Services

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 6/1/2000

American Freightways Corp. has added a new customer-service feature to its Web site, www.af.com. The new service allows customers to view freight-payables details for their account with AF through a secured area of the site.

CSX Transportation and NBC's "Today Show" opened a time capsule that had been buried 44 years earlier during Huntington, West Virginia's Railroad Week celebration. The contents of the capsule included letters from Gov. William Marland and railroad executives with predictions for the year 2000. H.E. Simpson, president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad-now part of the CSXT system-wrote that "this grand old Company will continue to progress and to contribute to the general welfare of our country." The capsule was originally buried on April 25, 1956, with instructions that it be opened on April 25, 2000.

American Eagle Tankers Inc., a fully owned subsidiary of The NOL Group, has announced that it will be building two new double-hulled very large crude carriers (VLCCs). The VLCCs will be constructed by Hyundai Heavy Industries of South Korea. All the currently owned AET crude oil tankers have double hulls, but these will be the first AET VLCCs built that way.

APL unveiled a new interactive customer support "chat" feature on its Web site, www. apl.com. Text messages allow real-time dialogue with a specially trained customer-support rep. The service will be available during weekdays from any location on a 24-hour basis.

Southeastern Freight Lines opened a new service center in Austin, Texas. The 24-door dock facility also has 2,268 square feet of office space. This opening brings Southeastern's total number of service centers to 55.

Burnham, a third-party logistics provider that specializes in the development, implementation, and management of supply chain solutions, has become ISO 9002 certified at the request of Lexmark International Inc.

The first building of the Livonia Corporate Center has been delivered to Ashley Capital LLC by Oliver/Hatcher Construction & Development Inc. At 752,000 square feet, the facility is the largest warehouse distribution building in the state of Michigan.

Canadian National has partnered with short-line and regional rail companies Southwest Pennsylvania Railroad Co. and Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway Co. to expand rail coverage in western Pennsylvania.

GeoLogistics Corp. has relocated its corporate and Americas headquarters and service centers to Santa Ana, Calif. The move unites the corporate senior executive team with management from its Americas division.

Consolidated Freightways has signed a letter of intent to purchase airfreight forwarder FirstAir Inc. Through subsidiaries FlightMasters and SeaMasters, FirstAir provides domestic and international airfreight forwarding and full- and less-than-containerload ocean freight transportation.

FedEx Custom Critical is introducing a more accurate system of calculating shipment mileage and rates, called Zip-to-Zip quoting. Using ALK Associates'PC*MILER 2000 commercial routing and mapping software, FedEx Custom Critical now calculates mileage for each shipment based on the shipper's and receiver's exact ZIP or Canadian postal codes. The carrier previously used city-to-city calculations.