Our global freight forwarding network keeps our customers freight moving across the world.

STB gives thousands more stakeholders a seat at UP-NS merger table

Useful recap: the regulator has pushed back its participation deadline to September 30, just as seven state attorneys general filed to block the benchmark deal. An estimated 12,000 local governments now have nearly four extra weeks to decide whether they want a formal voice in the biggest freight railroad deal in American history. On August 31, the Surface Transportation Board's chief counsel, Anika S. Cooper, granted a request from the National League of Cities to extend the deadline for ...

Berthing delay at congested Shanghai and Ningbo now hitting 10 days

Following Typhoon Saudel last week and port congestion in Shanghai and Ningbo, the world's two busiest ports, ships are now having to wait 10 days to berth. Container shipping consultancy Linerlytica estimates the logjams are holding up 3.92 million teu - 11% of the global container shipping fleet. APL Logistics said Saudel had added to unprecedented levels of global port congestion, following numerous other typhoons in recent weeks, including Bavi, Noul, Dolphin, Narra, and now Saudel, which exacerbated vessel delays, terminal congestion, equipment imbalances, and schedule disruptions throughout China and neighbouring markets. Although Shanghai and Ningbo resumed operations on Friday, APL Logistics advised that vessel bunching and accumulated backlogs were expected to create continued congestion and schedule reliability challenges. Linerlytica noted that North Asia now accounted for 54% of global port congestion, with around 2.5m teu of vessels waiting to berth. Freight rates remain very firm, particularly on the transpacific, but Asia-Europe is the sole exception, as rates dropped for two straight months due to falling demand. And the situation has kept charter rates high, as newbuilding deliveries have fallen to a three-year low, of 64,640 teu, due to summer holidays and fewer containerships having been ordered in early 2023. Thus vessel availability remains very tight, a limited number of ships circulating within the same circle of charterers. Eighteen new charters were recorded last week, as the busy charter market continued to strengthen. Linerlytica said: "Many of the ships in the larger sizes above 4,000 teu were fixed-forward months earlier, with no prompt tonnage available. "Ships are changing hands in a circular fashion, as carriers continue to scramble for new charters to replace redelivered tonnage."

UPS: changes at the top support new operating model

UPS has been shifting its focus of late, completing its Amazon volume "glide-down" and network reconfiguration initiatives in June 2026, to concentrate on accelerating profitable growth. A new operating model designed to better leverage its global network comes into effect today, September 1, with standardised critical processes alongside flexibility in meeting unique local market needs. Leading the new model will be Nando Cesarone, appointed to the post of executive vice president and chief global operations officer, overseeing UPS's global air network and gateways, surface transportation, building and engineering operations, Intelligent Network of the Future initiatives, automotive operations, and sustainability functions. Matt Guffey is named executive vice president and chief US domestic officer, while the search to fill the newly created role of executive vice president and chief global commercial strategy officer (responsible for global strategy, marketing and communications, product management, and pricing) is now under way. At the same time, UPS executive vice president and president, international, healthcare and supply chain solutions Kate Gutmann is to retire for personal family reasons. She will, however, continue to serve as a strategic advisor until March 2027. Gutmann will be succeeded by Wilfredo Ramos, who currently leads UPS's Asia Pacific and brokerage businesses, and will be titled executive vice president and chief international, healthcare and supply chain solutions officer. Effective September 1, 2026, UPS said the following executives will report directly to the chief executive: