News - Industry News
OpenEnvoy gets early funding to build freight bill audit momentum
[caption caption="Freight invoice auditing is traditionally handled in-house by shippers or farmed out to third parties like freight audit and payment providers, or supply chain consultants. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]OpenEnvoy said Tuesday it has snagged a $6.5 million seed round from a group of venture capital investors to expand its automated freight invoice...
US port congestion solutions bump into third rail of labor
[caption caption="For ship calls greater than 6,000 TEU, it takes 48 seconds to move a container at Los Angeles — basically double the amount of time at some key Chinese ports. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]With a state of crisis continuing to plague container logistics in the US, resulting in severe cargo delays affecting everything from product availability to automotive supply...
Demand, rate hikes drive surge in Europe-US spot container rates
[caption caption="Steady demand from US importers is keeping ships full on the trans-Atlantic trades, but rates are rising and schedule reliability is deteriorating. Photo credit: SCSPA."][/caption]Spot rates on the trans-Atlantic westbound trade have shot up to $2,548 per TEU, an almost 66 percent jump year over year, as carriers introduced substantial rate increases at the start of April to capitalize on sustained...
3PLs, tech partners plant their flag in last-mile market
[caption caption="The last mile accounts for 53 percent of the total shipping and transportation cost of a given item according to Cap Gemini. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]New entrants are redefining the last-mile landscape that has traditionally been the realm of FedEx, UPS, and the US Postal Service (USPS). The booming growth in...
Lender merges acquired brands to tap into logistics consolidation power
[caption caption="Access to working capital and freight factoring options has become a key issue for small businesses that are often overlooked by larger, risk-averse lenders. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Finance lender eCapital on Tuesday said it has consolidated eight acquisitions made over the past four years into a single entity as it seeks to capitalize...
UP hits shippers with surcharge hike, new levy in California
[caption caption="Union Pacific Railroad has never assessed a peak season surcharge so early in a year, and intermodal marketing executives believe the fees will only continue to escalate. Photo credit: Philip Pilosian/Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Union Pacific Railroad is raising the surcharge on excess contract cargo of low-volume shippers from $250 to $1,500 and instituting a...
Shippers plead for federal intervention in escalating Montreal port dispute
[caption caption="The diversion of cargo through Halifax, according to the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters group, is “incurring millions in additional costs every week” for its members. Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Canadian manufacturers on Monday joined an agricultural group in urging the Trudeau government to intervene and prevent the escalating dispute between Montreal...
LA-LB railcar scarcity eases, but not enough for terminals
[caption caption="Key performance indicators such as labor and chassis availability and truck turn times are no longer contributing to congestion in LA-LB. Photo caption: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Weekly intermodal rail service at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach is gradually returning to what it was before winter storms disrupted rail networks...
MSC, Maersk expand Asia-Europe ocean-rail offerings
[caption caption="Carriers are getting more involved in rail routes from Asia as they cater to shippers looking for alternatives to tight air and ocean services. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Mediterranean Shipping Co. launched its first Asia-Europe sea-rail service via Russia on Monday, while Maersk expanded its intermodal offering on the same trade lane to capture strong...
Meeting the Challenge of A World Transformed
In March 2020, the novel coronavirus disrupted communities, commerce,industry and our way of life. We have yet to realize the full impact the viruswill have on the future of business. One thing that has become clear is thatbusiness continues to move, and there’s no industry where that is moreimportant than...
Asia import surge pulls down North American port productivity
[caption caption="Adjustments made by carriers amid the US import surge are creating much bigger problems further down the supply chain, manifesting in reduced productivity and imbalances on key inland components. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Now that the Suez Canal has been unblocked, attention is shifting back into the much longer-running — and...
15 Ways To Save On Freight
Transportation teams have a mandate to keep costs low without sacrificing performance. This isn’t an easy job, and the work is never over. Lowering transportation costs is no longer as simple as selecting the cheapest provider on a cost per mile basis.Every step in the lifecycle of a shipment takes...
Fresh COVID-19 restrictions challenge India's port volume acceleration
[caption caption="The reimposition of restrictions to contain rising COVID-19 infections in several parts of India could cause some hiccups for the country. Photo credit: Maersk (India)."][/caption]After a stormy start amid COVID-19-related disruptions that saw first-half (April-September 2020) volumes crash 21 percent, containerized shipments through India’s major public ports rebounded strongly...
Tit-for-tat actions raise chances of Montreal port disruption
[caption caption="Even before the expiration of a truce that ended a series of summer strikes and the union rejected a contract proposal in late March, US and Canadian shippers had been diverting cargo away from the port. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Tensions between Montreal employers and longshore workers escalated over the weekend...
New ‘managed’ forwarding marketplace gives US shippers online options
[caption caption="A proliferation of forwarding technology, from new digital forwarders to interfaces for existing forwarders to freight marketplaces, is giving shippers service options. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]A new freight forwarding marketplace launched this week in North America and aims to entice shippers that struggle to scale their international import capabilities in line with...
New Charleston container terminal adds much-needed US port capacity
[caption caption="The Leatherman terminal officially opened with the arrival of the Hapag Lloyd Yorktown Express, shortly after 3 pm eastern on Apr. 9. Photo credit: English Purcell/SCPA."][/caption]The arrival of the first imports at the Port of Charleston’s new Hugh K. Leatherman terminal on Friday marked the addition of 700,000 TEU...
Coming US hurricane season heightens supply chain risks: Convoy
[caption caption="This year’s hurricane season could compound the disruption from port congestion, capacity shortages, and the still-present pandemic. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com (Hurricane Harvey, 2017, Houston)."][/caption]US shippers and transportation providers need to start preparing now for a potentially destructive 2021 hurricane season along the East and Gulf coasts, according to digital freight marketplace Convoy....
Maersk’s 4PL play could further rile forwarder partners
[caption caption="Maersk has been steadily targeting shippers in different size and complexity categories with a range of new technologies and services. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]A new managed transportation services (MTS) product from Maersk targeting large shippers that oversee complex global supply chains could further increase tension with its forwarder customers as the world’s...
Carriers warn of looming post-Suez China box shortage
[caption caption="Shippers exporting via Chinese hubs will soon be facing container shortages as ship delays and congestion in Europe resulting from the Suez blockage slow the return of boxes urgently needed to serve heavy demand, especially from US retailers. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]The availability of container equipment at China’s export hubs will decline sharply in...
Delays, congestion in South Florida threaten US–LatAm perishables trade
[caption caption="Sources say vessel delays have flared again at PortMiami over the past month, but now carriers are blaming mechanical issues and port issues in Honduras and Guatemala. Photo credit: Shutterstock.com."][/caption]Vessel delays and port congestion in South Florida are threatening to spoil the flourishing perishables trade between the US and...
