Drayage

A decision by an FMC administrative judge on chassis usage will shake up the way chassis are provisioned for ocean containers, but there are several unknowns on what the future will look like at ports and rail hubs.

Analysts have told the Journal of Commerce they expect spot market pricing to bottom out and remain flat for some time before rising again, most likely at a slow pace.

Ocean carriers cannot limit the use of chassis by motor carriers in merchant haulage, the FMC’s chief administrative judge said in an “initial” summary decision meant to resolve a long-running dispute. 

Investors see drayage as an area rife for technological improvement, with software provider PortPro the latest startup to secure funding to empower port truckers.

WiseTech Global, owner of the most widely used forwarding software product, has acquired a prominent vendor of drayage management software, capping a year of takeovers for the company.

The sharp increase in freight activity seen at the Port of Houston over the past year has prompted national drayage provider RoadOne IntermodaLogistics to acquire a Texas motor carrier.

A new rule proposed by the US Department of Labor could signal the beginning of the end of the independent contractor model in port drayage and other trucking sectors, opponents say.

Although truckers at California’s ports must comply with a new clean-fleet rule and enforcement of the AB5 worker classification law, declining cargo volumes should prevent a drayage capacity shortage.

The filing is just the latest in a barrage of complaints made against various container lines with the FMC in recent months, a flurry accelerated by major reform of US shipping law that went into effect in June.

US transportation companies with cash on hand are acquiring asset-based truckers and non-asset freight brokers alike to add services and shipper customers and build network density.

The latest acquisition by RoadOne strengthens its national intermodal drayage fleet, connecting customers and containerized freight from the Northeast to the US Gulf Coast.

NY-NJ marine terminals have been almost constantly offering Saturday gates over the last two years to help move import volumes, but those gates have accounted for only about 5 percent of total truck transactions.

RoadOne sees demand for transload services as being sustainable enough to outlast any economic downturn as it invests in facilities in Norfolk and Oakland.

As a new clean truck rule in California looms, replacing older trucks with compliant vehicles is becoming increasingly difficult — and costly — amid shortages of microchips and other parts.

The Harbor Trucking Association says it will provide evidence to the FMC about the burdens that West Coast drayage carriers face in returning empties to Los Angeles–Long Beach marine terminals.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said it will start charging an export container dwell fee in a bid to prod ocean carriers to remove more containers than they drop off.

Drivers are returning to port drayage as long-haul trucking rates slide and operating costs for small, independent motor carriers rise.

Some California trucking companies have already taken the brokerage plunge, enabling them to contract at arm’s length with independent truckers who have set themselves up as single-truck carriers.

Canada’s Class I railroads have been dealing with a surge of freight from Vancouver that has taxed a shrinking pool of available truckers across the country in Ontario.

Customs software provider KlearNow has added a drayage service to its product in order to sync cargo availability to capacity from its network of dray providers.

Amid supply chain gridlock throughout the US, the Port of Houston has signed an agreement to investigate the potential use of an electric rail shuttle system for inland container movement.

For the second time in two weeks, a container line has been assessed a US civil penalty for collecting detention fees last year when it allegedly did not provide drayage providers with a means to return empty containers.

Seven ocean carriers blocked empty container returns to New York-New Jersey marine terminals last week as import volumes swell due to West Coast freight diversions.

Ocean carriers say they have swept more of the empty containers that have plagued truckers who have had to make extra trips further away from ports to store the boxes.

Truckers working the Port of New York and New Jersey say they are not always being paid enough for increasingly longer trips away from the port to deliver empty containers.

Intermodal equipment provider TRAC is turning to a one-year-old US chassis manufacturer as it seeks to increase its fleet of marine container chassis.

The Harbor Trucking Association and other California groups are backing proposed legislation that would strengthen an existing law that limits the circumstances when container fees can be charged.

Yang Ming is extending waivers on fees related to import containers lingering at marine terminals because of congestion, which truckers claim is due to empty boxes.

Drayage provider NEXT Trucking is piloting a peel pile program in Southern California that links vessel stowage at origin with quick unloading of containers at warehouse destinations to narrow total transit times for shipments.

Bob Curry Sr., a drayage industry pioneer who grew Cal Cartage from a Southern California less-than-truckload operator to a logistics provider for the container shipping industry throughout the US, died last week at 90.

Visibility software company FourKites is tracking a drop in cargo volumes and on-time performance in northbound shipments as protesting Canadian truck drivers bring more disruption to the US-Canadian border.

A historic drayage capacity shift from larger carriers to small companies and owner-operators is complicating efforts by importers to secure capacity and move containers inland.

Singapore-based drayage technology provider Haulio has landed an investment that it plans to use to grow its footprint in Southeast Asia.

Houston is seeing a surge in imports thanks to the upsizing of vessel services from Asia as other Gulf Coast ports look for a similar uplift.

The port of New York and New Jersey saw more ships wait longer for an open berth to start 2022 as holidays and the Omicron outbreak dealt a swift hit to port-wide capacity.

Several Southeast ports will expand container capacity in 2022, but the question for most is when will Savannah clear all the anchored vessels outside its harbor?

The acquisition of EHS Trucking allows RoadOne to connect East Coast and Midwest intermodal and truckload operations.

Increases in spot truckload rates to Chicago from eastern US ports are outpacing rate hikes off the West Coast, as the spot market enters 2022 at record price levels amid “extraordinary” demand.

Technology systems used to identify first available empty return appointments at Los Angeles and Long Beach container terminals may be a key in unlocking congestion in the key import gateway.

Kuehne + Nagel and Blume Global are partnering to provide the forwarder a way to manage existing and potential drayage partners in a more efficient manner as shippers focus on their needs at destination.