Breakbulk News

The Canadian economy is “humming,” an economist says, but can it outrun trade disputes with its largest trading partner?

Beneficial cargo owners in eastern Canada and the US Midwest should welcome the expansion as a step toward preventing a return of the congestion that Prince Rupert experienced last winter.

A Penske spokesperson said the acquisition will grow the company by enhancing its portfolio of transportation and logistics solutions to shippers.

With its first-move advantage fading, the digital forwarding industry is entering its second phase marked by a mushrooming of providers, a pivot away from marketplaces, and a subsector seeking to give so-called traditional forwarders digital chops.

US truck prices to transport fruits and vegetables from Mexico and California are up 20 to 30 percent compared with a year ago, mirroring the rates in other modes too. Even so, the purchasers of transportation are opening their wallets and riding out the inflation until the macroeconomic environment changes.

Several factors — expected and unexpected — are increasing US trucking and intermodal costs for shippers in June, and threaten to keep pressure on in July.

An average of 24 container ships have been waiting daily at the port’s outer anchorage, officials said.

Amazon’s global inbound supply chain and logistics director Josh Dolan is challenging agricultural product exporters to join the e-commerce giant in arranging container, and maybe even chassis matchbacks, to reduce supply chain logistics costs.

More, faster rail route options with more reliability/visibility, are the chief reasons China-Europe rail use is increasing. Add the historic time advantage over ocean freight and cost advantage over air cargo and the net result is a shift in rail from an “interesting option” to “preferred transport mode" for many shippers.

The tech enhancements could have potential benefits for importers in terms of better visibility of their cargo from the vessel discharge process to the out gate process, and for exporters in terms of better gauging the best time to deliver laden boxes to terminals.

Shippers looking to move cargo to, from, or through Mexico will likely face a challenge finding warehouse and logistics space, as vacancy rates in some areas have hit their lowest levels in six years.

A funny thing has happened in the last few years even as the role of chief supply chain officer hasn’t become quite so ubiquitous: on-demand, subscription-based software providers have begun to partner more than ever, creating networks of logistics capabilities that often mimic those promised by the broader single suites.

The inclusion of carriers with up to 10 trucks in Uber’s capacity pool will help build density and increase the value of its app-based service to shippers.

One person was killed during the strike, which also resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in cargo damages, mainly foodstuffs and meat, along with widespread cargo delays.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Thursday provided guidance on when drivers can use trucks for personal conveyance, among other guidance areas.

Starting Friday, China Customs will require manifest submissions 24 hours prior to loading, or risk missing the intended sailing. One supply chain director called the order nothing new, but another called it a non-tariff barrier deployed mainly against the United States, but also Europe.

Shippers could face challenges finding trucks June 5 to 7 as an annual three-day roadside safety blitz tests electronic logging and hours-of-service compliance.

Rising confidence in the air cargo market is good news for air cargo providers, as shippers and their forwarders move to lock in space and avoid the capacity constraints that characterized peak 2017.

As with many other consumer industries, it’s not that the toy industry pie is shrinking, it’s merely being split differently.

In 2017, US imports of household goods jumped as home projects and construction soared on economic strength, and the outlook calls for continued growth in 2018.

The United States is early in trucking’s “new normal” era, but what is already clear is this: shippers will have to use all options — whether truckload, intermodal rail, less-than-truckload, or even package van — if they want to secure surface transportation capacity.

US forest product and paper industry exports have rebounded, aided by eased environmental regulations.

ShipChain, the cryptocurrency-based logistics start-up company, was issued a cease-and-desist order Tuesday by South Carolina’s attorney general for allegedly transacting securities as an unlicensed broker/dealer.

With the change, effective immediately, foreign carriers can transport laden export-import containers for transhipment and empty containers for repositioning between Indian ports without any specific permission or license.

With the regional, synchronized global expansion largely intact, rising demand points to a strong year for global trade; however, global politics threaten to soften demand for exports of US heavy machinery.

Truckers and others are striking because Petrobras, the state-controlled oil company, has gradually increased diesel prices — by more than 40 percent — over six months, at the same time that the Temer administration has substantially hiked fuel taxes.

It is widely known that government subsidies make the China-Europe rail a viable option, but the huge scale of this support is starting to emerge.

Most shippers say they can’t remember a US transportation market with capacity as tight and pricing as extreme. And shippers say securing capacity is still their priority, despite rates rising by double digits.

The European Union and India announced their retaliation for US tariffs on steel and aluminum as the Trump Administration sent contradictory signals regarding its stance on tariffs and China.

The International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) has been battling non-ILA competition at Delaware River terminals for more than two decades. Jim Paylor, president of Local 1566, said non-ILA unions have kept down wages, among other ramifications.

The Chittagong Chambers of Commerce & Industry president said he spoke with the Road Transport and Highways minister and secretary and they assured him of issuing a directive relaxing the weight limit for trucks within a day or two.

With industrial vacancy rates in Los Angeles-Long Beach close to 1 percent for the past two years, and rents increasing by 12 percent a year, e-commerce fulfillment, light assembly, and specialty retail importers in Southern California are paying record prices for Class B and C properties.

A confluence of factors has created very strong demand for flatbed trucks in the United States, resulting in the longest waiting lists in recent history — shippers are advised to remain patient.

Innovations in the global transportation management system space are happening around the fringes, incorporating things like in-app messaging, better user interfaces, or applying AI layers to existing optimization tools.

Logistics companies view digitization as an opportunity rather than a threat.

A new marine terminal could serve as the catalyst for the creation of a regional barge trade in the US Northeast.

China is increasing pressure on US exporters, creating costly delays.

A series of factors has lined up to ensure European shippers importing air cargo from Asia will be stuck with services to the congested hub airports.

Truckers are unhappy with the administration of a key port productivity program at the Port of Jawaharlal Nehru and are refusing to work.

US truck transport rates eased in April, but there already are signs of a renewed push higher for several market-based reasons.