Supply chain

The shipping industry’s ability to overcome physical disruptions such as the Port of Baltimore’s closure shouldn’t lull it into complacency because growing geopolitical threats could provide new obstacles that can’t be as easily managed, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The study, commissioned by the Global Shipping Business Network, comes amid a commitment by nine of the top 10 global ocean carriers to only use electronic bills of lading by 2030.

A cross-border temperature-controlled truckload and LTL service will connect key facilities in the company’s North American cold chain distribution network.

While the carrier is celebrating a large increase in volume transported under its low-emission services, the substantial cost of alternative fuels compared with conventional bunkers remains a hurdle to the wider cargo-owning market.

The recommended fine, which requires approval from an FMC judge, aims to rebuke the world’s largest shipping company for alleged multiple violations around detention and demurrage billing.

The link-up between the two companies is the latest industry partnership that caters to the desire of shippers for bundled global freight planning, execution and tracking.

The electronics giant said the “staggering” detention and demurrage charges it paid for US imports carried by Cosco and OOCL threaten its ability to serve the North American market.

The US Postal Service is replacing FedEx with UPS as its primary air cargo carrier, reinforcing an existing partnership focused on home deliveries.

Blue Yonder’s $893 million of One Network, a midsize supply chain vendor, comes amid slowing logistics software demand and heightened competition in supply chain software.

Recently passed House legislation amending landmark shipping reform takes a hard approach to China’s maritime influence on US ports but holds back on reining in the limited antitrust exemption container lines use to participate in alliances, writes Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Carriers have been unable to shake a perception among shippers that surcharges were being set above cost-recovery levels, with a report this week directly accusing carriers of “profiteering” from the ETS.

The top end of the global 3PL sector is populated by companies that see a down market as a chance to focus on higher-yield customers and those that see a chance to build market share.

Maersk is the first container line to publicly promote a direct pipeline of ocean freight to what’s known as Section 321 shipments, though the model has been used for years by freight forwarders.

Meeting interim emissions benchmarks will be increasingly difficult unless decisive policy action is taken, according to a new report from consultancy AlixPartners.

The letter is a further sign that the work of the non-profit carrier group has stalled at the adoption phase for its members.

The digital freight marketplace is making new software tools that target fake brokers and fraudulent pickups available to customers as well as competitors.

But there remains significant horse trading ahead as IMO member states try to reach agreement on a fuel standard and a global greenhouse gas pricing measure that need to be decided on by next year and rolled out in 2027.

The legislation is an attempt to give federal maritime law more teeth to go after what its backers see as market manipulation and potential espionage from China.

Demand for drop-and-hook capacity is prompting freight broker Uber Freight to invest in more markets for its Powerloop program, which marries GPS tracking of trailers to available shipper loads.

If the Southern California inland point intermodal surge continues into the “danger zone,” then importers might do well to consider taking advantage of alternate routings in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, says analyst Larry Gross.

The South Carolina-based company has nearly doubled the number of doors at a Kentucky service center, the latest in a series of expansions planned in the US LTL sector.

Marine terminals, truckers and warehouse operators say the state must be mindful of the large costs and ambitious deadlines it is imposing on the freight transportation sectors to reduce emissions.

Shippers seeking more flexible supply chains are turning to transloading, and not just for containerized imports, speakers at TPM24 said.

DHL’s decision leaves Denmark’s DSV as the only remaining obvious potential bidder for DB Schenker after Kuehne+Nagel confirmed last week it would not pursue an acquisition.

Otto Schacht, who’s worked for Hapag-Lloyd and Kuehne+Nagel, said forwarders will remain vital to the industry thanks to a high degree of customer service.

Increased demand from cargo owners for expensive low-carbon transport options is essential to the development and production at scale of alternative fuels, TPM24 attendees were told.

Fiscal “loosening” ahead of interest rate cuts is spurring growth, but inflation remains a threat, S&P Global chief business economist Chris Williamson told TPM24.

The global order of the last several decades that fostered growth in container shipping is largely over, leading to a risky world for supply chains, Robert Gates told TPM24.

The saga of embattled technology vendor Slync may have reached a final chapter with its technology assets being acquired by a consulting group that works with importers and exporters.

Changing shipping requirements and competitive pressures are reshaping US less-than-truckload networks and LTL terminals themselves at an unprecedented rate.  

Using layers of technology from digital documents to artificial intelligence to tracking devices, shippers can detect and even head off the growing threat of cargo crime, experts say.

The carrier’s acquisition spree has brought one of France’s largest transport and logistics companies into the group, but its bid to acquire UK forwarder Wincanton is being challenged.

PayCargo has taken a majority ownership stake in process automation company Rippey AI to better connect invoicing to payment transactions.

Carriers are advocating in increasingly vocal and high-profile ways to ensure that an effective price on carbon comes out of IMO deliberations and puts regulatory teeth behind its commitment to eliminate carbon emissions from shipping by or around 2050.

As California-based RK Logistics’ high-tech customers move east to new markets, the logistics provider is following by buying New York-based On Time Trucking. 

Big name visibility providers, including project44 and FourKites, banded together in 2021 to standardize data elements for customers, but the initiative has been shelved due to a lack of progress.

Both sides say cargo is leaving Montreal due to the inability to reach a new contract deal with the port’s main longshore union.

Under final guidelines for detention and demurrage billing, only the shipper or consignee can be on the hook for such charges and bills must be sent within 30 days.

Large terminal operators and container lines have backed an effort to build a common digital platform, which this week lured three global port operators into its network.

There was unilateral opposition to the call made by the European Commission last May as part of its reform of customs procedures, and as expected, the measure never made it through the parliamentary review