Commentary

My Canadian friend on the phone sounded mystified. He’d read the Federal Maritime Commission’s report on cross-border container shipments, and was asking: What does it mean?

One of the hallmarks of an importer’s relationship with Customs and Border Protection is reasonable care.

Q: I own a small motor carrier, and we’re doing very well, thanks.

If you think getting the toothpaste back in the tube is a problem, imagine trying to untangle and sort out the recent alphabet soup spill that occurred where the sea meets the land in the middle

How many longshoremen does it take to plug in a refrigerator?

Last week’s Journal of Commerce cover story (“Ocean Carriers’ New Pricing Power”) made an observation that hasn’t been lost on many this year: Despite weak fundamentals,

Let’s give credit where credit is due.

Q: We’re a medium-sized brokerage that tries hard to select carriers carefully.

On May 30, U.S. Customs and Border Protection published new guidelines concerning the treatment of post-entry valuation adjustments to related-party import transactions.

While watching the end of a ballgame one recent night, an announcer said, “If we just got the extra base hit in the eighth inning …” That’s not an uncommon thought in the spor

The first round of earnings reports from publicly owned truckload carriers reflects two important trends.

In no way can it be said this is a quiet summer for longshore labor in the United States.

U.S.-flag ocean carriers hit an uncharted reef in the transportation spending bill Congress approved and the president signed this month.

Q: I think you overreacted to the question from a motor carrier who was upset because his trucks were being stopped by police in Michigan and Ohio for minor speeding violations and given warnings (not

Q: We’re a motor carrier and had a fairly unusual load of refrigerated goods recently. It was partly fresh produce and partly four pallets of mixed frozen foods.

Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water, the theme music from “Jaws” ramps up in your ears.

Q: We’re a manufacturer of high-end kitchen appliances and face what I think is a very unusual situation regarding a claim.

More and more companies are looking to Mexico as the preferred location for near-sourcing their operations.

After four years of (mostly) dismal financial performance, the last thing ocean carriers in the trans-Pacific eastbound trade need is to get kicked while they’re down.

The fourth round of TIGER grants announced last week is another example of economic stimulus that is too little, too late and a missed opportunity to leverage our port assets.

Q: We’re a motor carrier. Our fleet runs 40 percent of its miles in Indiana and Michigan, so-called probable cause states.

If container shipping today is a commodity, as many argue it is, then freight rate derivatives make intuitive sense.

Get ready for another boring peak season. If industry analysts are correct, imports from Asia will increase modestly. That means freight rates will remain low, at least for beneficial cargo owners.

Q: I’ve been reading about problems in negotiations between East and Gulf Coast port operators and the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Many of us read with interest the financial results of ocean carriers and wonder, “Wow, how can they keep doing that?” Losing money that is.

A surety company that’s a big player in the Customs bond market recently sent a notice reminding customs brokers that an importer with a continuous bond is a higher risk indicator if the agency

The container shipping news of the week, from the Tweet Deck of Peter Tirschwell, who follows up with commentary and analysis as he tours Asia. 13 Jun @PeterTirschwell

The late Bob Delaney, who created the annual State of Logistics report, liked to describe its comparison of business logistics spending to GDP as a batting average for supply chain performance.

The cost of logistics as a percentage of gross domestic product was once the ultimate measure of logistics efficiency. Today, not so much.

In the current season of the AMC hit series “Mad Men,” protagonist Don Draper heads to a Rolling Stones concert in an attempt to use one of their songs in a commercial.

Q: I read a few months back about your opinion regarding carriers rebrokering shippers’ freight to other carriers.

Below are a few tweets from the JOC Container Shipping Conference last week sent out via Linked In (Twitter is blocked in China), including some expanded commentary.

If supply chain managers are starting the summer in a cranky mood, it’s easy to see why.

There’s talk about a future container hub in an unlikely place – Reykjavik, Iceland.

We’re never quite sure here in the Pacific Northwest just when summer will arrive — or whether it will at all.

Q: We’re a broker, and we use another broker for one of our customers, who was an incumbent when we acquired the account.

Debt collectors on the docks are reputed to be aggressive, and there’s a hint of that in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey’s dunning of a longtime tenant that’s behind on

Meetings with several container lines last week in Europe yielded an unexpected takeaway.

The less-than-truckload landscape changed in the past couple of decades as mergers, acquisitions and company failures shifted market share.

Q: I have a question on our liability for a double-brokered load.