Entering a new field can be daunting, especially for women and other diverse groups. But fostering supply chain opportunities for everyone is vital to carry the industry forward, according to Michelle Livingstone, the guest on Episode 33 of InTek Freight & Logistics: The Podcast. Michelle is a worthy example to follow, as during her more than 30-year career, she served in leadership roles with notable companies including Kraft Foods, JC Penney and, most recently, Home Depot. We talk with Michelle about her career, and the work she continues to do to cultivate future leaders, particularly ..read more

Less than truckload vs full truckload is a choice shippers have to make every day in their operation. Choosing the right (or wrong) shipping method can significantly impact a business's efficiency, customer growth and bottom line.  In this article we'll compare Less Than Truckload vs Full Truckload and provide shipping tips on best practices. Both shipping methods present two fundamentally different approaches to transporting goods, each with its own set of freight shipment advantages.  ..read more

With so much talk about shipping cross border between the U.S. and Mexico in recent months - including on this podcast - we turn our focus to a storied class 1 railroad and its operations in both countries. For the latest episode of InTek Freight & Logistics: The Podcast, we welcome Beto Vargas, VP of Mexico Sales and Marketing for Union Pacific Railroad to discuss UP's 30-plus year history with Mexico freight rail, the services it offers today and what to expect from nearshoring moving forward. Beto goes over the intermodal opportunity between the two countries with UP's Falcon and ..read more

Intermodal savings is a big part of why shippers in the know often choose the mode over truck options. But those hesitant to use the road-rail combination cite concerns about service compared to strictly over-the-road solutions. To get a complete picture of both the savings and service landscape for intermodal, we welcome Ari Ashe with the Journal of Commerce to the latest episode of InTek Freight & Logistics: The Podcast.  Ari discusses two offerings he provides through JOC that put numbers to both - the Intermodal Savings Index (ISI) and the Intermodal Service Scorecard. He tells u ..read more

Bourbon shipping is a delicate process, as is any form of liquor freight movement due to the fragility of both the bottles and their contents. But producers in Kentucky's Bourbon Country and beyond must move their precious cargo across the U.S. - and around the world - to eager consumers in a reliable, cost-effective manor. In other words, a solution is needed to get American whiskey and other spirits from distilleries to bottlers (sometimes one in the same) to drinkers ..read more

Rail intermodal utilizes both rail and truck freight transportation modes to complete a door-to-door shipment for a shipper's surface transportation requirements. By merging the efficiency of railroad transport with the flexibility of trucking, products can move vast distances at reduced freight costs and with a more favorable carbon footprint than trucking.  ..read more

When shippers are deciding on the right freight mode, intermodal tends to come up only when the trip is long haul. But in the southeast U.S., the Florida East Coast Railway, also known as FEC, offers an on-rail alternative that can cover shorter distances - often faster than truck. It's an option many dealing with Florida shipping don't consider, but from Miami to Jacksonville, intra-Florida intermodal is a real, competitive solution for plenty of scenarios. And connections with other railroads - or trucks - can take loads to locations like Atlanta, Charlotte or even points beyond - with subs ..read more

The leap month of February continued a guardedly positive trend for the Logistics Managers' Index (LMI), as all eight sub-metrics remained in expansion territory for the second straight month. The overall index rose 0.9 to 56.5 last month, so the growth was less pronounced than the five point margin from December to January. But still, growth is growth. Transportation Prices stayed in the black, up 1.8 to 57.6 - marking that metric's fastest growth rate in nearly two years. Transportation Utilization was basically in lockstep, up 1.5 to 56.5. However, Transportation Capacity bounced back up a ..read more

Intermodal shipping is a freight service that involves using two or more freight modes to move product through a company's supply chain. And to do so, the intermodal container is a vital component of this shipping process. This article will go over both international and domestic containers - where international intermodal containers are used primarily for ocean freight shipments and domestic intermodal containers are used throughout North America as a competitive alternative to shipping freight via truckload. Additionally, we'll provide a deeper understanding of how ocean ISO intermodal cont ..read more

As February winds down, freight news is piling up. There are continued closures (also known as freight exits) in the logistics arena, a familiar name (or at least technology) relating to trucking making a comeback, and a major acquisition in the intermodal space involving two titans - one of the retail variety and the other in transportation ..read more