Archive for September, 2016

Good news for West Coast ports

News that the 20,000-member International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) plan to meet again in early November should be welcomed by West Coast shippers who can recall cargo slowdowns that occurred over a nine-month period before being settled in the contract agreement of February 2015.

3PL Segment Growing 2-3 Times Faster Than GDP

The third-party logistics industry has been growing two to three times faster than GDP, totaling about $157 billion per year, according to Robert Voltmann, president and CEO of the Transportation Intermediaries Association.

Lawmaker urges USDOT to consider further crude-by-rail regulations Lawmaker urges USDOT to consider further crude-by-rail regulations

U.S. House Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., is urging the Department of Transportation to consider further regulation of freight trains carrying crude oil. Beutler earlier this week sent a letter to U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, Federal Railroad Administrator Sara Feinberg and Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrator Marie Therese Dominguez asking DOT to study […]

Trucker shortage prompts calls for driverless big rigs

America is facing a trucker crisis. As it readies for the busy holiday delivery season, the industry is expecting to be short about 73,000 long-distance drivers, more than three times the shortage of 2005, and that could lead to delivery delays and higher shipping costs.

Automated trucks, warehouses seen transforming distribution

When the future of driverless or autonomous trucks is discussed, the focus tends to fall on the technology, their effect on drivers, or how they would share highways with motorists, and rarely on their impact on warehousing and industrial distribution networks. Autonomous trucks are coming, and they will change how warehouses, receiving docks, and logistics […]

Logistics providers challenged to guide shippers through rapid change

Logistics has changed drastically. What was once called “physical distribution management” is now just as digital as physical, and the rapid growth of e-commerce, coupled with mobile technology, is pushing the limits of omnichannel supply chains. (This article requires registration at the Journal of Commerce. To access, please click on the above link.)

Hanjin Woes Boost West Coast Spot Market Truck Freight, Rates

As the West Coast feels ripple effects from the bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping Co., nationally the number of load on the spot truckload freight market fell 5% during the week ending Sept. 24 compared to the week before as truck capacity increased 3%, according to DAT Solutions, its network of load boards.

Hanjin could cost US truckers thousands of dollars

Trucking companies that regularly hauled containers for Hanjin Shipping may end up losing tens of thousands of dollars as Hanjin’s bankruptcy unfolds unless they can get beneficial cargo owners to pay for the shipments they carried from the port of entry to the customers’ warehouses. (This article requires registration at the Journal of Commerce. To […]

U.S. home prices rise slightly less than forecast

U.S. single-family home prices rose slightly less than expected on an annual basis in July, and the year-over-year gain was smaller than in the prior month, a survey showed on Tuesday. The S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller composite index of 20 metropolitan areas rose 5 percent in July on a year-over-year basis, retreating from the 5.1 percent […]