The expansion of the Panama Canal will have the greatest effect on shipments to a handful of states stretching from Ohio to Georgia but will offer only modest cost savings to shippers, a consultant to the U.S. Maritime Administration said.

The National Industrial Transportation League has filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board asking the agency to adopt new reciprocal switching rules to allow captive rail shippers to use a second railroad.

The first formal association of international shippers, including the National Industrial Transportation League, has formed under the banner of the Global Shippers Forum to raise the profile of freight groups in an increasingly global marketplace.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The leadership of American Trucking Associations last week urged the federal government not to attempt to regulate the speed with which trucks are loaded and unloaded.

There’s no doubt that the failure of some shippers and consignees to promptly load or unload trailers is a serious issue for the trucking industry. Because of this, most fleets have added detention rules into their contracts with their customers, detailing just how long it should take for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.

A shipper group has expressed “profound disappointment” over a so-called fact-finding investigation by the Federal Maritime Commission into numerous U.S. importer and exporter complaints about “perceived malpractices” by ocean carriers that resulted in supply-chain service disruptions and rate and surcharge increases in late 2009 and 2010.