newsworthy
MHE orders: trough then recovery
The U.S. material handling industry will experience a severe contraction throughout 2009, with a trough reached by mid-year, said
the Material Handling Industry of America (MHIA) as it released its
annual “State of the Industry” forecast at the 2009 ProMat conference and exposition held this January in Chicago. That trough will
then be followed by what MHIA termed a “decelerating decline”
leading into 2010.
The report showed fairly solid gains in manufacturing activity in
2008 but projected retrenchment in 2009. MHIA forecasts that new
orders will fall in 2009 by 18 to 20 percent and that a recovery will
begin in late 2010. Shipments are also expected to fall, declining by
15 percent in 2009 and 3 percent in 2010. Domestic demand—
defined as shipments plus imports less exports—will drop about 15
percent this year. Exports are forecast to decline in 2009 and 2010
after a period of robust growth, MHIA said.
—M.S.
import relief ahead?
When President Barack Obama attends his first G- 20 summit in
April, he may have an intriguing discussion item on his plate:
The unilateral elimination of tariffs on all U.S. imports from
developing countries.
The idea, floated by Ambassador Charlene Barshefsky, U.S.
trade representative from 1997 to 2001, was aired publicly last
November by FedEx Corp. Chairman Frederick W. Smith at a
CEO roundtable sponsored by The Wall Street Journal.
Smith said there was “a lot of thought” given by CEOs to
Ambassador Barshefsky’s suggestion, which would end U.S. tariffs on imports produced by some of the world’s poorest and
most politically unstable nations. Citing statistics provided to
him by Barshefsky, Smith said about half of the $26 billion the
United States collects annually in import tariffs is generated by
approximately 5 percent of all imports. Virtually all of those
imports come from these so-called developing countries, Smith
quoted the ambassador as saying.
Barshefsky told the executives that the current U.S. tariff regime
protects markets for goods that have not been made in this country for decades. For example, sneakers have the highest tariffs of
any U.S. import, even though the United States has not manufactured sneakers in any meaningful quantity for 30 years, she said.
Barshefsky, currently senior international partner at the
Washington, D.C., law firm WilmerHale, told DC VELOCITY that
her suggestion was made during a question-and-answer session
with executives and that she has no idea if it will gain traction.
In his Nov. 18 comments, Smith said the group of executives
strongly believes in the need for an international stimulus package to correlate with similar domestic initiatives, saying it will be
difficult to mount a sustainable U.S. economic recovery without
a corresponding global recovery.
ground breakers
Saddle Creek Corp., a third-party logistics service company, has opened a new
269,000-square-foot distribution center in
Santa Fe Springs, Calif., for Hornell
Brewing Co. Hornell makes AriZona brand
iced teas and other beverages. In addition,
Saddle Creek recently built a 486,000-
square-foot facility at its Lakeland, Fla.,
campus to house operations for Hornell
Brewing and another customer.
Siemens has leased 320,000 square
feet of distribution space within a
493,000-square-foot facility under construction in Plainfield, Ind. The developer
of the building is Republic Properties,
based in Atlanta. Siemens will distribute
health-care products from the facility.
The Union Pacific Railroad has signed a
lease and operating agreement with the
Port of Tacoma, (Wash.) to operate from
the port’s South Intermodal Yard. The agreement allows the Union Pacific to expand its
presence in Tacoma by moving the railroad’s domestic service from its Seattle Argo
Intermodal Yard and freeing capacity for
international business. The initial five-year
lease provides the Union Pacific with 10
acres, with provisions to expand up to 25
acres during the term of the lease.
Office Depot has opened a new
European distribution facility in
Grossostheim, Germany. The more than
300,000-square-foot facility includes pick-to-light technology, automated picking
machines, and other state-of-the-art equipment to deliver office products and supplies to customers in Germany and Austria.
AkzoNobel, an international supplier of
paints, coating products, and specialty
chemicals, has consolidated its two West
Coast distribution operations into a new
420,000-square-foot building in Riverside,
Calif. The new building was constructed by
Bender Group, a third-party logistics service provider that will own and operate the
facility in addition to managing transportation contracts for AkzoNobel.
