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ATLANTA — A slowdown in global trade is forcing shippers and carriers to make adjustments in inventory and freight hauling capacity, transportation and supply chain experts said at the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals annual conference here last week.

Shippers and carriers are considering putting more freight directly on asset-based carriers — potentially hurting middlemen who do not own trucks — as the supply of vehicles and drivers dwindles.

Shippers and truckers are urging officials of the International Longshoremen’s Association and the United States Maritime Alliance to restart contract discussions so that the just-beginning fall freight shipping season won’t be disrupted.

Shippers depend on trucking as the key element in meeting their transportation goals. The old slogan, “If you got it, it came by truck,” is as valid today as it was 30 years ago.

The expansion of the Panama Canal will have the greatest effect on shipments to a handful of states stretching from Ohio to Georgia but will offer only modest cost savings to shippers, a consultant to the U.S. Maritime Administration said.

The National Industrial Transportation League has filed a petition with the Surface Transportation Board asking the agency to adopt new reciprocal switching rules to allow captive rail shippers to use a second railroad.

The first formal association of international shippers, including the National Industrial Transportation League, has formed under the banner of the Global Shippers Forum to raise the profile of freight groups in an increasingly global marketplace.

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — The leadership of American Trucking Associations last week urged the federal government not to attempt to regulate the speed with which trucks are loaded and unloaded.

There’s no doubt that the failure of some shippers and consignees to promptly load or unload trailers is a serious issue for the trucking industry. Because of this, most fleets have added detention rules into their contracts with their customers, detailing just how long it should take for a trailer to be loaded or unloaded.