Commentary

In August, the Canada Border Services Agency issued a notice on the enforcement of cabotage laws restricting the movement of domestic goods by foreign-based commercial transportation businesses.

If you’re biting your nails watching the clock waiting for the new final rule on truck driver hours of service to hit the presses today you might as well relax — it’s not going to ha

The Federal Maritime Commission voted this month to investigate how important the Harbor Maintenance Tax is in prompting shippers to route U.S.-bound containers through Canadian ports, especially on t

In case you were stuck at an airport and missed the latest travel news, most major U.S.

Q: Can you explain something called “general averaging” as it applies to marine carriers’ liability for cargo loss and damage?

Canadians have shot back in response to the Federal Maritime Commission’s notice of inquiry on

I’ve been getting a lot of questions recently about the impact on East Coast ports that may not be fully “ready” for the Panama Canal to expand in 2014.

Remember the Rotterdam Rules? It’s been two years since the U.S.

We’re about a year away from the 2012 presidential election, and it’s obvious to all that partisanship again is getting in the way of productivity.

Anyone looking for signs from the retail world of greater strength in shipping demand has been looking in the wrong direction.

The outlook for container carriers as described by Alphaliner’s Hua Joo Tan at this month’s Journal of Commerce TPM Asia conference in Shenzhen was nothing if not cheerless.

Q: We’re a trucking company with a big problem.

In his speech on October 11 at our 5th annual TPM Asia event in Shenzhen, Alphaliner’s Hua Joo Tan took square aim at the most obvious explanation as to why the largest container lines are rushi

My 2011 conference year just came to a close with the final sessions of the 5th Annual TPM Asia Conference in Shenzhen, China.

The bizarre comparisons between the container shipping industry and passenger airline service are coming too often to ignore.

Auto parts imports kept expanding to partly offset losses in the overall U.S. inbound trade this past August.

A Seattle manufacturer’s decision to expand in the U.S. instead of China provides an excellent case study on the advantages American businesses can find reshoring.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are spending so much money these days to build larger container terminals, on-dock rail facilities and a new bridge in the harbor area that the transportation c

I am having a hard time understanding why freight rate indices should not be incorporated into each and every ocean carrier service contract out there.

It may finally be time to say that the fractured relations and frustrated feelings that grew out of the ocean shipping industry’s capacity management fracas of 2009 and 2010 have led to somethin

Q: I work for a large corporation with several divisions and I manage our trucking division.

Is transportation still a leading economic indicator? I’m beginning to wonder.

Q: We’re a third-party distribution center operator, and often provide cross-dock services to our customers — giving them a facility for interlining freight that is transferred from one ca

In establishing a broker business, every broker will have to learn to manage the details of contracts with motor carriers and suppliers.

Before the Food Safety and Modernization Act was signed into law at the beginning of the year, the Food and Drug Administration had no legal means to order tainted food off grocery store shelves.

Last week was supposed to be the time when adults got back in the room, as far as U.S. trade policy goes.

Michaels Stores had a somewhat different experience in the chaotic first half of 2010 than that of many other large importers.

UPS last month introduced “My Choice” to help residential consignees gain control over the inbound delivery of their increasing number of online orders.

Canada is reacting with fury to yesterday’s action by the Federal Maritime Commission to launc

In 1985, UPS had revenue of $7.7 billion. In fiscal 1986, Federal Express topped $2.5 billion. RPS, which would become FedEx Ground, had just started.

Is there a bright line between fostering local business and trade protectionism? Where does one end and the other begin?

Those who ship goods by container have barely been impacted by piracy off East Africa.

The story of 2010 for container lines and their customers isn’t just one of carriers reneging on their contracts.

The contentious and sometimes violent dispute between the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and the EGT grain export terminal in Longview, Wash., may reach an important legal milestone this

It’s out in the open now. South Carolina is now officially opposed to deepening the Savannah River. I see this as a big deal with huge long-term implications for where cargo moves in the U.S.

Ten years after the September 11 terror attacks, the United States has a spectacularly inexcusable problem regulating motor carriers that haul hazardous materials. The U.S.

While most shippers applaud the call by Maersk Line CEO Eivind Kolding for a change in the way the container industry conducts business, rival carriers see it as a campaign by the world’s larges

The prospect of cutting hundreds of millions of dollars out of your freight bills is enough to drive some big shippers into mergers. Just ask International Paper.

The echo chamber of infrastructure advocacy debate opened up a bit last month, and it’s important that the businesses in the transportation and trade world pay attention.

One could toil away for years in the shipping industry without hearing more than a few passing references to the Harbor Maintenance Tax.