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Uber Freight has expanded its network of transportation management system integrations by piping its instantly available capacity into the Blue Yonder freight execution system.

For so-called black swan events such as COVID-19, there’s little chance that logistics managers will have had the foresight to have a traditional plan ready for a pandemic or disruption caused by an unexpected natural disaster.

Despite a slightly improved forecast for US imports, retailers are being conservative in their purchase orders with Asian factories, pointing to a dismal peak shipping season compared to recent years.

London-based digital cargo insurer Loadsure partners with Chicago-based Transship to more fully automate refrigerated containerized exports.

A machine learning software provider is tackling the problem forwarders and customs brokers face in converting the information within core shipping documents into usable data.

Jaxport’s $484 million project, due to be complete in 2023, will provide a wider vessel turning basin and the ability to handle two post-Panamax vessels simultaneously in SSA’s Blount Island Terminal.

Container lines can either keep up the capacity discipline they showed in the first half and be on track to end the year with $9 billion in profit, or lose $7 billion if they can’t, according to SeaIntelligence Consulting.

Easing the height limit under Hong Kong’s Tsing Ma bridge ends a six-year campaign by the Hong Kong Liner Shipping Association. The structure spans the main shipping channel between Hong Kong’s Kwai Chung container port and the Shekou and Chiwan container terminals in western Shenzhen.

Antwerp shrugged off the demand-cutting impact of Europe’s COVID-19 lockdowns, reporting a small, though unexpected, gain in first-half volumes.

A large chunk of the US trucking sector is riding on Payroll Protection Program loans, which likely averted a capacity crunch in June and may still be shielding shippers this fall.

Intermodal shippers are increasingly putting pressure on 3PLs to waive container fees as a precondition for business amid the coronavirus-linked recession.

A founder with lineage in the freight optimization space has started a new technology provider to help trucking companies better account for unknown variables in their network planning.

Shipping’s long-running campaign to remain outside the European emissions trading system and continue to self-regulate through the IMO has ended.

Olaf Merk, one of the world’s leading container shipping critics, has spelled out his view of an industry that he says is unfairly advantaged by favorable regulations.

The Digital Container Shipping Association is targeting standard vessel schedule publishing to allow ports and cargo interests to get more real-time arrival and departure data.

Shippers are rethinking both long-term and short-term truckload contracting and pricing strategies as freight levels rise from spring’s recessionary lows.

The move, bringing an end to APL’s 170-year legacy as a commercial trans-Pacific carrier, is part of the Marseille-based shipping group’s broader effort to clarify its offering to customers since a series of major acquisitions.

Freight forwarders say they have reduced payment deadlines to 30 days, with some firms only accepting up-front payment for new shipper customers even if they pass credit checks.

Maersk has made another landside acquisition as part of its transformation strategy aimed at controlling more of the end-to-end container supply chain.

The pandemic has shown how adaptable carriers’ land-based employees are in a time of crisis, but switching a large part of the operation to home offices almost immediately also means the underlying systems are getting closer to automation.

Forwarders tell JOC.com that with GRIs, peak-season surcharges (PSSs) and bunker-fuel adjustments all taking effect this week, freight rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific vary from shipper to shipper.

There were encouraging signs for air cargo in June, but uncertainty over demand patterns and available capacity is clouding the industry outlook through the summer.

Shippers looking to cut costs should examine how much digital integration they have with their less-than-truckload (LTL) partners and whether their transportation and dock operations are as efficient as possible, panelists told JOC Uncharted.

Europe’s recovering economies are generating increasing demand for Asian imports and keeping rates up and container shipping space tight.

An industry-spanning initiative has been launched in Europe to find a sustainable alternative to fossil fuel.

The US government’s $700 million loan to YRC Worldwide guarantees LTL stability in an uncertain economy.

Unadjusted Labor Department employment numbers show motor carriers have recovered about 44 percent of the jobs lost from February to April.

APM Terminals is rolling out a set of data connectivity tools, initially at two US ports, to inform shippers of container status and vessel arrival on a more real-time basis.

BBC Chartering CEO Ulrich Ulrichs said in a JOC Uncharted interview that the MPV/HL fleet should brace for higher operating costs and further consolidation, similarly to the global container fleet.

US retailers in May stepped up their imports from China, as factories there were better prepared to increase production than factories in Southeast Asia.

Montreal waterfront employers a decade ago locked out longshore workers for several days, after the union authorized a strike following an 18-month impasse in contract talks.

Transplace has begun providing managed transportation-like services to customers that have their own transportation management system but want to be able to benchmark against the data of the $11 billion of freight the 3PL manages.

Following a pandemic-driven slide, the Toepfer Multipurpose Index is expected to stabilize in July.

For drayage operator Mark-It Express Logistics, the purchase of Sava Transportation and Spirit Trucking represent the first steps in a larger consolidation plan.

Forwarders in the container supply chain are keeping a close eye on rising demand from European shippers, as carriers try to balance capacity with rising volume.

The US CARES Act loan to YRC Worldwide keeps US military LTL shipments moving, and gives the US taxpayer a nearly 30 percent share in the company.

Five of the major carriers now offer online quoting and booking with Mediterranean Shipping Co. the latest to launch its e-business solution.

Montreal employers say the longshoremen’s decision was a surprise and said they are considering other options than focusing on contract negotiations. Employers locked out workers in 2010 after contract talks hit an impasse.

An increase in the traffic mitigation fee in Los Angeles-Long Beach will support rising labor costs for night and weekend gates.

Retailers and forwarders say July 1 general rate increases (GRIs) could send spot container freight rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific to record levels.