This is a guest post by Stewart Dunsmore. In the supply chain management process, invoice disputes are very common. These disagreements may occur for a number of reasons, including [...]
Introduction We’re still only beginning to see how the changes to U.S. shipping law will affect businesses’ imports and exports as well as carriers’ and other industry stakeholders’ operations [...]
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 [...]
We’re still only beginning to see how the changes to U.S. shipping law will affect businesses’ imports and exports as well as carriers' and other industry stakeholders' operations within maritime [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach suddenly shut down Thursday night. The closure of the country's busiest port complex continued Friday. "Terminals noted they closed due to labor [...]
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, [...]
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 may find themselves uneasy when they realize North American dockworker unions coast to coast will be negotiating contracts at the same time. As port disruption from labor slowdowns is [...]
This is a guest post by Geoff Whiting. Freight rates can fluctuate wildly, and those fluctuations can have a significant impact on your bottom line. For manufacturers, these are even more [...]
What goes up must come down. Despite many experts saying we would never see pre-pandemic-level freight rates again when the cost of ocean shipping skyrocketed out of control during and after the [...]
Maersk doesn't believe any of the ocean freight carriers outside of itself and Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC) have the ability to stand alone. For this reason, the company doesn't believe [...]
On Thursday, Universal Cargo's blog was about MSC and Maersk announcing they're ending the 2M Alliance. The world's top two shipping lines said they're doing this to "pursue individual [...]
Like a bad hairstyle fad, the 2M Alliance is coming to an end. But that end won't be abrupt. The process is not as simple as combing hair along a part, sending this section of hair that way and [...]
This is a guest post by Joe Webster. Most U.S. imports are transported via ocean freight or air freight. However, air freight primarily deals with shipments of perishable goods and other [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), the world’s largest ocean freight carrier by capacity, has been making moves that could position itself to leave the 2M Alliance it has with Maersk, [...]