International News Notes

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 7/1/1999

Air Freight--DHL International and Post Danmark, the Danish postal service, will begin cooperating in express distribution in Denmark and abroad later this year. Customers of the postal service's Jetpost express service will be able to take advantage of DHL's international network, including its distribution center in Copenhagen. Both companies expect to offer faster, more reliable distribution under the name Jetpost Foreign DHL. Emirates SkyCargo has launched Emirates SkyChain, an innovative automated system for booking, tracking, tracing, and scheduling shipments. Customers can gain access to SkyChain at www.skychain.com. Consolidated Freightways has become the first LTL motor carrier to join the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which has allowed it to introduce single-source international air service, under which it books air freight through a network of 263 IATA member carriers.

Ocean Carriers--Consolidator Direct Container Line now offers weekly LCL service to Warsaw, Gdynia, Katowice, Wroclaw, and Cracow in Poland. Consolidator Conflo Lines has inaugurated a railway link from Urumqi, the capital of China's Xingiang Province, to Kashgar near the Sino-Kyrgyzstan border, with on-carriage by truck to major points in Kyrgyzstan. The route is said to offer better security, reliability, and cost compared to Russian rail routes. Crowley Logistics, a subsidiary of Crowley Maritime Corp., and LTL motor carrier American Freightways have teamed up to offer weekly, fixed-day LCL service between Canada, the United States, the Caribbean, and Central and South America.

Ports--The Port of Savannah, Ga., recently set a new productivity record when stevedores handled 57 container moves per hour while loading the P&O Nedlloyd vessel Barcelona. Typical productivity for container cranes at the port's Garden City Terminal is 35 moves per hour. The Port of Philadelphia and Camden increased total cargo volumes in 1998 by 9 percent over 1997 levels, including growth of nearly 20 percent in general cargoes.

Freight Forwarders--Hellmann Worldwide Logistics has opened cargo terminals offering sea, air, and logistics-management services in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain. Lynden International has opened a new international gateway in Chicago. The operation boosts Lynden's lift capacity from O'Hare International Airport to Australia and New Zealand. BDP International has appointed Rotra Forwarding B.V. of the Netherlands as its network partner for the Benelux countries, and Grupo Mesquita as its partner in Brazil. Both companies offer a wide range of transportation, warehousing, and distribution services. Schenker International has been appointed the official supplier of freight-forwarding services to the Sydney Organizing Committee for next year's Olympic Games in Australia.