Although orders were slower in December, 2015 was the trailer industry's best shipment year in history, just edging out the previous record set in 1999, according to the most recent State of the Industry: U.S. Trailers published by ACT Research Co.

After spiking to start the year, load-to-truck ratios and truckload rates on the spot market slid downward during the week ending Jan. 16, according to DAT Solutions, which operates the DAT network of load boards.

Robert Gordon, an economist at Northwestern University, likes to play a game he calls Find the Robot. As he goes about his everyday life - shopping, traveling through airports - he looks for machines performing tasks that humans once handled. Most of what he sees doesn't impress him.

Amazon.com's China arm has registered as an ocean freight forwarder, according to the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission, a move that will give it more control over shipping products from Chinese factories to U.S. shoppers.

Hermes, operator of a business-to-consumer parcel shop network in Europe, has partnered with Dynamic Parcel Distribution (DPD) and General Logistics Systems (GLS) to form a new joint venture, ParcelLock GmbH.