Commentary

Over the past several years, I’ve had the incredible good fortune to be able to shift the emphasis of my work from its focus on shipping lines, service contracts, delivery deadlines and cargo claims to an entirely different set of new, but related area of businesses.

Politically speaking, this month’s U.S. election appears to leave the country in the same position as before.

WASHINGTON — While most American turn their attention away from the elections, the transportation policy community in the Beltway is consumed by two questions...

Recent railroad earnings announcements feature robust intermodal volumes prominently, and there’s every expectation that 2012 will exceed the record volumes of 2006.

“The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often awry, And leave us nothing but grief and pain.”

Unlike former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin who could “…actually see Russia from land in Alaska,” you won’t be able to see the Port of Long Beach from the newly proposed Port of Long Beach Administration building. At least it will still be in the State of California.

How do I compete in a marketplace that seems to favor cut-rate carriers that offer only minimal service over the premium service on which we pride ourselves? Do you have any insights to offer?

Hurricane Sandy will have a devastating impact on life and property. However, gauging its ultimate impact on an economy still struggling to overcome the Great Recession but with substantial resources to overcome adversity is far more complex than merely adding up insurance payouts and uninsured losses.

Shipping lines in the eastbound Pacific have been congratulating themselves for successfully implementing a series of general rate increases this year.

Container shipping lines face another year filled with “unpredictability and volatility.”

Taking the right steps can help shippers prevent re-brokering by motor carriers. Step No. 1 starts at the loading dock.

Long-awaited conflict minerals regulations issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in September will take effect on Nov. 13 for products including tantalum, tin, gold and tungsten.

On Oct. 8, Mexico became an official member of the world’s most important global trade talks: negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The BMC-32 Cargo Liability Endorsement has been gone for more than a year, extinguished in March 2011 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Dr. Mike Walter – successful businessman, educator and former LB Port Commissioner – was honored recently by the International Seafarers Center for his contributions to the maritime industry.

Logistics and transportation professionals expect emerging markets to contribute 36 percent of their global revenue on average by 2017, more than double the share today, according to the Business Perspectives on Emerging Markets 2012-2017 Report by Global Intelligence Alliance.

Gasoline has been a U.S. automotive fuel mainstay for more than 100 years, while diesel has been the primary fuel for heavy equipment for more than 60 years. The U.S. fuel distribution infrastructure has been built out to support the country’s demands for these fuels that, for the most part, are conveniently available.

As the U.S. begins to emerge from four years of economic downturn, there is a view that seaports aren’t as exciting as they used to be.

In publishing, as in logistics, it’s all about adapting to change.

For what seemed like months, we read nothing but the updates to the ILA-management drama playing out on the U.S. East and Gulf coasts.

Q: I got your name out of a magazine my soon-to-be ex-husband gets, and I’m hoping you can help me with a really bad problem I’ve run into in connection with my divorce proceedings.

Logistics companies may dominate the Top 50 Global Transportation and Logistics Companies, but when considering profit margins, railroads top the list.

Q: I’ve been reading in a lot of your columns lately about problems that seem to arise out of the shipper hiring one motor carrier to handle a load and that carrier brokering the load out to ano

The United States faces serious challenges to its infrastructure, and has for years.

Last week, my JOC colleagues and I unveiled the agenda for the March 2-6, 2013, TPM conference in Long Beach.

It appears ports, carriers and retailers can breathe a sigh of relief. Peak-season 2012 in the eastbound Pacific will turn out to be just fine.

Amid a FedEx earnings call last week that was a virtual catalog of how shippers are weathering tough times by trading down to lower-priced forms of transportation, one story line stood out: FedEx has

Q: I don’t believe I’ve seen this one asked before.

The nights are cooler and the days are shorter. The long Labor Day weekend is behind us and the kids are back in school. You know what that means?

The Port of New York and New Jersey, the third-largest U.S.