A roundup of North American news:

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 9/1/1999

- The focus this fall will be on North America's trade corridors and highway systems. The trilateral 1999 Trade Corridors Conference, hosted by a coalition of U.S.-Canadian border-trade organizations, will be held Oct. 31 through Nov. 2 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Sessions will address such topics as infrastructure planning, transportation technology, business opportunities in North American trade corridors, and cross-border intermodalism. For more information, call (888) 527-3434 or visit www.tradecorridors.com. The U.S. Federal Highway Administration and Mexico's Autonomous University of Nuevo León this fall will open a highway-technology transfer center at the university's College of Engineering in Monterrey. And in Canada, the federal government has announced it will fund CDN $8 million in highway-infrastructure improvement projects in Newfoundland and Labrador under its Atlantic Freight Transition program.

- The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) finally has gained its long-sought access to the New York City/Long Island area. A crew from the carrier's Northeastern U.S. subsidiary, the Delaware & Hudson Railway, was at the controls of the CPR locomotive when it pulled into the Bronx's Oak Point Terminal. Thanks to trackage-rights agreements related to the purchase of Conrail's assets by CSX and Norfolk Southern--not to mention lobbying by such heavy hitters as New York Governor George Pataki, New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Senators Daniel P. Moynihan and Alfonse D'Amato, and Representative Jerrold Nadler--the Canadian carrier now provides transcontinental service for bulk products to and from Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Long Island. CPR also plans to introduce its successful "Expressway" roll-on/roll-off service for truck trailers in New York City later this year.

- Canadian National has relaunched its Web site (www.cn.ca) with many new features. Registered shippers now can obtain access to continuously updated information about the current location and estimated time of arrival for shipments on CN; its subsidiary, the Illinois Central; and its marketing partner, Kansas City Southern Railway (KCSR). A new system map lets users zoom in on CN's network by country, region, city, and local stations. The site also displays information about transloading stations, intermodal terminals, and unloader facilities.

- NAFTA Notes: Logistix has purchased Aplicaciones de Alta Tecnología (Adatsa) in Guadalajara, Mexico, from IBM. The move will allow Logistix to offer logistics, manufacturing, and e-commerce solutions in Mexico for customers in high-tech industries. Hellmann Worldwide Logistics Canada has opened a 30,000-square-foot bonded facility housing its Canadian headquarters and Toronto office near Pearson International Airport. Forward Air in partnership with Transmaritime Inc. now offers transportation from Mexico to 69 U.S. cities via Laredo, Texas. Rollins Leasing Corp. has acquired the truck-rental and -leasing business of Toronto-based Range Transportation Systems, marking Rollins' first foray into Canada. Lufthansa Cargo now offers MD-11 flights every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from Mexico City to Dallas-Fort Worth. Transportación Marítima Mexicana (TMM) has dropped the Tecomar Line brand name and has integrated Tecomar's customer-service and sales staff into its own operations.