The 16th Annual TPM Conference in Long Beach generated industry headlines and insights available nowhere else. While those on the ground at the event got the early scoop, we have you covered with these key takeaways from the diverse array of panels and discussions hosted by our talented and experienced team of editors.
TPM 2016
TPM 2016
Editorial coverage of the JOC’s 16th annual TPM conference in Long Beach, Calif. If in attendance, get a recap; if you weren't able to attend, learn what you missed.
For event information, including agendas and photo galleries, visit the TPM Conference 2016 page.
15 Mar 2016
With memories of last year’s West Coast port disruptions still fresh in their minds, a coalition representing 113 local, state and federal trade associations of beneficial cargo owners on Tuesday urged the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and Pacific Maritime Association to begin early discussions on a contract extension.
14 Mar 2016
A 14-week program is putting more drayage drivers behind the wheel at the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. Long Beach City College offers 200 hours of in-the-cab training, and the program is free to the students.
10 Mar 2016
JOC’s annual TPM Conference is one of the premier events for the shipping and transportation industry. Bringing so many different players together across industry segments brings out a variety of perspectives and ideas whose exchange reveals valuable and unexpected insight while sometimes casting issues into a completely new, and unexpected, light.
07 Mar 2016
Whether it’s the growing presence of mega-ships at U.S. ports, the proliferation of mandatory appointment systems at marine terminals or the transfer of carrier-owned chassis to equipment leasing firms, harbor trucking companies are paying a price for decisions made by other members of the transportation supply chain.
07 Mar 2016
During the 16th annual TPM Conference here, executives participating in the Cool Cargoes’ “Refrigerated Roundtable” session revealed that quality service and equipment are paramount to shippers of refrigerated cargo.
07 Mar 2016
The impending shakeup of the membership in three of the four alliances among global container shipping lines will be difficult for beneficial cargo owners over the next year or more, but they may benefit from the changes in the long run, a top Maersk executive said here at the JOC’s 16th annual TPM Conference.
03 Mar 2016
Volatile rates and uncertain services mean shippers and forwarders entering into contracts with carriers are having to ensure an enormous amount of flexibility is built into their negotiations.
02 Mar 2016
The loss of a mega-ship could "rewrite the law of general average," costing more than $1 billion, former container ship captain and maritime risk expert Andrew Kinsey said at the 16th annual TPM Conference. Captain Michael Lloyd warned losses such as the sinking of the MOL Comfort could become more common.
02 Mar 2016
A panel of ocean shipping experts at the 16th Annual TPM Conference gazed in their crystal balls and saw very different outcomes for shipping patterns after the Panama Canal opens its new larger locks to commercial traffic in June.
02 Mar 2016
Chinese industrial overcapacity and a global commodity collapse will contribute to economic growth being stuck in low gear this year at about 2.5 percent, IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh told the 2016 TPM Conference in Long Beach on Monday. He warned trade won't recover this year, and when it does in the next two years, it will not recover to the rates seen in the 1990s and 2000s when the growth was double that.
02 Mar 2016
Weak export growth is a serious impediment to economic growth and prosperity in the U.S. and is hampered more by inadequate infrastructure than by the strong U.S. dollar, delegates were told at the TPM 2016 conference here.
01 Mar 2016
The impending redrawing of alliances perfectly illustrates the risk facing BCOs, which are already dusting off their risk management plans in preparation for another shake up they expect will hit their business from next year, a panel of top shippers told delegates at TPM 2016.
01 Mar 2016
Why is venture capital flooding into the transportation and logistics industry faster than ever before? Because the industry needs it, former venture capitalists and now logistics industry insiders told the 2016 TPM Conference here on Tuesday.
01 Mar 2016
Agricultural exporters are educating longshore workers and terminals operators at West Coast ports on the extent their showdown caused in 2015 and early 2016, a shipper group head said Tuesday here at JOC’s 16th annual TPM Conference.
01 Mar 2016
Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, gave the 16th annual TPM Conference keynote speech to more than 2,000 attendees and outlined how new sources of economic growth aside from the traditional means of population and productivity increases are needed, and how transportation and logistics firms can unleash their potential.
01 Mar 2016
Transportation intermediaries are likely to play an important role in verifying container weights for international shippers and shipping lines, a UPS Supply Chain Solutions executive said at the 16th Annual TPM Conference here Tuesday.
01 Mar 2016
The SOLAS guidelines on container weight verification that will be implemented from July 1 are not mandatory, U.S. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Paul Thomas told a packed TPM Conference here Tuesday.
01 Mar 2016
The trans-Pacific ocean container trade no doubt will be impacted by mergers and acquisitions among ocean carriers this year.
01 Mar 2016
For the first time since the grueling contract negotiations of 2014-15, the presidents of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the Pacific Maritime Association said they are willing to raise with their memberships the possibility of extending the existing agreement beyond the July 1, 2019, expiration date in the interests of labor peace.
01 Mar 2016
Increasing deployment of mega-ships to Chinese ports, together with consolidation of services, may leave shippers with less choice for their China-related transportation needs, delegates learned at TPM 2016.
29 Feb 2016
The outlook for container shipping lines is not good, according to several speakers at the JOC’s 16th Annual TPM Conference.
29 Feb 2016
New sources of efficiency and productivity are needed to spur greater economic growth and higher volumes of international trade, Frank Appel, CEO of Deutsche Post DHL Group, said here Monday at JOC’s 16th Annual TPM Conference.
29 Feb 2016
Container lines should work with customers to attack supply chain inefficiency instead of fixating on ever-larger container ships, Hapag-Lloyd CEO Rolf Habben Jansen said at the JOC’s 16th Annual TPM Conference.
29 Feb 2016
Global economic growth will be stuck in low gear this year at around 2.5 percent, continuing the weak GDP that has put the brakes on trade for the past few years, IHS Chief Economist Nariman Behravesh told the 2016 TPM Conference in Long Beach on Monday.
29 Feb 2016
The world is not headed toward recession, despite turmoil in global stock markets and falling commodities prices, the head of one of the largest global logistics companies said Sunday.
29 Feb 2016
Maersk Line expects container volumes in the eastbound trans-Pacific to increase between 5 and 5.5 percent this year but sees little or no growth in westbound volumes.
29 Feb 2016
Conflicting and constantly changing information on new container weight regulations requiring shippers to provide the verified gross mass of all export containers points to a chaotic rollout of the rule when enforcement begins on July 1.
28 Feb 2016
Several of the world’s top container lines are entering a game of musical chairs. When the music stops, some of them will find themselves in different vessel-sharing alliances because of the chain reaction touched off by the current wave of mergers and acquisitions among carriers.
28 Feb 2016
Trans-Pacific shippers, still sore from U.S. West Coast port congestion, frustrated with schedule reliability and seeing no end to overcapacity draining spot rates, might be tempted to put the squeeze on carriers during annual contract negotiations. They should resist.
27 Feb 2016
The major question facing carriers in the trans-Pacific trades this year isn’t how much cargo will move, but whether U.S. West and East Coast ports will be up to the challenge of handling the big ships carrying the goods. For beneficial cargo owners, the message is that they must be nimble in their cargo routing, and they must have close working relationships with ocean carriers, trucking companies, warehouses and railroads, to ensure BCOs have the transportation capacity they need where and when they need it.
26 Feb 2016
Spot rates in the eastbound Pacific continued their descent this week, declining 4 percent week-to-week to the East Coast and 6 percent to the West Coast as shipments from Asia were down because of the annual Chinese New Year celebrations.
26 Feb 2016
Drewry is introducing a new procurement service for container shippers that conducts ocean shipping contract negotiations based on benchmark contract freight rates for all global trade lanes it obtains from a group of beneficial cargo owners.
Commentary
Is it time for container ports’ best practices?
More Commentary