Surface

U.S. domestic intermodal spot rates continue to fall thanks to plentiful capacity aided by mild weather and weak demand, according to third-party logistics provider IDS.

U.S. shippers and motor companies have one more thing to cheer about heading into the New Year after the average price of diesel hit the lowest point since the spring of 2009.

Truckers in Los Angeles-Long Beach are buying as many new and post-2007 model trucks that they can get their hands on in order to take advantage of a tax break that took effect Dec. 18, but time is running out. The accelerated depreciation provision expires at midnight Thursday.

Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd. will indirectly acquire half of Illinois-based Midwest Railcar Corp., making inroads into the increasingly lucrative U.S. freight railcar leasing market.

In an attempt to cope with expected volume growth and improve productivity, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, India’s largest public container handler, has embarked on a plan to build an inland port at Jalna, about 225 miles from the Nhava Sheva harbor.

West Virginia has always been coal country, but a new intermodal terminal in the state’s western corner could help change that, riding on a crest of rising intermodal and declining carload volume.

Cargo thefts increase on long holiday weekends such as those of Christmas and New Year’s Eve, but shippers can protect themselves from cargo loss if they make a list of security precautions and check it twice, according to Tom Mann of TrakLok International, a freight security firm.

Canadian Pacific Railway got a lump of coal in its stocking days before Christmas after Norfolk Southern Railway said Wednesday it had rejected a third buyout bid.

The California Labor Commissioner ruled in favor of 38 drivers who claimed that drayage company Pacific 9 Transportation misclassified them as independent contractors, awarding the drivers a total of $6.9 million in stolen wages, with an average individual award of $182,270.

Truck traffic on the rail tunnel beneath the English Channel has hit an all-time high this year despite disruptions caused by the migrant crisis at the France port of Calais.

The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are taking a fresh look at short haul-rail of containers to an inland cluster of distribution centers as a way to combat systemic congestion at the largest North American container gateway.

U.S. and Canadian rail regulators will be getting an earful from shippers on either side of the border if a proposed Canadian Pacific and Norfolk Southern railway merger goes through.

For-hire U.S. truck tonnage growth in November hit the lowest speed since February 2013, as shippers’ high inventories and weak manufacturing and energy production pulled down demand.

Canadian Pacific Railway said its acquisition of Norfolk Southern Railway would improve fluidity through Chicago, but doubts remain whether a tie would do much to free up bottlenecks at the top U.S. freight hub — even if the deal gives CP control of a key belt railroad in the area.

The government of Russia expects container tonnage hauled by truck to end 2015 down 30 percent from last year because of the country’s economic crisis and ongoing protests by long-haul truckers over a federal transport tax applicable to trucks over 12 tons.

Transnet National Ports Authority is leading attempts to win road traffic back onto rail in South Africa, a shift it would stand to gain from the most.

Excess truck capacity is tugging at the earnings of truckload carriers, including Knight Transportation. The company believes truck capacity may have peaked, but much depends on the strength of consumer demand and retail inventory levels in 2016.

A new federal registration system for several types of transport operators isn't ready for prime time, but federal regulators are launching its “first phase.”

U.S. trucking interests won one battle and lost another on Capitol Hill this week after negotiators agreed to an omnibus appropriations bill requiring industry regulators to meet new standards before re-imposing certain suspended hours-of-service restrictions, but did not provide for an increase in tandem trailer length long pursued by trucking companies.

Canadian Pacific Railway’s attempt to takeover Norfolk Southern Railway has already raised alarm with a group of Illinois lawmakers and prompted a pointed response from the Canadian railroad.

Truckload contract linehaul rates continued to rise in November as intermodal rates fell, according to pricing indices from Cass Information Systems and Avondale partners.

Stubbornly high inventories of retail goods, coupled with drop and hook distribution strategies, is seen as driving demand for dry van and refrigerated trailers, despite a drop in Class 8 tractor demand.

Cargomatic is expanding its "Uber-like" truck and cargo-matching service to San Francisco, and eyes further expansion in 2016, both in terms of territory and services.

A proxy war has been all but declared, analysts say, after Canadian Pacific Railway announced Wednesday it had upped its hostile bid for Norfolk Southern Railway by some $3.4 billion.

Brazil rail operator MRS Logistica SA’s expects container volume to rise at least 10 percent year-over-year in 2016 after volume jumped 34 percent during the first 10 months of this year compared to the same period in 2014.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association made good on its promise to challenge a new federal rule mandating the use of electronic logging devices by most truck drivers, filing a lawsuit against the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Deutsche Bahn is expected to unveil plans today to trim underperforming rail freight operations as part of a restructuring to restore profitability as it faces its first net loss in over a decade this year.

With expectations that Canadian Pacific Railway is about to launch a proxy fight for control of Norfolk Southern Railway, the Calgary-based railroad’s recent response to an NS white paper is the latest attempt to convince investors to give the deal yet another look at its pitch.

Former Coyote Logistics and Con-way Multimodal executive Tommy Barnes joins project44, a Chicago-based company building a real-time transportation management system.

Shipment volumes in the U.S. were flat in November from the previous month, but shipper spending dropped, according to the Cass Freight Index.

Volumes of containerized cargo travelling between China and Europe by rail are growing as operators increase frequencies and state organizations along the route lend their weight to the development of new services.

Old Dominion Freight Line is adding a second terminal in St. Louis, Missouri, expanding its less-than-truckload service in the city and the Midwest.

Old Dominion Freight Line is proving by example that there is plenty of life in the less-than-truckload model that served as the blueprint for trucking from the 1930s through deregulation in the 1980s.

BNSF Railway is flirting with the idea of a potential CSX Transportation or Norfolk Southern Railway acquisition as Canadian Pacific aims to acquire the latter railroad, potentially setting off a wave of consolidation in the Class I industry.

The electronic logging mandate that takes effect in late 2017 will have a big impact on shippers, as well as carriers and drivers, especially when coupled with the driver coercion rule. Supply chains will have to adjust as technology brings both transparency and "rigidity" to driver hours.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association will sue the Department of Transportation in a bid to block a rule requiring truck drivers to use electronic logging devices, the association's executive vice president said today.

U.S. lawmakers Thursday voted to overhaul the nation’s main freight rail regulator and give the Surface Transportation Board stronger investigative powers and streamline complaint review processes.

The American Trucking Associations welcomed a mandate requiring 3 million truck drivers to use electronic logs by 2017, hailing the safety benefits of the technology. Other trucking groups may not be so happy.

U.S. truck drivers using paper logs to record their work hours must switch to electronic logging by 2017 under a new regulation, a step that means big changes for drivers, carriers and shippers.

U.S. lawmakers are expected to pass an overhaul of the Surface Transportation Board, giving the nation’s main freight rail regulator more teeth to crackdown on service issues and boost competition in the industry.