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Ari Ashe

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal RailmailLinkedin

Ari Ashe is senior editor of intermodal rail, and co-chair of the annual Inland Distribution Conference. He is also the author and creator of the quarterly Intermodal Savings Index and Domestic Intermodal Scorecard. Prior to joining the Journal of Commerce in 2018, he covered commercial transportation for Transport Topics.

Read Ari's Latest Coverage

UP grading intermodal customers on monthly performance

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
UP is grading domestic intermodal customers on dwelling of equipment, street turns of containers, and use of appointments using a four-tier monthly report card.
North-American rail

BNSF, UP offer rebates to encourage LA-area weekend drop-offs

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The western US railroads are offering refunds to customers who bring containers into their Los Angeles metro intermodal terminals on the weekends, a move to incentivize off-peak business.
North-American rail

New chassis pool in Charleston delayed by equipment shortage

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Port of Charleston will not open its new chassis pool in May 2022, delaying the launch by six months because manufacturers and lessors cannot supply the volume of chassis in time.
North American ports

Savannah switches to fixed receiving dates for exports

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Georgia Ports Authority has begun offering fixed earliest receiving dates (ERDs) and will sync up cutoff dates with ocean carriers to address two of the top concerns of exporters in Savannah.
North American ports

Trans-Atlantic carriers diverting from congested Savannah to Charleston

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail and Greg Knowler, Senior Editor Europe |
Three ocean carriers have decided to temporarily switch US calls to Charleston instead of Savannah as more than 20 vessels are anchored off the Georgia port.
North American portsContainer linesTrans-Atlantic

UP testing semi-automated cranes in Chicago

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Union Pacific Railroad will test semi-automated cranes at its Global IV terminal in Chicago next year, hoping the new equipment will improve fluidity through there.
North-American rail

BNSF contends Chicago flow better, but truckers say woes remain

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
BNSF Railway said it has moved all ocean containers in Logistics Park Chicago to truck-accessible locations, but truck drivers say that has not solved all the problems they’ve been dealing with since the summer.
North-American rail

NS boxcar service offering LCL capacity draws STB praise

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Norfolk Southern Railway is experimenting with less-than-carload service to take loads traditionally moved on LTL trucks on boxcars attached to intermodal trains, which has received praise from a top federal official.
North-American rail

Virginia chassis modernization on track for 2022 completion

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Port of Virginia’s modernization program is 80 percent complete and due to finish in 2022, which will provide a newer chassis fleet that is less likely to break down on a highway.
North American ports

Vancouver importers scramble for domestic containers

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Congestion in Vancouver has caused demand for Canadian Pacific’s 53-foot containers to skyrocket and the available supply to become extremely thin.
North-American rail

GPA gives Savannah port late-2022 storage capacity injection

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Georgia Ports Authority will spend $34 million to purchase an additional 40 acres of property adjacent to two existing development projects to expand container capacity even further over the next two years.
North American ports

UP metering domestic intermodal out of Chicago, Memphis

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Union Pacific Railroad is limiting how many domestic containers it will take out of Chicago, Kansas City, and Memphis to the West Coast to address terminal congestion in its intermodal network.
North-American rail

Two FMC cases test limits on detention and demurrage

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Two cases before the Federal Maritime Commission will test the limits of the regulator’s interpretative rule on detention and demurrage penalties.
Transport, Trade and Regulation News

US Shipping Act reform would worsen supply chain woes: carriers, terminals

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Ocean carriers, terminal operators, and stevedores have joined to fight against the Ocean Shipping Reform Act of 2021, arguing the bill will cause detention and demurrage to increase and further constrain the supply chain.
Transport, Trade and Regulation News

NS chassis repairs nearly complete, restrictions lifted

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Norfolk Southern Railway, which expects all chassis subject to a June safety recall to be repaired by next month, will buy more chassis in 2022 to address supply chain congestion.
North-American rail

Top Southeast US ports expect congestion, backlogs to persist

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Port officials in the southeastern US are taking steps to help importers and exporters navigate terminal congestion that isn’t expected to ease anytime soon.
North American ports

KCS-CP merger deal on track after CN bows out

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Canadian National has bowed out of its pursuit of Kansas City Southern, two weeks after US regulators threw up a major roadblock to a proposed deal, clearing the way for Canadian Pacific to apply for regulatory approval for its deal with the US-Mexico railroad.
North-American rail

Northeast trucking rates heat up amid cargo shift from LA-LB

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
With shippers facing crippling congestion in Southern California, the Port of New York and New Jersey is seeing more volume and the demand has spilled over to long-haul trucking.
Truckload

Baltimore receives new cranes for berth expansion project

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Port of Baltimore received four fully electric cranes on Thursday for a second berth that will open when the cranes are put into commission in a few months.
North American ports

UP shippers to pay more in Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
While container dwell may be up, intermodal volume on the UP network — domestic and international combined — is down 4.6 percent since July 1 from a year ago, according to the Association of American Railroads.
North-American rail

Rails focus too much on shareholders, not shippers: STB chair

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The chairman of the US Surface Transportation Board urged railroads to focus less on serving Wall Street investors and more on serving shippers, employees, and the public interest — or else the agency may have to intervene.
North-American rail

CP gives KCS ultimatum on acquisition offer

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Canadian Pacific CEO Keith Creel, in a new hardline stance, said his company has been patient long enough with Kansas City Southern and will walk away on Sept. 13 unless it has a deal in place.
North-American rail

US regulator rejects CN voting trust to acquire KCS

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The US Surface Transportation Board has rejected Canadian National Railway’s use of a voting trust to acquire Kansas City Southern, setting up a difficult choice for KCS and its shareholders to either stick with CN or re-engage Canadian Pacific Railway in a deal.
North-American rail

CSX restricts domestic container flows in Chicago again

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
CSX has been restricting how many domestic containers can be brought into Bedford Park, Illinois, causing shippers to pay accessorial fees, or consider alternatives such as Norfolk Southern Railway or spot market trucking to get their goods out of Chicago.
North-American railRail News

Railroads look to ease inland congestion through metering

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
US railroads have begun to control the number of containers leaving ports on trains per day to tailor volume to equipment and labor capacity, but some are skeptical this new strategy will resolve the crippling congestion in inland US markets.
North-American rail

Savannah importers urged to clear containers amid backlog

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
With containers sitting in Savannah’s Garden City terminal longer and the number of vessels anchored outside the port in the double digits, the Georgia Ports Authority is urging importers to pick up their container faster and use intermodal rail to help vacate a growing backlog of boxes.
North American ports

Clean trucks coming to Port of Charleston via EPA grant

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Port of Charleston received a $1.3 million grant through the EPA’s Clean Diesel Program, which will support the purchase of eight all-electric, zero-emission vehicles to support exporters.
North American ports

US intermodal congestion derailing peak season imports

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
US rail regulators are warning railroads that the industry could end up re-regulated if it doesn’t move to stem inland rail congestion and skyrocketing rates.
Rail News

SoCal truck demand spiking on record intermodal rates, railyard congestion

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
With ocean carriers pushing importers toward transloading in California amid record-high spot intermodal rates, trucks are becoming a hot commodity in Los Angeles in August.
Truckload

JOC Research: Contract rail savings widen, but spot loads may flip to truck

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Intermodal shippers saved record amounts of money in the second quarter, but rate hikes in California, Texas, and Washington will make trucks the cheaper option on transactional loads in the western US going forward.
North-American rail

JOC Research: Contract rail savings widen, but spot business may flip to truck

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Intermodal shippers saved record amounts of money in the second quarter, but rate hikes in California, Texas, and Washington will make trucks the cheaper option on transactional loads in the western US going forward.
North-American rail

UP raises California surcharges to $5,000 for second straight year

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Union Pacific Railroad has raised domestic intermodal surcharges for a fourth time in 2021 with a $5,000 per container fee on excess contract loads for low-volume shippers in California.
North-American rail

UP raises California surcharges to $5,000 for second straight year

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Union Pacific Railroad has raised domestic intermodal surcharges for a fourth time in 2021 with a $5,000 per container fee on excess contract loads for low-volume shippers in California.
North-American rail

NS targets end of August to complete chassis repairs

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Norfolk Southern Railway anticipates domestic intermodal service to return to normal by Labor Day with repairs on 75 percent of recalled chassis completed in August and an influx of leased chassis into the network in September.
North-American rail

UP ramping up West Coast service to Chicago

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Union Pacific has begun a controlled restoration of train service from West Coast ports to the Chicago metropolitan area, hoping a fresh restart will restore terminal fluidity for international intermodal customers.
North-American rail

UP ramping up West Coast service to Chicago

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
Union Pacific has begun a controlled restoration of train service from West Coast ports to the Chicago metropolitan area, hoping a fresh restart will restore terminal fluidity for international intermodal customers.
North-American rail

Savannah adding capacity amid record cargoes

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Georgia Ports Authority will open a 60-acre lot near berths 7, 8, and 9 this fall to add more than 600,000 TEU of container capacity to address the sharp rise in volumes this year.
North American ports

Savannah aims to restore fluidity amid record cargoes

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
The Georgia Ports Authority will open a 60-acre lot near berths 7, 8, and 9 this fall to add more than 600,000 TEU of container capacity to address the sharp rise in volumes this year. Photo credit: Ari Ashe/JOC.com.
North American ports

Intermodal congestion to persist through 2021: CSX, UP

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
CSX and Union Pacific are working hard to restore fluidity on intermodal networks, but both companies said that issues may persist through the end of the year.
North-American rail

JB Hunt urges faster equipment turns for peak season

Ari Ashe, Senior Editor, Intermodal Rail |
J.B. Hunt says shippers and railroads must improve how quickly they process containers to prevent a peak season supply chain meltdown.
Truckload
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