American Shipper

   For the past two decades, American shippers have been mostly content to allow nearly all their international logistics functions to be managed by freight forwarders, non-vessel-operating common carriers and customs brokers.    While these intermediaries undoubtedly continue to perform invaluable transportation and trade compliance services for shippers, there is an increasing cadre of large […]

By Julie Gibbs director, BPE Global    Training on trade compliance is often not as effective as it should be.  We’ve all attended the mandatory trainings where policies and regulations are regurgitated and attendees go away with nothing more than a handout. Occasionally though, a training course will really add value…

   The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has reversed a lower court decision in a cargo case having to do with customary freight units (Edso Exporting v. Atlantic Container Line. 2nd Circuit. No. 11-1467. March 20).    Edso owned a crane made by Grove and hired Atlantic Container Line (ACL) to ship it from […]

Maersk Mc-Kinney Møller turned father’s company into the world’s biggest container line.    By Eric Johnson       When people not keenly acquainted with the container shipping business find out that its largest company is based in Denmark, they are usually surprised.    But the fact that the epicenter of the global liner business is Copenhagen […]

Support in Congress for better maintenance of U.S. harbors has been steadily gaining strength in recent years, but a countercurrent of opposition to the Harbor Maintenance Tax (HMT) and designs on alternate uses for the money it collects is also quickening. 

U.S. logistics jobs could be outsourced to Caribbean, Central America as new shipping patterns evolve.    By Eric Kulisch       The expected rise of container terminals in, and around, the Caribbean associated with the expansion of the Panama Canal and the deployment of ultra-large vessels could lead to lost business for U.S. ports in the […]

Why the expansion of this waterway may not influence where maritime cargo enters the U.S.    By Eric Kulisch       The addition of a third set of locks in the Panama Canal capable of handling container vessels more than twice as large as those able to transit today is widely characterized as game changer for the […]

New IT collaboration eases container repositioning costs by reducing empty miles.    By Geoff Whiting       Companies have long known the key to a successful match-back system, or automated way to reducing empty equipment miles, is through collaboration and data-sharing with as many parties involved as possible, but this ability is still relatively new to […]

Foreign trade zone operators obtain efficiencies through automation.    By Geoff Whiting       The availability of easy-to-deploy information technologies are driving more American shippers to take advantage of the trade benefits associated with foreign trade zones, despite upcoming Customs and Border Protection rule changes and increased requirements.    The FTZ program was authorized by Congress […]

Top global container lines have varying strategies for terminal activity. The Chilean liner carrier CSAV has had a difficult few years financially. 

   For all the hype surrounding the forthcoming Panama Canal expansion and its effect on U.S. Gulf and East coast ports, the lack of current direct connections from Asia to the Port of Houston is quite stark.    As of mid-March, only one service directly connected Houston with the Far East: CMA CGM’s PEX3 all-water […]

Forwarders heavily fined in EU price-fixing investigation. In September 2010, half a dozen major global air freight forwarders agreed to a collective $50 million in settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice over price-fixing allegations between 2002 and 2007. 

Next-flight service providers are increasingly taking aim at life sciences shippers.    By Chris Dupin       Keen interest in providing logistics services to life science companies, especially by firms specializing in rapid delivery, was highlighted earlier this year by two acquisitions.    In February, Los Angeles-based MNX, an expedited transportation and logistics services company, said […]

   CHEP Aerospace Solutions has acquired an air cargo equipment manufacturing site in Copenhagen from Nordisk Aviation Products.     This follows the acquisition of Driessen Services by CHEP’s parent company Brambles in November last year.

   A German federal court dealt Lufthansa Cargo a serious blow April 4 when it upheld a state ban on night flights at Frankfurt International Airport, the airline’s cargo hub.    The decision jeopardizes Frankfurt’s role as an international aviation center and Germany’s strong position as an exporter and provider of logistics services, Deutsche Lufthansa […]

   Evan Armstrong, president of consulting firm Armstrong & Associates, said it is fairly unusual for 3PLs to grow out of shipper operations, but not unprecedented.    He noted Dunavant was different in that it was growing out of a trading company and trading companies do a lot of logistics work as part of their […]

Memphis-based Dunavant undergoes a radical transformation.    By Chris Dupin       Dunavant is one of the storied names of the cotton business, but a few years ago the Memphis-based company made a bold decision to exit the cotton trading business to concentrate on logistics.    To get a sense of the magnitude of that decision, […]

“Recalculating” — That’s a familiar phrase to drivers who use global positioning units to get from place to place. If a traffic jam or detour causes a change in plans, the unit can help drivers still find their way efficiently to their destination. 

   Radio-frequency identification, better known by its acronym RFID, has seen varied uses in ports, trucks, and outside the four walls of warehouses, but it’s now expanding to new areas as other technologies muscle in on its original turf.    One of RFID’s earliest uses at the ports was to track the location of large […]

After SAP released its Transportation Management (TM) 8.0 in June 2011, it made good on a lot of promises and requested improvements for its existing system.