Intermodal’s ‘transformational’ decade

I became a big fan of intermodalism during the 1990s when I ran Canada’s largest IMC (intermodal marketing company). Each time I wrote about this topic, I felt that the service was on the brink of making a major breakthrough in customer acceptance and market penetration. While intermodal activity has shown steady growth over the […]

On several occasions, I have commented about a looming truck capacity shortage. A soft North American economy, coupled with political uncertainty and concerns about Europe and China, are discouraging carriers from making investments in their fleets. Truckers are seeking to maximize the utilization of their existing assets and improve yields, particularly with rising equipment costs, […]

Wal-Mart launched a program in mid-2010 to reduce costs and deadhead miles, leverage the retailer’s logistics skills and scale, and improve visibility and control of its merchandise by taking control of deliveries of inbound freight. The company believed it could find opportunities to do the work better and at a lower cost than vendors could […]

I have long been a fan of intermodal transportation since the days I ran one of Canada’s largest IMCs. I continue to monitor developments in this sector with great interest. My sense is that the intermodal industry, which consists primarily of the railroads, IMCs, shipping lines, draymen and truckers, is positioning itself to take the […]

The improving job numbers provide further confirmation that an economic recovery is underway. The drop in commodity and fuel prices is likely a brief reprieve on the way to a further upswing in business growth. With rising demand, shippers are facing a broad array of challenges in 2011. A tightening transportation equipment supply is being triggered by driver […]

Freight rates are on the rise in 2011. These increases are being driven by a broad range of forces including tightening capacity, driver shortages, increasing fuel costs, government regulations, improved carrier costing systems and cost increases. To mitigate these increases, the onus is on shippers to do everything possible to skillfully manage their freight programs. […]

As economic indicators improve, there is growing interest among shippers and buyers of transportation services to re-start some of their infrastructural systems improvement projects that had been postponed due to cost-cutting. Improving inbound transportation practices is a major focus and one that often requires an effective TMS (Transportation Management System). A typical question is simply […]

One of the most frequently repeated lines in business is that you can only manage what you measure. This well known business principle applies just as well to freight transportation. To effectively manage freight transportation, there are a number of key data elements that need to be captured… Best Practices in Transportation – Freight data management: which elements are essential […]

As shippers continue to face the challenges of capacity shortages, high fuel surcharges and upward pressure on freight rates, many are turning to freight bids to secure consistent capacity and rate stability.There are ahost of other variables that are encouraging shippers to move in this direction… How to run a successful freight bid

As shippers wrestle with the continuingchallenges of tight capacity, increasing freight rates and elevated fuel surcharges, many companies are turning to a formal request for quotation (RFQ) process to address these issues. The RFQ process is now viewed by someshippers as a mechanism to leverage their freight volumes to secure the capacity they require while […]