News and Insight

An update from Sunset’s International Team: US importers are continuing to experience a complex ocean market as we close the Chinese New Year period and move towards the tail end of the 2020-2021 contract season. Today’s update will focus primarily on the Europe and Asia – North American Trade Lanes, while also highlighting some of … Read More

In a FreightWaves article published on February 25, Sunset’s Managing Director, Jose Minarro, commented on recent insurance trends being affected by the uptick in inbound Mexico shipments alongside Mark Vickers from insurance provider Reliance Partners. Due to the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, coupled with COVID-19 disruptions, nearly $2 billion in … Read More

The following insights are taken from a weekly discussion between Sunset’s nine US/MX branches. Trends and discussions range from seasonal manufacturing and agriculture trends that affect available capacity to general insight into outside factors affecting freight volumes. Below is a summary of the February 24 call: FREIGHT VOLUMES & CAPACITY February capacity availability has been … Read More

Sunset’s Director of LTL Pricing and Procurement, Steve Pandolfo, provides a brief update on the state of the LTL industry as we begin 2021. We move into a lot of uncertainty in the coming year, but a few items seem to keep trending in the same direction.  While 2020 proved to be a service struggle for … Read More

The following insights are taken from a weekly discussion between Sunset’s nine US/MX branches. Trends and discussions range from seasonal manufacturing and agriculture trends that affect available capacity to general insight into outside factors affecting freight volumes. Below is a summary of the February 10 call: FREIGHT VOLUMES & CAPACITY February capacity availability has been … Read More

The Journal of Commerce (JOC) provides an in-depth quarterly report into the US intermodal market to facilitate conversations between shippers and logistics companies about transportation modal decisions. The JOC Intermodal Savings Index — the Spot Index and the Contract Index — measures how much an average shipper should anticipate saving on the rail versus over-the-road … Read More

*Update provided in English and Spanish. NICO is here! If you are a current importer in Mexico, this will throw a curve ball at your existing challenges. The year started with Mexican Customs system updates that affected Customs Broker Systems, as well as importers regarding NICO requirements. Harmonized tariff classification is the backbone of all … Read More

UPS recently announced their agreement to sell UPS Freight to TFI International in an $800M deal. The agreement includes UPS less-than-truckload (LTL) and dedicated truckload businesses. The decision to sell UPS Freight was reached following a thorough evaluation of the UPS portfolio, and aligns with the company’s “better not bigger” strategic positioning. Summary UPS and … Read More

The following insights are taken from a weekly discussion between Sunset’s nine US/MX branches. Trends and discussions range from seasonal manufacturing and agriculture trends that affect available capacity to general insight into outside factors affecting freight volumes. Below is a summary of the January 13 call: FREIGHT VOLUMES & CAPACITY Capacity is tight, continuing the … Read More

Sunset’s Director of LTL Pricing and Procurement, Steve Pandolfo, spoke with the St. Louis Business Journal on the record-breaking $70.5 billion holiday e-commerce returns and what this means for the transportation industry. The e-commerce surge can be largely attributed to the rise in online sales due to COVID-19. Excerpt: The industry is specifically in need … Read More

Sunset’s Director of Sales & Sales Operations, Sarah Eggleston, discusses parcel shipment delays and offers ways to prepare for a saturated freight market as we begin 2021. Summary Due to the implications of COVID-19, 2020 saw a record-breaking year in terms of volume. Coupled with the fact that a lot of passenger aircrafts are grounded, … Read More

*Update provided in English and Spanish. CBP announces empty cargo trucks movement by Colombia. Customs and Border Protection will send empty trucks of cargo from Mexico to the US, through the International Bridge “Solidaridad” border of Colombia, Nuevo Leon with Laredo, Texas. This proposal went into effect on December 7, 2020 and will last until … Read More