Surface

More freight density, a tighter point-to-point network and better data have enabled successive rounds of transit time cuts at Roadrunner, which company executives claim is gaining shipments.

Shippers want Congress to address their inability to challenge rail demurrage fees when they contract for merchant haulage, but finding a solution will be tricky, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

The Singapore-headquartered terminal operator has extended its reach deeper into the landside business, targeting the growing Central Asia rail freight market.

Pricing for refrigerated truckload service is shooting up along the US-Mexico border and outbound from California, in some cases by more than 20 cents per mile from April’s averages, as fruit and vegetable crops start moving to market.

Trailer marketplace technology provider vHub estimates a quarter of truckload trailers are out of network for the nation’s carriers, with an abrupt shift in demand exacerbating that dislocation.

A “perfect storm” of poor schedule reliability, persistently high electricity prices, weak demand and cheaper diesel for trucking continues to undermine Europe’s rail-dominated combined transport sector.

Greater demand for manufactured goods, especially automotive parts, is spurring Mexico-to-US cross-border trucking, with more nearshoring of production on the horizon.

Customers were largely satisfied with intermodal service in early 2023, citing CSX and J. B. Hunt as the top overall providers in North America, according to a Journal of Commerce biannual survey.

Flexport has lured a key figure in the development of Uber Freight and Coyote Logistics in a move likely to shake up the domestic third-party logistics market.

Rail storage has been at the forefront of recent regulatory discussion as the FMC solidifies its final rulemaking on detention and demurrage, with shippers wanting ocean carriers to be the billing party for such charges.

The railroad will start a twice-weekly service to Dallas and once-weekly service to Denver, but no ocean carrier as yet is offering inland moves from Houston.

Many businesses are being forced to tighten controls over how goods are shipped and who they ship them with, but the technology that helps them may also be used against them, according to industry sources.

Excess capacity is lingering in US freight markets because fewer carriers than expected have gone bankrupt so far this year, analysts say.

Rail storage fees continue to be a point of contention for shippers and the National Shipping Advisory Committee wants the FMC to step up and take ownership.

One might expect that Western Canadian ports have benefited from cargo bound for the US Midwest being diverted from the US West Coast to avoid potential labor disruption, but that has not been the case, notes analyst Larry Gross.

US trucking companies added jobs for the second straight month, but the employment wave hasn’t reached package delivery firms or warehouses.

Activity at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach has a direct impact on the domestic intermodal market, large intermodal providers say, which is why rail volumes were so poor in the first quarter.

Currently, there is no US regulatory agency with direct authority to oversee application of rail storage fees under ocean carriers’ through bills of lading and to determine whether those charges are assessed properly.

Intermodal shippers are saving less than a year ago, but they should anticipate that savings will increase in the months ahead as more annual contracts are signed.

Jones Act carrier Crowley will offer a new international container service from Mexico’s Gulf Coast into Mobile that will use Canadian National for inland reach to the US Midwest and Canada.

New York-New Jersey port truckers who worked five days per week last year are now down to about half that amount, sending spot drayage rates well below levels seen in 2021 and 2022.

Canada’s largest trucking holding company is acquiring smaller LTL operators on both sides of the US border, expanding its network and services via “tuck-ins” in a soft freight market.

Norfolk Southern Railway will institute a mandatory appointment system for truckers handling ocean containers at its Memphis terminal and plans to expand the requirement to Atlanta before the end of the year.

Shippers are moving more freight in the US Southwest, and paying more to do so, despite weak trucking markets elsewhere in the country, according to U.S. Bank.

Transportation observers believe the dueling complaints could have implications for the US spot truckload market because DAT is a primary source of available loads that brokers and carriers use to fill their pools of owned or third-party capacity.

International air express carrier DHL is building out its US footprint to gain greater density and reach in its largest market, its CEO for the Americas says.

Echo Global Logistics, Coyote Logistics and prominent transportation management system vendors Oracle and e2open are among new members adding momentum to a truckload appointment scheduling initiative.

The Georgia Ports Authority expects to begin construction on the approximately $170 million terminal in early 2024, which will have a focus on manufacturing imports and poultry exports.

Beyond the dynamics of the new partnerships, intermodal providers acknowledge that generating fresh cross-border business will be important for long-term growth to fill new containers, but only if the price is right.

Funds will go to projects that focus on reducing emissions from port-related truck idling, particularly in communities adjacent to ports.

Yellow, the largest Teamsters employer in the US less-than-truckload sector, says it is willing to negotiate a new contract a year early as it tries to remove roadblocks to consolidating its network.

Package volumes at the largest US package carrier by revenue fell farther than expected in the first quarter, especially in March, thanks to shifts in spending, UPS executives said. 

CPKC signed a deal with Swift Intermodal for a new daily train between central Mexico and Chicago less than 24 hours after Union Pacific announced a partnership with Canadian National and Ferromex.

Schneider National has inked a multiyear partnership with CPKC on intermodal service between Mexico and the US Midwest, a move that will provide new options for shippers seeking a single train to move their north-south freight.

Some truckers think it is unfair that shippers incur demurrage on weekends when railroads are open and chassis locations are closed, but it’s a complex issue without an easy answer.

The Intermodal Association of North America is adding its voice to the chorus of opposition against a federal push to reclassify independent workers.

An unadjusted 9.3 percent gain in tonnage from February reversed a slide in freight volumes but paled in comparison with increases in 2022 and 2021, data show.

Alabama legislators are looking to pass a series of new tax credits that aim to encourage more shippers to use the state’s ports and labor force.

Transportation and logistics companies continue to grow by acquiring competitors, and although the wave of acquisitions may have crested there is still plenty of opportunity in a soft market.

Despite negative trends being felt in some parts of the US manufacturing landscape, it’s not all bad news for trucking because other sectors are poised to have volumes at or above 2022 levels, writes analyst Jason Miller.