WASHINGTON—For the ninth consecutive year, total freight volume on U.S. railroads (measured in ton-miles) has set an annual record, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.

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The American Trucking Associations reported yesterday that its seasonally-adjusted for-hire Truck Tonnage Index dipped a precipitous 3.6 percent in November.

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The Association of American Railroads announced today that intermodal freight on United States railroads has set a new record for the fifth straight year and the 18^th time in the last 20 years.

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Postal reform legislation signed off on by President George W. Bush earlier today may put the United States Postal Service (USPS) in better position to compete with express parcel giants UPS and FedEx and offer significant benefits for shippers.

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The driver turnover rate among large and small truckload carriers increased during the 2006 third quarter, the American Trucking Associations (ATA) reported today.

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China’s external logistics reached a total value of RMB 48 trillion in 2005 with a yr-on-yr growth of 25.2%, which was a little lower than the previous year but was still a rapid increase. Structurally, as the industrial product logistics developed fastest, naturally it took the largest proportion in total value of the external logistics; whereas the agricultural product logistics increased slowest, and its proportion was rather small.

The total value of China’s external logistics amounted to RMB 26.8 trillion in the first half of 2006, rising 15.3% compared to the 1st half of 2005 (calculated at comparable price, hereafter the same in this paragraph) , but its growth rate declined by 1%, which was mainly caused by a decreasing growth rate of industrial product logistics; The total value of industrial product logistics was RMB 23.4 trillion, up 15.6% compared to the 1st half of 2005, but its growth rate declined by 1.2%; the total value of import logistics was RMB 2.95 trillion, up 14.2% compared to the 1st half of 2005, and its growth rate increased by 0.2%; The total value of agricultural product logistics reached RMB 461.5 billion, growing 5.1% compared to the 1st half of 2005, its growth arte remained almost the same as the 1st half of 2005.

The total expense of China’s external logistics was RMB 1678.6 billion in the first half of 2006, rising 14.7% compared to the 1st half of 2005 (calculated at current price, hereafter the same in this paragraph), and its growth rate increased by 1.2%. It was mainly because of the sharp rise of energy cost that caused the common rise of transportation fee. However, the ratio of the total expense of external logistics to GDP continued to drop from 18.6% in 2005 to 18.4% in the first half of 2006, down by 0.2%.

From the view of total logistics expense structure, in the first half of 2006, transport costs were RMB 932.9 billion, rising 12.9% compared to the 1st half of 2005, and its growth rate up 0.8 by 0.8%, which maint

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The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport has called for investment into two metros and 2 monorails reports VietNamNet Bridge, a Vietnamese news source.

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Freight traffic on U.S. railroads rose during the week ended December 9 compared to the same week last year, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) reported today.

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Supply chain software vendor RedPrairie recently announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire StorePerform Technologies Inc., a provider of store execution management software for retailers.

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TOKYO—ProLogis, owner, manager and developer of distribution facilities, announced that ProLogis Japan Properties Fund II will acquire eight distribution centers in Japan in a transaction with cosmetics manufacturer Shiseido and Hitachi Transport, one of Japan’s third-party logistics (3PL) providers.

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