The federal government is threatening to put its thumb on the scales of the trucking portion of the nation's supply chain. With a proposed rule reminiscent of California's AB5, the government [...]
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 [...]
2022 is nearly over, so it's time to look back on the year and digest what happened. Here at Universal Cargo, we like to count down the top international shipping news stories we covered from [...]
Imports from Southeast Asia to the U.S. totaled over $231 billion in 2020 alone, and the value of imports from countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam will grow. Common [...]
Nearly three full years after the railroad unions went into negotiations with the railroads for new contracts, resolution has been reached. Last week, I blogged about the House of Representatives [...]
Things moved closer to a rail strike on Monday after the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers-Transportation Division (SMART-TD) voted to reject the [...]
Another union has voted to reject the tentative labor agreement the White House pressured union and railroad negotiators to reach back in September, at the last moment before unions could, and [...]
The can keeps getting kicked down the road on the potential rail strike that would cripple U.S. supply chains. The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division (BMWED) has extended its [...]
Twelve is the magic number. All twelve rail worker unions have to ratify agreements with the railroads to ensure a rail strike doesn't screech U.S. supply chains to a halt. The count is now to [...]
More International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) disruption is happening at West Coast ports, particularly at the Port of Oakland, as contract negotiations don't appear to be getting [...]
By all reports, the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) and the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA) are still far away from reaching terms on a new master contract. And now [...]
Shippers are preparing themselves for the more and more likely outcome of a rail strike in November. Union Pacific CEO Lance Fritz went on CNBC, laughing off the idea of a perspective strike on [...]
Fears are rising again over a supply-chain-halting potential rail strike as the third largest rail worker union voted to reject the tentative agreement reached just weeks ago. More and more, it [...]
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 [...]
As shippers expected, more International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) slowdowns are happening at West Coast ports as contract negotiations lag on. Labor action is creating slowdowns at the [...]
News broke on Thursday of last week that a tentative agreement had been reached between the railroads and the two largest rail worker unions, BLET and SMART-TD, preventing a [...]
On Friday, September the 16th, the mandatory cooling-off period on negotiations between U.S. railroads and their employees' unions ends, and the unions will be able to strike. That's just three [...]
Now that most countries are easing COVID-19 restrictions, ocean shipping processes might improve. However, as of the first half of 2022, you also have to consider the impacts of the [...]
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 [...]