MSC Containership Loses 13 Containers Overboard Off South Africa

The South African Maritime Safety Authority has issued an urgent warning to vessels east of South Africa to be on the lookout for cargo containers that reportedly fell from a containership off the coast of Durban a week ago.

Shippers call on air cargo to take action over truck driver shortage

Shippers have called on the air cargo industry to take action to mitigate the truck driver shortage or face increasingly unreliable supply chains. Writing in a column for Tiaca’s weekly e-newsletter, European Shippers’ Council chairman and Tiaca board member Denis Choumert said that the air cargo industry would not be able to escape the consequences of the driver shortage.

Port Klang defers rate hike six months till March 2019

Port users at Malaysia's Port Klang’s will get a six-month reprieve as the government deferred the planned 15% tariff hike from September 1 this year to March 1, 2019.

Forwarders get a feeling of deja vu at prospect of congested air terminals

Despite record investment in airports, consignees and forwarders are poised for a frustrating peak season with the prospect of freight again being trapped in overburdened cargo terminals. Neel Shah, senior vice-president, global air freight, at Flexport, reckons the 2018 peak season will bring a sense of deja vu to the air cargo industry with a re-run of the woes that afflicted imports last winter.

HMM stays bullish as it sinks deeper into the red, and vows it can cut costs

HMM recorded a net loss of $215m in the second quarter, taking the South Korean ocean carrier’s deficit to a massive $371m at the half-year stage. Like many of its peers, the carrier was hit hard by the rising cost of fuel and was unable to recover sufficient bunker surcharges to mitigate the impact of a 27% hike in bunker prices.

LTG Lyons Confirmed as USTRANSCOM Commander

History reaches a new milestone – the next Commander of U.S. Transportation Command will be a U.S. Army Officer. Congratulations to U.S. Army Lieutenant General Stephen Lyons for being confirmed as the next Commander, U.S. Transportation Command.

U.S. House OKs Bill to Delay TWIC Deployment at High-Risk Facilities

The U.S. House of Representatives has approved legislation calling for a delay in deploying thousands of biometric readers for transportation security cards at the nation’s high-risk ports and commercial facilities. A companion bill in the U.S. Senate (S. 3094) has been referred out of committee but has yet to go to the floor for a vote.

FMCSA Outlines New Data Model to Be Tested in September

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration officials have withdrawn a slate of proposed “enhancements” to the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program’s Safety Management System to make way for a small-scale test in September of a new statistical data model intended to better identify high-risk carriers.

‘PierPass 2.0’ pushed back to fourth quarter

Container terminal operators in the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach now expect their revised PierPass OffPeak program will go into effect in the fourth quarter instead of August as originally planned.

ICE has delivered a Notice of inspection, what now?

Last year, the agency audited more than 1,300 organizations, which produced 71 indictments. ICE’s acting director has pledged to boost workplace raids by 400-500 percent.

LTG Lyons Confirmed as USTRANSCOM Commander

History reaches a new milestone – the next Commander of U.S. Transportation Command will be a U.S. Army Officer. Congratulations to U.S. Army Lieutenant General Stephen Lyons for being confirmed as the next Commander, U.S. Transportation Command.

US, Australia Agree to Boost Number of Marines Down Under to 2,500

After years of a slow buildup, the Marine Corps will soon begin sending 2,500 leathernecks to Australia annually. Marine Rotational Force-Darwin will increase in size by about 1,000 troops "as soon as practicable," according to a State Department news release.

U.S. Driver Shortage: Reservists may get license transfers from military to civilian world

The Transportation Department is launching a pilot program that allows reservists and veterans to transfer their military training into the civilian world. The new program highlights a lapse in licensure service members have been struggling with for quite some time: why can someone drive a truck in the military, but need to retrain to do the same thing once that person is out.

U.S. Coast Guard Receives International Recognition for Hurricane Response

As the 2018 hurricane season opens, the international maritime community recognized the Coast Guard for its efforts last year to restore safe marine navigation in waterways hit by hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.

Lawmakers Again Push for More Flexibility with Military Moves

Lawmakers will try again to give more military families flexibility in their permanent change-of-station moves with a pair of bills introduced Thursday. The Military Family Stability Act, sponsored by two Democrats and two Republicans in the House and Senate, would allow families who receive move orders to either leave up to six months before their servicemember’s assigned date to set up their new home or remain behind six months to ease the transition.