Supply chain

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection should improve its analysis and circulation of border security data, a new report from the Government Accountability Office says.

The No. 1 commercial issue for U.S. Customs and Border Protection is completing its automated commercial environment and linking ACE with the 46 other government agencies involved in clearing shipments at the border Commissioner Gil Kerlikowkse said Saturday.

U.S. and Mexican shippers and transportation providers in their countries’ trusted trader programs can expect to see faster cargo processing at the shared border, following an agreement between the two nations’ customs agencies that promises to ease shipments of cross-border goods.

US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx used a ceremony highlighting the expansion of Port Newark Container Terminal to put in a plug for an Obama administration proposal to spend $302 billion over the next four years on transport infrastructure.

CJ Korea Express is mulling the acquisition of NOL Group's APL Logistics, the Korean courier giant said in an exchange filing, removing any lingering doubts that the logistics division of the Singapore-based shipping company is up for sale.

The U.S. Surface Transportation Board is pressuring Canadian Pacific Railway to better explain how it will address service issues.

British Columbia’s Port Metro Vancouver is in the home stretch of implementing its new truck licensing system, which aims to balance the number of registered trucks with the amount of available work in an effort to stabilize port operations.

Home furnishing giant IKEA has expanded its business with logistics property developer Goodman Group into China, signing a lease for 11,000 square meters of warehousing space in the inland Chinese city of Chengdu.

Staying on top of the evolving regulatory and customs environment was a key areas forwarders and NVOCCs needed to focus on as they expand their business across Asia, delegates at a TPM Asia panel heard today.

Reefer containers will form a huge part of the cargo carried on the New Silk Way rail network between China and Europe, even though shippers will be forced to counter the extreme temperatures found on the route.

Growth expectations for the Asian middle class are staggering, but so is the scale of supply chain upgrades that will be needed to meet demand.

Tracking chassis as they move around and through ports and railheads is the next step in building a more sophisticated, interconnected supply chain, telematics company Orbcomm says.

U.S. and other foreign companies in China are often challenged by trade practices that are considered unscrupulous and/or illegal elsewhere, says Susan Kohn Ross, an international trade attorney with Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp in Los Angeles.

The war of words between Australia’s competition regulator and the container shipping industry continued today, with Shipping Australia CEO Rod Nairn branding Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Rod Sims “naive,” “blind to the facts” and “on a crusade.”

Shippers may have to start locating distribution centers closer to consumers, as growth in e-commerce pressing retailers to deliver goods inexpensively and quickly, and challenging traditional logistics models.

Kuehne + Nagel credited rising U.S. container imports for driving a market-beating 7.4 percent increase in the global forwarding and logistics group’s third-quarter ocean freight traffic.

Chinese companies are expecting more restrictions on wastepaper imports in early 2015 following a proposal circulated in August by the Ministry of Environmental Protection that reflects a growing emphasis on environmental protection.

In the latest step toward possible regulatory action, three U.S. senators have called on the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to implement freight rail reforms as quickly as possible in order to increase rail competition and address shippers’ concerns.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission has posted details of its proposed changes in rules for licensing, financial responsibility and duties of ocean transportation intermediaries.

A second New Jersey Senate committee has approved a bill to allow the state to withdraw from the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, despite warnings that the legislation would be struck down in court.

The logistics of e-commerce fulfillment continues to change along with the whims of consumers, so although industrial real estate developers really want a single model to guide their planning efforts, it’s not going to happen anytime soon.

DHL Global Forwarding will secure long-term capacity in the trans-Pacific and on other trade lanes to help customers manage rising rates as global capacity tightens.

The industrial real estate market in Southern California has come roaring back from the economic recession, especially in the vast port-dependent region known as the Inland Empire.

Global Logistic Properties (GLP) continues to grow its leasing portfolio as customers expand to cater to the fast rising demand for modern e-commerce logistics facilities on the Chinese mainland.

Yusen Logistics China opened a warehouse in Guangzhou to tap into anticipated growth in demand from the fast-growing domestic consumer products market

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists have intercepted another ship contaminated with Asian Gypsy Moth, this time in the Port of Honolulu. It’s the first time the destructive pest has been found at the Hawaiian port, and also the first time the unwanted guests were sourced to Taiwan.

With stricter Ebola screenings for airline passengers in the pipeline, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for intense health screenings on cargo ships from all Ebola-stricken countries.

The largest U.S. trucking advocacy group will redouble efforts to convince legislators, regulators and the general public that trucking is safe and getting safer, while pursuing changes to truck driver hours of service rules and other regulations that hinder rather than help trucking, American Trucking Associations President and CEO Bill Graves said.

The director of operations at the largest port of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border hopes a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection pilot program will bring in more specialized Customs agents and equipment to help prevent truck slowdowns during a current period of exploding cross-border cargo growth.

Chiquita Brands International of the U.S. and Dublin-based Fyffes have received the green light from the European Union for their proposed merger, creating the world’s biggest banana group after the Irish company released Maersk Line from an exclusivity shipping clause.

A New York-based third-party logistics company is opening a Florida office, the third major expansion for the firm in two years.

Major U.S. parcel carriers are pressuring retailers to be more realistic in shipping expectations in order to avoid a repeat of the 2013 holiday season, when over 2 million express packages were not delivered by Christmas Eve.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Ca., thinks shippers are so frustrated with freight bottlenecks on the U.S. highway network that they’re willing to fork over more money for national infrastructure.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to review a Federal Maritime Commission decision that prohibited a non-vessel-operating common carrier from releasing cargo without requiring presentation of an original bill of lading.

A recommendation from a government panel that antitrust exemptions for liner shipping in Australia be rolled back came under heavy criticism from shipping interests who say the proposals are naive and unworkable and would lead smaller carriers to exit the market.

Seko Logistics is expanding in the e-commerce market by investing in Metakinetic, an e-commerce marketing and design agency.

Home Depot is expanding its brick-and-mortar infrastructure to support growing online sales.

The U.S. federal government won’t tell Congress until later this month the results of a controversial pilot program tracking Mexican trucking companies hauling goods across the border, but opponents are already railing against continuing or expanding the initiative.