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A fleet of 40 trucks and trailers belonging to the bankrupt Mannway Group went on sale this week as part of an online, fixed-price sale conducted by GraysOnline on behalf of the receivers Ferrier Hodgson. The Mannway Group went into receivership and ceased trading in December 2009.
Ferrier Hodgson is the appointed Receivers and Managers of the Mannway Group and has selected GraysOnline to sell the group’s transport assets across NSW, Queensland and Victoria. The combined fleet includes 98 primer movers, 22 rigid trucks and 285 trailers. In addition, GraysOnline has been instructed to liquidate over 40 forklifts, 35 vehicles and general equipment. Some of the fleet is available for sale online at a fixed price using the ‘Buy Now’ option on www.graysonline.com. “Prospective buyers have the option to purchase Mannway trucks and trailers online at a low fixed price,” said Cameron Poolman, CEO of GraysOnline. “Buyers stand to save up to 30% off the wholesale price for comparable transport assets.” Buyers will be able to inspect trucks and trailers before they purchase. Independent inspection reports and service histories are also available. Assets in Victoria went on sale on February 1, 2010. The NSW fleet sale will commence on February 22, 2010. The complete sales catalogue is available here. Transport fleet overview: Victoria
More than 40 assets for sale including:
• Steelbro Sideloaders
• Freightliner Century Class Prime Movers
• Kenworth Prime Mover
• All ranging from 2003 - 2007
NSW
More than 40 assets for sale including:
• 2007 Mercedes Benz Actros Prime Movers
• 2006/2007 Freightliner Columbia's & Argosy's Prime Movers
• 2007 Vawdrey Flat Tops trailers
Sale dates and locations:
Victoria
Buy Now online sale:
Sale Open: 1 February 2010 9:00am (AEDT)
Sale Close: 19 February 2010 4:00 pm (AEDT)
NSW
Buy Now online sale:
Sale Open: 22 February 2010 11:00am (AEDT)
Sale Close: 5 March 2010 3:00 pm (AEDT)
more»
Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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Port Botany container trade growth continues in December |
Sydney’s container trade volumes reached over 176,000 TEU in December 2009, the highest throughput for the month of December in Port Botany’s history – representing a 10.7% increase on the same period last year.
“Total container trade through Port Botany, reached over 993,000 TEU for the six months to 31 December 2009, a new record representing a 0.8 per cent increase on the corresponding period last year,” Sydney Ports Corporation chief executive officer Grant Gilfillan said.
“While we welcome these positive signs for Port Botany and NSW, we recognise the rest of the world economy has not fully recovered which may impact on trade results for the second half of the financial year.
“Container trade figures for the month of December show an increase in full import containers of 16.2% with the leading import regions being East Asia 47%, South East Asia 15% & Europe 14%.”
The top imported products for the year to December 2009 were Beverages (up 13%), which include beer, spirits, mineral water; miscellaneous manufactures (up 5.5%), which includes mobile phones, printers copiers, telecommunications & general power material and non-metallic minerals (up 99.3%) which includes cement, ceramic tiles and glassware.
Total full container imports for the six months to December 2009 reached over 496,000 TEU, up 1.3% on the corresponding period in the previous year.
According to leading economic forecaster BIS Shrapnel, the strength and confidence in the economy and household spending projections support the overall increases in trade, particularly the outlook for the housing market with alterations and additions to private dwellings and commercial developments supporting an increase in cement and other building materials.
Full container exports reached over 223,000 TEU, up 0.4% for the six months to December 2009 with the following commodities as key drivers in volume increases: cereals (up 59.8%), non-ferrous metals (up 31.4%) and waste paper (up 1.9%).
Cereal exports continue to have solid growth with favourable growing conditions in the Central and North West... more»Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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Transport jobs for Queensland's unemployed |
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One hundred job seekers across the state will soon begin careers in the transport and logistics industry, thanks to an $300,000 government jobs program.
Treasurer and Minister for Employment and Economic Development Andrew Fraser said more than a quarter had already found work as a result of the Department of Transport and Main Roads’ ‘Get Into Transport and Logistics’ project.
“This project teams jobseekers up with an industry that is crying out for skilled workers,” Mr Fraser said.
“The transport industry makes a huge contribution to the Queensland economy, not only financially but also through the vital day-to-day services it provides.
“Some 22 people in Townsville and another 25 across Cairns, Bowen and Mackay are now ready to enter the industry having completed the two-month course, with another 14 people in Brisbane and ten in Rockhampton close to finishing their training soon.
“The Sunshine Coast program commenced early this month and the last intake, being held in Wide Bay, will start soon.”
Transport and Main Roads Director-General Dave Stewart said the project was a continuation of the successful Skilling Queenslanders for Work project the Department ran last year.
“The outcomes for jobseekers and industry from these projects has been overwhelmingly positive,” Mr Stewart said.
“The previous project assisted 126 participants, with 98 of them earning a heavy vehicle licence and 28 a forklift ticket. Ninety of these past participants are now in the workforce.
“The Queensland Trucking Association strongly supported the previous project and the Queensland Bus Industry Council has partnered with the State Government on this project.
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The new occupational health and safety laws unveiled just before Christmas are likely to see a fresh influx of visitors to Victoria's largest workplace safety event, Safety In Action and Melbourne Materials Handling, this April.
At least 10,000 visitors routinely attend the two Melbourne trade shows, while hundreds of delegates participate in Australia's largest professional OHS gathering, the associated Safety in Action Conference. Due to run from April 20 to 22 this year, Safety In Action and Melbourne Materials Handling follow the vigorous public harmonisation debate, just as Australia's economy recovers.
WorkSafe Victoria director Stan Krpan says national harmonisation presents a great opportunity for safety and its practitioners.
"Harmonisation achieved what some people thought impossible," he says. "Now is the time to start preparing for the introduction of the new laws. The indicators are that the economy is recovering and when business begins to invest again, it should be in safe outcomes. This has an enormous impact on attracting the right workers."
Mr Krpan will speak at the Safety in Action Conference presented by the Safety Institute of Australia and WorkSafe Victoria is the principal sponsor.
Aside from the model laws and recovering economy, the Safety In Action and Melbourne Materials Handling trade show will benefit from new feature areas, which host suppliers of specialist safety products and services. The fire and security area that debuted in 2009 proved popular and is tipped to expand. A brand new health and aged care feature area will provide answers to the manual handling issues that... more»
Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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WWL renews contract to ship Jaguar and Land Rover cars |
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John Speakman, managing director, WWL UK, said: “This new contract is very significant for us. It further extends our relationship with two of the world’s most prestigious vehicle brands, Jaguar and Land Rover, during what has been a tough economic climate for both companies.
“WWL has been working closely with both Jaguar and Land Rover since the 1980s. Our new long-term contract with JLR reinforces our joint work on quality and product improvements on logistics services.
“We expect to see a growing co-operation between our two companies on matters such as developing leaner supply chain solutions and new environmental initiatives,” he added.
The contract will see WWL shipping upwards of 45,000 Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles in 2010 from Southampton to the following ports: Baltimore, Brunswick, Port Hueneme in the United States; Halifax in Canada and Fremantle, Melbourne and Port Kembla in Australia; and Auckland in New Zealand.
The company will also be providing terminal services for receiving all Jaguar and Land Rover models in Southampton, one of WWL’s key hub ports in Europe.
Additionally, the company will be... more»
Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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Retail sales down 0.7 per cent in December 2009 |
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The latest ABS retail trade figures show that sales in December fell 0.7 per cent, seasonally adjusted, compared with a rise of 1.5 per cent the previous month.
Sales fell, in seasonally adjusted terms, across four retail industry groups: Department Stores (-3.5%), Clothing, Footwear & Other Personal Accessory Retailing (-1.9%), Food Retailing (-1.3%) and Household Goods Retailing (-0.3%). Sales rose in Cafes, Restaurants & Takeaway Food Services (2.5%). Other Retailing (0.0%) remained flat.
South Australia (-3.7%) recorded the largest fall in sales in December, followed by Tasmania (-2.0%) , Victoria (-1.0%), Queensland (-0.6%), the Northern Territory (-0.4%), the Australian Capital Territory (-0.4%) and Western Australia (-0.1%).
New South Wales was the only state to record growth in sales in December (0.1%).
Trend turnover for December 2009 rose by 0.3%.
In seasonally adjusted volume terms, retail turnover rose 1.1% in the December quarter 2009. This compares with a fall of 0.7% in the September quarter 2009.
In trend volume terms, retail turnover rose 1.3% for the December quarter 2009. This is the 5th consecutive quarter of positive trend volume growth.
Retailers generally blamed the Reserve Bank of Australia’s December rate rise for the disappointing Christmas sales figures, and predict that while January may show... more»Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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President Obama boosts US biofuel drive |
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US President Barack Obama has announced a series of steps his administration is taking as part of its comprehensive strategy to enhance American energy independence while building a foundation for a new clean energy economy, and its promise of new industries and millions of jobs.
At a meeting with a bipartisan group of governors from around the country, the President laid out three measures that will work in concert to boost biofuels production and reduce the United States’ “dangerous dependence on foreign oil”.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalised a rule to implement the long-term renewable fuels standard of 150 billion litres by 2022 established by Congress. The U.S. Department of agriculture has proposed a rule on the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP) that would provide financing to increase the conversion of biomass to bioenergy. The President's Biofuels Interagency Working Group released its first report - Growing America's Fuel. The report, authored by group co-chairs, Secretaries Vilsack and Chu, and Administrator Jackson, lays out a strategy to advance the development and commercialisation of a sustainable biofuels industry to meet or exceed the nation's biofuels targets.
In addition, President Obama announced a Presidential Memorandum, creating an Interagency Task Force on Carbon Capture and Storage to develop a comprehensive and coordinated federal strategy to speed the development and deployment of clean coal technologies. The US economy will continue to rely on the availability and affordability of domestic coal for decades to meet its energy needs, and these advances are necessary to reduce pollution in the meantime. The President calls for five to ten commercial demonstration projects to be up and running by 2016.
President Obama said: "Now, I happen to believe that we should pass a comprehensive energy and climate bill. It will make clean energy the profitable kind of energy, and the decision by other nations to do this is already giving their businesses a leg up on developing clean energy jobs and technologies. But even if you disagree on the threat posed by climate change, investing in clean energy jobs and businesses is still the right thing to do for our economy. Reducing our dependence on foreign oil is still the right thing to do for our security. We can't afford to spin our wheels while the rest of the world speeds ahead."
"Advancing biomass and biofuel production holds the potential to create green jobs, which is one of the many ways the Obama Administration is working to rebuild and revitalise rural America," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "Facilities that produce renewable fuel from biomass have to be designed, built and operated.
Additionally, BCAP will stimulate biomass production and that will benefit producers and provide the materials necessary to generate clean energy and reduce carbon pollution."
"President Obama and this Administration are strongly committed to the development of carbon capture and storage technology as a key part of the clean energy economy. We can and should lead... more»Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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Learning and mentoring opportunity for women in manufacturing |
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Following the success of the Women in Manufacturing Stepping Up Advance Program in previous years, Industry and Investment NSW is once again subsidising participants during 2010. Applications are being sought from women who fulfil operations or supply chain roles within larger manufacturing concerns or manage their own manufacturing businesses.
Through both educational sessions and mentoring, the program aims to foster best practice and to assist women in building strong and supportive networks for sustained careers in this largely male-dominated sector. By supporting women in the sector, the program recognises the unique traits that women bring to management and operational roles and the significant part they can play in building a more competitive and robust manufacturing sector in NSW.
Technical educational training sessions covering topics like forecasting, lean inventory and manufacturing processes are balanced with softer, managerial focused discussions around leadership and behavioural understanding. Simultaneously, each woman is matched with a more senior practitioner as her mentor for the program’s duration. The mentor offers a sounding board for mentees, giving the women an opportunity to explore ideas and seek feedback in a non-threatening or judgmental environment. Participants are provided with upfront training to assist them better prepare for and get the most from their mentoring relationships.
Although the program is manufacturing-based, participants have varying job descriptions and operate in a variety of industries. This diversity affords participants the benefit of varied perspectives which enhances and broadens the learning opportunity and provides the women with a strong network of industry experts that can prove essential as they seek to grow their careers in the sector.
Women participants from the 2009 program listed... more»
Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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New EU air cargo security rules leave existing security loopholes open |
Loopholes in the EU security rules governing air cargo flying in passenger aircraft could remain for another two years despite the introduction of revised rules intended to tighten security and close the loopholes, according to the Shippers’ Voice. An expert source working close to the issue believes many European member states are not ready to provide independent validation programmes for shippers in time for the implementation deadline this April, so are allowing the existing “somewhat haphazard” validation system to run for a further 24 months.
“This means that the desired effect of bringing all EU member states into line with the stricter regulations regarding ‘known shippers/consignors’ that already exist in some countries such as the UK – requiring shippers to be audited and validated by authorised independent inspectors – will not happen until April 2012,” says Andrew Traill, managing partner of Shippers’ Voice.
“This situation will not be well received by the travelling public or those shippers that are complying with the stricter security programme in full,” said Dr Traill. “At the moment, to become a ‘known’ consignor, the current rules in many parts of Europe are surprisingly tame: a shipper need only provide an annual security declaration to a minimum of one Regulated Agent – i.e. an agent that has been authorised to receive freight from a ‘known consignor’, and then to maintain the security of the freight whilst it is in their charge.
“The ‘known consignor’ must be identified to the appropriate administration responsible for air cargo security in each member state and recorded on a list. The Regulated Agent should satisfy itself that the ‘known consignor’ is applying appropriate security to the air freight before handing it over to them.”
Dr Traill explains: “The problem with this approach has been whether Regulated Agents properly assess their customers’ security measures before qualifying them to be ‘known consignors’.
“This issue was recognised by some EU member states, such as the UK and Ireland, a number of years ago, so they introduced rules requiring shippers to be audited and validated by authorised independent inspectors. The purpose of the new EU rules was to bring everyone else into this more regulated system by April 2010.”
However, from what Shippers’ Voice has learnt, it appears that, as the new air cargo regulations (EC 300/2008 and EC 272/2009) are currently worded, all EU ‘known consignors’, who have been recognised by (valid) Regulated Agents in their member states prior to April 2010, will be able to continue enjoying ‘known consignor’ status (assuming they continue to provide annual statements) for a further 24 months after the new regulations go into effect. “Although security will be no worse than at present, it will be disappointing to many – not least the European Commission, if it takes another two years before one can say with any confidence that all freight has been adequately secured and safeguarded,” says Dr Traill.
The source believes that authorities in certain EU member states are interpreting the rules in the way described because they are not able yet to introduce a system of independent verification. Dr Traill says: “Perhaps this is a resource issue or maybe a... more»
Shippers’ Voice is an independent information portal.
Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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Paul Little takes on the US with 80-million-dollar buy |
Paul Little’s Toll Group has announced the acquisition of Summit Logistics International (Summit), one of the United States’ leading independent freight forwarding and supply chain businesses. Summit generates annual revenue of around A$300 million and is a top-5 provider of ocean freight services on one of the world’s key trade lanes - the trans-pacific route between Greater China and North America.
The business is headquartered in New Jersey, and provides integrated trans-Pacific logistics services to its customers through its extensive operational platform in China, Hong Kong and the US. Summit also generates around 30 percent of its revenue providing extensive supply chain solutions including transport and logistics services to its freight forwarding customers within the US.
“We have been investigating US-based opportunities for some time and this is an important acquisition for the Group in the global forwarding market,” said Toll Group’s managing director, Paul Little.
“The development of significant scale in the trans-Pacific trade lane is a key element of delivering price-competitive services to US-based customers. Importantly, integrating Summit into Toll Global Forwarding (TGF) also improves Toll’s total supply chain capability in the US market.
“The capability and positioning... more»
Source: © The Intermedia Group. www.intermedia.com.au |
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