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Shipping
companies are taking safety risks by skipping
inspections
LONDON—Shipping
lines are taking safety risks by skipping vessel
inspections when they buy commodity carriers, TradeWinds
reported, citing a shipbroker and a vetting company. The
practice is dangerous for aging carriers that are most
likely to have developed faults and could lead to
accidents at sea, TradeWinds cited Allan Graveson,
senior national secretary of officers’ union Nautilus UK
as saying.
Norway
does away with corporate taxes for shipping companies
COPENHAGEN—Norway
scrapped corporate tax for shipping companies and
ordered 20 billion kroner ($3.4 billion) of back taxes
at the former rate of 28 percent to be paid. Two-thirds
of the back taxes will be paid over a decade to the
government and the rest into a fund to finance
environmental projects for the industry, the government
said in a statement on its web site last week. Lower
taxes outside Norway have spurred companies to register
new ships in other countries such as Liberia and
Bermuda. The nation of 4.6 million people is the world’s
fifth-largest shipping country and the industry employs
about 100,000 people, according to the Norwegian
Shipowners’ Association.
UPS
expects its freight business to expand by more than a
tenth
ATLANTA—United
Parcel Service Inc.’s freight division expects to keep
expanding annual sales more than 10 percent, helped by
better technology and marketing since UPS bought trucker
Overnite Corp. in 2005, the unit’s chief said. The
company added 3,000 jobs at the renamed UPS Freight and
gave the division’s drivers its hand-held computers
after acquiring Overnite for $1.3 billion, unit
President Jack Holmes said last week in an interview.
“We feel very confident based on responses from our
customers that we will continue to see the same trends”
for sales, said Holmes, who replaced Gordon Mackenzie as
president of UPS Freight on August 1. “The freight
market isn’t doing very well right now and we’re not
chasing volume. But when you are growing at 12 percent,
you don’t have to.”
Operator
of North China facility plans to acquire more port
assets
SHANGHAI—Dalian Port (PDA) Co., operator of north
China’s second-busiest harbor, plans to buy assets
including dry bulk terminals from its parent,
capitalizing on rising demand for sea transport. Asset
injections from parent PDA Corp. are ongoing and the
bulk business will take the priority, said Sun Hong,
chairman of Dalian Port, in an interview in Dalian last
week. “It will take some time to complete the process.”
Dalian Port and other port operators in China are trying
to capitalize on the nation’s rising demand for moving
cargo by sea. China’s port capacity is expected to
almost double over the five years by 2010, according to
the Ministry of Communications.
Japanese
vessel operator may raise profit forecast by more than a
fifth
TOKYO—Mitsui O.S.K. Lines Ltd., Japan’s second-largest
shipping company, may raise its full-year recurring
profit forecast by 22 percent because of higher rates
for iron ore and commodity shipments, said Okasan
Securities Co. The shipping line may increase its
forecast for pretax profit from operations to ¥280
billion ($2.4 billion) from ¥230 billion, according to
Yoshihisa Miyamoto, an analyst at Okasan Securities. The
Tokyo-based company raised its forecast by 15 percent in
July after reporting an 82-percent rise in first-quarter
recurring profit. Mitsui O.S.K, Nippon Yusen K.K. and
Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., Japan’s three largest
shipping lines by sales, have boosted profit this year
because China’s surging imports of raw materials and
congestion at a coal port in Australia have driven up
rates.
Chinese Port operator’s shares climb to
the highest in three months
SHANGHAI—Tianjin
Port Development Holdings Ltd. rose to the highest in
three months on the Hong Kong stock exchange on plans to
combine its business with the operator of northern
China’s busiest harbor. The company’s shares, which have
more than doubled this year, rose 2.9 percent to HK$6.34
at the
4 p.m. close. Tianjin Port Development and affiliate Tianjin Port
Co. will put their terminals and other operations into
one company listed in
Shanghai
and Hong Kong, Chairman Yu Rumin said in an interview
last week. He declined to elaborate. Other
state-controlled assets will also be added to the
combination, he said.
Singaporean operator’s shares decline on
bleak US outlook
SINGAPORE—Neptune Orient Lines Ltd., the operator of
Singapore’s largest shipping line, led stocks of
container-shipping lines lower on apprehensions a US
economic slowdown may damp demand for sea-cargo. Neptune
Orient fell as much as 9 percent to S$5.55 Monday, the
largest drop in more than three weeks, on the Singapore
stock exchange. It traded at S$5.75 at
11:39 a.m. local time. China Shipping Container Lines Co., the
second-largest container shipper in
Asia, declined 3.2 percent to HK$5.54 in
Hong
Kong. The first drop in US jobs data in four years may
damp spending and force container lines to cut rates for
shipping Asian-made toys, clothes and other goods from
Singapore, the world’s busiest container port.
Mexican trucks given greater leeway in
operating in the US
WASHINGTON—Mexican trucks for the first time have
greater leeway to operate in the US under a trade
agreement after the US government cleared a company to
begin hauling goods within days. Transportes Olympic of
Apodaca, Mexico, won approval last week and plans to use
two trucks to carry cargo beyond a 25-mile zone inside
the US border, said John Hill, who leads the Federal
Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The trucker was the
first of 100 that may gain the authority in the next
year. The Mexican trucking expansion, allowed under the
1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, is a defeat
for Democratic members of Congress and organized labor.
Opponents feared job losses and safety hazards, while
trucking companies have said they will save time and
money. |
