Commentary

Given bunker price volatility and spotty surcharge collection, it makes little economic sense for ocean carriers to sign contracts without separate, floating bunker surcharges. On the other hand, shippers don’t want to pay for increases not allowed under all-in rate or no-adjustment contracts. One solution may be a standardized, transparent, bunker surcharge formula.

Container shipping offers several junction points that are ripe for innovation, digitization, and data analytics — which will yield increased efficiency, among other benefits. And there’s no better one to start at than connecting terminals to the greater supply chain.

The law says a claimant should “be made whole by receiving the proper money equivalent for what he has actually lost.” In the case of this damaged refrigerator, a claim for damages is clouded by purchase circumstances.

Up ahead, the low-sulfur emissions rule will kick in, and so will charges for it. The form and size the charges take will vary, depending on several factors.

Today’s shippers want it all — reliability, transparency, real-time monitoring, communication, speed — and they want it all at a lower price, be it from ocean carriers, third-party logistics providers, or transportation companies. Hence, the new focus on quality — not price — is here to stay. How can service providers in container shipping meet this higher performance standard?

Did the United States get enough in return to make the deal with ZTE China — which faced both criminal charges and civil fines for its actions in circumventing US export laws related to the sale of products to Iran, and to a lesser extent, Sudan, North Korea, Syrian, and Cuba — worthwhile?

The Trump administration’s trade policy has taken more twists and turns than an Agatha Christie detective novel. And so have the administration’s philosophical justifications for it.

The fact that Latin America did not fully modernize its legacy infrastructure, including communications, during the last 40 years of the industrial age, combined with its bloated logistics industry, has created an enormous opportunity for logistics startups in the region.

To be frank, if you missed Maersk’s first-quarter earnings conference call, you missed a lot.

To paraphrase the late, great writer Charles Dickens, container shipping in 2018 is ‘A Tale of Two Markets’ – truck/surface transportation capacity and ocean carrier capacity. What does that mean for shippers? Here are the likely scenarios.

If paperwork is executed property, it’s legal to use equipment and drivers of another motor carrier. Such lease agreements may be negotiated to accommodate an overage of freight volume that the leasing carrier has booked beyond what its own equipment and drivers can handle.

With a solid economic expansion underway and the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement in place, the export/import outlook is bright for Canada. The key task now is to fully fund vital infrastructure improvements.

First-quarter earnings reports from ocean carriers are out, and they show a mix of good and bad. What’s that mean for the container shipping industry, for the year, moving forward?

After a claim is filed for damages, a motor carrier wants proof of time spent repairing damages.

The Canadian East Coast’s very stable market has recently changed significantly: it’s in a state of turmoil with many container port projects being considered — Quebec City (Beauport); Dartmouth, Halifax; Montreal (Contrecoeur); Melford, Nova Scotia; and Sydney, Nova Scotia (Novaporte).

In the initial year and a half, the Trump administration’s trade policy has been characterized by protectionism, policy reversals, inconsistencies, and a seeming willingness to enact policies without the full consideration of all companies/stakeholders in the sector. And that’s all the more reason for businesses to deploy a pro-active dialogue strategy with Washington.

The more that blockchain becomes understood, the more conceptually, at least, it fits hand in glove with international logistics. But actually transitioning logistics to the paradise of transactions being recorded instantly and efficiently is proving to be quite a formidable task.

No one questions the right of a new administration to take a fresh look at existing policies, but is the Trump administration’s goal a new economic and political isolationism for the United States? And how did that work out, last time?

What appears to be a win-win NAFTA timeline for Washington will not be for consumers.

The brewing trade war between the United States and China serves as a reminder to international traders that knowing where your goods are made and being able to prove it are two very different issues.

Change, and technological change, is occurring in logistics, but the analysis that argues ocean carriers are trying to put logistics providers out of business is a stretch. The more likely scenario is more diverse — and one that will ultimately benefit the customer.

The metropolitan Los Angeles area has the dirtiest air in the United States, but area residents should not fret; there is a readily available solution to this longstanding problem.

If history is any indicator, one should not underestimate the potential of global trade and container shipping to change how we live and the world around us.

US shippers’ challenge in securing drayage capacity has eased since the peak eight weeks ago, but tightness persists regionally.

Voluntary export restraint agreements may seem like an amicable, cooperative solution to a trade problem, but in reality they are a dangerous relapse into trade quotas banned by the World Trade Organization — and they increase protectionist pressures globally.

In the United States, who is liable for payment to a carrier after the shipper pays a broker and the broker declares bankruptcy without paying the carrier?

Change is unavoidable, but strategic points of inflection are not always obvious in real time. In the future, it’s likely that April 1, 2018 — the date electronic logging device enforcement “went live” — will be enshrined as a red-letter day for our industry.

The transportation and logistics industry is heavily regulated, with myriad federal, state, local, and international laws on the books whose terms are directly reflected in the contracts. This poses a compliance burden. Fortunately, technology is helping forward-thinking organizations in this arena mitigate risk.

There has been little momentum to address the menace of container ship fires. That is despite the fires killing crew members and causing tens of millions of dollars of cargo losses and supply chain disruption annually. Something needs to change.

Last month, the Port of Long Beach agreed to join and partner with the Port of Los Angeles in the portwide portal — the GE Transportation Port Optimizer. The portal’s goal is to give the industry one platform to exchange data, and improve visibility and driver productivity in the process. This portal will ensure that LA-LB remains the leader in communication, innovation, and productivity.

Given the importance of NAFTA to the economies of all three countries and the sense of uncertainty the negotiations have been causing over the past eight months, one might conclude the urgency to wrap them up is rooted in creating greater economic stability and spurring investment. This is not so.

Given less attention than the resin boom and Asia import growth, but still deserving a close watch is the potential for Gulf ports to funnel a rebound in Latin American trade

In exchange for dropping its proposal for 50 percent of content to come from the United States, US policy makers tabled a new suggestion that would require US automakers to have their auto content produced in jurisdictions with a set minimum wage in exchange for financial credits to help offset the additional labor costs. It is a proposal that is being given serious consideration by Canadian and Mexican policy makers, as well.

The warehouse revolution is on. It is time for third-party logistics providers to embrace the changes of this new brave world or disappear. To be sure, the change will not be easy or quick but there is a considerable upside for your business.

What, exactly, is the true competitive edge, or threat, posed by digital forwarders?

To paraphrase the late, great writer Mark Twain, the reports of legacy forwarders' death are greatly exaggerated.

If a freight shipment is contaminated or in some other way rendered of diminished value by virtue of the fact that it made some portion of its journey without whatever protection a seal was intended to provide, that is an injury for which the carrier could be held liable; but where is the evidence that such is the case?

Yilport, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the Mississippi State Port Authority in February, is promising to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in the state’s Port of Gulfport, for which it sees serving a distinct purpose.

My experience with the industry shows me ocean carriers do not play well together. But, it could happen: there could be industry cooperation for the second time in my lengthy career.

After more than 15 years and billions of dollars, has US Customs delivered a viable tool with its Automated Commercial Environment?