The sudden bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping meant that the company’s container ships were temporarily doomed to float around with dwindling supplies for their crews and containers full of your holiday gifts. Concerned that ships and their cargo might be seized, ports refused to allow them in. However, a bankruptcy court in the U.S. agreed to protect a ship arriving at the port of Long Beach, CA from having its cargo seized, and it was unloaded over the weekend. [More]
the shipping news
Report: Amazon Wants To Help International Factories Sell Directly To You
By 2.9.16
A few years ago, Amazon made a prediction that came true: shoppers were about to use Amazon more for commerce across oceans and borders, ordering easily from all over the world. Yet experts at Amazon must have been wondering how they could help international merchants along, and make more money while they were at it. One possible solution: becoming a freight and warehouse operation for manufacturers abroad. [More]
Longshoremen Walk Off The Job At New York City Area Ports
By 1.29.16
Earlier today, work at cargo ports in the New York and New Jersey area abruptly stopped, and dockworkers walked off the job. While trucks line up outside of the ports to deliver and pick up cargo containers, no one is there to move them around. The dispute involves “hiring practices,” specifically, control of the licenses that allow dockworkers and their employers to work on the ports. [More]
West Coast Port Slowdown Is A Bonanza For Fashion Bargain-Hunters
By 5.19.15
The cargo-unloading slowdown on the West Coast of the United States had far-reaching effects on the global economy, causing problems for everyone from McDonald’s in Japan to truckers in Los Angeles. It was especially harmful to the fashion industry, which saw hot styles shipped over from Asia cool down as they sat off the coast, unable to be unloaded and put in stores. However, this means a bonanza for off-price retailers. [More]
Here Is A Ship That Could Carry 182 Million iPads
By 5.1.15
As we learned during the contract dispute at cargo ports on the West Coast that finally ended this year, cargo ships are essential. They keep the things that we now think of as the basic comforts of modern life, from car parts to McDonald’s French fries, flowing around the globe. [More]
Shipments Diverted To East Coast During Contract Dispute Probably Won’t Come Back
By 3.2.15
Here’s the thing with container ships: you can move them. That’s the point, actually, so it’s not surprising that instead of waiting in long lines to have their cargo unloaded while the Pacific Maritime Association and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union spent nine months in a contract dispute. Some ships were diverted to the East Coast, and it’s possible that those shipments may never come back to the West Coast. [More]
Free Shipping Is Expensive For Retailers, Bad For Profits
By 1.2.15
Customers love free shipping, but retailers do not. Well, that’s not quite true: retailers love the sales that the availability of free shipping drives, but it isn’t very good for their profit margins. While customers have become used to free shipping and view it as the default for shopping online, retailers still haven’t been able to figure out how to provide free shipping without losing a lot of money. [More]
Report: Shipping Carriers Got 98% Of Express Packages Under Christmas Trees On Time
By 12.29.14
Shipping carriers and retailers alike worked very hard to make sure that this Christmas wasn’t a repeat of the shipping-delay disaster that was Christmas 2013. While the lack of blizzards was helpful, their investments paid off: early reports show that most packages reached their destinations on time. [More]
UPS Will Conquer Its Biggest Shipping Day With Temps And Automation
By 12.22.14
While the second-to-last Monday before Christmas is usually the busiest shipping day of the year for the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx, for UPS the biggest day is today, the last Monday before the holiday. The company has invested a lot of money and technology in making sure that there isn’t a repeat of last year’s massive delay caused by bad weather and a flurry of last-minute shopping. [More]
Amazon Now Using Lockers For Return Shipping
By 4.2.14
Do you know what’s an even worse problem for online retailers than customers who never get their packages? Shipping back the items that customers did receive, but don’t want. Fortunately, Amazon has found a way around this problem: since late last year, they’ve using their lockers designed for deliveries to send products in the other direction. [More]
