Meralis in challenge to US ruling LAWYERS for Indian shipowners the Merali family are seeking a ruling in London that a US court had no right to hear the Ya Mawlaya collision case.
German dream team German chancellor Gerhard Schröder tried to end his government's crisis yesterday with the appointment of Hans Eichel as new finance minister. The move follows Thursday's surprise resignation of Oskar Lafontaine, the powerful finance minister and chairman of the ruling Social Democratic Party, from both positions. The departure of Mr Lafontaine was greeted with relief by Germany's maritime sector. Tax breaks for high-earning individuals' investments in shipping were targeted by Mr Lafontaine, who wanted them more or less completely abolished. But hopes that the government would withdraw its controversial tax reform bill were dashed yesterday by Mr Schröder. He said that the bill would continue its course through the parliamentary process. The lower house, the Bundestag, has already agreed to it, and the states' chamber Bundesrat is expected to vote on March 19 . Before Mr Lafontaine's resignation, leaders of Germany's coastal states, all ruled by the Social Democrats, said that the states' chamber would modify rules affecting shipping and shipbuilding. Mr Eichel is the present state prime minister in Hesse but was defeated in the regional election last month. His term ends on April 4. Mr Schröder is likely to stand himself for the post of party chairman.
Royal Boskalis Westminster achieves 26% profits jump Dutch dredging to construction group Royal Boskalis Westminster posted a 26% jump in net profits to Fls103.8m ($52m), while its turnover soared 15% to Fls1.76bn.
Three factors blamed for Belships losses NORWAY'S product tanker, gas carrier and bulk carrier operator Belships has blamed weak markets, the Asian crisis and low secondhand activity for a 75% widening of its pre-tax loss last year.
Rodriquez signs US fast ferries deal Italy's Rodriquez has signed a deal which will open the US cabotage and Canadian markets to the Aquastrada monohull fast ferry designed by the Messina-based shipyard.
Russian Far East oil and gas projects threatened PLANNED oil and gas projects in the Russian Far East are in serious doubt, according to a new study for Britain's Economic and Social Research Council.
Zim boost for Vancouver's ambitions PORT of Vancouver will receive a boost to its long-held ambition to be a gateway for US cargo when Zim Israel Navigation begins its transpacific service in May Zim, one of the world's top 15 container lines, has confirmed it will begin a regular weekly service on the North Pacific from May 6, making Vancouver its first port of call ahead of US ports.
Short time for 25 at Sassnitz THE crisis in Russia has forced the Baltic ferry port of Sassnitz to put 25 of its employees on short time. A spokesman at F'hrhafen Sassnitz said both port workers and administrative staff would work fewer hours until the end of April, writes Sabina Casagrande, Bonn.
La libéralisation du transport ferroviaire international de marchandises est prioritaire Lors de la discussion à Strasbourg des deux rapports de la Commission pour le Transport du Parlement européen sur la libéralisation en phases des chemins de fer, la majorité des députés ont fait part de leur inquiétude concernant l'avenir de ce secteur de transport important. L'organisation de la prestation de service du secteur ferroviaire serait de moins en moins capable de réagir à la demande qui évolue rapidement. L'avis général est que l'UE doit tout mettre en oeuvre pour relancer le transport ferroviaire.
Frans Maas maintient un scénario de croissance Le groupe néerlandais de transport routier, d'expédition et de logistique Frans Maas a réalisé une hausse de 10% de son chiffre d'affaires en 1998, passant à 1,46 milliard de NLG. Le bénéfice net a quant à lui augmenté de 16,5% à 35,3 mio. de NLG. C'est ce qu'a annoncé à Amsterdam le président du groupe, Henk Benjamins. Il a précisé que tant la division "transport/expédition" que la division logistique ont enregistré de beaux chiffres. A l'issue de la conférence de presse, il nous a déclaré que l'objectif de croissance pour les années à venir est de 7% par an en moyenne. "Pour cette année, notre scénario prévoit une croissance relativement importante", a-t-il ajouté.
Anvers: NYK présente sa dernière génération de PCTC "flexible" sous sa nouvelle livrée Escale remarquée mercredi dernier au terminal pour voitures de la Hessenatie à la darse de Vrasene du nouveau pure car truck carrier (PCTC) "Perseus Leader", d'une capacité de 6.000 voitures, dont c'est le mainden trip et qui est en fait la sixième unité d'une série de 13 que livrent trois chantiers nippons. Certes, des unités de ce type ont déjà fait escale à Anvers, mais cette fois, il s'agissait de la première parée de la nouvelle livrée, à savoir une coque peinte en bleu marine avec le logo en grandes lettres blanches des deux côtés de la coque: "NYK Line". La partie supérieure est peinte en blanc.
Anvers est le carrefour logistique des chargeurs belges Robert Restiau, administrateur-délégué de l'AGHA, a souhaité la bienvenue aux quelque 350 participants à la présentation du port d'Anvers à Bruxelles, en soulignant l'importance du chargeur pour le port scaldien: quelque 55% de l'exportation et de l'importation du port est généré par des chargeurs belges et luxembourgeois, ce qui revient à environ 66 mio. de tonnes par année. L'échevin du port Delwaide a esquissé l'importance internationale du port et a mis l'accent sur les liaisons fluviales et ferroviaires.
It's doubtful that anyone who saw "Analyze This," "You've Got Mail" or "Elizabeth" gave much thought to how these movies got to the big screen in front of them. Getting it to the right theater on time, in the case of these three flicks, was the job of Entertainment Transportation Specialists, one of only two companies in the business of making movie deliveries. And it's a type of transportation management that gets the attention of movie studios; 11 studios currently since its start up in 1998.
Amtrak's Philadelphia-based chief engineer for the Northeast Corridor may have improperly awarded to a neighbor more than $2 million in consulting work and misled the Amtrak board about the expenditures, according to the General Accounting Office. GAO's findings are in a 10-page letter to Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who requested it after learning in February of the GAO probe.
Truckload carriers in the temperature-controlled freight business will continue to consolidate, according to a temperature-controlled logistics report sponsored by C.H. Robinson Worldwide. Temperature-controlled shippers are more tolerant than their dry-goods counterparts of carriers' performance lapses in finding equipment. But quality control standards are another story; temperature-controlled shippers reported they rejected more shipments in 1998 because of temperature lapses than the previous year.
The Air & Expedited Motor Carriers Conference, questioning its on-again, off-again affiliation with the American Trucking Associations, is leaning toward throwing its 100-member group behind another organization in the wake of ATA's new structure. In a hotly debated session at the annual meeting in Las Vegas, the AEMCC went into a rare closed executive session to debate its future. It wants to decide its new direction no later than Oct. 1, ahead of ATA's implementation of its new plan on Jan. 1, 2001.
1999 is looking like a bleak year for major enterprise resource planning software vendors such as Baan Co. N.V., J.D. Edwards & Co., PeopleSoft and SAP AG. The ERP software market has seen some profound and permanent changes that started last year - the millennium bug and global economic conditions, particularly in Asia and Latin America, among other items - affected licensing sales for everyone. But the downturn may be a blip on the radar screen. These vendors already are preparing for the future by expanding their software scope and focusing efforts on midmarket companies with revenue between $200 million and $750 million.
Canadian National and Illinois Central took a big step closer to their merger when the Surface Transportation Board handed down an environmental assessment with only minor mitigation requirements. Only segments of line in Illinois and Michigan will be required to undergo hazmat mitigation, the board said. The decision paves the way for this Thursday's oral argument at the STB which, barring anything unexpected, will be relatively controversy-free. The Surface Transportation Board will hold a voting conference on March 25.
Deregulation is changing the freightliner shipping map, but the new map won't be available for a while. Small to midsize shippers who lack the experience to show them the way may find negotiating with carriers is like a game of blindman's bluff. "No one really knows what's going to happen," said U.S. Agricultural Trade Association official Christopher Rose.
GeoLogistics is struggling to make its domestic forwarding business work. After two and a half years of watching the business fail, GeoLogistics has hired four new high-powered executives to right the ship. Although the company says its international logistics is doing very well, the poor performance from the former LEP Profit business is dragging down profits for the company overall. If a public offering is in the cards, fixing the domestic business is a must.
The Canadian Wheat Board and Canadian Pacific Railway reached an out-of-court settlement in a dispute dating back to 1997. CP will pay C$15 million to the board over the next two years, which will add the money to the pool accounts it operates for farmers in western Canada. In return, the Winnipeg-based board has agreed to drop its C$50 million lawsuit against the railroad for delays and service disruptions two years ago. CN reached a still-secret deal with the board last year in a similar dispute.
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