Zepol Corporation, the leading trade intelligence company,reports that U.S. import shipment volume for August, measured in TEUs, is down from July by 3 percent and 0.3 percent from August 2011. It's unusual to see a drop in imports from July to August, since the trend for the past three years has been a spike in the month of August. In 2010 and 2011, August was actually the peak month of the year for TEU imports.

Iconic motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson has selected Penske Logistics to manage its logistics processes in Brazil.

Drewry Maritime Research's latest Annual Review of Global Container Terminal Operators report shows that whilst some things have remained the same, others have changed significantly with more change to come.

Chris Schrage, instructor of marketing at the University of Northern Iowa, describes a unique global trade-practices project that involved students from the U.S. and Brazil, and artisans from Latin America.

APL Logistics has introduced AutoDirect, a service that uses flexible, secure racks to transport finished vehicles from door to door.

Synchronet Intermodal Services Inc. (SIS) has expanded its North American street-turn service to include both beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) and non-vessel operating common carriers (NVOs).

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 8.5 percent in September compared with the same month last year, and strong increases are expected into the holiday season despite talk of a possible strike at East Coast and Gulf Coast ports, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

Truckload pricing remained constant from July to August according to the Cass Truckload Linehaul Index, which for the second month in a row registered a value of 109.5. On a year-over-year basis, truckload rates are up 1.0 percent. After seeing substantial year-over-year growth rates last year and early in 2012, truckload pricing has continued to see its rate of growth move down over the last few months, according to Avondale Partners' recent report.

Global freight forwarder and logistics provider Damco is moving its headquarters from Copenhagen, Denmark to The Hague, Netherlands. The move, which should be completed in first quarter 2013, brings Damco closer to the heart of the European logistics community and supports its strategy to become a Top Five industry player in the years to come.

U.S. freight carload traffic for the week ending Sept. 1 declined 3.4 percent measured against the comparable week of 2011, the Association of American Railroads said. But U.S. intermodal continued its winning streak, up a robust 6.5 percent during the week compared with one year ago.