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Terminal gridlock and persistent labor issues caught up with the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in December as the container volume at the busiest U.S. port complex declined 1 percent compared to December 2013.

Europe’s ports face a rocky ride in 2015, dominated by a potential glut of container-handling capacity in the north that will only be partially offset by steadily rising transshipment traffic in the Mediterranean.

Alitalia unveiled plans to increase its cargo operations as part of a strategy to return to profitability in 2017 following years of losses, billions of dollars of state subsidies and a narrow escape from bankruptcy.

Amsterdam Schiphol airport said cargo traffic got off to a slow start this year because increased trans-Pacific shipper demand for air cargo services due to U.S. West Coast port congestion is diverting freighters from Asia-Europe routes to the Pacific.

More “solid” and steady U.S. economic growth will increase freight demand and boost shipping costs and domestic transportation rates in 2015, economists and analysts said at the SMC3 JumpStart 2015 conference in Atlanta.

APM Terminals management at India’s Port of Nhava Sheva (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) on Wednesday said it is making all efforts to restore "complete" normalcy in the terminal operation and bring “vessel calls back on schedule.”

Rising foreign trade that drove up throughput at China’s container ports in 2014 is expected to continue this year on the back of strengthening demand from the U.S. and Europe, and despite a slowdown in the mainland economy.

It will be “better luck” this year for loss-making Neptune Orient Lines as plummeting bunker fuel prices give a huge boost to the company’s cost savings drive, according to investment bankers DBS Vickers.

A free trade agreement (FTA) between Australia and Japan came into effect on Jan. 15, granting virtually all Australian exports preferential or duty free access to the giant Japanese market.

Total container throughput at China’s top 20 ports reached 175 million TEUs in 2014, an increase of 5.3 percent over the previous year as solid exports to the U.S. helped drive up the cargo numbers.

The China-financed Mombasa-Nairobi rail link that is under construction is facing competition from Africa’s largest private equity firm that has invested $70 million in a competing rail connection that will also link the two cities.

Terminal operators resumed daytime vessel unloading Tuesday after a one-day hiatus, but otherwise it was status quo at all U.S. West Coast ports.

Trucks serving various container terminals on the left bank of the Brazilian port of Santos are expected to see shorter trips thanks to a new 3 million reais ($1.15 million) access road.

A bipartisan group of 32 U.S. House members are pushing back against a recently filed amendment to repeal requirements that domestic waterborne cargo be shipped in U.S.-flag ships owned, built and operated by Americans.

Asset-light less-than-truckload carrier Shift Freight is expanding from its U.S. West Coast base to the Midwest and Northeast, building out its third-party-based LTL network.

A key indicator of U.S truck activity was flat in December, reflecting a decline in retail sales but an increase in manufacturing production in the same period.

California’s roadways and freeways are in desperate need of repair or expansion, so the trucking industry is willing to examine a variety of funding mechanisms that will raise billions of dollars to address the problem immediately.

The International Transport Workers' Federation has stepped up its protest of automation at the new Rotterdam World Gateway container terminal, and called for “all parties” to discuss RWG’s labor arrangements.

The air cargo industry had its longest peak season in years in 2014, driven by massive demand for new products, most notably the iPhone 6 that sold more than 40 million units in the third quarter alone. But the big question that has airline executives frantically polishing their crystal balls is whether airlines and air freight forwarders can count on the strong performance continuing through this year.

Container traffic soared 18.5 percent to nearly 3 million TEUs at Cosco Pacific’s Piraeus container terminal last year, again outpacing growth at Mediterranean rivals.

Challenged by the need to make their companies ever more cost-effective and competitive, third-party logistics companies are compelled to assess ever longer — and often more confusing — lists of new technology options.

Operations at the Port of Nhava Sheva returned to “near” normal levels Monday afternoon, a day after violent protests by container trailer drivers led to the closure of gates at APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India.

When the longshore contract negotiations are over and productivity has returned to normal, the CEOs of California’s container ports will face even greater challenges dealing with the problems that remain: handling big ships, adjusting to powerful carrier alliances and establishing a new chassis regime.

Russia’s potential as an emerging logistics market was downgraded by 66 percent of respondents in the sixth annual Agility Emerging Markets Survey that was released Monday, with an additional 10 percent of the logistics professionals surveyed believing the market has lost all potential.

U.S. agriculture shippers are welcoming Washington’s recent decision to finally open up the border to more Mexican trucking companies as the move will end retaliatory tariffs on their products and will help them find truck capacity.

Some furniture retailers aren’t able to show off their complete lines of products at a major Las Vegas exhibition this week because of U.S. port delays, an example how congestion isn’t just hurting shippers’ current sales but also their future business prospects.

Trucking companies serving a major intermodal complex in the Chicago area face longer trips after the Illinois Commerce Commission ruled that a key route must be shut down to commercial traffic because of safety concerns, according to various reports.

Sea Star Line and Crowley Maritime are adding container-on-barge capacity to the U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico service after Jones Act competitor Horizon Lines exited the trade lane in December.

Among the world’s largest trade lanes, the trans-Atlantic rarely grabs the headlines, but it can still spring a surprise. Final figures aren’t in yet, but the route grew faster than its larger east-west rivals and the much-hyped north-south trades through most of 2014.

Allcargo Logistics has kicked off a coastal container feeder service between West India and South India, expanding its core multimodal transportation portfolio.

Contship Italia, Italy’s biggest container terminal operator, boosted traffic by 5.7 percent in 2014 as surging volume at its part-owned Morocco transhipment hub more than offset flat traffic at its once high-flying domestic terminals.

Panama transshipment activity is expected to jump by double digits after the new Panama Canal locks open in 2016 and will be followed by longer-term annual growth of about 5 percent, Drewry Maritime Research said in the latest issue of its Container Insight Weekly.

Container traffic jumped 5.8 percent in 2014 at the port of Rotterdam, putting it on track to post one of the highest increases in the fiercely competitive Le Havre-Hamburg port range after years of the port trailing its rivals.

Sea Star Line will expand its U.S. mainland-Puerto Rico service on Jan. 29 by launching a weekly container-on-barge service in addition to the carrier’s roll-on, roll-off ships.

Hapag-Lloyd today became the latest carrier to implement a general rate increase — of $850 per TEU — in the Far East-Europe trade just days after rivals were due to hike rates on the world’s biggest liner route. However, rates could fall to levels not seen since 2011 when carriers cut their bunker adjustment factors in February, a London-based derivatives broker says.

Shippers will increasingly turn to technology to find ways to cope with extreme delays and disruption caused by port congestion, labor disputes and other crises and build more flexibility into their supply chains, says an executive at software provider Descartes Systems Group.

APM Terminals-operated Gateway Terminals India closed its gates Sunday after truck drivers protesting intermittent gate closings at the facility violently clashed with police at the Nhave Sheva port complex.

Asian countries dominated the 2015 Agility Emerging Markets Logistics Index released today with four nations ranked in the top 10 emerging markets – China, Indonesia, India and Malaysia.