Total intermodal traffic recorded another volume decline in the third quarter of 2016, according to the Intermodal Association of North America's latest quarterly Intermodal Market Trends and Statistics report. Contributing to this loss were intermodal trailer volumes which dropped 26.9 percent and international shipments which fell 6.7 percent. The domestic container business experienced gains of 3.3 percent which kept the overall volume loss to 4.6 percent.

The members of the new Ocean Alliance, CMA CGM, COSCO Container Lines, Evergreen Line and Orient Overseas Container Line, have announced their proposed "day one" trading network. The Alliance is the largest shipping alliance in the world, and the partners will operate 40 services on the East-West trades with around 100 ports of call and almost 500 port pairs.

UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service are all projecting major growth in holiday shipping volume during the peak season, driven by the continued boom in ecommerce activity. UPS, for example, is projecting 700 million deliveries between Thanksgiving and the end of the year, a 14 percent increase over 2015.