North American freight shipments rose modestly in September, a month usually associated with a peak season increase. This month's 2.2-percent increase can be attributed, however, more to contingency planning for the anticipated International Longshoreman's Association (ILA) dock workers strike than to a seasonal surge in orders. Although federal mediators stepped in at the last minute and negotiated a three-month extension to continue talks, many shippers had already scrambled to re-schedule October shipments for September. The alternative, should the strike have occurred, was to reroute goods to the West Coast, where carriers were charging strike surcharges ranging from $300 to $1,000.

The TT Club, a mutual insurance association, urged all participants at the International Maritime Organization's session on Dangerous Goods, Solid Cargoes and Containers to redouble their efforts to come up with a global regulation to verify the weights of containers.

PeopleNet and TMW Systems are offering new integration features for their truck-fleet dispatch and management applications. PeopleNet is a provider of onboard computing and mobile-communications systems.

North America heavy duty GVW Class 8 commercial vehicle preliminary net orders for September, as reported by ACT Research Co., remained soft. The final numbers, which will be released mid-October, will approach 15,600 units for heavy duty Class 8 trucks and 14,000 for medium duty Classes 5-7 vehicles. The preliminary net order numbers are typically accurate to within 5 percent of actual.

A healthy air cargo industry is essential in helping the U.S. government achieve its goal of doubling U.S. exports by 2015, Ray H LaHood, U.S Secretary of Transportation told delegates at the 26th International Air Cargo Forum + Exposition in Atlanta.

The European Commission has announced that it will propose, in early 2013, measures to monitor, verify and report on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from shipping. This measure will apply to all ships calling at EU ports and could also be the basis for a global approach towards cleaner shipping.