Trucking News

Supporters, including some smaller companies, believe the pool will encourage chassis providers to contribute new chassis with the safest features and increase fleet size. Opponents counter the existing pool works fine, and there are legal and operational questions that must be answered before rendering a decision.

A gray chassis pool is not off the agenda, stakeholders say, but as of mid-2018 it appears to be a solution in search of a problem, for several reasons.

It took the new management team at APL’s Pier 300 in Los Angeles only three months to improve truck turn times from the worst in the harbor to the fourth best among the 12 terminals. And they accomplished it by deploying a "customer focus/consumer focus" strategy.

The question shippers are asking is, “If you see the freight, can’t you let me know where there’s carrier capacity available?”

In the past, resourceful supply chain managers always had alternatives in their hip pocket to meet the unexpected, for a price. Not this year. In 2018, shippers should not expect surge freight capacity.

Pushing data back to users may very well prove to be the pivotal point at which the container shipping industry shifted en masse to portals. But getting to that step will likely require another cultural shift.

The trucking and logistics operator — the 15th largest in the United States — may issue new stock or consider new equity or debt capital as it restructures.

US beneficial cargo owners will face unprecedented challenges using intermodal this peak season. Still, there are time-tested tactics that will ensure the best possible transportation result.

Above-trend GDP growth is boosting the continent's commerce, and that’s triggered a steady uptrend in trucking rates, amid tighter capacity — and several factors suggest an even more challenging transport market is ahead for logistics planners and transportation managers.

Many experts argue that blockchain technology is tailor-made for container shipping’s international logistics work. But blockchain faces numerous hurdles — the biggest of which may be cultural.

Efficient supply chains contain the premise that for every container there is a chassis available. But don't tell shippers that, as the issue has been a thorn in their side and that of other container trade stakeholders for nearly a decade.

The world’s biggest transport operator sees a combination of fuels and technologies as necessary to meet shipper sustainability goals.

The suspension decision was implemented after delegates from the National Sindifisco and a politician close to Brazilian President Michel Temer reached an agreement.

The Landair Holdings acquisition underscores strong shipper demand for dedicated services to meet delivery demands.

A petition calling for a ‘small business’ exemption to the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate has failed, and that means the ELD era has become more entrenched.

It’s a stronger US truck market than even 2004/2005, drivers are aware that they are in short supply, and there is no end in sight — hence there is an obvious reason why both shippers and trucking companies should keep those market conditions in mind.

Although intermodal traffic has increased 26 percent in five years, chassis repair companies can’t hire people fast enough to keep pace, due to the US labor shortage, job hopping in the sector, and candidates simply seeking easier work. Shippers will ultimately see the problem in the form of chassis shortages.

The logistics provider has found a niche in Miami-area digital drayage by offering an app with a twist: the shipper, not an algorithm, names the price to haul the load.

The trucking company’s reorganization continues, as it registered gains in truckload freight while less-than-truckload losses rose; two former executives have been charged with committing a $245 million securities fraud.

A shrinking supply of qualified truck drivers, combined with above-trend European GDP growth, is pushing the continent's truck rates higher, and analysts had words to the wise for shippers for the year ahead.

Although the truck strike has ended, Brazil’s transportation bottlenecks need a bigger government and private sector fix.

Amazon’s new network could help reduce shipper costs, and even aid other transportation providers, as volumes outstrip capacity. But as one might sense, Amazon’s latest play also will affect resources in an already beyond-tight US trucking sector.

Energy prices have risen, lowering the margins of a key supply chain performer, and that has implications for the container shipping industry.

Shippers in Argentina, hit Friday by a one-day customs officers' strike in Buenos Aires, had breathed a momentary sigh of relief this week, after truck drivers accepted a 19 percent pay increase and did not strike.

Shared worksheets and manipulatable charts are the standard in trucking logistics, as they are in other sectors, but there is a scenario that would see truckers, shippers, and others abandon them.

Heavy-duty and medium-duty electric trucks from the largest US truck maker will get a workout in applications such as drayage, as a step toward full production.

Europe’s rail and truck transport systems are at a pivotal moment. The two could complement each other and help meet the likely 30 percent increase in European cargo expected by 2030. However, turf protecting could still rule the day, especially if rail views truck platooning as a threat.

The United States is early in the electronic logging device era, but this is clear: 'fudging' is out, and electronics — precise measuring of minutes — is in, and that has affected delivery completion times in several sector segments.

US shippers would welcome a break from relentlessly high truck pricing during the dog days of summer this year. But those dogs aren’t barking yet.

There are still differences of opinion among stakeholders regarding the equity of the proposed system for the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

The number of hours truckers may drive is getting more attention from Congress, but do bills calling for reform, or the overturn of the electronic logging device mandate, stand a chance this year?

In this Notebook — Electronic logging devices, the US House of Representative's proposed HOURS act, and more about blockchain.

Beneficial cargo owners and truckers in Southern California have experienced only spot chassis shortages, and given current import projections, this condition should continue through the peak season. However, store-door contracts that designate the use of specific intermodal equipment provider chassis are still an issue, and this condition could worsen if non-vessel operating common carriers expand their use of door contracts with chassis clauses.

Every year, during the April to October period, Chittagong Port experiences severe congestion, which causes a vessel backup at the outer anchorage lasting from several days to more than a week.

Unified tax reform in India has led to a roughly 18 to 20 percent improvement in truck turn times, a new study has found.

The two port authorities believe the pool will solve two chassis problems — eliminate the chassis shortage and provide the highest-quality chassis. But they also warn beneficial cargo owners that this won’t be an overnight fix.

Despite a container consolidation partnership among marine terminals, inland shipping companies, and inland centers, barge operators say there's been little improvement in reducing barge delays during peak times — something one intermodal services provider argued was due to not having enough handling capacity during peak times.

Many Canadian businesses were surprised by the breadth and depth of the electronic logging device’s (ELD’s) impact: shippers dependent on cross-border trade with the US experienced significant disruption starting Dec. 18, when the ELD rule took effect.

Chassis restrictions have long been a concern of beneficial cargo owners and truckers ever since the ocean carriers exited the business.

A coalition of trade groups wants Congress to advance a controversial plan that would get younger truck drivers on the road. Can they gain traction?