Quick News for Thursday 9-8-05 :

The National Grain and Feed Association and North American Grain Association issue a statement on the ongoing progress of hurricane Katrina relief and recovery and its relation to the grain export facilities affected by Katrina :

The NGFA and NAEGA also commend U.S. government agencies for their efforts
to address critical infrastructure challenges that must be met so that these
facilities may resume efficient operations.

In addition, grain firms continue the process of locating their employees,
and there is a critical need to provide housing and living accommodations,
including food and water, near these facilities to enable them to operate on an
around-the-clock basis.
Finally, and extremely importantly, given curfews in
the region to restore law-and-order, there is a need for local government
authorities and law enforcement agencies to devise an acceptable system for
allowing grain elevator employees to access and operate facilities on a 24/7
basis, including during night-time hours.

Read the whole thing.


For drivers and trucking companies that want to help with the Katrina relief effort, here is a must read resource on who to contact and where to go to help :

Truckers have already contributed greatly to the Hurricane Katrina
relief efforts through the transportation of needed water, food, clothing and
other necessities to the Gulf Coast region.

Truckers wishing to contribute money, food or clothing or participate in
the relief effort by driving should read the following information and choose
the course of action that best fits what they wish to do.

Again, read the whole thing.


And in some much needed good news from the transportation industry regarding the relief efforts with Hurricane Katrina, "FedEx Corp. has delivered nothing but disaster aid to the Gulf Coast for more than a week"

By Tuesday, FedEx - the largest transportation donor for the American Red
Cross - had shipped in excess of 110 tons of supplies, mostly by truck, and was
resuming flights Tuesday night into Lafayette and Baton Rouge, La.
"Very
simply, if we need items shipped, we call FedEx," said Kara Bunte, American Red
Cross spokeswoman in Washington.

"Two trailers turned into six," said David Westrick, FedEx Ground
spokesman. "One of our sales reps, Melissa Burns, stepped up to make sure they
were collecting the right items and worked with us to get the trailers
moved."
FedEx shipped more than 40 tons of cots and hygiene kits to the
Astrodome.
"All of our operating companies are working together," said Ryan
Furby, FedEx spokesman, in a disaster relief effort being coordinated largely in
Memphis.
"The calls come in and we line up the shipping," he said, including
trailer loads of supplies donated by employees.

Thank you FedEx, and keep up the good work !


Unfortunately, it's not all good news on the trucking front. In Michigan, truckers are "...fed up with what they are calling unnecessary bureaucracy."

Federal Emergency Management Agency contacted Great Lakes Customs
Brokerage, who in turn contracted Terveer Trucking of Fremont. Terveer
immediately sent two drivers to Mississippi with 40,000 pounds of much-needed
ice. They arrived three days ago, but the ice is still in the back of the
trailer and not in the hands of those who need it.
Lewis Snyder and Diane
Phillips have found it to be much more complicated than just packing at trailer
with ice then driving it to where it needs to be.
"They've been down there
since Saturday. And they're still loaded with ice," said Peter
Terveer.
Snyder and Phillips began their journey from their company in
Fremont. They then drove to Benton Harbor where they picked up the ice and
continued on to Meridian, Mississippi where FEMA officials told them to bring
it.
"We started out in Meridian at a Naval air station and we were probably
there for 20 minutes, a half hour, and they sent us off to Jackson,
Mississippi," Snyder told 24 Hour News 8 by phone.
When they arrived in
Jackson, Mississippi, Snyder says he and Phillips got the runaround
again.
"Finally the Jackson County sheriff actually spoke with FEMA and the
Red Cross who wanted us to go back to Meridian, and he told them no, that as far
as he was concerned he was going to start sending trucks out, and he hung up on
them," adds Snyder.
They went south from Jackson, were stopped in Riley, and
are now in Wiggins, Mississippi. Four cities later and the ice still hasn't been
unloaded, as well as two hungry, tired, and frustrated truck drivers from West
Michigan.

Disgraceful and ridiculous.


In the no-surprise-here news department, struggling airline (aren't they all struggling?) Delta Airlines is cutting flights in Cincinnati and selling 11 planes in an attempt to restructure their costs.


On the other side of the fence, Target Logistics has more than doubled their earnings in 2004.

On Thursday, the Baltimore-based freight forwarder reported earnings for the
quarter ended June 30 of $505,000, or 2 cents per share. A year ago, Target
Logistics reported earnings of $222,000, or 1 cent per share. Revenue rose 10.6
percent from a year ago to $36.7 million.
For the year ended June 30, Target
reported earnings of $1.56 million, or 7 cents per share. In the 2004 fiscal
year, Target recorded earnings of $540,000, or 3 cents per share. Annual revenue
rose 9.8 percent to $138 million.

Not to be outdone, UTi Logistics "reported a 38 percent rise in second-quarter profits Thursday."


And finally, Saddle Creek Corporation, a 3PL company, is named one of the top 100 3PL providers by Inbound Logistics Magazine. It's clients include Sam's Club and The Home Depot


If you have any other logistics news regarding Katrina relief efforts, good or bad, we want to hear about it, let us know.