Rates

Join our panel of leading economic and transportation analysts as they share their exclusive insight on where rates and capacity are headed over the next 12 months across all modes.

Our panel forecasts soft spikes across the modes as carriers fine-tune their yield management strategies. In turn, shippers must now focus on collaboration and be more creative than ever if they’re to contain costs.

According to company officials, non-contractual 2013 rates will be comprised of a net increase of 4.5 percent for UPS Air and International Services and UPS ground packages are going up 4.9 percent.

September freight shipments and expenditures were up sequentially and down annually.

The August edition of the Truckload and Intermodal Cost Indexes from Cass Information Systems and Avondale Partners pointed to similar rate activity in August compared to the same period a year ago.

The recent successful implementation of significant rate restoration initiatives by carriers in the core east-west trade lanes means that most are now operating above break-even, said analysts with Drewry’s Container Research – a London-based industry think tank

Our transportation law expert provides shippers with a refresher course in the basic legal principles relating to claims for cargo loss and damage.

If you’ve been keeping one eye on ocean fuel (“bunkers”) pricing as I have, you know that the slowdown in the economy has had a pleasing effect on fuel prices.

Logistics Management Group News Editor recently caught up with Doug Waggoner, CEO of Echo Global Logistics, a non-asset based freight brokerage company and a provider of technology-enabled transportation and supply chain management services, at last week’s eyefortransport 3PL Summit in Chicago.

Late last week, a U.S. District judge in the District of Columbia granted class action certification to shipper plaintiffs in a lawsuit which maintains that four United States-based Class I railroads—Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern Corp., and CSX—worked together , or colluded, on fuel surcharges assessed to shippers.

Data from Cass Information Systems in conjunction with investment firm Avondale Partners mostly showed gains for both truckload and intermodal rates in April.

Reversing a trend which occurred in February and March, cost growth outpaced shipment growth, according to data in the most recent edition of the Cass Freight Index report.

March shipments at 1.094 were up 2.1 percent compared to February and down 1.3 percent compared to March 2011. Expenditures at 2.317 were up 1.0 percent compared to February and up 4.3 percent compared to March 2011.

After more than 35 years in the industry, I thought I had seen it all. However, I spent a few days last month with some University of Tennessee (UT) colleagues as well as industry and government leaders discussing the evolution of strategic sourcing and collaborative contracting.

The top 25 truckload carriers enjoyed a 13.2 percent year-over-year increase in revenue in 2011, according to statistics compiled for LM by SJ Consulting. About half that increased revenue was due to rising fuel surcharges, but not all the increase can be attributed to just that.