Commentary

Commentary

Highly effective — and accepted — global data standard already exists

Bryn Heimbeck, co-founder and president, Trade Tech Inc. | Mar 21, 2022

Supply Chain
Commentary

Let’s not make America’s supply chain challenges worse

Charles Boustany, board member, APCO Worldwide International Advisory Council | Mar 10, 2022

Transport, trade and regulation
Commentary

The ‘good, bad, and ugly’ of LTL

Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group | Mar 8, 2022

LTL capacity will continue to be tight and rates will keep rising in 2022, but shippers can minimize the impact of this challenging market by modifying their shipping practices to be more carrier-friendly.
LTLTrucking
Commentary

Perishables an unrecognized victim of supply chain disruption

Thomas Eskesen, Founder, Eskesen Advisory | Feb 23, 2022

Disruption seen in the durable goods supply chain has devastated capacity and equipment supplies in the north–south trades in perishables, leaving growers with no vessel space and late-arriving cold chain perishables decaying on the docks.
Supply Chain
Commentary

Senate needs careful approach on US shipping reform

John Butler, President and CEO, World Shipping Council | Jan 20, 2022

Maritime
Commentary

Outlook 2022: Logical leadership

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Jan 19, 2022

Because freight moves through local, national, continental, and international networks, the federal government must take leadership in solving some of the current supply chain conundrums.
RailTrucking laborIntermodal providersNorth American portsTransport, trade and regulation
Commentary

Outlook 2022: A more flexible future

Ryan B. Schreiber, vice president of industry and growth at CarrierDirect | Jan 18, 2022

In today’s brittle supply chain, shippers must be able to plan for unexpected changes, shift resources, and communicate revised timelines at a moment’s notice.
Supply Chain
Commentary

Outlook 2022: 31 flavors of B2C parcel deliveries

Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group | Jan 17, 2022

Parcel providers are missing out by not recognizing that consumers will pay for customized delivery to suit the unique attributes of the products and their lifestyles.
Trucking
Commentary

OSRA21’s many benefits not intended to solve port congestion

Lori Fellmer, VP Logistics and Carrier Management, BassTech International; Chair, NITL Ocean Transportation Committee | Jan 13, 2022

Maritime
Commentary

Comprehensive plan needed to increase trucking workforce

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Jan 12, 2022

Trucking labor
Commentary

Death of Conrail legend recalls bygone days of railroad business

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Dec 28, 2021

Commentary

Ask not

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Dec 6, 2021

The only time transportation focuses the public’s attention is when something goes wrong. We have been betrayed by leaders – public and private – who avoided tough decisions necessary for long-term sufficiency in favor of short-term results.
Commentary

LA-LB excess container dwell fees ultimately shipper fees

Carlos Rodriguez, maritime attorney | Nov 15, 2021

The Container Excess Dwell Fees certainly don’t pass the scrutiny of the FMC’s incentive principle contained in its interpretive rules for demurrage and detention.
Commentary

Market is ripe for spin-off of FedEx Freight

Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group | Nov 3, 2021

Commentary

New LA-LB port fees counterintuitive

Carlos Rodriguez, maritime attorney, and Isabella Peek, legal columnist | Nov 2, 2021

Importers shouldn’t be on the hook for port demurrage when they can’t remove containers.
Maritime
Commentary

Open ecosystem for freight no longer just a dream

Eric Rempel, Chief Innovation Officer, Redwood Logistics | Oct 10, 2021

A three-way intersection on the horizon, where serverless, SaaS, and open-source platforms collide, will hasten this ongoing revolution we’re seeing take place.
Logistics technology
Commentary

Parcel carriers should automate shippers’ refunds

Satish Jindel, President of ShipMatrix | Oct 5, 2021

Commentary

Solving rail system sepsis

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Sep 30, 2021

A US regulatory cloud hangs over railroads amid service deterioration.
Rail
Commentary

The shipping industry deserves better than xenophobia

John McLaurin, President, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association | Sep 16, 2021

To blame the entirety of the supply chain problems on “foreign” carriers is a tried-and-true tactic — and grossly unfair.
Container lines
Commentary

The next big thing for LTL?

Don Newell, Newell Enterprises, principal | Sep 10, 2021

Pricing from the National Motor Freight Classification still works and with some low-cost tweaks, it can work even better.
LTL
Commentary

Intermodal success riding on final leg

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Sep 7, 2021

The challenges faced by the intermodal industry stem from treating intermodal like carload and paying insufficient attention to service.
Rail
Commentary

Waiting for an intermodal miracle

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Aug 24, 2021

As a starting point, it might be useful to consider what we do not have enough of.
Rail
Commentary

Laboring over labor

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Aug 10, 2021

Labor powering freight transportation is in the driver's seat.
RailTrucking
Commentary

Building value in forwarder relationships

Daniel Krassenstein, supply chain director, Procon Pacific | Jul 1, 2021

In a tight market, shippers need forwarders more than ever. How can shippers make sure they have the right partners to lean on?
Maritime
Commentary

Operational agility crucial in this turbulent market

Daniel Krassenstein, supply chain director, Procon Pacific | Jun 7, 2021

There is no better source for your order volume forecast accuracy than your downstream end-user.
Supply Chain
Commentary

And the Oscar goes to

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | May 28, 2021

San Pedro is the beating heart of our nation’s transportation system. Let’s hope the close-up is favorable.
Maritime
Commentary

Into the bowels of the Queen Mary

Geraldine Knatz, former director, Port of Los Angeles | May 18, 2021

Operators have been losing money for decades. As the city tries to shift the burden of the Queen Mary to the port, can we really expect the future to be any different?
Commentary

Straight talk on chassis pools

Mike O’Malley, senior vice president of government and public relations, DCLI | May 10, 2021

At a time of stretched global supply chains, the answer is not for Washington policymakers to dictate a “solution” that would lead to fewer chassis.
Commentary

It’s a given

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Apr 6, 2021

The Suez Canal disruption shows that network constraints — known or unexpected — can generate disruptions and diseconomies of scale.
Maritime
Commentary

Intermodal rail's Gordian Knot

Theodore Prince, chief strategy officer and co-founder, Tiger Cool Express | Mar 23, 2021

The constellation of problems facing intermodal rail is daunting, but not insurmountable, given proper attention. The issues of outsourcing, rigid scheduling, and insufficient attention to service can be overcome to bring in intermodal’s bright future.
Rail
Commentary

MTS providers need final-mile strategy to serve demanding shippers

Peter Rentschler, CEO, CarrierDirect | Mar 5, 2021

Companies offering managed transportation management services have traditionally struggled to integrate parcel and last mile service into their traditional freight offerings, but the mandate to do so is growing thanks to e-commerce demand.
Logistics technology
Commentary

Ailing shipping system needs Biden's help

Robert M. Shelala II, Managing Partner, Compass Forwarding | Feb 5, 2021

The Biden administration’s first priority should be immediate action to keep supply chains stable amid COVID-19.
Transport, trade and regulation
Commentary

Disruptive 2020 an accelerant for digital decarbonization tools

Nick Chubb, Managing Director, Thetius | Jan 29, 2021

As we begin 2021, we hope to leave behind the disruptions of 2020 — the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting global recession, collapsing oil prices, Brexit, and a bitter US presidential cycle, to name a few — but however brief it is, disruption always leaves permanent change in its wake.
Logistics technologyMaritime
Commentary

Addressing the widening logistics ‘talent gap’

John Hark, Adjunct Professor, Texas A&M University and Director, Bertling North America | Dec 29, 2020

Houston-based industry group offers mentoring and professional connections that are hard for students to find during the pandemic.
Project cargo
Commentary

Giving thanks to seafarers

John McLaurin, president, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association | Nov 23, 2020

Someone on a ship may have weeks or months to go before getting home.
Maritime
Commentary

Amazon makes quiet move into customs clearance, compliance

Roger Crook, CEO, Zeus Logics | Nov 17, 2020

Supply Chain
Commentary

The lessons of Super-Van for intermodal rail's future

Larry Gross, president and founder, Gross Transportation Consulting | Nov 5, 2020

While it may not be necessary to completely re-create the Super Van network in the 21st century, the intermodal sector may need to move towards something closer to that so-called ancient model.
Rail
Commentary

FMC wrongly gives TradeLens a pass

August J. Braakman, shipping advocate | Oct 30, 2020

Companies that want to do business with carriers that support the TradeLens cloud service have no option but to join and supply the required data.
Logistics technologyContainer lines
Commentary

A weighty accelerant for electric trucking

Larry Gross, president and founder, Gross Transportation Consulting | Oct 6, 2020

The federal government could accelerate electric trucking by allowing heavier trucks
Trucking
Commentary

Time for a new chassis model in the US

Ernie (Ernstin) Kuo | Sep 18, 2020

Maritime
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