3PLNews.com

BEIJING, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Amazon.cn, the Chinese subsidiary of amazon.com, said on its website yesterday that it would charge a 5 yuan ($0.79) shipping fee for any purchase at or below 29 yuan, ending a three-year policy of free shipping for all items. The company followed suit after two of its competitors, 360buy.com and newegg.com.cn, started to charge shipping fees for purchases at or below 39...

SEOUL, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Hyundai Heavy Industries Co, South Korea's leading shipbuilder, said that its fourth-quarter earnings tumbled almost 91 percent from a year earlier as it built more low-priced ships. Net profit reached 71.3 billion won (US$63.8 million) in the October-December period, compared with a profit of 827 billion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing. Sale...

BEIJING, Feb 3 (GCTL) - The government will reduce the tax burden of logistics enterprises with favorable land use policies, but analysts said the support is far from enough to compensate for the industry's high operating costs. The land use tax will be reduced by 50 percent for the logistics enterprises which build storage facilities including warehouses on a land area of more than 6,000 squar...

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Flight SA288 from South Africa's Johannesburg to Beijing arrived at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing, capital of China, on Jan. 31, 2012, Xinhua reported. This was the first non-stop flight from Johannesburg to Beijing. The journey between the two cities take about 15 hours for the non-stop flights, which travel three times every week.

TAIPEI, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Economics Minister Y.S. Shih recently said that sometime in the first quarter Taiwan and mainland China will open trade offices on each other’s territory to drum up business for their respective industries. The Ministry of Economic Affairs-backed (MOEA-backed) Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) will be Taiwan’s first organization to open the offices in...

TAIPEI, Feb 3 (GCTL) - The major barrier to the talk on the Taiwan-U.S. Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) is the import of U.S. beef, which is an inescapable issue and should be solved at an earlier time, especially in view of Taiwan’s attempt to actively take part in regional economic integration, said Shih Yen-shiang, economics minister, on Feb. 1. During his ongoing visit to...

SHARJAH, UAE, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Pan Emirates, a regional Super brand in home furniture, accessories and decor retail has partnered with Barloworld Logistics to offer greater value to its customers across the GCC through the optimisation of their inbound and outbound distribution. Frank Courtney, CEO of Barloworld Logistics’ Middle East and Asia said, “Long-term partnerships with blue chip cli...

PARSIPPANY, NJ, Feb 3 (GCTL) -INTTRA, the leading provider of e-commerce solutions for the ocean freight industry, has announced significant expansion of its global alliance network to a total of 70 information solutions providers. The INTTRA Alliance network added 12 new members in 2011, and during the same period, transaction volumes from alliance network members grew over 20 percent with E...

NEW YORK, Feb 3 (GCTL) - American Airlines said it needed to cut costs by 20 percent to stay afloat, as it met with union representatives to detail a plan for lay-offs that reports said would total 13,000 workers. “All workgroups will have total costs reduced by 20 per cent, including management,” Tom Horton, chief executive of American parent AMR Corporation, said in a letter to employees ...

BEIJING, Feb 3 (GCTL) - The total online shopping revenue in China for 2011 is expected to hit 800 billion ($127 billion) yuan, with 3.65 billion pieces of express mail and parcels sent, said He Liming, chairman of China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing. In 2010, people spent 450 billion yuan on online shopping, according to figures from the Ministry of Commerce. However, the developme...

TOKYO, Feb 3 (GCTL) - JAL Group said it achieved a consolidated net income of 146 billion yen for period of April 1 to December 31, 2011, the first three quarters of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, and also recorded consolidated operating revenue of 909.1 billion yen, operating expense of 747.4 billion yen and operating income of 161.6 billion yen. In cargo sales, JAL strongly promoted...

HONG KONG, Feb 3 (GCTL) - MSC Ship Management (Hong Kong), which oversees the day-to-day operation of about 80 ships operated by Mediterranean Shipping, the world's second largest container line, is set to close and relocate to Cyprus, threatening jobs for more than 70 people, according to senior shipping sources. But shipping insiders said the size of the Hong Kong-managed fleet will be cut s...

LONDON, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Record prices for ship fuel which averaged US$728.18 a tonne in Singapore last month, exceeding the all-time high of July 2008, are compounding losses at freight companies already suffering from the worst January on record for transport rates, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Shipping fuel rose 30 percent from a year earlier as Russian exports fall, Japanese dem...

RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Brazil's Vale SA, the world's second-largest mining company, could serve Chinese customers from an iron-ore supply base under construction in Malaysia, bypassing China's port ban on the company's super freighter, a company source told Reuters. China's transportation ministry said on Tuesday that the company's so-called Valemax ships were banned from the country's ...

SEOUL, Feb 3 (GCTL) - Hanjin Shipping has announced a rate restoration plan for Asia-Europe trades as of March 1, 2012 on the Asia to North Europe & Mediterranean imposing US$700 on dry, reefer and special 20-ft containers and US$1,400 on dry, reefer and special 40-ft containers, excluding Japan. On the IPBC & Middle East to North Europe & Mediterranean routes, Hanjin will impose U...