Commentary

What happens in the regulatory arena over the next year depends in great measure on how disciplined Congress becomes.

Among the many issues of critical importance to the nation’s seaports in 2013 will be more vigorous coordination with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Congress on prioritizing, funding and actually completing projects to maintain the nation’s competitiveness on the international stage.

Basel III, a global standard that significantly increases the amount of capital and liquidity that lending institutions must maintain to support their operations, is likely to make trade finance less available and more costly in the foreseeable future.

James Welch knows a thing or two about business. So when the CEO of trucking operator YRC Worldwide and architect of the largest corporate turnaround in recent memory delivers a message like he did recently to his staff, shippers and carriers of all types should take notice.

Amid rampant globalization and the never-ending pursuit of low-cost labor, supply chain ecosystems have become elongated, complicated and frustrated with challenges arising from velocity, volatility and vulnerability.

In 2013, we can expect resurgence in federal legislative and rulemaking activity that was on hiatus during the presidential election.

Two trends that will undoubtedly impact shippers in 2013 will be the rising costs of moving product and the need to improve efficiencies to control costs.

It’s hard to read a magazine these days without reading about “Big Data.”

The economic volatility of 2012 continues to affect cargo business around the world. Undoubtedly, this uncertainty will place added pressure on our carrier partners and all logistics operators including terminal, truck, rail, forwarders and integrators. We will need to work collaboratively together to generate better performance and network optimization.

This year, U.S. East Coast ports will be focused on making the infrastructure investments necessary to remain competitive in an evolving international marketplace, especially in light of the expansion of the Panama Canal.

While we wish there were only two challenges ahead, we prefer to separate the challenges in three silos: capacity supply side, cargo demand and operating cost.

Our experience since 2009 shows clearly that an economic downturn can affect the whole world, including our industry. It has also shown the world is becoming smaller and more competitive than ever before.

Many of the changes in the international supply chain brought about by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks created negatively affected the free flow of goods into and out of the U.S.

In 2013, it’s absolutely crucial that companies put in place the long-term action plans needed to get real results in supply chain sustainability.

While companies will continue to focus on tight, yet flexible supply chains, it’s important to turn our attention to a couple of areas gaining traction: mode shift and the implementation of the Automated Commercial Environment.

Any shipper should be able to decide at any given time which transport mode is the most appropriate to ship their goods.

For those in the rail intermodal business, 2012 served as a reminder that year-over-year changes are inevitable...

In my 40-year career, the future has never been more promising for freight rail or its customers.

Markets may be expected to become more efficient as they evolve.

The resurgence of energy production in the U.S. during the past few years has been nothing short of remarkable.

Container trades to and from Europe are showing little or no growth for 2012, but the situation is particularly apparent in the Asia-Europe trade.

We are seeing an energy revolution taking hold in the oil and gas fields of the United States.

Today we strive for more continuity than ever before.

The U.S. economy seems destined to continue its slow recovery, with market growth moving in a positive direction, albeit at a very tepid pace.

Rock historian Robert Santelli has described Bruce Springsteen’s ballad “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” as “the perfect musical study of the Jersey Shore boardwalk culture.” It’s a cruel irony that Hurricane Sandy devastated large parts of the Jersey Shore — and beyond — while killing more than 200 people and causing $60 billion in damage.

As you know, each year has different challenges, but our mature industry is still attempting to define itself in our 21st century.

2012 was a year that saw carriers start to show some discipline as far as freight rates, despite supply and demand not being totally in our favor.

The state of some of the economies around the globe is a major challenge facing the maritime industry this year.

The maritime profession is ever changing, and never so rapidly as now.

When the International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance agreed to extend their existing contract through Feb. 6, many East and Gulf Coast shipping interests thought their labor issues were behind them. After all, the big stumbling block — royalties — had been settled.

The Washington, D.C., agenda will shape international commerce and transportation in 2013.

Hope that 2013 will result in strengthening the resolution of the use of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund probably will be dashed early in the 113th Congress.