Commentary

Members of Congress and the Federal Maritime Commission seem to be targeting transportation third parties with stringent regulations. Why?

This article from the Jan. 26, 1935, issue of Traffic World often reads as if it were written yesterday, but it predates the first federal hours of service rules, which were issued in 1938. The recommendations of the National Safety Council sound quite familiar.

The higher bond requirements in MAP-21 aim to root out unscrupulous brokers. Will they work?

As cargo delays at the Port of New York and New Jersey enter their third month, customers are wondering: When will this end? Terminal operators say they expect things to settle down soon after Labor Day. That’s small comfort to port users dreading another month of expensive delays.

While professional truck drivers, trucking companies, shippers and businesses view themselves as the losers in the recent federal court ruling on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's sought-after changes to truck driver hours of service, the biggest loser in the end may be the agency itself.

It would be naïve to think the ILWU’s reputation with customers will drive its negotiating posture next year, especially when there are issues near and dear to the union’s heart that could take center stage, and possibly lead to trouble. One such issue is jurisdiction.

Export transportation can literally determine market success. Many exports are traded commodities, where the cost of transportation may be more significant to the landed cost than the actual underlying cost of the goods. Expensive transportation may exclude goods from certain markets on a competitive basis.

A recent court ruling prompts the question: What is the difference between operations of motor carriers who contract with owner-operators and brokers who contract with the motor carriers?

After signing its bill of lading, a shipper notices damage to a product that was concealed during offloading. What recourse does he have?

The United States' crackdown on exports of new cars bought from dealerships exposes a lack of understanding of trade law.

Although many in the industry have been waiting and wondering when the inevitable consolidation of ocean carriers would happen — presumably via the historical processes of buyouts, mergers or absorbing bankrupt companies — the consolidation has been happening in a much more organic process.

On July 9, U.S. Customs and Border Protection began formal enforcement of the Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements rule, or ISF, for overseas ocean containers destined for U.S. ports of entry. With potential ISF penalties now in play, significant questions are being raised.

Refrigerated transportation has come a long way from the days when Union Pacific Railroad put huge chunks of ice in boxcars to keep produce or meat from spoiling as it moved to market.

The JOC today formally introduces what we call the Port Productivity project, the result of a five-year effort to translate casual industry understanding into cold, hard numbers. The specific focus is berth productivity achieved at ports and terminals worldwide — a measurement of the speed at which container ships are unloaded, loaded and sent back to sea.

The most obvious conclusion when looking at data revealed in the launch of the JOC’s Port Productivity project is neither surprising nor unexpected: Container ports and terminals in Asia, primarily China, and the Middle East dominate their global counterparts in getting a ship, regardless of size, in and out of port as quickly as possible.

Trucking seems an unlikely candidate for technological transformation. It is, after all, literally where the rubber meets the road. But the latest changes to federal hours of service rules may be the catalyst trucking needs.

An importer of specialty goods asks about loss claims on international shipments. Would a shipper get the sales price that it would have had if the goods had been delivered?

Under the new hours of service rules, even small delays could turn a two-day trip into a three-day one, as DAT's Mark Montague demonstrates.

How bad has this summer been at the Port of New York and New Jersey? So bad that some truckers are comparing its impact with Hurricane Sandy.

Anyone who followed the heated back-and-forth of the recent International Longshoremen’s Association contract negotiations might wonder how the two sides could ever work together. Truth is, they have no choice.

With court rulings on motor carrier liability limits a mixed bagged, shippers are advised to negotiate tariff limits of liability.

Inside the Beltway, transportation and logistics rarely appear to be priority considerations affecting Cabinet appointments or congressional committee assignments. Although supply chain issues impact foreign relations, national and homeland security and finance, they simply don’t garner the same attention.

As the container shipping market sizes up the impact of the P3 alliance among Maersk, MSC and CMA CGM, some key themes are emerging: Don’t expect a reduction in capacity, don’t expect any less competition, expect more commoditization of service.

A shipper seeks advice after receiving a bill from a vendor and one from a motor carrier. The vendor has closed down; the shipment moved prepaid but the carrier never received its money.

Unlike the good old days when there was an abundance of bank loans, investors and lenders attending Marine Money Week in June in New York were looking at all kinds of new instruments that could secure their investments against the kind of loan losses that wrecked the balance sheets of European ship finance banks over the last few years.

News of the world's three largest container carriers — Maersk Line, Mediterranean Shipping Co. and CMA CGM — collaborating in a significant operating alliance in the three major east-west trades brings questions of "Why? Why now?"

Russia’s insular transportation industry is belatedly opening up to the outside world as the nation’s thirst for imported goods slots it into global supply chains.

Readers weigh in on Colin Barrett’s recent commentary regarding chronic claims of missing personal items in shipments.

Oakland faces a number of challenges, but a growing sense of optimism is surfacing in the trade community about the port.

The nationwide protests that have convulsed Turkey this month couldn’t have come at a worse time for the transportation sector.

In the 17 years since the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers started its reconnaissance study of the Savannah Harbor Expansion Project, other countries have accomplished a tad more in terms of marine infrastructure projects.

There can be no other reason for the world’s three largest container lines for taking the dramatic step of proposing their uber-alliance than this: The industry is in dire condition no matter how you look at it.

If your company isn’t among the estimated 6,000 publicly traded companies on the Securities and Exchange Commission and it isn’t a supplier of tantalum, tin, tungsten or gold, or of products containing said minerals, then you could be excused to skip ahead to the next article. For the rest, you may want to continue reading for the next few minutes.

A customer refuses to allow a motor carrier to unload goods, but then claims shortages. Its managers brush off the idea of its own employees pilfering shipments. What can be done?

The homes of four of the first five presidents, located within a short drive of each other, encapsulate a dramatic time in our history and reflect some of today’s realities. Make sure this is on your travel agenda someday.

The U.S. may be getting closer to allowing Mexican trucks on its roads. What does that mean for U.S. carriers and drivers?

Our ports and surrounding infrastructure have been neglected to the point where it’s costing shippers and consignees significant money. Shippers, carriers and ports need to band together to create and deliver a message to national, state and city officials. It’s time to be heard. Who’s with me?

For a country notorious for its lack of environmental resolve, China is sure putting a large stamp on the movement with its aptly named Operation Green Fence program. Nowhere is that stamp felt more than on the largest segment of U.S. containerized exports to the Asian manufacturing giant: scrap paper, metals and plastics.

For the freight transportation industry to grow, we must strive relentlessly and responsibly to improve — ideally in a balanced fashion. Regardless of setting, we all must navigate political challenges to achieve a beneficial outcome. The public sector used to set the stage. Now it might fall to the private sector to demonstrate to our elected leaders the path forward.