News

ECU Worldwide and QTerminals each name new chief executive officer.

The quest for greener sources of automobile fuel usually boils down to finding fuel with lower carbon emissions. Toyota is trying to develop an approach using fuel cells powered through its Hydrogen Supply Project.

JD.com, Alibaba’s closest rival in Mainland China, is pushing to develop 1,000 “new energy logistics” vehicles through its subsidiary JD Logistics, Yicai Global reports.

As the Chinese economy rises and more people in the world’s largest nation move into the middle class, the demand for foreign goods escalates. In response to domestic demand and pressure from the U.S. to lower the trade deficit, China is opening its doors to American beef.

Uber plans to roll-out air-taxis by 2020 and has targeted Dallas Fort-Worth, Dubai, and Los Angeles for pilots. 

Despite skeptics insisting on calling it an electrical airplane, Uber would rather call its latest prototypes Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) vehicles. Jalopnik has just reported the ride-hailing innovator’s deal with NASA to develop VTOLs. Tests are expected to start by 2020.

Steadily rising global copper prices have spurred US production, up 21% since 2011. Although Chinese demand has softened somewhat, copper from mines in the Southwest should flow into Texas, Florida, and California as they rebuild from natural disasters.

For the first time since DAT began reporting its data in the current format, the monthly spot rate has exceeded the contract rate at the same time in all three modes.  And the latest DAT Trucking Freight Barometers are continuing to signal that the ‘fall surge’ is happening for the first time since 2007.  Now is a good time to have secured capacity and a bad time to be locked into contract rates.

The U.S. has its first electrified highway. While not a long stretch, the one-mile catenary system on the north- and south-bound lanes of South Alameda Street from East Lomita Boulevard to the Dominguez Channel in Carson, CA, are providing a proving ground for the technology.

Augmented reality is a concept that sounds like jargon at face-value, but in effect, could help digitally transform the freight industry. AR is now ubiquitous in the freight niche – from floating insights while on the road about vehicle mechanics and on-road intelligence to bolstering warehouse logistics.

The automated car subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc. started testing a fleet of self-driving vehicles on public roads in Phoenix last month without anyone behind the wheel.

After a record-setting year, although import volumes at major container ports across the U.S. are not expected to decline in 2018, the rate of import growth is likely to slow […]

Now North America’s largest provider of truckload services, Knight-Swift Transportation Holdings recorded a net income of $4.2 million on revenues of $521.6 million for the quarter, according to the newly […]

Spot container rates from Shanghai to Europe declined 6.5 percent since last Friday, while rates from Shanghai to the Mediterranean fell 6.2 percent, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai […]

The merger of Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation may be the transportation highlight for the year, but there has plenty more activity revolving around mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in 2017, with no letup in sight.

South Korea’s largest ocean carrier recorded a net loss of 60.3 billion South Korean won (U.S. $54 million) for the third quarter of 2017.

Based in New South Wales, Australia, Transitainer Global, which has been in the U.S.-Australia trade since 1986, will see its U.S. headquarters in Long Beach, Calif. taken over by New […]

The Gulf Coast port also saw increases in breakbulk and the return of roll-on/roll-off service for the first time since 2005, Port of New Orleans CEO Brandy D. Christian said […]

FedEx Express is making a firm purchase of 30 ATR 72-600F aircraft, with options to buy up to 20 additional ATR 72-600Fs.

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission voted to move forward with issuing a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register calling for industry feedback into simplifying the agency’s rules and […]

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross found himself on the hot seat this weekend when leaked papers revealed that a Russian businessman on the U.S. sanctions list has ownership in a […]

A 2017 study by the RAND Corporation found that shifting UPS’s lightest 20% of packages in an urban setting to drone delivery would only result in a 5.7% savings in total energy-use. As the shipping industry transitions to electric trucks, the drones’ advantage in carbon emissions would also disappear.

Tadmore Transportation, a freight brokerage firm headquartered in Toledo, OH, announced today that it has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA). BiTA was established in August 2017 to bring logistics leaders together to cooperatively develop industry blockchain standards.

FR8 Revolution, creators of the FR8Star.com marketplace for open deck carriers and shippers, announced today it is has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA), a forum for the development of blockchain technology standards.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has come to trucking, generating data that improves safety and efficiency for carriers while at the same time giving shippers and customers realtime visibility into the location and condition of their goods.

If the Trump administration wants to push through a massive infrastructure bill, the only viable way to do that is to raise the federal fuel tax. That is the conclusion of an American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) report entitled “A Framework for Infrastructure Funding.”

Many commercial trucking companies will never be impacted by cargo theft, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be prepared. Cargo theft is a multi-million-dollar problem, and like all problems, somebody is going to pay for it.

Taking the last-mile delivery battle seriously, Amazon may have found a hit with its Hub. According to The Motley Fool, Amazon is putting Hubs in “multi-tenant dwellings like apartment buildings, condos, and complexes.”

The Bonn, Germany-based parcel carrier and logistics provider recorded net profits of 669 million euros (U.S. $777.6 million) on group revenues of 14.6 billion euros for the quarter, according to […]

The Taiwanese ocean carrier also unveiled expansion plans in Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean amid an 11.1 percent percent year-over-year gain in transport volumes to 1.24 million TEUs for the […]

Truckload, intermodal and logistics provider Schneider National reported a net income of $36.9 million for the third quarter of 2017, up 0.2 percent compared to the same period in 2016, […]

Cargo and vehicles can become damaged en route, and often carriers are on the hook for those damages. But a new startup, PEIR, is providing photographic proof of conditions to help protect carriers.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) is projecting a surplus of revenues after operating expenses and debt service of $1.5 billion for next year, which would […]

Only 27 percent of shippers and 42 percent of service providers have an in-house data science team, which can limit the effectiveness of analytics initiatives, according to the latest Supply […]

Navis appoints general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; and OmniTRAX names executive vice president, industrial development group.

Riskpulse predicts a somewhat colder, wetter winter for the western and northwestern US; warmer, drier conditions should prevail in the southeast and eastern seaboard.

AnyTrek has developed “an online tanker thermometer” to comply with the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Luxury brands have been closing up shop in China recently, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The phenomenon of building brick-and-mortar stores that “originated in China,” has now reversed itself, as more retail stores are closing up shop and moving online.

A one-day brake enforcement inspection by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance resulted in 14% of commercial vehicles in the U.S. and Canada being placed out of service for brake violations. A full 22% of vehicles were placed out of service for some kind of violation, CVSA said.

The National Customs Brokers and Forwarders Association of America (NCBFAA) is asking Capitol Hill lawmakers to renew a trade preference program that allows for duty-free imports of certain goods into […]

Shipment volumes for the month grew 3.2 percent year-over-year, while expenditures rose 4.6 percent, according to the latest Cass Freight Index Report.

Industry leaders have called for infrastructure changes as the airport has seen cargo volumes increase 10 percent in just one year, leading to congestion, delays and an inability to reach […]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has stepped up its industry outreach to ensure that the country’s importers aren’t running afoul of legislation that prevents the importation of merchandise made by […]

Pacific International Lines’ (PIL) two new 11,800-TEU vessels, the Kota Pahlawan and the Kota Panjang, are replacing the carrier’s 8,531-TEU Navarino and 8,241-TEU YM Uniform on its AC5 service between […]

Global port terminal operator International Container Terminal Services’ (ICTSI) net income totaled $45.7 million for the quarter, a 16 percent drop from the third quarter of 2016, according to the […]

Netradyne is using artificial intelligence (AI) to provide fleets with the context needed to make more informed decisions surrounding distracted driving events.

The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore has rescinded the bunker supplier and bunker craft operator licenses of Transocean Oil Pte Ltd, MPA Singapore said in a statement Monday.

The Houston-based tank barge operator performed better than expected during the quarter as several tailwinds more than offset the negative impacts from hurricanes, according to president and chief executive officer […]

Japan was the leading market for U.S. beef exports in terms of volumes and value during the month, despite its recent duty rate increase on imports of frozen U.S. beef.

Tuesday morning, Pilot’s army of defense lawyers got their chance to re-frame the case as one of government overreach, where federal prosecutors relied on dubious witnesses to tar Pilot’s executives with guilt-by-association. 

A combination of slowing economic growth, burdensome tax policy, and weak infrastructure is crippling Brazil’s transportation and logistics industries. 

UPS (NYSE:UPS) today said it has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA), a forum for the development of blockchain technology standards and education for the freight industry.

As 2017 winds down, many carriers are taking a hard look at their tax situation. Is there anything they can do now that can reduce their tax liability? There is, and it comes in the form of equipment purchases.

The price of diesel fuel jumped last week, rising 6.3 cents per gallon to $2.882. The increase follows a rise in oil prices and a 20-cent jump in fuel taxes in California, that went into effect on Nov. 1.

As the trial date later this month quickly approaches, Waymo LLC is starting to feel some additional heat from U.S. District Judge William Alsup as details of Waymo v. Uber begin to surface, ARS Technica reports.

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS), which represents shipowners’ associations covering more than 80 percent of the world’s maritime fleet, says the elimination of carbon emissions from oceangoing vessels is […]

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based Class I railway may be backing away from its previously announced plans to develop an intermodal rail terminal neat Rocky Mount, N.C., according to multiple media reports.

Florida’s leading perishables seaport also welcomed the first shipment of Colombian Hass avocados into the United States on Monday.

The French ocean carrier reveled its nine future 22,000-TEU containerships, all of which are slated for delivery in 2020, will be equipped with engines that will run primarily on liquefied […]

Through the third quarter of 2017, Berkshire Hathaway-owned Class I railroad BNSF posted an operating income of $5.3 billion, a $462 million (9 percent) increase over the first three quarters […]

Fuel theft and fuel card abuse is a constant problem, but finding $300 worth of abuse on a $5,000 monthly fuel bill is not easy. That’s where Fueloyal believes it can help.

A study commissioned by the U.S. Grains Council and National Corn Growers Association found that U.S. grain exports exports supported $55.5 billion in economic output in 2015, with the top […]

Air Menzies International gains new CEO; Kalmar appoints senior vice president, global terminal operators; VARGO hires systems engineer; and Wen-Parker Logistics adds new member to its board of directors.

On Monday in Chattanooga, federal prosecutors presented their opening arguments in the conspiracy and fraud trial of former Pilot Flying J employees Mark Hazelwood, Scott Wombold, Karen Mann, and Heather Jones.

Argus Transport Canada, a technology-driven Montreal based trucking and 3PL today announced it has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA).

Toyota unveiled a new fuel-cell car at the Tokyo Motor Show wearing an airless tire concept from Sumitomo. There are a number of airless tires used in specialized applications, despite issues with weight and rolling resistance.

SmartDrive Systems, which is already among the leaders in video-based safety systems, is adding sensors as an option for fleets to help detect drowsy and fatigued driving. The company made the announcement at the recent American Trucking Associations Management Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Fl.

In the early days of trailer tracking, companies were simply looking for missing trailers. But technology has advanced, and trailer tracking is trying to keep pace. Now, the data generated by trailers can rival that of tractors, and properly managing that data could generate more revenue potential for carriers than ever before.

Iowa is teaming with seven other Midwestern state DOTs to build an accurate, real-time information system on where available parking spots are located.

The U.S. trade deficit totaled $43.5 billion for September, a 1.7 percent increase from August, as rising exports were offset by an even higher increase in imports.

Combined U.S. carload and intermodal originations rose to 2.2 million units last month, up 3.1 percent compared to October 2016, according to data from the Association of American Railroads (AAR).

The global third-party logistics provider recorded net profits of 17.8 million Kuwaiti dinars (U.S. $58.8 million) on revenues of KD 358.5 million for the quarter, increases of 17.4 percent and […]

The private equity firm’s purchase of the 4 million-square-foot industrial real estate portfolio reportedly includes warehouses, distribution centers and other industrial sites.

The independent tanker company recorded a net loss of $28.1 million or the third quarter of 2016 due primarily to an oversupply of tonnage coupled with new vessel deliveries, according […]

One of the fundamental problems with freight hauling in India is the apparent difficulty in decoding the logistical cacophony that exists across all levels in the industry. Digital freight management tools and marketplaces have sprung up in recent times, but are still in a nascent stage.

Jeff Mason joins FreightWaves as Managing Director. Jeff was previously with ATA, where he ran Transport Topics and TIA where he served as Chief of Staff. Prior to joining industry associations, Jeff ran the trucking content and media businesses of Randall Reilly. 

MTC Logistics appoints chief information officer, general managers and plant manager; while the U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) elects new officer team.

“Uberization” has become a huge buzzword in the 3PL industry, but the business models of the digital brokers using apps is unlikely to have an impact on the way the industry operates. The technology of smart contracts, however, is a game-changer. 

The on-demand trucking service trend has hit France, as Convargo is now seeking to become that country’s “Uber of trucking,” TechCrunch reports. The company, which pitched itself as “a marketplace for shippers and carriers,” has raised $19 million in a Series A round of funding.

The push for autonomous vehicles is gaining more traction as it is provides an easy solution to the worsening driver shortage. Greg Nichols, writing for ZDNet, says the obvious reason is that “millennials don’t want to drive trucks.”

Amazon has written a provision into the National Defense Authorization Act that could funnel huge amounts of Department of Defense procurement through their platforms, giving them even more leverage over suppliers.

ITS Logistics announces they have joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance. This will allow ITS Logistics to play a role in creating a common framework and standard for blockchain technology as it proliferates into the freight and logistics industry.

Conditions are still not satisfactory for rail shippers, even after the Agricultural Transportation Working Group sounded the alarm on what they call problematic and deteriorating rail service provided by the one of the nation’s four major rail carriers.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) SmartWay program has recognized 48 carriers, retailers, manufacturers and logistics companies with its SmartWay Excellence Awards.

The Republican tax plan has officially been unveiled, and it includes a permanent corporate tax rate cut from 35% to 20%. The $1.5 trillion plan also includes the shrinking of the number of tax brackets to just four and eliminates the alternative minimum tax. It does not change the pretax treatment of 401K plans, as had been discussed previously.

With less than two months left before the ELD mandate goes into effect, statistics coming from ground zero on the compliance of carriers to the proposed rule are far from satisfactory.

With no agreement to diffuse the long-running trade battle between the United States and Canada over softwood lumber, the U.S. Commerce Department said it will proceed with imposing antidumping and […]

Carrier consolidation and the deployment of larger containerships, coupled with lagging infrastructure has created significant issues for North American terminals, according to a new report from consulting firm AlixPartners.

Spot container rates increased on trades from Shanghai to the United States, Europe and the Mediterranean since last week, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange’s Shanghai Containerized Freight Index (SCFI).

The PortMiami Perishables Committee, which represents the region’s bustling fruits and vegetable import industry, has asked the nation’s top agricultural official to intervene in turning back significant federal treatment fee […]

The third-party logistics provider saw its net profits drop despite revenues increasing 12.8 percent as it absorbed debt and expenses from recent acquisitions.

Given a shift in focus to include growing partner government agency (PGA) controls, perhaps the term “customs broker” has become a misnomer in terms of the realities of the job, […]

Less-than-truckload (LTL) holding company YRC Worldwide Inc.’s net income tumbled 78 percent from the third quarter of 2016, although the company did manage to boost revenues and lower its outstanding […]

The U.S. Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has set up a new page on its website to provide the public with updates on its regulatory reform initiative.

Maersk Container Industry selects new chief executive officer; Glander International Bunkering appoints managing director of its Norway office; and Gebrüder Weiss names country manager, air and sea Germany.

The more individuals participating in a marketplace, and the more money that is being transacted in that marketplace, the more predictive that marketplace becomes. That’s why trucking remains one of the best indicators of economic activity. Here is what the weekly DAT Barometers for dry van, reefer, and flatbed are saying.

This is what being “deep in production hell” looks like. Yesterday Tesla reported wider-than-expected losses of $671M for the third quarter, the largest quarterly loss in the company’s history, which comes right on the heels of a $336M loss in Q2.

Sayfullo Saipov, the 29 year old Uzbek immigrant who has been charged with using a Home Depot rental truck to kill 8 people in Manhattan on Wednesday, was a CDL holder who had attempted to start multiple trucking companies in the U.S.

The Alliance for Driver Safety & Security, aka the Trucking Alliance, has adopted four technologies that the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety says is critical to reducing large truck crashes.

C.H. Robinson, a world-leading third-party logistics (3PL) provider, announced today that it has joined the Blockchain in Trucking Alliance (BiTA) to influence the development of blockchain standards and applications in the transportation business.