Commentary

Exporting goods and services provides tremendous opportunities for small businesses, yet 99 percent of them don’t export because of bureaucracy and uncertainty. Help is available, if you know where to look.

Errors and omissions insurance is intended to protect customers against economic consequences if a provider screws up, not for willful decisions.

Most observers agree that the industry most in need of consolidation is liner shipping. Many carriers, however, participate in this industry for reasons other than pure financial gain — geopolitical concerns, mercantile interests and national security among them. The cultural barriers to be bridged are often insurmountable.

Those of us who regularly read shipping industry reports from around the world must endure a mix of emotions when reading the news of the day. Some days, we smile. Others, we may shed a tear. And then there the days of bewilderment. And that was my reaction when reading on a late-summer day in August that truckers had shut down the Port of Oakland over alleged issues with the port and terminal operators.

Any company that depends on unobstructed international supply chains to serve its customers in the U.S. or abroad should appreciate the profound victory that came last week in a federal court’s order permanently barring the Port of Los Angeles from enforcing the so-called employee-driver mandate.

With the Cosco Asia the target of an unsuccessful "terrorist" attack on Aug. 31 while transiting the Suez Canal, the global trading and international policy communities need to pause and reflect on the consequences of a successful armed attack on the canal, a critical artery of world trade.

The summer of discontent rocking the ports of Oakland and New York-New Jersey shines a bright light on the fragility of marine terminals in an era of big ships, automation, worker protests and environmental pressures.

The Port of Long Beach is not the only West Coast container port that is beginning the process of finding a new executive director.

Should a motor carrier be concerned when a bill of lading has a clause “Where the rate is dependent upon value” and the declared amount is much higher than its rate agreement allows?

With new free trade agreements popping up all over the world, companies could be missing out on cost savings because of the common notion that FTA qualifications are difficult and time-consuming. Taking a proactive approach can lead to simple processes and automated workflows to manage multiple agreements.

In his Aug. 5 Journal of Commerce article, “Decline of the Single-User Terminal,” Bill Mongelluzzo describes how vessel operators are eliminating their proprietary terminal operations in favor of using public terminals. They may or may not know it, but by embracing the public option these operators are increasing port resilience.

A truck gets stuck in a storm and ultimately a flood that causes a total loss of a high-value load. Is the carrier liable?

If you want perspective on life, talk with a centenarian.

The evolution of the U.S. container port system hasn’t gone exactly as planned, and Congress should bear that in mind when considering project funding.

Los Angeles-Long Beach handles some 40 percent of U.S. containerized imports, but what happens to that cargo once it lands is undergoing fundamental change, reflecting larger trends in U.S. freight transportation.

If we can put a man on the moon, why’s it so hard to fix the congestion at the Port of New York and New Jersey?

With the evolution of "3D printing," the day may be near when small retailers can produce customized orders on demand and, in the process, shorten supply chains and further reduce the need for large inventories.

Once upon a time, ocean carriers operated alone, each offering a specific type and level of service. This proved unsustainable because shippers expanded their demands for global service, shipping regulations changed, conferences were eliminated, the size and cost of vessels increased, and operational costs, especially fuel, reached record levels. In a sense, this process bears some resemblance to Sir Isaac Newton’s Third Law: Every reaction has an equal and opposite reaction.

As the threat of terrorism builds and new alerts are issued, American companies again must ask themselves how to best improve the efficiency, performance and performance within their global trade strategies.

Members of Congress and the Federal Maritime Commission seem to be targeting transportation third parties with stringent regulations. Why?

This article from the Jan. 26, 1935, issue of Traffic World often reads as if it were written yesterday, but it predates the first federal hours of service rules, which were issued in 1938. The recommendations of the National Safety Council sound quite familiar.

The higher bond requirements in MAP-21 aim to root out unscrupulous brokers. Will they work?

As cargo delays at the Port of New York and New Jersey enter their third month, customers are wondering: When will this end? Terminal operators say they expect things to settle down soon after Labor Day. That’s small comfort to port users dreading another month of expensive delays.

While professional truck drivers, trucking companies, shippers and businesses view themselves as the losers in the recent federal court ruling on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's sought-after changes to truck driver hours of service, the biggest loser in the end may be the agency itself.

It would be naïve to think the ILWU’s reputation with customers will drive its negotiating posture next year, especially when there are issues near and dear to the union’s heart that could take center stage, and possibly lead to trouble. One such issue is jurisdiction.

Export transportation can literally determine market success. Many exports are traded commodities, where the cost of transportation may be more significant to the landed cost than the actual underlying cost of the goods. Expensive transportation may exclude goods from certain markets on a competitive basis.

A recent court ruling prompts the question: What is the difference between operations of motor carriers who contract with owner-operators and brokers who contract with the motor carriers?

After signing its bill of lading, a shipper notices damage to a product that was concealed during offloading. What recourse does he have?

The United States' crackdown on exports of new cars bought from dealerships exposes a lack of understanding of trade law.

Although many in the industry have been waiting and wondering when the inevitable consolidation of ocean carriers would happen — presumably via the historical processes of buyouts, mergers or absorbing bankrupt companies — the consolidation has been happening in a much more organic process.

On July 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began formal enforcement of the Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements rule, or ISF, for overseas ocean containers destined for U.S. ports of entry. With potential ISF penalties now in play, significant questions are being raised.

Refrigerated transportation has come a long way from the days when Union Pacific Railroad put huge chunks of ice in boxcars to keep produce or meat from spoiling as it moved to market.

The JOC today formally introduces what we call the Port Productivity project, the result of a five-year effort to translate casual industry understanding into cold, hard numbers. The specific focus is berth productivity achieved at ports and terminals worldwide — a measurement of the speed at which container ships are unloaded, loaded and sent back to sea.

The most obvious conclusion when looking at data revealed in the launch of the JOC’s Port Productivity project is neither surprising nor unexpected: Container ports and terminals in Asia, primarily China, and the Middle East dominate their global counterparts in getting a ship, regardless of size, in and out of port as quickly as possible.

Trucking seems an unlikely candidate for technological transformation. It is, after all, literally where the rubber meets the road. But the latest changes to federal hours of service rules may be the catalyst trucking needs.

An importer of specialty goods asks about loss claims on international shipments. Would a shipper get the sales price that it would have had if the goods had been delivered?

Under the new hours of service rules, even small delays could turn a two-day trip into a three-day one, as DAT's Mark Montague demonstrates.

How bad has this summer been at the Port of New York and New Jersey? So bad that some truckers are comparing its impact with Hurricane Sandy.

Anyone who followed the heated back-and-forth of the recent International Longshoremen’s Association contract negotiations might wonder how the two sides could ever work together. Truth is, they have no choice.