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supply chain

Supply chain

The Journal of Commerce’s supply chain news and analysis impacting the management of end-to-end supply chains reports on supply chain strategies, cargo visibility, inventory trends, sourcing, customs certification and contract logistics. Supply chain news coverage also delves into refrigerated shipping advancements and management of inventory status, regulatory updates and government funding projects. 

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The latest Supply chain News & Analysis

US House duo pledge OSRA fixes to boost FMC power

Teri Errico Griffis |
US Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Daniel Maffei went before Congress Thursday to field questions about the agency’s budget, slow-going rulemaking, and whether new amendments are needed for shipping reform.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation News

FMC querying carriers, terminals on free time billing practices

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Ahead of a June deadline to issue new rulemaking on detention and demurrage billing, the Federal Maritime Commission is seeking clarity from carriers and terminals about billing shippers when container pickups and drop-offs are not possible.
Container Shipping NewsPort NewsNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Maersk going it alone, so far, on policy changes to free time billing

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Maersk in April will stop collecting detention and demurrage fees on days terminals are closed and shippers can’t pick up or drop off containers, a move yet to be followed by competing ocean carriers.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesPort NewsNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Proactive approach to ISPM 15 progressing despite roadblocks

Autumn Cafiero Giusti, Special Correspondent |
Breakbulk shippers and logistics providers have several proposals for changes to ISPM 15 mitigation and enforcement measures pending approval from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

New IMO rule at odds with practical realities: breakbulk executives

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift, and Keith Wallis, Special Correspondent |
Breakbulk industry executives warn new rules aimed at reducing vessel emissions could incentivize vessel operators to implement measures that increase emissions in other areas of the supply chain.
Breakbulk NewsBreakbulk carriersTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

IEPs file brief siding with ocean carriers in FMC chassis dispute

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor |
The independent equipment providers say upending the current business model would create additional chassis shortages and invoicing problems that would inconvenience cargo owners.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer linesDrayage

WiseTech Global weighing US domestic tech acquisition options: CEO

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Widely used forwarding software provider WiseTech Global will pursue further US landside logistics technology targets in 2023, its CEO says.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsForwarding

US draft legislation seeks to update OSRA-22, boost China scrutiny

Teri Griffis, Associate Editor |
The bill would heighten transparency into regulatory penalties levied against ocean carriers and marine terminal operators and draw a sharp line on the involvement of China-based entities in US shipping.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesPort NewsNorth American ports

Shipper group wants more FMC action on dwell fees, ERDs

Teri Errico Griffis |
An advisory group created by the FMC two years ago is pushing the agency to act on several key issues, but some members have expressed frustration over the response from regulators.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer lines

Shipwell arms ‘underserved’ smaller shippers with automated bidding tool

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Shippers that often use spreadsheets and small transportation teams to bid and execute freight shipments are the target of a new software tool from technology provider Shipwell.
Logistics Technology NewsTrucking NewsTruckloadLTLTruck brokers

US regulators approve CP-KCS merger to form first US-Canada-Mexico rail

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor |
In approving the $31 billion merger, the Surface Transportation Board rejected arguments from the FMC and competing railroads that the deal would harm US ports and shippers.
North-American railNorth American portsSurfaceTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

Freightos’ 2022 financials reveal losses amid improving operating margins

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Freight rate booking marketplace Freightos said its unprofitable business is seeing improving margins and that scale will help it past the breakeven point.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesForwardingAir CargoAir Cargo Carriers NewsAir Cargo Forwarder News

Wan Hai faces $950,000 fine under revised FMC settlement over detention charges

Teri Errico Griffis |
Wan Hai is now looking at a larger civil penalty than it faced nearly a year ago following an investigation into detention charges the carrier assessed in the spring of 2021.
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesNorth American portsTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

US trucking, warehousing firms shed jobs, but still have more than a year ago

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Most of the transportation job losses reported for February were due to seasonal cuts rather than economic contraction, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Supply chainSurfaceTrucking NewsLast Mile News

Global supply chains not quite back to pre-pandemic norms: analyst

Jason Miller, associate professor of logistics at Michigan State University, and JOC analyst |
A variety of data sources suggest it is premature to conclude that supply chain bottlenecks have reverted to their pre-COVID levels, as issues continue to be more pervasive than before the pandemic, writes analyst Jason Miller.
Supply chainContainer Shipping NewsNorth American portsInternational ports

FMC outlines $44 million budget request to enhance market oversight

Michael Angell, Associate Editor |
The Federal Maritime Commission is preparing to ask for another big increase in its budget as it looks to increase market surveillance and enforce OSRA-22.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer Shipping News

Ocean carriers on transnational regulatory defensive over antitrust immunity

Peter Tirschwell |
Stripped of antitrust protection that is under scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the legal certainty of being able to operate within alliances and perhaps even vessel-sharing agreements, ocean carriers could be all but forced to operate independently, writes Peter Tirschwell.
Container Shipping NewsContainer linesTransport, Trade, and Regulation News

OCEMA appeals chassis ruling to FMC commissioners

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor |
The Ocean Carrier Equipment Management Association says the FMC’s chief administrative judge erred in issuing a summary judgement against the group because key facts are still in dispute.
Transport, Trade, and Regulation NewsContainer linesNorth American portsTrucking News

Drayage tech provider PortPro targeting shippers with new tracking tools

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Drayage software vendor PortPro is attempting to narrow the gap between the tools that port truckers and their shipper customers use with a new container milestone tracking product it has launched.
Logistics Technology NewsNorth American portsDrayageTrucking News

Shippers unite in push for carriers to scale up use of zero-carbon fuel

Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe |
Shippers are keeping pressure on carriers to decarbonize their operations with the launch of another US-led initiative to speed up container shipping’s transition to fossil-free fuels.
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsContainer linesTrans-PacificTrans-AtlanticAsia-EuropeSupply chain

Shippers committed to digital investments in logistics: S&P Global

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Shippers are showing “healthy adoption” of a wide variety of digital transformation projects, according to new research from S&P Global Market Intelligence.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsPort NewsTrucking NewsSupply chain

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

Visibility providers target challenges of container terminal milestone data

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Shippers struggling to manage demurrage fees and container availability information have two new options to track the status of containers at ports.
Logistics Technology NewsMaritimePort NewsMarine terminalsNorth American ports

Investors back Overhaul’s hybrid risk management–visibility strategy

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
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.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsTrucking NewsRail News

US startup eyes street turn tech expansion throughout North America

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
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.
Logistics Technology NewsPort NewsMarine terminalsNorth American portsDrayageTrucking News

CMA CGM rides strong first half to record profits in 2022

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
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.
Container linesContainer Shipping NewsSupply chain

US DOT opens $12.4 million in funding for maritime transportation projects

Teri Errico Griffis |
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.
Supply chainPort News

TPM23: CN focusing investment on capacity growth: CEO

Teri Errico Griffis, Associate Editor |
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.
North-American railSurfaceSupply chain

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: Flexport’s new CEO puts focus on building ‘next-generation’ tech

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Flexport, the polarizing digital forwarder, will double down on technology development during a lull in global trade, new CEO Dave Clark said at TPM23.
Logistics Technology NewsSupply chain

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

TPM23: Resilient US economy may avoid recession in 2023: economist

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
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. 
MaritimeContainer Shipping NewsSupply chain

TPMTech23: ‘Purchase order management’ the new catchphrase in logistics

Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor |
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.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsTrans-PacificSupply chain

TPMTech23: Retailers seek to make supply chain visibility data more useful

Bill Mongelluzzo, Senior Editor |
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.
Supply chainLogistics Technology News

More investment headed to US last-mile delivery market

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor |
Transportation providers of all sizes, from Maersk to Pitt Ohio, are searching for last-mile delivery options as customer and consumer demand evolves.
Last Mile NewsSupply chain

GSBN, Navis partner to help exporters track ERD changes

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
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.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer linesMarine terminals

BlueCargo will use new investment to expand container platform nationwide

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
Rising demand from importers reckoning with the costs of detention and demurrage have fueled an $11 million investment into container management provider BlueCargo.
Logistics Technology NewsContainer Shipping NewsMarine terminalsNorth American ports

Slync investors double down on beleaguered company with new funding

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
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.
Logistics Technology NewsSupply chain

Leaf Logistics using technology to create dedicated truckload fleets in key US markets

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor |
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.
Logistics Technology NewsTruckload