Intermodal Shipments Post Surprising Third Quarter Surge

Despite month-to-month variations, third quarter intermodal freight traffic growth of 3.4% was in line with year-to-date results, according to new figures from the Intermodal Association of North America (IANA).

Fuel Prices Fall, but FedEx and UPS Boost Surcharges

FedEx Corp. FDX -0.07 % is raising its fuel surcharge for the second time this year, jolting e-commerce companies, retailers and other shippers with price increases just as they gear up for the make-or-break holiday sales season. (This article required a subscription with The Wall Street Journal.  To access, please click on the above link.)

Railroad Technology Credited With Saving Millions in Fuel, Reducing Emissions

GE has delivered more than 500 Evolution Series Tier 4 compliant locomotives to North American customers along with its auto-pilot controls system for railroads called Trip Optimizer. The technology being developed by GE Transportation helps the rail industry optimize networks, minimize downtime and reduce operating costs, the company says.

SMC3 expands offerings with acquisition of Transportation Costing Group

Less-than-truckload and transit technology services provider SMC3 said it has acquired Transportation Costing Group (TCG), a provider of activity-based cost modeling software and other profitability management tools for LTL and truckload shippers.

UPS Announces Rate Increases

UPS Inc. announced rate increases of 4.9% on average for the majority of its business, citing higher costs and other factors.

DOT releases freight plan calling for local road funding, ‘accelerated technologies,’ expediting projects

SEATTLE — The Department of Transportation this past weekend introduced a National Freight Strategic Plan that showed a number of challenges in the coming years including 70 million more people in the next 30 years; a 40 percent increase in freight volume by 2040; increasingly larger vessels and more containers at our ports; a tripling of air freight and a doubling of multimodal shipments and volumes of imports/exports.

Truck drivers wanted. Pay: $73,000

There will be a shortage of nearly 50,000 truckers in the United States by the end of this year, according a new report by the American Trucking Associations (ATA). That’s up from a shortage of 30,000 drivers just two years ago, and 20,000 drivers a decade ago.

Trucking Makes a Comeback, but Small Operators Miss Out

A recovering U.S. economy is driving record demand for trucking. But many smaller operators, who make up the vast majority of the roughly 470,000 for-hire fleets on the road today, say they’re missing out on the boom. (This article requires a subscription with The Wall Street Journal.  To access, please click on the above link.)

New trucking initiative seeks to polish industry’s image to nation

A new trucking advocacy group is trying to buff up and modernize the image of the 7 million Americans involving in the domestic trucking industry.

Operational Costs Rise Despite Falling Fuel Prices

Rising equipment costs and driver wages led to an increase in operational costs in 2014, according to a comprehensive report from the American Transportation Research Institute.