Air Freight Sees Overcapacity & Shipper-Friendly Conditions Heading into 2023
Air freight conditions for shippers are now starkly different from what they were during the pandemic. For the most part, this difference is positive for shippers. Air space and availability is [...]
Key Opportunities and Risks in Expanding a Business Globally
This is a guest post by Alanna Melton. Expanding globally is a dream that many entrepreneurs hope to see come true. Thankfully, technology and increased connectedness have made it easy to take [...]
Imports From Southeast Asia
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 [...]
China’s Wrong Covid Zero Policy, Protestors Risking Everything, & Supply Chain Situation for Shippers
The people of China are standing up against the tyrannical Covid Zero a.k.a Zero Covid policies their government continues to enforce on them. These policies have disrupted supply chains through [...]
Tracking Cargo on the Move: How to Go About It?
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 [...]
Freight Rates Down, Blank Sailings Up, Inflation – Yikes
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 [...]
ILWU Slows Oakland & Seattle Port Operations
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 [...]
Railroad Unions May Strike This Week w/ $2B-a-Day Consequences
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 [...]
Has the International Shipping Bubble Finally Popped?
The Wall Street Journal headlined an article yesterday with "Ocean Shipping Rates Have Plunged 60% This Year." Costas Paris reports in the article: "The cost to ship a 40-foot container from [...]
Railroads Reach Deal w/ 3 Unions – More to Do to Avoid Strike
A few of the smaller unions of rail workers reached a deal on Monday (August 29th) with the U.S. railroad carriers. This is a good step toward avoiding a rail strike that would cripple supply [...]
Congestion, Delays, & Blank Sailings, Oh My
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 [...]
How Inflation Is Impacting Shipping
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 [...]
NY-NJ Port Terminal Taking Away Weekend/Holiday Free Time
Shippers have more fees – or at least faster racking-up fees – to worry about at the Port of New York and New Jersey. Michael Angell reports in the Journal of Commerce (JOC): "The largest marine [...]
FMC Wants Your Input on Whether to Issue Congestion Emergency Order – Here’s How to Submit Comments
Afer two years of port congestion and supply chain disruption and with new powers from the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2022 (“OSRA 2022”), the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) is considering [...]
What’s Actually Happening with Freight Rates Right Now
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 [...]
Slowing Economy Should Lower Freight Rates But 3 Factors Could Keep Them High
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 [...]
How China’s Missile Strikes Around Taiwan Impact Shipping
The big news of the day is China firing missiles around Taiwan in response to U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi visiting the island nation over which China claims sovereignty. The story is a [...]
How Likely Is a Rail Strike?
Strike, strike, strike! The U.S. supply chain is in a triple strike threat from truckers, dockworkers, and rail workers. Normally, it's three strikes and you're out, but this is no game. Any one [...]
6 Ways to Make Your Supply Chain More Sustainable
This is a guest post by Adrian Jacobs. It is the dream of every business involved in logistics to have a robust and failure-proof supply chain. Unfortunately, this is simply impossible. What you [...]