Curiosity of the Day 
The US town of Aberdeen WA paid tribute to one of its most famous sons, Kurt Cobain of the band Nirvana, by adding the message ‘Come as You Are’ (a Nirvana song) to its welcome sign. more
Container index climax
The container throughput index of the German RWI – Leibniz institute for economic research and the institute of shipping economics and logistics (ISL) showed a robust improvement in October, rising from (corrected) 119.6 to 122.6 points, an all-time high. The leap forward was... more
Former Tiaca chairman becomes Kales CEO
Dirk Hazenoot, who decided to step down after having worked for almost 20 years for the Amsterdam-based GSSA Kales Group, the last two years as CEO, will be succeeded by a well-known face in the airfreight industry. Sebastiaan Scholte (right, speaking with ITJ's Andreas Haug... more
Trilatec featured by Solar Impulse Foundation
The list of 1,000 innovative ideas that prove that sustainable solutions can also be economically attractive, set up by solar flight pioneer Bertrand Piccard’s Solar Impulse Foundation, now includes the name "squAIR-timber". Developed by the German company... more
Secured trade lane between Egypt and Italy
The first pilot project to ship containers from Italy to Egypt under the control of RFID eSeals has been completed. The fast & secure trade lane between the ports of Genoa and Alexandria is now a fact. The project, developed within the framework of the European project... more
Change in Iata's leadership
The International Air Transport Association (Iata) has announced that its director general and CEO Alexandre de Juniac (right, together with Glyn Hughes, who will leave its position as Iata’s global head of cargo in January 2021), will step down from his role at the association... more
Hamburg: turnaround takes time
The big ports worldwide are taking longer to reboost than the carriers. In Q3/2020, the decline in seaborne cargo in Hamburg, Germany’s largest port, reached 8%. The port had lost 16.2% in Q2/2020. Thus, it is too early to speak of a recovery, but there are reasons for optimism.... more
Improved rail access to Upper Midwest markets
The US railroad Union Pacific is opening its Twin Cities intermodal terminal and launching services to Minneapolis in January 2021. The new offer will feature domestic intermodal links between the Twin Cities and Los Angeles, expanding the reach to key Upper Midwestern... more
Fedex triples size at Southern Californian airport
Earlier this month, Fedex Express completed a USD 100 million investment at Ontario airport (ONT), near Los Angeles, centred around a 23,300 sqm complex including a sorting facility capable of handling 12,000 packages per hour, nine wide-body aircraft gates, 14 feeder aircraft... more
Beacon goes Hong Kong
The British company Beacon is expanding into Asia. Besides doubling the size of its team, the digital freight forwarder has launched its first physical presence in Asia by opening a new office in Hong Kong. Since March, Beacon’s headcount has increased from 35 to 75, while... more