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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 [...]

As the expiration of the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU) quickly approaches, shippers are getting more and more anxious about the potential of contentious negotiations throwing [...]

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg went on a press tour, where he talked about the port congestion we're seeing right now. The Biden Administration has been talking about the ports and the [...]

Over the last year and a half, shippers might have thought they'd seen it all. Astronomical freight rates, hundreds of blanked (cancelled) sailings, no-roll fees that basically amount to holding [...]

Over the last year, international shipping has been marked by container and equipment shortages, port congestion, high demand, lost containers, rolled containers, and – of course – outrageously [...]

You thought port congestion at U.S. ports – the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach especially – is bad. You're right. But at least it's possible for ships to get in and out of the ports (it just [...]

This is a guest post by Jake Rheude. The final days of 2020 ended with some of China's highest container rates in recent memory coupled with port congestion, space demands, and other metrics [...]

Earlier this week, on the 26th of February, the Federal Maritime Commission issued its final rules for demurrage and detention billing as set up for it to create by the Ocean Shipping Reform Act [...]

What should shippers expect when it comes to freight rates in 2024? Predicting trends is never an easy thing, as international shipping's freight rates have always been highly volatile. Shippers [...]

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 [...]

If there's one word shippers hate to hear in relation to the dockworkers and their unions that control the jobs up and down the U.S. coasts, it's strike. We're a little under a year away from the [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Well, that didn't last long. The good feelings that the strike at Canada's ports was over only lasted days. However, a resumed or new strike (depending on your point of view) this week was even [...]

Want to know what's happening with international shipping right now? You're in the right place. Today's post hits top international shipping news stories affecting shippers' import and export [...]

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, [...]

After a couple years of out of control, skyrocketing freight rates, ocean freight pricing finally came tumbling down. Freight rates have gone from peaks, including cargo routes getting carriers [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]