Should we allow U.S.-flag merchant shipping to go the way of the passenger pigeon, the wooly mammoth and the Great Auk?

Ryder System Inc. has introduced the Ryder On-Demand service for vehicle maintenance and repair (M&R) in Canada.

Lufthansa Cargo has added Milan to its network of freighter services.

It looks as though we're in for a year of continued economic recovery and job growth, however gradual. That should be good news for ocean carriers - assuming they don't undermine their own success by flooding the market with capacity, then engaging in rampant discounting to fill it.

Vnomics Corp., a provider of fleet-management technology, has joined with SkyBitz, Inc., the vendor of remote asset-tracking and information management tools, on development of an integrated tracking system aimed at for-hire and private truck fleets.

I'd like to propose a symbol for those huge new vessel-sharing alliances that will dominate the global container trades this year and beyond: a great big question mark.

UTi Worldwide Inc. has opened a new logistics facility in Romulus, Michigan, near Detroit.