The earliest signals that holiday spending is on the rise usually comes from signs in the intermodal transportation trends, which includes tracking goods shipped using more than one form of transportation, usually rail cars and trucks. This year, the signs indicate a modest gain over last year’s conservative consumer spending, but anticipating continued consumer wariness of…
Patent assertion entities (PAEs) do not invent anything. They don’t develop nor engineer products. They don’t even sell products. PAEs exist for no reason other than buying up lots of patents for products invented, developed, and produced by others, and use these patents as the basis for expensive, time-consuming lawsuits against the companies that do…
Though the consumer market has been slow to embrace green products and sustainable practices, industrial companies are moving toward sustainability more quickly, especially in sales to business to business (B2B) products and processes. The glass, chemical, and paint manufacturer PPG, based in Pittsburg, PA, illustrates this point perfectly. PPG spokespersons maintain the company has had the…
The less than truckload sector of the trucking industry, the part that handles small parcels of freight including UPS and FedEx, has struggled with high costs, low profits, and poor earnings ratios for decades. This sector also took some of the hardest hits to the transportation industry during the economic crisis that began in 2008….
The deadly rail accident in Quebec last month, blamed on the lack of proper application of hand brakes on a train carrying crude oil from North Dakota to Canada, has caused more news this week. According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration has issued a letter to the American Petroleum Institute…
Businesses are looking forward to the August 13 announcements by the Commerce Department after economists report their expectations that the economy has gained momentum again in July, following three consecutive months with better figures. A survey of 64 industry leading economists, conducted by Bloomberg, indicates the economy is finally beginning to overcome the obstacles imposed…
Spot freight consists of shipments that fall outside an ordinary shipping contract. When shippers have loads not covered under carrier contract, they turn to a spot freight broker or a load board, which shops the shipment to carriers to find the most suitable vehicle and rate to make the shipment. Since spot freight load availability…
Democrats and Republicans ended sessions to enjoy a five-week break while none of the 12 annual spending bills required to continue government operations have yet been passed. One of the most hotly contested bills before Congress is the Transportation Bill, which failed to get funding from either Congressional house. Republicans and Democrats are at a…
Gains and loss reports for the first half of 2013 are in, and show mixed signals in terms of our overall economic situation. The economy grew at a sluggish 1.7 percent annual rate for the second quarter (April through June), according to the announcement by the Commerce Department on Wednesday. Though this was a better…
It took just a few weeks for U.S. and Canadian transportation authorities to issue new regulations on rail operators following the July incident reported here yesterday. On July 23, Transport Canada issued a new rule requiring at least two crew members to be on board any train carrying hazardous materials.