When you’re importing products into the U.S., there’s a lot that needs to happen before your items hit store shelves or a customer’s doorstep. And it often starts with port logistics services such as those provided by a third-party logistics (3PL) company. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at those services and the options you have for getting your goods quickly from port to consumer.
When companies seek to optimize their eCommerce operations, they’re generally looking to do two things: improve distribution speed and reduce costs. These factors of speed and cost are affected by many factors, including the location where fulfillment services are performed. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the advantages of West Coast eCommerce fulfillment and show you how – when it comes to speed and cost – the West may very well be the best for your operation.
Weber Logistics has added a 353,361-square-foot distribution center (DC) in Jurupa Valley, CA to its warehousing and distribution network. This multi-client facility, Weber’s largest, is the company’s fifth DC in Southern California’s Inland Empire region and twelfth DC within California.
Before we look ahead to the new year, we’d like to look back at the year that was. Specifically, we’re going to share our top 3 blog posts of 2019, as determined by reader popularity. As we are a West Coast 3PL that writes a lot about West Coast logistics, it comes as no surprise that our most popular articles of the year all have a decidedly West Coast bent.
If you’ve been following operations at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach in recent years, the trend looks something like this: the Ports continually break new volume records, truck turn times remain high, and officials vow to speed things up. The calls for speed reached a fever pitch in Q1 of this year as freight piled up at the Ports in the wake of U.S.-China tariff announcements. Fortunately for shippers, enhancements are in place to speed container drayage in Los Angeles and Long Beach now and in the future.
With the state supreme court’s Dynamex decision, followed by its Senate Bill 1402 (SB 1402), California’s position on the hiring of independent owner-operators by drayage carriers is now firmly established. In short, the state asserts that many of these contractors are not independent after all – and those that claim to be acting as employees of the hiring companies have solid legal ground to sue for wages and benefits.
Many beneficial cargo owners (BCOs) have seen the writing on the wall and are protecting themselves from possible legal and financial penalties by turning away from drayage carriers who engage contractors. Others are not yet reacting, while still others may not even be aware of recent legal precedents. In this article, we’ll get you up to speed on these developments and help you determine whether your prospective carrier’s drivers in California are actually considered to be on that carrier’s payroll or are sub-contractors.
Drayage is technically just another transportation service. A driver picks up a load and then delivers it.
With port drayage, however, this simple process becomes much more complex. Navigating seaport terminals is a tricky business on a good day and can become extremely difficult as rules change from terminal-to-terminal, or even hour-to-hour. To navigate the ports effectively – and avoid wasting time and money – shippers need to ensure the drayage carriers they work with have a roster of experienced drayage drivers.
When it comes to Southern California logistics, there’s never a dull moment. The region is home to the busiest ports in the country, while the state continues to dramatically alter the way logistics gets done through an array of unique regulations. In this article, we’ll get you up to speed on some of the recent SoCal supply chain developments during the first half of 2019.
Carriers are having a rough go of it as of late. The truck driver shortage has left them scrambling to find new drivers to fill seats vacated by those retiring, leaving the industry, or switching jobs. There just aren’t enough new drivers to fill the void.
In most parts of the country, carriers can augment their company driver force with independent truck drivers (“owner-operators”) to fill in service gaps. When it comes to logistics in California, however, this has become difficult due to regulations and landmark court decisions that alter the way drivers are classified in the state. In this article, we’ll examine some of these and explain why the ramifications ultimately affect shippers just as much as carriers.
California may be the Golden State, but its green initiatives are the most far-reaching in the U.S. The state has a host of agencies and regulations whose aim is to substantially reduce greenhouse gases and other emissions. At the heart of these efforts is the California Truck and Bus Regulation, which seeks to reduce emissions from heavy trucks and buses.
