to cement, as well as other products, the freight barges have been forced to lay idle whilst flood waters crest and begin to recede in the region, the waters having already overtopped or broken through many of the rivers levies, flooding great swathes of the upper mid-west.

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In a report published this week by Massachusetts based company, Cambridge Systematics, it was forecast that the proposed intermodal facility in the Joliet area would be of significant benefit to the region.

Commissioned by CenterPoint Properties, the developer of the Joliet site, Cambridge Systematics estimates that the intermodal facility would create as much as $765 million dollars in annual economic output for Illinois’ Will County, as well as 6,900 to 7,400 new full-time jobs.  The study also estimates that construction of the facility would alone generate $1.2 billion in economic output.

The new CenterPoint Intermodal Center in Joliet would join another existing intermodal anchored industrial park.  This CenterPoint facility in Elwood Illinois is already thought to have contributed much to the local economy with at least 2,300 jobs created.

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Worldwide container shipper, Maersk Line, has announced that it will make changes to its KNSM service operating between Northern Europe and Morocco.

Changing from an interim schedule which included the Port of Agadir in the service rotation, from July the carrier will implement a fixed-day schedule on the service, but removing the Port of Agadir from the service.

Maersk Line advises that Agadir will still be served by the carriers feeder network via Algeciras in Spain, however the KNSM service will now limit its rotation to include only the ports of Bremerhaven and Rotterdam in Europe, and Casablanca in Morocco.

Based in Copenhagen Denmark, Maersk Line enjoys a fleet of over 500 container vessels with more than 1,900,000 containers.  The company has 325 office in 170 countries, employing over 25,000 people.

Source: Maersk Line

The Honda Motor Company in North America has moved to reduce fuel consumption and Carbon Dioxide emissions associated with its automobile distribution activities in the United States with the rollout of its Auto-Max rail cars.

Developed in partnership with Greenbrier Companies, the new cars hold up to twenty-two vehicles and can hold both trucks and cars to reduce unused space.

The Auto-Max cars are estimated to have a fifty-year life span and during their lifetime will enable auto maker to transport its vehicles with less fuel usage per vehicle shipped.  Indeed Honda’s rail transport provider, CSX, estimates that the new cars will save over 2,436 gallons of fuel per annum.

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The logistics subsidiary of Californian based Con-Way Incorporated, Menlo Worldwide Logistics (Menlo) has announced that they have won the custom of Evolution and Smooth (EOS) to provide a turnkey solution for warehousing, distribution and transportation management services for EOS products in North America.

The New York based EOS recently launched its first range of personal care products with select stores throughout the United States and Canada to carry the brand.  Under the agreement between the two companies, Menlo will assume responsibility for product warehousing and inventory control, transportation management and fulfillment of orders for EOS customers in the United States and Canada.

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SAS Airmail, a business unit of Scandinavian cargo airline, SAS Cargo, has announced the signing of a new contract with Denmark’s Post Danmark.

The new contract will continue a multi-year partnership between the two companies that has seen SAS Air Mail accept full responsibility for the economy and quality performance of Post Danmark’s letter mail shipments from Denmark to twenty-two countries.

SAS Air Mail won the right to continue the partnership with Post Danmark after a competitive bidding process that involved airlines throughout the world quoting on parts or all of Post Danmark’s international mail traffic.  According to a release from SAS Air Mail, the company was successful in the bidding process due to its suitability to fulfil the requirements set down by Post Danmark.

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United States based shipping and logistics company United Parcel Service has announced the integration of the company’s UPS Paperless Invoice option into the UPS Shipping Tool.

The UPS Shipping Tool, an application program interface that enables customers to integrate UPS shipping options into customers own web sites and enterprise applications, utilises UPS shipping programs such as UPS WorldShip, UPS CampusShip and UPS Internet Shipping to deliver shipments to 98 countries and territories around the world.

The integration of UPS Paperless Invoice system into the UPS Shipping tool comes after the paperless option was was introduced in January this year. 

UPS promotes the paperless invoice system not only as having obvious environmental benefits, but also as the program has the advantage of increasing efficiency. The company pointing out that paperless documents are able to be transmitted to customs electronically, as well as avoiding potential errors that the more traditional paper documentation is prone too.

Source: United Parcel Service

Transport and logistics company, DHL International has announced that the company has come to an agreement with KTM North America (KTM), to provide the motorcycle manufacturer with a range delivery and logistics services.

The two year deal will see DHL become the preferred overnight express shipping provider for KTM, with KTM parts and accessories to be delivered by DHL from KTM’s Cleveland distribution centre to over 350 KTM dealers across North America. 

In addition to fulfilling the role of distributing KTM parts and accessories throughout the manufacturers dealer network, DHL will also will also become the official shipping provider for KTM racing teams, responsible for delivering competition parts and accessories to events and venues across the United States.

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German shipping company Hapag Lloyd has announced that it will launch a new container service between the continents of Asia and Africa, the service being initiated because of an increase in demand for more fixed services.

To be known as WSX, the new service will begin operating in July with fortnightly journeys between Asia and the African nations of South Africa, Ghana, Togo and Nigeria.  Specifically the WSX service will depart the Shanghai port with subsequent destinations being the ports of Ningbo, Xiamen, Shekou, Port Kelang, Durban, Tema, Lome and Lagos, before returning to Shanghai via Durban and Port Kelang.

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