Commentary

During recent longshore contract negotiations for Atlantic and Gulf ports, labor-saving technology was a sticking point.

When beer goes bad, where does it go? Not just down the drain, says Kevin Brady of Satellite Logistics Group in Houston.

A call from one concerned reader regarding the portrayal in print of his company’s earnings isn’t necessarily surprising after a long year of steep declines in profit across the shipping i

Q: Our executive vice president suggested that I send you a copy of a delivery order because we had a question pertaining to the signature in Section 7.

If there is a window on a key source of growth in container shipping, it might be found at a noisy remote construction site along the banks of the Yangtze River near Chongqing, central China’s largest

As we continue to read and hear of the woes of the shipping industry, a few pieces of news seem ironic, and almost funny.

Q: You keep referring in your column to the bill of lading as the “contract of carriage.” Isn’t this tired, old nonsense irrelevant in the modern era?

Britain's Daily Mail newspaper recently featured an article on “the biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history," the empty container ships anchored off Singapore.

Carriers have been waiting and hoping for retailers to restock depleted inventories. With consumer demand still weak, retailers have been cautious about ordering more goods.

How many times have you sat in an industry conference and heard a carrier executive say the words, “Rates are unsustainable.

Anyone looking for a true economic recovery in business landing on U.S. shores may be looking in the wrong direction.

Folks in the fresh fruit and vegetable business find themselves in a fairly unpopulated area these days: They are quite pleased with the idea of a new law regulating their industry.

Q: I am a lifelong forwarder, born and raised in a major European port. In 1986, I became an owner of a company.

The intermodal industry will convene next week for the annual Intermodal Expo in Anaheim, Calif. — literally in the shadow of Disneyland.

Hundreds of idled container ships may be picking up a different kind of cargo — invasive species that could be spread around the globe when those ships go back into service.

Economic research is proving it's not a small world, after all, just a well-connected one.

Q: We recently lost a shipment in a truck wreck. The truck crashed into a highway bridge support when the driver lost control.

Q: We’re a freight bill auditing and payment service. Our shipper client was asked by the consignee to ship collect via their selected carrier.

CSX was the first large transportation company to release its earnings in this fall’s financial reporting season, and that’s as it should be given what has happened to the economy over the last two ye

One of the more unfortunate consequences of our industry’s deep downturn is the waning attendance at industry conferences.

As the dollar falls against the euro, yen and other major currencies, China and other emerging economic powers holding lots of dollars and U.S.

Is there a better way for ocean container carriers and shippers to do business with one another? The answer has to be yes.

Q: In several recent columns you’ve suggested pretty strongly that shippers should forbid their carriers, and their brokers, from brokering or rebrokering shipments.

Customs brokers and importers have long operated under the reasonable-care standard. Exporters and freight forwarders have been required to meet the you-cannot-self-blind standard.

Welcome to 2010.

Has the diversion of containerized imports from West Coast to East Coast ports come to a halt? Probably the most discussed trend in U.S.

Trucks have rammed into low bridges 46 times this year in Westchester County, New York, doing enough damage that New York state is considering severe penalties against truckers.

During this economic crisis, while port tenants are fighting for survival and the City of Los Angeles is furloughing workers, the Port of Los Angeles continues to operate in a world of its own —

The 9/11 Commission Act’s mandate that 100 percent of cargo transported on passenger aircraft be screened for explosives by August 2010 reflects a critical security need of the U.S.

I see several business articles each week from the U.S., Europe and Asia reporting one optimistic piece of information or another, most giving the impression that we are at or near the bottom of the e

Sitting at the back of the room at last week’s annual East Coast Maritime Conference organized by The Journal of Commerce, one shipper had a clear view of an economic recovery coming from a direction

If there was a single, overwhelming piece of evidence arguing against changing federal law to allow ports to regulate trucking, it came last week at a press conference on the occasion of the one-year

“Don’t shackle yourself to the notion of a chain.”

Plans to renovate Hawaii's harbors could cause headaches for Aloha State shippers and shipping lines.

When the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals held its 2008 annual meeting almost exactly a year ago, the banking industry’s meltdown was spreading across Wall Street and sent an almost pa

Q: As a domestic freight forwarder, I have been informing shippers that because my company is considered by law to be a motor carrier, and deemed “a carrier to the shipper and a shipper to the carrier

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the level of civility in our society.

Long Beach Welcomes Owner-Operators

Intermodal, the movement of cargo domestically in containers via rail, is sensitive to fuel prices as shippers are drawn to its low fuel costs compared to over-the-road trucking.

It's been almost a century since electric trucks were a common sight on city streets, but they may be poised for a comeback.