I heard that the use of Domestic Intermodal transportation is on the rise.  New regulations on trucking have made for a more competitive environment even on shorter hauls.  If your company is considering Intermodal and needs assistance with proper load planning and bracing methods, contact ThePackagingPro for assistance.  DID bags (Disposable Inflatable Dunnage) are economical and can be used for a variety of non hazardous applications.  We are ready to assist.

The PackagingPro

Dear Packaging User,
Prices of steel pails have gone up considerably in 2011.  Tired of your suppliers telling you what to do?  Maybe it is time to look at a lower cost steel pail alternative.

Contact ThePackagingPro for information and samples. 

Found an interesting article in Logistics Management Magazine on new developments in RFID reading and labelling technology. Returnable container tracking (asset management) has become a large percentage of RFID processes.  Here is the link to the RFID Update article.
http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/rfid_update_back_on_growth_track/


The Packaging Pro 

Intermodal freight is considered a transportation best practice and developing trend.  Shippers are looking for freight savings with near-truck like service levels.  This is a great option, but please keep in mind that the shipping environment is a bit more severe using rail service.  That is why you need to understand the forces involved and develop a low cost load plan to counteract these forces and ship safely in compliance with AAR regulations.  PPL Services is here to help you explore this "in fashion" trend.

ThePackagingPro

Donald Trump for President. 
ThePackagingPro

Brazil squeezes OJ competition Brazil’s the Saudi Arabia of orange juice. Like the Arab oil giant, Brazil by virtue of exporting 99% of its OJ, is the world’s dominant supplier. Last year, Brazil’s two largest OJ exporters dominated supply with an 80% slice of the European market. Last year, two of Brazil’s largest OJ exporters, Citrosuco and Citrovita, merged linking together 25% of the world’s orange juice supply. But The European Commission says not so fast.

By Carole Lauriat, AJOT

Brazil is the world’s number one exporter of orange juice, followed by Florida. Together they produce roughly 85% of the world’s orange juice. There is a big difference: Brazilians drink only 1% of their production as they have better beverages to drink, like Caipirinha (a sugar/lime cocktail, know as the national drink) while 90% of Florida’s production is consumed in the US and only 10% is exported. By virtue of exporting 99% of its production of OJ, Brazil has become the Saudi Arabia of this liquid gold and is poised to capture even a bigger slice of the market, if recent events are any guide.

According to the USDA, in 2010, Brazil exported 1,223,000 metric tons (MT) of orange juice, and Brazil’s exports are expected to grow by 12% in 2011, amounting to as much as $220 billion in revenues.

Although, Brazil exported less orange juice by volume in 2010 than it did in 2009, the value of exports grew by 30% with price increases.

According to figures from the Brazilian Association of Citrus Exporters (CitrusBR), in the 2010 season (July 2009 to the end of June 2010), Brazil exported 524,981 tonnes of orange juice for US$660.17 billion. This compares to exports totaling 611,437 tonnes in the 2009 season, with revenues of $847.58 billion.

According to figures by the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), the growth over 2009 was 11.48%. In terms of volume, Brazil exported 1.3 million tonnes of concentrated juice in 2009, and 1.2 million tonnes in 2010.

According to the Florida Department of Citrus, US imports of orange juice during January through December 2010 totaled 303,801,970 single-strength equivalent (SSE) gallons (down 10% compared to last year) with an FOB value of $395,897,328 for an average price of $1.30 per SSE gallon (up 30%). Of these imports, 59,049,460 SSE gallons were not-from-concentrate (NFC) (up 9% from last year).

Orange-juice imports into Florida ports represented 37% of the volume for 2010 (74% for NFC), compared with 36% of the 2009 volume (76% for NFC). Brazil supplied 56% of the volume in 2010 (94% for NFC) compared to 51% in 2009 (97% for NFC).

Brazil wins the zero sum game
In February 2011 the World Trade Organization (WTO) made a final ruling in Brazil’s favor in a dispute with the United States over anti-dumping measures imposed on its orange juice exports. The decision by a WTO dispute panel was the second major trade dispute Brazil won against the US. A year earlier, Brazil won a successful case against US cotton aid.

Brazil challenged the methodology, “zeroing,” that the US Department of Commerce used in applying antidumping tariffs on Brazilian orange juice. The US Department of Commerce uses "zeroing" for assessing duties on goods that are allegedly "dumped," or imported for less than they cost at home. According to the WTO, in zeroing, the importing authorities ignore shipments where imported goods are higher than domestic market prices and could potentially offset separate below-market shipments from the country. Many countries argue that this practice skews the average price of goods from a given country, and in this case, the WTO agreed.

Points of origin…and contention
Brazil got into the citrus business relatively late. Production as an industry began in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until recently that it overtook the US as the world’s primary source. It’s an odd rivalry with US producers. Most consumers in the US and abroad conclude their juice is coming from Florida or California. But Brazil’s OJ rarely touts country of origin. Brazil mainly exports concentrated juice, which retailers can sell and brand without indicating its origin, keeping orange juice recognized as a glass of Florida sunshine. This is particularly true in Europe, where 80% of all OJ consumed is from Brazil. Only South Korea emphasizes the Brazilian origin of its juice on packaging. Of the four main OJ suppliers to Europe, the Brazil’s Cutrale and Citrosuco are the biggest, if not the best known.

In May of 2010, Citrosuco and Citrovita merged to become the biggest orange juice producer in the world. In January of 2011 the European Commission (EC) opened an investigation into the May 2010 merger of Votorantim’s Citrovita and Fischer Group’s Citrosuco. The EC has 90 working days, until May 19, 2011 to make a final decision on whether the concentration would significantly impede effective competition within the European Economic Area (EEA) or a substantial part of it.

By merging Citrosuco and Citrovita, this new company will export to more than 80 countries and will have the capacity to process more than 40% of all orange juice produced and exported from Brazil. It will hold an important position on the global market and be responsible for the production of 25% of all orange juice consumed worldwide.

The new company will have an annual revenue of approximately US$1.2 billion, 6 processing plants in Brazil and one in the US (Florida), and 158,000 acres of owned groves for producing oranges, representing as much as 30% of its total processing, with the remaining 70% supplied by more than 2,500 independent growers. The new company will have 6,000 employees, with employment peaking at 10,000 in the harvesting season. The merger will bring synergies and operational gains in the production, processing, export and commercialization of orange juice.

Citrovita was founded in 1989 as a unit of the Votorantim Group. Citrovita operates in all stages of production, from planting seedlings to the export of juice in specially equipped vessels. All their productive assets are located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil: eight plants and more than 16 farms. The production capacity is 150 million boxes of oranges per year, which corresponds to 600 thousand tons of juice.

Citrosuco was created in 1963 by the union of Pasco Packing Company, a juice processor in Florida that included Eckes, an importer from Germany and Carl Fischer, who owned citrus groves and a packinghouse. By 1992 Fischer Group had acquired all the shares in the business. Citrosuco produces frozen concentrate orange juice, Tahiti limejuice and Murcott juice, not from concentrate orange juice, and orange pulp.

Concentrating on “not from concentrate”
Citrosuco’s main orange juice terminal is located in Santos, State of Sao Paolo, Brazil. This terminal is the largest orange juice terminal in the world. This terminal makes it feasible to export bulk FCOJ and premium quality not-from-concentrate juice. In Ghent, Belgium, the company also operates the largest European terminal in its category. This was also the first terminal in the world to operate in the receiving and distribution of bulk “not-from-concentrate juice”. This terminal along with Toyohashi, in Japan and Wilmington, Delaware in the US complete their terminal system.

The new terminal is the result of the application of the technology pioneered by Purdue University professor, Phillip Nelson. Nelson, who in 2007 was awarded the World Food Prize for his lifelong contributions to food science, is credited with developing the potential of aseptic bulk processing and packaging technology. This technology has opened the door to improving the transport of juice. By applying his method to ships, fruit juice by the millions of gallons is brought to countries that will never grow an orange, tomato or apple, and the potential of this breakthrough wasn’t lost on Citrosuco. On December 3, 1999, Citrosuco made the world’s first shipment of bulk aseptic orange juice, ready to drink, and opened up a new era in ocean transport of juice, particularly orange juice. (see picture of ship)

Citrosuco North America (CNA) has been a tenant at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware for the past twenty-eight years. At the Port of Wilmington, Delaware, North America’s chief gateway for juice imports, Brazilian juice both in fresh and concentrate is received at the facility in its specialized juice tankers, classified as “four hold refrigerated ships”. The ships are the length of two football fields and are each capable of holding 7.6 million gallons of juice. M/V Premium do Brasil and M/V Carlos Fischer, its sister ship, were built in the Kelven Flore AS shipyard in west Norway and were commissioned in August 2003. They have 16 vertically positioned cylinder juice tanks for storage of fresh juice and juice concentrate at between -10°C and - 0°C. Citrosuco’s M/V Premium do Brasil also has storage capacity for up to five hundred 20 ft. long shipping containers on-deck, of which 75 can be refrigerated. This capability is designed to help balance her operating cost, as juice tankers tend to sail empty on their return voyage. From the Wilmington, Delaware facility, distribution is to customers throughout the US and Canada.

Last September, Citrosuco North America (CNA) completed the construction of a new storage system at the Port of Wilmington for fresh orange juice imports. The expanded tank capacity will allow CNA to store juice NFC in addition to its current storage system used for its fruit juices from concentrate. With the added capacity comes the ability to handle more imports, which worry US producers from California to Florida.

The EC ruling on the merits of the Citrosuco and Citrovita merger may be problematical. With or without the merger, Brazil’s exports of OJ and other juice products seem destined to grow, not only to Europe, but also to the world.

Brazil squeezes OJ competition Brazil’s the Saudi Arabia of orange juice. Like the Arab oil giant, Brazil by virtue of exporting 99% of its OJ, is the world’s dominant supplier. Last year, Brazil’s two largest OJ exporters dominated supply with an 80% slice of the European market. Last year, two of Brazil’s largest OJ exporters, Citrosuco and Citrovita, merged linking together 25% of the world’s orange juice supply. But The European Commission says not so fast.

By Carole Lauriat, AJOT

Brazil is the world’s number one exporter of orange juice, followed by Florida. Together they produce roughly 85% of the world’s orange juice. There is a big difference: Brazilians drink only 1% of their production as they have better beverages to drink, like Caipirinha (a sugar/lime cocktail, know as the national drink) while 90% of Florida’s production is consumed in the US and only 10% is exported. By virtue of exporting 99% of its production of OJ, Brazil has become the Saudi Arabia of this liquid gold and is poised to capture even a bigger slice of the market, if recent events are any guide.

According to the USDA, in 2010, Brazil exported 1,223,000 metric tons (MT) of orange juice, and Brazil’s exports are expected to grow by 12% in 2011, amounting to as much as $220 billion in revenues.

Although, Brazil exported less orange juice by volume in 2010 than it did in 2009, the value of exports grew by 30% with price increases.

According to figures from the Brazilian Association of Citrus Exporters (CitrusBR), in the 2010 season (July 2009 to the end of June 2010), Brazil exported 524,981 tonnes of orange juice for US$660.17 billion. This compares to exports totaling 611,437 tonnes in the 2009 season, with revenues of $847.58 billion.

According to figures by the Foreign Trade Secretariat (Secex), the growth over 2009 was 11.48%. In terms of volume, Brazil exported 1.3 million tonnes of concentrated juice in 2009, and 1.2 million tonnes in 2010.

According to the Florida Department of Citrus, US imports of orange juice during January through December 2010 totaled 303,801,970 single-strength equivalent (SSE) gallons (down 10% compared to last year) with an FOB value of $395,897,328 for an average price of $1.30 per SSE gallon (up 30%). Of these imports, 59,049,460 SSE gallons were not-from-concentrate (NFC) (up 9% from last year).

Orange-juice imports into Florida ports represented 37% of the volume for 2010 (74% for NFC), compared with 36% of the 2009 volume (76% for NFC). Brazil supplied 56% of the volume in 2010 (94% for NFC) compared to 51% in 2009 (97% for NFC).

Brazil wins the zero sum game
In February 2011 the World Trade Organization (WTO) made a final ruling in Brazil’s favor in a dispute with the United States over anti-dumping measures imposed on its orange juice exports. The decision by a WTO dispute panel was the second major trade dispute Brazil won against the US. A year earlier, Brazil won a successful case against US cotton aid.

Brazil challenged the methodology, “zeroing,” that the US Department of Commerce used in applying antidumping tariffs on Brazilian orange juice. The US Department of Commerce uses "zeroing" for assessing duties on goods that are allegedly "dumped," or imported for less than they cost at home. According to the WTO, in zeroing, the importing authorities ignore shipments where imported goods are higher than domestic market prices and could potentially offset separate below-market shipments from the country. Many countries argue that this practice skews the average price of goods from a given country, and in this case, the WTO agreed.

Points of origin…and contention
Brazil got into the citrus business relatively late. Production as an industry began in the 1960s, but it wasn’t until recently that it overtook the US as the world’s primary source. It’s an odd rivalry with US producers. Most consumers in the US and abroad conclude their juice is coming from Florida or California. But Brazil’s OJ rarely touts country of origin. Brazil mainly exports concentrated juice, which retailers can sell and brand without indicating its origin, keeping orange juice recognized as a glass of Florida sunshine. This is particularly true in Europe, where 80% of all OJ consumed is from Brazil. Only South Korea emphasizes the Brazilian origin of its juice on packaging. Of the four main OJ suppliers to Europe, the Brazil’s Cutrale and Citrosuco are the biggest, if not the best known.

In May of 2010, Citrosuco and Citrovita merged to become the biggest orange juice producer in the world. In January of 2011 the European Commission (EC) opened an investigation into the May 2010 merger of Votorantim’s Citrovita and Fischer Group’s Citrosuco. The EC has 90 working days, until May 19, 2011 to make a final decision on whether the concentration would significantly impede effective competition within the European Economic Area (EEA) or a substantial part of it.

By merging Citrosuco and Citrovita, this new company will export to more than 80 countries and will have the capacity to process more than 40% of all orange juice produced and exported from Brazil. It will hold an important position on the global market and be responsible for the production of 25% of all orange juice consumed worldwide.

The new company will have an annual revenue of approximately US$1.2 billion, 6 processing plants in Brazil and one in the US (Florida), and 158,000 acres of owned groves for producing oranges, representing as much as 30% of its total processing, with the remaining 70% supplied by more than 2,500 independent growers. The new company will have 6,000 employees, with employment peaking at 10,000 in the harvesting season. The merger will bring synergies and operational gains in the production, processing, export and commercialization of orange juice.

Citrovita was founded in 1989 as a unit of the Votorantim Group. Citrovita operates in all stages of production, from planting seedlings to the export of juice in specially equipped vessels. All their productive assets are located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil: eight plants and more than 16 farms. The production capacity is 150 million boxes of oranges per year, which corresponds to 600 thousand tons of juice.

Citrosuco was created in 1963 by the union of Pasco Packing Company, a juice processor in Florida that included Eckes, an importer from Germany and Carl Fischer, who owned citrus groves and a packinghouse. By 1992 Fischer Group had acquired all the shares in the business. Citrosuco produces frozen concentrate orange juice, Tahiti limejuice and Murcott juice, not from concentrate orange juice, and orange pulp.

Concentrating on “not from concentrate”
Citrosuco’s main orange juice terminal is located in Santos, State of Sao Paolo, Brazil. This terminal is the largest orange juice terminal in the world. This terminal makes it feasible to export bulk FCOJ and premium quality not-from-concentrate juice. In Ghent, Belgium, the company also operates the largest European terminal in its category. This was also the first terminal in the world to operate in the receiving and distribution of bulk “not-from-concentrate juice”. This terminal along with Toyohashi, in Japan and Wilmington, Delaware in the US complete their terminal system.

The new terminal is the result of the application of the technology pioneered by Purdue University professor, Phillip Nelson. Nelson, who in 2007 was awarded the World Food Prize for his lifelong contributions to food science, is credited with developing the potential of aseptic bulk processing and packaging technology. This technology has opened the door to improving the transport of juice. By applying his method to ships, fruit juice by the millions of gallons is brought to countries that will never grow an orange, tomato or apple, and the potential of this breakthrough wasn’t lost on Citrosuco. On December 3, 1999, Citrosuco made the world’s first shipment of bulk aseptic orange juice, ready to drink, and opened up a new era in ocean transport of juice, particularly orange juice. (see picture of ship)

Citrosuco North America (CNA) has been a tenant at the Port of Wilmington, Delaware for the past twenty-eight years. At the Port of Wilmington, Delaware, North America’s chief gateway for juice imports, Brazilian juice both in fresh and concentrate is received at the facility in its specialized juice tankers, classified as “four hold refrigerated ships”. The ships are the length of two football fields and are each capable of holding 7.6 million gallons of juice. M/V Premium do Brasil and M/V Carlos Fischer, its sister ship, were built in the Kelven Flore AS shipyard in west Norway and were commissioned in August 2003. They have 16 vertically positioned cylinder juice tanks for storage of fresh juice and juice concentrate at between -10°C and - 0°C. Citrosuco’s M/V Premium do Brasil also has storage capacity for up to five hundred 20 ft. long shipping containers on-deck, of which 75 can be refrigerated. This capability is designed to help balance her operating cost, as juice tankers tend to sail empty on their return voyage. From the Wilmington, Delaware facility, distribution is to customers throughout the US and Canada.

Last September, Citrosuco North America (CNA) completed the construction of a new storage system at the Port of Wilmington for fresh orange juice imports. The expanded tank capacity will allow CNA to store juice NFC in addition to its current storage system used for its fruit juices from concentrate. With the added capacity comes the ability to handle more imports, which worry US producers from California to Florida.

The EC ruling on the merits of the Citrosuco and Citrovita merger may be problematical. With or without the merger, Brazil’s exports of OJ and other juice products seem destined to grow, not only to Europe, but also to the world.

If trucking cost is getting out of hand, rail transportation might be worth a look.  If you are considering rail, securing the load will be required.  Therefore, be proactive.  Don't wait for loads to come back for lack of bracing.  Call ThePackagingPro for assistance.  We will make sure your transportation savings won't be eaten up by adding bracing materials.

Interetsing article.  Is this a good thing?  What doe it mean for safety and CSA 2010?
ThePackagingPro

http://www.ajot.com/article_SpecialFeatures.asp?ArticleId=10715

End to Mexico truck dispute: a boost to logistics sector? Infrastructure investments designed to allow Mexico to compete

By Peter A. Buxbaum, AJOT

Earlier this month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon and U.S. President Barack Obama announced, after a meeting in Washington, the terms of a new deal that would open up the border between the two countries to commercial trucks. The transportation agreement, which would also resolve a long-standing trade dispute that involves hefty Mexican tariffs on U.S. goods shipped over the border, is expected to lower transportation costs between the two countries and enhance exports.

The agreement could also boost Mexico's ambitions to become a North American logistics center, to match its growing manufacturing sector. The government of Mexico has embarked on a multi-billion dollar program of investments in logistics infrastructure, including roads, rail, and the Lazaro Cardenas seaport, which it aims to transform into the second largest on North America's Pacific coast.

The dispute over cross-border trucking between Mexico and the United States dates back to the North American Free Trade Agreement of 1995. Under NAFTA's terms, U.S. and Mexican trucks were to be allowed to transport goods back and forth across the border at the agreement's outset, but security concerns and union pressures caused the U.S. to prohibit Mexican trucks from having full access to U.S. roads.

The ban on Mexican vehicles sparked a 15-year-long trade standoff. A pilot program was launched in 2007 to monitor the safety of Mexican trucks and gradually introduce them onto U.S. highways, but funding for the program was eventually cut. In response, Mexico imposed $2.4 billion in tariffs on U.S. goods in 2009. A year later, an additional round of tariffs ranging from 5 percent to 25 percent was introduced on a variety of American food products.

The U.S.-Mexico cross-border truck trade is growing. U.S. imports from Mexico by truck totaled $12 billion in December 2010, a 16.3 percent increase from December 2009. U.S. exports to Mexico by truck exceeded $9 billion during the same month, up 18.7 percent from December 2009. The two countries have a nearly $400 billion annual trading relationship.

The government of Mexico says that it will lift 50 percent of the tariffs as soon as the new deal to open access is signed, and will suspend the remaining 50 percent when the first Mexican carrier is granted operating authority under the program.

The program agreed to by the two governments will proceed in three stages: the first requires Mexican truck operators to file applications and receive inspections in order to become accredited; the second requires a three-month period of inspections for every vehicle crossing the border for a company to earn certification; and the final stage involves issuing permanent authorizations to Mexican trucking firms after 18 months of successful operation.

Despite the strict requirements for gaining access to U.S. roadways, labor unions, which have long backed the ban on Mexican trucking, remain opposed to the agreement, while trucking interests and manufacturers and back the agreement.

"This deal puts Americans at risk," said Jim Hoffa, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. "This agreement caves in to business interests at the expense of the traveling public and American workers. Why agree to a deal that threatens the jobs of U.S. truck drivers and warehouse workers when unemployment is so high?"

As for Mexico's imposition of tariffs on U.S. goods, Hoffa asserted that "the administration should have brought a challenge against Mexico for imposing excessive tariffs on U.S. goods instead of agreeing to open the border to unsafe trucks."

Hoffa also claimed that the trade agreement benefits Mexico but not the United States. "Given the drug violence, there's no way a U.S. company would want to haul valuable goods into the Mexican interior," he said. "Trade agreements are supposed to benefit both parties, but this is a one-way street.

"We continue to have serious reservations about the Department of Transportation's ability to guarantee the safety of Mexican trucks," he added. "Mexican trucks simply don't meet the same standards as U.S. trucks. Medical and physical standards for Mexican trucking firms are lower than for U.S. companies."

The American Trucking Associations supports the announced agreement. "We hope this agreement will be a first step to increasing trade between our two countries, more than 70 percent of which crosses the border by truck," said Bill Graves, the organization's president. "When properly implemented, NAFTA's trucking provisions should evolve to allow for a more efficient, safe and secure environment for cross-border operations between the U.S. and Mexico. Ensuring a level playing field requires that both countries establish permitting and regulatory processes that are clear and transparent to ensure that carriers from both countries are treated equitably."

The National Association of Manufacturers also weighed in in favor. "Manufacturers are pleased that the United States and Mexico have come to an agreement that will resolve the cross-border trucking dispute," said Aric Newhouse, senior vice president for policy and government relations at the National Association of Manufacturers. "The United States is a global leader in ensuring enforcement of trade laws. We need to lead by example, by coming into compliance with our NAFTA obligations on Mexican trucks."

Newhouse added that the retaliatory tariffs have caused American manufacturers to lose market share to international competitors and drained billions of dollars worth of U.S. exports. Moreover, he said, "tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been negatively impacted" by the trade dispute. "Over the last two years, exports of U.S. manufactured goods to Mexico have been hit by retaliatory tariffs. As a result, American manufacturers have lost market share to other nations, and billions of dollars of U.S. exports to Mexico and tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs have been negatively impacted."

Announcements made by the U.S. and Mexican governments said the new initiative is designed to avoid the problems that characterized the 2007 pilot program, which lacked long-term provisions. This time the authorizations will be permanent. "Unlike the failed pilot program," said the Mexican government announcement, "under the new plan there will be no limit to the number of companies who can participate and the trucks they can register for cross-border transport."

"The new requirements for Mexican trucks are tougher than those established in NAFTA and somewhat tougher than those currently in force for American truckers," reported the Wall Street Journal. "Specifically, Mexican trucks will have to carry electronic recorders to ensure they do only cross-border, not domestic, runs and to track compliance with U.S. hours-of-service laws."

"I do appreciate that the administration is attempting to raise the bar on safety for Mexican trucks," said Hoffa of the Teamsters. "But the stricter standards aren't enough, and they could cost the U.S. taxpayer."

But ATA's Graves is hopeful that "the lifting of the retaliatory tariffs will help the two countries resume more normal trading patterns and increase the flow of commerce between the two countries."

Mexico's Secretariat of Communications and Transport (SCT) is preparing for just such an eventuality with a recent announcement of investments in the modernization and expansion of the Mexico's transportation and logistics infrastructure. Agency head Juan Francisco Molinar Horcasitas said in an announcement that he plans to turn Mexico into "the main logistical platform of North America."

"Due its geographic location, Mexico can act as a platform for all continents," noted Luis Calette, a trade and investment advisor in Tijuana. "The northern frontier is adjacent to the U.S., with routes through to Canada. The southern border allows access to the Central and Latin American markets. The east coast provides links to the European and African markets and on the West Coast the Pacific Ocean opens the door to the Asian market."

Mexico's transportation and logistics infrastructure includes 224,000 miles of roads, 16,000 miles of railroads, 59 international airports and 26 national airports, 541 industrial parks, and 16 maritime ports.

Mexico's road sector will benefit from over $3 billion in government investment for new construction, modernization, and repair of land routes and bridges. An additional $2 billion will go toward a highway projects called the South Arc corridor which will traverse the states of Mexico, Puebla, Oaxaca and Hidalgo.

The SCT is also planning investments in the Matamoros Railroad beltway, a project which is expected to stimulate the economy of the Tamaulipas border region and provide access to the international bridges from Reynosa and Matamoros.

Perhaps most dramatically, the Mexican port of Lazaro Cardenas, on the Pacific coast, has plans to compete with the U.S. ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to Molinar.

The port of Lazaro Cardenas handled around 600,000 teu in 2010, an increase of 5 percent over 2009 and a 275 percent increase over its volume in 2005 when it handled 160,000 teu. The port is now in the process of expanding its capacity to 2.2 million teu per year. With 6,000 acres at its disposal, the port could eventually develop the capacity to handle over six million containers.

"It is of utmost importance that Mexican ports receive Asian containers before they arrive at American ports," said Molinar. "Lazaro Cardenas will be the second largest port in the American Pacific."

On March 2, 2011 PHMSA published a final rule implementing enhanced enforcement procedures authorized by the Hazardous Materials Transportation Safety and Security Reauthorization Act of 2005. These new procedures supplement those currently in place, and apply to all of the DOT's operating administrations. The new requirements become effective on May 2, 2011.

Under these new procedures the DOT can now:

• detain potentially noncompliant packages for inspection.
• open detained packages, in order to identify non-compliant or undeclared hazmat.
• issue out-of-service orders to remove transport vehicles or packages from transportation to mitigate imminent hazards.

Source:  Lion Technology, Inc.

Plastic drums rely on fill level and properly sealed closures to maintain their optimum stacking strength.  Partial fills will be more susceptible to exhibit compression failures.  The product fill temperature may also affect drum performance.  In addition, pay attention to the quality and design of pallets used for handling and stacking.   

ThePackagingPro

Nearly all packages are designed and tested to hold a certain weight/volume of material.  Did you know that changes in temperature during transport can cause changes in pressure and density of liquid products.  If overfilled, leaving insufficient outage, leakage could occur.  Same applies to changes in elevation.
ThePackagingPro