Heavy use of supply chain financing tools comes with significant risks

U.S. corporate bankruptcies year to date are at their highest level since the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession in 2010; banks are tightening credit in the wake of the acute stress in the regional banking system; and small companies in particular are reporting difficulty obtaining credit.  U.S. consumers are under acute pressure as well,…

Dockworkers at Canada’s West Coast ports launch strike

More than 7,400 dockworkers represented by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in Canada went on strike Saturday after negotiations with the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) failed to reach a new labor contract.  The strike threatens to disrupt container traffic at two of Canada’s busiest ports in Vancouver and Prince Rupert, key export…

Senators reintroduce ‘reasonable’ rail service bill

A bipartisan bill that charges the Surface Transportation Board to better define what should constitute “reasonable” rail service has been reintroduced in the Senate. The Reliable Rail Service Act, introduced by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., charges the Surface Transportation Board to refine the definition of the common carrier obligation, which the…

Lack of information sharing, integration impedes railroad industry R&D

Although February’s train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has renewed calls to bolster railroad safety, the rail industry needs to be more proactive about how research and development efforts can advance the utilization of freight rail and encourage the railroads to think across departments, sources told FreightWaves. The factors that play into what gets public…