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Container Trade in TEUs* 2009 Year-to-Date*TEUs: 20-foot equivalent units or 20-foot-long cargo container **Preliminary estimate   Loaded Inbound Loaded Outbound Empties Total Containers January 200,588 88,510 110,197 399,295 February 149,299 92,781 75,962 318,042 March 186,450 117,674 70,007 374,131 April 199,051 112,976 96,678 408,705 May 208,591 121,064 89,900 419,555 June 206,358 114,107 92,882 413,347 July 221,719 108,420 102,874 433,013 August 249,920 130,623 112,796 493,339 September 224,924 109,337 106,103 440,364 October November December Year-to-Date 1,846,900 995,492 857,399 3,699,791 YTD % Change -23.8% -26.3% -24.2% -24.6%

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – James and Maria Ivory's dreams of a relaxing retirement on Florida's Gulf Coast were put on hold when they discovered their new home had been built with Chinese drywall that emits sulfuric fumes and corrodes pipes. It got worse when they asked their insurer for help — and not only was their claim denied, but they've been told their entire policy won't be renewed. Thousands of homeowners nationwide who bought new houses constructed from the defective building materials are finding their hopes dashed, their lives in limbo. And experts warn that cases like the Ivorys',...

Nutrition and public policy expert Marion Nestle answers readers' questions in this column written exclusively for The Chronicle. E-mail your questions to food@sfchronicle.com, with Marion Nestle in the subject line. Q: I saw you on "The Colbert Report" (Aug. 19) talking about sugar policy. Explain, please. I don't understand why sugar policy is a topic for Comedy Central. A: Neither did I until I saw Stephen Colbert douse himself with 5 pounds of sugar over the impending "crisis." We have a sugar crisis? According to processed food manufacturers, we are about to run out of sugar. Horrors! Earlier in August,...

PARIS (AFP) – The leaders of France and Germany called Friday for the United Nations to support a carbon tax on imports from countries who fail to back international efforts to fight global warming. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arguing that states that fail to back a deal at a climate summit in Copenhagen in December should be held accountable. "It would be unacceptable for the efforts of the most ambitious countries to be undermined by the carbon emissions released by lack of or insufficient action by other countries,"...

Obama decides to impose tariffs on Chinese tire imports for 3 years WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama has decided to slap punitive tariffs on all car and light truck tires entering the United States from China. Obama had until Sept. 17 -- next week -- to accept, reject or modify a U.S. International Trade Commission ruling that a rising tide of Chinese tires into the U.S. hurts American producers. A powerful union, United Steelworkers, blames the increase for the loss of thousands of American jobs. The federal trade panel recommended a 55 percent tariff in the first year, 45...

DORRIS, Calif. -- Agents from the Siskiyou County-Wide Narcotic Task Force were assisted by the California Department of Justice, Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol in the service of a search warrant at the Elm Motel in Dorris, California. Drug agents learned that a shipment of opium had been intercepted by U.S. Customs en route from Thailand on its way to the Elm Motel in Dorris on Highway 97, just south of the California Oregon border. The opium had been hidden in the hollow handles of broomsticks that were mixed in with baskets and bamboo items. Drug agents...

Port Tracker report projects retail imports to be at lowest level since 2002 Container trade imports will fall 20 percent in August and September and another 18 percent in October, pushing overall retail imports for 2009 down to the lowest level since 2002, industry forecaster IHS Global Insight said in a report released Thursday. In its Port Tracker report, released with the National Retail Federation, the group said the sharp pullback in peak season shipping will leave import shipping volume measured in TEUs down 18.8 percent in 2009 compared to last year. The 12.3 million 20-foot-equivalents IHS Global Insight estimates...

There seems to be little sympathy among Asian shippers for the plight of liner shipping; so much so that some of the Asian shippers’ bodies have expressed doubts over cries of poverty by the lines, according to Shippers’ Voice. As the shipping lines struggle to keep their heads above waters in the present economic scenario, Asian shippers warn that they will avoid shipping lines perceived to be “hostile” to them, pointing out that times are even more difficult for shippers with a large number of exporters, importers, wholesalers and retailers having pulled down shutters. They are particularly sore about various...

It's the worst year in history for the industry: Two Detroit companies went bankrupt, and even the Japanese are losing money. But nothing stops those Koreans. Hyundai and Kia are expanding their lineups, a new Kia plant is to open in Georgia, and they are setting most ambitious goals. Their cars may not be the best, but they are improving--many get on the "recommended" list in Consumers Reports--and they are getting major help from the home country's weak currency. The two are connected under the name Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. Hyundai is larger and owns a 39% controlling stake in...

TRANSPACIFIC lines are preparing to tear up annual contracts signed less than two months ago in a desperate bid to shore up their finances. The 14 members of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement issued a stark warning to their customers that freight rates agreed for service contracts signed in May were not sustainable over the typical 12-month term and may have to be renegotiated. In an unprecedented move, that reflects the plight of the industry, the TSA issued a statement saying members had adopted a voluntary across-the-board increase of $500 per feu effective from August 10. This will apply to rates...

One could be forgiven for thinking that contracts in shipping are no longer worth the paper they are written on. First we had charterers in the dry bulk sector simply walking away from unfavourable contracts at the top of the market. Now in container shipping we have lines on the transpacific trade trying to unilaterally increase rates on annual contracts just months after they were agreed. It would certainly be interesting to be a fly on the wall when shipping line sales people meet major US shippers and try to explain that they now, in effect, want to tear up...

Slight April gain over March gives weak signal for peak season Container volumes at U.S. ports edged up in April compared to March, but remained well below the volumes recorded in April 2008, according to the monthly Port Tracker published by the National Retail Federation and IHS Global Insight. The second half of 2009 appears to be trending the same way the first half progressed, with containerized imports creeping up compared to the month before, but down noticeably from the same month last year. It therefore looks like the back-to-school shopping season this summer, traditionally the second busiest period on...

U.S. exporters will see ongoing equipment shortages in the months ahead, and the container shortages could become even worse if imports from Asia do not pick up significantly during the peak shipping season. The equipment imbalance is occurring at an especially bad time for shippers of agricultural products because exports are starting to pick up after a lackluster first quarter. If exporters can not secure more empty containers for their products, the export boom will be snuffed out before it gathers steam. Agricultural exporters in the U.S. interior are at greatest risk. "Eastbound cargo isn't delivered where westbound cargo is...

There's something rotten in Homestead. It's the odor in Jason and Melissa Harrell's house, which was built with defective, Chinese-made drywall redolent of strong paint or rotten eggs. The smell got so bad that the Harrells felt forced to move. They now pay rent on top of their mortgage. ''What it boiled down to is, I had to choose between my financial health and my children's physical health,'' Melissa Harrell said. When the sulfurous stink in Gary and Andrea Suhajcik's Boynton Beach home wouldn't go away, the builder offered to rip out the walls, wiring, plumbing and molding in hopes...

US drivers who own a car made overseas are more likely to be satisfied with their purchase than domestic car owners, a poll showed on Tuesday. Seventy-seven percent of poll respondents who own a foreign car said they were happy with it versus 69 percent of American car owners.

Before long, you'll be more likely to get an American-made car by buying an import brand instead of a Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler vehicle. New data show that for the first time ever, foreign-based carmakers are poised to build more vehicles in the United States than the Detroit 3. The American automakers have obviously hit the skids, with Chrysler in bankruptcy and GM headed that way. Detroit's woes are accelerating a market share decline that's been underway for years. And now, forecasting firm CSM Worldwide predicts that in 2010, foreign-based automakers like Toyota and Honda will build more cars...

The latest twist in Detroit’s do-over has General Motors becoming the first automaker to import Chinese-built cars into the United States, according to Automotive News. Citing a leaked document shown to lawmakers who are overseeing the restructuring of the auto giant, the newspaper reports that GM is planning to market made in China cars to American consumers as early as 2011, the same year the company’s heralded Chevrolet Volt electric car goes on sale. General Motors is currently the best-selling foreign automaker in China, and Buick is number one brand overall, part of the reason that the nameplate was saved...

<p>BEIJING – The contraction in China's manufacturing worsened in March, data showed Wednesday, and President Hu Jintao told a state news agency that the country's economic problems are increasing.</p> <p>The purchasing managers index by brokerage CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets — based on a survey of some 400 companies — showed manufacturing shrank for an eighth month. It fell to 44.8, down from February's 45.1, on a scale where numbers below 50 show activity is shrinking.</p>

NEW YORK - A New York businessman is launching a new kosher tequila in time for Cinco de Mayo. Martin Silver says Agave 99 will be on the market in time for the holiday that celebrates Mexico's defeat of French forces on May 5, 1862. Silver, president of Long Island-based Star Industries, says he wants to satisfy the craze for high-end tequila with one that observant Jews can drink.

Over the last 40 years, the United States has become increasingly dependent on foreign oil and reluctant to develop domestic, fossil fuel resources. Today, America imports two-thirds of its oil at a cost of $300 billion per year, much of it from politically unstable, Middle East countries which control 45% of the world's oil, overall. This is occurring despite the existence of bountiful, untapped oil resources within the United States. Developing these resources could free America from imports, create badly needed, oil-production jobs and meet U.S. energy demand for the next 200 years. With nearly three-fourths of Americans favoring increased...

Lawmakers in Illinois are calling foreign steel being used to construct a pipeline a slap in the face to U.S. workers. Steel pipes painted with a "Made in India" logo are being shipped through Granite City, Ill., right in front of a steel mill where more than 2,800 steelworkers have been laid off. "This is a perfect example of how our trade laws are failing our workers. At a time when thousands of local steelworkers are laid off, shipping steel from India for a project in our area is unacceptable and outrageous," said U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill. "It is...

Trade valued annually at more than $100 billion moves through The Port of Long Beach, making it the second-busiest seaport in the United States. Everything from clothing and shoes to toys, furniture and consumer electronics arrives at the Port before making its way to store shelves throughout the country. Specialized terminals also move petroleum, automobiles, cement, lumber, steel and other products. A major economic force, the Port supports more than 30,000 jobs in Long Beach, 316,000 jobs throughout Southern California and 1.4 million jobs throughout the United States. It generates about $16 billion in annual trade-related wages statewide.Port of Long BeachLatest MonthContainer...

February loaded oceangoing cargoes at the side-by-side ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach fell 36.6 percent from the previous February, the two ports showed in separate reports. The slowdown for February is much more pronounced than it was in January, when the year-on-year decrease in cargo traffic at the two Southern California ports was 18.7 percent. The ports are the two busiest in the United States, handling more than 40 percent of imported consumer goods. The two ports showed inbound cargoes down 38.8 percent and outbound cargoes down 32.2 percent in February 2009 from February 2008. The traffic fell...

February imports fall 18.1% in L.A. and Long Beach. Other West Coast harbors see even worse declines. The international trade business is foundering faster than ever seen before, with some U.S. seaports watching cargo traffic fall by more than a third. It's gotten so bad that Los Angeles and Long Beach are slashing cargo rates to keep old customers and lure new business. Oakland's port has laid off 12% of its staff and canceled free tours for the public. The number of ships idled around the world is approaching three times the number that were out of work during the...

Some of your favorite foods may be fakes. Foods masquerading as something else — a more nutritious something else — have been big news in the past two years. Chinese food companies in particular have been blamed for making deadly alterations to dairy, baby and pet foods by adding melamine. The chemical makes it appear that the food or beverage has the required level of protein. But what about food producers in this country? What fraudulent foods do U.S. consumers have to fear from American companies?

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times. For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property. And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning...

This photo bugs us! Here's why. The federal government has forced American manufacturers to compete in the global marketplace with one arm tied behind their backs. When they fail, the hypocrites in Washington shout that they need a management change because, in their greed, they price their stuff out of the market. We are told that there are only two options: Bail them out or say goodbye to ANOTHER industry in the same way we waved goodbye to televisions, steel, shoes, clothing, electronics, etc., etc. While not the ONLY factor, the MAJOR factor is our INSANE FEDERAL INCOME TAX POLICY,...

CALGARY, Alberta — Walk into the downtown Calgary office of U.S. Consul General Tom Huffaker, and he’ll show you his well-worn plastic bag of bitumen. Huffaker, the U.S. government’s eyes and ears spanning a huge chunk of Canadian real estate covering two western provinces plus the expansive Northwest Territories, likes to pass around the bag containing several of the spongy, black chunks — made up of oil, sand, water and clay — as an icebreaker. Up close, the tar-like bitumen may not seem like anything of particular value, but when complex, costly processing methods are applied, it becomes liquid gold....

BUENOS AIRES, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Argentine automakers will sell basic models at cost through state-subsidized loans in a plan to protect jobs in Latin America's third-biggest economy from the global economic slowdown, government officials said on Saturday.

This video is from an anti-Wart group, but still raises some good points. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seNkmC-SQgs

Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp (陽明海�), the nation’s No. 2 container shipper, plans to make yet another capacity adjustment in 10 days, reflecting rapidly falling shipping traffic amid the global economic slowdown. Yang Ming announced in a statement on Friday that the company and its shipping peers had agreed to cut shipping capacity by an additional 30 percent for Asia-Europe routes, to take effect early next month and run through the end of March. RATIONALIZATION PLAN Yang Ming is part of the CKYH Alliance, which also includes Hong Kong’s Cosco Pacific Ltd (中�太平洋), Japan’s Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd and South...

Outside the An Jia baby cot factory in Dongguan, a group of factory workers surrounds a single policeman on a motorbike. "Where are the three people you arrested?" they shout at him. "Give them back to us!" The officer looks uneasy and he decides to retreat. Right now, factory workers here are angry. The world's financial crisis has begun to hit them. It is easy to understand why: since the West can't afford to buy as much, China isn't able to sell as much. In better times, the An Jia factory would ship its baby cots to the US. But...

Someone in Washington thinks that the FDA can do what the Chinese government has constantly failed to do; protect people from being poisoned by Chinese goods that are constantly laced with pesticides,drugs, and who knows what else. Unfortunately, I’m afraid that someone in Washington has a little too much confidence in the 13 FDA employees who are being sent here. These people will probably soon find that they would have better luck inspecting and overseeing operations at a North Korean nuclear 'power plant.'

Candy, snacks, bakery products, pet food and other Chinese products that contain milk will be detained at the border until tests prove that they are not contaminated, the federal government announced Thursday. The Food and Drug Administration said it issued the alert because of concern about such products being contaminated with the toxic chemical melamine. It was discovered in infant formula in September and has sickened more than 50,000 infants in China and killed at least four.

pinch Related Quotes Symbol Price Change HAS 30.12 +0.03 MAT 14.45 -0.01 ^GSPC 940.55 -5.88 Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a AP – Chinese police officers stand guard as hundreds of workers gather outside a government building after … DONGGUAN, China – Unemployed worker Wang Wenming was angry at his boss for shutting down a massive Chinese factory this week that made toys for Mattel Inc., Hasbro Inc. and other American companies. But the assembly line worker was also furious at the United States. "This financial crisis in America is going to kill us....

Officially, the central bank holds $8.14 billion (£4.65 billion) of foreign currency, but if forward liabilities are included, the real reserves may be only $3 billion - enough to buy about 30 days of imports like oil and food. Nine months ago, Pakistan had $16 bn in the coffers. The government is engulfed by crises left behind by Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler who resigned the presidency in August. High oil prices have combined with endemic corruption and mismanagement to inflict huge damage on the economy. Given the country's standing as a frontline state in the US-led "war on terrorism",...

The recent bailout package being approved in the US Congress needs to be viewed in the context of the spurt in the accumulation of forex reserves of China by about $500 billion in the last six months to about $2 trillion in aggregate. This gargantuan build-up of forex reserves by China has strangely received very little attention of economists, policy analysts, currency traders and, of course, geo-strategists around the world. Why is China engaged in this exercise? What could be its implications on the on going global financial crisis? Could China trip the bailout package announced by the US last...

Melamine Found in Chocolate Products From China South Korea's food watchdog has detected quantities of melamine, an industrial chemical, in chocolate products from foodstuff giants Nestle SA, Mars Inc. and South Korea's Lotte that were manufactured in China, Yonhap News reported Saturday. The Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) said 2.38 parts per million (ppm) and 1.78 ppm of the toxic substance was discovered in samples of M&M's Milk and Peanut Snickers Fun Size products, respectively, from Mars Korea. A Kit Kat bar from Nestle Korea was also found to contain 2.89 ppm of melamine, the agency said. The...

The American military faces a growing threat of potentially fatal equipment failure—and even foreign espionage—because of counterfeit computer components used in warplanes, ships, and communication networks. Fake microchips flow from unruly bazaars in rural China to dubious kitchen-table brokers in the U.S. and into complex weapons. Senior Pentagon officials publicly play down the danger, but government documents, as well as interviews with insiders, suggest possible connections between phony parts and breakdowns. In November 2005, a confidential Pentagon-industry program that tracks counterfeits issued an alert that "BAE Systems experienced field failures," meaning military equipment malfunctions, which the large defense contractor traced...

BENTONVILLE, Ark., September 10, 2008 – Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest retailer and a leading private employer of Hispanics, will celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, September 1 – October 15, by providing its customers and the Hispanic community with valuable information and resources for the pursuit of higher education. Wal-Mart’s commitment to supporting education initiatives will be featured in a national campaign that will coincide with the launch of a Spanish-language website, AhorraMasViveMejor.com, aimed at facilitating and empowering moms and kids to access information on higher education and school funding.

The government of Mexico has voluntarily suspended shipments of meat and processed poultry to the United States after U.S. officials raised concerns about the quality of Mexican food processing and inspections, an Agriculture Department official said Thursday. The department's Food Safety and Inspection Service identified systemic problems with sanitation controls and recordkeeping during an annual audit that took place in Mexico between June 24 and July 31. The voluntary suspension began Aug. 29, said Amanda Eamich, a spokeswoman for the service. About 2 percent of beef and poultry in the U.S. comes from Mexican producers. "Safety concerns in multiple establishments...

The salmonella strain linked to a nationwide outbreak has been found in irrigation water and a serrano pepper at a Mexican farm, federal health officials said Wednesday. "We have a smoking gun, it appears," said Dr. Lonnie King who directs the center for foodborne illnesses at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last summer, it was Chinese-made toys, pet food and meat that caused concern. This July 4th holiday, there are new worries about the overly explosive nature of its fireworks. This week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a report saying it found that nearly half of the shipments they inspected coming from China do not meet Federal safety guidelines. That's especially worrying since, according the American Pyrotechnic Association, 98 percent of fireworks used in backyards and front lawns across America are manufactured in China. NEWSWEEK's Caitlin McDevitt spoke with Scott Wolfson, a chief spokesman for the Commission about its...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Parts of Florida and Mexico were supplying "the vast majority" of tomatoes sold when the salmonella outbreak began in April and thus remain leading suspects, the Food and Drug Administration said Friday. But the FDA hasn't narrowed its hunt to just those two places, said Dr. David Acheson, the agency's food safety chief. "The logical assumption would be that Florida or Mexico are the most likely source" because of the outbreak's timing, he told The Associated Press. "But we have not simply shifted the focus to those two places. ... It's wide open for anybody not on...

CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela's state petroleum company, PDVSA, increased petroleum imports by nearly 150 percent between the first quarter of 2007 and the same period this year, bank statistics show. A report by the Venezuelan Central Bank this week demonstrated that petroleum imports reached US$1.5 billion (€964 million) during the first quarter of 2008. The imports — which include diesel oil, gasoline and chemical additives for gasoline products — are the country's highest in more than a decade. A spokesperson for PDVSA said the company had no immediate comment on the issue. Economist Gustavo Garcia, a professor at a Caracas business...

FOR years, waves of inexpensive imports helped to keep inflation at bay in the United States. But those days are over, and now many imports are bringing inflation with them. Some of that inflation comes from soaring oil prices — the government reported this week that oil imported in April cost 67 percent more than oil imported a year earlier — but the trend is clear even if energy prices are ignored. For all nonpetroleum imports, prices in April were up 6.2 percent from a year earlier. That is the fastest rate of gain in almost 20 years, reflecting increases...

History dictates that protecting and maintaining a nation's industrial base is critical to its national security and to winning wars. This is why taking out an enemy's manufacturing infrastructure, as America did to Germany and Japan during World War II, is the first step in rendering it defenseless.Yet today in America, despite the menace of terrorism and threats from assorted despots around the globe, we are neglecting — and in some cases damaging — our own military industrial base. America has shed 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2001, many in our military supply chain. The average age of today's factory...

WASHINGTON—In March, inspectors checking Chinese seafood arriving at U.S. ports made some unsettling discoveries: fish infected with salmonella in Baltimore and Seattle, and shrimp with banned veterinary drugs in Florida. Meanwhile, a shipment intercepted in Los Angeles on March 19 and labeled "channel catfish" wasn't catfish at all, though records don't say what it was. "A lot of those products coming in from overseas, you have no clue as to what is in them," said Paul Hitchens, an aquaculture specialist in Southern Illinois, where cut-rate Chinese catfish are threatening the livelihood of fish farmers. China rapidly has become the leading...

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in February, exporting 2.419 million barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2.586 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1.627 million barrels per day.

Leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee proposed a new set of rules regarding the labels for food and drugs. According to the new principles, all labels for all food products and drugs should present the following information to the customer: country of origin, the source of a medicine’s active ingredient and its place of manufacture and also, the producer should identify on its web site the place where each ingredient in a particular food product originates. Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., and chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, said consumers must be protected from possibly harmful products and...