This free Webinar will broadcast live on Wednesday, January 18th at 2PM EST courtesy of our sponsor CargoSmart. This 60 minute interactive session will discuss the challenges of contract management and the benefits of a holistic approach to the process of preparing for negotiations, managing contracts throughout the year, and reviewing performance. Panelists will provide actionable advice, best practices, and answer your questions live. Key discussion points will include:

• The state of ocean contract management
• Challenges for shippers, NVOCCs, and forwarders
• Preparing for the 2012 contracting season
• 7 signs that it may be time to upgrade your process
• Benefits of a systems-based approach

Expert panelists include:

• Jim Blaeser, publisher, American Shipper
• Kim Le, director, CargoSmart North America
• Steven Chiu, IT/Logistics, Unipac Shipping

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Thursday, December 15th at 2PM EST. This 60 minute interactive session will discuss the events and trends that shaped 2011 and how those and other dynamics will impact the North American logistics market in the year to come. Panelists will provide a recap of 2011, highlight emerging trends, make some bold predictions and answer your questions live. Key discussion points will include:

• Macroeconomic Indicators - What are they telling us about 2012?
• Truckload Capacity Crunch - How long and how bad?
• The Rise of US Exports - Fad or a sustainable trend?
• Shifting Ocean Trade Lanes - Where are the growing industries and markets?

Expert panelists include:

• Moderator: Jim Blaeser, publisher, American Shipper
• John Larkin, managing director & head of transportation capital markets research, Stifel Nicolas
• Mathijs Slangen, maritime advisor, Seabury Group

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Wednesday, December 7th at 2PM EST. This 60 minute interactive session will cover American Shipper's research on International Transportation Management (ITM) process, practice and systems. Panelists will provide actionable advice, best practices, and answer your questions live. Expert panelists include:

• Moderator: Jim Blaeser, Publisher, American Shipper
• Bill King, Director, Solutions Management - Supply Chain Execution, SAP
• David Fisher, Director of Global Logistics, Johns-Manville

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Tuesday,October 25th at 2PM EST. This 60 minute interactive session will cover American Shipper's research on the freight payment market and highlight areas for improvement. Panelists will provide actionable advice, best practices, and answer your questions live. Key discussion points will include:

• The dysfunctional state of the payment market.
• Key challenges payers and payees face today.
• The strategic benefits of a streamlined payment network.
• Proposed standards meant to right the ship.

This one-hour interactive Webinar broadcast will cover the latest results from American Shipper's annual benchmark study co-produced with BPE Global and the ICPA. This panel discussion will take a hard look at U.S. export control reform, emerging operational best practices and technologies that are supporting exporters as they go global. This free Webinar broadcasted live on Thursday, Oct 6th at 2PM EST. Key discussion points will include:

• The status of U.S. export control reform efforts
• Organizational structures
• Productivity metrics for exporters
• Operational best practices
• Risk mitigation through automation

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Tuesday,September 27th at 2PM EST. This one-hour interactive session will explore how shippers are demanding more service and better technology at lower rates and the impacts on logistics service providers. Our expert panelists will discuss the market trends at play and offer some best practices for LSP’s struggling to defend their profit margins. Key talking points:

• The LSP’s dilemma
• Well documented benefits of automating international transportation.
• The realities of automation
• Inhibitors to technology adoption
• Strategies for success
• The new role of the 3PL

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Wednesday, August 24th at 2PM EST. This 60 minute live Webinar discussion will take a close look at the ins and outs of integrating logistics and compliance management. Our expert panelists will discuss market dynamics driving importers to consider this strategy and a success story provided by Leggett & Platt. Key talking points:

• The benefits of integrating logistics and compliance.
• Challenges importers will have to overcome.
• The key role technology plays.
• Actionable advice for importers exploring this idea.

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Thursday, August 11th at 2PM EST. Customs brokerage and freight forwarding are evolving at a rapid pace. Customers are expecting more services and value from vendors, which is creating a highly competitive environment among intermediaries. This Webinar will provide actionable guidance to vendors on how to keep pace now and in the future. Key discussion points will include:

• Best practices for customs brokers and freight forwarders
• Systems that can help manage global, multi-modal customs logistics
• Measuring Customs Entry performance
• Developing the business case for ACE and reevaluating systems that don’t support ACE
• Integrating performance of compliance screenings

This free Webinar will broadcast live on Wednesday, June 29th at 2PM EST (Webinar available for download after June 29th) In May of 2011, American Shipper, in partnership with RILA, surveyed roughly 325 transportation buyers and sellers on procurement practices, processes, technologies and results. This Webinar will focus on some of key findings and provide actionable guidance on how to leverage technology and other solutions to optimize the comprehensive transportation procurement arm of a supply chain. Key discussion points will include:

• Year over year growth in industry transportation budgets
• The continued drawing out of the negotiation process between shippers and carriers
• The adoption of value-based assessment among shippers
• Procurement automation platforms and technology
• Centralization of the procurement process

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Wednesday, June 22nd at 2PM EST. This 60 minute Webinar broadcast will recap the findings from the latest American Shipper/BPE report, Import Operations & Compliance Benchmark Study: Risky Business. Panelists will relate these findings to actionable best practices. Key discussion points will include:

• Operations and compliance organization structures
• Compliance policy responsibilities
• Productivity benchmarks
• Filing and reconciliation
• Duty avoidance programs
• Costs and investments
• Technology

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Thursday, June 9th at 2PM EST. The requirements of international trade are constantly changing. Between the creation of new regulations and the updates and changes to existing requirements, the modern trade professional can find themselves behind the curve on policy changes in Washington. To make the burden a little easier, our expert panelists will be highlighting best practices in export compliance by focusing on the following topics:

• U.S. and global trade policy – trends and expectations
• Build a credible export compliance manual
• What to expect with U.S. export enforcement

Live, anonymous Q&A with the panelists

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Wednesday, May 4th at 2PM EST. The Obama administration is putting an emphasis on increasing exports but the current regulatory environment creates obstacles for many would-be exporters. Reform is on the horizon and the trade community has been given a call to action to help ensure that these reforms do not get sidelined as previous efforts have been. This webinar will contain input from key industry experts and bring clarity to an as yet undefined future for exports. Key topics will include:

• The potential new look of export classifications
• What should exporters be doing now in preparation?
• How can exporters provide input to the government
• Which agency will control the filing?
• How GTM solutions can help drive reform

American Shipper'sassociate editor Eric Kulisch will moderate a one-hour Webinar broadcast exploring the latest trends and best practices in export screening. The discussion will include a focus on the solutions Verizon Business employs to overcome the compliance challenges faced by a hi-volume exporter.

This free Webinar broadcasted live on Thursday, March 24 at 2PM EST. American Shipper is pleased to provide readers with a one-hour Webinar focused on the emerging importance of environmental sustainability in the supply chain. American Shipper's publisher Jim Blaeser will provide an overview of our latest benchmarking study and discuss these trends with Dr Lee Kindberg, Director Environment for Maersk Line. Key focus areas include:

• The state of environmental sustainability
• Plans to invest
• Inclusion in contracting process
• Technologies, tactics & strategies
• Emerging best practices

American Shipper's Editor, Chris Gillis, will moderate a one-hour Webinar focused on what shippers should know to mitigate liability. This free Webinar will broadcast live on Tuesday, November 9 at 2PM EST. Key points of discussion will include:

• Carrier compliance and its liability impact on shippers
• The role of safety becoming a much stronger decision driver for shippers
• In-dept overview of CSA 2010 regulations and carrier impact
• Live Q&A with the audience moderated by Christopher Gillis