When we talk about technology empowering a shipper’s logistics operations, sometimes it’s easy to forget that even in 2013 the evolution from manual processes to those which are automated is still a required first step.
Exasperated by the federal government’s inability to adequately maintain navigable channels and dredge deeper in major container ports, some states have opted to front their own money to jumpstart long-stalled projects amid wider cries that the lack of investment in maritime infrastructure is hurting the nation’s economic competitiveness.
By Walter Kemmsies, chief economist, Moffatt & Nichol Optimism is not abundant in this fifth year of recovery from the Great Recession. Employment, consumer spending, home sales and starts are past their worst points but have not yet recovered to their 2007 levels. Similarly, container volumes handled at ports, railcar volumes and truck tonnage […]
In early March, word trickled out that executives at the world’s biggest liquor supplier, U.K.-based Diageo, had taken a long look at the company’s supply chain and were hoping to drain off excess expenses.
Terminal operating systems developers use economic downturn to focus on new technologies. By Eric Johnson During the depth of the economic recession in 2009 came an inflection point for investment in container terminal operating system (TOS) technologies. Rather than use a downturn in volumes as a reason to retrench on investment and development, North America’s key players […]
Not everything shipped by rail fits in an intermodal container, gondola, hopper, or box car. For high, wide or oversize loads railroads such as BNSF Railway use specialized railcars. Products hauled by the Class I railroad include farm and construction machinery, tanks and other military vehicles, wind turbines and blades, pipeline segments, turbines, boilers, transformers, generators and other equipment that require customized planning. […]
Ports, terminals prepare for challenges from bigger ships, expanding alliances. By Chris Dupin Ports and terminals in the United States and worldwide will have to accommodate growing numbers of larger containerships in the years ahead. Later this year, Maersk is expected to put the first of 18,000-TEU “Triple E” ships into service in […]
Railroad BNSF and owner Buffett bet on project cargo logistics. By Eric Kulisch The recent news that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is partnering with a private equity firm to acquire the iconic H. J. Heinz Co. for $28 billion captured headlines around the world, but less noticed by the mainstream media was the Oracle […]
First Solar counts on carriers, 3PLs to deliver materials safely to project sites. By Chris Dupin While clouds have been hanging over the solar energy industry in recent years due to weakening government support in Europe and the United States, executives at Tempe, Ariz.-based photovoltaic panel manufacturer First Solar gave a sunnier forecast for the […]
‘The transition continues and there is no turning back.’ By Chris Dupin Container carriers are continuing the push to reduce the size of their U.S. chassis fleets, but their efforts to thoroughly disengage from this business will take time. In 2009, shipping lines owned about 51 percent of ocean container chassis, while leasing […]
Thanks for bringing the important topic of the Trendset freight payment matter to the shipper community’s attention. In my 30-plus years in the business, I have never quite understood why anyone would want to make payment arrangements like these via a third party if it is not a bank. For example, we don’t […]
A leading U.S.-flag shipowners’ group said a proposal by the Obama administration to allow more purchasing of food abroad and eliminating requirements that it be carried on U.S. merchant ships would “dismantle an effective tool of American diplomacy.”
Evergreen said it will launch a new weekly direct service next month linking central China with the U.S. West Coast. The China-Pacific South West Service (CPS2) will employ five 4,000-TEU ships, with an inaugural sailing from Ningbo on May 14. The port rotation will be Ningbo, Shanghai, Los Angeles, Oakland and Ningbo. […]
DOT officials insist the workforce reductions will not compromise safety because controllers are spacing planes further apart so they can manage traffic with fewer on-duty personnel.
The $743.3 million contract was issued to a joint venture of Skanska Koch and Kiewit Infrastructure Co. as part of a $1.29 billion project to raise the bridge so bigger ships can reach New Jersey and Staten Island terminals.
The merger between cloud-based computing supply chain technology companies GT Nexus and TradeCard was finalized Thursday, with the combined company to be called GT Nexus. The combined entity manages more than $100 billion in goods for a customer list that includes the Adidas Group, Caterpillar, Coach, DHL, Electrolux, HP, Levi Strauss & Co., […]
Trucking industry’s attraction to future drivers lacks incentives. By Jon Ross Thirty years ago, when the transportation industry was booming right along with the economy, truck drivers earned a decent wage relative to other industries. Since the late 1980s, however, the gap between driver pay and the earnings of workers in other industries has widened. […]
There is $474 million available for this round, with applications due by June 3. Decisions are expected by late summer or early fall and priority will be given to projects that are ready to proceed quickly.
Cathay Pacific Airways, Thai Airways International and MASKargo have been fined a combined $9.6 million by the High Court of New Zealand for engaging in cargo price fixing activities. The three carriers pleaded guilty to various violations occurring from February 2000 to February 2006. Cathay paid the largest fine, $4.3 million, for […]
Ocean carriers are reaping big savings through slow steaming and using larger vessels, but a Germanischer Lloyd official said significant additional benefits can be realized through adopting improved technology.
