It snuck up on you, didn’t it?  Much like the dreaded summer bathing suit season – the one you keep saying you’ll start that diet for next week – that time of the year has arrived.  Maybe it was the gestational holiday season when you gained 15 pounds from fruit cake alone, or the collective sigh […]

What is CIF shipping? Cost, insurance, and freight (CIF) or CIF shipping is an international trade term that represents a contract where the seller will cover the goods’ transport to the port of origin, main carriage, and minimum insurance. Easy-peasy, right? I understand that the temptation to buy on a Cost, Insurance & Freight (CIF) […]

Worried about how container drayage costs will impact your supply chain next year?  You’re not alone. Here are seven reasons the chassis and driver shortage will impact your operations in 2014: Most major ocean carriers have either largely pulled out of the chassis business or intend to do so in 2014. Multi-carrier steamship pools are […]

While she would likely poison my dinner or make a chubby “Rob Doll” for her voodoo pins if she knew I was writing this in a public forum, my wife is lousy at math. I mean lousy. This woman is a great teacher for our children; she is impossible to beat at Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit; she is at least three times smarter than I am… and, she has a panic attack if you mention “square root” or “divisible” or (God forbid) “numerator.”