In order to provide our customers with the most current information available, the Phoenix News Summary is emailing industry news updates. Our summaries can also be read via our web site, www.phoenixintl.com, on the Industry News page.

PierPass to raise peak fees – JOC - PierPass, which operates the extended gates program at the Port of Los Angeles-Long Beach, plans to raise the fees it charges shippers to move containers during peak traffic hours. The program also will clamp down on exporters who have not been paying the fees at the country's busiest container complex. The program on March 20 will announce a rate adjustment. It is expected that the traffic mitigation fee charged on 20-foot containers that are handled during the peak hours will increase to $50 from $40 at present. The fee for 40-foot containers is expected to increase to $100 from $80. Experience with PierPass the past six months also shows that shippers fail to pay the fee on more than half of the export shipments moving during peak hours. Terminal operators will not release an import shipment unless the fee is paid, either through a billable account or a credit arrangement with PierPass, but they have not been holding up delinquent export shipments. When the program began, terminal operators decided to bill exporters after the fact, but that system is not working. PierPass will go after the delinquent parties for back payments, and is changing the process to ensure exporters pay the fee.

Short on Drivers, Truckers Dangle Stock and 401(k) by IAN URBINA (NYT) — Article excerpts related to trucking shortage: Fueled mostly by retirements, the driver shortage grew dire, industry economists say, starting in 2000 when average wages in construction and other blue-collar jobs surpassed those of long-haul drivers. With predictions from the association that the current shortage of 20,000 drivers will grow nearly fivefold within a decade, trucking companies are offering generous 401(k), stock option and health care packages to new recruits and cash bonuses and prizes to drivers who refer viable candidates. Since more than three-quarters of all goods in the United States are shipped by truck, it is only a matter of time, Mr. Swain said, before the shortage causes delays in products hitting the shelves and leads to consumer price increases because of rising transportation costs. The driver shortfall is expected to worsen in coming years since about 219,000 of the country's 1.3 million long-haul truckers are over 55 and are likely to retire in the next 10 years.

U.S. welcomes delay on EU wood packing rule – JOC - The delay of a European Union rule that would ban wood packing material with tree bark still attached will give nations more time to study its scientific validity, a U.S. Commerce Department official said. The EU issued its debarking rule last month, but has delayed implementation until Jan. 1, 2009.

EU abandons plan for port deregulation – JOC - The European Union has officially abandoned its controversial five-year campaign to deregulate port services in the face of fierce opposition from lawmakers, dockworkers and port authorities. The European Commission has withdrawn a so-called port services directive two months after it suffered a stinging defeat in the European Parliament that was preceded by strikes and demonstrations by longshoremen.

Our summary articles are compiled from a number of public sources that, to the best of Phoenix’s knowledge, are true and correct. In the event any information provided is erroneous, Phoenix International Freight Services, Ltd. accepts no liability or responsibility.