The Friday Flyer - October 17th 2014

According to reports in the financial press this week, Canadian Pacific Railway has approached fellow railroad company, CSX to propose a merger that would create a company worth more than USD60 billion.

A potential tie-up would unite two of the biggest railroad operators in North America at a time when rail traffic in booming, driven predominantly by a soaring energy market.

Canadian Pacific, which has a market value of about USD32.5 billion, has a network stretching across Canada and into the United States. USD30 billion valued CSX controls lines throughout the Eastern United States. With minimal geographic overlap, the two companies would have a huge combined footprint, if an accord can be met. Both companies were understandably tight-lipped.

NYK Bulk & Projects Carriers (NBPC) sponsors this week's Friday Flyer. Created via the merger of NYK-Hinode Line and NYK Global Bulk Corporation, NBPC combines one of the world's largest specialists in handy bulk carriers, with a specialist in the transport of a variety of heavy and OOG cargo.


In business
Wärtsilä and Wagenborg Shipping have signed a six-year maintenance agreement for 15 of Wagenborg's dry cargo ships (pictured top right).

International construction group Hochtief is selling its offshore assets to marine contractor and long-term partner, GeoSea.

A group of ports in northwest Europe have called for an open dialogue with the European Commission about the allocation of future funding, rather than 'publishing more paper'.

Lufthansa Cargo says it is cautiously optimistic for the fourth quarter of 2014 and expects a seasonal upturn in demand.

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has appointed AirLink Cargo as its general sales agent in the Pacific northwest region of the USA.

Effective autumn 2016, A2SEA will provide its offshore installation vessel Sea Installer to install the 67 Siemens 6 MW turbines at the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm in the UK (pictured right).

        
Capacity developments
Crowley Maritime has christened the second of its four dynamic positioning 2 (DP2) tugs in the ocean class series, Ocean Sun (pictured top right).

AirBridgeCargo Airlines (ABC) has celebrated the delivery of its sixth new Boeing 747-8 freighter.

Steil Kranarbeiten recently invested in two new telescopic mobile cranes from Liebherr (pictured middle).

Having moved its freighter fleet to Dubai World Central (DWC), Emirates SkyCargo has strengthened its trucking operation at Dubai International airport.

The Logistec terminal in Contrecœur has added a rail-mounted hopper and a Liebherr LPS 420 crane (pictured bottom right).

The Sarens Group has equipped its CC 8800-1 crawler crane fleet with the Terex Boom Booster.

Hamilton Port Authority (HPA) has added a 500,000 sq ft warehousing asset to its portfolio of logistics-focused real estate.
        
      
Shipment of the week
BBC Chartering's BBC Spring shipped four rubber-tyred gantry cranes (RTGs) from Phu My in Vietnam to the port of San Antonio, Chile.

Each RTG, which weighed around 200 tonnes, was loaded using BBC Spring's own cranes, which are able to lift loads of up to 800 tonnes.

The new RTGs were ordered after two of San Antonio's major terminal operators - STI and Puerto Central - decided to expand their cargo handling capabilities.
        

On the move
GAC UK named Anthony Mollett as business development manager, while Chapman Freeborn Airchartering promoted Darren Banham to president of its US business. Greg Hewitt joined Kalmar as executive vice president for the Americas region, and RollDock appointed Ben van der Hoeven as the company's chief commercial officer. Hylton Gray has been appointed to Röhlig's global executive board succeeding Quentin Lacoste, chief executive officer Europe.
Network and association developments

The Project Cargo Network (PCN) added RRL Rail & Road Logistics as a new member representing both Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, while Maritime Logistics of Haiti joined its roster in the Caribbean. XLProjects (XLP) appointed Darwish Logistics as its Syrian representative and selected Globe Cargo Logistics in China. Project Professionals Group (PPG) has appointed International Shipping Limited as its new member for Trinidad and Tobago. CLC Projects added Unimasters Logistics in Bulgaria,  Waterlink Group of Companies in Afghanistan, and Jiangsu Zhongtonghua Logisticsco in Nanjing, China to its ranks.

All about Evie
Evie would like to congratulate Mona Bawarshi, ceo of the Gezairi Transport Group, for being recognised by Forbes as the fifth most powerful woman in family business in the Arab World.

Evie also applauds international forwarder Davies Turner, which secured 226th position in The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 league table, ranking the UK's mid-market growth private companies with the biggest sales.

Evie is looking forward to attending Power Logistics Asia, which is taking place in Singapore on November 18 and 19 and has a good line up of speakers and exhibitors.

        
The HLPFI App - come and get it!
The HLPFI App is now available on the App Store and Google Play, enabling you to read HLPFI on your smartphones and tablets.