North American freight volumes continued to drop off, and on a year-over-year basis, shipment volumes were down 1.1 percent from last August. This is the third time this year freight shipments have fallen below the level for the same month in 2011. Freight volumes grew 9.9 percent during the first half of the year, but after two months of consecutive contraction, the annual growth has fallen to 8.0 percent.

Transplace, the North American-based third-party logistics provider, is integrating its truckload benchmarking data into the Supply Chain Guru software of LLamasoft.

Drewry Maritime Research's latest Container Leasing Industry report indicates that the rental container fleet grew by 10.6 percent during 2011, improving on the 9 percent returned in 2010 and giving a compounded rate of 9.5 percent for the two years combined. Up to 9.5 percent is also being forecasted for 2012, as lease demand is again holding up well.

Executives of some top U.S. railroads provided a dim outlook for peak autumn shipping season - the time when retailers traditionally stock up in advance of the holidays - saying that the economy clearly has slowed.

In-house logistics professionals want a lot more information and attention from their prospective logistics service providers these days, says Bill Weaver, senior account executive with United Transportation Services Inc.

Mike Jones, president of St. Onge Co., explains the value of total landed cost modeling, and how it's affecting decisions to offshore manufacturing activities.

FedEx is changing its aircraft on the route between Memphis and Queretaro, Mexico to a Boeing 757-200 and will operate five times weekly, increasing its capacity in the market by 50 percent. Jorge Torres, recently named president of FedEx in Mexico, stated: "The decision to increase our cargo capacity is in response to our strategy to become a real business partner with the business in the region, offering competitive services at very reasonable prices ... The decision to increase our cargo capacity responds to our strategy of listening to our clients and their solicitation in a quick way."

Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), a global provider of maritime services, has opened a new office in Dutch Harbor, AK.

In the most recent Global Market Forecast from Airbus, the European aircraft manufacturer projected that the global aviation sector will generate a demand for 3,000 freighters by 2031. This figure, which represents a near doubling of the global freighter fleet, will be propelled by increased urbanization and economic growth in emerging regions, according to Airbus.

North American railroads from Burlington Northern Santa Fe to CSX Corp. (CSX) are bracing for limited increases in pre-holiday shipments as weak consumer sentiment exacerbates shrinking corn and coal loads.