Surface

The Port of Vancouver is still berthing ships for now, but ocean carriers are reviewing future calls due to the potential for congestion caused by the Canadian railroad work stoppage.

Demand for domestic containers in the region has exceeded all other North American markets and intermodal providers believe more volume will be coming their way in September.

There’s not enough truck capacity to haul the volume carried by CN and CPKC in Canada, and that’s causing a dislocation of truck supply across the country and on the US border.

Canada’s western ports have little capacity to handle idled intermodal cargo should railroad workers strike, but eastern ports have more space to manage any delays.

A key inland transportation market is growing as companies from Class I railroads to specialized logistics firms chase freight and expand in Arizona’s “Silicon Desert.”

Peak season surcharges are in play this year amid the demand bump, but the average shipper should still be saving money on the rails compared with trucking on business out of the region.

Most of Freightos’ traction in air and ocean freight procurement has centered around spot pricing, but the purchase of Shipsta will give it access to contract data from enterprise shippers.

A shutdown of Canada’s two freight railroads would not only impact loads in that country, but also cross-border traffic to US destinations such as Chicago.

Disruption to inland supply lanes and the location of truck capacity would be possible if rail and port strike threats prove real, analysts told a Journal of Commerce webcast.

Canada’s labor minister said he won’t force binding arbitration between Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) and their main union, setting the stage for a lockout next week.

Producer price indexes and the Cass Freight Index show slight increases in truck pricing and volumes in July, but not a rapid turnaround.

Acquiring a majority stake in Loconi International continues the Singapore-based terminal operator’s growth strategy designed to expand control of its cargo handling beyond the quay.

A potential strike by Canada’s two railroads, while an “inconvenience,” would not pose an “immediate and serious danger” to the public, the Canada Industrial Relations Board ruled Friday.

Despite the nearly $140 billion invested in logistics startups globally from 2012 through 2023, most of the industry’s major inefficiencies remain and the underlying structure of the industry has hardly changed.

The average contract cost savings for a shipper choosing intermodal rail over truckload in the US was just over 25% in the second quarter, according to the latest Journal of Commerce Intermodal Savings Index.

Some non-asset logistics providers are adding LTL volume and revenue as truckload brokerage keeps declining. 

Economic indicators and mid-year reports show contract truckload rates still trending downward, with a truckload recovery proving to be slow going.

The $83 million project, which took two years to complete, adds another 455,000 TEUs of annual on-dock rail capacity at NIT.

The intermodal logistics provider said it will change its business model as state and federal laws make it more difficult to classify drivers as independent contractors.

The percentage of import TEUs arriving in Los Angeles and Long Beach and departing as domestic transloads should rise significantly in the third quarter, analyst Larry Gross says.

Large truckload providers have been jettisoning trucks at an historic pace in an imbalanced market, but they are making more efficient use of their remaining trucks.

Norfolk Southern believes a mandatory reservation system for trucking companies bringing containers into its terminals will improve fluidity and prevent congestion from building.

While intermodal demand is not strong in the eastern US, there is surging demand in Southern California that could result in providers levying peak season surcharges on some shippers.

Large LTL trucking companies including XPO, Saia, ODFL and Knight-Swift are increasing volumes by diversifying and going deeper into shipper supply chains as they add customers.

Uber Freight is managing a growing internal LTL network within Canada and cross-border trade, and others are looking for ways to create “alternative” LTL services.

The takeover of Los Angeles-based Dependable Highway Express (DHE) allows Knight-Swift to reach 70% of the US population with its LTL services.

The sale of European Surface Transportation to German-based brokerage sennder is part of a drive to strengthen operations that C.H. Robinson considers core to its business.

Ottensmeyer spent 17 years with Kansas City Southern Railway until the merger with Canadian Pacific Railway in 2023, then served on J.B. Hunt’s board of directors.

Saia, Knight-Swift and other LTL carriers are moving ahead with plans to open terminals once owned by bankrupt Yellow, despite higher costs.

UP’s containerized intermodal volume is up 6% in July as West Coast imports grow and the threat of a strike diverts some Canadian international intermodal freight.

The return of seasonality, tender rejections and an end to discounting all hint at a coming uptick in truckload demand in the second half of the year and higher rates next year, the largest US truckload operator says.

The gateways say they are well-positioned to take on additional diversions from the East and Gulf coasts should an ILA strike occur after the current labor deal expires at the end of September.

More business from logistics partners and retailers helped increase daily shipment count for the second-largest US LTL provider, but year-over-year comps are about to get tougher.

Ocean carriers and shippers are diverting some intermodal freight to US ports to counter the threat of a Teamsters strike against Canadian railroads.

The acquisition of Mexican package company Estafeta gives UPS a full-fledged ground operation in Mexico that can link to its cross-border and global services.

Shrinking inventories have helped drive up warehouse vacancy rates and decreased utilization, but signs that demand is building point to a tightening market.

Carriers such as J.B. Hunt Transport Services are pressing shippers for more detailed forecasts as they look to realign capacity and demand. 

Joni Casey played a critical role in the expansion of the Uniform Intermodal Interchange and Facilities Agreement, a set of governing rules over the transfer of containers from one mode to another.

The third-largest US less-than-truckload provider is expanding its service centers along the US-Mexico border, anticipating an increase in northbound industrial freight. 

The largest intermodal company in North America is skeptical that the market is turning away from shippers, saying it needs more evidence before believing carriers have gained the upper hand in pricing negotiations.