West Coast ports, East Coast ports, Gulf Coast ports... we're seeing congestion all over. A great deal of the focus lately has been on congestion at East and Gulf Coast ports as many shippers are [...]
In the last blog, we looked at how – with the slowing economy – retailers and shippers are decreasing their imports and expected to keep doing so in 2023. As discussed, that should mean [...]
It's kind of a good news, bad news situation. Or more accurately, bad news, good news situation. Because of the slowing economy (bad news), freight rates should see decline (good news) in the [...]
Ocean freight carriers, which have been in the driver's seat for the last couple years when it comes to freight rates, are utilizing their leverage right now to negotiate enormous contracts with [...]
One of the top stories in the Journal of Commerce (JOC) yesterday (January 31st, 2022) was CMA CGM acquiring "a majority stake in European last-mile logistics specialist Colis Privé, a parcel [...]
Keith Wallis reported in a Journal of Commerce article this week that South Korea's Fair Trade Commission fined ocean freight carriers over $80 million for collaborating in setting freight [...]
In July, I went out on a limb as seemingly the only one in the shipping industry to predict ocean freight rates could fall by the end of the year. I turned out to be right. YAY! Headlines like [...]
Check out the Ships Gonna Happen Podcast. Shipping professionals Tony B., David B., and Timmy D. do a great job with the show. On Saturday's episode, they interviewed Universal Cargo's own Jared [...]
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, [...]
It's officially a trend. Shippers are chartering ships to exclusively carry their goods. We're not talking about just any shippers, of course. Big retailers, beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) who [...]
At the beginning of August, we shared a story in Universal Cargo's blog about a U.S. shipper, MCS Industries, filing an official complaint with the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) that accused [...]
Today, we continue our look at governmental pressure on the international shipping industry. Having watched carrier competition shrink over the last decade until reaching the point we're at now, [...]
A couple blogs ago, I wrote about three ways ocean freight rates could see a significant drop. One of those ways was if regulators break up the carrier alliances that now dominate international [...]
High freight rates have become a motif in Universal Cargo's blog over the last year. That's not surprising as freight rates have climbed and climbed, breaking record after record, much to the [...]
A couple months ago, we blogged about carriers making billions with these high freight rates shippers are being forced to choke down. Well, that was nothing. Wait until you hear this.... If [...]
Maritime research firm Drewry is predicting the same thing we've been saying here in Universal Cargo's blog for a while: high freight rates aren't going away with the pandemic. Mike Wackett [...]
Over the last year, Universal Cargo has posted so many blogs about the astronomical freight rates the international shipping industry has been seeing, shippers are probably tired of reading about [...]
It’s early to talk about the 2021 peak season for the international shipping industry; however, with severe congestion at U.S. ports expected to last at least into the summer, 2021’s [...]
71 U.S. agricultural industry groups teamed up to write a letter to President Biden, informing him of the injury ocean freight carriers are doing to US agriculture, food, and forestry product [...]
Transpacific freight rates, and freight rates in general, were astronomical in 2020, rising and rising until, at last, they reached a plateau around the end of September/beginning of October. [...]
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