As an owner/operator or fleet motor carrier, there are several things to consider when making a decision about insuring your load. Key determining factors are the mode of shipping, the linehaul (the pick-up and delivery points), the types of commodities you will be transporting and the value of the shipment. Please see the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) complete list of forms and guidelines of liability insurance relative to obtaining operating authority: http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/registration-licensing/licensing/registr.htm Consider these objectives: Standard Liability Coverage – Your load will be covered under FMCSA standard legal liability which you must have as an operating authority even if you do not choose to have load coverage. Freight standard insurance is $750,000 to $5,000,000 depending on the commodities transported and $300,000 for non-hazardous freight moved in vehicles under a 10,001 lb weight. Cargo standard insurance is $5,000 per vehicle, $10, 000 per occurrence. Domestic loads: $0.50 per lb per $100 minimum if the load value exceeds $100. International freight: $20 per kg of actual load value if under $20 per kg. International sea freight: $500 per load unit. The load unit may be FCL (full container load which is 1 unit), or LCL (less than container load where…
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The shipping traffic which transport terminals handle is directly related to the markets they service as these ports are transshipment points. The area over which these ports draw their business is considered to be the hinterland. Hinterland logistics deal with freight flows and involves timing, expediency, mode and frequency of services: the supply network dynamic. The performance of logistics networks determines the competitiveness of global supply chains considerably, as production, distribution and consumption is linked. As a result of mass customization in response to product and market segmentation of logistics networks, distribution systems is adapting and taking advantage of the flexibility of supply network dynamics with the decoupling of order and delivery regarding order fulfillment. Amazon and Wal-Mart, ‘Duking’ it Out with Aggressive Delivery Policies Taking advantage of the latest technology in hinterland logistics are some of the biggest retail firms on the planet. Wal-Mart and Amazon.com are in fierce competition through the end of the 2012 holiday season in ‘same day delivery wars’. Wal-Mart is unrivaled in its US retail dominance, but Amazon.com is running a close second as the e-commerce giant will hit some $70 billion in sales by year’s end. Amazon’s sales increased another 29% at the…
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Australia’s Maritime Safety Authority (ASMA) recently started inquiries into a series of canisters washed up on a beach in Queensland. It is alleged that the canisters contained aluminium phosphide, a deadly poison. The ASMA is currently seeking to determine whether the canisters are from a deliberate attempt at pollution or if they were the inadvertent result of a cargo breach. The charges associated with either would be severe since aluminium phosphide can be deadly to both human as well as animal life. The ASMA has collaborated with scientists to determine if it is possible that the canisters could be from groundings or hull breaches in the wider Pacific region using a complex system of drift modeling. The ASMA has also checked recent reports of cargo losses, but there have been no reports of a vessel losing this type of cargo. Aluminum phosphide is an inorganic compound which has industrial uses as a semiconductor or a fumigant. It is the latter of these that make it deadly. It has been used in rodenticides, insecticides, as well as a fumigant, which have led to deaths previously. Aluminium phosphide could be harmful to both mammals and marine life. Its use as a poison…
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The means for shipping freight is affected by expediency and operating costs and other factors as well. One mode of freight shipping over the other; rail versus truck freight movement, would not be an acceptable contrast to make when Intermodal solutions, integrating the trucking and railway industries, is the most beneficial shipping option. Truck Operational Costs: Diesel Fuel Rules Over the road (OTR) transportation has been the most expensive shipping mode for more than 40 years. Even as trucks continue to move most of the nation’s freight, the trucking industry has been rocked with steadily rising diesel fuel prices over the last five years. Major trucking companies have cut their over-the-road capacity considerably, as they are enacting truck-to-rail freight shipping alternatives while some smaller trucking companies, having maybe a fleet of ten trucks on the road, are going out of business. For one commercial truck, the cost of fuel—39% of the total operating cost—is the largest operating expense in the trucking business, with driver salaries being the second largest. Trucking companies are slow-walking their hauls to save fuel. Owner/operators in the business say slowing a tractor-trailer rig down to 65 mph from 75 mph increases fuel mileage by over a…
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No favorable decision for NITL’s petitioning of the United States Surface Transportation Board (STB) to adopt new reciprocal switching rules between the country’s four Class I railroad carriers has been reached. “Shippers and railroads sometimes agree, and sometimes we don’t,” said president and CEO of the National Industrial Transportation League, Bruce Carlton, at last week’s New York Rail Trends Conference. With reciprocal switching, under certain conditions, railroad competitors share railways between shipping customers for a fee. If a shipper needed the access of a particular Class I railroad that it would otherwise not use, having no contractual agreement, the non-contractual Class I rail line can grant the ‘captive’ shipper (located in a terminal area) of its competitor, railway access, charging the competitor rail line a service fee. The NITL petition calls for specific conditions to be applied to the STB rules of mandatory reciprocal shipping. The petition states that the captive shipper would have to be within 30 miles of a working interchange of at least two Class I rail carriers and the point of origin to destination transportation rate charged by the competing rail carrier exceeds 240% of its variable service cost. Another caveat of the petition is that…
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The railroad industry’s resurgence to facilitate US and global commerce is seeding the plans of state commerce departments to improve port infrastructure as many states are looking to dedicate railway connections from the logistics hubs to the maritime ports. After much conflict of interests and public/private sector land disputes, South Carolina and the city of North Charleston are in détente as plans for the new Intermodal Railyard get underway. History of Disparity with North Charleston and S.C. Commerce Department In 2010, the city of North Charleston was not initially on board with the South Carolina Department of Commerce’s visionary plans for the proposed rail yard to be located on the former Charleston Naval Base where it would be accessible by both the Norfolk Southern and CSX Corporation rail lines. The S.C. Commerce department’s position projected the Intermodal Railyard development would strengthen state and local businesses, bringing increased commerce to the port of Charleston. However, North Charleston had different concerns. The city’s contention was to maintain private ownership of the land and its vested interest was residential protection and its riverfront attractions. North Charleston Mayor Keith Summey brought a lawsuit against the S.C. Commerce department, citing the state’s disregard of its…
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The interconnectivity of the world’s major ports is broad scale. Many public and private sector capital investment has subsidized plans, design, and building of global logistics infrastructure of these hubs over recent years. As international commerce continues to boom with high demand commodities and consumer responsiveness, design technology of new ports is shape-shifting to meet the demand. Transportation industry experts, financial investor houses such as JP Morgan, and major firms such as US Contractor Bechtel, are moving forward – exploiting reclamation technology in the development of man made island ports with at least 3 million TEU (twenty foot equivalent unit) annual container capacity and handling vessel capacity of up to 400,000 dwt (dead weight tonnage). Abu Dhabi Khalifa Port Container Terminal The official launch of The Abu Dhabi Khalifa port on December 12, 2012 at 1200 hours, marking the 5 year end of Bechtel’s land reclamation project, was successful; inaugurated by its namesake, President HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan along with royalty, diplomats, and other business leaders. Khalifa port, operated by ADT (Abu Dhabi Terminals), showcases the latest technology with a 16 meter draft and a 4.0 kilometer quay wall, and services the largest container vessels currently afloat…
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Inland port terminals diversify the US supply chain when it comes to global trade. The escalation of e-commerce sales is impacting Intermodal logistics and taxing ground shipping of companies such as FedEx and UPS. The dedicated railway-to-maritime port component of inland ports alleviates the over-the-road capacity strain on these companies when accessing inbound shipments. With the resurgence and growth of the railroad industry giving rise to augmented rail-to-rail and Intermodal (rail-to-truck) freight capacity systems, dry port terminals have facilitated the circumvention of rising diesel fuel prices and downsizing in the trucking/carrier industry over recent years. Over the last five years, truck carriers such as J. B. Hunt, Werner Enterprises and CRST/Malone (Cedar Rapids Steel Transport’s flatbed division) have cut over-the-road capacity to 15 percent from a previous 12 percent cutback. According to Logistics Management’s September 2012 online issue, price trends for trucking carrier industry specialized services, such as LTL or less-than-truckload, general freight, tanker and other specialized freight services, are declining, down 9 percent just in June and July. Rail industry prices in the first seven months of 2012, conversely, were up 4.9 percent, 2 percent over trucking industry prices for the first 2012 quarter. Rail-to-rail freight shipping is gaining…
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Dry ports or inland terminals, although not a new concept in the global supply chain, are newer, in a demand wave of intermodal, global shipping as global trade rises. With the increase of global trade taking a toll on the capacity of coastal or maritime ports, for instance, many US coastal ports, inland terminals shoulder a lot of the burden of sea port terminal inbound/outbound shipping traffic. The inland port is synonymous with hinterland logistics; the ‘hinterland’ being any country’s interior logistics zones of which coastal ports have challenging access. Inland/dry ports are strategic in connecting logistics zones which incorporate distribution centers, shippers, freight forwarders, trucking companies, container repair facilities and the like, as a throughway for the overage of inbound cargo now stretching the capacity of coastal ports. This frees the sea ports to receive the next vessel of inbound cargo, as well as expedites truck and rail outbound shipments to these ports. Three basic requirements of inland terminals encompass ‘co-location’, a principle of multi-function capability which cements the inland port’s vitality in its integral role to the global supply chain as a dedicated connective component of logistics zones, military bases and maritime terminals. Inland terminals, efficient in their…
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Interrnational trade is becoming an increasingly large factor in the operations of small businesses. Advances in technology provided by computers and mobile communication devices have allowed small businesses to tap into this lucrative market. The internet provides a platform to gain access to markets all over the world that previously only large scale firms had the resources needed to tap into. The internet has numerous directories which list the resources available to help small businesses find information on how to locate markets abroad, and the methods needed to provide them with products. Search engines can provide listings for specific markets such as Europe or Asia, and specific industries as diverse as mining and medical instruments. Courses can even be found online outlining the business etiquette to be used in such procedures. They will walk the neophyte through every step needed to make such an operation a success. Numerous governmental agencies are devoted to helping small business operators in this regard. In the United States, the Small Business Administration comes immediately to mind, but a search engine request will unlock an abundance of other departments available to help small business expand in this field. There are also many trade associations available…
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