Commentary

Q: I just read your May 17, 2010, column on honesty in billing freight charges, and it brings up a situation that has always bothered me.

There are plenty of Web-skeptics in the world, and there’s no shortage of them in the transportation world. But let me just say for the record that Twitter has improved my life.

There are two meaningful issues confronting the shipping industry. The question of whether to repeal the Jones Act is one for the long term.

Anyone in a hurry to get to the Jersey City, N.J., Fourth of July fireworks display last week, and lamenting the lack of high-speed rail to get there, needn’t have worried.

A Financial Times blog post suggests the Baltic Dry Index is "a

If you think one truck is much like another, talk to Frank Rubino.

This week we celebrate Independence Day to commemorate adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776.

When you control 20 percent of the market in a transportation field, your strategic actions are bound to reverberate across the business, raising questions for competitors and for customers.

Watching the emergence this year of labor unrest in China, you have to wonder what the long-term implications are for decisions on where to source goods for developed nations.

When two sides have irreconcilable differences on an issue, both sides usually can share the blame for the impasse. The gulf these days between railroads and shippers is a good example.

Q: I work for a motor carrier. I have a shortage claim for 17 cases of cigarettes from an import container that our company delivered to a U.S. location.

If they aren’t using straw to soak up oil in the Gulf of Mexico, it’s probably because the available supply has been exhausted by politician

Q: I ordered goods from a company and paid both the cost of the goods and the freight. The company is now “gone,” and the trucking company is demanding I pay the freight cost.

After two weeks of traveling across Asia (Tokyo, Seoul, Fuzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing) and experiencing a number of so-called blue-sky days — that is, you can’t actually see clea

When the temperature in the Northeast U.S.

Pirate attacks against commercial vessels are increasing in international and territorial waters.

Antitrust immunity for container lines is such an easy target it’s ridiculous. The idea that competitors can discuss and influence price for services is not simply anathema to U.S.

The direction of U.S. transportation policy is in the hands of a couple of gung-ho bicyclists.

Just one day and a few miles apart, the shipping world got markedly different views of the state of logistics and transportation in 2010.

Anyone who imports textile or wearing apparel products knows achieving 100 percent regulatory compliance has been challenging for Customs and the trade community.

Q: I’ve read in your past columns that if the shipper fails to pay a carrier’s freight charges, the carrier may collect from the consignee, per Corpus Juris Secundum, 13 C.J.S.

There is a disturbing undercurrent in the chaotic scramble in Asia for slot capacity on ocean container lines, at least for shippers: a shortage of containers themselves.

How do trucking companies exit the industry? One desk, chair and belt buckle at a time.

The grief and anguish South Louisiana residents have experienced for nearly two months as their fragile coastline and its bounty of wildlife drown in BP Deepwater Horizon toxic black goo is as horrify

It will not seem remarkable to many that AMR this month placed Apple at the top of its annual rankings for the world’s top 25 supply chains — it’s the third year the technology icon

Q: I had to contact you regarding your April 12 article discussing a Supreme Court case involving differences in maritime vs.

In considering service contract offerings, a consistent pattern emerged recently in the line of questioning among our clients: “Is Carrier X financially stable?

As the opening of an expanded Panama Canal nears, with the greater capacity carrying potential to change ocean trade currents between the Pacific and Atlantic, frustration at the Port of New York and

Wal-Mart Stores recently started an initiative to take control of the inbound transportation of products from its vendors to its own distribution centers and, in some cases, direct to its own stores.

Schneider National, one of the largest U.S. trucking companies, reached a 75-year milestone this week not just by surviving tough times but changing with them.

The news last week that oil prices on world futures markets dropped further after sharp declines earlier in the month came oddly paired with the latest grim news from the Gulf of Mexico.

It is a weekly if not daily occurrence: Someone who has spent their career in container shipping or logistics says he or she has never experienced conditions worse, uncertain or more challenging than

Q: In the March 8, 2010, issue you wrote about a claim involving palletized freight where the bill of lading prepared by the shipper showed piece count, but the driver signed only for pallets.

The term “black swan” has historically referred to something that was impossible.

You’d hardly know, from all the talk around the transportation world in recent weeks, that we’re living in an era of deregulation.

Frustration and irritation are the two words most often used when describing railroad-customer relationships.

It is very LIKELY, although not certain, that by the end of this year most non-vessel-operating common carriers operating in the U.S. will no longer have to publish rate tariffs.

Q: We’re a shipper, and have a case where our customer is billing us back-freight charges plus an administrative fine for sending a shipment collect when it should have been prepaid.

Business intelligence tools and accurate, integrated data will increasingly empower individuals and organizations in the emerging post-recession economy.

In reporting my column this week on the ocean carrier service contract filing rule, I reached out to Andy Abbott, CEO of Atlantic Container Line, who believes the requirement is unnecessary.