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Tuesday, October 05, 2010

The Institute of Supply Management’s (ISM) Non-Manufacturing Report on Business recovered some of its losses from its previous report, with a 1.7 percent gain from August to September.

According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. shippers are going to have a hard sell when in comes to going global

After an 18-week respite, the average price per gallon of diesel gasoline is back in $3 per gallon territory, according to data released this week by the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration. For the week of October 4, the EIA reported that average diesel prices are exactly $3 per gallon, representing a 4.9 percent increase from the week of September 27.

After growing faster than the overall economy during the first year of the recovery, manufacturing has clearly downshifted into low gear, noted spokesmen for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Businesses that scaled back on supply during the recession may find themselves or their suppliers suddenly unable to accommodate increased demand as the economy begins to recover, some experts warn.

Monday, October 04, 2010

Ocean vessel operators threatened by the recent Federal Maritime Commission’s mandate to investigate pricing practices of cartels are responding by bringing shippers into the fold

Recently-introduced legislation by Representative Laura Richardson (D-Calif.) addresses efficient ways for goods to move in and out of the United States. Entitled The Freight is the Future of Commerce Act in the United States Act of 2010 (Freight FOCUS Act, H.R. 6291), the bill offers up myriad ways to address options for more efficient goods movement at a time when meaningful progress towards U.S. surface transportation authorization is seemingly stalled.

In a recent interview with LM, three senior executives shared their views on the current state of the cold chain industry.

OK—I guess it is not a surprise at this point, but it looks like any type of economic recovery occurring (it is, right?) is being driven by manufacturing rather than the more typical leader, consumer spending.

Even though the economy remains stuck in neutral, it appears that the trucking market may be gaining some sustained momentum, based on the September edition of the Cass Information Systems Freight Index.