Commentary

President Obama’s call last week for simple, straightforward extensions of national transportation programs was well reasoned and measured, and a desperately worrisome window on the state of pol

President Obama said it best: “To attract new businesses to our shores, we need the fastest, most reliable ways to move people, goods and information.”

How tightly is growth in trucking employment tied to rising freight tonnage? Not as tightly as you might think, based on a review of U.S. payroll and tonnage data.

After the storms of August – political, financial and most recently natural – things may seem to be getting back to normal. It won’t last.

Farmers may have to lead the way to achieving President Barack Obama’s goal of doubling exports by 2015.

Tuesday’s Virginia earthquake again tested the nation’s infrastructure, which came through pretty well. But it also reminded us of vulnerabilities.

John Bowers enjoyed a good, rousing speech and could deliver one himself when the occasion demanded. But that wasn’t his preferred style.

No amount of diligence can guarantee protection against cargo theft or double brokering, but you can minimize your risk by carefully screening the carriers with which you do business.

Like many men of a certain age, I have a monthly night out with the guys, usually to catch up with each other, play a few hands of cards and generally whine about the state of the economy and the worl

The more things change, the more they stay the same, the old axiom goes. But is it true?

The trucking industry was quick to rebound in 2010 after a major falloff in revenue and profit during 2008 and 2009.

Since the late 1980s, when personal computers started appearing on every worker’s desk, all industries have capitalized on the opportunities technology offers us to do more with less.

Capacity is king in trucking today, and the truck driver is the coin of the realm.

Ocean carriers and retailers had plenty to say about the outlook for the global economy in releasing their financial reports for the most recent quarter, but they sounded for all the world like they w

Q: I’ve lately been getting quite a few e-mails from a collection agency that says it’s working for one of our major parcel carriers.

Many truckload carriers are pumping money into driver recruitment and training programs and still say they’re having trouble finding enough drivers.

Famous mathematics professor John Allen Paulos is quoted as saying, “Uncertainty is the only certainty there is, and knowing how to live with insecurity is the only security.” Major world

Vacations are supposed to take you away from your job, but when you work in transportation and design a family road trip in the American Southwest the shipping business can turn up in surprising ways.

There was an interesting and telling contrast last week at the meeting point between business and politics.

Q: We sent a shipment intended for a customer in the Dominican Republic to a Florida freight forwarder hired by our customer. The value was $10,000.

What interest does a beneficial cargo owner — the large shipper of goods through the supply chain — have in the question of limiting greenhouse gases from container ship engines?

Weeks before Washington politicians took government dysfunction to a new level and the Eurozone crisis threatened to engulf Italy, a respected forecasting firm signaled an economic slowdown ahead.

With President Obama first striking a deal with car makers to double fuel efficiency by 2025, and now finalizing

Q: Your June 13 and July 18, 2011, columns request views regarding enforceability of National Motor Freight Classification provisions that a non-participating carrier has incorporated into its transpo

In the inquiries that followed the at-sea hull fracture and subsequent scuttling of the MSC Napoli in early 2007 in the English Channel, investigators discovered a disturbing truth.

The congressional failure that led to the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration will not, just to be clear, particularly pinch any freight or even passenger transport touching the Un

Harold Daggett fired up his troops with a pugnacious inaugural speech after his election last week as president of the International Longshoremen’s Association.

With the prefab debt ceiling crisis behind us for now, a truly serious threat is emerging. More and more people are again talking about recession.

In Ancient Rome, the period between July 24 and Aug.

Q: I keep reading your column, I don’t know why, looking for some semblance of integrity, of equity, in your responses.

U.S.

Every silver lining, it seems, has its cloud.

I met with a container line executive earlier this month and found him to be in a grumpy mood.

It’s taken on faith in the shipping world that the volume of trade moving through ports, railyards and truck terminals is a leading indicator of the economy’s direction.

When Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Richard Lidinsky looks across the U.S.-Canada border, he sees a “twilight zone.”

The economy may still have the slows, but suppliers of equipment to the freight transportation sector say solid demand is filling their order books.

The International Longshoremen’s Association is still smarting over the 200 jobs it lost in Philadelphia last year when Fresh Del Monte shifted its fruit imports to a terminal that employs non-I

Bill Cassidy reports an impressive string of rising profits at truckload carriers as tight truck capacity pushes over-the-road rates higher.

We’re a year into the National Export Initiative’s five-year plan to double U.S. exports.

These past couple of weeks showed serious signs of déjà vu for the shipping and trade sector.