Supply Chain

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.

Shippers struggling to manage demurrage fees and container availability information have two new options to track the status of containers at ports.

Supply chain risk-focused technology provider Overhaul has channeled demand for reducing exposure to cargo theft into a $38 million funding round just a few weeks after acquiring competitor SensiGuard.

Technology startup Qualle is trying to overcome drayage industry inertia around matching empty import boxes with export loads outside of ports by using early-stage funding to serve every North American port market.

Even as demand headwinds buffet container lines, the CMA CGM Group posted record earnings in 2022 thanks to the lingering effects of the pandemic-fueled container market.

The federal government says it’s looking to fund projects across the country that will help move goods, particularly in rural areas, and strengthen the country’s supply chain.

Canadian National will grow its capacity based on the assumption that China will remain the biggest sourcing country for North America while acknowledging the shift under way into Southeast Asia, India, and potentially Africa that could fuel cargo through eastern Canada, its CEO told TPM23.

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.

Flexport, the polarizing digital forwarder, will double down on technology development during a lull in global trade, new CEO Dave Clark said at TPM23.

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.

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.

The forecast for the US and global economies is brighter than a year ago, with reduced risk of recession, thanks in part to the “decongestion” of supply chains, economist Nariman Behravesh said at TPM23. 

Retailers are discovering the importance of closely managing purchase orders as increasingly complex trans-Pacific supply chains spawned by the pandemic highlight the need for a heightened hands-on approach.

Shippers are gaining better supply chain visibility, but now they must step up their game and better manage and integrate the data they are receiving from transportation providers, technology companies told TPMTech23.

Transportation providers of all sizes, from Maersk to Pitt Ohio, are searching for last-mile delivery options as customer and consumer demand evolves.

The Global Shipping Business Network is giving exporters an app that would track changes to earliest return dates across container terminals that use Navis terminal operating systems.

Rising demand from importers reckoning with the costs of detention and demurrage have fueled an $11 million investment into container management provider BlueCargo.

A new funding round for the embattled logistics software vendor is bound to raise eyebrows in an industry that has long been cynical of the impact of venture capital-backed founders.

Freight coordination software provider Leaf Logistics is working with a number of shippers and truckload carriers to build flexible, dedicated fleets to allow for continuous moves in big US markets.

Singapore-based Ocean Network Express, the sixth-largest global container line, will work with a division of Sony to track its global fleet of boxes.

Despite better-than-expected factory output in January, the manufacturing spigot that releases shipping demand simply isn’t turning fast enough and retail inventories remain stubbornly high.

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.

Automation is already being infused into shipper and forwarder technology systems in ways that may be imperceivable to users.

WiseTech Global is doubling down on its reach into US intermodal networks with its $414 million purchase of Blume Global three weeks after acquiring drayage tech provider Envase.

The container shipping industry’s profit margins are easing, but the appetite for acquisitions — from air cargo units to last-mile delivery logistics — isn’t letting up, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

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.

Federal authorities allege ex-Slync CEO Chris Kirchner took millions of dollars meant to fund the startup technology company and instead financed extravagant personal expenditures.

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.

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.

A new Flexport app on Shopify’s partner marketplace is likely to be the first of many initiatives between the forwarder and e-commerce storefront provider.

Primarily an industrial transportation sector, the LTL business is moving into retail and is also becoming more involved in transloading at US port cities. 

Refrigerated container trade was muted in 2022 due to high costs and poor service, but ocean carriers appear keen to serve those markets in 2023 now that dry cargo rates have returned to pre-pandemic levels.

Freight visibility provider Overhaul has acquired a competitor that doubles its size and gives it deeper cargo monitoring capability in Brazil, Mexico, and Central Europe.

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.

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.

Courier, trucking, and warehousing firms lost workers last month, but the seasonal surge and purge was more muted than expected, reflecting broader labor market resilience.

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.

Smaller US truckload carriers and the companies that provide them with access to working capital are under increasing pressure as cargo demand slows.

The specialized reefer fleet has proven to be remarkably resilient in the face of various challenges, but now it must deal with the latest threat in the form of new IMO environmental regulations.

The largest US logistics provider claims “compelling results” from cross-selling surface transportation and air and ocean services, despite weak market conditions.