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The day’s most important moves across every mode — air, rail, road, ocean and the trade that ties them together.
| ● On the Wire |
THU · AUG 13 · 2026 |
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Port Houston is investing in infrastructure like expanding the Houston Ship Channel to support larger ships and more efficient flow of cargo. Choose Port Houston for your cargo needs.
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OCEAN · CONTAINER SHIPPING
BY STUART CHIRLS · AMERICAN SHIPPER · AUG 12, 2026
U.S. containerized imports climbed 4.5% month over month in July to 2.51 million TEUs, according to Descartes Systems Group, with China-origin volumes jumping 7.2% to their highest level since last July. Total volume still ran about 4.3% below July 2025, when import frontloading ahead of tariff changes inflated the comparison.
| THE TAKE — The gap between month-over-month strength and year-over-year softness is the real signal — this looks like a return to normal seasonal timing rather than accelerating demand, and Gulf Coast gateways continuing to pick up share is worth tracking if you’re weighing routing options away from the coasts. |
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RAIL · SECURITY
A BNSF railroad officer confronted several people near rail cars in Devore, California, Monday evening, and one suspect fired a handgun at the officer, who wasn’t hit. San Bernardino County’s Rural Crimes Task Force says merchandise was stolen from the train, but no arrests have been made and no suspects have been identified.
| THE TAKE — Cargo theft along the Cajon Pass corridor keeps escalating in both frequency and risk to rail personnel — shippers routing high-value freight through Southern California should expect continued security scrutiny and the occasional service delay while this investigation runs. |
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RAIL · M&A
Seven Republican state attorneys general told the Surface Transportation Board that Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern’s revised merger filing still doesn’t prove the deal serves the public interest, zeroing in on a Committed Gateway Pricing plan they say covers under 1% of rail traffic, could raise rates for shippers who use it, and expires within five years.
| THE TAKE — This is now the third state-level filing opposing the merger, and the mechanics matter more than the politics — shippers should watch whether the STB narrows or widens the Committed Gateway Pricing scope, since that determines how much real protection they’d have if the deal closes. |
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RAIL · REGULATION
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the FRA’s two-person crew mandate in a 2-1 ruling, rejecting arguments from the AAR, a short-line trade group and six railroads that the rule was arbitrary and capricious. One-person operations are still allowed through a special-approval process and a legacy exception for railroads already running that way for two years.
| THE TAKE — With the appellate route to overturning the rule now closed, expect railroads seeking crew-size flexibility to lean harder on the special-approval process — shippers negotiating service commitments should ask carriers directly whether staffing changes are being pursued rather than assume the rule is settled across the industry. |
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RAIL · RESEARCH & POLICY
The Association of American Railroads launched a Freight Rail Research Consortium with MIT, UC Berkeley, Rutgers and an expanded University of Illinois partnership, aiming to build out academic research on rail economics, infrastructure investment and supply chain resilience — areas AAR says have been historically under-studied.
| THE TAKE — Independent academic research on rail economics could eventually inform merger reviews and rate-setting debates alike — worth watching which findings from this consortium get cited in the ongoing UP-NS merger fight. |
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OCT 27–28, 2026 · THE SIGNAL · CHATTANOOGA, TN
FreightWaves’ flagship freight festival blends the latest FreightTech with rapid-fire demos and world-class speakers, plus the most legendary networking in logistics — register by Aug. 24 for a Buy One, Get One offer to bring a colleague along.
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American Shipper · The Daily — published weekdays
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