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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 · SEP 17 · 2026 |
5 stories |
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Avoid congestion and costly delays. Seattle-Tacoma’s fluid terminal operations, on-dock rail and 2-3 day rail dwell will speed your cargo to its final destination.
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OCEAN · BUNKER FUEL
BY STUART CHIRLS · AMERICAN SHIPPER · SEP 16, 2026
Singapore VLSFO has more than doubled this year, from $433.50 a ton on Jan. 1 to roughly $908 now, and remains about 60% above pre-conflict levels even as the acute Strait of Hormuz supply scare eases; Fujairah bunkering activity has recovered to only 40% of prewar levels, and the St. Louis Fed estimates the fuel-cost hit on a China-to-West Coast box has run as high as $360 to $626 per container on older ships.
| THE TAKE — THE TAKE — Prices staying elevated after the supply shock has passed means this is now a structural cost floor, not a temporary spike — shippers building 2027 budgets should model bunker surcharges off today’s $900-plus Singapore VLSFO rather than betting on a reversion toward January’s levels. |
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RAIL · INTERMODAL
Rail-bound containers at the Los Angeles-Long Beach complex dwelled an average 6.75 days in August, up from 6.34 in July, even as local truck dwell improved slightly to 2.95 days and the port complex moved 1,875,899 TEUs; the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association says cargo volumes remain strong even as rail partners work to keep pace.
| THE TAKE — THE TAKE — Truck dwell improving while rail dwell keeps climbing shows the bottleneck at the nation’s busiest port complex has shifted inland to the railroads, not the terminals — BCOs routing high-priority freight through LA-Long Beach should weigh truck drayage over intermodal moves until rail service stabilizes. |
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OCEAN · PORTS
The Port of Savannah moved 529,523 TEUs in August, roughly flat year-over-year, as loaded exports rose 4.2% to 117,242 TEUs and loaded imports grew 1.5% to 265,859 TEUs despite Asia weather and low Panama Canal water levels weighing on the supply chain; Georgia Ports Authority facilities are now up 2.2% to 1.03 million TEUs through the first two months of the fiscal year, with Garden City truck turn times averaging 43 minutes.
| THE TAKE — THE TAKE — GPA’s CEO flagging Panama Canal water levels alongside Asia weather is worth watching beyond August — if canal draft restrictions persist into peak season, expect more all-water Asia cargo to shift toward East Coast gateways like Savannah rather than transiting Panama at reduced capacity. |
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CARGO SECURITY · INSURANCE
MiKargo247 and Verified Carrier launched a partnership letting brokers strip strategic-theft exclusions from spot cargo policies when freight moves on a vetted carrier, targeting fraud patterns like double brokering, carrier identity theft and fictitious pickups that made up roughly 30% of reported U.S. cargo theft in 2025; the companies plan to let brokers quote and bind coverage directly through Verified Carrier’s platform.
| THE TAKE — THE TAKE — Tying insurance pricing directly to carrier verification status turns vetting from a compliance checkbox into a line-item cost saver — brokers who haven’t built verified-carrier screening into their workflow yet now have a concrete financial reason to start, not just a fraud-prevention one. |
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PARCEL · LAST MILE
American Eagle Outfitters named Amazon Shipping its top-performing carrier among a dozen options after piloting the service in spring 2025, citing seven-day delivery and predictable pricing that cut overall delivery time 16% by closing the weekend-service gap rivals leave open; executives said Amazon Shipping posted the retailer’s best-ever peak season and its lowest customer-complaint rate of any carrier used.
| THE TAKE — THE TAKE — A retailer picking Amazon Shipping specifically for weekend coverage and pricing predictability, not price alone, signals parcel carriers are now competing on service-reliability metrics that used to be UPS and FedEx’s exclusive selling points — regional and legacy carriers without seven-day networks should expect more of this kind of carrier reshuffling. |
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| Get a behind-the-scenes look at one of North America’s leading trade gateways. This short video shows how the Northwest Seaport Alliance is creating opportunities, moving cargo, and keeping supply chains connected: Watch the video. |
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OCT 27–28, 2026 · THE SIGNAL, CHATTANOOGA · CHATTANOOGA, TN
FreightWaves’ flagship event blends rapid-fire tech demos and world-class speakers with the most legendary networking in logistics. Join 1,000+ freight and logistics experts, industry leaders, entrepreneurs and innovators for a definitive look at the year ahead. Come for the insights, stay for the celebration and leave with the connections that will define your 2027.
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American Shipper · The Daily — published weekdays
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