Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

Discover the news and analysis of supply chain strategies, sourcing and trends covered by the Journal of Commerce. Comprehensive coverage includes customs, trade news, transport news and the latest information about trade regulations. 

The latest Transport, Trade, and Regulation News News & Analysis

Maersk shifts detention billing to consignees ahead of FMC regulation

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The move by the carrier comes as the FMC is in the midst of a rulemaking process around detention and demurrage billing mandated by the passage of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 last June.
DrayageContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesNorth American portsTrucking NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

TPM23: Sustainability should be collective, not competitive: ONE’s Nixon

Greg Knowler, Senior Europe Editor |
The container shipping industry needs to collaborate in finding alternatives to fossil fuels rather than each player following their own path, ONE CEO Jeremy Nixon told TPM23.
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

TPM23: MSC putting ocean shipping first after ending 2M Alliance: Toft

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
MSC’s chief executive told TPM23 that the company’s hefty orderbook signals to customers that the carrier remains chiefly committed to ocean shipping, rather than selling an integrated supply chain service.
Container linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

TPM23: US can’t quit China, but trade needs to de-risk: Petraeus

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
US shippers are entering an era of greater risk in China trade, retired Gen. David Petraeus warned, but the two largest global economies will remain linked despite moves to source goods elsewhere.
Trans-PacificContainer Shipping NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

After pandemic shock, container shipping navigates uncharted waters

Peter Tirschwell |
The container shipping market is quickly moving on from the pandemic period and into a phase that is at once familiar but also entirely new and unpredictable, writes Peter Tirschwell.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Top container lines commit to complete shift to electronic bills of lading by 2030

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Major container lines have agreed to an ambitious 2030 deadline to migrate from paper bills of lading to digital versions as resistance to such initiatives weakens.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesLogistics Technology NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC judge ruling on chassis will have major impact, but questions linger

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor |
A decision by an FMC administrative judge on chassis usage will shake up the way chassis are provisioned for ocean containers, but there are several unknowns on what the future will look like at ports and rail hubs.
Container linesContainer Shipping NewsNorth American portsDrayageTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

US DOT says ports can tap $662 million in 2023 grants

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The US Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration is on the hunt for port projects that mitigate climate change, among other aims, as it lays out grant funding opportunities for 2023.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsNorth American ports

FMC order for MSC to justify congestion fee marks first under OSRA-22

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The Federal Maritime Commission has exercised its first use of new legal authority under OSRA-22 requiring an ocean carrier to justify the reason behind levying a congestion surcharge against a shipper.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping News

US retailers’ global sourcing strategy will take time to develop: analysts

Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor |
As the size of China’s workforce declines and production challenges increase, US retailers are shifting to global sourcing strategies, with each sector looking for the business model that meets its particular requirements.
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsTrans-PacificInternational portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

End of 2M Alliance will set dominoes in motion across ocean shipping: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO & Partner, Vespucci Maritime, and JOC Analyst |
The announced dissolution of the 2M Alliance raises the question of what additional large-scale dominoes might be toppling over in the next few years in the container shipping sector, writes analyst Lars Jensen.
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC drops bid to use OSRA-22 for emergency data sharing

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
A Federal Maritime Commission member’s attempt to force marine terminals and ocean carriers to share more data under OSRA-22 has ended with the normalization of the ocean freight market.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsPort News

NY-NJ marine terminals offering up more data to improve truck flow

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
Last year’s container surge prompted a harder look at information sharing for container availability and port operations, which New York-New Jersey marine terminals are responding to with new data.
North American portsContainer Shipping NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Truckers urge single appointment system across Southern California port complex

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
As federal and state laws aim to make per diem charges more transparent, California trucking groups say a unified appointment system across the Los Angeles and Long Beach port complex would go a long way toward that goal.
North American portsContainer Shipping NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Electronic bill of lading ‘green shoots’ emerge in wake of pandemic

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Pandemic-driven acceleration in the usage of its digital shipping document product is a sign that blockchain does work in niche applications in global logistics, according to CargoX.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsSupply chainTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Lack of data leaves shippers reliant on 3PLs to reduce Scope 3 emissions

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Pressure on shippers to take a more active role in bringing down so-called Scope 3 emissions covering the activities of a company’s third-party vendors — including transportation — has increased in recent years.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesForwardingLogistics Technology News

Market fallout from OSRA-22 to become clearer in 2023

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Whether OSRA-22 — and increased FMC scrutiny — will produce tangible changes in how carriers and terminals calculate and convey detention and demurrage charges is still yet to be seen, as inaccurate invoices continue to plague shippers.
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesMarine terminalsNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

USDA urges FMC to hone OSRA-22 export rules for ag shippers

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The Ocean Shipping Reform Act’s export provisions need further clarification to explain instances when US ag exports don’t get on a ship, the US Department of Agriculture said.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer lines

FMC nixes claim that proposed per diem rule adds to port congestion, pollution

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The Federal Maritime Commission turned away a petition from ocean carriers and marine terminals claiming that limiting liability on per diem billing would translate into worsening port congestion and pollution.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Modest predictions for freight transportation as the winds of 2023 begin to blow

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor, and Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor |
Some factors, such as the sharper attention both multinationals and smaller mom-and-pop sellers are paying to their supply chains, seem to be charting a new trajectory and are poised to help shape the freight sector this year.
Supply chainContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesTrans-PacificLongshore laborNorth American portsSurfaceTrucking NewsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Hapag-Lloyd hit with FMC rail demurrage complaint

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The filing is just the latest in a barrage of complaints made against various container lines with the FMC in recent months, a flurry accelerated by major reform of US shipping law that went into effect in June.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesDrayageRail NewsIntermodal providersNorth-American rail

EU ETS will come at steep cost for industry: analyst

Lars Jensen, CEO, Vespucci Maritime; analyst, the Journal of Commerce |
Although the precise cost of inclusion of container shipping in the EU’s Emissions Trading System is not fully known, it will likely exceed $10 billion annually, according to Journal of Commerce analyst Lars Jensen.
Container linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Stakeholders say US cargo flow would be undermined by proposed FMC billing rule

Peter Tirschwell |
At the core of the concerns expressed by carriers and terminal operators are what they say are the limits the FMC’s proposed rule on detention and demurrage would place on their ability to bill truckers and consignees.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesMarine terminalsNorth American ports

Congress directs USDOT to prepare national maritime plan

JOC Staff |
The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 requires the US Department of Transportation to make recommendations for how Congress can invest in and increase the resilience of the US marine transportation system.
Container Shipping NewsNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Global carbon pricing needed; shippers willing to pay: research reports

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe |
Shipping’s transition to zero-carbon energy sources will be costly, but shippers are showing a growing willingness to pay to decarbonize their ocean transport supply chains.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesTrans-PacificAsia-EuropeTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC checking carrier compliance with OSRA-22 anti-retaliation clause

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor |
The anti-retaliation provision was included in US shipping reform because some shippers have been hesitant to lodge complaints against carriers for fear of being blacklisted.
Container linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Industry urges FMC to streamline free-time billing in OSRA-linked rulemaking

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
The US Federal Maritime Commission is poring over feedback about detention and demurrage billing practices from more than 100 industry stakeholders as the agency seeks to implement a key provision of OSRA-22.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesMarine terminals

Decarbonization tops IMO’s London MEPC79 agenda

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe |
MEPC79 delegates will also be considering a basket of measures that can integrate both technical and carbon pricing elements as the maritime industry transitions to more renewable fuels.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC members seek anti-trust power over ocean carrier agreements

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
Two of the five Federal Maritime Commissioners want to put agreements, particularly those among ocean carriers, on a tighter leash, by allowing the agency to issue the same injunctions as can courts.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

Richard Lidinsky, ex-FMC chair and champion of shippers, dead at 76

Mark Szakonyi, Executive Editor |
Richard Lidinsky, a former chairman for the US Federal Maritime Commission, leaves a legacy of agency reform whose work echoes through the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC draft on exports gives carriers wide loophole: shippers

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
The FMC is attempting to define when it’s reasonable for ocean carriers to refuse export cargo, but some shippers say the agency is making it too easy for that to happen.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

End shipping’s EU ‘safe harbor’ block exemption: German regulator

Greg Knowler, Senior Europe Editor |
The German Federal Cartel Office argues that large container carriers do not satisfy “with a sufficient degree of certainty” the conditions required for their exemption from European competition law.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

USDOT grants $39 million to fund port projects

JOC Staff |
Of the 12 projects the US Department of Transportation is funding, 11 will receive support for developing container-on-barge services.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC launches study to improve US chassis pools

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
The FMC-sponsored study comes as the ultra-tight supply of chassis in the US has been a contributing factor in port and rail congestion for well over a year.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

Carriers call on European regulator to extend block exemption rule

Greg Knowler, Senior Europe Editor |
Claims by shippers that the European block exemption was dampening market competition are “at odds with reality,” ocean carriers have told European regulators.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsAsia-Europe

First post-OSRA shipper invoicing complaint snags Flexport

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
An Indiana-based shipper alleges it tried to resolve incomplete invoice issues directly with Flexport, but says the NVO failed to provide necessary information and withheld additional containers.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC’s Maffei warns of increased Congressional scrutiny on IEPs, rails

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
With US maritime reform now on the books, the head of the FMC says Congress is paying close attention to the end-to-end supply chain beyond ocean carriers.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC’s Bentzel wants agency to harmonize container tracking

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
While US ports would operate their own data system through the FMC’s Marine Transportation Data Initiative, the agency would standardize what data needs to be shared and when.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

MSC disputes judge’s handling of FMC complaint

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
Mediterranean Shipping Co. maintains it cannot produce discovery in an FMC complaint stemming back to July 2021 because of Swiss law and is now disputing a judge’s determination to issue default judgment.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

Ten more shippers pledge to use zero-carbon vessels by 2040

Greg Knowler, Senior Europe Editor |
Sustainability ambitions from the world’s largest cargo owners are ramping up pressure on carriers to accelerate their transition to zero-carbon fuels or risk losing high-volume business in the coming decades.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News