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News – Page 331
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FeatureFrench strikes cripple car shipments
French strike action over pension reforms, which began last week and included the suspension of rail services by SNCF staff, has brought vehicle movements by rail to a virtual standstill. “For all intents and purposes it can be considered zero,” confirmed Alain Leray, deputy managing director at STVA, the vehicle ...
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FeatureContact and capacity lead ECG debate
Lively debate about the need to invest in new logistics capacity, coupled with moves by European carmakers to finally improve their communication with suppliers, were both highlights of this year’s ECG conference, completed last Friday in Berlin. While newly-appointed head of Opel/Vauxhall logistics, Jeffrey Morrison, was vowing to improve GM’s ...
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FeatureUst-Luga receives record shipment
The biggest shipment of vehicles on a deep-sea car carrier to call at the Russian port of Ust-Luga’s Yug2 car terminal arrived on Monday with a cargo of over 3,050 Hyundai vehicles. The Grand Mercury, a Hyundai operated vessel, delivered the cars directly to the Russian market, which has typically ...
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FeatureGlobal news in brief
GM confirms closure of AntwerpDespite speculation last week that GM Europe was in talks with China’s Geely over the future of its Opel plant in Antwerp, the company confirmed this week that the plant will close and that there will be no further negotiations for vehicle assembly there beyond the ...
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FeatureUS trucking regs could worsen driver shortage
New legislation on driver safety coming into effect towards the end of this year on US highways could change the shape of existing logistics networks in the country, and could exacerbate a growing shortage of drivers, according to trucking and logistics companies. Such a shortage would mean less capacity to ...
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FeatureNissan begins Micra exports from Chennai
Nissan has begun exports of the Micra from India to markets in Europe beginning with a consignment of nearly 4,000 vehicles produced at its Orangadam plant in Chennai from the adjacent port of Ennore. The company’s Indian division – Nissan Motor India – has further plans to export more than ...
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FeatureWill Geely rescue Antwerp?
The fate of General Motors Europe’s Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium, which seemed certain earlier this month when the carmaker announced that it had failed to find a suitable buyer, may once again be up for debate as fresh talks are said to take place between GM and Chinese carmaker ...
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FeatureDB merges automotive units
Deutsche Bahn is merging two of its existing automotive subsidiaries operating under the DB Schenker Rail division in the first quarter of 2011. ATG Autotransportlogistic and Schenker Automotive RailNet will now be managed as a single unit by the Automotive Market Unit in Europe called DB Schenker Rail Automotive. It ...
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FeatureGlobal news in brief
SNCF Fret losing millions in French disputeSNCF Fret is suffering serious disruption this week as French unions led by SNCF workers continue the strike action begun yesterday in protest over the French government’s pensions reform bill. The company is estimated to be losing €20m ($28m) a day in lost revenue ...
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FeatureRenault Nissan saves more than expected
Renault Nissan’s push to find common savings and efficiencies for logistics between the two alliance partners – including the creation of a new structure, called Alliance Global Logistics – has gone considerably faster than anticipated, according to an interview with the managing director of the organisation, Christian Mardrus. This year, ...
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FeatureBMW wary over subcontracted car carriers
The recovery in sales for BMW – which has seen volume in the first nine months of the year surpass pre-recession peak levels – has made a lack of truck capacity for vehicle logistics across its major markets in Europe, North America and China more obvious, according to Mathias Wellbrock, ...
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FeatureGrimaldi launches ro-ro Med service
Italian shipping specialist Grimaldi Lines has launched a new ro-ro service between the port of Livorno on Italy’s west coast and the Sicilian industrial port of Catania. The service, which will employ two vessels to support the twice-weekly route, will also make calls at Malta and Genoa. The vessels – ...
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FeatureLogistics providers face up to GM Antwerp closure
Last week’s announcement by GM that it would shut the Opel assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium by the end of 2010 is likely to have wide repercussions for the brand’s European material and finished vehicle flows but logistics providers have prepared for the eventuality since the warnings given in January ...
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FeatureNYK integrates divisions into new company
NYK has started the integration of its contract logistics division NYK Logistics with its airfreight forwarding business Yusen Air & Sea Service, bringing into being a new company called Yusen Logistics. The start of integration realises the intention outlined by NYK’s president Yasumi Kudo in his new year’s speech in ...
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FeatureTime to share the burden - industry gathers for Automotive Logistics Global conference in Detroit
That old watchword collaboration was on the lips of carmakers, suppliers and logistics providers alike as they gathered for the Automotive Logistics Global conference in Dearborn, Michigan this week. The conference, which began on Monday with attendee numbers that confirmed an automotive industry very much on the rebound from the ...
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FeatureCan social media help logistics?
When Iceland’s volcano erupted earlier this year, closing most of European airspace for weeks, social media web sites found a new purpose as airlines began to channel passenger updates through Facebook and Twitter. Air Berlin and Air Baltic, for example, said they received millions of requests for information via Twitter, ...
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The US needs more car hauliers
The increasing worry over a double dip recession in the US may accentuate problems in the finished vehicle supply chain in North America; the lack of truck capacity, aging equipment and a shortage of skilled hauliers.Domestic OEMs such as Ford have been telling Finished Vehicle Logistics since May that they were ...
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Is Russia moving in the wrong direction?
Russia’s prime minister Vladimir Putin said in September that Russia would further raise import tariffs on foreign produced vehicles from the current 25% duty to stimulate Russian production. Exact figures and timings were not given but carmakers and logistics providers are bracing themselves. The news puts a damper on recent ...
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India’s new tax system delayed…again
For years India has planned to reform the way it administers taxation for domestic movement of goods across its state borders with a simplified, general sales tax (GST). And for just as long it has been delaying the implementation. So it came as little surprise that the latest deadline, April ...
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Waiting for the Leafs to turn
Nissan, which will soon bring its electric Leaf model to Japan, the US, China and parts of Europe, is anticipating delivery delays as production out of its Japanese plant struggles to fill orders before local production begins in other markets. Customers could expect delays for the first two years particularly ...