News – Page 345
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NYK merges logistics divisions
In his New Year’s Speech to the company on Monday, NYK’s president Yasumi Kudo said that the company needed to merge its contract logistics business, NYK Logistics, with its airfreight forwarding business, Yusen Air & Sea Service, “to establish a structure capable of fully serving all logistics needs of customers”. ...
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Mitsubishi extends Europe distribution with BLG
BLG has extended its contract with Mitsubishi Europe for the distribution of all vehicles from the carmaker’s Nedland plant in Born, the Netherlands, to dealerships throughout Germany and in Norway. The contract has intially been signed up to 2012 and BLG is now Mitsubishi’s sole partner with responsibility for the ...
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A new year, with new (old) locations?
Since the late 1960s the geography of the automotive sector has been fairly fixed, with most car production in the region where the cars were sold. That strategy remains the mantra of many supply chain executives at OEMs today as well.The exception to this of course has been Japan and ...
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Logistics recession lessons
Nobody likes a downturn, but sometimes in business, as in personal life, you have to learn the hard way. Automotive Logistics Publisher Louis Yiakoumi presents his six essential lessons from the hard timesNo rest for the wicked. Despite the downturn – which led to vehicle stockpiles, shutdowns, parked or scrapped trucks, ...
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Global outlook: fixing the dam for 2010
Automotive logistics companies were breathing easier at the end of 2009. Earlier, global light vehicle sales were projected to drop 14% to around 58m units. Production, which corresponds closely with the revenue for 3PLs, had been predicted below 50m.But incentives, a rebound in Asia, and gradual recovery have led forecasters ...
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In Profile: Ford's Matthias Schulz
Matthias Schulz’s career with Ford began just two days after he received his Masters degree in 1987. His path toward leading Ford’s logistics in Europe has a somewhat unexpected origin; he is a mathematics expert, with studies in areas similar to that of Stephen Hawkins.He started at Ford as an ...
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Mercedes will handle BMW in Baltimore
Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) will process BMW and MINI vehicles through the Port of Baltimore from March 2010 under a new five-year deal between the two companies. MBUSA will provide pre-delivery inspection services including processing and repair at its facility at the port for an annual movement of 50,000 BMW and ...
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Time-critical recovery to continue next year?
In just over a week the annual time-critical movement of consumer goods par excellence will be getting underway from the North Pole for the budget price of a glass of egg nog, or milk and cookies left by the chimney. But time-critical movements of automotive parts have also seen a ...
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Honda's Performance Excellence winners
American Honda has announced the winners of its 2009 Performance Excellence programme – the carmaker’s logistics operations performance recognition awards. The winners are CSX, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics (WWL) and Selland Auto Transport. Logistic vendors in each category are evaluated monthly on their performance in logistics quality, speed and vehicle ...
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Mercedes growth in shipping to China
The strong growth of Mercedes-Benz models in China has resulted in new export contracts from Europe and the US between the carmaker and finished vehicle carriers K-Line and NYK. Starting in January, K-Line and NYK will be working on a 50:50 split of movements of Mercedes’ S-, E-, C- A-, ...
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Nissan to export $40m parts from India
Nissan is planning to export automotive production parts from India worth $40m by 2012, with half of that figure met next year. The company will export production parts including engine pistons, clutch disks and starter motors from its Chennai facility via the port of Ennore to Japan, Thailand and China. ...
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DHL opens logistics centre in the Philippines
DHL has officially opened a new logistics centre in Parañaque City in the Philippines, which will support automotive aftermarket parts distribution for international brand dealerships across the country including Toyota, Mitsubishi and Honda. At 40,000m2 it is one of the company’s largest facilities in the region and has a capacity ...
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Making inroads to outbound in India
Last week’s Automotive Logistics India conference was marked by a sense of urgency amongst attendees eager to solve the problem of moving vehicles across a country that has seen a huge escalation in domestic and export demand for small cars. GM’s director of logistics and supply chain for Asia Pacific, ...
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Logistics savings sway C-Class move
Daimler is planning to shift production of the next-generation Mercedes C-Class for the US market to its plant in Tuscaloosa, Alabama from Sindelfingen in Germany in 2014. At the same time it will move C-Class production for the European market from Sindelfingen to Bremen. In return, SL production will move ...
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Kuehne + Nagel secures contract with BMW SA
BMW has awarded Kuehne + Nagel a three year contract to fully manage its South African Parts and Accessories Distribution Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg. The decision to award the full contract builds on partial management of the BMW-owned and operated facility, which the company undertook at the end of 2008. ...
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Loading regulation could save Europe billions
As the European Commission prepares its transport white paper toward legislation for the industry over the next decade, the Association for Finished Vehicle Carriers (ECG) has called for regulation that will secure a common loaded length for finished vehicle transporters at 20.75 metres (68ft). Speaking at the recently-held European Commission ...
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Mosolf leads commitment to India with joint venture
Jorg Mosolf, CEO of German logistics service provider Horst Mosolf (pictured), used last week’s Automotive Logistics conference in India to announce the joint venture activity it is pursuing in the country, an indication of how serious providers are getting about doing business there. The company has just completed the start ...
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Mercedes receives award for trimodal logistics project
Mercedes-Benz’s engine, axle and transmission plant at Untertürkheim near Stuttgart has received second prize at the European Logistics Excellence Awards for its global outbound parts logistics activity. The awards, which were held during last week’s bestLog Conference in Brussels, recognised the operation for meeting established economic and ecological objectives outlined ...
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India's first auto hub underway
India’s railway minister Mamata Banjeree laid the foundation for the country’s first automobile logistics hub in Shalimar, West Bengal last Saturday. It will be the first of 15 such hubs to be established across India as part of a drive to increase automotive rail freight to 15% (from 2% currently) ...
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CAT Group to process Kias through Le Havre
From January 2010, CAT Group will process and distribute Kia vehicles to the carmaker’s dealerships in France via the Port of Le Havre, handling 20,000 new and 2,000 used vehicles per year delivered there by Eukor. The move marks a shift of activity from the Port of Antwerp for distribution ...