Delta, LATAM lay groundwork to implement joint venture

A white jet parked on airport ramp.

Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) and LATAM Airlines Group (NYSE: LTM) moved a step closer to integrating operations with the signing Thursday of an agreement outlining how they will implement their joint venture agreement struck last September.

The airlines are anticipating U.S. and Chilean competition authorities will grant permission to coordinate in all areas of their business later this year. Shippers could benefit from the arrangement as much as passengers because of the combined reach of their...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/delta-latam-lay-groundwork-to-implement-joint-venture

Lufthansa inches toward restart, seeks German government bailout

A white Lufthansa plane touches down on runway.

European airlines are beginning to see faint glimmers of economic sunlight and preparing to come out of their coronavirus hibernation.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG on Friday said group airlines Lufthansa, Eurowings and SWISS will collectively reactivate 80 aircraft for June, doubling the operational fleet size to serve a total of 106 destinations. IAG Group this week said it plans to ramp up passenger service in July on the expectation that travel restrictions will ease and more people will start...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/lufthansa-inches-toward-restart-seeks-german-government-bailout

Canceled calls signal ‘two really tough months’ for Georgia ports

The Georgia Ports Authority (GPA) is battening down for a May with 37 blanked sailings. In a normal May, there are no canceled calls at Georgia’s ports.

“On the blanked sailings side, we had 20 in April. That was about 12% of all vessel calls. May is a big month. May is looking like 37, which would be 20 to 22% of our vessel calls if that shakes out. And then June comes in around the 15% mark right now, but that could change,” said GPA Executive Director Griff Lynch.

“There are going to be two...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/canceled-calls-signal-two-really-tough-months-for-georgia-ports

From Assembly Bill 5 to COVID-19

A West Virginia senator got up to speed on a boatload of issues important to California ports and truckers in a video meeting hosted by the Harbor Trucking Association (HTA) this week.

Although she represents West Virginia, Republican Sen. Shelley Moore Capito casts votes that impact West Coast ports and intermodal providers as a member of the U.S. Senate’s Environment and Public Works, Commerce, Science & Transportation, and Appropriations committees.

Port of Los Angeles Executive Director Gene...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/from-assembly-bill-5-to-covid-19

Deluge of medical cargo cripples Shanghai Pudong airport

Boxes strewn across warehouse.

Freight gridlock at Shanghai Pudong International Airport is so bad that some cargo planes are being forced to leave nearly empty and logistics companies are recommending ocean transportation as a faster option. 

Airfreight professionals describe an operational meltdown, with trucks stuck in queues for two to three days to drop off shipments and boxes piling up in warehouses unable to get put on aircraft because Chinese customs officials and ground handlers are overwhelmed by the surge in export...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/deluge-of-medical-cargo-cripples-shanghai-pudong-airport

Floating storage is far from dead in the water

Europeans and Americans are getting back to work. There are more cars on the roads. Saudi Arabia and other oil producers are hitting the brakes on output. The price of crude oil has doubled. All of which might give the impression that the much-ballyhooed floating-storage tanker trade is dead in the water.

Absolutely not true, according to executives of Euronav (NYSE: EURN) and International Seaways (NYSE: INSW), the latest in a parade of tanker owners reporting blockbuster earnings this week.

Eur...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/floating-storage-is-far-from-dead-in-the-water

IAG expects passenger business to lag until 2023

International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG), the parent of British Airways, (OTCMKTS: ICAGY) announced a profit loss of 535 million euros ($576 million) for the first quarter of 2020, compared to a profit of 135 million euros ($145 million) for the same period last year.

The company also said that Luis Gallego, who heads Spanish subsidiary Iberia, will succeed CEO Willie Walsh on September 24. Walsh postponed his planned retirement in March to help the company through the coronavirus crisis.

G...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/iag-expects-passenger-business-to-lag-until-2023

Atlas Air gives pilots pay increase on heels of Q1 growth

White jumbo jet sits on ramp at airport.

Contract cargo airline and aircraft lessor Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings beat analyst expectations with adjusted net income of $29.9 million, or $1.15 per diluted share, and total revenue of $644 million in the first quarter due to strong demand for its charter service and higher airfreight rates due to transport scarcity caused by the coronavirus. 

Atlas’ stock (NASDAQ: AAWW) was up 5.37% to $37.42 prior to noon Thursday and is up more than a third since the start of the year.

The parent company...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/atlas-air-gives-pilots-pay-increase-on-heels-of-q1-growth

Hapag-Lloyd cutting costs while riding out pandemic

Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said while the German container line is well positioned to weather the coronavirus pandemic, it is cutting costs this year by a “middle-three-digit million-dollar number.”

In addition to blanking sailings, “we’re also restructuring services to mitigate costs and taking a whole variety of other measures as well. One of the ones that’s been the most public is, for example, trying to avoid the Suez Canal in some cases,” Jansen said during a press briefing...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/hapag-lloyd-cutting-costs-while-riding-out-pandemic

Will wind turbine transporters continue to roll during COVID-19?

The coronavirus pandemic’s global spread earlier this year put the brakes on many U.S. industrial project cargoes, but truckloads of behemoth wind turbine components continue to roll across the nation’s highways.

“Our wind turbine component load count for this year is up 36%,” said Gene Lemke, vice president of projects for St. Cloud, Minnesota-based Anderson Trucking Service (ATS), in a telephone interview with American Shipper. “It’s been a huge bright spot during these difficult times.”

Family-...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/will-wind-turbine-transporters-continue-to-roll-during-covid-19