Latest news

Shippers and business groups argue the current truckers’ freight rate table is too generous and would increase shipper costs and retail prices by double digits. The truckers’ union wants a fair rate table and said it will strike again if it is not obtained.

Eastbound Pacific spot rates rose for the second straight week as Cosco and Ocean Alliance partners became the third carrier alliance to announce peak season cuts in services.

Supporters, including some smaller companies, believe the pool will encourage chassis providers to contribute new chassis with the safest features and increase fleet size. Opponents counter the existing pool works fine, and there are legal and operational questions that must be answered before rendering a decision.

Port owner Hutchison Ports said it will continue to work to improve productivity levels at Felixstowe.

There's no 'leisurely summer' for Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz; he's working to build capacity and work through short-run imbalances, while bracing for impact of trade disputes.

A gray chassis pool is not off the agenda, stakeholders say, but as of mid-2018 it appears to be a solution in search of a problem, for several reasons.

In a trade advisory, the port trust announced substantial tariff reductions for domestic and foreign ocean carriers handling export-import containers for transshipment.

It took the new management team at APL’s Pier 300 in Los Angeles only three months to improve truck turn times from the worst in the harbor to the fourth best among the 12 terminals. And they accomplished it by deploying a "customer focus/consumer focus" strategy.

Although the impact would be significant elsewhere, one port complex in the United States has the most to lose — and in a big way — by a protracted, major trade war between the world's two largest economies.

After a mixed performance in 2017, Europe’s top breakbulk ports face a complicated 2018, despite above-trend European GDP growth, due to the threat posed by tariffs and the reinstatement of sanctions against Iran.

The question shippers are asking is, “If you see the freight, can’t you let me know where there’s carrier capacity available?”

In the past, resourceful supply chain managers always had alternatives in their hip pocket to meet the unexpected, for a price. Not this year. In 2018, shippers should not expect surge freight capacity.

Krishnapatnam Port officials have a specific objective in mind as they deploy the expansion and productivity improvement plan.

Pushing data back to users may very well prove to be the pivotal point at which the container shipping industry shifted en masse to portals. But getting to that step will likely require another cultural shift.

The trucking and logistics operator — the 15th largest in the United States — may issue new stock or consider new equity or debt capital as it restructures.

The new Panama Canal’s larger locks appear to have hit the shipping industry at the right time, given at least one, and possibly two, global trends in international trade.

The government has set a firm Sept. 30 deadline for all ports and terminals to join the radio frequency identification (RFID) program; a decree allows stakeholders to apply a mandatory RFID user charge of about $2 per container.

This much is known about rates for US importers from Asia heading into peak season: there are factors that would generate firm-to-higher rates, but also historical factors that would lead to a softening of rates.

The East Coast’s largest port, with the most complex negotiations, has reached an agreement. The International Longshoremen's Association wants all such local agreements to be completed before the master contract that covers the ports on both coasts can be ratified.

Shippers that use the Port of New York and New Jersey may find that Syracuse offers an attractive option once a rail-linked inland port is built. But will its lower rent offset higher logistics costs?

US beneficial cargo owners will face unprecedented challenges using intermodal this peak season. Still, there are time-tested tactics that will ensure the best possible transportation result.

The service, if added, would complement existing feeder services by other ocean carriers. A CMA CGM official said the company has held talks about the possible service.

Above-trend GDP growth is boosting the continent's commerce, and that’s triggered a steady uptrend in trucking rates, amid tighter capacity — and several factors suggest an even more challenging transport market is ahead for logistics planners and transportation managers.

Many experts argue that blockchain technology is tailor-made for container shipping’s international logistics work. But blockchain faces numerous hurdles — the biggest of which may be cultural.

US importers plan to bring in record container volume this peak season, which will translate into an impressive 2018 year-end gain compared with 2017.

New provisional port statistics show total freight handled at minor ports during the revenue/accounting year, which ended March 31, increased 9.2 percent year over year.

Efficient supply chains contain the premise that for every container there is a chassis available. But don't tell shippers that, as the issue has been a thorn in their side and that of other container trade stakeholders for nearly a decade.

Ocean carriers want to avoid being caught up in secondary sanctions that will be imposed by the United States on companies dealing with Iran.

However, far from being an omen of declining demand, headhaul rates from Europe to the United States have strengthened as peak season gets under way.

The world’s biggest transport operator sees a combination of fuels and technologies as necessary to meet shipper sustainability goals.

Beneficial cargo owners can anticipate higher rates this peak season as Yang Ming and its THE Alliance partners announce removal of a trans-Pacific string. This development follows a similar service reduction in late June by the 2M Alliance and was accompanied Friday by an increase of 20 to 30 percent in spot rates.

With supply and demand in more of a balance, sector analysts say shippers should expect higher reefer rates.

Better tech and service may be up ahead. A global head of reefer management for a major ocean carrier predicted that shipping is moving toward a “new era of customer focus” with an emphasis on “creating products that actually add value to customers’ supply chains.”

Shippers watching for the way the Federal Maritime Commission rules on a wide variety of issues that affect the movement of cargo may question the quality of analysis and decision making that will result from having just two Republican commissioners on the board, out of a possible five-member bipartisan board.

Port statistics show Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals processed 17 ship calls in June, compared with 10 calls a month since March, after the new terminal settled into a steady/seamless operation.

The suspension decision was implemented after delegates from the National Sindifisco and a politician close to Brazilian President Michel Temer reached an agreement.

The Landair Holdings acquisition underscores strong shipper demand for dedicated services to meet delivery demands.

A petition calling for a ‘small business’ exemption to the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate has failed, and that means the ELD era has become more entrenched.

Global trade-oriented blockchain solutions are moving from pilot to purported commercial viability in Asia and Europe, as shippers evaluate whether blockchain is something in which they should invest in the short term and which project to back.

The Europe-based ocean carrier has created another specialized, end-to-end cold chain logistics operation, as it works vigorously to establish a stronger foothold in the emerging market economy.