Up Front

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 11/1/2000

Transportation consumes about one-fourth of the energy used in North America,

Transportation consumes about one-fourth of the energy used in North America, says a new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Road transportation accounts for about four-fifths of the sector's total energy use, says the report, North American Transportation in Figures. In addition to data on energy use, the report contains a wide range of information about transportation in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The three nations developed the report under the North American Transportation Statistics Interchange partnership. To order free copies of North American Transportation in Figures, call (202) 366-3282, fax (202) 366-3640, or write to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, U.S. Department of Transportation, Room 3430, 400 Seventh St. SW, Washington, DC 20590.

What kind of refunds from Harbor Maintenance Tax payments can shippers expect?

What kind of refunds from Harbor Maintenance Tax payments can shippers expect? A recent decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., shed a little light on that murky issue. The appeals court upheld a Court of International Trade ruling that said that the CIT had jurisdiction over the refunds and therefore claims were subject to a two-year statute of limitations. The court's decision, according to an analysis by the National Industrial Transportation League, means that exporters that filed requests for refunds by May 7, 1998, are eligible for HMT refunds from the period Oct. 27, 1994, to May 7, 1996, even though the statute of limitations would appear to have expired. The court said that during that period, a class action suit aimed at abolishing the HMT awaited certification and thus the statute of limitations was "tolled" or interrupted. Exporters that filed after May 7, 1998, will be entitled to refunds only for the two years preceding the filing date of their complaint. Although the latest ruling allows the CIT to establish procedures for claiming refunds, further delays could occur if the case, Stone Container Corp. v. United States, is appealed to the Supreme Court by either party. The claims issue arose after the Supreme Court held in 1998 that the HMT as it applied to exports was unconstitutional.

Virus protection for U.S. railroads

Virus protection for U.S. railroads is the goal of a new partnership between the federal Department of Transportation and the Association of American Railroads. Over the next several months, the DOT and the AAR will sponsor a series of industry workshops that will help participants develop strategies to address potential threats to the vast information-technology system operated by the rail industry and its intermodal partners. The AAR will establish a transportation Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC), which is intended to allow industry members to share security information, especially about information system attacks such as the recent "love bug" virus.

The U.S. Customs Service has opened a high-tech center

The U.S. Customs Service has opened a high-tech center that will serve as the headquarters for its fight against cybersmuggling and other Internet crimes. The new Customs Cybersmuggling Center, which was dedicated last month, will function as "mission control" for a program developed three years ago to investigate Internet crimes involving international transmissions of child pornography, movement of weapons of mass destruction, money laundering, intellectual property violations, and illegal importation of pharmaceuticals. Experts at the new center in Fairfax, Va., will also train U.S. and foreign law enforcers in computer and Internet investigations, and in conducting forensic exams of computer equipment.

"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times."

"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." John Graykowski, acting administrator for the U.S. Maritime Administration, says that line from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities best sums up the state of the maritime industry today. In a speech to the International Transportation Symposium, hosted in Washington last month by the U.S. Department of Transportation, Graykowski noted that prospects for international trade growth had never been brighter. But the potential impact of physical infrastructure and information system failures has never carried such risks as it does today, he continued. "Gridlock at ports, shortages at stores, inflation, recessions or worse, and [a] certain loss of confidence in the future" all lie in store if the United States does not have an adequate marine transportation system, he said. Graykowski argued that the best route to keeping the economy moving would be via the U.S. DOT's Marine Transportation System initiative, which is designed to ensure that the nation's transportation system can handle the expected doubling of international traffic in the next 20 years.

At first glance it was a surprising choice,

At first glance it was a surprising choice, given that dock workers and port management have so often been at odds over the years. But the selection last month of John Bowers, long-time president of the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), as the first recipient of the American Association of Port Authorities' Lifetime Achievement Award, was fitting. "Few people have had a greater impact on this industry than John Bowers," said Jim Hartung, chairman-elect of AAPA's U.S. delegation, at the award ceremony. Bowers, an ILA member for more than six decades, "is an expert at obtaining benefits" for both his organization's members as well as for the maritime industry as a whole, Hartung said. He also cited Bowers' willingness to make the ILA competitive, as well as his commitments to improving port safety, cooperation between port management and labor, and funding for port maintenance and improvement.

How should logistics operations be structured to succeed?

How should logistics operations be structured to succeed? An article by three Michigan State University academics in the most recent edition of the Journal of Business Logistics provides one look at where business management is heading. In "Ten Mega-Trends That Will Revolutionize Supply Chain Logistics," Donald J. Bowersox, David J. Closs, and Theodore Stank describe changes made by companies attempting to adjust their supply chains as the world moves from an industrial to an information-driven economy. These trends, they argue, will require substantial change in logistics practices. The journal is available from the Council of Logistics Management, Publications Department, 2805 Butterfield Road, Suite 200, Oak Brook, IL 60523, (630) 574-0985.

The American Trucking Associations has lost another affiliate organization.

The American Trucking Associations has lost another affiliate organization. Last month, the Air & Expedited Motor Carriers Conference announced that it had dissolved its relationship with the ATA and had re-formed as the independent Air & Expedited Motor Carriers Association (AEMCA). The new group is incorporated as a not-for-profit trade association that represents the interests of motor carriers and other providers of ground-based services to the airfreight industry. Executive Director Brian Lagana will continue as head of the re-formed association, which is developing an ambitious membership-recruitment plan.

Amtrak is consolidating its mail and express business

Amtrak is consolidating its mail and express business to improve freight revenues and build commercial partnerships with freight railroad partners. The passenger railroad operates a 22,000-mile rail system, which serves more than 500 communities in 45 states, through trackage rights with freight railroads. Amtrak is searching for revenue streams to replace current federal subsidies and to become profitable. One way the railroad hopes to do that is by increasing its express and mail business, which Amtrak executives estimate will eventually bring in revenues of $300 million to $400 million a year. To lead that effort, Amtrak has named Lee H. Sargrad, former vice president of sales and marketing for Triple Crown Services of Fort Wayne, Ind., to serve as president of Amtrak's mail and express unit.