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The operational challenges for container shipping have now persisted for half a year, and they are seemingly nowhere nearer to getting resolved. If anything, they mainly appear to be getting worse.

Union Pacific has raised surcharges out of California for a second time in 2021, a sign it is concerned about having enough rail-owned 53-foot containers to supply core contract customers through the upcoming peak season.

The largest US truckload operator, Knight-Swift, acquired non-asset 3PL UTXL to gain access to additional trucks and drivers, as well as new logistics services.

BNSF will adjust its free time calculations on June 7, tightening the window for shippers to pick up containers that are made available after 5:00 p.m., just two weeks after Norfolk Southern slashed its free time clock.

New data suggests intermodal rail in India could become an attractive mode of freight transport if supported with needed capacity and competitive pricing.

project44 has landed a $200 million funding round, mere months after its previous cash injection, as it eyes consolidating the top of the freight visibility market.

US resin exports continued to grow strongly in 2020 and shippers say exports could have been even higher if it were not for rising domestic demand and production problems.

After a COVID-19 outbreak, Yantian International Container Terminal on Monday began accepting export cargoes, but shipping executives say the congestion will take at least a week to clear.

The demand for US alcoholic beverages grew strongly through the 2020 lockdowns, and that trend is expected to continue through this year as bars and restaurants reopen.

Exports of recyclables, a key backhaul commodity for container lines, could decline again this year due to global COVID-19 issues, especially in India.

US produce and food shippers are short on trucks as heightened demand for grocery and restaurant food meets shortages of everything from ketchup to truck drivers to pallets.

As container vessels and freight clog major ports, oversized and overweight project cargo is being rerouted coast to coast, driving up ocean shipping and inland transportation costs.

Oakland and Seattle-Tacoma are scrambling to address mounting congestion problems as carriers add services there to circumvent even worse congestion in Los Angeles-Long Beach.

Investments in hydrogen production and storage and other clean energy projects will keep project cargo carriers busy amid the push to decarbonize.

Food shippers and their logistics providers expect consumers to continue shopping online for groceries and cooking more at home even after COVID-19 vaccinations allow a return to restaurants and other dining venues.

A move to reform the Shipping Act of 1984 is being driven by a sense among some shippers that conditions, particularly on the trans-Pacific trade, will only get worse in the coming months.

Improved schedule reliability in the Asia-US trade in April offers encouragement that ports may be on track to clear their container backlogs before the summer-fall peak-shipping season.

E2open’s acquisition of BluJay Solutions is its first since going public in February and gives it more TMS firepower, broader sales reach in Asia, and bolsters its ability to upsell to global forwarders.

Carriers are dropping calls at second-tier Chinese ports as congestion at marine terminals builds and container services suffer delays due to ongoing woes at some clogged US and European ports.

project44 has followed its March acquisition of visibility provider Ocean Insights with another deal for competitor ClearMetal, whose customer base is primarily large global manufacturers.

Demand for commodities that feed the green energy transition is expected to spike this decade, and that will have an impact on project logistics associated with mining and transporting those materials.

Elevated rate levels, peak season surcharges, equipment shortages, poor reliability, high demand — the challenges are mounting for shippers on the busy Europe-North America trade lane.

DAT Freight & Analytics said carriers using its load board to find spot market freight will be able to use FourKites’ electronic logging device to provide visibility to shippers.

Retailers should expect vessel space in Asia to get even tighter in June as advance bookings show continued strong demand for imports in the US, according to an industry analyst.

The speedy addition of new port transloading capacity in New Jersey shows the heightened demand from shippers to avoid congested rail ramps and tight drayage capacity.

Vanguard Logistics has begun providing forwarder customers direct access to rates via Freightos’s WebCargo product, a shift designed to expedite the quoting and booking process.

After a rough six-week period following the paralyzing February snowstorm in Texas, intermodal terminals are operating with fewer delays in Dallas-Fort Worth, with chassis available and driver productivity bucking national trends.

The US air cargo import supply chain has been unable to handle a huge increase in demand this year, prompting forwarders to seek out alternative entry points to avoid the bottlenecks.

US truckload spot rates are hitting new highs in May as continued strong freight demand, coupled with market disruption, pushes up pricing in the South and Southwest,

Exports of paper and forest products fell by double-digit percentages in 2020 and volumes could further slide in 2021 because of China’s tougher environmental stances on recovered paper from the US.

Despite contract language allowing automation, the ILWU has increasingly come to see automation as an existential threat and a microcosm of the larger threat of robotics displacing human labor.

Refrigerated cargo and breakbulk specialty carrier SeacatLine plans to make a bi-weekly service between Costa Rica and Tampa Bay a weekly service with an additional vessel deployment.

Walmart remained atop the list of the 100 largest US importers by a wide margin in 2020, while Koch Industries retained the No. 1 export spot.

A review of which goods and commodities saw the sharpest decreases and increases in 2020 speaks to how Americans spent their money while socially distanced and which sectors will continue to see heightened demand heading into the traditional peak season before the winter holidays.

Besides allowing a single-network rail service through Canada, Mexico, and the US, KCS merging with either CN or CP would provide new import and exporter options for US Midwest shippers.

The US Department of Transportation is looking to further fund its decade-old bid to bring more container-on-barge services to US waterways with $10 million in new grants available for 2021.

US consumers haven’t finished remodeling homes yet, and high demand is drawing more imports from China and Southeast Asia.

Transportation management systems are widely used by shippers, but transportation consultants contend that because software architecture has changed, cargo owners may be better off cobbling together independent tools to meet their needs.

Less-than-truckload carriers are becoming a transload option for importers forced to choose between speed and cost of delivery amid port congestion and intermodal delays.

CMA CGM’s decision to increase container vessel capacity from Southeast Asia stems from the increasing shift in import sourcing away from China and ability of East Coast ports to handle volumes.