Surface

A new Oregon intermodal ramp linked to Union Pacific’s network should ease ag shipper frustrations over rising transportation costs and limited container availability.

Norfolk Southern Railway will shut one of two container spillover lots outside Memphis this week after a significant reduction in rail boxes coming into the inland hub from Savannah.

The filing is just the latest in a barrage of complaints made against various container lines with the FMC in recent months, a flurry accelerated by major reform of US shipping law that went into effect in June.

US less-than-truckload carrier Roadrunner is arming drivers in its network with a booking application that feeds into its new internal operational systems.

Carriers are suspending feeder services between Hong Kong and Shenzhen and second-tier ports in southern China from mid-January due to COVID-19 quarantine rules for barge crews heading home for the Lunar New Year holidays.

The need for forwarders to tether quoting and tracking in international freight modes to US surface modes has been highlighted by new offerings from ECU Worldwide and Freightos.

Truck freight demand is falling closer to 2021 levels as 2022 draws toward its close, putting more pressure on truckload and LTL rates.

As the US economy slows, logistics managers are searching not just for lower supply chain costs but a normalization of freight flows and networks, a level of stability and predictability that remains elusive.

Domestic intermodal volume suffered its worst November in seven years, which will put additional pressure on intermodal providers to provide concessions to shippers on contracts for 2023.

Falling spot truckload rates may hit bottom in the first quarter of 2023, followed by contract rates later in the year, if forecasts from third-party brokers hold true.

Domestic intermodal shippers are paying less on the spot market than under contracts in several key outbound West Coast lanes, but riding the spot market deep into 2023 is a gamble that may or may not pay off.

A more complex — and agile — approach will be required to help inland point intermodal grab a larger share of the freight that is arriving at US ports, writes JOC analyst Larry Gross.

Total US trucking costs rose in November, with revised US producer price index figures for truckload and LTL services indicating at least a temporary reversal in a months-long decline.

Ryder System is joining the race to deploy more drop-and-hook trailer pools for shippers that need greater flexibility to reduce costs and counter supply chain disruption.

A broad shift in China-Europe rail from the northern route through Russia to the middle corridor transiting Central Asia is unlocking new and largely untapped containerized markets for service providers.

Less-than-truckload shipping volumes in the US are falling in the fourth quarter from all-time highs, but rates are slower to drop as carriers push back on absorbing higher costs.

Norfolk Southern furloughed thousands of employees during the early days of the pandemic and struggled to rehire the workforce necessary to handle the surge in intermodal volumes.

The traditional increase in bookings for December and January shipments out of Asia is nowhere to be seen as importers in destination markets struggle with surplus stock levels and weakening demand.

Moving a significant share of Europe’s inland cargo from road to rail will be costly and challenging, but it is achievable through better utilization of door-to-door combined transport, a new report has found.

J.B. Hunt, Uber Freight, and Convoy are partnering to develop and drive broad industry adoption of a standard process for truckload appointment scheduling.

Hiring expectations fell short across many transportation sectors in November, with real trucking employment dropping while warehousing firms and couriers added workers.

Stubbornly strong industrial output and pent-up demand are expected to keep pressure on trailer manufacturers to increase supply, even during a US economic slowdown.

The Senate measure ends the threat of a country-wide rail strike that could have begun Dec. 9, crippling cargo movement in the midst of the holiday season.

Several US truckload shippers say they are leery of using the spot market because they wish to maintain strong relationships with their trucking partners rather than be seen as transactional when the market flips in favor of carriers.

The US House of Representatives has waded into ongoing rail negotiations, passing a bill to prevent a potential strike and a second resolution that would give workers seven paid sick days.

Trade groups representing railroads and shippers are confident Congress will act to prevent a potential strike in December, but that is not stopping them from discussing the stakes involved.

Lawmakers in Washington will face pressure to bridge the divide between rail labor and management because any job action could snarl supply chains in the weeks leading up to end-of-year holidays.

Union Pacific Railroad will no longer cap storage fees at seven inland ramps beginning next week, citing declining import volumes on the West Coast that has restored more typical cargo flow.

UP is navigating congestion as ocean containers pile up in stacks in Chicago and Dallas, but the western US railroad believes it will clear the backlog at both terminals before the end of the year.

The US producer price indexes for long-distance truckload and less-than-truckload took separate routes in October, with LTL pricing essentially unchanged and the truckload index falling.

Greenscreens.ai has seen its roster of truckload broker customers grow to 70 this year, with previous investor Tiger Global putting another $5 million in the Florida-based software vendor.

The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers has become the third union to reject a collective bargaining agreement with US railroads reached in September, but no strike or lockout can take place until December.

Freight volumes are dropping month to month but remain higher than a year ago, buoyed by inventory repositioning and easing supply constraints for manufacturers, according to the latest Cass Freight Index.

The investigation by US authorities into whether Pitts Enterprises evaded duties on chassis may have serious ramifications for the South Carolina Ports Authority, which ordered 11,000 chassis from a Pitts subsidiary to launch its own pool next March.

The aggressive moves by intermodal providers to keep business with lower pricing come after North American domestic intermodal demand fell 10 percent between March and September.

US transportation companies with cash on hand are acquiring asset-based truckers and non-asset freight brokers alike to add services and shipper customers and build network density.

After rising strongly from the third quarter of 2021 through the second quarter of this year, the JOC Truckload Capacity Index dropped slightly last quarter, but demand for equipment is still high.

Congestion continues at BNSF’s Logistics Park Chicago terminal as chassis shortages have led to prolonged turn times for truckers using LPC or other BNSF spillover lots.

The acquisition of ReedTMS Logistics not only expands Werner’s brokerage reach, it also delivers shipper customers in the staple food and beverage industries.

While three rail unions have yet to vote, one more has ratified the tentative five-year contract brokered in mid-September, bringing US Class I railroads and the dozen unions one step closer to a national bargaining agreement.