Bruce McCaffrey, who was formerly the vice-president in charge of freight operations in the United States for Australian flag carrier Qantas, has been sentenced to eight months imprisonment and fined US$21,000 by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) for his involvement in a major air cargo price fixing cartel.

A massive crane reaches down 25 stories, picks up a container filled with Asian goods, and sets it on a truck for delivery. This quay crane works day and night. But even running nonstop, the cranes can barely keep up with the growing volume of freight moving from Asian factories to American stores. Slow-moving, expensive cranes sit at the crux of an overloaded freight system.