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The Biden administration is putting renewed attention on supply chains and port investment, though, policy experts argue the nation also needs a National Freight Strategic Plan to focus investment through a multimodal lens.

Cosco joins other carriers in posting strong profit figures for 2020 due to the rebound in rates and volumes in the second half of last year.

The Harbor Trucking Association is advertising for a new CEO to lead drayage companies in Southern California, Oakland, and Seattle-Tacoma as current head Weston LaBar transitions to a new opportunity in the industry.

Daniel Maffei is taking the helm of the Federal Maritime Commission as port congestion has grabbed the attention of the new Biden administration and some exporters accuse container lines of refusing bookings.

Sweeping aside the reality that no shipper has been spared the impact of the pandemic on container shipping, agricultural exporters have sought to place the blame squarely on ocean carriers for causing undue harm to US exporters specifically.

Truck driver pay is improving, and that may be keeping more drivers behind the wheel, rather than jumping from job to job.

The long-term impact of the Suez Canal blockage on the Asia-Europe supply chain has tempered relief that the vital waterway has finally reopened and traffic is flowing again.

A severe shortage of railcars in Los Angeles-Long Beach is causing rail container dwell times to double, which is further stressing already-congested terminals and inhibiting the ability of the terminals to ship imports to inland rail hubs.

The US Department of Transportation has issued a new round of 2021 port grants, with an emphasis on projects that can address efforts to remediate climate change.

The Georgia Ports Authority has approved $205 million in capital expenditures to address the congestion slowing down the supply chain through the port of Savannah.

The average price for a 20-foot dry container is up around 50 percent since last year, and a backlog of orders means those buying new boxes now will have to wait until August for delivery.

Mundra port on India’s west coast, as well as other key hub ports in the region, might see considerable transshipment buildups in the coming days in the aftermath of the Suez Canal disruption.

Salvors reported that Suez Canal transits can resume after the Ever Given has been successfully dislodged and is towed away for inspection.

Blume Global is hoping a new product emphasizing its utility as a supply chain planning tool will help it to break out of a crowded field of supply chain visibility providers.

The impact on the container shipping supply chain of the Suez Canal blockage will extend well beyond the refloating of the Ever Given.

DP World Cochin said it has been working closely with the Indian port to gain efficiencies and bolster trade out of the gateway, including offering discounts to attract more mainline calls.

New DOT chief Pete Buttigieg has pledged to help ease port congestion and help exporters, but industry observers tell JOC.com that the federal government has limited short-term recourse.

North American shippers are cautiously optimistic about the potential benefits of a Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger, but urge the Surface Transportation Board to fully investigate the transaction rather than rush through the approval process.

Ocean carriers are beginning to divert ships and shippers face further delays if weekend efforts to refloat the Ever Given don’t work.

OOCL has continued to invest in new ships and services, placing an order last year for 12 23,000-TEU vessels for delivery during 2023-2024.

Kerry Logistics will sign warehouse management agreements with each of the nine individual warehouse companies it is selling to current parent company Kerry Holdings; the facilities are located in some of the prime industrial areas of Hong Kong.

Canadian Pacific believes there will be intermodal growth opportunities if a merger with Kansas City Southern is approved, but there are challenges to overcome to get shippers to use the new available lanes between Mexico, the US Midwest, and Eastern Canada.

Global on-time vessel performance improved marginally in February, but reliability in the Asia-North America trades continued to slide, hitting new record lows for the month.

Shippers’ disinclination to replace too much of their logistics systems infrastructure at any one time to avoid disruption runs counter to the theoretical idea that the market requires more functionality on fewer systems.

With more than 30 container ships still waiting to transit the Suez Canal on Thursday, major ports in Europe are bracing for a deluge of cargo once the grounded Ever Given is refloated.

Strong demand for e-commerce, high-tech products, automotive parts, and fashion on trades out of Asia continues to quickly fill all available capacity, propping up air cargo rates.

Union Pacific is co-developing the first intermodal terminal in Idaho which will connect the state’s ag shippers to the Pacific Northwest ports.

US resin exports are expected to see a sharp drop in the second quarter as Gulf Coast producers restart after severe February weather disrupted operations.

San Francisco-based Baton, the developer of a software-based drop-zone model linking truckload with final-mile in Los Angeles, has landed a $10.5 million funding round to expand the concept into other North American cities.

With the Asia-Europe supply chain struggling to manage months of high volume, the blocking of the vital Suez Canal trade artery adds further volatility to the busy route.

FourKites has landed a $100 million funding round, led by industrial investors, to use visibility data to drive strategic supply chain insights by linking hardware and software-derived data.

Hapag-Lloyd hopes capital markets will underwrite its transition to a low-carbon future with plans to market its first “green bond,” with the new debt used in part to purchase ships that run on alternative fuels.

A new paper fiber plant to be built next to the Port of Tampa’s container terminal will generate additional export cargo volume to Asia.

With the global supply chain in knots, retailers are struggling to match inventory to customer demand, resulting in missed sales opportunities.

Rapid e-commerce delivery requirements, as well as capacity shortages and equipment imbalances, are spurring the growth of transloading near US seaports, speakers at TPM21 said.

After reaching a record low in 2020, a spate of orders for container ships scheduled for delivery from early 2023 has revived the excess capacity discussion.

A veteran of freight broker GlobalTranz has landed an $8 million funding round to enhance a multi-carrier marketplace and transportation management system for less-than-truckload shippers.

Voyager and GSA create “line of sight” visibility tool for managing ocean transport for project cargo shippers.

SAP’s transportation management integration with Sedna, which helps companies reduce their volume of emails, is a further sign of software partnerships blossoming in logistics and addressing a need to make inter- and intra-company communication more efficient.

Carriers have so much leverage this year that in addition to the service contract rate, some are quoting a second-tier rate, reportedly much higher than the contract rate, for commitments of cargo beyond the shipper’s minimum quantity commitment (MQC).