Commentary

The recent deaths of hundreds of refugees at sea is potentially game-changing and may at last spur all European Union member states to take the urgent collective action needed to prevent further massive loss of life at sea.

A customs broker should make certain its name is reflected on the documentation, by whatever name you choose to call it, only as agent for the beneficial shipper and not as principal. That should suffice to insulate the broker from any lawsuit that might be brought in connection with the inland domestic movement of a shipment.

In the past several months, the Port of New York and New Jersey and other ports along the East Coast have experienced record cargo growth due primarily to containers routed here from the West Coast. This growth has led to challenges in how we handle the increased volume on the land side, which we are working on collaboratively with various stakeholders including terminal operators, trucking companies, chassis providers and public safety to address.

It should be no surprise that executives at FedEx and UPS would be fed up with the false reports of their business model being disrupted by developments with app-based, Uber-like models for same-day and next-day delivery of online retail orders.

There is no easy or single solution to what many believe is a worsening truck driver shortage in the U.S., but that’s not stopping motor carriers and their customers from escalating their response.

Motor carrier “scores” issued under the Compliance, Safety, Accountability program are not helping the public as intended and are causing unnecessary harm. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration needs to take those scores off the table and out of public view until it fixes problems with the methodology used to create them.

Ports need a clear vision of trade developments, equipment and staffing issues, and hinterland infrastructure in their communities.

Shippers are experiencing a period of relative tranquility on the trucking front, but the calm won’t last long,

J.B. Hunt grew its top line revenue by 10.4 percent in 2014 from 2013. While this mark may not be noteworthy by itself, what is unique is that this marks the fifth consecutive year J.B. Hunt increased its revenue by double digits. Only two other companies in SJ Consulting Group’s Top 50 Trucking Companies list have achieved the same feat: Kenan Advantage Group and Roadrunner, although the manner at which they went about this growth is very different.

There’s plenty of speculation about how the proposed liability insurance increase would affect small owner-operators, but one thing’s for sure: The camps for and against the increase are highly polarized.

A federally sponsored infrastructure initiative for major regional ports to be linchpins of a national port strategy would be a first step in upgrading the U.S. in terms of competitiveness in productivity and ability to serve this and future generations of vessels.

There is an expression, “Build It and They Will Come." For the truckers, it’s “Open It Up And They Will Come."

One thing’s for sure if you’ve been involved with international trade in recent times: Things are getting ever more complicated and risk management and compliance challenges are consistently getting harder to anticipate and manage.

The impact of the $75,000 bond on smaller motor carrier brokers has been immense, a reader says, and many have been forced out of the industry by the cost involved. Is the brokerage industry simply stuck with this “unreasonable requirement?”

With the expanded Panama Canal set to open in a year and shippers frustrated with West Coast delays, Florida is pitching itself as an international container import gateway. But the Sunshine State faces fierce competition from Southeast rivals.

When BNSF Railway ceased intermodal service at its Fresno, California, ramp in December, the change neatly encapsulated many of the North American intermodal industry’s challenges.

A customs broker issues delivery orders for shipments in which it isn’t involved in the final delivery arrangements. How can the broker protect himself from any potential lawsuit from a carrier if freight charges are not paid?

There are plenty of factors that contribute to tightening truck capacity and rising transportation costs, but one of the most overlooked is the lack of adequate truck parking. Shippers need to be part of the solution.

Mexico’s low wages, free-trade savvy, and infrastructure and logistics upgrades have been well-documented in JOC coverage over the past decade. What we haven’t documented until now is how the United States’ NAFTA partner has transformed from a backwater country known for its poverty, corruption, drug cartels and tourist attractions into the world’s seventh-largest auto producer, the second-largest U.S. auto supplier, and a rapidly growing manufacturing center for white goods and aerospace products.

As ships get bigger and productivity fails to improve, the industry is digging itself into a hole from which it is increasingly difficult to escape.

The last two surface transportation authorization laws, President Obama’s recent surface transportation proposal and other plans to use one-time revenues to prop up the Highway Trust Fund have one thing in common: They all left or would leave the HTF in worse financial health after the bill expires than it was in before the bill was enacted.

The nine months of negotiations between the Pacific Maritime Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union and concomitant congestion leading to so much misery for so many cargo interests and logistics service providers made the 2015 TPM Conference a highly anticipated event.

Intermodal service is sliding back downhill, and things could get worse if federal regulators slow down crude oil trains, a move that would take velocity out of the entire network.

The Port of Oakland was recently quoted on JOC.com as saying, “Cargo is moving and the backlog is shrinking.” Such a statement doesn’t tell the complete story and causes a great deal of confusion and resentment on the part of cargo owners.

Less-than-truckload growth accelerated in a big way in 2014 as total market revenue grew 7.5 percent to a record $35.4 billion. After years of losing share to parcel and truckload carriers, it seems the LTL industry is finally regaining some of its old business.

Truckers, its time to link up the entire East Coast. This port transportation business has gotten completely out of hand. The actions of today's intermodal management are much more vicious than organized crime. Forcing truckers to play by impossible rules while working for the lowest of rates anywhere within the trucking industry is breaking labor laws, inhuman, reckless and in many cases considered theft by deception.

As thousands of logistics executives from around the world filled the halls of the Long Beach Convention Center over a three-day period for the 15th Annual JOC TPM Conference this month, I couldn’t help but flash back to the first TPM in 2000, when there were about 300 of us in attendance. In those days, the JOC was a daily newspaper delivered to my front door.

Taking the time to learn something about a country’s culture and business etiquette before doing business there isn’t only a show of respect that is usually deeply appreciated (and potentially rewarding), but also should be part-and-parcel of any corporate planning for conducting business abroad.

Drinking a glass of Florida orange juice this morning, I thought about the governor of Florida’s well-publicized letter to “shipping industry professionals,” touting Florida’s port system while at the same time taking a few cheap shots at the state of California by comparing Florida to California in a number of areas. I thought I’d respond in kind about some items that the governor of Florida failed to mention.

As the JOC Group held its 15th Annual TPM Conference in Long Beach, California, this month, it didn’t require any imagination to see the results of nine months of contentious labor negotiations that led to slowdowns and crisis-level congestion at the ports. Even though a tentative contract had finally been reached between the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, the harbor was still dominated by the hulking profiles of dozens of giant freighters stopped cold, parked in place with a whole lot of goods going nowhere.

Standing on the stage at this month’s TPM Conference, Matthew Shay delivered a pointed message to those responsible for months-worth of delays, millions of dollars in lost retail sales, and the loss of jobs and export opportunities: “Enough is enough! The interest of thousands” can no longer threaten the livelihood of millions.

This year’s TPM Conference will probably always be remembered as the event that took place within weeks of the conclusion of the most bruising West Coast labor negotiations in recent memory — surpassing, in its ill-effects on company supply chains, even the 10-day lockout in the fall of 2002.

Between plummeting fuel costs, a surge in consumer spending and a worsening driver shortage, the last few years in the trucking industry have been characterized by extreme highs and lows. This year is shaping up much the same way, although with some new twists in the road.

Whatever the course of action — or inaction — companies have learned a lot during the long, frustrating and costly ordeal at U.S. West Coast ports. Here are five key takeaways.

In the business of helping carriers collect charges from shippers when brokers and 3PLs don’t pay those fees, this writer challenges me to prove that shippers shouldn’t automatically be liable for payment in non-payment cases.

At its core, the cold chain industry is strong. Better yet, the challenges transportation providers have faced during the past few years are thawing out, and there’s an undeniable optimism in the air. Spending on refrigerated equipment, cold chain-related software and technology, and services are picking up, and this year is off to a stronger start.

I don’t know about you, but I want to read or hear about something other than the congestion at West Coast ports, the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. Although the nine-month contract “negotiations” that finally brought a tentative agreement on Feb. 20 — and labor relations overall — are critical issues, there are other important issues to address, including the upcoming negotiations for 2015-16 service contracts in the eastbound trans-Pacific.

The Feb. 20 tentative agreement between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association brought a measure of labor peace to the U.S. West Coast waterfront. But after nine months of negotiations marked by labor slowdowns, threats of a lockout and the worst congestion in more than a decade, the scars will be raw for some time.

The Feb. 20 announcement shows why the current system of longshore labor relations is rotten to the core.

Logistics and procurement teams often end up in conflict about how ocean and air freight transport should be procured. Battle lines within major companies are being drawn between these internal groups as the contracting season gets into full swing shortly.