Heartland USA Economy Rising

     The economy of Southeast Michigan, USA is expanding at a faster rate and showing greater signs of recovery, according to a monthly survey of purchasing managers from Wayne State University's School of Business Administration and the Southeast Michigan chapter of the Institute for Supply Management.
     The Southeast Michigan Purchasing Managers Index (PMI)—a composite index of local economic activity calculated from the survey data—improved in May to 62.1.
     Up from 57.3 in April, the increase is a result of growth in production and new orders, and improvement in employment activity.
     "According to the Purchasing Managers Index, employment was flat or going down for a long time and now we've seen a big improvement over the last four months," Nitin Paranjpe, PHD, an economist and faculty member in WSU's business school said.
     "That tells us that we should see the unemployment rate coming down over time, and in fact it has started to decline.
     “Unemployment reached a high of about 14.9 percent in January and it's come down to about 14 percent now," he said.
     Nationally, the employment index grew to its highest level in six years, suggesting that a sustained recovery in jobs is taking place. The U.S. jobless rate for May was 9.9 percent.
     As factors such as production, new orders and employment have improved over the last quarter, so has purchasing managers' confidence that the local economy will continue to trend in a positive direction.
     More than 95 percent of purchasing managers surveyed in May expect that the economy will remain the same or become more stable over the next six months.
     Less than 4 percent expected conditions to get worse.
     Paranjpe pointed out that the debt crisis in Europe and how it might affect the Michigan economy appeared to be the greatest concern for purchasing managers in May.
     "There is some concern that the turmoil in Europe might spill over into economic activity in Michigan, but we don't know yet," he said.
     Commodity prices showed continued upward pressure, though at a slightly slower rate.
     Stainless steel, copper, aluminum, high temp alloys, paper and chemicals also show some upward pressure, with crude related products showing some downward pressure.
     Elsewhere globally, China's PMI showed slowing economic growth, and the Euro zone 16 nation PMI also slowed from April as a result of the debt crisis in the region.
     “Hope is that Europe will not cause a global back slide.
     “Everything but Europe points to a more stable economy.
     “But with the U.S. economy so fragile and the crisis in Europe, I am very nervous about the future.
     “Our spends are being scrutinized like never before.
     “North American automotive capital equipment and retooling expenditures will increase significantly in the coming months.
     “I still think we have a long way to go.
     “I believe most of the purchasing happening now is companies replenishing their inventories,” Prof. Paranijpe said.
     The complete Purchasing Managers Index report for May is available online http://www.ism-sem.org/

UN Debate Iran Shipping

     Radio Free Europe, a service that began back in the days of the Iron Curtain, is still in business, both in radio broadcasting and now with even more reach via the worldwide web. Where it once provided a service as an anti-communist outlet for refugees to express their opinions and creativity, it has now grown to provide news to countries in the world that would otherwise not have access. So it is that we unearth an article pertaining to a highly-restricted country, and without a little irony.
     This week, an article in RFE bylined by Charles Recknagle reported that new sanctions on Iran, which are currently up for debate by the UN Security Council, would most likely affect the shipping industry.
     “It is becoming clearer that Iran's shipping industry will be one of the main targets.
     “A draft of the sanctions proposal recently leaked to the media contains tough language appealing to all states to help keep track of the activities of Iran's state-owned fleet of vessels.
     Specifically, the leaked text requests "all member states to communicate to the [Sanctions] Committee any information available on transfers or activity by... vessels owned or operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL)... that may have been undertaken in order to evade the sanctions.”
     RFE also noted that The New York Times reported on June 8 that “Iran's state-owned ships have changed their names, the flags under which they operate, their registered owners, or their registered operators at a staggering rate since 2008, when Washington unilaterally slapped financial sanctions on the IRISL and 18 of its affiliates.”
Geoffrey/Flossie Arend

Here is Some Moa Of Samoa

     It has only taken three short years, but with 80 percent of the Island's air volume, Consolidators International (CII) has become the largest air freight forwarder on American Samoa.
     Three years ago at this time, CII had no presence whatsoever in this U.S. Pacific territory.
     “We cultivated this niche market with excellent, caring service combined with a genuine interest in the Island's cultural, social and economic fabric,” commented Peter Lamy, President of Consolidators International.
     Lamy, who recently returned from a week's visit to Pago Pago, American Samoa's capital, said the Island had almost completely recovered from last summer's devastating tsunami with stabilization in tuna fishing and canning, its major industry. Star Kist is the largest employer on the Island.
     “We always thought of Samoa as a romantic South Seas destination rather than as a place of doing business,” said Lamy.
     “However, the hiring of a new employee, Tony Feist, who was thoroughly familiar with the Samoan market, convinced Julian Keeling, our CEO, and I to think seriously of Samoa as a place for doing business and not just the site of the famous Joan Crawford movie, ‘Rain.’”
     Now, aided by its civic and business efforts, CII has expanded its presence many times on the Island.
     As Lamy explains, "we started with supplying just fishing gear for the tuna boats. We then expanded into moving parts and equipment to the canneries.

      As our reputation for fast, reliable and competitively-priced service grew on the Island, our range of traffic expanded once again to move telecommunications gear, switching devices for cell phones, and auto and TV parts."
     CII CEO Julian Keeling adds:
     “We are totally committed to Samoa in every way and bend every effort at our headquarters in Los Angeles and on the Island to make Samoa a first class destination for its people and its businesses.”

Floats Tuna Division
     As we took this to the web, Air Cargo News/Flying Typers learned that CII recently expanded its operations to serve tuna fleets throughout the South Pacific.
     CII is now transporting supplies for tuna fishing fleets and canneries on a regular, scheduled basis to the ports of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Majuro & Manuro in the Marshall Islands; Haniara in the Solomon Islands and Pohnpei in Micronesia.
     In announcing this new 10,000-mile supply chain to these tuna ports, Tony Feist, Director of CII's Tuna Division, declared:
     “We are bringing consistent, scheduled service to the growing tuna industry on these remote islands. With the possible exception of Port Moresby, which was the capital of New Guinea when this second largest island in the world was an Australian protectorate and now is the capital of the independent nation of Papua New Guinea, all of these tuna ports were obscure fishing villages not too long ago."
     Supplying tuna fleets and canneries to these once obscure islands now is an integral part of CII's strategy to become a growing factor in this $3 billion global industry.
Geoffrey/Flossie

Keeling On Cliché Kitch

Julian Keeling says:
Air freight is full of words and phrases that have become industry clichés.
Like most clichés, they lose their meaning over time.
Here are some of the most common words and phrases, with their translations, that have been used, abused and generally mistreated by execs who substitute corporate jargon for genuine thought.

*  Seamless supply chain: (Perhaps the most overused phrase in the air freight lexicon.) We're praying our freight is getting to its destination on time and without too many hassles.

*  Strategic Partner: We're going to get as close to our customer as we possibly can and fight like hell to freeze out any other forwarder trying to invade our turf.

*  Supply chain solutions: We're going to do our best to convince the customer that freight is no longer the simple business of moving cargo from Point A to Point B, but a complicated logistics system combining highly advanced computer technology with expensively trained MBAs.

*   Competitive pricing: We won't be underbid by anyone.

*   Value added services: If we can't make money hauling customer's freight because of our lo-ball bid, we'll try and pick up some other services like warehousing to at least make a few bucks.

*   Target markets: We'll go after every customer we can grab.

It's An Airplane Charlie Brown

      As the Berlin Air Show 2010 continues at Schonefeld Airport, Uwe Balser, CEO of Condor, poses in the door of an airplane with the iconic Charlie Brown of the comic strip 'Peanuts' on June 10, 2010.
      Interestingly Charlie and the Peanuts gang are also spokespersons for Met Life, the U.S. insurance and financial company that operates The Met Life Building in New York City.

      Aviation buffs will recall that The Met Life once upon a time was built and owned by Pan Am, Pan American World Airways, complete with an operating heliport on the rooftop 47 stories above its 42nd Street address.
      In fact a quick drink in The Copter Club followed by a ten minute jump to JFK Airport to catch a flight was jet-set travel during the 1960’s.
      No word if Uwe is planning on landing on any rooftops anytime soon.
      The 100th International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) continues through June 13 hosting more than 200,000 aviation enthusiasts along the way.
Geoffrey

Don’t miss this retrospective of this legendary ILA event.

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