NYK to Quit Providing Chassis at NY/NJ Ports

NYK Line will quit providing free intermodal chassis in the Northeast region, including the Port of New York and New Jersey, on Nov. 14. The action is the latest in a series of moves by container ship lines to transfer responsibility for providing chassis to truckers and other equipment users. NYK has already quit providing chassis in several smaller markets. The shift from ocean-carrier provided chassis began when Maersk Line transferred its chassis to newly formed Direct ChassisLink in 2009. DCLI rents chassis to truckers by the day, a model copied by equipment lessors Trac Intermodal and Flexi-van. The U.S. is the only major country where ocean carriers routinely provide free chassis, a policy that started in the 1950s when modern container shipping was launched as a domestic service in competition with trucks. In the rest of the world, chassis are provided by truckers, forwarders or shippers. NYK offered no details on its exit from the chassis market in the Northeast but said it expects the change to reduce costs, provide truckers with more flexibility and reduce congestion and turnaround times at terminals.

Source: JOC

On Scotland’s North East coast, a craft beer startup is trying to brew a revolution. “The idea to start our own brewery certainly wasn’t something we consciously set out to do,” says James Watt, who founded BrewDog along with his school pal Martin Dickie. It all began when the two were discussing beer monotony (“the stuffy ales and fizzy yellow lagers”) and how often supermarket and big brand beers taste the same.

Dickie had just finished a degree in brewing so the duo decided to try and create their own beer. The goal was to make something a class apart from “the stuffy ales and fizzy yellow lagers” that dominate the UK market. Watt: “I guess like any good idea it just had this natural flow about it that just kept rolling and has never really stopped.”

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But what if it works?

Dr. Dre licensed his name for a line of headphones. I have no idea how much his royalty is, but figure it’s $20 a pair.

At some point during the negotiations, perhaps someone said, “wait a minute! What if it’s a hit? What if we sell more high-end headphones than anyone has ever sold, ever, and we sell 5,000,000 pairs. That means that he’ll get a hundred million dollars. That’s absurd! We need to put a limit on this.”

We often hesitate to pay a portion of the upside to someone who is taking a risk, because we’re worried that perhaps, just perhaps, his risk will pay off and he’ll make a fortune…

The thing is, if they make a fortune, you make five fortunes. Don’t worry about it. Go ahead and give people the opportunity to have their risk pay off. More than ever, people are motivated by the opportunities that come with scale.

Via - Seth

Port Authority Toll Increase Effective Sunday, September 18th

The unprecedented PANYNJ toll increase which will go into effect at 3:00 a.m. on September 18th. Then each December until 2015 the tolls will increase.  

CLICK HERE to review the entire Toll Program. 

 

NJ projects in jeopardy if Congress fails to extend transportation funding

More than 1,900 highway and transit projects in New Jersey could be stopped and nearly 23,000 people put out of work if Congress does not approve an extension of the federal transportation funding system this month, the White House said Tuesday.

President Obama has called on Congress to pass a ‘clean’ extension of the Surface Transportation Act, the 18.4-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax that finances it, before the law expires Sept. 30.
President Obama has called on Congress to pass a “clean” extension of the Surface Transportation Act, the 18.4-cent-a-gallon gasoline tax that finances it, before the law expires Sept. 30. But Congress has already shown that stalemates can lead to shutdowns, as the Federal Aviation Administration was caught in a two-week standoff in August that forced thousands of layoffs and $400 million in uncollected airline fees.

Obama has held public events, and the White House has released statements and studies to raise awareness about the pending expiration of the Surface Transportation Act, which funds highway and transit projects around the country.

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govtoversight: Would You Pay $720 million in Late Fees for These? The Pentagon Did If you’re someone who never returns library books, Netflix movies and rental cars on time—it could be worse! At least you haven’t racked up $720 million dollars in late fees over the last decade. That’s how much the Pentagon owes for failing to return shipping containers on time, according to a USA TODAY report. Read more about this story on the POGO blog. Image via Flickr user evenwestvang.
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govtoversight:

Would You Pay $720 million in Late Fees for These? The Pentagon Did

If you’re someone who never returns library books, Netflix movies and rental cars on time—it could be worse! At least you haven’t racked up $720 million dollars in late fees over the last decade. That’s how much the Pentagon owes for failing to return shipping containers on time, according to a USA TODAY report.

Read more about this story on the POGO blog.

Image via Flickr user evenwestvang.

(via utnereader)

Source: pogoblog.typepad.com

Food for Thought

Like us, you’re probably no Einstein. The question is, “Why Aren’t We Smarter?”   

How ugly do we look after exercising? Photographer Sascha Goldberger got to work and found the answer. As it turns out, the answer is “reaaaaaaaaal ugly.”

Because you were dying to know, American Scientist published an article about how putting a circular pizza in a square pizza box works. Trust us, it’s more complicated that it sounds.

Rural America now accounts for just 16 percent of the nation’s population, the lowest ever.

Three-minute showers will green your morning routine. Are you up to the challenge?

Working just enough to get by while enjoying the good things in life: Welcome to the medium chill.

Did you hear about the married lesbian couple who saved 40 teens in the Norway massacre? Not in the mainstream media, you didn’t.