World Trade - August 2008 - (Page 12)

TRADEWINDS THE LATEST TRENDS IN THE WORLD OF TRADE Morocco’s Port of Tanger Med to Rival Rotterdam CONTAINER VOLUMES ALREADY SURPASSING FELIXSTOWE Northern Morocco’s Port of Tanger Med, which celebrated its one year anniversary in July, has already surpassed Britain’s Felixstowe with container volumes reaching 3.5 million TEUs. Within seven years, though, the port is expected to handle 8.5 million TEUs annually, not far from Europe’s biggest port—Rotterdam. The port is well positioned considering that one-third of the world’s containerized traffic passes through the Mediterranean already. In addition, the port has plans for tax-free zones and incentives to attract manufacturing facilities to the area. Maersk and DP World have terminals at the port, and in February, automakers Renault and Nissan started preparing a site for a huge car factory there. Several auto parts companies have also set up facilities in Morocco. According to The Economist, foreign investment in the country is strong and will continue. For starters, the boom in energy and raw materials has brought in oil and gas explorers as well as investors in petrochemicals, fertilizers, and cement. Meanwhile, the maturity and saturation of European markets along with the strength of the euro are also helping to drive investment southward. Safran, a French aeronautical firm, is directing investment to Morocco to escape the effects of the strong euro. EADS Socata, a subsidiary of Airbus’s parent company, has also invested heavily in Morocco for the same reason. Canada, U.S. Sign Mutual Recognition Agreement PIP AND C-TPAT PROGRAM COVERED Customs agencies from the Canada and the U.S. have agreed to recognize each other’s supply chain programs, speciﬁ- cally the Partners in Protection (PIP) and the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). The deal follows months of negotiations aimed at bringing Canada’s PIP into line with the more stringent C-TPAT program in the U.S. Canadian carriers who were members of the PIP program before June 30th, 2008, will have six months to re-apply to the re-vamped program and will be required to complete a security proﬁle. Meanwhile, officials from both countries say they’ll continue working towards full and complete recognition of the respective program, which would mean a carrier would only have to apply to PIP or C-TPAT, but not both. RFID Industry Sees Strong Growth AIRBUS, SAM’S CLUB MAKING BIGGER COMMITMENTS New forecasts released by ABI Research indicate that the total RFID market will turn over approximately $9.7 billion by 2013, representing roughly a 15 percent compound annual growth rate for the period from 2008. “These ﬁgures highlight an RFID market that is growing robustly,” remarked research director Michael Liard “Across Liard. all product catego categories and tec flavors of RFID technology, market trends continue to be positive. We saw a strong ﬁnish to 2007, which continued into a healthy 1Q 2008.” A number of important developments are boosting the trend, including a recent Transportation Services Index (TSI) June 108.9 July 108.5 October August 109.5 108.9 September 108.1 November 110.2 January February 111.5 111.5 December 108.8 March 109.4 April 109.4 May 111.4 JUNE 2007 – MAY 2008 The Freight Transportation Services Index (TSI) rose in May to a level of 111.4 (2000=100), the largest monthly increase since January and a 1.9 percent increase over April, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) ofﬁce. TSI is a single seasonally adjusted index of the month-to-month changes in the output of services provided by the for-hire transportation industries, including railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipeline, and local transit. 12 WORLD TRADE AUGUST 2008

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of World Trade - August 2008

World Trade - August 2008 Contents Weathering the Storm Helping the World’s Poorest Nations Benefit from Global Trade Supply Chain Watch Tradewinds World Trade’s Top U.S. Trading Partners LTL Shipping ‘On the Fly’ Air Cargo Flies a New Heading Getting More from China Sourcing Why 3PLs Need a Seat at the C-TPAT Table Performance-based Supply Chains Drive Total Lifecycle Value SmartWay Navigates Sustainable Transportation Around the World in 80 Days—Hours—Minutes

World Trade - August 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.