Supply chain

Merely suggesting that U.S. domestic ships might be built overseas is enough to jeopardize U.S. orders for ships in Jones Act trades, U.S. Maritime Administrator Paul “Chip” Jaenichen told a congressional budget hearing Wednesday.

Kuehne+Nagel posted a new record result in 2014 driven by a return to profit from its inland division and what it described as dmarket-beating growth in sea and air freight traffic.

Damco’s decline deepened in 2014 as the Maersk Group’s freight forwarding and logistics unit saw ocean and air freight volumes slide in a growing market.

Retailer Home Depot said its import shipments have been delayed by West Coast port delays, but that it has been able to adjust its supply chain to keep stores supplied.

Annual costs to operate a hypothetical 500,000-square-foot distribution center with 150 employees could range from $11.3 million to $15 million among U.S. cities surveyed by a national site-selection company.

A looming shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security could put U.S. international trade, not just national security, at risk, President Obama warned Monday, though in reality trade at ports of entry will not be delayed even in the event of a DHS shutdown.

A newly introduced U.S. House bill would allow shippers to pay for additional Customs staffing and extended gate times at the entire U.S.-Mexico border, and not just at ports of entry in Texas as they can now.

The completion of a long-awaited Pacific trade deal may still be a ways off, international officials say, so long as U.S. legislators continue to delay key trade legislation that would make the deal possible.

A healthier global economy, strong U.S. dollar and low fuel prices should give global logistics and transportation merger and acquisition activity a boost in 2015, according to consulting firm PwC US.

There is a growing disconnect between third-party logistics providers and manufacturers and retailers who say they are dissatisfied with the level of service they are being provided.

DSV is working to attract European importers with its new warehouse in Edison, New Jersey, the global third-party logistics provider’s second in the U.S.

In an encouraging sign for the still-struggling Japanese economy, the nation’s exports got off to a powerful start this year, with shipments to the U.S. and some other major trading partners in January rising at a double-digit pace compared to the prior year.

It’s too soon to determine whether a new police department tasked with protecting the Suez Canal will do enough to secure the region, a supply chain security expert told JOC.com on Wednesday.

The U.S. truck safety watchdog ordered three companies off the road in the space of a month for multiple driver and vehicle regulatory violations. Expect more such orders in 2015.

The gales of congestion that hit U.S. ports on both coasts at different times over the past year are boosting the business of one segment of the container industry: non-vessel-operating common carriers.

U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn, a major advocate of port funding, is leaving Congress to run for an open seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

The decision by Japan state postal service to takeover regional logistics operator Toll Holdings for $5.07 billion is the second mega-logistics acquisition involving Japanese companies in as many days, and another exceptional price.

A partisan debate on Capitol Hill is threatening to throw even more delays into already slowed U.S. supply chains. What began as a debate over immigration reform has evolved into a stalemate that has put at risk customs operations at airports, seaports and land borders nationwide.

U.S. regulators plan to study how truck driver pay methods affect truck and road safety, a step some trucking officials fear could lead to a government role in deciding how and how much drivers should be paid.

DHL Express has unveiled a 114 million euros [US $130million] investment to build a new sorting center at Brussels airport hub, allowing it to more than triple its handling capacity.

Panalpina has signed a new five-year agreement with Atlas Air under which it will switch one of the two 747-8 freighters wet leased — an arrangement where crew, maintenance and insurance are also provided — from the U.S. firm to scheduled charters.

Neptune Orient Lines has sold APL Logistics to Kintetsu World Express for $1.2 billion in a stunning deal that gives the Singapore-listed group a net gain of more than $900 million.

Neptune Orient Lines suspended trading this afternoon as news broke in Japan that its forwarding arm, APL Logistics, was to be bought by Kintetsu World Express for $1.2 billion.

Allcargo Logistics Ltd.’s group net profit surged 26 percent year-over-year in third fiscal quarter, which ended Dec. 31, despite the Indian logistics provider seeing a marginal decline in international cargo revenue.

Technology providers, manufacturers, retailers and other supply chain stakeholders are automating billing and settlement processes, and digitizing the “pay” in the “procure-to-pay” process critical to business-to-business supply chain management.

India’s merchandise exports tumbled 11.2 percent year-over-year in January, the lowest level since July 2012, but a steeper decline in imports helped pull the country’s monthly trade imbalance with the rest of the world down to an 11-month low, according to provisional trade data released by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

U.S. Trade Representative Michael B. Froman announced Wednesday that the Obama administration is filing a sweeping case at the World Trade Organization against a Chinese government program known as the National Auto and Auto Parts Export Base.

After attracting only one tenants — a government agency— in roughly eight years, a former U.S. Air Force base turned logistics park in the Kansas City area has announced three new shipper tenants in a span of five months.

The Obama administration is under growing pressure to prod negotiators to reach a deal on a West Coast labor contract, and to intervene if the ports’ months-long congestion keeps edging toward a total shutdown.

DB Schenker strengthen its presence in Asia in January with the opening of a new company in Cambodia and a last-mile logistics centre in eastern India.

Container Corporation of India reported a 21 percent year-over-year jump in net income for its fiscal third quarter in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange Thursday.

As part of a broader report on U.S. port congestion due this summer, federal maritime regulators will outline whether the increase in demurrage charges hitting shippers are unreasonable, and outline potential remedies.

Developer Goodman Group capitalized on the strong demand for prime logistics space in the country in the past six months, ending the first half of its financial year with 22 properties and 12 development projects.

Last-mile logistics services are rapidly evolving as consumers increasingly by goods online, including bigger, heavier goods. XPO Logistics acquired its fourth last-mile company, UX Specialized Logistics, this week.

The U.S. Congress on Tuesday shone a rare light on growing West Coast port congestion, but despite legislators’ concern that American exports are losing market share as a result, there’s little they can do currently but do what many others have already done many times: urge dockworks and waterfront employers to reach a deal.

U.S. freight shipments and spending took a seasonal dip in January, but remained elevated compared with 2013 and previous years.

DHL Global Forwarding has launched a new weekly less-than-containerload service from Tuticorin, India, to Hamburg, Germany, as the Deutsche Post DHL Group unit aims to cater to the growing needs of small to medium-sized enterprises in the southern region.

DSV is back on the takeover trail two months after abandoning talks over a potential acquisition of U.S. logistics company UTi Worldwide.

A top Republican on Wednesday said he expects the new conservative Congress to pass trade promotion authority sometime this spring, potentially allowing President Obama to take a major trans-Pacific trade pact past the finish line this year.