European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 18, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                April 1985 the stars and stripes moving the military Means Low profits by Bob Hoyer staff writer moving military household goods this summer promises to be a Low profit exercise for the transport Industry officials sweating out the lowest shipping rates in years Are hoping they can in the profits on International shipments of House hold goods including the High volume to and from Europe May hinge on the strength of the a rising Dollar will reduce contract costs of carriers with their european a declining Dollar will increase even with Low rates for this Cycle beginning april 1 and running through the Industry May eke out a profit if the Dollar stays a German agent but right now the rates for this Cycle look like a Bugaboo for despite the predicted military transport officials expect the majority of shipments to move on even in the High volume summer there Are plenty of companies out there who want a piece of the said George Public affairs officer for the military traffic management come in because of the new bonding requirement International carriers now must put up or percent of their annual business with the we lost about half of the carriers doing business in the last but we still have plenty of the reason is Evi the defense department is the transport Industry biggest single Kaine in fiscal year the Pentagon spent billion to move household baggage and privately owned Lehi and More than 10 billion for the movement of All goods and with those we always have firms willing to do business with the Kaine in an Effort to hold Down rising transportation the government instituted a program in 1976 for the transport of household goods to overseas transport officials say the program has saved taxpayers millions of Industry spokesmen argue that the pro Gram has produced turbulence by encouraging cutthroat rates that drive firms out of the Market and bring others their Domestic and foreign agents and port agents in 15 countries Are involved in the competitive pro under the carriers submit rates for six month cycles in 52 rate channels or the Carrier with the Low bid in each Channel becomes the prime Carrier for that Cycle and is awarded a predetermined percentage of the the percentage depends on the carriers capacity and volume of business in the the remaining business is divided among equalization carriers so named because they have agreed to meet the Prim Carrier carriers that refuse to lower their bids to the prime rate Are known As participating they get business Only if the prime and equalization carriers cannot handle the vol in the the government achieved its goal of moving the vast majority of All personal property at the prime a goal that saved millions of dollars in shipping but with rates in the current Cycle now at Rock both government and Industry officials concede it will be necessary to move some shipments at higher rates if timely service is to be German agents who pack and move household goods for returning service families question whether the Industry can continue to function at current Low rates and the weakened financial condition of carriers who still owe these German agents considerable sums of Money from the past Cycle contribute to their a kept the failure in january of Imperial a major Carrier of household goods for 31 left a Mark on the even before the Low rates of the current Cycle became european agents have taken the loss of Imperial and several smaller carriers from the International Arena As cues to go easy in the current a number of agents in Germany have lost Confidence in carriers because of nonpayment of said Klaus a Kaiserslautern agent who has been working with the military for Many the capacity of agents is sufficient to get the Job but those who Are owed a lot of Money for past work must be they cannot continue to work without being As a result there could be a there could be delays in pickups of Bungert says the dramatic drop in rates is the in the Spring of 1979 the rate per 100 pounds for a ship ment from the North German District to the South of Texas was in the current Cycle that rate is nearly 11 percent less than it was six years similar rate de creases Are in effect in other Donald division support 3rd army with mover in photo by Lynda Sparks the cup has brought about a very competitive system with certain carriers always willing to bid lower and lower to get a bigger chunk of the Bungert a spokesman for Johann largest agent working for the military in said his firm is proceeding with we Are very concerned about the tight Money Situa said Hans Koethe in Bir karts Wiesbaden we Are holding to a certain line of credit and will not go beyond that How much work we do will depend on How promptly we Are in air Force James chief of the consolidated personal property shipping says that despite the anxiety of the most shipments should move on but we May have to pay higher rates during the Peak Hank chief of personal property and transportation for Vii corps in expects German agents to work for the higher priced it will be More expensive to but the goods will be and the costs of moving to the government will be below what they were some years Lavagnini and i think conditions will vary from Region to in will be tighter in some areas than the situation at the Frankfurt shipping which handles More than shipments a could be Well get the Job but it wont be already weve had to schedule some moves at rates above the prime said Howard chief of the Frankfurt shipping As a transportation in sitting in the Middle of a Tough some agents have gone to work full time on local others Are wary about working in this Cycle because they Are concerned about being the end result we will pay More than the prime rate to move some shipments and response times might not be what we want them to Wilson also worries that the Low rates could tempt Ger Man agents to Cut Corners and reduce the Quality of pack ing and shipping that he now considers to be the Best in the it is the companies that have set the Low said Batt Anath traffic manager for the Mannheim transportation 1 dont feel sorry for the companies if they lose but i feel sorry for service members who suffer the Conse Bailey chief of personal property movement for v Points to the Paradox of the competitive pro on one Side it has produced cutthroat Competition and that gives the transportation officer All kinds of problems As he tries to juggle Rettig on the other Side it has saved taxpayers millions of Jack the nether said it is possible to operate profitably with tight management under the competitive a Veteran of the shipping scene in Byrne finds himself in a make break situation in the current As the european agent for american he has the largest piece of the business at the prime its a competitive but if you operate at High volume and carefully manage every aspect of the business you can make a Byrne Byrne is purchasing household goods containers at a Cost of million for use during the summer and he has hired additional port agents to handle the increased were gearing up to do the Best possible we cant handle All the but we will move our in confident we will have extremely Good business this Dieter traffic management specialist for 21st support said that despite the problems of Imperial and several other the governments personal prop erty program is an effective Way to move High volume household even with the there Are agents willing and Able to move the if you look at the i fjord of household goods going Back to the 1970s when the government paid High rates to move i think the cup has been a Good