Surface

Insufficient volumes, including on the lane between the Port of Virginia and Memphis, have forced the railroad to reallocate resources to areas where it believes container business will grow in the future.

The companies say it is important to be agile with capacity deployment if there is a significant decline in volumes crossing the docks at Los Angeles and Long Beach amid the trade conflict with China.

The president of the second-largest US LTL provider sees Amazon’s decision to offer its vendors LTL service as an opportunity for ODFL to move more retail freight.

Shippers need to collect and share accurate shipment data and even rethink some shipping processes ahead of July 19 changes to LTL classification, experts tell the Journal of Commerce.

HHG imports rose almost 20% in 2024, fueled in part by home remodeling, but US tariffs on China and Vietnam could reverse that gain.

US electronics imports are riding a wave of cyclical replacement, but tariffs could bring on an ebb tide.

Disruption caused by trade wars will reach deep into global supply chains, depressing an already uncertain outlook for the US freight economy.

Some – but not all – LTL trucking companies are handling more imports as US tariffs take effect, but the market is otherwise weak, carriers and analysts say.

But the largest US intermodal provider said customers have not yet meaningfully adjusted their freight forecasts, and shippers continue to tender the quantity of loads outlined in their contracts.

US tariffs are forcing shippers in Mexico to rethink global sourcing and logistics strategies as complying with the USMCA becomes more complex.

US importers and their Mexican logistics and customs partners are experiencing longer wait times when northbound shipments arrive at border towns, and that’s inevitably raising transportation costs and leading to supply chain disruptions.

Cargo theft in trucking and on the rails has been a problem for years, but it’s getting harder to combat as criminals become more sophisticated in their tactics.

AFS Logistics and TD Cowen are forecasting a decline in truckload pricing and moderation in the LTL market as shippers and carriers alike navigate a new trade reality.

Inclement weather, the lingering effects of labor disruptions and a January surge in imports contributed to the fifth consecutive month of excessive rail dwells at Canada’s largest port.

Damage from last fall’s Hurricane Helene continues to affect CSX’s operations in the Southeast, while the fast-tracking of construction work at Baltimore’s Howard Street Tunnel provides another challenge.

The $12 million investment in Cargado will be used to expand the load board with other tools for freight brokers to tap into cross-border freight growth.

The partnership will see SMC3 provide less-than-truckload rating, booking and tracking data into Turvo’s transportation management system, which primarily serves US freight brokers and third-party logistics providers.

The expedited service will require terminals within the Northwest Seaport Alliance to load rail-bound trains within 48 hours of vessel arrival, significantly faster than the average dwell times of eight to 15 days experienced last year during a surge in container volumes.

The terminal operator says buying the railroad that connects ports on the canal’s Pacific and Atlantic sides fits into its overall strategy of offering more services to shippers.

As shippers race to get goods from Mexico and Canada into the US before full implementation of 25% tariffs Wednesday, they’re beginning to rethink supply chains.

The initiative, called RailGreen, will allow intermodal customers to purchase verified carbon certificates reflecting their use of lower-emission freight options.

Both volumes and rates in the flatbed sector of the truckload spot market are rising as importers rush industrial products through US ports and across the border.

The deal comes as the world’s largest container shipping company looks to establish a bigger foothold in surface transportation.

Excess capacity and waning US import demand caused in part by tariff uncertainty could put further downward pressure on drayage pricing in the second quarter.

The port authority on Wednesday completed an expansion of Inland Port Greer ahead of the opening of the near-dock Navy Base Intermodal Facility (NBIF) at the Port of Charleston later this year.

In a move to better utilize its leased pool of trailers, Uber Freight has partnered with software vendor Optimal Dynamics to bundle loads for drivers across 10 trailer pool locations.

Acquisitions continue in the domestic freight market, with Descartes buying 3GTMS to continue a decade-long spree of purchases.

While there is no strong demand trigger for LTL freight on the horizon, providers continue to add terminals and lanes to growing networks.

Despite the month-over-month downturn, Los Angeles-Long Beach volumes were higher than a year ago as Southern California’s freight boom did not begin until the second quarter of last year.

Groups representing transportation providers, retailers and manufacturers are calling for Congress to create a cargo theft task force blending the resources of multiple agencies as cargo crime spreads.

A revision to monthly employment data shows a smaller pool of employees at for-hire trucking companies and a potential tilt toward brokers and small carriers.

Executives from CSX and Norfolk Southern say that while the market is no longer as strongly pro-shipper as it was a year ago, conditions have yet to shift in favor of rail carriers.

Some analysts see green shoots that could signal higher US freight demand, but those encouraging signs remain fragile in an uncertain economy.

Reshuffling port calls because of a potential Trump administration fee on Chinese-built and -operated ships would place additional strain on the US intermodal supply chain, railroad executives say.

US-bound spot truck shipments from Canada are shrinking but rates are rising, while Mexico-US spot market shipments outpace pricing, according to DAT Freight & Analytics.

Domestic intermodal’s share of the US long-haul truck market has risen over the past two quarters, although that resiliency is going to be tested in the months to come, writes analyst Larry Gross.

The visibility market has bifurcated into standalone vendors too small to be captured by Gartner’s “Magic Quadrant” report and larger vendors whose platforms extend far beyond what the report evaluates.

Across all the terminals in Los Angeles and Long Beach, average rail dwell times peaked at just under 10 days in October, according to the Pacific Maritime Shipping Association.

Spot rates soared as the deadline for US tariffs approached this week, and now many shipments are stranded in transit, according to logistics providers.

Kate Farmer told TPM25 that people would be “shocked” at how much money the oft-targeted railroad spends on combating the increasingly sophisticated methods of cargo theft.