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Last month, President Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderón unveiled a deal to resolve a longstanding dispute over cross-border trucking.

No matter where you stand on the cross-border trucking deal with Mexico, it is going to become a reality. Companies that choose to ignore the issue do so at their own peril and those who prepare-- stand to profit.

Additionally, the Department of Transportation (DOT) recently unveiled a three-year pilot program to allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. after meeting multiple safety-related steps. Part of the requirements is a “global positioning system and/or electronic on board recording device”.

The announcement of this US/Mexico cross-border deal is yet another sign of the times for increased international trade. Carriers and logistics companies should take advantage of this time to prepare for business expansion into cross-border hauling. While it will likely be required for CSA-type safety technology to be installed...

Here is another good sign of an improving economy for the transportation industry in the United States.  No. 11 on the Transport Topics 100 listing of U.S. and Canadian for-hire carriers, Landstar System, said today that their Q1 profits improved due to higher freight demand, and that there first-quarter earnings rose because of improved pricing – which has also continued to improve into the second quarter.

The company’s net income rose to $20.6 million (43 cents a share), from $17.2 million (34 cents) from the year prior.  Revenue for the quarter ended March 26 rose to $572 million, from $548.1 million a year ago.

Chairman and CEO Henry Gerkens said in a statement that the company’s second-quarter earnings will be in a range of 56 to 61 cents per share due to this higher freight demand.  Mr Gerkens stated that he believes the trend will continue through 2Q.

According to RFID Journal - "After a decade of conducting pilots to track the movements of supplies using active and passive radio frequency identification tags across multiple agencies, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is entering phase two of its RFID deployment, with an eye toward adopting end-to-end solutions, according to Paul Peters, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for supply chain integration. These end-to-end solutions would allow greater visibility across the DOD's supply chain, thereby reducing the risk of errors, enhancing safety and security, and lowering expenses through reductions in inventory and improved utilization of labor devoted to tracking items at each point along that supply chain."  Read more of this article here at RFID journal's website:

http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/view/8358