Both Clinton, Trump platforms on track to benefit freight business

While the run-up to the 2016 presidential election has been fraught with much rancor between candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the pair surprisingly agrees on an issue that impacts the freight industry: the need to effectively rebuild our nation’s infrastructure.

In a recent article for Journal of Commerce (JOC.com), writer Lawrence J. Gross, the head of a transportation consulting firm, presented a hopeful picture for the freight industry based upon the platforms of the two major White House candidates. On infrastructure, says Gross, Clinton proposes a five-year $275 billion plan that would include initiating upgrades on the 25 costliest freight bottlenecks (I-90 at I-290, Buffalo, tops the list), which would be funded by resurrecting the Build America Bonds program. She also proposes creating a $25 billion national infrastructure bank that would in theory ultimately add $225 billion in available investment capital.

Trump, while not coming forth with specifics, says he’ll make “a phenomenal [bond] deal with low interest rates and rebuild the infrastructure,” adding that “nobody can build better than I can.”

Both candidates appear to understand that such infrastructure investment would carry the dual benefit of addressing the inefficiencies that have grown from years of underinvestment, while providing job opportunities to sectors of the U.S. labor force still staggering from the 2008-09 recession. And it would all be financed through record-low interest rates that likely won’t be seen within our lifetime again.

Infrastructure is a broad concept not limited to transportation-related expenditures, but it does appear likely that freight transport will get a decent slice of the billions of dollars on the table. Hopes are that this will help facilitate a break in the infrastructure gridlock that has prevailed for so many years. But based on the conservative lean of House Republicans and their continued reluctance to utilize debt for this purpose, the main sticking point of how to pay for infrastructure may waggle on, despite both Clinton’s and Trump’s agreement on the approach. Soon enough it will all play out.

In Collierville, Tennessee, there is a facility strategically placed in the No. 1 distribution center of America that offers a variety of equipment and gets it out fast, supplying the local Mid-South with rental containers accommodating an array of storage needs.

We’re MidSouth Container Sales. And we pride ourselves on being the leading rental business in the Mid-South, satisfying our customers’ needs in every aspect of the business. Call, come by, or visit us on the Web and on Facebook. And ask about our free mobile app! It’ll GPS you to our location and put you in one-touch calling with us. No more phone numbers, website, or email addresses to save or remember. It’s convenience like never before, and it’s all in our free app. Our help is on the way!

El Faro crew apparently dismissive of hurricane danger

Much of the news in our intermodal industry doesn’t immediately send a person clicking to read more, unless you’re captivated by topics like opening logistics subsidiaries in Myanmar or that Los Angeles-Long Beach terminal automation is a necessity for growth there. However, a big story in the shipping industry that captured worldwide attention last fall still lingers, as news that officers of the ill-fated freighter El Faro that sank en route to Puerto Rico knew of the coming presence of Hurricane Joaquin but were not overly concerned about its danger.

According to the ship pilot who assisted the El Faro exiting the port of Jacksonville (Fla.) on Oct. 1, 2015, El Faro captain Michael Davidson said, “We’re just going to go out and shoot under it.”

Those remarks, recently recited at the National Transportation Safety Board and U.S. Coast Guard hearings on the matter, were uttered by Davidson on the bridge of the El Faro as it prepared to leave nearshore waters for the open sea bound for San Juan. The ship lost power and foundered just east of the Crooked Islands, sinking three miles deep and losing all 33 of its officers and crew.

Of keen interest is the high expectation of retrieving the “black box,” which investigators hope will reveal much more of the fated freighter’s encounter that day along with its final moments. But the recovery operation is both delicate and expensive and likely could take months. The El Faro, at 40 years old, was twice the age that most ships retire.

We hope final resolution for all concerned with the El Faro comes soon. Here, in Collierville, Tennessee, there is a facility strategically placed in the No. 1 distribution center of America that offers a variety of equipment and gets it out fast, supplying the local Mid-South with rental containers accommodating an array of storage needs.

We’re MidSouth Container Sales. And we pride ourselves on being the leading rental business in the Mid-South, satisfying our customers’ needs in every aspect of the business. Call, come by, or visit us on the Web and on Facebook. And ask about our free mobile app! It’ll GPS you to our location and put you in one-touch calling with us. No more phone numbers, website, or email addresses to save or remember. It’s convenience like never before, and it’s all in our free app. Our help is on the way!

Consolidation could play major role for shipping industry in 2016

Last fall, concerned members of the Journal of Commerce editorial team went crystal-ball gazing, attempting to identify the major shipping container and shipping industry themes that might predominate in 2016. They had plenty to choose from: continuing port congestion; the opening of the Panama Canal’s new locks; container weight regulations that place the burden on shippers to verify their containerized freight weight; and the carriers’ on-going battle to keep their heads above water in a period of record-low freight rates.

When 2015 began, global supply chains likely misjudged just how unsettling the year would turn out, according to Journal of Commerce Executive Editor Chris Brooks, even though the International Longshore and Warehouse Union and employers were then more than six months into antagonistic labor dealings, with intermittent disruption hitting West Coast ports.

Though the contract was resolved early in the year, the residual impact lasted well into spring, with both importers and exporters experiencing billions of dollars in lost sales and damaged product. The Federal Reserve said the clash likely contributed to the 0.2 percent decline in second-quarter U.S. GDP. “Without a doubt,” Brooks wrote, “it became the story of the year.”

Now, due to some strategic activity late last year, the feeling is that consolidation will rule the day in 2016. A wave of mergers and acquisitions that began in early 2015 among logistics providers swelled when CMA CGM, the world’s third-largest container carrier by fleet capacity, acquired Singapore-based NOL and its APL shipping line. Then China approved the expected merger of its two biggest carriers, Cosco and China Shipping. Stateside, CP Rail and BNSF Railway could ignite a groundswell of consolidation among North America’s largest railroads, with Norfolk Southern a common target.

How the acquisition furor plays out this year will strongly affect supply chains, from the realignment of major shipping alliances to the effect on service quality that, as Brooks noted, “already can be classified as inconsistent, at best, across many freight transportation modes.”

Other challenges will face shippers in 2016: a driver shortage and new federal regulations that again could tighten trucking capacity plus a stuttering global economy led by further slowing in China could begin to rub off on the United States. Change is coming. As some industry officials point out, it certainly won’t be dull!

In Collierville, Tennessee, there is a facility strategically placed in the No. 1 distribution center of America that offers a variety of equipment and gets it out fast, supplying the local Mid-South with rental containers accommodating an array of storage needs.

We’re MidSouth Containers. And we pride ourselves on being the leading rental business in the Mid-South, satisfying our customers’ needs in every aspect of the business. Call us today. Our help is on the way!

The wide, wide world of intermodal

Intermodal. It sounds like some kind of remedy you might take for a gastro-intestinal disorder. In fact, the intermodal industry is the movement of containerized cargo over air, land, or sea through the use of different transport modes. And finding the right-sized containers for storage, shipping, or transportation needs can be a problem if you don’t know where to look.

At MidSouth Containers Sales and Rentals (MSCS), we’re set up for instant ready-made storage, providing boxes, chassis, trailers, flat racks, and open tops.

The range of uses of our steel storage containers is simply astounding. Use them for storing farm, nursery, garden, agricultural, ranch, or livestock supplies; paint, chemicals, tires, or other hazardous material; sports equipment at schoolyard and recreation fields; files, books, or business records; tools, equipment, or tack supplies. In addition, people use them for storing furniture, appliances, household or auction items; portable generators; police/fire/EMT/search-and-rescue (SAR) gear; shipboard supplies; as well as boats, trucks, tractors, motorcycles, bicycles, ATVs, snowplows, snowmobiles, or automobiles. They’re also utilized for transporting freight by truck, rail, and ship. That’s more uses than they’ve found for corn!

In the Great Outdoors, our highly efficient steel containers keep supplies and food safe from deer, bears, and other wildlife because they’re watertight and sealed to keep out the elements. The uses appear almost endless. You can even live in them or utilize them as a modular office, shelter, or command center!

Our Collierville, Tennessee, facility strategically is placed in the No. 1 distribution center of America, allowing us to offer a variety of equipment and get it out fast. And as the above roll markedly shows, we supply the local Mid-South with rental containers accommodating an array of storage needs.

We’re MidSouth Containers. And we pride ourselves on being the leading rental business in the Mid-South, satisfying our customers’ needs in every aspect of the business.