The entire supply chain is under great financial stress as the spot price of WTI crude oil rose steadily to over US$110 per barrel, on March 13th of 2008 — a record-setting price.

While the price for WTI crude oil is expected to average near $100 per barrel through the rest of this year, transport companies and everybody else getting their supply through their services are bracing for the effects of higher fuel prices during the summer season, defined as the period from April 1st to September 30th.

Pricewise, let’s start with the regular grade gasoline retail prices, which averaged $2.93 per gallon last summer (of 2007) and are projected to average $3.54 per gallon during the current driving season.

The trucking business is going to be hit even harder as diesel fuel prices, which averaged $2.85 per gallon last summer, are projected to average $3.73 this summer.

In fact, the monthly average gasoline price at the pump is projected to peak at just over $3.60 per gallon in June while the monthly average diesel price is expected to peak at just over $3.90 per gallon in April.

These rather scary retail price projections reflect higher prices for the refiners’ average acquisition cost of crude oil, projected to average close to $97 per barrel, up from about $67 per barrel last summer which account for a hefty $30 price hike, per barrel. Furthermore, strong world distillate demand growth, especially in Europe and Asia, will do nothing to help the situation domestically, in America.

It is important to note, however, that even if the US national average monthly gasoline price comes to peak around $3.60 per gallon this summer, it’s entirely possible that prices, at some point, will cross the $4 per gallon threshold, severely hurting the transport industry and those who depend on it.

Countless consumers may be forced to reconsider driving their cars at all and the same kind of dilemma may happen for transport operators of all sizes as well as petroleum-based product manufacturers.

Transportation and logistics companies, especially in America, need to plan (and provision lots of “emergency money”) right now for this summer’s potential fuel price explosion.

Tags: gas, fuel, wti crude oil, oil, diesel, petroleum, pump, america, usa, transport, logistics, summer

The May / June 2006 Edition of the excellent Public Roads magazine includes a wonderful article on how the highways trucks use could take a hint from the information superhighway.

With freight volume on American highways expected to increase by a whopping 70% by 2020, over 1998 levels, Electronic Freight Management (EFM) can help considerably reduce congestion by better coordinating intermodal connections.

Biometric smart cards are already in use and contain information on truck drivers, including a photocopy of a commercial driver license as well as the driver’s thumbprint. This information, contained in the embedded gold-colored chips, is used to expedite the movement of cargo through intermodal transfer facilities and trucks through border crossings.

Learn more about EFM and the future of transportation by clicking on the title of this article.

We already travel the world but going into space has long been in the realm of dreams. Technological advances and new theories in applied sciences make it possible to hope for a future where space travel might become accessible for a wider crowd than just NASA’s astronauts.

To keep up with all the development, we present a compilation of the best space web sites available online today, covering an extensive list of themes which may prove quite interesting for the T&L professionals.

Read more to see the full list of hyperlinks…

Happy birthday Transport Canada!

Or, should we say “http://www.tc.gc.ca/” to be more precise — this abundant and resourceful public web site has celebrated its 10th year on the web on January 15th, 2006.

The full story is available here.

It’s one thing to create a web site of this scope but it’s another to maintain it daily. More than 8 million visitors came to TC’s web site in 2005 alone.

In their own words, TC looks into the future with these objectives in mind:

“As more Canadians turn to the Internet as a source of information, Transport Canada remains committed to providing accurate, timely, relevant information, tools and services that support business objectives and meet requirements under all relevant policies and standards.”

Let’s hope TC has many more successful years ahead with their web site destined primarily to the general public but also to the T&L industry specialists.

Tags: transport canada, 10th anniversary, celebration, successful years, transport, logistics

Mauril Sirois has founded this dynamic import, export, warehousing, customs clearance, transport and logistics company in 1982, in the city of La Prairie, which is located on Montreal’s South Shore. It’s a little over ten minutes drive from the Port of Montreal, which is one of their main operations hub.

Read about this truly efficient T&L company taking care of your cargo, when going through Montreal, Canada…

If you’re reading these lines, chances are you’re all about transports & logistics.

This blog is intended to be accessible by everyone while still being relevant for industry professionals who need to make choices, in regards to their T&L management.

Since this is the very first post in this blog, please let me invite you to participate by leaving comments on any subject discussed. Shed new light and add value to postings. NavSite will be even more interesting if you’re active, within your fields of interest.

To all visitors to NavSite, let me extend my warmest welcome!

Tags: navsite, welcome, new blog, subjects discussed, postings, fields of interest, t&l, transports, logistics