Technology & Operations
Transportation technology, automation, TMS, EDI, visibility, fraud prevention, and operating models.
-
A 180-Day Section 232 Negotiation Clock Is Running on Robotics and Industrial Machinery: What Importers Should Model Before a Rate Exists
The robotics and industrial-machinery proclamation starts negotiations, not a new tariff. What importers should verify before changing orders, budgets or freight plans.
-
Electronic Bills of Lading Are Spreading—Can Your Shipment Cross the Platform Gap?
A new survey shows broader eBL use, but platform handoffs and bank acceptance remain critical. FIR outlines the legal, cost and release checks shippers need.
-
Missouri’s Autonomous Rail Project Puts Freight Service Frequency to the Test
FRA selected Columbia for up to $16.207 million to modernize COLT and test autonomous rail service. FIR examines frequency, costs, reliability and shipper decisions.
-
Maersk’s Five-Day Auto-Cancellation Rule—What Shippers Must Change Before ETD
Maersk’s five-day post-ETD auto-cancellation rule creates a new exception clock for eligible unresolved bookings. Shippers need documented ownership before capacity is released.
-
FMCSA Lets Driverless Trucks Replace Roadside Triangles—What Shippers Must Verify Before Tender
FMCSA’s five-year exemption lets qualifying Level 4 carriers use cab-mounted warning beacons instead of roadside triangles. Shippers still need to verify lane eligibility, cargo recovery, contract responsibility and performance evidence.
-
Fake MOTUS Portals Are Turning Registration Updates Into Credential-Theft Traps
FMCSA warns of fake MOTUS registration portals. FIR explains the credential, identity and freight-release controls carriers, brokers and shippers should use.
-
FedEx Supply Chain Has a New Owner—What CMA CGM’s $1.4 Billion Deal Means for Shippers
The sale expands CEVA’s North American warehouse network and pairs FedEx and CMA CGM in ocean and planned air agreements. Customers should separate potential coordination gains from the contract, carrier-choice…
-
Freight AI’s Trust Test: Who Saves Time—and Who Does the Extra Work?
Freight AI can save a broker time while creating more work for a carrier. FIR examines the survey evidence and proposes a scorecard for the full transaction.
-
Rail & Intermodal · Regulation & Safety · Regulation, Infrastructure & Risk · Technology & OperationsCourt Upholds Two-Person Freight-Train Crew Rule, Raising the Bar for Rail Automation
The Eleventh Circuit preserved the FRA’s two-person freight-train crew rule—a strategic constraint on rail automation and labor models, not an immediate capacity shock.