Free Republic

The world’s largest package delivery company and the union representing tens of thousands of its employees are entering a critical countdown towards the expiration of the current union contract in 2023. Workers at UPS are demanding better wages and workplace protections, following a summer of demands for better equipment against heat-related death and illness inside the ubiquitous brown trucks. But union organisers and labour leaders are also preparing for the possibility of a strike, which could be the largest ever against a single company in the US. Roughly 350,000 members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Union work as drivers...

The White House came close this week to facing yet another crisis, this time over a railroad dispute that could have taken a crowbar to the U.S. economy ahead of crucial midterm elections. But in the end, a tentative deal was struck, with both sides crediting the Biden administration with stepping in to help avert a strike that was set to begin on Friday — one that could have further disrupted the nation’s fragile supply chain. Administration officials became involved in the talks weeks ago, lobbying both sides around the clock to argue the stakes were too high for a...

FedEx FDX stock was tumbling after the company doubly disappointed investors Thursday announcing weak quarterly results earlier than expected while withdrawing its full-year financial guidance. The stock was down more the 12% in after-hours trading after FedEx (ticker: FDX) said it earned $3.44 a share from $23.2 billion in sales in its fiscal 2023 first quarter which ended in August. Wall Street was looking for $5.10 in per-share earnings from $23.5 billion in sales.

New big rigs and other trucks will have to be zero-emissions in 2040 — ending their decades-long reliance on high-polluting diesel — under a proposed regulation unveiled by the California Air Resources Board. Under the proposal, manufacturers couldn’t sell new medium-duty and heavy-duty trucks fueled by diesel or gasoline that operate in California, instead turning to electric models. In addition, large trucking companies would have to gradually convert their existing fleets to zero-emission vehicles, buying more over time until all are zero emissions by 2042.

Federally mandated cooling-off period ends Friday, opening possibility of nationwide strike or lockoutA national railroad strike could derail critical deliveries of chlorine to wastewater treatment plants and coal to utility plants, among other potentially crippling disruptions, prompting senior White House aides on Tuesday to review contingency options for protecting the nation’s drinking water and energy supply.White House aides are looking at how to ensure essential products carried by rail — such as food, energy and key health products — could still reach their destinations, even in the event of a strike. Senior officials have looked at how highways, ports and...

Someone with a sharp mind and the capacity to do a lot of research spent time putting some numbers together: 1 Train has 100 cars, 2 engines and weighs 27,240,000 LBS 1 Train carries 3,000,000 gallons of oil. 1 train uses 55.5 gallons of diesel per mile. It takes 119,000 gallons of diesel to go 2150 miles from Hardidsy, AB to Freeport, TX. Keystone pipeline was to deliver 34,860,000 gallons of oil per day. It would take 12 trains and 1,428,000 gallons of diesel to deliver that amount. PER DAY! 521,220,000 gallons of diesel per year. The oil will still...

In a recent interview with Bloomberg, the executive vice president of UPS asserted that “regionalization” of the supply chain is critical to economic stability in a world where geopolitical conflicts continue expanding. The word “regionalization” is basically another way to describe decentralization, a concept which the UPS representative obviously did not want to dive into. Almost every trade expert and industry insider admits that supply chain problems are going to persist into the foreseeable future, and some are starting to also admit (in a roundabout way) that localized production and trade models are the key to economic survival. Think globally,...

Hundreds of small-business truckers who use CoreFund Capital to factor their accounts receivable are struggling to stay afloat after the Weatherford, Texas-based company abruptly closed its doors 10 days ago and fired its entire staff over a legal spat between two brothers. However, late Thursday, Parker County, Texas, District Judge Graham Quisenberry appointed a receiver on behalf of CoreFund, which may help truckers gain access to funds more quickly. Attorneys, rival factoring companies and brokerages have received numerous calls from some of CoreFund’s approximately 350 trucking clients, including many owner-operators, who are desperate for answers and may be forced to...

Ammo Companies Say Packages Shipped With UPS Mysteriously Go “Missing”Bearing Arms reported several firearm-related companies had their corporate accounts canceled by UPS.Not only that, but some of these companies also have had packages damaged or lost while in transit to customers.One ammunition distribution company called “The Gun Food” reported out of a recent 18,000 rounds of ammunition shipped with UPS, only 6,000 made it to the end destination.Collins, who owns the ammo company, remains suspicious that many packages he shipped via UPS have been damaged or lost. He said UPS had pinned the mishaps on his company for not correctly...

153 ships stuck in queues off North American ports, up 66% from early June.. ... North American port congestion has just re-entered record territory. The offshore traffic jam is once again as bad as it’s ever been. In January and February, when North American congestion previously peaked, there were just under 150 container vessels waiting off the coastlines. Two-thirds were in the Los Angeles/Long Beach queue. As of Thursday morning, there were 153, the majority off East and Gulf Coast ports. Whereas the earlier West Coast pileup was centralized, highly publicized and relatively easy to track, today’s ship queue is...

Railroad freight traffic across the United States could come to a screeching halt July 18 if progress isn’t made on a labor contract between national rail carriers and their unions. Union officials stressed they do not want to go on strike, but argued they are being forced to consider the option in a bid to get better benefits, wages and staffing. The unions have worked without a contract since July 1, 2019. The two sides were forced into a 30-day “cooling off period” after failing to reach an agreement working through the National Mediation Board. The cooling off period prevents...

Anchorages continue to fill with waiting container ships off East and Gulf Coast ports, where vessel queues have now far outgrown those off the West Coast. Along all three coasts combined, the number of waiting container vessels remains exceptionally high.There were 125 container ships waiting off North American ports on Friday morning, according to an analysis of ship-tracking data from MarineTraffic and queue numbers from California.Container ship pileup offshore of Savannah, Friday 8 a.m. Map: MarineTrafficThat’s down 16% from 150 waiting ships in January, when West Coast congestion peaked, but up 36% from 92 ships a month ago.The ship queue...

A Supreme Court decision may force over 70,000 truck owner-operators in California to stop driving, creating another choke point in the already stressed West Coast logistics networks. The AB5 law restricts the use of independent contractors and will soon be enforced against the trucking industry after the court declined to hear their appeal. The California Trucking Association said in a statement that gasoline has been poured on the fire that is the ongoing supply chain crisis, and the decision by the Supreme Court could deny a judicial review of a lower court ruling. In an end-of-term orders list released in...

Hey, I thought Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the US Transportation Secretary, was supposed to unclog the supply-chain crisis! Instead, we get heartaches on heartaches as diesel prices rise 118% under Biden AND now the bottle-necks may get a lot worse. A US Supreme Court decision that could force California’s 70,000 truck owner-operators to stop driving is set to create another choke point in already-stressed West Coast logistics networks, a truckers’ organization said. “Gasoline has been poured on the fire that is our ongoing supply-chain crisis,” the California Trucking Association said in a statement following the Supreme Court’s decision to deny a...

United Parcel Service is terminating the accounts of gun dealers across the country. Any packages currently in the UPS system may be “seized and destroyed.” In a letter sent to one Florida gun dealer, Ghost Firearms, UPS said they were terminating the account because they “may be violating” laws concerning homemade firearm parts.

Joe Biden’s disastrous oil and gas policies in America are creating massive food shortages across the country, putting Americans at risk of famine. One America’s Pearson Sharp has more.Video Link

U.S. diesel consumption is likely to decline by 200,000 to 600,000 barrels per day (5%-15%) over the next year as the economy slows in response to rising interest rates. The Federal Reserve is not deliberately trying to induce a recession to bring inflation under control, central bank chief Jerome Powell told legislators on Wednesday. But he said that was a possible and foreseeable outcome of rapid rate rises – an interesting application of the doctrine of double effect. The central bank hopes for soft landing but feels it must risk a hard one to reduce inflation running at the fastest...

While a warming climate could spell disaster for countless snow-loving species, an ice-free Arctic artery could also offer critical trade alternatives to the Russian-controlled Northern Sea Route, a new study has found. Climate models indicate that parts of the Arctic Ocean that were once blanketed in ice year-round are now warming so rapidly that they will likely be iceless for months on end in as soon as two decades, according to the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Overstocking at Target, Walmart, Amazon, and other big retailers are the latest unexpected red flag for what’s happening in the economy. It’s an about-face from the beginning of 2022, when things were economically pretty peachy. Too peachy, one could argue: People were buying so much stuff that our ports and terminals could barely handle the massive import volume. Companies were desperate for someone, anyone, to come work for them. And movie theaters, offices, planes and other locales many eschewed during the pandemic were poised to bounce back; ... The vibes were good. Now, the vibes are completely terrible. More and...

<p>I pulled into a Walmart gas station in Locust Grove, Virginia, this weekend and lo and behold, there was a sign on all of the pumps informing patrons that they were out of diesel fuel. While my vehicle doesn’t take diesel, it struck me as strange. The signs clearly had been up for at least a day.</p>