Commentary

When Steve Russell buys a trucking company, it’s not because he wants trucks.

Q: We’re a broker, and recently hired Carrier A to handle a load moving from our customer to its customer.

As someone with a pricing background from back in the days of mechanical calculators, numbers have always fascinated me.

If the Twitter-sphere at last week’s Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference made noises, it would have sounded like popcorn on a stove, a crackling, fast-paced virtual conversation drawing in those p

Maybe it was the Southern California setting, but Harold Daggett’s performance at last week’s Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference left me thinking: The guy could have made it big in the thea

When shippers hear the word “strike,” they have the same reaction as when someone yells “fire.” That goes double when they hear it from someone like the president of the International Longshoremen’s Association.

Harold Daggett did trans-Pacific carriers a favor by threatening to strike East Coast ports this year, a veteran carrier executive said.

Many third-party logistics companies tout themselves as carrier-neutral. They proclaim to their customers that they select carriers based on getting the best service at the lowest cost.

Republicans are hoping the bankruptcy of solar panel manufacturer Solyndra will create a Watergate-like scandal for Democrats.

As the industry gathers in Long Beach this week for the 12th Annual TPM Conference, shippers face a more complex outlook in the trans-Pacific than just a few weeks back.

When shippers, ocean carriers and others gathered for The Journal of Commerce’s annual Trans-Pacific Maritime Conference three years ago in Los Angeles, the circumstances were far different from

Q: You’ve addressed the issue of brokers paying carriers and carriers not paying subcontractors many times, yet I find myself unsure about this specific situation.

One question above all will be in the minds of shippers and carriers attending the Journal of Commerce’s annual Trans-Pacific Maritime conference in Long Beach next week: Can the industry end th

The SA Recycling terminal at the Port of Los Angeles is helping the country to meet President Obama’s goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years.

The United States is a maritime and trading nation, but sometimes we act as if we’re an inland nation that has no need for seaports, port infrastructure or a transportation system equal to the b

Senior managers at Customs and Border Protection have had several recent meetings in the Los Angeles area, explaining agency priorities for fiscal 2012.

Despite the widespread treatment of drivers as independent contractors and written agreements making clear drivers are not employees, an increasing number of trucking companies face liability for clai

You’ve heard the wisecracks and jokes: “How can you tell your life-partner is a consultant?

The goods movement industry in recent years has made significant strides in reducing air pollution, but the major trade gateways must continue to innovate until they approach zero emissions, said a top Environment Protection Agency official.

For many shipping lines, reducing diesel and carbon emissions is now as much a part of the industry’s culture as is reducing the cost of carrying cargo. In fact, the two go hand-in-hand.

There is no question the ports of Seattle and Tacoma face competitive challenges.

For transportation carriers, questions over emissions and environmental impact usually begin and end when vehicle engines shut down.

Q: We have a large customer with distribution facilities in Southern California that insists on charging us “commercial zone charges” even though those no longer are applicable in the Los

As waterfront land available for terminal development becomes scarcer and costlier, U.S. ports are beginning to resemble high-productivity ports in Asia and Europe.

By now it is a well-established trend in North American transportation that freight is moving from the roads to the rails.

There’s been a lot of handwringing in Washington over the seeming end of the happy era of nonpartisanship in transportation matters.

Q: We’re a brokerage, and I have a couple of questions concerning our relationships with motor carriers.

APM Terminals expects India’s emergence as a major global trader to create huge opportunities for port operators in the years ahead.

It’s no surprise that China tops the list of the top sourcing sites for U.S. imports in 2011, but the Asian manufacturing engine’s share appears to be shrinking. Overall U.S.

The surface transportation bill needs additional funding, so where are we going to get the pay-fors?

We’re all accustomed to reading articles, opinions and editorials on the plight of the global markets and the carriers involved.

Any increase in the federal fuel tax is dead on arrival in Washington, but the idea of raising fuel taxes to pay for highways is alive and kicking beyond the Beltway.

“We are all clear, not by a huge margin, but that is what the analysis tells me.” That essentially was the message economist Walter Kemmsies of industrial development firm Moffatt & Ni

Companies often seek out reports on some markets or operations to learn things they don’t already know. A new report on the U.S.

Q: While researching via the Web, I ran across a question you answered a while ago on liability limits in Canada, and I was hoping you could expand on this.

Freight railroads are greatly concerned about their transportation of shipments of hazardous materials referred to as toxic inhalation hazards.

Washington Post columnist George Will, perhaps bored by the Republican Party’s combative South Carolina primary, recently injected himself into the U.S.

The combative congressman from Oregon, Democrat Peter DeFazio, took the Republican majority of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to task for not giving Democrats enough time to re

The announcement from Japanese carrier “K” Line of a $173 million operating loss on container shipping in the December quarter came with the company’s assessment that the outlook for

Q: We’re a broker who had a customer move a shipment from a U.S. origin to a Canadian destination, using a Canadian motor carrier for the through movement.