Briefs
Staff -- Purchasing, 2/3/2005
- Greek ocean carrier Stelmar Shipping has been acquired by Overseas Shipholding Group for $843 million, after two previous bids by other companies failed. The deal will create the second-largest publicly traded oil tanker company in number of vessels, and the third largest, when measured by deadweight tons.
- DHL raised rates for domestic U.S. air and international express deliveries by an average of 3.4% in 2005 and rates for ground deliveries by 2.9%. The moves are in line with what competitors FedEx and UPS planned for 2005. DHL matched FedEx and UPS' 2.9% rate increase for ground shipments. FedEx plans an average 4.6% increase for U.S. air shipments. DHL also said it will introduce an indexed fuel surcharge for ground deliveries and reduce its indexed fuel surcharge for domestic air express and international express services by 0.5%, effective Jan. 30.
- In the 10 years since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was approved, surface transportation between the U.S. and Canada and Mexico has increased 80%, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation.
- Trade management software provider TradeBeam Holdings has acquired the assets of Open Harbor, a provider of international trade logistics solutions. Open Harbor's offerings included a comprehensive centralized repository of global trade content containing millions of trade rules. Open Harbor's technology provides pricing for international orders based on an aggregate of product costs, taxes and duties charged by the exporting and importing countries.
- J.B. Hunt Transport Services has been recognized by lawn and garden care products maker The Scotts Company with the 2004 Core Carrier of the Year award for its work with Scotts' Truckload Services and Outsourcing Services Group.
- A proposed plan to waive federal safety inspections of freight trains entering the country from Mexico has been turned down by U.S. railroad regulators. Rail carrier Union Pacific had petitioned the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to skip mandatory inspections of inbound trains from Mexico at Laredo, Texas, if the train had been inspected before leaving Mexico. But the FRA said Union Pacific had failed to sufficiently demonstrate how waiving the inspection requirement would ensure railroad safety.
- U.S. and Canadian officials plan to increase trade and traffic capacity at the Detroit-Windsor, Ontario border crossings by 25% in 2005 and a new border crossing between the two countries is expected in 2006. Canada would begin hiring and training 30 new officers to staff the Detroit-Windsor crossings, which is expected to increase capacity to process commercial traffic by 20%. Pre-clearance facilities at various border crossings will also be expanded.
- UPS completed the purchase of Menlo Worldwide Forwarding from CNF for $150 million in cash and the assumption of approximately $110 million in long-term debt. Menlo's freight forwarding capabilities will complement UPS' Supply Chain Solutions business headed by Bob Stoffel, UPS senior vice president, Supply Chain Group. Menlo Worldwide Forwarding services soon will be sold under the UPS brand, Stoffel said in an announcement.
- Global trade management solutions provider Vastera will be acquired by and combined with the Logistics and Trade Services businesses of JP Morgan Chase's Treasury Services unit for a total transaction value of approximately $129 million.
- A federal judge recently halted the Justice Department from prosecuting Stolt-Nielsen Transportation Group, a company that cooperated with the government in criminal antitrust prosecutions in the bulk ocean shipping industry. In 2002, bulk liquid carrier Stolt-Nielsen went to the Justice Department with evidence that it and two of its competitors had set up a price-fixing scheme and allocated customer contracts among themselves, which got Stolt-Nielsen into the government's amnesty program. But Stolt-Nielsen was kicked out of the government's Corporate Leniency Program for allegedly continuing illegal anticompetitive activity longer than it had previously said it had continued.
Talkback
Related Content
Related Content
Sponsored Links
View All Blogs
Now Playing:
