Export 101

Anyone that has been working near the profession of the transportation of goods internationally for a while has a short list of horror stories.  I am no different.  Over the years we see importers buy containers full of rocks in the place of product, exporters selling goods and being stuck for payment, and merchandise get… Read more »

Will there be a busy season?

Every year the ‘busy season’ for container shipping runs from July through October as the USA imports increase to supply retailers for their yearend needs.  Many transportation companies and 3PL’s estimate their yearly projections using the July through October uptick in business as an injection of year saving revenue.  This year however the ingredients are… Read more »

Playing SOLAS Chicken

Remember the SOLAS game of chicken I wrote about in April in the ‘The End is Near’ SOLAS article?  You didn’t read the article?  Really? Geez…okay, here is a link to it https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/end-near-yep-solas-coming-july-tom-o-malley?trk=prof-post for you.  Go read it now while the rest of us wait.  There will be a test so comprehension counts. Okay, let’s… Read more »

This is a very heavy subject.

In case you just woke from a 12 year nap, SOLAS is an international treaty (Safety of Life at Sea) and has a new amendment going into effect 01July2016 requiring shippers to have a system to VGM (verify gross mass).  Maritime operators are sick of the safety risk of handling over weight containers with misstated… Read more »

Your Trucker Your Railroad

Timing is everything.  Just a couple of weeks ago I wrote an article stating full truckload rates would likely continue having downward pressure, in my opinion, for the rest of the year.  I also stated I thought the American Trucking Association (ATA) was off target stating a 7% tonnage increase for Fenurary2016.  The spike didn’t… Read more »

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Businesses go bankrupt, it happens.  Truckers are business so yes they do go bankrupt.  If you are paying attention you are seeing more trucking companies go bankrupt now than last year at the same time.  The number of trucking companies that went bankrupt in the first quarter of 2015 was 85.  The number for the… Read more »

Heavy Containers and SOLAS

If you are an international shipper and you have not heard of the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) container weight mandate, you will very soon. The weight mandate simply states a shipper must certify the weight of the containers they are shipping and is slated to start July 01, 2016. Overweight containers have been… Read more »