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Source: Bloomberg
Source: News Observer
Source: Legal Newsline
Source: York Daily Record
Plans for a coal export facility would use barges to bring coal up the Columbia River and promise $400 million in economic impact.
[The Ambre project] would bring another $300 million in economic activity once it begins operating at full capacity, delivering 8.8 million tons of coal per year from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming to Asian markets.
And it would create more than 2,100 jobs — directly and through trickle-down economic effects — during the project’s development, with another 1,100 to come once operating, according to the ECONorthwest report.
Read the rest at Sustainable Business Oregon
U.S.-flag containership operator Horizon Lines, Inc. has reported financial results for the fiscal first quarter ended March 25, 2012 and revealed that it will be drydocking three of its vessels in Asia. The decision has been taken against a backdrop of a continuing operating loss. Still, it is likely to be viewed with concern by U.S. shipbuilders who will undoubtedly closely monitor how much U.S. duty the Jones Act operator pays on the work involved.
From Marine Log
Though several carriers have reported first quarter losses, there’s better news for others:
With Horizon Lines dropping out of the shipping trade on Guam, Matson Navigation Co. reported an $8.1 million operating profit for the first quarter of this year — compared to $5.4 million in a similar quarter last year. Matson transported 6,400 containers by the end of the first quarter of 2012, compared to 3,300 in 2011 — a 94 percent change. (From Guam Pacific Daily News)
Norway’s Wilh. Wilhelmsen Holding ASA boosted first quarter operating profit by 84 percent from a year ago to $106 million, driven by record earnings and revenue at its global car carrier and rolling cargo fleet. (Reported in the Journal of Commerce)
Maersk Line slumped to a $599 million operating loss in the first quarter from a $424 million profit a year earlier as collapsing freight rates on the key Asia-Europe route outweighed double-digit growth in container volume.
But Danish parent A.P. Moller-Maersk upgraded its 2012 forecast for the carrier to “negative up to neutral” from a loss guidance in February on the assumption rate hikes since March will continue through the year.
More in the Journal of Commerce
Analysts say a combination of Marubeni and Gavilon makes sense commercially, with Gavilon's presence in the central Plains and Midwest fitting in well with Marubeni's PNW channels, including Columbia Grain at Terminal 5 in Portland.Unlike 34 years ago, when Marubeni bought a Portland export elevator to improve its ability to supply Japan, its Gavilon bid is all about the world’s fastest-growing food importer, China.
Marubeni said in 2009 it signed a letter of intent with Sinograin, a Chinese state firm, to “work closely in coming years” to build state reserves and commercial grain supplies.
“Chinese companies do not want to be deeply involved in the U.S. domestic grain business because they’re well aware of the political sensitiveness of the farm sector,” said Noriyuki Chino, a veteran trader and president of Continental Rice.
But Japanese traders — massive buyers of U.S. grain for decades — are viewed no differently than a Cargill or an ADM.
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