Latest News

Jawaharlal eyes barges to reduce truck congestion Truck transport is causing congestion and backups on the area’s roads and highways. Photo credit: Shutterstock. After struggling to make steady progress on its road-to-rail freight conversion drive, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is looking to promote cargo movement via barges, as  pressure from Indian government authorities to […]

Savannah, Charleston drive coastal Asia import gains US importers were drawn to the US Southeast ports’ additional vessel capacity, favorable first call-inbound services from Asia and industrial real estate space, among other factors. Photo credit: Shutterstock. The port of Savannah and to a lesser degree, Charleston, drove the East Coast’s nearly 1 percentage point gain […]

Officials: New India-Russia/EU route slashes transport costs The new route became possible only after the lifting of sanctions against Iran by the international community. Photo credit: Shutterstock. The cost of container cargo transport from India to Russia and the European Union should decline up to 30 percent compared with the traditional trade route through the […]

Europe to rails: get your house in order The European Commission has dramatically turned up the heat on the rail freight industry with a thinly-veiled warning that rail’s failure to deliver a greater market share was threatening public funding that underpins rail in Europe and is urgently needed to improve inadequate infrastructure.EC Transport Commissioner Violeta […]

PSA, Concor deal boosts JNPT’s rail freight effort   Grouping northwest-bound containers onto a single train, along with priority handling, should increase port productivity. Photo credit: PSA India. While Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) has thus far been unable to make any headway in its road-to-rail freight conversion drive, despite various proactive measures, however a […]

Maersk pressures forwarders amid market share battle Some believe Maersk’s forwarders decision could be early evidence that the carriers’ market strength is improving — giving it the ability to address longstanding grievances with forwarders. Photo credit: Shutterstock. Maersk Line this year began putting pressure on forwarders by challenging named account rates and shortening the duration […]

CMA CGM’s APL adds west coast India call Adani’s west coast ports are providing more competition for JNPT. Photo credit: Shutterstock. With northern India shippers increasingly preferring Gujarat State cargo terminals, due to rail cost advantages over Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), the carrier trend of multiple, west coast port calls that has spurred growth […]

Shipping practices: Can a customer nix a carrier? Q: I receive inbound product on a FOB, origin, freight prepaid basis (shipper pays the freight and selects the carrier). The carriers that some shippers use either arrive late or not at all, which sometimes creates stock-outs. The carriers come into my facility, which is private property. […]

Shipping practices: May customer give vendor's carrier routing directions? Q: I receive inbound product on a F.O.B. origin, freight prepaid basis (shipper pays the freight and selects the carrier). The carriers that some shippers use either arrive late or not at all, which sometimes creates stock-outs. The carriers come into my facility which is private […]

Brazil customs strike causing truck border delays Importers in the Mercosur neighboring countries are now lobbying their governments to exert pressure on Brasilia to try harder to resolve this bitter, long-running dispute. Photo credit: WikiCommons. With Brazil’s customs office strike nearing its eighth week, long but “just about manageable” delays have occurred at its leading […]