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Higher rates, better utilization, more drivers and new holiday business meant more revenue and profit for Covenant Transportation in 2014.

UPS is considering "new pricing strategies," including targeted peak-season surcharge prices, after spending $200 million more than expected to deliver packages this holiday season.

Container traffic jumped 5.8 percent in 2014 at the port of Rotterdam, putting it on track to post one of the highest increases in the fiercely competitive Le Havre-Hamburg port range after years of the port trailing its rivals.

Hapag-Lloyd today became the latest carrier to implement a general rate increase — of $850 per TEU — in the Far East-Europe trade just days after rivals were due to hike rates on the world’s biggest liner route. However, rates could fall to levels not seen since 2011 when carriers cut their bunker adjustment factors in February, a London-based derivatives broker says.

The congestion that hit Asia hard in 2014 took many ports by surprise, and even as a new year begins there is no sense that terminal operators will find solutions soon to lengthy delays and productivity shortfalls.

Larger international shippers increasingly use UPS's expedited freight service as a strategic "cushion" or aid in supply chain planning, as well as for urgent shipments.

Total Quality Logistics increased total revenue 31.3 percent in 2014 to $2.1 billion as the U.S. economy grew faster and shippers came up short on truck capacity.

UPS expects to handle 4 million returned gifts in the first week of January, a number that grows each year as consumers turn e-commerce into a two-way pipeline.

Dry van truckload spot rates dropped slightly post-holiday, but remain elevated, especially in the West, where port congestion keeps demand and pricing high.

Following a strong end to 2014, global air freight demand will rise 4.5 percent in 2015, outpacing the growth of world trade, the International Air Transport Association says.

Beneficial cargo owners are watching how the alliances will impact their supply chains between Asia and Europe and North America.

Maersk Line is reorganizing the port rotation of its Mawingu Express, a weekly direct service from India to East Africa, effective in early February.

ABF Logistics, a subsidiary of transportation holding group ArcBest, expanded by acquiring truckload brokerage Smart Lines.

The port of Antwerp boosted container traffic 4.5 percent in 2014 to just short of 9 million TEUs, marginally outpacing the 4.2 percent growth in total throughput to a new record high of 198.8 million metric tons.

CMA CGM on Friday released extensive details of the Ocean Three east-west alliance that it will begin early in 2015 along with United Arab Shipping Co. and China Shipping Container Line.

With the acquisition of GENCO, everything old is new again for FedEx — or at least resellable.

TUI, the German tourism group, is talking with potential buyers of its remaining stake in Hapag-Lloyd as a way of finally exiting container shipping, the chairman of the former owner of the country’s largest ocean carrier said.

Con-way Freight workers in Miami Lakes, Florida, voted to join the Teamsters union, making their facility the third in Con-way's LTL network to go union. Three other terminals have rejected the Teamsters.

Truckload carriers are increasingly optimistic about 2015, with 76 percent expecting freight volumes to increase and 86 percent forecasting higher rates, according to a Transport Capital Partners survey.

Regional LTL carrier Holland commits to hiring 500 veterans, seeking drivers and other workers as the U.S. military reduces its overseas forces.

Although Hapag-Lloyd announced the completion of its merger with Chilean carrier CSAV on Dec. 2, it must still navigate the rocky shoals created by the two carriers’ combined losses and heavy debt load.

Changes to truck driver hours of service rules under the cromnibus spending bill could increase truck capacity, giving carriers a quick productivity boost for the holidays.

As large LTL carriers and international shippers begin to develop density-based pricing alternatives, the classification system still dominates LTL costing and, by extension, pricing.

Spot rates for dry van trucks jumped 5 cents in the week after Thanksgiving, the biggest leap for spot truckload rates since July, as strong freight demand kept trucks rolling toward the holidays.

USA Truck is opening a brokerage office in Jacksonville, Florida and expanding its Chicago presence as shippers seek additional truck capacity.

Despite the resignation of CEO Eric W. Kirchner and a $34 million loss in its latest quarter, UTi Worldwide has passed a turning point, new CEO Edward G. Feitzinger said Dec. 9.

Mergers and acquisitions and soon-to-launch alliances are changing the rankings of the JOC Top 40 Container Carriers in U.S. containerized trade. Volume increased 2.7 percent year-over-year to 23.7 million 20-foot-equivalent units in the first nine months of 2014, with Maersk Line and Mediterranean Shipping Co. accounting for 21.4 percent of total trade.

Midsize trucking companies are increasingly bullish on the economic outlook and their ability to hire new employees, including drivers, in 2015, according to GE Capital Transportation Services.

The CKYHE Alliance this week received U.S. regulatory approval to further integrate its newest member, Evergreen Line, into its vessel-sharing agreement covering the trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic trade lanes.

Pricing power and advances in technology are spurring innovation in LTL pricing, encouraging carriers to test out dimensional-weight pricing and other alternatives to class-based tariff rates as they seek more dynamic, flexible pricing models.

Spot market dry van truck rates in the U.S. rose in the week that ended Nov. 22 and are more than 9 percent higher than in the same week a year ago, DAT Solutions said.

Major U.S. retailers don't expect U.S. West Coast port congestion to hamper getting Black Friday products on the shelves, but they’re far less confident on their ability to keep stores stocked through the entire holiday season.

As Los Angeles-Long Beach remains mired in congestion, Savannah is in cruise control, handling double-digit increases in imports, much faster growth than the national U.S. average, and doing so with nary a sign of delays.

The third quarter was good to practically all the publicly owned U.S. trucking companies: none reported losses, and their combined revenue rose 10.7 percent to more than $10 billion, supported by a second quarter of stronger freight demand and economic growth.

Road and city drivers at a FedEx Freight terminal in Newark, N.J., voted against joining the Teamsters union — the second victory for FedEx Freight in four elections.

The G6 Alliance carriers have added a call at the port of Charleston on one of its U.S. East Coast-North Europe services, increasing the frequency of weekly post-Panamax vessel calls to the South Carolina port.