Archive for September, 2017

Yellen Solidifies Expectations for Year-End Rate Hike

Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen says the central bank shouldn’t wait for 2 percent inflation to continue raising rates, suggesting another rate hike by the end of the year is extremely likely. Financial markets demonstrated very little reaction to Yellen’s comments to the National Association for Business Economics on Tuesday as investors seem to see […]

U.S. Durable-Goods Orders Rose 1.7% in August

Demand for long-lasting U.S. factory goods rebounded in August, pointing to a continued upswing in business investment. Orders for durable goods-products like refrigerators and airplanes that are designed to last at least three years-increased a seasonally adjusted 1.7% in August from the prior month, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Economists surveyed by The Wall Street […]

BCOs heading into new service contracting reality

Beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) face tougher service contract negotiations on east-west trade lanes that are “diametrically opposed” to the relative ease they have enjoyed the last two years. Philip Damas, operational head of Drewry Supply Chain Advisors, said the new environment holds fewer carrier options, tighter space availability, possibly less frequent sailings, and, ultimately, higher […]

Changi Airport’s August freight volumes are more good news for industry

August’s double-digit airfreight volume growth at Singapore Changi Airport is yet another indicator of good news for the airfreight industry, where results, so far, for the month have reflected growing demand for air cargo. Airfreight throughput at the airport rose 10.7 percent, year-over-year, in August to 180,590 tonnes.

Air industry is going east, says ACI

There has been a decisive eastward shift in world aviation, says Airports Council International (ACI) in the latest edition of its Emerging Aviation Market Index, which tracks 19 high growth emerging markets that have a significant critical mass of passenger and air cargo throughput, showed that countries such as India, Indonesia and Vietnam have achieved […]

AAR Reports Weekly Rail Traffic for the Week Ending September 23, 2017

The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending September 23, 2017, which set a new record for intermodal traffic in both the U.S. and Canada. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 548,204 carloads and intermodal units, up 1.6 percent compared with the same week last […]

USDOT publishes first report on tank-car fleet composition

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has unveiled its first report on data measuring the rail industry’s progress in manufacturing and modifying rail cars that transport flammable liquids. Prepared by the department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the report is required under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act of 2015. The bureau prepared the report […]

How Blockchain Technology Could Transform Trucking

Blockchain, a technology that stores incorruptible blocks of information across a shared digital network, could revolutionize the future of trucking and logistics by creating a new system of completing transactions, tracking shipments and managing fleets. Blockchain is a shared, distributed ledger that facilitates the process of recording transactions and tracking assets in a business network

Trucking Companies Prepare for the Imminent ELD Mandate

There’s almost no chance that the electronic logging device, or ELD, mandate won’t start Dec. 18 as planned. That’s the consensus of the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance, which is charged with enforcing the rule. CVSA is working to get law enforcement up to speed before the rule kicks in. ELD training of approximately 13,000 commercial […]

US truck tonnage, shipper spending hit highs

A strong surge in truck freight demand in the United States redefined the dog days of August and set US shippers on a route toward tighter capacity and higher prices this autumn. Truck volume as measured by the American Trucking Associations’ (ATA’s) For-Hire Truck Tonnage Index leaped 7.1 percent in August from July, and 8.2 […]