=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Law Offices of Countryman & McDaniel

THE CARGO LETTER [404]

Air & Ocean Logistics - Customs Broker News

31 August 2004

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

Good Tuesday Evening from our Observation Deck......overlooking the officially designated "Cargo City" area and...... Runway 25-Right, at Los Angeles International Airport, voted "Best Cargo Airport in North America." Here's what happened during Aug. 2004 in the supply chain.

To help you find what you need -- FAST -- there's now a transport search engine installed at our Cargo Law.com website!

Contribute your knowledge, stories & company information.......by e-mail to The Cargo Letter.  We strive to bring you useful information which is timely & topical.  Be sure to visit our website.

Our corporate sponsor &endash;- Interpool, Inc. -- named again to Forbes "Best 200 Small Companies" List -- for the 2nd consecutive year! -- http://www.interpool.com/

Michael S. McDaniel, Editor, Countryman & McDaniel, forwarder/broker attorneys at LAX.

INDEX to The Cargo Letter:

OUR "A" Section: Trade, Financial & Inland News***

1. Freight Forwarder Trade Briefs ______________                            

2. The Cargo Letter Financial Page ______________                               

OUR "B" Section:  FF World Ocean News***

3. Freight Forwarder World Air Briefs ____________                         

OUR "C" Section:  FF World Ocean News***

4. FF World Ocean Briefs _____________________                                            

5. The Cargo Letter Cargo Damage Dispatches _____        

**Back By Popular Demand**

OUR "D" Section:  FF in Cyberspace***

6. The Cargo Letter "Cyber Ports of Call" _________             

OUR "E" Section:  The Forwarder/Broker World***

7. New Transport Related Legal Cases ___________            

======================================================

 Back To Main Page

************************************************

OUR "A" Section: Trade, Financial & Inland News***

  1. Freight Forwarder Trade Briefs _____________

SPECIAL NOTE >> For the 1st time in years, we will miss a month -- there will be no The Cargo Letter for Sept. 2004 as we attend the 2004 World Congress of the Int'l Federation of Freight Forwarding Associations (FIATA) at Johannesburg, South Africa. The Cargo Letter will return in Oct. 2004.

***U.S. Rebound Slows ..... as the economy grew at a 2.8% annual rate in the 2nd quarter, slower than 3% clip estimated a month ago, as consumer spending grew at the weakest pace since the recession in 2001, the Commerce Dept. said. Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, had expanded at a 4.5% rate in the 1st quarter. Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70% of the economy, grew at a 1.6% annual rate in the April through June period, compared with the 1% reported last month and the 4.1% rate in 1st 3 months of 2004.

***No More Textile Quota ..... as a report published by the World Trade Organization (WTO) says China & India are expected to dominate world trade in textiles & clothing starting next year when the U.S. & other industrial countries have to remove restrictions on imports. The WTO predicted that China alone will account for more than half of the global textile market following the end to the quota system that has governed Int'l trade in textiles since the 1960s. The WTO-negotiated agreement will allow producers to export as much as they can sell -- and the report contends that will be a lot more than many developing countries are selling now. Yes, no more U.S. quota for textiles for WTO  members. Read The Details

***Replica China ..... as it could face sanctions by the U.S. & other governments if it fails to stamp out "epidemic levels" of product piracy that deprive foreign firms of potential sales of up to US$50Bn in everything from heart medicine to golf clubs, a U.S. envoy said on Aug. 13. China's leaders appear committed to enforcing foreign patents & copyrights, but they have yet to stop local officials who protect pirates, said William Lash, a U.S. Asst. Commerce Secretary.  Still, any movie now in a U.S. theater can be purchased on any China street.   Show us the crack down.

***Truckers -- Call Ahead ....... as electronic manifests will need to filed with the government at least 30 minutes before arriving at the border for surface shipments from Canada & Mexico. Depending on where they enter the U.S., trucking firms have 3 deadlines: Nov. 15, Dec. 15 & Jan. 14. Homeland Security said the information from trucking companies would be compared with law enforcement & commercial databases to target potentially dangerous shipments. These new security rules were supposed to take effect in March, but they were delayed because the government's computer software had to be adapted. Read The Details 

***Winning Gold In Athens ........ as the U.S. Container Security Initiative (CSI) has achieved a major milestone, after the Greek port of Piraeus--one of the world's largest ports--became the 20th CSI port in operation. "When the Container Security Initiative was proposed in early 2002, the goal was to establish CSI in 20 of the largest or "Mega" container seaports of the world. With implementation of CSI at the port of Piraeus, Greece, we have achieved that goal," said U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Robert Bonner. "But we are not stopping there. We plan to expand the CSI network even farther." As part of CSI, CBP officers have been deployed to the port of Piraeus. The CBP officers are working with Greek government personnel to target cargo containers that pose a potential risk for Int'l terrorism destined for the U.S.  Suspect containers will be inspected by Greek customs officials.

***Free Morocco ...... as the U.S. Dept. of State has issued a press release announcing that President Bush has signed the U.S.-Morocco Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Implementation Act into law. According to a White House press statement, the agreement fits within the administration's goal of establishing a Middle East Free Trade Area (MEFTA) by 2013.   

***Food & Drug Administration Watches ....... as it has added a layer to its armor to protect against outside influence from the companies it regulates. Now employees must get approval -- and confirmation from the agency's chief -- before beginning even unpaid outside activities. Joining the Boy Scouts or singing in the church choir are among the few guaranteed green-light activities. Earning spending money by ministering to the caffeine-addicted at Starbucks, however, requires agency approval. The stock-options-issuing coffee giant falls under the agency's "significantly regulated" industries because it roasts its own beans. "FDA must be clean and pure," Les Crawford, acting commissioner, said during a Aug. 2 speech, referring to the more stringent rules the agency imposed 2 months ago. "We have to watch ourselves."

***Call Ahead For Take-Out ....... as food importers were submitting about 160,000 prior notices, up from about 140,000 in Jan. & Feb., of import food shipments per week as required by the 2002 Bioterrorism Act, according to the latest figures through mid-July from the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. The agency said it expects prior notices to increase later this year when imports of fresh fruits & vegetables are expected to increase after the summer months and estimates it will process more than 8 million notices in the 1st year of the rule. Since tougher enforcement began in June, compliance has substantially improved, with only 0.5% of imports arriving without any prior notice information & 75% having complete prior notice data. Earlier this year about 50% of entries were incomplete. The prior notice requirement went into effect Dec. 12, 2003

***Intermodal Up ..... as the Assn. of American Railroads said Aug. 26 the number of intermodal loadings on U.S. railroads totaled 217,149 trailers or containers in the week ended Aug. 21, up 9.5% from the same week a year earlier. AAR said in a statement that trailer traffic was up 10.6%, while container volume rose 9.1%. Railroading, like commercial trucking, is considered an important economic indicator. Intermodal traffic, which tends to be merchandise rather than bulk commodities, is more directly competitive with trucking & more reflective of the state of the economy. Through the 1st 33 weeks of the year, intermodal volume totaled 11 million trailers or containers, up 3.4% from last year.

***Beleaguered Rails ....... as services on the mainland China have been hampered by an acute shortage of rail freight transport capacity, according to the China Daily. Economists & transport experts are again calling on the country's rail authority to expedite reform of the monopolized sector. The current rail network can only handle 100,000 rail cars daily -- representing only 30% of daily demand which has soared since February to 300,000. The average daily demand last year was 160,000 rail cars used for cargo transport. The newspaper quotes Lin Yueqin, an economist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, warning that the rail monopoly has led to "inflexible management and financing" and is the main reason for the "beleaguered state of the Chinese rail system."

***India STOPS ..... as a strike by truckers began Aug. 23, and has led to steep price increases for food & commodities as people hoarded groceries amid fears that truckers would completely halt deliveries. Trucking companies are protesting a 10% service tax on freight booking agents included in the government budget being considered by parliament. Talks between government officials & the All India Motor Transport Congress, the largest trade group of truck owners in the country, just resolved the standoff today. The trucking group had threatened to continue with its 2.4 million rigs parked until Nov. if the government did not rescind the tax. The government today agreed to establish a committee to look into truckers' demand that the ministry withdraw or amend a 10% service tax on transportation included in this year's federal budget.

***Canada Border Services Agency Gets Eyes ..... as the CBSA plans to install a self-contained stationary gamma-ray scanning system that captures images of pallets & large pieces of freight called Pallet VACIS at its container examination facilities in British Columbia; Montreal, Quebec; & Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. CBSA hopes that the new technology will assist in examining dense freight in order to detect contraband, weapons, & other potentially dangerous goods. The equipment is manufactured by Science Applications Int'l Corp., and each unit costs US$1.5M.

***"Warehouse In Motion" ....... as UPS Inc. has added air service to its "Trade Direct" delivery program, which moves goods directly from Int'l factories through customs to multiple U.S. locations, eliminating the need for warehouse stops at the border for repackaging. U.S.-bound goods are packaged individually, labeled & consolidated into one freight shipment. After an Int'l air or ocean move, the goods clear U.S. Customs as a consolidated unit. That consolidated unit is then broken down & returned into individual parcels or LTL shipments, bypassing distribution center stops, and placed directly into the UPS system for delivery. Earlier this year, UPS announced it had expanded its Trade Direct ocean service by 30 ports, bringing the total to 70. The new air service "offers businesses a warehouse in motion &emdash; handling shipments every step of the way from factory to consumers, whether retail outlets or homes," Kurt Kuehn, UPS Senior VP of Worldwide Sales & Marketing, said in a statement. Read The Details

***The New RFID In Town ......... as the retailer Target Corp. announced it will begin its new RFID program with one Texas distribution center and 10 stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area later this fall. The center & stores were not identified, but the announcement brings relief to suppliers that will also be launching their Wal-Mart RFID compliance program in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Target will expand the RFID program to include more than 50 stores by next June. The retailer also announced that in addition to attaching 96-bit RFID tags that comply with EPC global standards, the suppliers will need to adhere to current markings & barcodes. And they will have to deliver their usual EDI ship notice manifests.

***Road Kill ..... as the number of truck-related fatalities on U.S. highways increased to 4,986 in 2003 from 4,939 the year before, but it was only the 2nd time since 1995 the number was lower than 5,000, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

***Van Fans ...... as Schneider National & Wal-Mart Stores topped the lists of for-hire & private carriers, respectively, that most expanded their trailer fleets over the past year, based on a review of data in the 2004 Transport Topics 100 lists of U.S. & Canadian carriers. Schneider, the nation's largest truckload carrier, had 48,000 trailers at the end of 2003, a gain of 7.1% from 44,822 trailers at the end of 2002. Wal-Mart, the nation's largest retailer, boosted its trailer fleet to 38,000 from 30,000, an increase of 26.7%.

***TPG Buys Wilson ..... as the Dutch mail, express & logistics company, has acquired, through its subsidiary TNT, global freight forwarding company Wilson Logistics Group for US$316M on a debt-free basis, with financing from cash reserves. The acquisition is viewed as TPG's 1st major step into global freight forwarding. According to a spokesperson, by acquiring Wilson, TNT will be able to offer its clients supply chain management services, including air freight, sea freight & combined sea/air freight.

***UPS Runs Out The Sprinter ........ as U.S. deployment of its 1st 3 large package delivery vehicles utilizing hydrogen fuel cells for power is announced. UPS now is jumping from a small fuel cell car to a medium-duty truck with a goal of deploying zero-emission engines across its fleet of 88,000 vehicles. In May 2003, UPS, EPA & DaimlerChrysler announced a collaborative project to advance the state of hydrogen fuel cells by harnessing the technology to power the 1st commercial delivery fleet in North America. Starting in March 2004, DaimlerChrysler provided an "F-Cell," a fuel cell-powered Mercedes-Benz A-Class car, which UPS modified for early-morning package deliveries in S.E. Michigan. The car is fueled daily at the EPA's hydrogen fueling station at its National Emissions Testing Laboratory in Ann Arbor. DaimlerChrysler & UPS concurrently began testing a medium-duty vehicle in Germany. The new Dodge Sprinters were built in part on information gathered during these road tests.

***The Big Give ....... as UPS & its employees were not only the largest contributors to the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta, contributing more than US$3.8M to the local effort, but they also led the nation in financial support of United Way with a combined corporate & employee campaign totaling US$54.3M. Impressive.

***Mexicans Gas Their Wood ...... as the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture's Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service has increased its treatment requirements for untreated lumber & wood products from the northern Mexican states. APHIS will now require N. Mexican wood product suppliers to provide proof of either methyl bromide treatments or kiln drying. The agency estimates the value of softwood lumber products imports from the N. Mexican states to be about US$54M a year. The average price of softwood lumber imported from Mexico in 1999 & 2000 was US$343 per sq. meter. Methyl bromide fumigations costs about US$6 to US$10 per sq. meter, and kiln drying costs about US$10 to US$13 per square meter. Both treatments are equivalent to 2% to 4% of the import price of this commodity.

***The Shipping "Post-it Note?" ....... as 3M announced it has expanded the 3M Wafer Transport System portfolio to include Air Cushion Packaging (ACP) for 300mm wafer front opening shipping boxes (FOSB). The design has improved wafer cushioning, analytical testing capability & overall freight cost reductions. The 3M Air Cushion Packaging for 300mm wafer FOSB joins a host of products and services that utilize Six Sigma methodology to maximize the performance of an entire semiconductor packing & shipping process. The 3M Air Cushion Packaging for 300mm wafer FOSB eliminates the need for bubble wrap. The 3M Wafer Transport System is designed to help protect high-value semiconductor products. Combined, the two chief solutions, the 3M Horizontal Wafer Shipper and 3M Air Cushion Packaging offer a unique space-efficient packaging system that results in freight savings that can reduce overall shipping costs by as much as 70%. Wow!

***Butt Smuggling ....... as cigarette maker JTI-Macdonald said Aug. 23 it is seeking bankruptcy court protection as the Quebec government presses a US$1Bn back tax claim related to alleged cigarette smuggling. JTI-Macdonald, a unit of Japan Tobacco Inc., said it is filing under Canada's Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act which allows it to continue business as usual. The company took the action following an Aug. 11 order by the Quebec Ministry of Revenue demanding immediate payment of just over US$1Bn. JTI, which makes "Export A" & other Canadian cigarettes & whose Int'l brands include Camel and Winston, said bankruptcy protection would be more effective than a court appeal against the assessment. Canadian police charged JTI-Macdonald & 8 former executives last year with smuggling-related offenses. The government alleges that Canadian tobacco makers, in the face of high taxes, shipped cigarettes to American subsidiaries that sold the goods to smugglers who brought them illegally back to Canada to be sold for as little as half the price of legal smokes.    

***Smokin' Butts ....... as the U.S. General Accounting Office report to the House Government Reform Committee this month offered no a clear answer to how large cigarette smuggling is in the U.S., but the watchdog agency said there's every indication it has increased significantly in recent years. Worldwide, cigarette smuggling is a multibillion-dollar business with potential ties to some terrorist groups, the GAO said. It's estimated that each pack of cigarettes smuggled into the U.S. avoids the payment of 39 cents in federal cigarette excise tax, a median 3.7 cents in customs import duties, & a median 60 cents in state excise tax. Cigarettes smuggled into the U.S. have come from China, Malaysia, Korea, Russia, Latvia, Mexico, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, & the Philippines.

***Transportation Subsidy ..... as a South African woman mistakenly plunked a 100-year-old gold coin worth more than US$1,100 into a parking meter while shopping without her glasses. The Johannesburg woman said she believed she had spent an 1890 sovereign, worth a small fortune, as small change. The woman inherited the gold coins from her mother, but they became mixed up with loose coins she kept in a container and were transferred to her purse by mistake.

***Wipe That Smile Off Your Face ..... as the UK Passport Service (UKPS) will now forbid openmouthed smiles on passport pictures, one of several rules introduced to comply with strict new U.S. standards. Smiles are forbidden -- along with sunglasses & hair slanting across the eyes -- because they may confuse security cameras used to scan faces & verify the passport is authentic. New British passports will also be fitted with a chip containing the facial image and other data, hi-tech measures introduced to help stamp out passport fraud.

***44,996 Cans On The Wall, Take One Down, Pass It Around ....... as somewhere in Canada there are thieves with nearly 50,000 cans of beer they will have a hard time selling, although police said on Aug. 26 the truck driver who disappeared with the loot has been arrested. The shipment of Moosehead beer, worth over US$57,000, was on its way to Mexico from an East Coast brewery when it went missing, along with the driver. The transport truck was recovered -- still running -- in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, but with most of its cargo missing. The 30-year-old driver was picked up in Lindsay, Ontario, 1,000 miles from Grand Falls. He has been charged with theft but police reported he did not have any beer with him. The shipment of Moosehead was labeled in English & Spanish for export to Mexico, so it could not be sold in Canada. Nor could it be shipped into or through the U.S. without proper documentation. "Its one of these classic, dumb-crook stories," said Joel Levesque, a spokesman for Moosehead. "They can't sell it anywhere in Canada without giving away the immediate fact that it's been stolen... So we have crooks stuck with 50,000 plus cans of beer that basically they can't fence." Very little of the stolen beer has been found. Four cans, 3 of them empty, were found in various parts of the New Brunswick province. Police found another 5,000 to 8,000 cans after a half-ton truck with a homemade trailer went off the road in New Brunswick. The driver of that truck fled the scene. Well, we hope these guys like Moosehead. 

=======================================

2. The Cargo Letter Financial Page ____    

**Boeing Company. UP for 2nd quarter with net income of US$607M compared to net loss of US$192M in the prior-year period. Buy Boeing!

**China Shipping Container Lines Co. UP with a fourfold rise in its net profit for the 1st half of 2004 as net profit was US$183M.  

**CSX Corp. DOWN with 2nd quarter net earnings of US$119M compared to the US$127M generated in 2nd quarter 2003.

**EGL UP as net income increased 96% to US$12.7M for the 3 months ended June 30, 2004, up from the US$6.5M result in Q2 of 2003.

**Hyundai Merchant Marine. UP as it returned to the black in 1st half of this year with a net income of US$147M.

**Japan Airlines. DOWN with a net loss of US$368.98M for its 1st quarter ended on June 30.

**Kitty Hawk. UP with 2nd quarter net income of US$600,000, up from a net loss of US$1.4M in 2nd quarter of 2003.

**Korean Air. UP with a net profit of US$161M for the 6 months to June 2004, up compared to a net loss for same period in 2003.

**Malaysia Airlines. UP as net profit in 1st quarter ending June 30 surged 116.3% over last year to US$6.84M.

**P&O Nedlloyd. UP with 1st half net profit after tax of US$81M, compared to a loss of US$78M in same period of 2003.

**Qantas. UP with net profit after tax was US$648.4M for the year ended 30 June 2004, up 88.8% increase on last year's result of US$502.3M.

**Sinotrans Ltd. UP with US$45.19M in net profit for the 1st 6 months year ending June 30, up 8.3% over same period in 2003.

**UAL Corp.(holding United Airlines) UP with net earnings of US$6M for July 2004.

**Zim Line. UP with a net profit of US$75.8M in the 1st 6 months of 2004, 13 times the US$5.7M profit earned in the equivalent period last year.

 

***Kitty Hawk, Inc. Is Re-Public ......... as it has announced that it has been approved to begin trading on the American Stock Exchange. Kitty Hawk expects to begin trading on the American Stock Exchange today under the ticker symbol "KHK." The company's old ticker symbol "KTHK.OB" will no longer be used.

========================================

************************************

OUR "B" Section: FF World Air News***

  3. Freight Forwarder World Air Briefs ___ 

***IATA Reports Good Growth ..... as the Int'l Air Transport Assn. reports a 14.1% increase in cargo throughput worldwide over the 1st 7 months of 2004 compared to the same period in 2003. IATA said the better-than-expected growth can be attributed primarily to 3 factors: improvement in underlying traffic trends, a strong recovery from the Sars crisis, and the impact of cyclical economic growth factors. Compared with 2000, which was the last "normal" year for the industry, when 1st half growth was 16.2%, this year's result was not as stellar. In June, freight ton kilometers in Asia grew 15.2% compared to June 2003, IATA reported.

***Missile Defense Pushes Ahead ...... as the U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security said it has selected 2 teams of contractors to develop a prototype countermeasure to protect commercial airliners from attack by shoulder-fired missiles. Under the 18-month 2nd phase of the Man-Portable Air Defense Systems demonstration program, each team will receive US$45M to build & test prototypes to determine if the technology commonly used on military aircraft can be adapted for the commercial environment. The defense contractors plus a team led by United Airlines developed plans for the missile detection & countermeasure systems during the initial phase of the project that ended in July, but the United team was not selected for the next phase. Shoulder-fired missiles have been used to attack civilian airliners and are considered a potential weapon of choice for terrorists. 

***Safer Bags .... as the U.S. Transportation Security Administration began tests this week at 3 major airports to determine whether machines used to detect explosives in checked baggage can successfully inspect loose, non-palletized parcels moved on planes by airline cargo divisions. The Homeland Security agency said tests, which will last 2 months, are being conducted at Atlanta Hartsfield, Dallas-Fort Worth & Miami Int'l airports & will soon spread to Anchorage, Los Angeles & Chicago O'Hare airports. Today only 2% is inspected.

***China Post Follows FedEx & UPS ...... as next day express postal service has been launched on the PRC mainland. The China Post had introduced a new service known as "EMS All-Night Flight" which covers 136 cities in 27 provinces on the mainland. Under the new service, mail will be delivered to its destination the following day after it was sent. Deputy Director General of China Post, Ma Junsheng, explained that Shanghai will be the main collection & distribution center with branches also located in Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Shenyang, Weifang and Osaka in Japan. Under the new arrangement, flights carrying mail & parcels -- on special aircraft and commercial airliners -- will fly daily from the 6 branches to Shanghai between 0100-0300 hrs, & will make their return journeys at 0740 hrs.

***65 Skies Are Open ....... as U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta & Indonesian Minister of Transportation and Communications Soenarno signed an open-skies aviation agreement on July 26, removing all restrictions on air services to, from & beyond each other's territory. As a result of the new agreement, the U.S. now  enjoys open-skies relationships with 65 partners.

***Air Transport Assn. Warns of Fuel Costs ........ as ATA has urged Congress to schedule oversight hearings to review the impact of record-high fuel prices on the transportation industry as soon as possible. In letters addressed to Sens. John McCain & Fritz Hollings, chairman & ranking member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Reps. Don Young and James L. Oberstar, chairman & ranking member of the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure, the ATA Board of Directors reviewed the significant impact that escalating fuel prices are having on the airlines & the entire transportation industry. Meanwhile, Lufthansa Cargo Fuel Index, which is used by much of the air freight industry as a benchmark for adjusting fuel surcharge levels, reached an index number of 244 for the week of August 20. The index levels have been climbing since June 25, when the index level was 199.  Lufthansa's fuel index methodology states that if the index number remains over 240 for 2 consecutive weeks, the airline will increase its fuel surcharge by .05 USD/kg, from the current level of .25 USD or EUR/kg to a new level of .30 US$ or EUR/kg. Many of the world's airlines follow suit when Lufthansa adjusts its fuel surcharge. Up we go.  Read The Details                                 

***Papua New Guinea's Fishy Dilemma ..... as fresh tuna export industry is under threat as a direct result of high airfreight prices to overseas markets such as Japan & Australia, according to the Post-Courier newspaper. The fresh tuna industry is estimated to be worth US$13M per year in PNG.  A tuna exporter was reported as saying that the tuna export industry might shut down as a result of new freight charges imposed by national carrier, Air Niugini. This view was also backed up by another exporter who is considering charter flights as an alternative export method. Air Niugini is currently charging PGK$12 (US$3.91) per kilo to airfreight tuna. The exporters charge PGK$18 per kilo to overseas buyers. Air Niugini has been approached by the exporters to explain its decision to raise its price, but so far it has given no response. Tuna is one of PNG's main export revenue earners with yearly exports of up to 300,000 metric tons.

***Air Canada To Emerge ........ as the Ontario Superior Court has approved bankrupt Air Canada's Plan of Arrangement (PoA) pursuant to its restructuring. The issuance sanctioning the plan follows the approval of the plan by the majority of Air Canada's creditors earlier this month. The company expects to complete its restructuring by Sept. 30.

***Hainan Airlines To Enlarge ...... as it has received government approval to launch services to the U.S. It will become the 4th airline in China to fly to the U.S., the others are Air China, China Eastern & China Southern. The airline is the 1st Chinese airline to offer U.S. service since the formal signing in July of the U.S.-China agreement on expanded air services.

***O'Hare Int'l To limit Delay & Flights ...... as an agreement reached between negotiators for the U.S. Dept. of Transportation & airlines on August 18, will see domestic airlines serving Chicago O'Hare voluntarily limiting the number of flights per hour between 0700-2000 hrs to 88. According to the FAA, the new limit on scheduled arrivals during peak hours, effective Nov. 1, brings schedules more in line with O'Hare's current capacity & is expected to cut the amount of time lost due to delays by 20%, according to computer modeling developed from 6 months of actual O'Hare delay information.

***China Southern Airlines To Go Intermodal ...... as it will launch the 1st Shenzhen to Hong Kong air-truck transportation service, reported Xinhua News Agency. As part of the service, aviation freight discharged at Guangzhou's airport or Shenzhen Airport will be delivered to Hong Kong in 3 hours, with a one-time customs checking procedure. The airline has signed a contract with Guangdong Huanyu Express Co. Ltd to provide the trucking service.

***Shanghai Airlines To Acquire ..... as it has agreed to take over China United Airlines at a cost of US$8.4M. The move is being undertaken in an effort to make Shanghai Airlines more competitive via the acquisition process. Shanghai Airlines will now be able to take advantage of the Beijing-based carrier's flight network. China United Airlines, established in 1986, previously flew numerous routes from Beijing & used many military airports. Shanghai Airways has 31 aircraft & reported an income of US$546M & a profit of US$11.11M last year. 

***Southwest Airlines To Eliminate ..... as the U.S. discount carrier is to eliminate 88 scheduled flights in a move to boost revenue by freeing up planes for more lucrative markets. The Dallas-based carrier estimates the schedule changes - the largest in its history - will increase annual revenue by about US$60M. Although the carrier will not replace every flight with a new one, it will replace every hour of flight time. In some cases, it might cut several short-haul flights and add 1 or 2 long-haul flights.

***SFO Cargo Duel ...... as a major aviation developer is suing San Francisco Int'l Airport to protect its right to develop a cargo facility at SFO, claiming the Airport is purposely derailing its air cargo facility project, so the Airport can build one if its own. Airis SFO, a subsidiary of Airis Holdings, LLC, announced that it is filing a lawsuit against the San Francisco Int'l Airport. The lawsuit concerns Airis' rights to build a new US$200M cargo facility at SFO that is expected to reinvigorate the Airport's dwindling cargo business. After almost 2 years of work & millions of dollars in investment by Airis Holdings & its local development partners, plans for a new 633,000 sq. foot cargo & office complex have been mired by SFO Airport staff for several months. It is estimated that the Airis project will generate more than US$200M in direct rental revenues & another US$100M in indirect revenues from landing fees & parking for SFO and the City & County of San Francisco. It will also create 3,000 construction jobs, 1,700 permanent airport union jobs, & over 9,000 indirect jobs as a result of its operation. The lawsuit seeks Declaratory Relief for Airis against SFO, & seeks to underscore that Airis has the exclusive right to negotiate a deal with the Airport & with the City & County of San Francisco--as unanimously approved by the San Francisco Airport Commission in Oct. 2003.  Today, over one half of all local air-eligible production is shipped in & out of the Bay Area by truck to be loaded on planes at Los Angeles or Ontario. "Much of this lost market share could be recaptured if there was a modern air cargo facility at SFO," said Airis Holdings. Airis is the world's largest private developer of aviation facilities.

***The Crate Escape ........ as a Cuban refugee who hid herself in a small wooden crate arrived at Miami Int'l Airport Aug. 23. "Certainly she's lucky to be alive," said Zachary Mann, a spokesman for U.S. Customs & Border Protection. "The crate was about the size of a filing cabinet." The package was flown to the DHL Worldwide Express terminal at the Miami airport from the Bahamas, but there was no information on how the woman, who is thought to be in her early 20s, had reached the islands. The 290-km flight lasted only an hour, so she would have been exposed to the cold air in the plane's cargo bay for only a short period. (Air temperatures decrease dramatically with altitude). As she succeeded in setting foot in the United States, she will be allowed to stay. This is in contrast with people picked up at sea who are sent home. So far this year, the U.S. Coast Guard has detained 1,152 would-be immigrants from Cuba. 

***French Courtesy .....wheelchair-bound woman with no limbs sued Air France for discrimination on Aug. 13, alleging she was kept off a flight by a gate agent who told her a "torso cannot possibly fly on its own." Adele Price, 42, a British citizen, sued the airline in New York federal court seeking unspecified damages. Price, who was born without limbs because her mother took the drug thalidomide during pregnancy, said in the suit she is able to manipulate a wheelchair & has traveled by air many times. The suit states that she had bought a ticket in 2000 for travel between Manchester, England & New York. After Price had checked her luggage, she alleged that she was stopped by an Air France agent who told her that "a head, one bottom & a torso cannot possibly fly on its own." Price said in the suit that Air France let her take another flight to New York but only after she was able to get a companion to go with her. However, Price said she had to pay for the companion's airfare & lodging. She said the airline also made it difficult for her to return from JFK Int'l airport to Britain by requiring her to get opinions from 4 U.S. doctors certifying she was able to fly alone. A spokeswoman for Air France had no immediate comment, but may require a 5th doctor.

***Sen. Ted Kennedy -- Assume The Position! ........ as the archetypal liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, is often called names by Republicans. But until this year he had never been viewed as a threat to U.S. air travel. Kennedy -- one of the most recognizable figures in American politics -- told a Senate committee hearing he had been blocked several times from boarding commercial airline flights because his name was on a "no-fly" list intended to exclude potential terrorists. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard Kennedy was eventually allowed on the flights, but it took numerous calls to the Dept. of Homeland Security to clear up the mistake & get his name off the list. Geeeez, the genius security supervisors don't recognize U.S. Senator Kennedy? Perhaps our security workers might want to renew their newspaper subscriptions. Outrageous.

==========================================

**************************************

OUR "C" Section:  FF World Ocean News***

  4. FF World Ocean Briefs _______  

***Happy Birthday ......... as the Panama Canal celebrated its 90th anniversary on Aug. 15. On that day in 1914, the SS Ancon made history as the 1st vessel to cross the Isthmus of Panama - traveling from the Atlantic entrance of the Canal at the Port of Cristobal, through the 50 mile stretch of the waterway to the Port of Balboa, located at the Pacific Ocean entrance. Read The Details

***Our Birthday Present ....... as the Panama Canal Authority is considering the implementation of a new fee for container carriers transiting the canal. The canal plans to revise its method of charging for containers by measuring the total number of on-deck containers that a vessel can carry, unlike the current practice by which a portion of the on-deck container capacity is included in the vessel's Panama Canal net tonnage measure. The charge is now limited to about 8% of the vessel's total on-deck container carrying capacity. The revised structure would introduce a new fee separate from tonnage, which would be based on a per-TEU charge for containers carried on deck. The canal estimates the new fee to be about US$40 per TEU. Happy Birthday!

***Birthday -- NOL At 35 ........ as Singapore Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong, celebrated the 1st 35 years of his former company, Neptune Orient Lines on July 28 - launching a book telling the stories of NOL's growth from its beginnings to the US$5Bn global transportation & logistics enterprise that it is today. PM Goh, who was one of NOL's 1st employees to join the company in 1969 and subsequently became managing director before leaving for politics in 1977, launched his book  "Beyond Boundaries" at a function at the landmark Fullerton Building, Singapore - where the company's 1st offices were located.

***Pirates Pick Up ...... as following a lull in piracy attacks in Indonesian waters, there were 2 violent attacks last week in the vicinity of Midai Island in the South China Sea. Other attacks were reported by vessels at Port Au Prince, Haiti, & at Dakar Roads, Senegal. Pirates killed 30 seafarers worldwide in the first 6 months of the year - the highest toll in more than a decade.

***Port Trucker Problems Remain At Miami ...... as companies that rely on the Port of Miami are upset that serious delays remain despite an injunction in July that forced striking truck drivers back to work. Many local importers including nursery owner Kerry Herndon said they have containers filled with goods stuck at the port & that local officials were ignoring the problem. However, port officials responded that containers have been unloaded on a timely basis since the strike & that delays should be minimal. U.S. District Court Judge Patricia Seitz on July 9 ordered the roughly 700 striking truckers back to their jobs, claiming their 2 week walkout caused major harm to the port, business & the public. A hearing on whether to extend or lift the injunction against the truck drivers is scheduled for Sept. 3.

***New U.S. Strategic Seaport ...... as the U.S. military's surface transportation logistics agency has named Anchorage, Alaska a strategic seaport for the movement of Defense Dept. cargo during times of crisis. Anchorage is one of 15 ports to hold this designation. Selection of the port was made following a joint assessment by the U.S. Maritime Administration, the U.S. Army in Alaska, & the Surface Deployment & Distribution Command (SDDC) -- based on capabilities, including highways, water & rail access, cargo staging area & berthing capacity. Anchorage is starting into a two-phase expansion plan, including a road and rail extension that will improve cargo flow and loading facilities. In addition, the marine terminal will be redeveloped to increase vessel, dock & staging capacity. The 14 other commercial ports designated as strategic seaports by the SDDC are Oakland, Long Beach & San Diego, Calif.; Corpus Christi and Beaumont, Texas; Wilmington and Morehead City, N.C.; Tacoma, Wash.; Jacksonville, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; Charleston, S.C.; Philadelphia; Hampton Roads area ports in Virginia; & the New York/New Jersey port complex. America has 361 deep water seaports.

***Korea & China In A Wide Lane ...... as with an increase of 17.86 % in comparison with the same period last year, container cargo moving out from Korea to China amounted to 427,093 TEU during the 1st half of the year. Container cargo originating from Korea increased by 12.79 % amounting to 280,171 TEU while containers that transshipped via Korea grew by 35.14 %, amounting to 82,201 TEU. Likewise, container cargo from China to Korea showed an increase of 12.72% resulting in a total of 534,284 TEU.  Of this, local cargoes amounted to 309,340 TEU representing an increase of 14.08 % while feeder cargoes recorded an increase of 10.90% to 224,944 TEU.   

***Fair Lottery? ....... as in what is being called a fraud & a scam by some, an estimated 450,000 people applied for 3,000 temporary jobs at the ports of Long Beach & Los Angeles. The temporary workers are needed to handle the record amount of cargo coming through the ports. Jobs, which pay US$20-28 per hour to start, are seen as an attractive opportunity. The successful applicants were chosen in a lottery-style format, that has angered the union & potential applicants. The Int'l Longshore & Warehouse Union requested that the hiring process be delayed to ensure a smooth process, however the union & shipping lines were ordered to proceed with the lottery & begin picking the dockworkers immediately. The Associated Press reported that a longshoreman filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, alleging that the shipping lines & union conspired to manipulate the lottery by handing out 8,000 special "longshore opportunity interest cards" to friends, relatives, & acquaintances, who he alleges would have a better shot at being chosen. The longshoreman was quoted as saying that people stood a 1 in 1,200 chance of winning & that it was a "fraud" and a "scam". It is expected that up to 14,000 people will initially be selected allowing for those that do not pass the physical exam or drug tests or are unable to cope with the work. Expect more on this. Read The Details

***Can President Bush Save Portland? ....... as West Coast shipping costs could increase and U.S. agricultural exports are likely to suffer unless the Port of Portland finds a way to replace 2 departing steamship lines that carry container cargo, said the Agriculture Ocean Transportation Coalitions. Hyundai Merchant Marine & the "K" Line announced they would halt service to the Port of Portland by the end of the year, leaving only Hanjin Shipping to handle oceangoing container traffic along the Columbia River to Portland. Portland is dwarfed by California ports. But any decrease in container traffic through the Pacific Northwest, and its rail connections to the Midwest & South, could increase costs for all Pacific freight & cargo, according to industry & state officials. Shipping companies such as Hyundai and "K" Line are moving to bigger vessels that need deeper water than the Columbia River, which already adds costs for the 104-mile transit along the river compared to the ocean ports in California & Washington State. President Bush announced Aug. 13 on a campaign swing through Oregon that he would urge Congress to approve a US$150M dredging project that will deepen the Columbia River channel by 3 feet to an average of 43 feet all the way from Portland to the Pacific.

***Goodbye Zim Israel Navigation Co. Ltd ....... as it has changed its company name to Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. The Haifa-based company said the name change was made to reflect how "Zim has developed into an integrated shipping company which deals not only in shipping, but gives the customer a complete array of services, along the supply chain."

***Maersk Sealand Resigns ...... as the Danish shipping giant will resign from the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (TSA) in Sept. The TSA recommends transpacific cargo rates and has more than a dozen other shipping line members. The company said it has decided to leave the group so it can respond "as quickly as possible" to customer needs, adding the TSA can take months to reach a consensus on rates and only changes recommendations once per year.

***Up The River ........ as lines of the Asia-West Africa Trade Agreement have decided to introduce a Congo River surcharge of US$210 per TEU from Sept. 1 resulting from a reduction in the depth of the Congo River, and as a result of this, the carriers said they have been experiencing substantial additional costs. The shipping lines claim to have no other alternative than to introduce the surcharge on all shipments to/from Matadi, however, they have vowed to carefully monitor the situation. The members of the Asia-West Africa Trade Agreement are: China Shipping, CMA CGM, Delmas, Gold Star, Maersk Sealand, MOL, PIL and P&O Nedlloyd.

***OOCL Scores ....... as it is the 1st non-PRC shipping line to obtain official certification to operate as a "Ship Agent" in China, the company said. Under the current regulations in the PRC, as a Ship Agent, OOCL can now provide communication and documentation services between OOCL, shippers, consignees, & Customs. 

***Adios Long Beach -- Port Hueneme Gains Muscle ........ as Chiquita Brands Int'l, a global producer and distributor of bananas and other fresh produce in Europe and North America, has announced the relocation of its US West Coast port operations from Long Beach to Port Hueneme, situated northwest of Los Angeles in Ventura County. The company's weekly sailing from Guatemala is expected to be the first service to call at Hueneme port from Nov. 1. Chiquita operates a fleet of 12 owned ships and additional charter vessels known as the Great White Fleet. 

***Familiar Names At The Ditch ........ as the Panama Canal Railway Co., a 47.6-mile railroad In Panama owned by the Kansas City Southern Railway and Mi-Jack Corp., has contracted with Crowley Liner Services, a provider of ocean shipping services, to transport up to 29 double-stack well cars to Panama. The agreement calls for Crowley to ship the railcars from the end of the Florida East Coast Railway in Port Everglades, Fla., to the beginning of the Panama Canal Railway's track in Panama.  Each of the units comprise five cars connected as if they were one long, articulated car, making the total unit more than 200 feet long. Each unit has five wells capable of holding two 40-foot containers in stacked configuration.

***Nippon Yusen Kaisha Blows ...... as NYK Line is about to carry out tests of wind power generation equipment fitted on its new car carrier M/V Andromeda Leader. According to NYK, the 62,200 gt ship's scale wind power equipment is the largest afloat and is intended to reduce CO2 emissions from the ship's diesel generators. The ship has installed a linear aerofoil vertical axis type windmill, with a diameter of 4m & a height of 4.5m. It produces about 30kW for cargo hold illumination.

***Ghost Busters ....... as 3 more rusting cargo ships that belong to the James River "Ghost Fleet" will be scrapped in Texas. The Santa Isabel, the Mormacwave and the American Ranger, all built in the 1960s, will be towed soon to a salvage facility in Brownsville, Texas, for scrapping under a US$3.2M contract with the U.S. Maritime Administration. The vessels are among the river's "Ghost Fleet" of large cargo and military-support ships anchored off Fort Eustis in Newport News, Va. The fleet contains oil, asbestos, lead & other toxic chemicals that have posed environmental concerns for years. The contract leaves about 60 Ghost Fleet vessels that need to be scrapped. The agency is under a congressional mandate to get rid of about 150 obsolete ships moored in Virginia, Texas, California & Alabama by Sept. 2006. Since the beginning of 2001, contracts have been awarded for 37 ships from the Ghost Fleet, and 24 of the ships have left.

***I Would Like To Sell You A Bridge ...... as 6 scrap metal dealers have been arrested for stealing an Austro-Hungarian-era 13-meter-long iron bridge, Bosnian police said Friday . "The 6 dismantled the iron bridge built 150 years ago & sold its parts to a nearby junk yard last week for 280 Bosnian marka ($174)," a spokesman for the regional interior ministry Drazen Mustapic told Reuters by telephone. He said the police were alerted by villagers near the southern town of Mostar who saw the gang loading the bridge parts into vans. The six men, identified by the police as Roma, were arrested this week and are being held pending prosecution, Mustapic said.  

***Bad Canal? ...... as the European Commission has issued a statement saying that it deeply regrets the reported opening to navigation of the initial part of the Bystroye canal between the River Danube & the Black Sea. The EC says that the canal route goes through a specially protected UNESCO World Heritage area in the Danube Delta which is also subject to the international Ramsar Convention on the protection of wetlands. Commission President Romano Prodi & External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten had already expressed their serious concerns during the recent EU-Ukraine Summit of 8 July. Their concerns included the lack of a comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment for the construction project, & the EC had asked Ukraine to halt the works pending a full assessment. The concerns were also conveyed twice in writing by Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström to the Ukrainian authorities & in the margins of the recent Danube Cooperation Process meeting of Foreign Ministers in Bucharest. The statement says: "The Commission reiterates its position & would welcome receiving reassurances from the Ukrainian Government confirming its intention not to proceed further with this project pending preparation of a proper Environmental Impact Assessment to Int'l standards, including the appropriate public consultation & an evaluation of the transboundary impact."

***Real Cut Up ....... as the High Court in Sri Lanka recently ordered the seizure of an Indian cargo vessel which allegedly cut a submarine cable connecting the island's telecommunications subscribers with the rest of the world. M/V State of Nagaland, was held at the port of Colombo after accidentally severing the cable with its anchor. The cable, which connected the island nation with Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Western Europe, was damaged about 10 kilometers off the Sri Lankan coast cutting off 800,000 telephone & Internet users. Sri Lanka Telecom said it suffered a loss of US$5M & wanted the vessel's owners to pay for the damage. Repairs to the affected cable have been carried out.  

***FMC Revoked 7 OTI Licenses ........ for failure to maintain valid bonds -- Exim Services, Marina Del Rey, Calif.; Foreign Cargo Int'l, Miami; Hayek Services, Miami; K.E.I. Enterprises, Gardena, Calif.; KS Logix, Compton, Calif.; Lysan Forwarding Co., Miami; & S/J Americas Service, Houston.

***One of World's Biggest ....... as M/V CSCL ASIA, with a capacity of 8,500 TEU has recently embarked on her maiden voyage from the Port of Tianjin. Owned by China Shipping Container Lines Co., the vessel is 334 meters long with a 42.8 meter beam, and was deployed on the newly inaugurated Tianjin-U.S. service.

***Throughput >> Port of Long Beach inbound container trade rose by 21.9% in July compared to July 2003, to 281,817 TEU as outbound throughput rose to 82,441 TEU, which is a 1.8% increase over the same period last year -- the total figure rose to 364,258 TEU, 16.7% higher than July 2003, and empties rose by 39.5% to 165,405 TEU. >> Port Nelson, New Zealand, reported a record throughput during its financial year ended June 30, to 51,128 TEU over a 12-month period, an increase over the previous year's total throughput of 44,632 TEU. >> Port of Shanghai handled more than eight million TEU over the period, an increase of 29.3%. The monthly figure for July was 1.25 million TEU, an increase of 28.3% over July 2003. >> Port of Tauranga in New Zealand volumes at the port hit 12.24 million tons for the year and container volumes grew 12.8% to 394,403 TEU. >> Wenzhou Port in the 1st 7 months of the year, the port handled 43,000 TEU - a 32.5% increase over same period last year.

***This Month In U.S. Navy History ..........

1814 - British invasion of Maryland & Washington, D.C.; Washington Navy Yard and ships burned to prevent capture by the British.

1843 - Steam frigate Missouri arrives at Gibraltar completing 1st Trans-Atlantic crossing by a U.S. steam-powered ship.

1861 - Union amphibious force lands near Hatteras, N.C.

1865 - Civil War ends with naval strength of more than 58,500 men & 600 ships.

1912 - Launching of USS Jupiter (AC 3), 1st electrically propelled Navy ship.

1913 - Navy tests Sperry gyroscopic stabilizer (automatic pilot).

1929 - Near New London, Conn., 26 officers and men test Momsen lung to exit submerged USS S-4.

1944 - USS Stingray (SS 186) lands men and supplies on Luzon, Philippines, to support guerilla operations against the Japanese.

1945 - Pacific Fleet ships enter Sagami Bay, near Tokyo, J

1961 - Two Cuban frigates fire on a Naval Reserve aircraft on a training mission over Int'l waters.

Naval Historical Center             

============================================

   5. The Cargo Letter Cargo Damage Dispatches                        

         **Back By Popular Demand**

We're sorry, but there were so many sinkings, explosions, pirate attacks, fires, cargo mishaps, battles on the water & other disasters at sea that we do not have room to print even the highlights this month. Many people lost their lives at sea this month!!

But you can read all this month's disaster news at our special Internet web feature which provides full details of each event -- our Vessel Casualties & Pirate Activity Database.  Bookmark the site and visit every day! Updated twice daily.

SPECIAL NOTE:  Please view the dramatic new pictures at our special "Gallery of Cargo Loss" website feature. 

See our new photo feature for August 2004: "Coal Face - The Cargo Was Danger"

NOTE: The historic dangers of carriage by sea continue to be quite real.  Shippers must be encouraged to purchase high quality marine cargo insurance from their freight forwarder or customs broker.  It's dangerous out there.

===================================

*******************************

OUR "D" Section:  FF in Cyberspace***

  6. The Cargo Letter "Cyber Ports Of Call"          

Here are our suggested world wide web sites of the week for your business, your information and your amusement..............

 

3PLs Get In RFID Game

Alcohol and Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB)

Dept. of Homeland Security

Electronic "Smart" Seals

Federal Maritime Commission To Reorganize

FirstGov.gov ........ more than 186 million web pages from federal & state governments, the District of Columbia, & U.S. territories 

Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the U.S. (HTSUS)

Internet Crime: G-Men to Slay Spam

New Transportation Management Strategies ....... new survey from Aberdeen Research.

To RFID Or Not?

U.S. Code ....... searchable database of the Code of Laws of the U.S.

U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection's Textile Critical Lists

U.S. Bureau of Customs & Border Protection's Textile Status Report for Absolute Quotas.

U.S. Waterways Counsel

World Customs Organization

World Trade Organization Quota Elimination

 

EVENTS>>>>>>>>>

Transport Events

14th Annual Int'l Air Cargo Conference & Exhibit- Houston 2005........17 to 19 May, 2005 (National Transportation Week). At IACC- Houston 2005.

terryiacc@bellsouth.net

15th Annual BreakBulk Conference & Exhibition .... Sept. 15-17, 2004, New Orleans Marriott in New Orleans, LA.

2004 SNAME Maritime Technology Conference & Expo ...... Sept. 30 to Oct. 1, Washington Hilton, Washington, DC.

Advisory Committee on Commercial Operations for Customs & Border Protection (COAC) ...... next quarterly meeting Sept. 10, Adam's Mark Hotel, Buffalo, N.Y.

Autologistics Global 2004 ....... 28-29 Sept.,Townsend Hotel, Birmingham.

LA Harbor Transportation Club 17th Annual Harbor Cruise ........ Thus. Sept. 16, 2004, Catalina Express Terminal, Berth 95, San Pedro.

Managing Reinsurance Disputes ......30 Nov. 2004, Radisson SAS Portman, London. Legal & practical advice on dispute prevention & management.

National Cargo Security Council -- Advanced Cargo Security Management Training Program ......... Oct. 18 - 20 2004. U.S. Merchant Marine Academy

North American Cargo Security Forum ........ Oct. 18-19 in Washington DC. More

OutsourceWorld New York 2004 ..........Oct. 5-7 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in midtown New York City.

Pacific Homeland Security & Natural Disasters Conference and Expo ... Oct.5-6, 2004, Marriott City Center, Oakland.

Twin Cities Chapter of the Council of Logistics Management Annual Conference........ Friday March 4, 2005 in Minneapolis, MN, Airport Marriott, Bloomington, MN

U.S. Maritime Security Expo ... Sept. 14-15, Jacob Javits Convention Center, New York.

Wireless Warehouse Europe Conf. & Exhibition ....Oct. 14-15, Brussels.

 

FOR FUN>>>>>>>>>

Blast Destroys Camera, But Flash Card Survives ....... amazing photos of bridge explosion.

Bush & Kerry Agree To Boxing Match

History of "Gitmo"

Red Bull Air Races

==============================================

*****************************************

OUR "E" Section:  The Forwarder/Broker World***

  7. New U.S. Transport Related Legal Cases ____  

 

PNC Bank Delaware Vs. F/V Miss Laura

3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals , Aug. 25, 2004

No. 03-1695

U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit ruled that a maritime lien is extinguished when the vessel sinks. In the instant case, plaintiff performed repairs on a fishing vessel. Shortly thereafter, the vessel sank. The owner bought another fishing vessel & transferred the fishing permits & fishing history of the old vessel to the 2nd vessel. The purchase of the 2nd vessel was financed by a loan secured by a preferred ship mortgage. When the bank foreclosed on the 2nd vessel for nonpayment, plaintiff intervened, asserting a prior lien on the 2nd vessel based on its repairs of the 1st vessel. The court held that maritime liens are limited to the specific vessel to which the services have been provided. Read The Case            

DeRossi Vs. National Loss Management

U.S. District Court, July 29, 2004

No. 3-02-cv-247 (JCH)

The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut ruled that federal admiralty law preempts the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act. In this case, plaintiff insured his boat with defendant insurers. The boat sank in a storm and plaintiff filed a claim. After receiving payment, plaintiff filed a supplemental claim. When the parties couldn't reach agreement, plaintiff sought & obtained an extension of the time to file suit. After the agreed extension expired, plaintiff filed suit alleging, among other things, that defendants violated the state unfair trade practices act, entitling him to attorneys' fees & punitive damages. Defendants sought summary judgment. The court ruled that the action was in admiralty and that federal admiralty law preempted the provision in the state law concerning attorneys' fees & punitive damages. Read The Case

===================================================

Written from wire stories, the Associated Press, Reuters, Hong Kong Shipping News, Lloyds & other world sources.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

The Cargo Letter Correspondents:

Michael S. McDaniel Esq, Editor (Countryman & McDaniel)

David Schuchman -- Interpool Corp. -- Webmaster of The Cargo Letter Archive

Libby Thompson (Countryman & McDaniel)

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+

Theme
The Manifest

| Cargo law Main Page | The Freight Detective | Transport Law Navigator | Claims Calculator |

| The Freight Detective General Investigations | The Freight Detective Transport Investigations |

| The Logistics Chain | Photo Gallery of Cargo Loss | Our Staff |

| Trans-Cams | Forwarder/Broker Industry Chat & Issue Discussion Board |

| Library & Search Engine of The Cargo Letter | Bookstore |

 

 Back To Main Page