Third Party Logistics News - 3PL wire » Misc Logistics

Diesel prices up 14.3 cents per gallon

Splatty — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 08:40:23 +0000

Not good. Citing unrest in the Middle East, diesel prices increased 14.3 cents to settle in at a national average of $3.716 per gallon, the highest since 2008.

Via JOC.com:

Oakland truckers plan a strike at the port Dec 15-18, 2009

3plwire — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Update: 9:00am PST – Received reports that police presence in and around the port/terminals is pretty heavy. Also rumors that the strike might only last through today.

I received a copy of a flier that’s been circulating amongst the drivers at the Port of Oakland. Supposedly it’s being organized by the Northern California Port and Rail Truckers Association as well as the National Port Drivers Association in Los Angeles. I’ve heard of the National Port Drivers Association but must plead ignorance regarding the Northern California Port and Rail Truckers Association. A quick Google search of both turned up some news articles, but failed to produce a web site for either. If you stumble across sites for either or both, let us know and we’ll be happy to link.

Bottom line, now that the deadline for retrofitting trucks to meet new CARB (California Air Resources Board) and BAAQMD (Bay Area Air Quality Management District) emission regulations is fast approaching (December 31st) a number of drivers who either could not, or did not bother, to get grants or pony up to retrofit their trucks are panicking at the fact that they will be barred from entering the port to pick up and drop containers. An overview of the new air regulations can be found at CARB’s website here:

Trucks with model year 1993 or older engines are no longer legal at ports and intermodal rail yards starting January 1, 2010.

Trucks with model year 1994 – 2003 engines must be equipped with an ARB approved Level 3 control device (e.g. a particulate filter) starting January 1, 2010.

While I have a great deal of sympathy and respect for owner operators in general, this regulation has been long in coming and well publicized by the Port of Oakland, terminal operators, CARB, BAAQMD, local media, politicians, etc. Lots of outreach and communication was done on behalf of the trucker community over the past year not only advising them of the upcoming regulation but also educating them about how to secure grants or funds for retrofitting 1994-2003 year trucks. There are certainly plenty of struggling drivers who tried but could not get money to retrofit their trucks, but there’s also plenty of drivers who either did not care to be informed or couldn’t be bothered to keep up with the regulations. Not to mention plenty of fly-by-night drayage companies who did not bother to think about their drivers and what will happen when they can’t enter the ports.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out at the port today. As we hear more, we’ll let you know how much support this has gotten amongst the drivers and whether there is any significant disruption.

Cargo Free Fall

Splatty — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 04:22:16 +0000

I just did a quick scan of logistics related headlines and a common theme is the drop in cargo volumes many companies and ports are reporting. Here are a few of the headlines:

Kuehne & Nagel CEO: Doesn’t See Cargo Mkt Recovery

Air France-KLM Jun Passenger Traffic -6.4%;Cargo Traffic -0.4%

Port of Portland numbers continue to drop

Shipper NOL moves 14 pct less cargo in 4 wks to June 26

Jaxport Cargo Drops in June

Air France-KLM posts 41.5pc Q2 cargo drop

AA Cargo Drops 42 Percent

Ugly. Anyone else ready for a recovery?

C.H Robinson Acquires London Based Forwarder

3plwire — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 03:04:55 +0000

Eden Prairie, MN based logistics provider, C.H. Robinson, has acquired London based freight forwarding company Walker Logistics Overseas, LTD (“Walker”).

Walker, established in 1977, is a global, fully integrated import and export door-to-door provider specializing in air and ocean freight, warehousing, courier, and logistics solutions. Walker has over 75 employees in five offices throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands.

Walker’s customers are primarily in the electronics telecommunications, medicals, sporting goods and military industries.

“We are continuing to invest in C.H. Robinson’s global network to enhance our service offerings to our customers. Walker expands our capabilities in the Asia to Europe trade and strengthens our distribution and gateway capabilities for two key European markets–London and Amsterdam,” said Jeff Scovill, C.H. Robinson vice president. “Walker’s team has extensive knowledge of the local market which will provide strong competitive advantages and benefits to our customers.”

Company press release.

Cargo Insurance – Are you covered?

Splatty — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:46:24 +0000

Cargo insurance might be on one of the least understood concepts in freight transportation. I have seen many claims come through from shippers expecting full recompense for damaged cargo only to find out that the shipment was covered for pennies on the pound under limited liability. I once had a customer who thought he was covered under a blanket policy; however, after his ocean container took a dive into the Pacific, he realized that he was not covered at all and potentially had to look at also paying the steamship line for the lost container.

I recently read an excellent article from Logistics Management about cargo and insurance liability that is a must read. Click here for the entire cargo insurance article.

One container ship equals pollution of 50 million cars

Splatty — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 16:08:59 +0000

Complete article from gas2.org

I can see it now…outrage and calls for a complete end to global trade.

YRC reportedly seeks $1 billion bailout

Splatty — Sat, 16 May 2009 04:26:47 +0000

Too big to fail???

Various media reports are reporting that YRC Worldwide Inc. will petition the government for $1 billion in tarp funds to help alleviate pension obligations.

After posting a $415 loss in the first quarter, the company is reportedly experiencing difficulty in dealing with the economic downturn. YRC is one of the nation’s largest domestic trucking companies with approximately 20% of the national market share of LTL freight.

The Wall Street Journal has an excellent article with all of the details.

Flu pandemic and its potential affect on logistics

3plwire — Tue, 05 May 2009 19:00:48 +0000

I just read a pretty interesting article from IEEE spectrum about the affect a global pandemic could have on the U.S. freight rail networks and ports. Obviously with the recent outbreak of the swine flu (H1N1), I have been wondering what kind of affect a flu pandemic (or for that matter, any broad catastrophe) would have on global trade.

This particular article focuses on the potential difficulties that both the rail system and ports would encounter and it was determined that the rail system would bear the brunt of the issues mainly due to available resources and capacity.

Systems engineers at Cornell University and Sandia National Laboratories analyzed the impact of influenza at three levels of severity. In the midlevel scenario, in which absenteeism peaks at 13.6 percent during an outbreak, the effective capacity of the United States’ 18 major rail yards is cut by 10 percent. That might not seem like much, but there is so little spare capacity in the rail system that such a pandemic would lead to widespread problems lasting six to eight weeks.?

“We have a very brittle system already in rail,” says Linda K. Nozick, a professor of systems engineering at Cornell University, who was part of the team that performed the simulation. The main problem is with the nation’s 18 major rail yards. In February 2007, the time period the researchers used as a base, freight cars spent just over 28 hours on average at each yard they passed through. At the yards, trains are taken apart, inspected, and assembled to route freight around the network. “There’s a lot of demand at these yards and not a lot of resources,” Nozick says.?

From what I have been reading, the recent outbreak of swine flu might not be as serious as once thought; however, the article is a great read for insight into what kind of damage a global pandemic could inflict.

Popularity in using ocean containers for housing grows

SwizStick — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:46:57 +0000

As of an hour ago it was a front page news item on Yahoo!:

While a number of resourceful people have converted shipping containers into make-shift shelters at the margin of society for years, architects and green designers are also increasingly turning to the strong, cheap boxes as source building blocks.

Shipping containers can be readily modified with a range of creature comforts and can be connected and stacked to create modular, efficient spaces for a fraction of the cost, labor, and resources of more conventional materials.

They then highlight, with cool photos, 12 different homes made from shipping containers. We’ve mentioned this phenomenon in the past here and here.

I think I like the ATC (All-Terrain Cabin) and the Ecopods best.

CBP 10+2 ISF 2009 Outreach Schedule

Splatty — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 15:48:15 +0000

With the start date of DHS’ 10+2 security filing rapidly approaching, CBP is hosting trade outreach events in various cities across the country. The events are designed to provide the global trade community with additional information regarding the new Importer Security Filing and Additional Carrier Requirements (10+2) as well as provide a basic understanding of how to fulfill the new requirements. The start date of January 26, 2009 is rapidly approaching so if you live in one of the below cities and are still a little unsure of what to expect, register for one the events here at the CBP’s website.

Cities scheduled for January:

Oakland/Burlingame, CA – Wednesday January 14, 2009

Baltimore, MD – Thursday January 22, 2009

Philadelphia, PA – Friday January 23,2009

Charleston, SC – Wednesday January 28, 2009

Savannah, GA – Thursday January 29, 2009

Cities scheduled for February:

Houston, TX – Wednesday,February 4th, 2009

JFK Area, NY – Thursday, February 5th, 2009

I would also suggest (if you haven’t already) checking with your freight forwarder, customs broker, or anyone else you have designated to handle your ISF filings for specific information on how they plan to comply with the new requirements.