Topic: Blogs

In a research brief issued on Nov. 10, EIA said that at the end of July the HTF was at its lowest level in decades at $6.1 billion. And while a Congressionally approved transfer of more than $8 billion brought the HTF balance to $12 billion at the end of the fiscal year on September 30, it still represented the second-lowest fiscal year-end level since 1984, more than 30 years ago.

Federal officials should forge a comprehensive strategy to defend the nation’s ports from cyber attacks, Port of Long Beach Director of Security Services Randy Parsons told a U.S. House of Representatives committee in testimony earlier this month.

Many of these Merchant Mariners are now well into their 80s and 90s and deserve compensation.

While this column has identified the many advantages the Trans-Pacific Partnership would provide U.S. logistics managers once it comes into play, the deal also has positive implications for Asian members.

With the ink now dry from XPO Logistics’ acquisition of Con-way Inc. now dry, the company’s plan for how it plans to integrate Con-way into its plans is coming into fuller focus.

While the pairing of trucking and freight railroad are key ingredients in the recipe for intermodal success, especially on the domestic intermodal side, they are also ingredients that clearly do not mix well at all when it comes to the ongoing debate between the two modes regarding increasing truck size and weight.

While there’s always been a lot of talk about ocean shipper/carrier collaboration, most of the examples have been largely symbolic. A recent exception to that rule, though, surfaced this week with the announcement that AgTC and TSA would work together to address fresh amendments to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea.

It is not entirely surprising that high inventory rates are cited first as one of the reasons for a paltry third quarter GDP number. That has been the case for a while and it is evident in the inventory-to-sales ratio, which stands at 1.37 through the end of August, compared to 1.30 in August 2014.

A recent report concludes that technology exists today to secure digital access and identity issues and help companies monetize their data assets responsibly.

Port director named recipient of the 2015 National Industrial Transportation League’s (NITL) Executive of the Year award.

The National Industrial Transportation League (NITL) will hold its annual conference and freight exhibition from Nov. 16-19 in New Orleans. In addition to the exhibition, the show will feature four educational sessions, led by industry experts.

Late last week, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx issued a draft National Freight Strategic Plan (NFSP), which is open for public comment and comprised of specific policy proposals and solutions to address the growing challenges of moving freight in the U.S.

John McLaurin, president of the San Francisco-based Pacific Merchant Shipping Association tells shippers that complacency is not an option

There are so many ways to analyze the state of truckload capacity, and on top of that there is, perhaps, no other facet of freight transportation that is so directly impacted by myriad moving parts, whether it be driver availability, rates, demand, weather, the economy, and, of course, federal regulations, among others.

With the sinking of the El Faro last week, and the resulting deaths of its entire crew of 33, the viability of the Jones Act is again being called into question.

The NRF is calling for 2015 holiday sales to see a 3.7 percent annual gain to $630.5 billion, which comfortably outpaces the ten-year average of 2.5 percent.

More than 20 U.S. port authority officials and their key staff, representing seaports from all four U.S. coasts, will gather on October 8 to meet with Congressional leadership to discuss the upcoming surface transportation bill and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ navigation budget.

At a certain point, it seems like the ongoing truck driver shortage cannot get any worse, right? Well, think again, because of myriad reasons we could well be in the very early innings of a game that is, and continues, to be hard to watch. That was made clear in a report issued by the American Trucking Associations (ATA), entitled “Truck Driver Analysis 2015.”

Just when it appeared that agreement among participants comprising the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) would not be reached this year, spokesmen announced that recent discussion rounds in Atlanta produced consensus.

While coffee is one of the first things on the minds of many people early in the morning, it was especially prevalent this week, when Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz gave the keynote address at this week’s Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) Annual Conference in San Diego.