LONG BEACH, Calif. — Shippers and transportation companies hope that the fall peak season pushes the industry out of the freight recession, an IANA Intermodal Expo panelist said Sept. 12.

The operator of the Panama Canal said there’s no immediate prospect of relief from the drought that’s reduced water levels and snarled shipping and global supply chains.

Amazon has restarted a shipping service it paused in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and that competes with carriers such as FedEx and UPS.

Amazon.com Inc. is imposing a new fee on merchants who don’t use the company’s logistics services, a change many of these sellers consider coercive and surprising.

Water levels on the Mississippi and Ohio rivers are falling for a second straight year, raising the prospect of shipping problems along the all-important U.S. freight routes.

Enhancements to the connectivity and security of the nation’s supply chain are proposed in legislation recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The shipper community continues to increase its use of third-party logistics providers in the aftermath of the pandemic and major technological changes.

Global supply chains have returned to normal, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said, almost three years after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic.

The pandemic-era surge in shipping costs was a “smoking gun” that foretold the global inflation spike, and the sharp drop in maritime-freight expenses since peaking last year will contribute to an easing in price pressures.

Additional funding is available for officials seeking to modernize operations at small shipyard facilities around the country, the U.S. Department of Transportation recently announced.