American Shipper

Founder of cargo booking website Cargo Chief traces origins to problems he faced as a shipper.

Stochastic transportation modeling more like ‘human mind’ as it embraces variability, not averages.

   Management consultant Oliver Wyman suggests the container shipping industry needs to focus on yield management to regain profitability.    Joris D’Incà, a partner at Oliver Wyman’s office in Zurich, said liner companies have focused on restructuring, optimization and cost-cutting—taking steps such as renegotiating port tariffs, optimizing stowage, reducing the cost of overhead structure, slow […]

   In March 2006, I remember attending an event in Oakland about trade with China and hearing a dynamic speaker talk about trade compliance.    Not knowing anything about trade compliance at that point, the speaker sounded thoroughly impressive. Nearly 10 years later, every time I hear Beth Peterson speak, whether it’s at a conference, […]

   Just before Thanksgiving I spoke with Andrew Kinsey, a senior marine risk consultant for Allianz Global Corporate & Specialty, who addressed a variety of issues on his radar screen.    A retired master for both Maersk Line, Ltd. and the U.S. Military Sealift Command, he was returning from Alabama where he had done a […]

Changes coming to Alaska and Hawaii; Puerto Rico loses a long-time carrier.

Anthony Foxx, U.S. transportation secretary, says, “This agreement is the result of the commitment on both sides of the border to strengthen the strong bonds of trade and tourism between our two countries.”

   I was pretty caught by surprise when I read that Thomson Reuters and KPMG had inked a partnership in early 2014 to offer global trade management software and services in the South America market.    To my mind, the number of providers of such software and services could fit in a pretty tight circle, […]

   In the past few years of writing “On Second Thought” for American Shipper, I have always tried to stay “on-message”—never deviating too far from the core of why American Shipper’s readers come to the publication. Today, I’m asking for your trust to deviate from our normally scheduled programming just a bit.       I […]

STB hopes rail performance data will provide clearer view of operating conditions.

Related Magazine Content On the mend    The Virginia Port Authority and Virginia Maritime Association on Oct. 28 held an invitation-only summit to gather input from 13 different industry sectors that interact with the port to find out what aspects of port operations are most impacting their business, and hear suggestions for addressing the problems. […]

Dollar General uses its own process to pay ocean freight bills.

   U.S. trusted traveler programs are having the same problem as trusted trader ones in getting enough volunteers to improve overall security efficiency at ports of entry, while justifying the expense.    In both cases the goal is to learn something in advance about cross-border travelers or shippers so they don’t have to be subjected […]

German multinational logistics provider Schenker AG has filed lawsuits seeking $2.5 billion in damages from air cargo carriers found guilty by competition authorities.

Purolator continues to enjoy success in the Canadian-U.S. freight business.

Port of Virginia has new leadership focused on correcting service problems that plague importers and exporters.

   Following a number of discussions over the past year between the two largest global trading powers, the United States and the 27-nation European Union, the issue of non-tariff barriers continues to be a central area of discussion in the effort to increase trade and economic growth in the worldwide logistics industry.     The United […]

   More and more drayage drivers in the Southern California area are joining protests aimed at getting local trucking companies to reclassify them as employees, not independent contractors.    But the real action is happening in court rooms throughout the state, and potentially throughout the country.    According to Long Beach, Calif.-based trade attorney Cameron […]

With CSAV deal complete, German carrier should return to black quickly says CEO Rolf Habben Jansen.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank on Thursday said it will guarantee a $50 million loan to finance the export of 55 American-made bridge sets to Cameroon.