Commentary

The strength of the economic recovery, at least in terms of U.S. domestic freight, was clear at last week’s NASSTRAC Logistics Conference.

In the 1980s and 1990s, they ruled the interstate highway system as they crisscrossed the country. You knew their names: Roadway Express, Consolidated Freightways and Yellow Freight.

Now that the distractions of March’s TPM container shipping conference are behind us, I can get back to completing what I started with my February column (“Rewards of Risk,” Feb.

2011 was a good year overall for the largest trucking companies, according to the list of Top 50 Trucking Companies.

Q: We had a machine delivered to us by a major less-than-truckload carrier that was damaged (an arm near the top of the machine was bent).

In explaining the vast quantities of excess capacity throughout the U.S.

People make money on container shipping, not in it. The business provides consistent profits for terminals, equipment lessors and non-asset intermediaries, but seldom for liner carriers.

U.S.

A panel at the 7th Annual Homeland Security Law Institute event in March raised the specter of an international hacking incident.

The quote below is from the opening statement of a new five-year strategic plan adapted on A

The union representing 600 office workers at shipping lines and marine terminals in Southern California surprised employers, in a pleasant sort of way, by offering in mid-April to resume negotiations

Q: My wife and I own a small freight brokerage and had a situation come up recently that I need some help on.

One objection to raising truck driver pay to address what’s called a driver shortage is that shippers won't stomach higher rates needed to support higher pay.

Just when it looked as if ocean carriers were nearing a recovery of some sort, with rate increases taking hold in the Asia-Europe and trans-Pacific markets, some contradictory reports emerged.

U.S. East Coast seaports have a serious overhang of unused terminal capacity.

The Panama Canal Authority originally planned to inaugurate the third set of locks it is building in August 2014, exactly 100 years after the opening of its old canal locks.

By now, those who know me know I'm a driver shortage skeptic.

Q: A motor carrier damaged a 1,000-pound box of our product, a polymer. I filed a claim for $13,870, and we advised the carrier to scrap out the material.

The lasting image of the April 3 tornadoes in Dallas will be rows of trailers being demolished and tossed into the air at or near a Schneider National terminal.

Two centuries ago, the big question for shipping wasn’t the size of the new generation of ships. It was whether a steam-powered vessel could cross the ocean without burning and sinking.

Feb. 20 marked the 50th anniversary of John Glenn’s launch into space and the three orbits he took around earth aboard Friendship 7.

Q: We made a shipment under free-on-board-origin, freight-prepaid terms to one of our customers, applying pricing from our customer’s contract with the carrier.

Steep declines in imports of furniture, toys and footwear in February helped pushed U.S. containerized imports down 5.8 percent year-over-year, the first decline in four months.

Shippers have reason to breathe easier, if not yet celebrate, with the kickoff of contract negotiations between the International Longshoremen’s Association and its East and Gulf coast employers.

The Port of Baltimore, despite being on the doorstep of one of the world’s wealthiest consumer markets, has struggled to find its place in the container market.

At the risk of trying to make sense out of nonsense, here’s a question: When Congress and the administration cite the economic impact of transportation infrastructure, what are they thinking?

It’s hard out there for captive shippers, or railroad customers who have access to only one rail service. Congressional attempts to curb railroad pricing power have faltered, and the Surface Transportation Board kicked a request for tougher switching rules down the road.

Your brokerage firm has contracted a load out to a carrier, but that carrier has passed on the shipment to another trucking company.

As the old saying goes, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” Somehow, TPM 2012 has come and gone, with record attendance and, from all indications, a very satisfied group of conferen

Q: We’re a third party, arranging transportation for shippers with carriers we have under contract. We specify contract rates in our rate confirmation sheets.

Just as college sports fans can debate endlessly about the superiority of their programs during the NCAA basketball tournament, the maritime industry’s debate over which ports will expand market

From President Obama trumpeting its resurgence to economists praising the sector for leading the U.S.

Q: Is there a time limit between the filing of a claim and the carrier wanting to pick up damaged material?

Hannibal Gadhafi, son of the now-deceased Libyan dictator, had built a 3,500 passenger cruise ship, called the Phoenician.

After sitting through this month’s Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference session on East Coast longshore negotiations, a large importer of consumer goods wasted no time in making contingency plans t

The U.S. economy sometimes seems stuck in a seesaw recovery.

As it seems with most trends these days, the U.S. market for e-commerce will be big but China’s will be bigger.

Construction employment is increasing across most of the country, bringing good news for the economy but mixed news, perhaps, for the trucking industry.

The ‘House Sold’ signs popping up in your neighborhood and shiny new cars parked in driveways are a reflection of containerized import growth on the docks in January.