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Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Like preceding months, October rail volumes were up and down when compared to the last two years, according to data released by the Association of American Railroads (AAR). The AAR reported that monthly rail carloads for October—at 1,196, 432—were up 8.7 percent from October 2009 and down 7.9 percent from October 2008. And the weekly October average of 299,108 carloads was the highest since October 2008, topping September’s 297, 502 weekly carload average.

Metro Atlanta-based dedicated short-haul truckload carrier James Brown Contracting Inc. (Brown Trucking) recently announced it has acquired West Brothers’ Companies, a Durham, N.C.-based provider of transportation, logistics, and leasing of commercial fleet services in the southeast.

In light of the October attempt by terrorists to send explosives originating from Yemen to the United States on cargo and passenger planes, the White House and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) yesterday issued a number of steps to augment security and tighten existing measures pertaining to U.S.-bound cargo.

Ocean carriers and ports are not often given the chance to share the stage when it comes to articulating a common strategy. Even when pursuing a similar goal, the tactics can be at cross purposes.

Following two straight weeks at $3.067 per gallon for diesel gasoline, the price per gallon rose 4.9 cents to $3.116 per gallon for the week of November 8. This marks the sixth straight week of the average price per gallon at $3 or more

Monday, November 08, 2010

Following the lead of its industry brethren, less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL) said it is increasing its base rates by roughly 4.9 percent, effective November 15.

Even though import cargo volumes at U.S.-based retail container ports declining on a sequential basis, they are up on an annual basis, according to the most recent Port Tracker report by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and Hackett Associates. In September,U.S. ports handled 1.34 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU), which was down 6 percent from August’s 1.42 million TEU and up 17 percent compared to September 2009.

Worldwide sales of semiconductors were $26.5 billion in September, a gain of 2.9 percent from the prior month when sales were $25.8 billion, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported.

In an effort to involve more air cargo players in the “security dialogue,” the National Industrial Transportation League has invited some key players to participate in its annual conference next week.

Friday, November 05, 2010

Despite recording a quarterly loss, less-than-truckload (LTL) transportation services provider YRC Worldwide (YRCW) made some inroads in revenues and tonnage on both an annual and sequential basis for the third quarter.