GHY Tradelines

(Journal of Commerce Online – William B. Cassidy)

More than half of truckers in TCP survey expect pricing, volume to rise next year

A large majority of truckload carriers expect freight volumes and truck rates to rise next year, according to new survey.

Optimism buoyed by manufacturing demand and pre-holiday sales appears to offset economic uncertainty. More than 60% of truckload carriers surveyed in November said they expect volumes to increase in 2012.  Only 2% expect freight levels to drop next year, trucking analysis and research firm Transport Capital Partners said. Read more here.
 

(Christopher Rugaber — The Associated Press)

The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in October to its lowest point of the year after Americans bought fewer foreign cars and imported less oil.  The shrinking trade gap boosted growth over the summer and may do so again in the final three months of the year. But economists worry the trend could reverse next year, especially if Europe’s debt crisis worsens. […]

Economists expect the deficit to widen in the coming months. Oil prices are increasing and Europe is likely to import fewer U.S. goods as its economy weakens. At the same time, U.S. businesses are stocking up on foreign goods as consumer demand improves.  “Exports to Europe are bound to weaken substantially, while imports will pick up steam as U.S. companies rebuild inventory,” Ian Shepherdson, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note to clients. Read more here.
 

(CBC News – The Associated Press)

Occupy Vancouver to join West Coast protests

Anti-Wall Street protesters up and down the West Coast are joining an effort to blockade some of the busiest ports from Anchorage to San Diego, including Vancouver.

Demonstrators are scheduled to gather at 5:30 a.m. to march on the Port of Oakland, which Occupy protesters successfully shut down in November. Marchers expect to descend even earlier on the sprawling port complex spanning Los Angeles and Long Beach as the work day begins. In Portland, Ore., the protest will get underway at 6 a.m.

Occupy groups in Seattle, Tacoma and Vancouver are also planning blockades. Read more here.
 

(Embassy – Carl Meyer)

Under a new perimeter security plan, Canada and the United States are aiming for police in both nations to be able to permanently cross the maritime border and enforce each other’s laws—and for a new program to permit the same across land.

Shiprider, a marine cross-border law enforcement program that began in 2005 and has involved six pilot projects between the RCMP and the US Coast Guard, is being planned to become a permanent fixture of Canada-US policing by the summer of 2012.

As well, a new land-based version of the program, which the RCMP says could eventually draw in American agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, could also be floated by next summer in the form of two pilot projects.

The next step in Canada-US policing integration was announced on Dec. 7 as part of the much-anticipated Canada-US perimeter security plan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper and US President Barack Obama announced the plan in Washington after 10 months of talks.

An RCMP official said the new direction was a “marked departure” from how law enforcement is currently carried out along the border and within both countries. Read more here.