Latest news

The Drewry benchmark rate for shipping from Hong Kong to Los Angeles rose this week after three weeks in a row with no positive movement.

The Port of Jacksonville is poised to get the congressional go-ahead to deepen its harbor in order to handle larger container ships, after the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a needed report.

Hapag-Lloyd and CSAV signed a binding contract to complete a merger to create the world’s fourth-largest container line.

The “Daily Maersk” product was supposed to solidify Maersk’s position as the leading carrier on the Asia-North Europe trade, but less than three years after its launch, Maersk has lost market share in the lane and triggered a rate war, setting the stage for a carrier showdown, Alphaliner said in its latest newsletter.

The United States’ largest trucking companies kept tapping their brakes in 2013, slowing revenue growth for the second consecutive year as the economic recovery remained a modest one.

CSX Transportation said rail service will “gradually” improve and that it was reasonable to expect operations to return to normal by the end of June, following a harsh winter that snarled operations and created a backlog of freight.

Is Maersk Line, the world’s largest ocean carrier, showing that the age-old demons of container shipping — overcapacity, volatile spot rates and commoditized service — can finally be slain?

The clock on Rich Ceci’s desk reads 00:00, and the project manager of Global Terminal’s expansion said it signifies a milestone met.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Technology similar to Uber and other apps that allow big-city users to call a taxi or black sedan with their smartphones could soon hit the U.S. trucking industry, potentially displacing freight brokers that fail to adapt, a senior equity research analyst warned on April 12.

Smith Electric Vehicles, hailed by President Obama in 2010 for its help “setting a model” for a greener U.S. economy, stopped making or delivering trucks and vans late last year as it ran short on cash and failed to make a profit from its battery-powered vehicles.

The number of foreign trade containers handled by the Port of Kobe in western Japan fell for the second year in a row in 2013, according to figures released by the Kobe municipal government.

The competitive advantage of ports will be their ability to improve productivity and service levels as larger vessels call more often and increase container handling volume per port visit, according to Mika Mahlberg, vice president of Konecranes’ port cranes business unit.

Hongkong International Terminals (HIT) said port operators, contractors and workers — who have reached a settlement in wage negotiations that will give dockworkers a potential increase of 10.1 percent — were “all in the same boat” and would have to work together if the port was to remain competitive.

In the brutal war for cargo that is underway in today’s world of powerful shipping alliances, the last thing the Southern California ports want to do is subsidize competitors by helping them pay to deepen their ports, the president of the Long Beach Harbor Commission said yesterday.

JUAREZ, Mexico — Each Christmas ornament or mannequin that is shipped from here to major U.S. retailers is a sign of Mexico’s growing competitive edge with China.

Pacific Maritime Association President Jim McKenna said today the U.S. West Coast employers’ organization will begin contract negotiations with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union on May 12, an announcement that should silence calls from retailers urging an early start to negotiations.

The National Retail Federation urged the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and its West Coast employers to start contract negotiations immediately and to keep bargaining even if they don’t reach a deal before the current agreement expires June 30.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services appears back on track for intermodal growth, reflecting a broader pickup in intermodal following delays, disruptions and depressed volumes in the first quarter blamed on severe weather.

A group representing cruise operators, stevedores and the International Longshoremen’s Association bought full-page newspaper advertisements to criticize soccer star David Beckham’s proposal to build a 25,000-seat stadium at the Port of Miami.

Sharply higher shipments to China and India helped Etihad Airways boost its freight traffic in the first quarter by 26 percent to an all-time high.

The neighboring ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will step up their collaboration if necessary to increase market share in a new era of powerful carrier alliances, but a merger of the two ports does not appear likely.

Imagine a cargo ship with no crew and no bridge, operated remotely by a captain from a console on dry land.

ORLANDO, Fla. — The severe capacity constraints shippers experienced on U.S. roadways in the first quarter will become the norm unless the federal government acts to offset the impact of new regulations with productivity-enhancing measures.

U.S. containerized import volume jumped 15.1 percent year-over-year in March 2014, the largest increase in 13 months, according to advance figures from PIERS, the data division of JOC Group Inc.

The Port of Gulfport, Miss., is preparing to acquire three post-Panamax cranes that will be far larger than needed for the biggest ships that can navigate the port’s 36-foot authorized channel depth.

Goodman Group plans to increase its investment in China to $3 billion in the next three to four years, Philip Pearce, the Australia-listed global industrial property developer’s China country manager, said in Shanghai.

Philippine terminal operators believe calls to transfer container-handling operations away from Manila as part of the solution to ease chronic traffic congestion in the city are unrealistic.

Shippers can expect more cargo to be “rolled” to later voyages as container lines continue to cut costs by slow-steaming and laying up vessels, Drewry Maritime Research said in its latest Container Insight Weekly.

With productivity a growing battleground among container terminals, Singapore is making a high-profile research investment to ensure its port, the world’s second busiest, remains competitive.

Old Dominion Freight Line is the latest less-than-truckload carrier to raise its tariff rates this year, as trucking costs rise across the board.

Federal investigators are trying to piece together the last days of a FedEx truck driver for clues as to why he crossed a highway median and struck a tour bus, killing 10 people.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Booming U.S. oil and natural gas production is “one of the most underappreciated megatrends,” a senior equity research analyst told the Transportation Intermediaries Association conference here.

The 50 largest U.S. trucking companies raised their combined revenue 5.5 percent last year to $106.6 billion, but expanded at a slower pace than in 2012.

The 22 publicly owned trucking companies tracked by The Journal of Commerce reported $9.6 billion in combined revenue in the fourth quarter, with LTL carriers increasing revenue 5 percent year-over-year on average and the truckload group increasing revenue 9.5 percent. Gains in truckload revenue came largely through acquisitions at Celadon, Roadrunner Transportation and Heartland Express.

The Hong Kong port faces challenges on several fronts.

A national standard of care is needed to give freight brokers guidelines on how to use federal CSA safety data when contracting carriers, the Transportation Intermediaries Association says.

A standoff continues between Baltimore port employers and the International Longshoremen’s Association over a local contract covering non-containerized breakbulk and automobile shipments.

The International Labor Organization voted to support amending an international labor convention by requiring shipowners to provide financial security to compensate seafarers abandoned at ports away from their native countries.

Multiple carriers have planned rate increases in various trade lanes in April and May, although any gains achieved could be fleeting as overcapacity and lackluster global demand continues.

TUCSON, Ariz. — Intermodal service delays at Union Pacific Railway and CSX Transportation will end in roughly two to four weeks following a harsh winter that wrecked havoc on the railroads’ networks, rail representatives said at a conference on April 10.