It’s harder and harder to find drivers today. With increased regulations and volatile markets, what used to be a profession of wanderlust and freedom of the road is struggling to attract top driving talent.

After torrential rains called the ‘storm of the century’ hammered British Columbia’s southern interior in mid-November, submerging many communities and critical rail and road links with Canada’s largest port, the supply chain crisis appears to be getting from bad to worse, with the third rainstorm that began Wednesday.

Berkeley National Lab says, U.S. Class 1 railroads converting to batteries could save $94 billion over 20 years and reduce pollution.

Freight forwarders are the unsung heroes of global trade. Whenever there’s a new supply chain shock, they are the companies we rely on to react fastest, to problem-solve strategies for the world’s foremost brands and manufacturers and, ultimately, to maintain the flow of goods.

4FOLD Containers will compress four empties into one unit to be tested in Shanghai-Chicago-Shanghai experiment

Last February I wrote an article entitled “Container Crisis Opportunity in the Multipurpose Sector” [AJOT Issue #718, Breakbulk Quarterly, page 9] concluded the article by saying “It should be an interesting year,” and 2021 didn’t disappoint.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says that he supports an increase in federal funding for so-called ‘Marine Highway’ vessels to shift port containers off highways and on to the nation’s waterways.

A ‘peel pile’, ‘peel-off’ or ‘flow stack’ is a concept first introduced in 2015 that is getting more usage at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach as a result of the increase in 2021 import cargo congestion, according to Mason George, president of IMC Companies, National Accounts.

Larry Gross, president, Gross Transportation Consulting, told AJOT that he sees evidence the congestion crisis will ease as more ocean carrier sailings are shifted from the congested Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach and to Atlantic coast ports