There are lines in current news outlet articles that shippers, importers in particular, will actually be happy to read: "Trans-Pacific shipping rates have plummeted roughly 75% from year-ago [...]
Small and medium-sized companies rely on shipping processes to send their goods to the appropriate destinations. However, current record inflation highs make these efforts more difficult for the [...]
President Biden is about to sign a piece of legislation into law: The Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA). The president claims that this "will solve a big piece of [inflation]." The [...]
Speaking in the East Room on Wednesday (October 13th), President Biden announced: "After weeks of negotiation and working with my team and with the major union and retailers and freight movers, [...]
Inflation eats away at the very core of what you work for – your value. We exchange our lives, our time, our energy and resources for a return; wage, salary, return on investment, profits [...]
Inflation: Margin Killer Affects Cargo and International Shipping Part I Continuing to detail the effects of inflation on the American families who are the end client of those in the [...]
The Problem While many are now speaking about the fact that inflation is coming, due to the radical fed policy of hyper quantitative easing, few are detailing what happens to the people of a [...]
In a speech, yesterday, to union workers in Pennsylvania, President Biden called for U.S. trade representative Katherine Tai to consider tripling tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum if her [...]
When it comes to freight rates, the international shipping industry has always been a volatile ride. Imagine going up and down the waves of choppy waters in a small boat. Freight rates tend to [...]
Time is ticking... All the way back in November, the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) warned its members to prepare for a strike in October of this year. ILA's contract, which [...]
"How can it be a spy satellite if they announce on television that it's a spy satellite?" --George Carlin If you're ever at a major U.S. port, take a look at the cranes looming over the [...]
Freight rates are massively spiking in the wake of Iranian-backed Houthi Rebel attacks on ships in the Red Sea. Literally hundreds of ships are being rerouted away from the Suez Canal. Spot [...]
Sometimes bad news isn't as bad as it appears. This isn't one of those times. Last week, I wrote about the International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) using the word shippers most fear [...]
I admit it. I write about ocean freight shipping in Universal Cargo's blog a whole lot more than air freight. Perhaps I have a bias in the ocean freight vs. air freight debate. The last time I [...]
Freight rates, particularly Asia to U.S. West Coast (USWC) freight rates, have increased by more than 100% since June. That's not too surprising, since we're in the peak season, and freight rates [...]
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) strike ended with a tentative deal last week. Chris Helgren reported in Reuters: "Dock workers at ports along Canada's Pacific [...]
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada (ILWU Canada) gave formal notice yesterday that it will strike starting Saturday morning. The union sent a short letter of notice to British [...]
It's no secret that the international shipping industry, even for all the supply chain disruptions and bottlenecks, did very well during the pandemic. There was a shipping demand boom, but now [...]
As always, we here at Universal Cargo are keeping an eye on international shipping news, so you don't have to. Two big items in shipping news right now are the upcoming peak season and the fight [...]
Last week, four witnesses representing U.S. and international supply chain stakeholders appeared before the House's Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation subcommittee to speak and be questioned [...]