Controversy continues to swirl around the Federal Maritime Commission's (FMC's) proposed rules on "unreasonable refusal to deal or negotiate with respect to vessel space accommodations provided [...]
A hot topic just popped up in international shipping. It revolves around the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) potentially getting involved in regulating pricing when it comes to importing and [...]
International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) labor action shut down port terminals up and down the West Coast on Friday. The labor action actually started on Thursday evening and has [...]
What exactly does the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) say and do? This blog series goes through it section by section, so you can see exactly what our lawmakers changed in the U.S. Code [...]
Approaching a year after the bipartisan Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (OSRA) was signed into law, we've only barely begun to see its impact. It's been loftily described as crucial and the [...]
Democrat and Republican lawmakers seem to have found something they can agree on: the international shipping industry, and ocean freight sector in particular, needs regulatory change. On Monday, [...]
The International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) claimed today to have reached a "tentative agreement" with the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) on "certain key issues." Immediately, it [...]
One of the things we often do in Universal Cargo's blog is give shippers an outlook for how the international shipping freight rate market is behaving and looks to behave. Over the years, [...]
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 [...]
Shippers have long complained about unfair detention and demurrage fees at the ports. A particular point of contention is getting charged for days when port terminals are closed, and it's [...]
Shippers, get ready for the freight rate war saga of the ocean carriers to continue. Perhaps the biggest reason for shippers to pay attention to what's happening with carriers is because it [...]
Ocean freight rates have fallen, for which U.S. importers can rejoice. Readers of Universal Cargo's blog certainly don't need a recap of how freight rates skyrocketed during the pandemic, thanks [...]
It's become something of a habit when talking about the sister ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to mention they're the busiest port complex in the U.S. in terms of cargo volume brought in [...]
2022 is just days away from being over, so it's time to look forward to 2023. We'll probably have a few posts focused on what the year will have in store for international shipping, but today we [...]
This is a guest post by Patrick Chown. Logistics is simply about moving goods from one location to another in the right amount of time. However, it is one of the most complex and critical parts [...]
Imports for the end of the year were already expected to decline, but at the end of last week the expected decline for October basically doubled. November and December's expected decline [...]
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 [...]
Last week, we blogged about California's Assembly Bill 5, also known as AB 5 and the gig worker bill. After the U.S. Supreme Court decided not to hear the California Trucking Association's case [...]
For years, we've talked about a trucker shortage that has been a problem for the international shipping industry and U.S. supply chains. Now, a law is going into effect in California that [...]
There is still no end in sight to the horrific Shanghai lockdown, where the Chinese government has actually barricaded people inside their homes, worsening the struggle for citizens to get food [...]