Commentary

Any shipper should be able to decide at any given time which transport mode is the most appropriate to ship their goods.

For those in the rail intermodal business, 2012 served as a reminder that year-over-year changes are inevitable...

In my 40-year career, the future has never been more promising for freight rail or its customers.

Markets may be expected to become more efficient as they evolve.

The resurgence of energy production in the U.S. during the past few years has been nothing short of remarkable.

Container trades to and from Europe are showing little or no growth for 2012, but the situation is particularly apparent in the Asia-Europe trade.

We are seeing an energy revolution taking hold in the oil and gas fields of the United States.

Today we strive for more continuity than ever before.

The U.S. economy seems destined to continue its slow recovery, with market growth moving in a positive direction, albeit at a very tepid pace.

Rock historian Robert Santelli has described Bruce Springsteen’s ballad “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy),” as “the perfect musical study of the Jersey Shore boardwalk culture.” It’s a cruel irony that Hurricane Sandy devastated large parts of the Jersey Shore — and beyond — while killing more than 200 people and causing $60 billion in damage.

As you know, each year has different challenges, but our mature industry is still attempting to define itself in our 21st century.

2012 was a year that saw carriers start to show some discipline as far as freight rates, despite supply and demand not being totally in our favor.

The state of some of the economies around the globe is a major challenge facing the maritime industry this year.

The maritime profession is ever changing, and never so rapidly as now.

When the International Longshoremen’s Association and United States Maritime Alliance agreed to extend their existing contract through Feb. 6, many East and Gulf Coast shipping interests thought their labor issues were behind them. After all, the big stumbling block — royalties — had been settled.

The Washington, D.C., agenda will shape international commerce and transportation in 2013.

Hope that 2013 will result in strengthening the resolution of the use of the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund probably will be dashed early in the 113th Congress.

The slow but steady economic expansion we witnessed during 2012 will continue through 2013.

When Congress passed MAP-21 last summer, the legislation offered a much-needed commitment to transportation infrastructure funding for the next two years.

For those of us in the shipping industry’s regulatory sector, we expect the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission to continue its efforts to increase efficiency and to encourage innovative business strategies in 2013.

As if planning and managing a seamless supply chain weren’t tough enough, a group of gremlins put their heads together last year to find more fiendish ways to bedevil logisticians.

There are two major changes that if they occur this year would be a good thing for us in future years.

Although some may argue that there is gradual stability in the transportation and logistics market, I remain only cautiously optimistic and contend there is still a great deal of uncertainty and unforeseen hurdles in our future.

As we look out into 2013, we see enough economic concerns to make us cautious about our optimism for growth.

2013 has arrived, but you may not have fully adjusted to the turning of the calendar. Some of you are just coming to accept that the world didn’t end on Dec. 21; others are still breathing sighs of relief that U.S. waterfront labor is still at work, although no one knows how long this will last.

Judging from the number of calls and inquiries I receive from analysts and experts, intermodal is no longer a stranger to transportation cognoscenti.

Railroads are no strangers to operational efficiencies or being on the leading edge of new technologies.

As 2013 begins, economic indicators suggest a more moderate pace of growth.

The railroad industry has made some progress in seeking out costs and eliminating them.

A shipper claims a set-off against a broker for storage charges incurred after a later-than-requested pickup of a less-than-truckload shipment. Is the shipper on solid legal ground?

Each year brings challenges and opportunities to the global transportation sector born out of events beyond its control. So much of the sector’s fate depends on the U.S. economy and the changing global trade market.

Two seismic events occurred in the fourth quarter of 2012 that will have a lasting impact well into 2013 and beyond. The first event — a $6 billion, four-year push to bring dramatic change to our gridlocked political system — never materialized and the end result was a November vote for the status quo.

Get ready for another year of modest growth for U.S. containerized imports.

Given the number of unknowns faced by the global economy, any predictions as to what lies ahead for 2013 are likely to be about as accurate as reading the entrails of crows.