Posted on Thu, Sep 02, 2010
Pack n send is posting part of the information posted by MSNBC. While we are in the process of adjusting freight shipments for our customers, and rescheduling when necessary, we are keeping an eye on the storm.
HATTERAS ISLAND, N.C. — Hurricane Earl was barreling toward the Eastern Seaboard Thursday with winds swirling at around 145 mph, as forecasters issued a new warning for New York's Long Island and tried to work out how badly North Carolina would be hit.
With the storm expected to start hitting North Carolina later Thursday, officials expanded mandatory evacuation orders across new areas of the state's low-lying barrier islands.
The orders affect all visitors throughout Dare County as well as residents and visitors to the popular town of Nags Head, county emergency relief officials said.
Mandatory evacuations, similar to those already in effect for Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island, were also ordered for the beach communities at Morehead City, authorities said.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami issued a tropical storm warning early Thursday for the coast of Long Island and a hurricane watch was issued for areas of Massachusetts. A hurricane warning was already in effect for the North Carolina coast.
Canadian officials also put parts of the Nova Scotia coast under a tropical storm watch.
Category 4 storm Earl, which has maximum sustained winds near 145 mph, was located about 410 miles south of Cape Hatteras, N.C., and was moving north-northwest near 18 mph.
Forecasters said the storm had strengthened slightly, but expected gradual weakening to start later Thursday. Hurricane-force winds extend outward 90 miles from its center.
Watches and warnings were posted along the Atlantic coast for most of North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and part of Massachusetts, alerting residents that hurricane and tropical storm conditions were possible within 36 to 48 hours.
No storm has threatened such a broad swath of the U.S. shoreline — the densely populated coast from North Carolina to New England — since Hurricane Bob in 1991, National Hurricane Center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
The last Category 4 to approach the Outer Banks was Helene in 1950, NBC News Meteorologist Bill Karins reported.
'Very significant impact'
Large swells roiled the coastline and experts warned Earl would bring dangerously high seas.
The first winds were expected to reach the North Carolina's barrier islands by Thursday afternoon and gain force during the night, though the hurricane is then expected to start weakening, the NHC said.
Tourists were largely gone from North Carolina's Outer Banks, but those resolute residents who stayed behind said they were prepared to face down the powerful hurricane. The islands jut out into the Atlantic and are frequently smacked by hurricanes and storms.
"There is still concern that this track, the core of the storm, could shift a little farther to the west and have a very significant impact on the immediate coastline. Our present track keeps it offshore, but you never know," Feltgen said.
The storm was forecast to pass just off Cape Hatteras, bringing wind gusts of up to 100 mph and several feet of storm surge both from the Atlantic and the sounds to the west of the islands.
Evacuations continued Thursday with residents and visitors leaving a barrier island in Carteret County, N.C.
Emergency services director Jo Ann Smith, of Carteret County, said she wasn't sure how many people were affected by the order to leave the Bogue Banks areas.
Unlike some of the barrier islands on the Outer Banks who had to take a ferry, Smith said people could simply leave in their cars.
For more information on freight and cargo shipping, please contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
Posted on Tue, Aug 31, 2010
While freight train derailments are unusual in Texas, this article show that more than freight can be affected. Since both passenger trains and freight trains share the same rails, service interruptions can occur when either service is halted.
Most small freight from our warehouse is taken via truck and boat.
FORT WORTH — A freight train derailment overnight has interrupted Trinity Railway Express commuter rail service between Fort Worth and Dallas.
Three of seven cars carrying coal overturned near downtown Fort Worth around midnight Sunday. The cars were part of the BNSF freight train, which shares the Union Pacific tracks with the TRE.
The transit agency, which is jointly operated by The T and DART, says it will be Wednesday morning before regular service resumes.
Trains will operate no further than the Richland Hills station until then. Buses will ferry TRE passengers between Richland Hills and the rail line's ITC and T&P stations in downtown Fort Worth.
TRE officials say commuters can expect delays until regular service is restored.
Pack n send ships most of its small freight via truck, air and boat.
For information about freight and cargo from Houston, please feel free to contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
This article is taken from ABC news in Dallas.
Posted on Mon, Aug 23, 2010
With the ever adjusting economy, pack n send is monitoring changes in both the freight and cargo industries. We are reprinting this article from The Handy Shipping Guide as a service to our customers. For information on freight and container loading, please contact us directly at 713 266 1450.
US- UK – WORLDWIDE - Having peered into the financial abyss last year YRC, the US less than truckload (LTL) haulier have continued their policy of refinancing by selling off their logistics arm. YRC Logistics has been purchased by Texan venture capital firm Austin Ventures, known for start up and company growth capital investment. The deal, mooted in June, was completed last week for $38.7 million and the investors immediately re branded the group as MIQ Logistics.
Former president and CEO of BAX Global Inc. Joey Carnes was installed as Kansas based MIQ boss and the group will revert to the original MIQ name which was changed by YRC Worldwide in 2007 to emphasize the YRC brand having originally been successful as Meridian IQ logistics. Since that time it has been an uphill struggle for YRC who have had to improve liquidity by strategic redundancies, sale of property and assets, a debt to equity swap in December and a deal to cut salaries negotiated with the unions.
It seems that these drastic measures may have settled the tension surrounding the stock as YRC reportedly took $33.6 million in cash whilst settling YRC Logistics company affairs for payments totaling $11 million. YRC Worldwide is also apparently to retain the potentially lucrative Chinese logistics interests but the bulk of all freight forwarding and customs operations will be transferred back to MIQ.
The deal includes the transfer of the Hampshire based operation which only opened a new 6,500 square foot warehouse in Totton in December citing a big increase in business for the expansion. YRC Logistics has a presence in Asia, North America, South America and Europe and operates from six sites in the UK in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Hemel Hempstead and Glasgow as well as Southampton.
Posted on Wed, Aug 18, 2010
Pack n send is publishing this article from Handy Shipping News as a service to our customers.
US - Always keen to promote innovation and education throughout the shipping industry, German heavy lift and oversize project freight specialists Beluga Shipping GmbH is the latest company to support a short course designed to fast-track project cargo management skills that otherwise may take years to acquire.
Beluga will join the sponsors supporting the Certificate of Achievement in Project Cargo Management that will be offered during the education component of the 21st Annual JoC Breakbulk Americas Transportation Conference & Exhibition at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston from 12th to 15th October.
Port Corpus Christi is also a sponsor of the training that will be run over two days from October 14-15 and is a joint venture initiative between the JoC Break Bulk Conferences (a division of UBM Global Trade) and international over dimensional 3PL network, Project Professionals Group. Course trainer and the general manger of the Project Professionals Group, Kevin Stephens, said the support from the project forwarding industry was much appreciated and showed that they were committed to education and training that delivered a higher standard of handling services for clients:
“Understanding how to manage multimodal project cargoes is extremely challenging and increasing skills through practical training is in everybody’s best interests to ensure the successful delivery of the freight.”
For more information about freight and cargo shipping as well as household goods shipping overseas, please fell free to contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
Posted on Mon, Aug 16, 2010
The Port of Houston offers an up close look at cargo shipping. Pack n send is posting the information taken from the Port of Houston website as a service to our customers.
Get ready for an unforgettably spectacular waterborne tour of one of the busiest ports in the world aboard the Port of Houston Authority's free public tour boat!
Named for the legendary military commander who led the fight for Texas independence from Mexico and later statehood, the M/V Sam Houston offers free leisurely 90-minute round-trip cruises along the Houston Ship Channel.
Embarking from the port's Sam Houston Pavilion, visiting sightseers can enjoy passing views of international cargo vessels, and operations at the port's Turning Basin Terminal. Measuring 95 feet in length and 24 feet in width, the boat carries a maximum capacity of 90 passengers with air-conditioned lounge seating and additional standing room on the boat's rear deck.
The M/V Sam Houston has been operating as the Port Authority's public tour vessel since its inaugural voyage on July. 30, 1958. By 1979, a total of 1 million passengers had taken the tour.
No food or beverages are allowed to be brought aboard the boat or into the pavilion. However, a free beverage is provided on the boat during the trip. We want all of our visitors to enjoy the tour experience in a clean and safe environment, therefore picnics in the pavilion are not allowed.
The tour is free; however reservations are required 24 hours in advance of the planned tour. Enhanced port security measures require government-issued photo identification for passengers ages 18 and older. Examples of acceptable identification are state-issued drivers license, state of Texas Identification card, or passport.
Register online anytime, or call 713-670-2416, Monday through Thursday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Please note: a maximum of 45 reservations is allowed for any one group. Also, a maximum ratio of one adult per four children under the age of 12 will be enforced.
SECURITY NOTICE
Because of heightened security measures, regularly scheduled tours aboard the M/V Sam Houston may be canceled without advance notice. Before making the trip to the Port of Houston for a tour aboard the Sam Houston, please consult this Web site for information on the status of your tour.
Security regulations also prohibit the carrying of any camera equipment aboard the M/V Sam Houston and the taking of photographs from aboard the ship is strictly prohibited.
Also, large baggage such as backpacks and oversized purses are not allowed on board. Passengers' personal belongings may be subject to searches in accordance with federal regulations. The PHA reserves the right to refuse passage to board the vessel to any person for any reason at any time.
We advise that you arrive at least 15 minutes, preferably half hour, before your tour launches to assure that you have plenty of time to check in through security and to board the vessel.
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Tour Times
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Monday
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Closed
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Tuesday
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10 am & 2:30 pm
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Wednesday
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10 am & 2:30 pm
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Thursday
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2:30 pm only
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Friday
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10 am & 2:30 pm
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Saturday
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10 am & 2:30 pm
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Sunday
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2:30 pm only
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Holidays
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Closed
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For more information on international shipping, please feel free to contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
Posted on Fri, Aug 13, 2010
Pack n send loads containers for both household good and business shipping. While we pack and wrap goods before they go inside the container, we also label our palletized items for easy unloading..
Businesses are shipping office furniture, files and machinery over seas on a steady basis. While some of our households and individuals are returning to their home countries, we also ship for people just shopping in the United States. They have their brand new furniture and goods delivered to our warehouse, and then we load and ship the container for them.
Some of our best customers are locating overseas for a few years. When their job assignment is complete, we will then ship back their belongings.
Businesses are busy purchasing machinery as well as entire plants and requesting overseas shipping.
Our last commercial container had a Caterpillar 120 taken apart and then loaded into the container.
Our automobile shipping is steady. We offer containerized shipping to most countries. We are able to offer a lower cost roll on roll off service to certain locations.
For customers that do not have enough goods to fill a container, we offer shipping by the cubic meter. For our much smaller shipments we offer regular shipping services.
We custom crate items, as well as box or palletize shipments. Our crating service handles fragile or delicate items priced form one hundred dollars to over one million dollars.
If you need any over seas shipping, please contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
-Freight Shipping & Receiving
Posted on Wed, Aug 11, 2010
Now that a one hundred square ice piece has broken off a glacier, the cargo ships now face a new peril.
After dealing with pirates and colliding ships this floating island is another worry for boat captains.
This ice island break off follows six months of unusually warm record. These past six months have recorded the warmest temperatures since 1962.
Since glaciers are melting faster than any one had anticipated, they are adding to threats of flooding coastal cities all over the world.
It should take approximately two years for this latest breakaway piece of ice to melt. At this point, the worry is that the iceberg may head toward shipping lanes off of the Canadian Coast, and also in the North Atlantic Ocean.
By monitoring the progress of this large ice mass, ships should be able to adjust their course during the next two year time period.
For information about freight and cargo shipping, please contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
Posted on Thu, Jul 29, 2010
CANADA – After harsh words had been exchanged over what the Innternational Transport Workers Federation (ITF) called last week “a needless overreaction” it seems talks are to resume at the Port of Montreal which will possibly mean an end to the labor dispute which commenced in June. On the 27th of that month the dockworkers claim that employers changed the working conditions of 169 dock workers with the least seniority. The longshoremen responded by refusing to work overtime as of the 9th July.
On Sunday the 18th July the union and employers met all afternoon and planned to continue ongoing negotiations during the following week. During the next 48 hours however there was a lockout preventing access to the port and infuriating union officials. The lock out was described as “incomprehensible and pointless. News of the lockout reached them they were in the middle of a general meeting to cancel the planned application of pressure tactics. They pointed out that overtime is voluntary and no reason to be excluded from work.
Now it appears common sense has prevailed on both sides and they have agreed a protocol to return to work enabling the port to function whilst negotiations continue, with union representative Michel Murray saying that with both sides talking an agreement could be reached in the next few weeks.
Shipping through the port, Canada’s second largest behind Vancouver and capable of handling one and a quarter million TEU’s per annum, has been diverted to other ports, principally Halifax, since the dispute started and the problems are causing delays and possibly the cancellation of new contracts and investments.
Pack n send has reproduced portions of this article from Handy Shipping News as a service to our customers.
Pack n send monitors port operations throughout the world. While most of our cargo shipments go via ship to ports in Central America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, any port closure or slowdown can affect freight shipments throughout the world.
For more information on overseas shipping, please feel free to contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
Posted on Wed, Jul 07, 2010
While the cargo shipping is beginning to pick up in the United States and exports have increased during the last quarter, Subway has come up with an ingenious use for cargo containers.
The New York Times recognized this ingenuity, and pack n send is posting parts of their article to our website. Our hats are off to Subway for pushing the American Dream to new heights.
Most of the patrons are drawn from an elite group of high-beam artists, namely ironworkers laboring hundreds of feet above the street. The dress code is severe: hard hat, overalls, safety vest and glasses. Security clearance and a union card are a must.
The restaurant, a Subway franchise, opened its door at the top of the steel honeycomb that forms 1 World Trade Center, the skyscraper rising at ground zero. The building will be the city’s tallest when finished in 2013, and the sandwich shop, currently sitting on the 27th floor, will rise along with it.
The sandwich shop is one of four movable “pods” on hydraulic legs sitting on either side of two tower cranes; the other pods house offices, a shanty where workers can change clothes, and bathrooms for men and women.
But despite advances in engineering, materials and safety, when it comes to lunch, ironworkers and other laborers are used to eating the way their literal and proverbial forebears did during the skyscraper boom of the 20th century: out of a lunch bucket, with a plastic cooler doing the job of the old metal pail.
The array of pods cost $3 million, but the contractor hopes to recoup some of the expense in saved time. “The days of eating on top of a steel beam are long gone,” said Bill Grutta, a DCM vice president.
Each pod is made of nine cargo containers welded together and stacked three levels tall. In the dining pod, the Subway sits on the top level.
It is no different from any other Subway, with a kitchen, a walk-in freezer, a service counter and refrigerators for drinks. One level down, there is a heated and air-conditioned lounge with tables and chairs. A compost tank and an evaporator in the bottom container take care of all the solid and liquid waste.
The menu, for now, is instantly recognizable to any connoisseur of the chain. But Mr. Schragger may add ready-to-heat lasagna, burgers, hot dogs and pretzels to the usual $5 footlongs to infuse the shop with a sense of variety. There is also talk of adding Papa John’s pizza. After all, he must cater to the whims of his clientele.
“I don’t think the veggies will be a big seller,” said Mr. Schragger, who owns four other Subways in Manhattan. “I imagine most of the guys will want protein. Philly Cheesesteaks and the Feast.”
The shop is open to ironworkers, who work at the top of the building as it goes up, as well as laborers, concrete workers, electricians and others on the lower floors; at any time more than 1,000 people can be on the job site. But they are not required to eat at the Subway. Business was a little slow Wednesday for what Mr. Schragger called a “soft opening,” but he and DCM are hoping the shop will catch on.
But it is probably the only one whose 500-gallon water tank is replenished weekly by an even larger tanker lifted by a crane. DCM expects — or hopes — that the compost container will not have to be opened until the building is finished. The waterless toilets and urinals are cleaned by negative pressure that pulls the waste into an evaporator that turns much of the sewage into steam.
“As the building goes up,” he said, “the views will be pretty nice. I’m sure it will be one of the most talked-about sites to come have lunch.”
For more mundane uses of cargo containers, please contact pack n send for both cargo shipping and freight preparation at 713 266 1450.
Posted on Fri, Jul 02, 2010
The Los Angeles Times has reported that clerical workers went on strike at several terminals in both Los Angeles Long beach. These workers are responsible for critical paperwork for ocean cargo in California.
While the ports are fully functioning, there have been some picketing by workers at the port.
An arbitrator declared that the strike was improper and ordered the employees back to work.
The clerks who have walked off their jobs are responsible for export paperwork as well as transport documentation.
This job action along with the governor call for minimum wage for all California state employees not currently under contract, could set a double whammy for the already beleaguered economy in California.
Other ports around the nation that handle freight and cargo shipping have not been affected by this labor dispute.
For information on shipping freight and cargo from the Port of Houston, please contact pack n send at 713 266 1450.
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