State-owned China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company, known as COSCO Group, is one of the world's leading marine transportation companies. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, COSCO Group operates a fleet of about 800 containerships, bulk carriers and other vessels with an overall capacity of 50 million deadweight tons. In addition, the company is engaged in freight forwarding, logistics, real estate, ship building and repairing, container manufacturing, and terminal operations. It maintains facilities in more than 160 countries around the world. COSCO Group should not be confused with a rival state-owned marine transportation enterprise with a similar name, China Shipping (Group) Company.

ABF Freight System knows the ABCs of freight transportation. The primary subsidiary of Arkansas Best, ABF Freight System specializes in national and regional long-haul, less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation of general commodities such as apparel, appliances, chemicals, food, furniture, plastics, rubber, and textiles. (LTL carriers combine freight from multiple shippers into a single truckload.) ABF Freight System operates from a network of about 280 terminals throughout the US and Canada and in Puerto Rico. It maintains a fleet of some 4,000 tractors and 17,000 trailers. The company, which traces its origins to 1923, offers service in Mexico through arrangements with Mexican carriers.

The ARRC is a self-sustaining, full-service railroad serving ports and communities from the Gulf of Alaska to the Interior of Alaska. The ARRC is unlike any other State of Alaska agency. It is owned by the state, but is incorporated and run like a private business. The ARRC receives no operating funds from the state, nor are its employees state employees. Rather, the corporation and ARRC employees generate revenue through freight, passenger and real estate services to cover personnel, operations and maintenance expenses. The ARRC generates revenue through real estate holdings, year-round passenger service and freight train service from Seward to Fairbanks-North Pole. Owned by the State of Alaska since 1985, the Railroad is governed by a seven-member Board of Directors appointed by the Governor of Alaska.

Navigazione Montanari S.p.A. was founded in 1889 by Captain Giovanni Montanari with a single sailing ship. Navigazione Montanari knows how oil and gas get from the producer to the consumer. The company's fleet of more than 15 vessels consists of LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) carriers, petroleum product tankers, and crude oil tankers. Navigazione Montanari's gas carriers, which include pressurized and refrigerated vessels, carry such cargo as ethylene, propane, butane, propylene, and anhydrous ammonia. The company's product tankers primarily transport liquid chemical products. Navigazione Montanari is controlled by the Montanari family.

Horizon Lines, Inc., through its subsidiaries, provides container shipping and integrated logistics services. It ships a range of consumer and industrial items, such as refrigerated and non-refrigerated foodstuffs, household goods, auto parts, building materials, and other materials used in manufacturing. The company offers container shipping services to ports within the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Micronesia. Its integrated logistics services comprise rail, truck brokerage, warehousing, distribution, expedited logistics, and non-vessel operating common carrier operations. Horizon Lines, Inc. also offers terminal services. The company operates terminals in Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico; contracts for terminal services in seven ports in the continental United States; and the ports in Guam, Yantian, and Xiamen, China, as well as Kaohsiung, Taiwan. In addition, it offers inland transportation services. As of December 20, 2009, the company owned or leased approximately 20 vessels and 18,500 cargo containers. Horizon Lines, Inc. serves consumer and industrial products companies, as well as various agencies of the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal Service. Horizon Lines, Inc. was founded in 1956 and is based in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jets, not bows, power this Arrow. Arrow Air, which does business as Arrow Cargo, flies freight between the US and points south. Operating a fleet of DC-8s and DC-10s from its hub in Miami, the company serves more than 20 cities in Central and South America and the Caribbean. Arrow Cargo's facilities include a 67,000 sq. ft. refrigerated warehouse and more than 155,000 sq. ft of dry cargo space. The company's customers, which consist primarily of freight forwarders, passenger and cargo airlines, and other transportation providers, also include the United States Postal Service and the US Department of Defense. Arrow filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-2010.

Central Japan Railway sends bullets flying all over Japan. Bullet train operator Central Japan Railway, known as JR Central, provides passenger transportation over a network of about 1,970 km (1,221 miles) of track. The company's shinkansen (high-speed) line connects the metropolitan areas of Tokyo, Nagoya, and Osaka; 12 conventional lines provide connections to surrounding areas. JR Central also earns revenue from retail and food sales as well as real estate development operations built near its train stations. JR Central was one of seven companies formed in the privatization of the former Japanese National Railways.

Gordon Trucking Inc. (GTI) provides truckload freight transportation throughout the US and to and from Canada and Mexico. In addition to standard dry freight,Gordon Trucking Inc. company transports temperature-controlled and extra-heavy cargo. Its services include regional, and local hauling, as well as dedicated contract carriage, in which drivers and equipment are assigned long-term to customers.Gordon Trucking Inc. has nine terminal locations and another dozen satellite locations, all in the West or Midwest. GTI operates a fleet of more than 1,400 tractors and about 4,000 trailers. The company is owned and run by the family of Jay Gordon, who founded what is now GTI in 1946.

ASTAR Air Cargo helps DHL take on delivery giants FedEx and UPS on their own turf. Hiring the carrier's fleet of about 40 aircraft enables DHL and other customers, including the US Department of Defense and the United States Postal Service, to achieve overnight delivery of virtually any kind of cargo. ASTAR's service includes scheduled as well as chartered flights. In January 2009, ASTAR suffered a blow when -- in order to cut down on costs -- DHL was forced to shut down its express operations within the US. (Through ASTAR and other carriers, DHL still offers international shipping services to and from the US). An investment group led by CEO John Dasburg controls ASTAR.

Crete Carrier Corporation's flagship business, Crete Carrier, provides dry van truckload freight transportation services in the 48 contiguous states. It operates from some two dozen terminals, mainly in the midwestern and southeastern US. The company's Shaffer Trucking unit transports temperature-controlled cargo, and Hunt Transportation (no relation to J.B. Hunt Transport Services) hauls heavy equipment and other cargo on flatbed trailers. Overall, the companies operate more than 5,300 tractors and more than 12,400 trailers. Family-owned Crete Carrier was founded in 1966 by chairman Duane Acklie; president and CEO Tonn Ostergard is his son-in-law.

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