Beer. Currently included as part of the most looted cargo items in the U.S., it is easy to sell on the black market. Trucks.com says "Food and beverages have the highest heist rate worldwide, accounting for 27 percent of all cargo theft incidents..." Many thieves attempt to steal from trucks in transit because they are seen as a "vulnerable link in the global cargo chain". Unfortunately, for one truck driver in Phuket, Thailand thieves were able to easily plunder thousands of cans of beer when a truck driver lost control of his truck and spilled nearly 80,000 cans of beers on to the street. The pilferers may face charges for theft if the police are able to identify them. 
If you are unexpectedly in an accident and something happens to your load contact Morgan, Cohen and Bach, an expert in recovery and towing to make sure that you are not overcharged by other parties. 

An accident in New Jersey last week led to hundreds of thousands of dollars flying on to the highway. The accident appears to have made the secured doors malfunction on a Brinks vehicle. Many people exited their vehicles in the middle of the highway to pick up money that had escaped from the truck. Police have now reported that some of the drivers have returned the money saying, "it was the right thing to do".

If you lose your cargo following an accident MCB has experience in salvage, working with the tow companies, and insurance companies to get you back on the road quickly.

​   Daimler Trucks is recalling 7,128 heavy duty trucks due to an electrical system defect that increases the likelihood of their trucks catching fire.
     Affected models are the Western Star 4700, 4900,5700, and 6900 model years 2017 - 2019.
    According to a National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration report “a potential exists for contract between the power stud and bulkhead resulting in potential arcing” increasing the risk of fire.
   Daimler will be notifying owners and dealers on May 21st and offers to inspect the pass-through power stud for clearance to the bulkhead and make necessary repairs for free.
     If you have questions for Daimler you can contact their North American customer service line at 1-800-547-0712.

     A study from the University of New Hampshire (UNH) has found that over the past 20 years, coastal roads in the Eastern United States have seen a 90% increase in flooding.
    Researchers estimate that tidal nuisance flooding threatens over 7,500 miles of roadway along the East Coast; 400 miles of which is interstate road. Researchers also estimate that this flooding causes over 100 million hours of delays each year.
   “As tidal coastal flooding increases in the coming years, there will also be issues with the transportation infrastructure,” said Jennifer Jacobs, professor of civil and environmental engineering at UNH. “In the future, with rising sea levels, we expect to see more frequent issues, more damage, and impact to roadways even farther inland.
     You can read more from her interview in the article linked below.
​
https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2018/03/29/484796.htm ​

As the shipping industries’ busy season approaches the first steps in a new global venture have been unveiled. A new Cargo Flight Tracker at Miami International Airport will allow real time access to cargo data that was previously only available directly through airlines. This new process should be much more efficient compared to the current by-hand system and should allow for expedited processing for shippers and carriers by providing real-time data.

Find out more at www.stattimes.com/miami-launches-webbased-air-cargo-flight-tracker

​With millions of shipping containers around the world transporting cargo most people would expect that the number of containers would be carefully itemized but incredibly, the incidences of loss are often unaccounted for. Only in the last decade, have surveys of the ocean-carrier losses been taken and such reports often use estimated data.
Find out more at: pilotonline.com/business/ports-rail/it-s-hard-for-ocean-carriers-to-get-data-on/article_9d776698-58ee-5f2c-a3c7-d859b29affed.html

​In the event of a maritime incident, salvage companies and tug boat operators are crucial to providing safety and environmental services. These emergency situations are reliant on salvage and tugboats because as TUG Technology & Business states, “Tug operators are usually one of the first on the scene of a shipping accident, saving seafarers lives, recovering cargo, mitigating losses for the industry and preventing pollution.” Unfortunately, these services are being put under pressure as they try to deal with financial struggles they are facing from a under-appreciative industry.

Find out more at: www.tugtechnologyandbusiness.com/news/view,salvage-operators-feel-the-squeeze-as-purse-strings-tighten_48743.htm

Experienced Port Official, Captain Mike Moore, explains how to navigate through the litany of Port and Environmental regulations. Captain Moore details some of the history and the political discussions that arise in the cargo transportation world and points out how the regulations can affect the industry. In his article, he states “Cargo, jobs and economic well-being of ports, regions and our country depend on trade and the efficient movement of goods. Cargo diversion due to ill-advised regulatory overreach, confusion and cost does not do the economy or environment any good.”

Read the article at www.maritimeprofessional.com/news/port-environmental-regulations-charting-best-307400

​"This article is not intended to be a comprehensive course in cargo loss control techniques and practices. Rather, it is an attempt to highlight the ease with which—even in this day and age of sophisticated electronic equipment—the human machine can so easily and discreetly game the system."

Read more at Brinknews.com

​A dash cam video caught by Wyoming State Troopers last week should serve as a reminder to take heed of high wind warnings. The video shows the high winds in the area shifting the truck on to its side and crushing a patrol car situated on the side of the road. Luckily, no one was injured.
​
 It is important to always be vigilant when on the road and take extra precautions to ensure your safety and the safety of those around you.

To find out more about the incident go to: http://trucker.com/dashcam/dash-cam-week-wy-oh-wy

High wind speeds can pose many challenges to truck drivers, so it is important that they are aware of the area and if there have been any recent travel restrictions. As evidence by the tragic accident that occurred at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel yesterday afternoon. While there were no travel restrictions at the time of the wreck, high wind speeds caused restrictions earlier in the day. The Bay Bridge-Tunnel Police Department is now investigating the accident to rule out any other factors. 

To find out more, go to www.pennlive.com/nation-world/2017/02/tractor-trailer_plunges_from_c.html

Diesel particulate filters were implemented in 2007 by the California Air Resources board to help the environment by removing soot and diesel particulates from diesel trucks.  California trucking companies now claim that the filters are causing expensive damages due to dangerous exhaust fires. The companies have filed a lawsuit against the state to challenge the 2007 requirement. Claimants believe that the lawsuit in Sacramento County has enough evidence to prove the filters caused the fires and that they are entitled to restitution.

Find out more at: http://www.capradio.org/articles/2017/02/03/california-truckers-file-lawsuit-against-engine-filter-rule/

When life gives you oranges, don't spill them along a highway.

A truck driver and his nephew were attacked by a group of villagers as the pair tried to stop the group looting their spilled cargo of oranges after their vehicle overturned on a highway in eastern China on Sunday (Nov 6), reported the South China Morning Post.

The driver wept by the road as villagers scrambled to pick the oranges off the road in Yichun, Jiangxi province, news portal Kankannews.com reported.

Villagers living nearby had dashed to the scene after the truck spun out of control and overturned, spilling the fruit across the highway, the report said.
However, they had not come over to help the pair.
​
The driver and his nephew, who were transporting the oranges from Hunan province, tried to stop the villagers from picking up the fruit. However, the pair were beaten up, as seen in the video footage circulated online.

Powerless to stop the looting, the driver squat by the side of the road and wept.

The villagers only left the scene after police officers intervened. It took the officers and the driver the whole afternoon to clear the remaining oranges and clean up the area.

The driver wept as he told reporters about the incident. It was his first long distance trip delivering fruit and he had borrowed money to buy the vehicle.
​
The total value of the oranges was over 10,000 yuan (S$2,076) and the driver waited five hours before his truck was towed away.

PUBLISHED NOV 11, 2016, 9:18 AM SGT - straitstimes.com

A new report predicts major retail container ports will see a 4.4 percent increase in imported cargo volumes this month ahead of the holidays.

The monthly forecast from the Global Port Tracker also indicates that December "should see a slightly larger increase" in retail imports than the November projection. The report, issued by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, also pointed out that cargo volumes for ports covered in the survey rebounded in October after showing a decline in September.

"Retailers are importing more during the holidays this year than last year and that can only mean one thing – they expect to sell more," Jonathan Gold, the federation's vice president for supply chain and customs policy, said in a statement. "Most of the holiday merchandise is already here, but retailers are still restocking to be sure shoppers will have a broad and deep selection as they hit the stores over the next several weeks."

Telsey Advisory pointed out in a research note Tuesday that promotional discounting tied to the holidays has already started and indicated that inventories appear to be "much leaner in the department store channel compared to last year."

Cargo volumes for the full calendar year are expected to be up 2.2 percent from a year ago. It follows the first half of 2016 with a slower 1.6 percent pace in volumes when compared with the year-earlier period. The monthly tracker covers about a dozen ports, including Los Angeles, Long Beach and Oakland, California, and New York/New Jersey and Miami.

Overall, the federation is still forecasting holiday sales will be up 3.6 percent this year when compared with last year. That is above last year's increase of 3 percent but could prove to be overly optimistic given recent softness in the retail space.

JPMorgan analyst Christopher Horvers said in a note Tuesday that some weak retailer results have raised concerns about the overall consumer retail environment. "If the consumer doesn't bounce post-election, we worry that this late cycle weakness looks more like a recession," he said.
The latest tracker forecast also sees monthly cargo volumes moderating in early 2017. It predicts February cargo volumes will fall 3.2 percent from the year-earlier period after a forecast for January's 3.6 percent growth.

According to Hackett Associates founder Ben Hackett, U.S. imports continue to grow but at a slower pace than in past years.

"Despite all the good economic news recently, we are faced with imports growing only about 2 percent this year," he said in a release. "Whether that is merely part of the aftermath of the Hanjin bankruptcy or a sign of weakening demand is not yet clear. Unless there is a major disruption, however, growth should be modest but sustained during the first half of 2017."

​Jeff Daniels | @jeffdanielsca
Tuesday, 8 Nov 2016 | 6:46 PM ET

Uber has already mastered moving people and food around cities. Now it's getting into the long-haul business with a new division called Uber Freight.

The plan builds on Uber's acquisition of Otto, a self-driving trucking company that Uber bought in July for $65 million.

Otto's main focus was to build self-driving truck kits that equipment manufacturers or freight networks could buy and install on their own, but it also secretly harbored a desire to build its own "Uber for trucking" marketplace.

"Even if you look pre-acquisition, Otto was always about reinventing transportation," Eric Berdinis, the product lead on Uber Freight, told Business Insider. "Even though we started with the announcement of the self-driving trucks, we were always intending to build a marketplace that would allow self-driving trucks to flourish."

Those plans have accelerated, and in the four months since it was acquired by Uber, the company has already soft-launched its new trucking business, Uber Freight.

Uber's new marketplace

Uber has been up-front about its ambitions: In an interview with Business Insider, CEO Travis Kalanick said the company is definitely "getting in the trucking business."

"It is a challenging, interesting, nuanced business, and it is going to be intense getting into it, but that's exciting to me," Kalanick said.

The first product from Uber Freight is a marketplace to connect a shipper with a truck, much like the Uber app connects drivers and riders.

The way most shipping works for most companies today is by going through a brokerage firm, which makes calls to trucking companies and arranges the best deals for its customers. The broker takes a commission of between 15 and 20%.

To start, the Uber Freight marketplace will eliminate that middleman and offer shippers real-time pricing of what it will cost to move their goods based on supply and demand. And yes, that might mean there's even surge pricing for trucks, although a lot of the marketplace details are still being worked out.

While a dynamic pricing model might mean a higher or lower price than a deal with a broker, Berdinis believes that eliminating the broker will still be a more cost-effective model.

"You're going to save money by having real-time pricing," he said. "Having a middleman who is essentially making phone calls all day long at its very core is not efficient."

Building Uber Freight

Startups such as Convoy and CargoX are trying to build their own "Uber for trucking services,"having seen the same opportunity that the Otto team is working on now, but it's a tough nut to crack. One such startup, Cargomatic, has burned through millions and pivoted away from the space entirely.

Berdinis is betting that Uber's intellectual property and worldwide operations team will make Uber Freight the winner in the "Uber for trucking" space.

"We're talking about shipping hundreds of thousands of dollars. You need a company that has scale to be able to handle this," Berdinis said, pointing out that Uber already has offices around the globe.

After the acquisition, a cross-section of logistics and operations experts moved into Otto headquarters for the joint product. Job listings for Otto show that the company is actively hiring to fill operations manager roles for Uber Freight in both San Francisco and Chicago, the epicenter of freight brokerage.

Still, it's not as easy as putting a new coat of paint on the Uber app and saying it works for trucks.
A lot of work goes into load-matching, like pairing a hazardous materials load with a hazmat truck.

There's also the challenge of dealing with an industry that's often using disparate and antiquated systems. When Berdinis toured one company's office, his team spotted holes in all of the tables — the typewriters had apparently been recently removed.

Eventually, the Uber Freight team wants to tackle other legacy products in the industry as well, such as replacing time sheets for human drivers.

"The toughest thing about entering into the world of freight is that the systems that the people we're working with are used to using are extremely legacy," Berdinis said. "There's also a more physical shift of using products that are cloud based instead of sitting next to a rack of servers."

How it fits into the big picture at Uber

If Uber Freight is successful at making the "Uber for trucking," it could serve as a gateway for autonomous vehicles. Carriers and shippers who sign up for Uber Freight will be the first customers for the Otto self-driving kit.

"If they're willing to work with us and they want to join early, then they'll be the first to benefit from the self-driving technology," Berdinis said.

The approach is similar to how Uber plans to integrate its self-driving cars into the Uber network. Self-driving vehicles won't be substitutes for human drivers in all situations — they'll simply be part of the marketplace as they come online.

"The way we think about the future is two things: marketplace and automation. And that will apply on the consumer side and the freight side," Berdinis said.

With a shipper's permission, Uber will be able to take data from the Uber Freight app, like how often someone is braking or where they're accelerating, to help train its autonomous driving systems.

The Uber Freight marketplace has soft-launched and is working with a handful of shippers and carriers over the next few months before officially launching early next year.

To the naysayers, Berdinis offers the following:

"Maybe some might be skeptical that it's happening next week, but if you think 50 years from now there's still going to be people calling trucks to find out where the truck is when GPS was invented 80 years ago, we know that that's not possible. The future can't be that way, and we know we're marching down the right path."

Biz Carson - Published by Business Insider. 

WEARE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — Nearly 150,000 pounds of apples were spilled when a semi-truck heading from Sparta to Ludington rolled over on US-31 in Oceana County Tuesday morning, northern Michigan news outlets report.

The crash happened around 10 a.m. near Monroe Road in Weare Township, near Pentwater, the Oceana County Press reports.

The semi was hauling about 80,000 apples weighing in at about 149,000 pounds, according to the Press. They were meant to be used in making applesauce. Photos from the scene show the semi trailer overturned, smashed crates and the apples scattered across the median.

The semi driver, 62-year-old Dennis Radford of Grand Rapids, told the Press he doesn’t know what caused it.

“It happened so fast,” he told the Press. “I was driving along, hit the brakes, and I ended up here. … Some rescue guys came right away, cut the seatbelt loose, and got me out.”
​
He sustained minor injuries and was treated at the scene.

​COPENHAGEN, Oct 11 (Reuters) – Danish anglers could be in for the fishing trip of their lives in a few days’ time, after a ship crashed into a fish farm and caused up to 80,000 rainbow trout to escape into the open sea.

The cargo vessel, sailing from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to Kolding in Denmark, collided with the fish farm between the Danish islands Funen and Jutland on Tuesday, aquafarming firm Snaptun Fisk told Reuters.

The trout, weighing about 3 kg (6.6 lb) each, had been due to be slaughtered this week and were worth up to 10 million Danish crowns ($1.5 million), said Tim Petersen, co-owner and director at Snaptun Fisk.

“We will seek compensation from the shipowners,” he told Reuters.

The incident could damage the sea habitat, said Danish Technical University Aqua researcher Jon Svendsen. The escapees are likely to disturb the eggs and young of wild sea trout.

The rainbow trout, unused to life in the open sea, should only survive a few months.

“All sports fishermen should get out there with their gear and start fishing,” Soren Knabe, director of fishing association Vandpleje Fyn, told local broadcaster TV2/Fyn.

The trout will begin to bite after four to five days as they adjust to life in open waters, said Ulrik Jeppesen, a local angler, recalling similar previous incidents.

“I see this as a bit of a tragedy (for the environment), to be honest,” he said. “But I will probably make a trip or two out there.” (Reporting by Annabella Pultz Nielsen and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; editing by Andrew Roche)

Reuters

NEW CASTLE, Del. (WTXF) - The left lane of I-95 northbound is now open again, according to Delaware State Police, but the latest from SKYFOX at about noon shows traffic is still backed up for miles.

The trouble started more than ten hours ago when a tractor trailer collided with a jersey barrier in a construction zone, causing it to flip and spill blank pennies all over the highway, shutting it down.

The accident just before 2am forced all I-95 northbound traffic off at Exit 5A, Airport Road. Since that’s just before the I-295 eastbound split which leads to the Delaware Memorial Bridge, traffic to New Jersey and New York was also affected.

​It took five hours for crews to cut away the truck with steel hacksaws and get it towed away, but there was still lots of work to be done at the scene.

​
​Bob Kelly compared traffic to a parking lot, saying it was backed up for miles to Route 273. Five lanes were narrowed down to one. There was no access to Wilmington or the Delaware Memorial Bridge. He suggested getting off at Exit 4, which is the Christiana Mall exit. Then, take Route 1 south to Route 13. Other possible alternatives are Route 4 and Route 2.

​Steve Keeley reported the road was very slippery ahead, even to walk, like an ice rink possibly from a fuel spill. The crash happened at 1:53am when the tractor trailer hit a tall concrete barrier. Possible causes are construction and rain.

​
There was also a new sign in the construction zone that may have caused the driver to lose control while trying to skid to a halt.

At one point, there was a crane with braces at the scene, trying to clean up the truck, but it wasn't easy.

​The truck spilled 40,000 pounds of blank pennies all over the road, especially the right lane. They were headed to the mint in Philadelphia to be stamped. A cleanup truck has already been at work, but Keeley reported hearing them scrape against the concrete, leading him to think they’ll be shoveled up, along with other debris.

He also said there doesn’t look like the road was damaged, despite a minor fire since the crash was so violent.

And police say the driver "has suffered minor injuries and is currently being assessed at the scene."

​Published by: www.Fox29.com

Suppliers to companies such as Nike Inc. and Hugo Boss AG are scrambling to ensure their T-shirts and sneakers reach buyers in time for the year-end holiday season after the collapse of Hanjin Shipping Co. left an estimated $14 billion worth of goods adrift.

Esquel Group, a Hong Kong-based manufacturer for fashion brands including Nike, Hugo Boss and Ralph Lauren, is hiring truckers to move four stranded containers of raw materials to its factories near Ho Chi Minh City as soon as they can be retrieved from ports in China. Liaoning Shidai Wanheng Co., a Chinese fabrics importer and a supplier to Marks & Spencer Group Plc, has made alternative arrangements for shipments that were scheduled with Hanjin.

​“Our production lines are waiting,” said Kent Teh, who runs Esquel’s Vietnam business. “We potentially have to take airfreight to deliver the garment items to clients in the U.S. and U.K.”

Apparel, handbags, televisions and microwave ovens are among goods stranded at sea after Korea’s largest shipping company filed for bankruptcy protection last week, setting off a series of events that roiled the global supply chain. A U.S. Court on Tuesday provided a temporary reprieve, which may help vessels call on ports such as Los Angeles without the fear of getting impounded. Any major bottlenecks ahead of Thanksgiving and Christmas could put a dent in the two-month shopping season, which netted some $626 billion of sales last year in the U.S.

Supporting Hanjin’s Chapter 15 U.S. Bankruptcy Court petition, Samsung Electronics Co. said in a court filing that about $38 million of its goods were on board two Hanjin vessels off Long Beach, California. Its visual display business division has parts and finished goods in 304 containers meant for its factory in Mexico, while its home appliance business unit has refrigerators, washing machines, dishwashers and microwaves in 312 containers.

If the cargo isn’t unloaded immediately, the company will be forced to transport alternative parts by air to help meet contractual obligations at “great costs,” Samsung said. For example, it would have to charter at least 16 planes at a cost of about $8.8 million to move 1,469 tons of goods, it said.

“All these costs and delays will be a loss not only to Samsung, but also to major retailers in the U.S. and, ultimately, to U.S. consumers,” Samsung said in the filing.

Handbag maker Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. said it had concerns about Hanjin for some time.
“We did have a limited number of containers hung up on those ships; there’s going to be some pricing pressure at this point,” Chief Executive Officer John Idol said Wednesday at a conference in New York. “We don’t expect significant long-term impact.”

At the same conference, Emanuel Chirico, CEO of Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger owner PVH Corp., said Hanjin handles a small portion of the company’s business, and “it really hasn’t impacted us at all.”

As parent Hanjin Group and the South Korean government consider steps to salvage the shipping company, retailers in the U.S. last week called for measures to help temper losses. About 86 of Hanjin’s ships were stuck at 50 ports in 26 countries, with vessels turned away out of concern the company has no cash to pay various docking fees and handling charges. A favorable ruling from a U.S. bankruptcy court this week protected Hanjin’s assets in the U.S. against creditors, while the shipping line proceeds with its reorganization in South Korea.

Using planes
With cargo stuck on ships, Esquel’s Teh estimates a production delay of about a week and a doubling of transport costs. Besides truckers, a faster ship will be hired to transport the items from Hong Kong, he said. He also plans to fly finished products out of his factories to meet deadlines.

Some manufacturers are switching to other shippers, said Hoang Ngoc Anh, deputy secretary general of Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association.

Over in China, Shanghai Lansheng Corp., which exports shoes, office supplies and musical instruments, said it is asking each of its business divisions to check if they have any stock stuck at sea.

Korea’s Image
Nike and Ralph Lauren declined to comment, while Hugo Boss didn’t immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comments.

“Retailers’ main concern is that there’s millions of dollars worth of merchandise that needs to be on store shelves that could be impacted by this,” Jonathan Gold, vice president for supply chain and customs policy at the National Retail Federation trade group, said last week.

Another group, the Retail Industry Leaders Association, urged U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Federal Maritime Commission Chairman Mario Cordero to intervene.
Start your day with what’s moving markets.

In last-ditch efforts to pull the shipping company back from the brink, Hanjin Group said Tuesday it will provide 100 billion won ($92 million), including 40 billion won from Chairman Cho Yang Ho, to help contain disruptions in the supply chain. Separately, South Korea’s ruling Saenuri Party asked the government to offer about 100 billion won of low-interest loans if the group provides collateral.

Hanjin Shipping filed for bankruptcy protection last week after its proposal for restructuring failed to pass muster with lenders led by state-owned Korea Development Bank.

“The disruptions have dented South Korea’s image,” said Lee Sang Jae, an economist at Eugene Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. “If this prolongs, it will only cause more concern to companies.”

 
Bloomberg.com - Authors: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen - Kyunghee Park - Mai Ngoc Chau