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An outage involving a bridge in New Mexico in the heart of Union Pacific’s network is causing major delays for intermodal and automotive shippers between Southern California and two major inland hubs.

The Class I railroad vowed it would focus on providing better service to shippers in 2023 and move to heal wounds from tense labor negotiations by addressing quality-of-life issues affecting its workforce.

Rates on trades out of India continue to soften in January, most notably to the US, and at least one carrier is seeking general rate increases in a bid to prop up prices.

Truckload and LTL freight volumes have dropped, but a turn will come sometime in mid-2023, industry executives said at the SMC3 Jumpstart conference in Atlanta.

While there are encouraging signs regarding general merchandise retailers seeing their inventories-to-sales return toward pre-COVID levels, data suggests many sectors have a long way to go before their inventories-to-sales come back to pre-pandemic levels.

With an increased focus by importers on geopolitics and “friend-shoring,” carriers are shifting an increasing volume of deep-sea vessel capacity away to Vietnam — and away from China.

Dirtier products are the unintentional winners in global trade where cleaner finished goods pay higher tariffs, resulting in an effective “subsidy” of polluting commodities, according to the World Trade Organization.

Scrutiny over Flexport’s job cuts earlier this month points to a long-term issue for the venture-backed logistics company: a perceived lack of identity in a market that has long been skeptical of its differentiation.

If inland rail ramps remain congested due to chassis shortages and discretionary imports continue to flow away from the West Coast to the East Coast, international intermodal volumes could decline for a second straight year.

Even as weak economic conditions prevail during the annual service contract negotiating cycle, it does not automatically mean shippers will be driving the hardest possible bargains with newly vulnerable carriers.

The AWES service itinerary is yet another example of liners’ increasing network consolidation at Mundra for the Indian leg, a single-port call strategy that, arguably, helps them save on marine dues.

The digital sharing of schedule information via Rotterdam’s Nextlogic platform addresses the complexity involved in terminals booking and handling 18,000 container barges a year.

Pressure on shippers to take a more active role in bringing down so-called Scope 3 emissions covering the activities of a company’s third-party vendors — including transportation — has increased in recent years.

J.B. Hunt Transport Services will focus on working with shippers to empty containers in a more expedited manner as freight is moving slower than ever with box turn ratios falling for four consecutive years.

The softening outlook from niche carrier Matson foreshadows that the decline in US imports from Asia and the softening freight rates that began last fall are likely to continue through the first half of 2023.

While a 50 percent capacity cut is about typical in the eastbound trans-Pacific during the post-Lunar New Year lull, more blank sailings could be in the offing given the accelerating decline in US import demand.

Lower rates and abundant capacity should promote stability in the truckload market in 2023, but any semblance of normality is conditional, at best, until the broader US economy is on a more stable footing.

The balance of power has shifted back to shippers for annual trans-Pacific contract negotiations, but many logistics managers, exhausted after the most chaotic and stressful period of their careers, could be more willing to work with forwarders or simply less motivated to haggle with carriers, writes Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Mark Szakonyi.

Demand for ocean visibility surged through the pandemic, including among software providers needing real-time container milestone data, an area that software vendor Terminal49 has targeted in recent years.

US dry-van spot rates appear to be stabilizing, but contract rates are dropping by double-digit percentages as new pricing and service agreements take effect.

The acquisition of Avondale by the port comes just as the state of Louisiana readies to auction its first round of offshore wind leases.

Whether OSRA-22 — and increased FMC scrutiny — will produce tangible changes in how carriers and terminals calculate and convey detention and demurrage charges is still yet to be seen, as inaccurate invoices continue to plague shippers.

Intermodal shippers are sitting on the sidelines until warehouses unclog and rail service improves, which will result in lower contract rates for shippers in 2023.

The pandemic-induced supply chain disruptions in China have left importers searching for more resilience and flexibility in their existing supply chains rather than racing for the exits.

Carriers on the Asia-Europe trade have stepped up capacity management measures as demand weakens through the traditionally busy Lunar New Year period and beyond.

A partnership between venture firm Northstar and India’s Allcargo Group is meant to formalize their joint investment plans into logistics-focused startups over the next year.

The narrowing spread between East and West coast spot rates in the eastbound trans-Pacific comes as spot rates to the East Coast have fallen by 18 percent over the past six weeks while West Coast rates have ticked slightly higher.

Less-than-truckload rates are rising despite economic headwinds as accessorials, general rate increases, and a trend toward higher freight rate classes support a high pricing floor.

Import weakness kept volume flat at the merged French ports of Le Havre, Rouen, and Paris, but an improved river and rail network resulted in a large rise in hinterland traffic.

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.

Zeebrugge’s ro/ro traffic rose 6.5 percent in 2022, even as congestion and tight capacity constrained potential growth.

Shippers are generally willing to share in the cost of reducing carbon emissions, but they worry a lack of transparency in pass-through charges could allow shipping lines to continue burning fossil fuels.

Despite a decline in daily charter rates, the longer-term MPV outlook remains strong due to increased investments in oil and gas and renewables projects.

The largest US family owned LTL trucking company is adding terminals, including one in Southern California, as Webb Estes moves into the president’s office. 

Decarbonizing its entire business by 2040 requires collaboration across Maersk’s global supply chain, pushing the carrier to sign partnerships in strategic areas to achieve its net-zero ambitions.

The growth at the Port of New York and New Jersey was accompanied by persistent container and vessel backlogs and truck congestion, but volumes are expected to taper off in 2023.

The IEX service’s nine-vessel routing has experienced serious reliability challenges since early last year amid the pandemic-linked port flow turmoil.

Despite the fourth-quarter crash in revenues, all three Taiwan-based carriers still booked record revenues for the full year, suggesting they will report bumper profits for 2022.

As consumer buying patterns return to a more normal mix of goods and services in 2023, domestic intermodal providers will have to find a way to fill a huge influx of boxes ordered during the pandemic.

Zim has joined a growing group of companies that see potential in giving small importers and exporters access to digital finance tools through an investment in an Israel-based startup.