Logistics Management - June 2010

Get your daily fix of industry news on logisticsmgmt.com
An executive summary of industry news
n IATA erupts. The International Air Transport
Association (IATA) called on European governments
and air navigation service providers to
urgently develop more precise procedures to
identify ash contaminated air space and allow
more flights. The call came in the wake of 1,000
flight cancellations on May 17 as a result of the
continued volcanic eruptions in Iceland. “This
problem is not going away any time soon,” said
Giovanni Bisignani, IATA’s director general and
CEO. “The current European-wide system to
decide on airspace closures is not working,”
he added. “We welcome the operational refinements
made by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre
in their theoretical model, but we are still
basically relying on one-dimensional information
to make decisions on a four-dimensional
problem. The result is the unnecessary closure
of airspace…We must make decisions based
on facts, not on uncorroborated theoretical
models.”
n IANA reports solid Q1 growth. Spurred by
increased consumer demand and inventory
replenishment, intermodal volume for the first
quarter trended positive due in large part to
growth on the domestic side, according to
the most recent Market Trends report from
the Intermodal Association of North America
(IANA). IANA reported that first quarter total
intermodal loadings at 3,019,310 were up 8.4
percent year-over-year, topping the fourth and
third quarters of 2009, which were down 6.4
percent and 16.4 percent, respectively, yearover-year.
And three of the four major intermodal
categories tracked by IANA all saw positive
year-over-year growth in the first quarter.
Domestic containers were up 15.7 percent,
and all domestic equipment was up 9 percent.
IANA noted that all U.S. regions recorded
increases in domestic container shipments
greater than 10 percent annually.
n Surface trade with NAFTA partners hits
record high. Trade using surface transportation
between the United States and its North
American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
partners Canada and Mexico was up 37 percent
in March 2010 compared to March 2009,
increasing to $69.9 billion, according to data
released by the United States Department of
Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS). This output, said the BTS, is
the single largest year-over-year increase on
record, although freight value in March was
down 1.2 percent less than it was in March
2008.
n Obama selects Pistole to lead TSA. President
Barack Obama said he intends to nominate
John Pistole, the deputy director at the FBI,
as assistant secretary for the Department of
Homeland Security’s Transportation Security
Administration (TSA). The selection of Pistole
follows two previous nominations for this position,
according to media reports: Errol Southers,
a former FBI agent and counterterrorism
supervisor for the Los Angeles Airport police;
and Robert Harding, a retired Army intelligence
officer. Both former candidates withdrew
their bids for the job before the vetting
process was complete.
n Port Tracker points to an improving economy.
The May edition of the Port Tracker report by
the National Retail Federation and Hackett
Associates calls for double-digit increases in
retail container volumes in the coming months
bolstered by an improving U.S. economy. Retail
container volumes saw declining volumes for
28 months through November 2009. Improving
volumes are reflective of the continuing
demand for import container space, which is
causing carriers to bring back services as well
as increase the size of ships. According to Ben
Hackett, founder of Hackett Associates, these
trends should improve supply chain management
operations over the coming months.
n MHIA says industry on right path. The Material
Handling Industry of America is forecasting
6 percent to 8.5 percent growth in material
handling equipment new orders in 2010,
according to the latest Material Handling
Equipment Manufacturing Forecast (MHEM).
The growth in new orders is accompanied by a
continued, page 2
June 2010 | WWW.LOGISTICSMGMT.COM Logistics Management 1