All Feature articles – Page 311
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FeatureFrench strikes cripple car shipments
French strike action over pension reforms, which began last week and included the suspension of rail services by SNCF staff, has brought vehicle movements by rail to a virtual standstill. “For all intents and purposes it can be considered zero,” confirmed Alain Leray, deputy managing director at STVA, the vehicle ...
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FeatureContact and capacity lead ECG debate
Lively debate about the need to invest in new logistics capacity, coupled with moves by European carmakers to finally improve their communication with suppliers, were both highlights of this year’s ECG conference, completed last Friday in Berlin. While newly-appointed head of Opel/Vauxhall logistics, Jeffrey Morrison, was vowing to improve GM’s ...
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FeatureGlobal news in brief
GM confirms closure of AntwerpDespite speculation last week that GM Europe was in talks with China’s Geely over the future of its Opel plant in Antwerp, the company confirmed this week that the plant will close and that there will be no further negotiations for vehicle assembly there beyond the ...
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FeatureFord berates EU-Korea trade agreement
As the EU and Korea wait for ratification of the free trade agreement signed on 6 October, carmakers in Europe, including Ford, appear determined to lobby for changes that will overcome the perceived competitive disadvantages the deal represents for the European automotive industry. The agreement was signed by EU trade ...
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FeatureExecutives on the move
GM South Africa has appointed Rita Kavashe Nariangai as its new export manager. She moves over from heading the sales and marketing department at GM East Africa and will now be responsible for growing GMSA’s exports into the wider African continent. The company has recently announced that it has reached ...
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FeatureUS trucking regs could worsen driver shortage
New legislation on driver safety coming into effect towards the end of this year on US highways could change the shape of existing logistics networks in the country, and could exacerbate a growing shortage of drivers, according to trucking and logistics companies. Such a shortage would mean less capacity to ...
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FeatureGlobal news in brief
SNCF Fret losing millions in French disputeSNCF Fret is suffering serious disruption this week as French unions led by SNCF workers continue the strike action begun yesterday in protest over the French government’s pensions reform bill. The company is estimated to be losing €20m ($28m) a day in lost revenue ...
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FeatureNissan begins Micra exports from Chennai
Nissan has begun exports of the Micra from India to markets in Europe beginning with a consignment of nearly 4,000 vehicles produced at its Orangadam plant in Chennai from the adjacent port of Ennore. The company’s Indian division – Nissan Motor India – has further plans to export more than ...
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FeatureDB merges automotive units
Deutsche Bahn is merging two of its existing automotive subsidiaries operating under the DB Schenker Rail division in the first quarter of 2011. ATG Autotransportlogistic and Schenker Automotive RailNet will now be managed as a single unit by the Automotive Market Unit in Europe called DB Schenker Rail Automotive. It ...
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FeatureWill Geely rescue Antwerp?
The fate of General Motors Europe’s Opel plant in Antwerp, Belgium, which seemed certain earlier this month when the carmaker announced that it had failed to find a suitable buyer, may once again be up for debate as fresh talks are said to take place between GM and Chinese carmaker ...
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FeatureGrimaldi launches ro-ro Med service
Italian shipping specialist Grimaldi Lines has launched a new ro-ro service between the port of Livorno on Italy’s west coast and the Sicilian industrial port of Catania. The service, which will employ two vessels to support the twice-weekly route, will also make calls at Malta and Genoa. The vessels – ...
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FeatureRenault Nissan saves more than expected
Renault Nissan’s push to find common savings and efficiencies for logistics between the two alliance partners – including the creation of a new structure, called Alliance Global Logistics – has gone considerably faster than anticipated, according to an interview with the managing director of the organisation, Christian Mardrus. This year, ...
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FeatureNYK integrates divisions into new company
NYK has started the integration of its contract logistics division NYK Logistics with its airfreight forwarding business Yusen Air & Sea Service, bringing into being a new company called Yusen Logistics. The start of integration realises the intention outlined by NYK’s president Yasumi Kudo in his new year’s speech in ...
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FeatureBMW wary over subcontracted car carriers
The recovery in sales for BMW – which has seen volume in the first nine months of the year surpass pre-recession peak levels – has made a lack of truck capacity for vehicle logistics across its major markets in Europe, North America and China more obvious, according to Mathias Wellbrock, ...
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FeatureTime to share the burden - industry gathers for Automotive Logistics Global conference in Detroit
That old watchword collaboration was on the lips of carmakers, suppliers and logistics providers alike as they gathered for the Automotive Logistics Global conference in Dearborn, Michigan this week. The conference, which began on Monday with attendee numbers that confirmed an automotive industry very much on the rebound from the ...
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FeatureLogistics providers face up to GM Antwerp closure
Last week’s announcement by GM that it would shut the Opel assembly plant in Antwerp, Belgium by the end of 2010 is likely to have wide repercussions for the brand’s European material and finished vehicle flows but logistics providers have prepared for the eventuality since the warnings given in January ...
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FeatureChinese supply grows up
Strikes and walk-outs by workers demanding better pay may be a bellweather for the future, but it is not denting the major suppliers’ commitment to investing in ChinaChoosing a service provider: local vs globalDealing with damageKeeping up with the codesCurrency valuation affects costsThere have been strikes and standoffs at plants ...
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FeatureAsean alliance boosts car industry
Namrita Chow discovers that the Asean states are investing in the car business to the benefit of local and international OEMs. However, the logistics support structure is still fragmented and outdated, and they are competing with the manufacturing expert - ChinaFavourable tariffsAsean versus China as production base?New vehicle port links ...
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FeatureFreight audit on the rise in Europe
Long an outsourced service in the US, Europe-based manufacturers are beginning cotton on to the benefits of freight audit and pay, and other e-commerce tools to tighten their supply chainsEurope is complicatedTier suppliers sold on freight audit and payBorn in the 1950s out of US legislation standardising freight rates and ...
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FeatureFacing up to the capacity conundrum
The North American situationIs investment in capacity the solution?Beyond boom and bustThe European situationTrucking into the futureHow can a country have severe over-capacity for vehicle transport one year, and under-capacity the next? Andrew Williams investigates the factors affecting such swings in the US and Europe, and uncovers the delicate relationships ...