It is all too easy to assume that a shipper either wants the lowest price or the fastest transit. Yet it is becoming increasingly apparent that things are far from being as straightforward as that.
Andrew Traill | Mon, 15 Feb 2010
Solutions providers Kewill and e-customs are working on a system to help customers adapt to new European customs regulation.
The Excise Movement Control System (EMCS) comes into force in the UK in April and companies will have to electronically exchange customs information on excised goods such as alcohol, tobacco and mineral oils moving within the EU.
http://bit.ly/9gjWQe
13 January 2010
ITALY: DB Schenker has become the second largest rail freight operator in Italy after increasing its stake in NordCargo srl to 60%, the German national railway's freight subsidiary announced on January 13. DB Schenker's existing Italian subsidiary is to be merged into NordCargo.
Milano-based NordCargo has been active in the freight market since September 2001, and was spun off from Ferrovie Nord Milano at the end of 2003. It has around 200 staff and ran 7 000 trains totalling 1·4 million train km in 2008, generating revenues of €40m. DB acquired a 49% stake in January 2009.
'In 2001, we were the first company to successfully tackle the challenge of entering the liberalised rail freight market', said FNM Chairman Norberto Achille. 'Together with the leading European rail freight company, we now play an even more important role in that market. In terms of transport volumes and revenues, we are the second-largest Italian rail freight operator.'
NordCargo will merge with DB Schenker Rail Italia, which was formed in 2004 as a successor to Strade Ferrate del Mediterraneo. Its activities are concentrated in the northwest of Italy, with 100 staff and 2008 revenues of €17m.
DB Schenker Rail said Italy is one of its most important foreign markets, accounting for a quarter of its international revenues in 2008. 'The amalgamation of these two companies will enable us to improve our product portfolio in Italy and along north-south corridors', said Chairman Dr Alexander Hedderich.
03 February 2010
POLAND: On February 2, the Federation of Independent Rail Operators ZNPK announced it had filed a complaint with the European Commission alleging that the Polish authorities are infringing the spirit of EU legislation by giving preferential treatment to incumbent freight operator PKP Cargo.
Railway Gazette International: http://bit.ly/9ZrRlC
EuroTunnel, operator of the Channel Tunnel, has defended itself against accusations that rules governing the tunnel's use have stifled the growth of rail freight in the UK and across mainland Europe.
Last week it emerged that just 1.18 million tonnes of freight moved through the tunnel by rail in 2009, a fall of 5% compared with 2008.
DB Schenker Rail had blamed high tolls and complex rules on the tunnel's use for a lack of tonnage growth on rail freight, but a spokesman for EuroTunnel says it is "the responsibility of rail freight operators going through the tunnel" to increase their share of the freight market.
WORLDWIDE – For anyone interested in how patterns of world trade are dominated by sea freight a new report from the Journal of the Royal Society Interface makes essential reading. It is a most comprehensive survey of the movements of 16,363 cargo vessels, including container ships, dry bulk carriers and tankers all over 10,000 gross tonnes taken from 2007 data.
The overall benefit of charging HGVs for the pollution they cause outweighs the limited negative price impact on consumers, a new report from the European Commission’s in-house Joint Research Centre (JRC) has concluded.
The study was requested by EU ministers, who are currently seeking ways to break the deadlock over the Commission’s proposal to recast the EU Eurovignette Directive.
Peripheral countries like Ireland, Portugal, Malta, and the Baltic countries oppose the plans, as they fear that additional road charging would impose higher costs on their trade, while the EU’s central transit countries would get most of the financial benefit.
Member states like Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and Bulgaria are willing to accept congestion charges, provided that they are applied to passenger cars as well.
The aim of the JRC analysis was to calculate the cost for international transport operations of the proposed Eurovignette Directive.
The EU executive’s in-house research facility concluded that while the range of external cost charges for each corridor depends on the length of the corridor and the specific characteristics of the zones it crosses, the impact of the planned green charges on final product prices is “negligeable”.
The report argues that 20% to 30% of the total external cost charges can be absorbed by operators themselves “in the form of improved efficiency and/or technology”. Even if the total cost were passed on to the user of the transport services, “they would still have a very limited repercussion on final prices,” the report continues.
Meanwhile, the JRC’s calculations show that the introduction of Eurovignette would reduce CO2 emissions from road freight transport and fuel consumption by 8%, and that “if an average increase in transport costs of 3% is assumed, a decrease of 13.5 billion tonne kms in road transport volumes would be expected”.
JRC estimates suggest that the internalisation of road freight transport costs at EU level on Europe’s main roads would result in a total net welfare gain of EUR 1.8 billion per year. Extending congestion charging to passenger cars would increase the net welfare gain to a yearly EUR 2.3 billion.
LOS ANGELES – Freight trains that run through Orange County could soon be powered by cleaner-burning fuel – hope given by newly emerging technology announced.
Officials with Burlington Northern Santa Feunveiled what they say is the first locomotive powered by hydrogen-fuel cells at a news conference Thursday that included Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Matt Rose, CEO of BNSF.
BANGALORE (Reuters) - Private equity firms are expected to steadily increase their investment in the U.S. logistics services industry from 2010 as the freight business shows signs of stabilizing and the industry prepares for a wave of consolidation.
The past month alone saw three private equity (PE) transactions in the logistics industry, which had seen a lull in deal activity since freight volumes began to drop in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007.
Logistics services -- the management of freight movement -- include freight brokers and third-party logistics firms such as C.H. Robinson Worldwide (CHRW.O), Hub Group (HUBG.O), Landstar (LSTR.O) and Pacer International (PACR.O).
High-speed trains direct from London to Germany could be running through the Channel Tunnel before the 2012 Olympics.
Train operator Deutsche Bahn wants to run its 186mph ICE (InterCityExpress) service between the capital and Cologne if new tunnel safety rules come into force.
BE LOGIC (Benchmarking Logistics for Co-modality) is an EU funded project. Today it launches the first round of a Delphi Survey into transport logistics quality standards in terms of strength and weakness, their market take-up and acceptance by the customers and operators. To achieve these objectives the contribution of logistics providers and users is very important, as your opinions and comments will shape the recommendations, in the form of improved (or new) standards for transport logistics in the EU.
This is the first round questionnaire of the Delphi survey. Your contribution to the first round will be used to develop a second round questionnaire. We are therefore interested in broad answers. Please expand upon your answers whenever appropriate.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/belogic1
Thank you.
freightwise.info NEWS - News of the Project 'Management Framework for Intelligent Intermodal Transport'
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]