Airfreight rates continued to steadily rise in November as the peak season rolled in, with prices on the transpacific trade lane breaching the $5 per kg mark. The latest numbers from the Tac Index show that prices on services from Hong Kong to North America reached an average of $5.37 per kg during November, an increase of 11.2% year on year.
Author Archives: Jeffrey Goh
On Monday Feb. 11, 2019, Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific-both of which are rolling out their own versions of Precision Scheduled Railroading-will deploy jointly developed new routing protocols for domestic and international intermodal interline services.
As United States intermodal volumes have been ahead of carload volumes in recent years, a report recently published by Chicago-based commercial real estate firm JLL explains that should this continue to remain that case, that increased intermodal usage will not only see supply chains drive more cargo off of highways on to rail, but it will also serve as a driver to increase real estate development in close proximity to inland ports.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today reported U.S. rail traffic for the week ending December 8, 2018. For this week, total U.S. weekly rail traffic was 570,225 carloads and intermodal units, up 3.1 percent compared with the same week last year. Total carloads for the week ending December 8 were 267,000 carloads, up 0.3 percent compared with the same week in 2017, while U.S. weekly intermodal volume was 303,225 containers and trailers, up 5.7 percent compared to 2017.
While most government and think tank studies on the abysmal condition of U.S. roads are general in nature, a new congressionally mandated report zeroes in on the Interstate Highway System and finds the future of those ribbons of highway that tie the nation together so at risk that drastic action should be taken over a period of years– including hiking federal fuel taxes and allowing tolling and per-mile-charges on more interstate routes.
Delivery companies are warning shoppers to send holiday gifts and make online purchases within the next 10 days as a record number of packages are expected to be delivered. The U.S. Postal Service, UPS Inc. and FedEx Corp. have taken extra steps to ensure timely delivery of billions of packages this holiday season, including adding staff, infrastructure and pop-up locations.
More drivers are experiencing prolonged sitting, lack of exercise, poor posture, road vibration and increased stress and tension made worse by new HOS and ELD rules and parking shortages.
Amid likely, continued, tight US truck capacity in 2019, shipper/company preparation can pay off, regarding keeping transportation costs within a budget.
Three U.S. senators introduced legislation that would create a training program giving those under the age of 21 the opportunity to operate commercial vehicles in interstate trucking.
Anyone ordering a new heavy-duty truck this summer will have wait until sometime next year to get it, assuming strained manufacturing supply chains hold together. An unprecedented run of orders for big rigs has pushed the backlog at truck factories to nine months, according to industry analysts, the largest since early 2006, when truckers stocked up to get vehicles in place before tougher environmental restrictions would take effect.