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The International Maritime Organization has an opportunity next month to set more aggressive goals to slash carbon emissions, which could send a powerful signal to stakeholders needing direction, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

US consumers are still spending, but at a slower rate, and that’s pushing major restocking of goods further toward the back half of 2023, analysts and retailers say.

The disruptions happening now are a repeat of events in April when ILWU locals up and down the coast slowed cargo handling to gain leverage on local issues, which prevented coastwide negotiators from addressing broader issues such as wages and pension benefits.

The ports of Boston and Halifax are getting additional trans-Atlantic coverage through a new rotation on Mediterranean Shipping Co.’s north-south service from Ecuador.

The air and ocean shipping sectors have set out their decarbonization agendas, but policy help is urgently required to underpin investment in new fuel technology and production, a global trade group says.

Perhaps Robin Silvester’s biggest accomplishment leading the port was shepherding the early stages of the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 project, which cleared a major environmental hurdle last month and will double Vancouver’s annual throughput capacity.

About 65% of the current carrier orderbook is for ships over 15,000 TEUs in capacity, the majority of which will be deployed on the already oversupplied Asia-Europe trade.

The appointment of a new CEO for the US’s largest logistics provider comes six months after the dismissal of ex-CEO Bob Biesterfeld, who was let go amid slowing freight demand, rate declines and investor unrest.

ILWU Canada rank-and-file will vote later this week on whether to issue a 72-hour strike notice, raising the unprecedented prospect of disruption on Canada’s West Coast amid job actions by labor along the US West Coast.

The White House said it was monitoring the fast-developing situation along the West Coast, while a major retail organization urged the Biden administration to intervene and warned about the ongoing diversion of cargo to the East and Gulf coasts.

Two stevedoring companies are looking to the Federal Maritime Commission to stop what they say is an unlawful access fee at the Port of Baltimore after one of them was invoiced $1.2 million.

The Container Port Performance Index for 2022 showed that among large ports, China’s Yangshan ranked No. 1, while Ningbo and Guangzhou were among the top 10.

The airline industry has performed better than expected so far this year, with the International Air Transport Association providing a surprisingly sunny financial outlook for an industry with a forecasted profit margin of just 1.2%.

The American Trucking Associations said Julie Su’s track record of supporting California’s A.B. 5 law and a lack of support for the trucking industry has failed to reassure them she would be a successful Secretary of Labor.

With international rail volume down by double-digit percentages in 2023, chassis providers have an opportunity to reflect on the struggles of 2021 and 2022 and adjust their networks ahead of the next surge.

The ILWU Friday shut down some terminals at West Coast ports after coastwide contract negotiations broke down Thursday because the union and employers are reportedly far apart on wages.

Container carrier Evergreen argues the FMC ignored “critical facts” when applying the incentive rule in a December case and, in doing so, inadvertently set a precedent that detention cannot be charged on a holiday weekend.

Air cargo carriers are set for a bleak few months, with high inventory levels and economic issues in destination markets further dampening the traditionally slow summer season.

Norden is looking to capitalize on an expected strong project and breakbulk market with the purchase of Denmark-based multipurpose vessel (MPV) operator Thorco Projects.

The first chassis for a new equipment pool covering the ports of Jacksonville, Savannah, and Wilmington, NC, arrived this week, the first step ahead of an October launch.

The lack of security around the supply of alternative fuels in a highly fragmented market will undermine ocean carrier efforts to decarbonize the industry, according to the world’s largest container ship owner.

Vineyard Wind is one of the first commercial-scale offshore wind projects under construction in the US and at completion will generate some 800 megawatts of power.

The railroad is reducing demurrage fees and restoring additional free time that was eliminated in the past two years as international intermodal volumes have fallen sharply from East Coast ports.

Slow-steaming has come to the fore of late as ocean carriers seek help in absorbing overcapacity, but analyst Lars Jensen says the common refrain that slower speeds also help to improve schedule reliability doesn’t hold water.

An index based on truck counts at large truckload carriers dropped nearly 5% in the first quarter from late 2022 as those carriers adjusted to a softer market and lower contract and spot rates.

An emerging trend of sending smaller shipments more frequently is leading to growing demand for LCL services across the major trade lanes.

Union Pacific’s launch of direct intermodal service from Houston comes two weeks after competitor BNSF announced it would begin a new service from the port’s Barbours Cut marine terminal.

Shippers and port executives say the post-COVID shift of cargo back to Hong Kong is being hampered by the global slump in demand as developed countries grapple with elevated inventories and inflationary pressures.

Weeks after starting a new daily train between central Mexico and Chicago, CPKC is introducing 1,000 temperature-controlled containers to the service in a bid to court freight from reefer shippers.

The long drop in truckload spot market rates has eased, revealing a soft bottom for pricing, but more demand is needed to fuel any upswing benefiting truckers, observers say.

Thanks to a recent GRI push, average contract rates for India to the US have seen modest gains in recent weeks and carriers are now looking to build around that limited success.

The port congestion in Asia and North America that compromised vessel on-time performance during the pandemic began to ease last fall with declining cargo volumes, and the reliability improvements have accelerated since.

The carrier's CEO said inflation and destocking in global markets heralded a “phase of normalization” for container shipping.

The ruling could place an additional burden on US chassis manufacturers to ensure their subcontractors are using US materials or paying duties on parts from China.

End-to-end supply chain visibility remains an elusive goal for providers in a market where shippers are expecting better data quality than they have seen.

The drive to decarbonize European inland transport by switching freight from the road to greener alternatives took a step forward this week.

Ocean carriers are pulling all available capacity management levers to address a supply-demand imbalance that is set to widen significantly through 2024.

Visionary shipping legend Bertram Rickmers created the Pearl String, the only round-the-world breakbulk liner service, which operated from 2003 until the fall of Zeamarine in 2020.

As shippers scramble to shed unwanted inventory, more than 80% responding to a Journal of Commerce survey reported that they’ve kept 53-foot domestic containers for too long, incurring detention fees.

With spot freight rates largely stabilized, ocean carriers have blanked fewer sailings in May and instead opted for more biweekly sailings.