Lisa Baertlein

The weak demand bedeviling package delivery companies like United Parcel Service and FedEx promises to be great news for online U.S. shoppers who want quick, on-time holiday gift delivery.

Hybrid engines allow operators to fall back on petroleum if green fuels are too costly.

The union representing 45,000 East Coast and Gulf Coast dockworkers and a group representing employers held a new round of contract talks this week but failed to make significant progress on the critical issue of automation, the two sides said on Wednesday.

Amazon.com and IKEA, in alliance with about three dozen other companies that depend on ocean freight, will invite shipping firms for the first time to bid on a contract in January to move their cargo on vessels powered by near-zero emissions e-fuels like e-methanol.

U.S. shippers are steering clear of East and Gulf Coast ports amid worries the 45,000 dockworkers at those trade hubs will go on strike again if their union leader does not land a new contract with employers by a Jan. 15 deadline.

U.S. nonprofit Climate United on Tuesday announced a plan to spend up to $250 million to buy as many as 500 electric semi trucks over three years in what it called the biggest single order of those zero-emissions trucks in the country so far.

United Parcel Service reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue on Thursday, ahead of the crucial peak holiday season, boosted by rebounding volume and effective cost controls and shares soared as much as 10% in early trading.

Wall Street expects United Parcel Service to report a rise in adjusted quarterly profit on Thursday, even as concern mounts over stubbornly soft demand for lucrative overnight shipping heading into the vital holiday delivery season.

One person died and dozens fell ill from E. coli infections linked to McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers in 10 states, led by Colorado, where 26 people were sickened, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said on Tuesday.

With U.S. East and Gulf Coast port workers set to strike in less than five hours, a port operator alliance said on Monday it traded new wage offers with the union, raising the outside possibility of a settlement before a halt to container traffic from Maine to Texas.