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The new Panama Canal’s larger locks appear to have hit the shipping industry at the right time, given at least one, and possibly two, global trends in international trade.

The government has set a firm Sept. 30 deadline for all ports and terminals to join the radio frequency identification (RFID) program; a decree allows stakeholders to apply a mandatory RFID user charge of about $2 per container.

This much is known about rates for US importers from Asia heading into peak season: there are factors that would generate firm-to-higher rates, but also historical factors that would lead to a softening of rates.

The East Coast’s largest port, with the most complex negotiations, has reached an agreement. The International Longshoremen's Association wants all such local agreements to be completed before the master contract that covers the ports on both coasts can be ratified.

Shippers that use the Port of New York and New Jersey may find that Syracuse offers an attractive option once a rail-linked inland port is built. But will its lower rent offset higher logistics costs?

US beneficial cargo owners will face unprecedented challenges using intermodal this peak season. Still, there are time-tested tactics that will ensure the best possible transportation result.

The service, if added, would complement existing feeder services by other ocean carriers. A CMA CGM official said the company has held talks about the possible service.

Above-trend GDP growth is boosting the continent's commerce, and that’s triggered a steady uptrend in trucking rates, amid tighter capacity — and several factors suggest an even more challenging transport market is ahead for logistics planners and transportation managers.

Many experts argue that blockchain technology is tailor-made for container shipping’s international logistics work. But blockchain faces numerous hurdles — the biggest of which may be cultural.

US importers plan to bring in record container volume this peak season, which will translate into an impressive 2018 year-end gain compared with 2017.

New provisional port statistics show total freight handled at minor ports during the revenue/accounting year, which ended March 31, increased 9.2 percent year over year.

Efficient supply chains contain the premise that for every container there is a chassis available. But don't tell shippers that, as the issue has been a thorn in their side and that of other container trade stakeholders for nearly a decade.

Ocean carriers want to avoid being caught up in secondary sanctions that will be imposed by the United States on companies dealing with Iran.

However, far from being an omen of declining demand, headhaul rates from Europe to the United States have strengthened as peak season gets under way.

The world’s biggest transport operator sees a combination of fuels and technologies as necessary to meet shipper sustainability goals.

Beneficial cargo owners can anticipate higher rates this peak season as Yang Ming and its THE Alliance partners announce removal of a trans-Pacific string. This development follows a similar service reduction in late June by the 2M Alliance and was accompanied Friday by an increase of 20 to 30 percent in spot rates.

With supply and demand in more of a balance, sector analysts say shippers should expect higher reefer rates.

Better tech and service may be up ahead. A global head of reefer management for a major ocean carrier predicted that shipping is moving toward a “new era of customer focus” with an emphasis on “creating products that actually add value to customers’ supply chains.”

Shippers watching for the way the Federal Maritime Commission rules on a wide variety of issues that affect the movement of cargo may question the quality of analysis and decision making that will result from having just two Republican commissioners on the board, out of a possible five-member bipartisan board.

Port statistics show Bharat Mumbai Container Terminals processed 17 ship calls in June, compared with 10 calls a month since March, after the new terminal settled into a steady/seamless operation.

The suspension decision was implemented after delegates from the National Sindifisco and a politician close to Brazilian President Michel Temer reached an agreement.

The Landair Holdings acquisition underscores strong shipper demand for dedicated services to meet delivery demands.

A petition calling for a ‘small business’ exemption to the electronic logging device (ELD) mandate has failed, and that means the ELD era has become more entrenched.

Global trade-oriented blockchain solutions are moving from pilot to purported commercial viability in Asia and Europe, as shippers evaluate whether blockchain is something in which they should invest in the short term and which project to back.

The Europe-based ocean carrier has created another specialized, end-to-end cold chain logistics operation, as it works vigorously to establish a stronger foothold in the emerging market economy.

The port is attracting new business — aided by two infrastructure improvements and stronger international demand. But the situation, like so many trade sectors, is fluid: a trade war would likely affect the bullish trend.

Djibouti’s strategic location on the Gulf of Aden makes the area an important military outpost for several world powers.

A series of negative factors are lining up to deny ocean carriers a good year.

It’s a stronger US truck market than even 2004/2005, drivers are aware that they are in short supply, and there is no end in sight — hence there is an obvious reason why both shippers and trucking companies should keep those market conditions in mind.

Although intermodal traffic has increased 26 percent in five years, chassis repair companies can’t hire people fast enough to keep pace, due to the US labor shortage, job hopping in the sector, and candidates simply seeking easier work. Shippers will ultimately see the problem in the form of chassis shortages.

The logistics provider has found a niche in Miami-area digital drayage by offering an app with a twist: the shipper, not an algorithm, names the price to haul the load.

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.

The trucking company’s reorganization continues, as it registered gains in truckload freight while less-than-truckload losses rose; two former executives have been charged with committing a $245 million securities fraud.

Two other Pipavav changes are likely to help speed cargo, terminal officials said.

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.

Like the US airline industry earlier, the global container shipping industry has reached a point where cost cutting and mergers will yield little if any additional value. This is the view of a longtime carrier executive, a Maritime Hall of Fame inductee who argues creating value for customers will characterize the current era, with customer service the first visible change area.

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.

Maersk's annoucement that it has used the start-up software provider to build its new e-commerce interface makes two points that all stakeholders in container shipping should note.

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