Not hearing much about troubles in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as of late? You are not alone. It isn’t because there is nothing happening because there is. It just isn’t convenient news right now, but troubles are still abound. While the news of major shipping lines announcing in early 2024 that they… Read more »
Category: Misc.
Ocean rates will rise if Mother Nature and Houthi rebels have their way.
Did you enjoy the downward trend of shipping rates in 2023? You did? That is good because, for the time being, there are very few reasons container rates should not continue to go up. One of the primary reasons for transpacific container volume health is American consumer spending. American consumers, beyond reasonable logic, have still… Read more »
The real cause of most preventable shipping losses.
I draw on personal experiences to form my opinion for many things I write about. When I do this, my writing is still fiction but broadly based on real happenings somewhere, sometime. My experiences enable me to form ‘hypotheses,’ but well short of ‘theories,’ and there is a difference between the two. Suppose you use scientific… Read more »
Cargo insurance and moving your cargo through a country at war.
I recently had a customer ask me for a cargo insurance rate for cargo traveling from Qingdao, China, to Germany. What is interesting about that? It was for ground rail transit that would have the conveyance moving through both Russia and Ukraine, that’s what. My customer explained that getting cargo cover was possible because he… Read more »
Lithium Batteries, Hot Fires, & Cargo Insurance
Thinking of capitalizing on the increasing lithium battery demand? Wade into the business slow, there are perils you should be aware of. Lithium batteries run everything from pacemakers to automobiles and store our solar energy. The applications lithium batteries can be used for are almost endless. Comparing lithium batteries side by side to traditional lead-acid… Read more »
Who is winning the game of ‘Take the Freight’?
Get a cup of coffee, this is a long article. Truck-related cargo theft incidents are up. Not just a little up, but a lot up. Truck cargo thefts of all kinds were up in 2022, and the trend is continuing. Thieves may be lazy pieces of human trash, but that does not mean they are… Read more »
Are Dirt Cheap Trucking Rates a Good Thing?
There is no doubt that the truck freight volume is down, and there is little chance it will be ramping back up to those heady pandemic days any time soon. At least in the United States, inflationary pressures and higher interest rates are taking a toll on American consumerism. Even Americans with good discretionary income… Read more »