Thomas Cullen Journalist Profile

Articles

What will a new government mean for Germany’s supply chain industry?

1 month ago | ti-insight.com | John Manners-Bell |Thomas Cullen

As predicted by many, Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has won the largest share of the vote in the country’s recent General Election, obtaining 28.5% of ballots cast. Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) delivered the stand out performance of the night, becoming the second largest party (20.8% of the vote) demoting Olaf Scholz’s SPD to third (16.4%).
DHL buys reverse logistics business in US

Jan 16, 2025 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

DHL continues to develop its e-commerce presence with the acquisition of a reverse logistics provider in the US. On the 10th January DHL announced the purchase of Inmar Supply Chain Solutions for an undisclosed amount. Inmar is a pharmaceutical and retail logistics and marketing technology company based in Ohio that has also developed a retail orientated return logistics capability.
OOCL sees growth in volumes and revenue

Jan 14, 2025 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

Container shipping lines are still making money. Overseas Container Line (OOCL), which is owned by Orient Overseas (International) Limited (OOIL) has issued its quarterly operational update for the fourth quarter of 2023 as well as data for the full year. This shows a company that is seeing strengthening demand and consequently markedly higher revenue.
Trump eyes Panama Canal

Jan 9, 2025 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

Another week another policy statement from Donald Trump. The latest is the suggestion, alongside the merger of Canada into the US and the annexation of Greenland, that the US re-take control of the Panama Canal. Speaking before Christmas he accused the Panamanians of charging too high canal fees and once in office he said he would end “this complete rip-off of our country”.
Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi merger response to crisis

Jan 6, 2025 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

The news that Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi are working on a merger is the latest drama in the metamorphosis of the automotive sector. Nissan, which has been one of the world’s largest vehicle manufacturers, has been tipped into a state of panic due to poor sales. It has grabbed at the possibility of merging with Honda as a possible solution to its problems. The merger with Honda is also partly an attempt to pre-empt the Taiwanese mobile phone assembler, Foxconn, from bidding for Nissan.
Air Freight still booming

Dec 10, 2024 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

Whatever is happening in the rest of the world’s economy, the air freight sector is booming. IATA’s latest market statistics show that in October air freight ‘cargo-tonne kilometres’ grew at an annualised rate of 9.8%, representing the fifteenth month of continuous growth. In particular, international cargo demand grew very quickly, with cargo-tonne kilometres on these routes up 10.3% year-on-year.
Threat of US East Coast and Gulf ports strikes has not gone away

Dec 5, 2024 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

The leader of the US East Coast and Gulf dockworker’s union has issued a characteristically forthright statement asserting his union’s hostility to “automation”. Dennis A.
DB Cargo can receive €1.9bn for restructuring

Dec 3, 2024 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

The German governments subsidy of €1.9bn to DB Freight has been approved by the European Union’s competition authorities. In a statement on November 29th, the European Commission said that it had “concluded that a German State aid measure of €1.9 billion to support DB Cargo, one of Europe’s leading rail freight operators, is in line with EU State aid rules”.
Mexico looks to build leading container port

Nov 28, 2024 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

Mexico has been outlining its plans to build one of the America’s largest container ports. Last week, the Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, announced the start of a project to double the size of the port of Manzanillo from its present volume of 4.5m TEU to a capacity of 10m TEU. The project is estimated to require 55billion pesos (US$2.7bn) in investment and is scheduled to be completed by 2030.
Vilnius crash could be threat to air express in Europe

Nov 26, 2024 | ti-insight.com | Thomas Cullen

The crash of the freighter aircraft outside Vilnius airport that killed one crewman on Monday 25th November may be something other than an accident. The aircraft was being operated by Swiftair as a third-party provider for DHL Express, serving the route between the Lithuanian capital and DHL’s main hub at Leipzig. The Lithuanian authorities have said that a “technical failure” could be to blame and DHL said in a statement that the “cause of the accident is still unknown”.