Breakbulk News

As of now, scrap/agriculture exporters and ocean carriers are in two parallel universes concerning whether space exists on ships heading to Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent.

The out-of-gauge cargo — windmilll blades 103 feet long and weighing over 16 tons — was loaded on the Maersk Launceston, voyage 1809, operating as part of the Danish carrier’s Intra-Asia Chennai Express (CHX) Service.

Uber’s decision to scrap its autonomous trucking plans does not mean there will not be “driverless” trucks someday, but it does dispel a notion that had caught fancy, in some circles.

The leading container ports still call the shots — thanks to the schedules of the three powerful alliances — but rival smaller ports are adding business and in the process are giving shippers options to northern and southern Europe.

Just when conditions started to return to normal for shippers who use Santos, stevedores Wednesday will implement a three-day strike aimed at securing an agreed-to pay increase.

However, shippers should still expect some robust peak season pricing from the airlines that are seeking to extend their profitability, which grew at a strong rate in the first quarter.

A move of three unassembled air cooling condensers to three different construction sites added layers of complexity to an international logistics solution.

A longtime consultant said three factors are the reason the sector has turned the corner.

Shippers express concern about a recent spike in container dwell times in Vancouver, but Global Container Terminals Canada and Canadian National Railway say the fluctuations do not mean things will get worse during peak season.

Shorter (and sometimes longer) contracts, volume commitments, and even higher rates are among the many types of bait shippers are using to capture elusive truckload capacity.

Once cyclical, problems such as the driver shortage are becoming systemic. That threatens to ‘bake’ higher costs into transportation rates.

The new collaboration comes as India’s automobile sector logs robust growth.

The company overseen by Beijing’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission likened its plans for the east African country to the development of its home base of Shekou and Shenzhen in southern China, where it has carried out extensive port, industrial, and real estate development.

Shippers and business groups argue the current truckers’ freight rate table is too generous and would increase shipper costs and retail prices by double digits. The truckers’ union wants a fair rate table and said it will strike again if it is not obtained.

In a trade advisory, the port trust announced substantial tariff reductions for domestic and foreign ocean carriers handling export-import containers for transshipment.

After a mixed performance in 2017, Europe’s top breakbulk ports face a complicated 2018, despite above-trend European GDP growth, due to the threat posed by tariffs and the reinstatement of sanctions against Iran.

Cell phone service providers may soon pull the plug on a key data pipeline underpinning domestic visibility software, but most companies have switched to other location systems. Shippers need to ensure that their providers aren’t overly exposed to this cell phone triangulation data.

A shrinking supply of qualified truck drivers, combined with above-trend European GDP growth, is pushing the continent's truck rates higher, and analysts had words to the wise for shippers for the year ahead.

Although the truck strike has ended, Brazil’s transportation bottlenecks need a bigger government and private sector fix.

Amazon’s new network could help reduce shipper costs, and even aid other transportation providers, as volumes outstrip capacity. But as one might sense, Amazon’s latest play also will affect resources in an already beyond-tight US trucking sector.

Energy prices have risen, lowering the margins of a key supply chain performer, and that has implications for the container shipping industry.

Shared worksheets and manipulatable charts are the standard in trucking logistics, as they are in other sectors, but there is a scenario that would see truckers, shippers, and others abandon them.

Supply chain experts at the SM3 Connections 2018 conference are taking a focus-on-what-one-can control stance, while also counting on more-constructive policies in the years ahead that are likely to support the decades-long globalization trend.

US shippers would welcome a break from relentlessly high truck pricing during the dog days of summer this year. But those dogs aren’t barking yet.

The Canadian economy is “humming,” an economist says, but can it outrun trade disputes with its largest trading partner?

Beneficial cargo owners in eastern Canada and the US Midwest should welcome the expansion as a step toward preventing a return of the congestion that Prince Rupert experienced last winter.

A Penske spokesperson said the acquisition will grow the company by enhancing its portfolio of transportation and logistics solutions to shippers.

With its first-move advantage fading, the digital forwarding industry is entering its second phase marked by a mushrooming of providers, a pivot away from marketplaces, and a subsector seeking to give so-called traditional forwarders digital chops.

US truck prices to transport fruits and vegetables from Mexico and California are up 20 to 30 percent compared with a year ago, mirroring the rates in other modes too. Even so, the purchasers of transportation are opening their wallets and riding out the inflation until the macroeconomic environment changes.

Several factors — expected and unexpected — are increasing US trucking and intermodal costs for shippers in June, and threaten to keep pressure on in July.

An average of 24 container ships have been waiting daily at the port’s outer anchorage, officials said.

Amazon’s global inbound supply chain and logistics director Josh Dolan is challenging agricultural product exporters to join the e-commerce giant in arranging container, and maybe even chassis matchbacks, to reduce supply chain logistics costs.

More, faster rail route options with more reliability/visibility, are the chief reasons China-Europe rail use is increasing. Add the historic time advantage over ocean freight and cost advantage over air cargo and the net result is a shift in rail from an “interesting option” to “preferred transport mode" for many shippers.

The tech enhancements could have potential benefits for importers in terms of better visibility of their cargo from the vessel discharge process to the out gate process, and for exporters in terms of better gauging the best time to deliver laden boxes to terminals.

Shippers looking to move cargo to, from, or through Mexico will likely face a challenge finding warehouse and logistics space, as vacancy rates in some areas have hit their lowest levels in six years.

A funny thing has happened in the last few years even as the role of chief supply chain officer hasn’t become quite so ubiquitous: on-demand, subscription-based software providers have begun to partner more than ever, creating networks of logistics capabilities that often mimic those promised by the broader single suites.

The inclusion of carriers with up to 10 trucks in Uber’s capacity pool will help build density and increase the value of its app-based service to shippers.

One person was killed during the strike, which also resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in cargo damages, mainly foodstuffs and meat, along with widespread cargo delays.

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Thursday provided guidance on when drivers can use trucks for personal conveyance, among other guidance areas.

Starting Friday, China Customs will require manifest submissions 24 hours prior to loading, or risk missing the intended sailing. One supply chain director called the order nothing new, but another called it a non-tariff barrier deployed mainly against the United States, but also Europe.