Logistics

Canadian National Railway Co. said it plans to cut spending, streamline management and buy back C$5 billion (about $4 billion) of stock next year as its tries to ward off a shareholder revolt started by TCI Fund Management Ltd.

An owner of commodity hauling freighters said rates for the ships are close to the point of spiking sharply higher and mirroring an unprecedented surge in costs for transporting manufactured goods.

Caterpillar Inc. is having a tough time getting the materials it needs from suppliers facing a labor crunch, adding another hurdle for the machinery maker already has said a global chip shortfall may keep it from fully meeting demand this year.

Canadian National Railway Co. declined to increase its offer for Kansas City Southern after a monthslong takeover battle, ceding to Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. a prize that would create the first railroad spanning the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — The intermodal freight industry is debating how much it should invest in infrastructure and other expenditures to build resiliency in the face of disruptive shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Surging U.S. import demand combined with years of underinvestment have thrown intermodal shipping so far out of balance that it will take years to return to an equilibrium the industry considered normal, an expert panel told attendees at the Intermodal Association of North America’s Intermodal Expo.

One of the world’s biggest shipping lines has decided to stop increasing spot freight rates on routes out of Asia to Europe and the U.S. as it sees an end to the rally that has put prices at record highs.

Kroger Co. and Instacart unveiled a new home-delivery service in which the companies will drop off food and household staples in as little as 30 minutes.

Global supply chains already tangled by the pandemic, labor shortages and sustained consumer demand in the U.S. are getting walloped by another disruptive force: Mother Nature.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Global trade patterns distorted by the COVID-19 pandemic have thrown the intermodal shipping industry out of whack, creating massive imbalances in shipping containers, intermodal chassis and drayage drivers.