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trans-American traffic jam?

Freight moving among the three North American countries hit an all-time high last fall. According to data from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), truck, rail and pipeline cargo transported between the United States, Canada and Mexico rose 11.4 percent in September 2005 over September 2004 levels, totaling $61.2 billion. That's the highest monthly total ever recorded.

BTS reports that total North American surface transportation trade rose 1.6 percent in September from August, which at $60.2 billion was the previous monthly high. The agency noted that trucks carried 63 percent of imports and 79 percent of exports by value.

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From pingpong diplomacy to supply chain diplomacy?

There’s a photo from 1971 that John Kent, professor of supply chain management at the University of Arkansas, likes to show. It’s of a shaggy-haired 18-year-old named Glenn Cowan grinning at three-time world table tennis champion Zhuang Zedong, while holding a silk tapestry Zhuang had just given him. Cowan was a member of the U.S. table tennis team who participated in the 1971 World Table Tennis Championships in Nagoya, Japan. Story has it that one morning, he overslept and missed his bus to the tournament and had to hitch a ride with the Chinese national team and met and connected with Zhuang.

Cowan and Zhuang’s interaction led to an invitation for the U.S. team to visit China. At the time, the two countries were just beginning to emerge from a 20-year period of decidedly frosty relations, strict travel bans, and trade restrictions. The highly publicized trip signaled a willingness on both sides to renew relations and launched the term “pingpong diplomacy.”

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drawing of trucker tools freight technology

DAT Freight & Analytics acquires Trucker Tools

DAT Freight & Analytics has acquired Trucker Tools, calling the deal a strategic move designed to combine Trucker Tools' approach to load tracking and carrier sourcing with DAT’s experience providing freight solutions.

Beaverton, Oregon-based DAT operates what it calls the largest truckload freight marketplace and truckload freight data analytics service in North America. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but DAT is a business unit of the publicly traded, Fortune 1000-company Roper Technologies.

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chart of global trade forecast

Tariff threat pours cold water on global trade forecast

Global trade will see a moderate rebound in 2025, likely growing by 3.6% in volume terms, helped by companies restocking and households renewing purchases of durable goods while reducing spending on services, according to a forecast from trade credit insurer Allianz Trade.

The end of the year for 2024 will also likely be supported by companies rushing to ship goods in anticipation of the higher tariffs likely to be imposed by the coming Trump administration, and other potential disruptions in the coming quarters, the report said.

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drawing of globe with connecting arcs

CSCMP launches seven new international roundtables

Declaring that it is furthering its mission to advance supply chain excellence across the globe, the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) today announced the launch of seven new International Roundtables.

The new groups have been established in Mexico City, Monterrey, Guadalajara, Toronto, Panama City, Lisbon, and Sao Paulo. They join CSCMP’s 40 existing roundtables across the U.S. and worldwide, with each one offering a way for members to grow their knowledge and practice professional networking within their state or region. Overall, CSCMP roundtables produce over 200 events per year—such as educational events, networking events, or facility tours—attracting over 6,000 attendees from 3,000 companies worldwide, the group says.

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Construction underway on $9 billion of warehouse space in U.S.

In response to booming e-commerce volumes, investors are currently building $9 billion worth of warehousing and distribution projects under construction in the U.S., with nearly 25% of the activity attributed to one company alone—Amazon.

The measure comes from a report by the Texas-based market analyst firm Industrial Info Resources (IIR), which said that Amazon is responsible for $2 billion in warehousing and distribution projects across the U.S., buoyed by the buildout of fulfillment centers--facilities that help process orders and ship products directly to end customers, ensuring deliveries of online goods from retailers to buyers.

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